Chapter Six: The Search
Kito slept the night of his escape under the cover of an abandoned shed. There was a house next to it but he knew that it would be the first place they'd look when they came to look for him. He was actually laying under the floorboards of the shed to be less conspicuous to any pursuit. It was dank and cold and smelled of rotting wood. He shivered despite himself as the damp ground stole his heat. His arm was swollen and feverish and though it had stopped bleeding he found himself slightly dizzy and nauseous from what he had already lost. He had treated it the best he could under the circumstances but knew he would have to get better attention to it soon. As if he could afford to walk into the hospital dressed in assault gear with a bar code like a beacon on his forehead. That would be begging for capture.
Hearing a twig snap in the dark forest, Kito peered out a crack in the floorboard seeing the sky through the shed's open door. The sliver of sky was awash with bright stars peeking and winking around the tops of the surrounding trees. Any other time he could have appreciated the beauty of it. Tonight however his mind was chasing itself in small circles.
He was now a fugitive, like it or not, because of his actions and it left a very sour taste in his mouth. He continued to second-guess the wisdom of it. It seemed very trivial at this moment that Lydecker had kept Max under guard and under wraps. She had probably deserved what she was getting, being on the run voluntarily for so long. Flying her finger in the face of those that had created her and taught her everything she knew. She could have made up any sob story she had liked to get Kito to listen to her, to prick his sense of justice. How was it that he was so sure that she was telling the truth? And now he was forced to live among the Norms, prepared or not.
He drew a heavy breath letting it out slowly and closing his eyes. He knew… whether he wanted to admit it or not, she had been in pain. Not the physical pain that was inflicted on her, but a mental pain. The pain of not knowing, of being separated. It had pulled at his sense of justice… damn it to hell, and now he could do nothing save try and get her out of the situation she was in.
That begged the question of "how?" There were four other Manticore's in that installation, and while he had disabled two of them it was only temporary, he had intentionally left them alive, unable to bring himself to take a brother's life. Them and a contingent of Norm soldiers numbering upwards of 150 troops? There was no way the odds were in his favor. He lay awake most of the night mulling the possibilities over in his head. Slowly the answer came to him toward dawn, but even that was a slim possibility considering his lack of information. But what other choice did he have?
Seattle three days later:
Tima moved busily through her place tidying up for a friend's visit. By most people's standards, the action was unnecessary the place was clean. But Tima was obsessively neat and she was dusting for probably the third time in the last six hours.
Tima had finally landed a job, cutting down on her need to fleece the local populace to stay alive and comfortable. It wasn't much, assembly line work at a nearby factory, but she had made herself indispensable with her skill and her speed. She reminded herself to thank Logan again for the assist in getting her placed.
She had, more quickly than anticipated, made several friends. They had stared at her the first few days, not having seen an oriental before with green eyes. She had put off their curiosity by telling them that she had gotten contacts to make them look that way. They in turn stared at her eyes saying that it was the most convincing set of colored lenses they had ever seen. They had all had a good laugh about it, and quickly they warmed to her as a new addition.
She had invited her new found friends to her place for a barbecue and party so that they could get better acquainted. She made herself stop a moment but her eyes still restlessly searched the room for any spots she might have missed. Her eyes wandered out to the small balcony of her apartment where a neat arrangement of grill and cooking utensils sat. They then moved to the ice chests brimming with beer and other alcohol's for their enjoyment.
Needless to say she was more than a little nervous about the prospect. She had been such a loner for so long in her life that she didn't think she even possessed the skills to interact with others.
Folding her towel neatly and replacing it under the kitchen sink she moved back to the bathroom, absently checking her watch again to see how much time she had until her coworkers arrived. She rolled her eyes it had only been fifteen minutes since the last time she had checked. She stepped into the bathroom and closed the door to make use of the full-length mirror on the back of it to check her appearance.
She was wearing a dark gray long sleeved v-neck shirt, which had cuffs flaring from her wrists to cover her slim and delicate hands. Her pants were tight black sudo-suede that also flared at the calf almost hiding completely her shiny black boots. She wore a simple gold chain at her neck with an amethyst pendant, and interconnected gold chains adorned her two nose rings and alternated up her line of five earrings in gradually smaller strands. She had let her long hair down curling the ends of her soft straight hair under giving her a decidedly Japanese look.
With some creative work she had turned her bar code into a henna tattoo of leaves, grass and flowers gracefully circling her eyes. It probably wouldn't fool Manticore but it was enough to keep her new friends from asking the wrong kinds of questions. Religious customs did not even surface with this crowd so claiming that it was part of her heritage would be a good cover, whereas a bar code would probably freak them out.
As she nodded satisfied with her appearance the doorbell rang. She smiled at her own reflection excited to give this party a go and headed for the door. She was still smiling broadly as she opened the door to greet her visitor… her face fell as she got a look at her visitor.
Tima reacted before he could say anything, grabbing him by the lapel, falling backwards as she planted a foot in his abdomen and flipped him over her. She jumped to her feet pinning him quickly and raising her stiff-fingered hand up aimed at his exposed throat, "What are you doing here Kito?" She asked sure that he had been sent to execute her.
He lay under her angry form stunned. He had both hands out and up at his sides in a gesture of submission, "It's not like that Tima…" He said his voice strained, "I need your help."