Chapter Seven: Suspicions
The words caught Tima off guard for a moment, yet she did nothing to shift her position or give Kito any kind of relief. Her eyes narrowed as she assessed the sincerity of his words, "Right," She said obviously suspicious.
Kito licked his lips, not moving or acting in any way aggressive, "I'm telling you the truth, Tima. I need help, I made a huge error in judgment and I've been forced to flee for my life," He said in that same oddly strained voice.
Tima blinked and despite herself he stance over his prone form relaxed, "Why should I believe you? You and all the others Manticore's left me to the wolves when I came back. You even helped Lydecker out by trying to retrieve me, just so he could kill me."
"I didn't Tima," He defended quickly, "I never came after you… After what Lydecker did, I couldn't make myself come after you."
Tima blinked again in surprise, and slowly she stood still looking at him, "So you escaped? Just because Lydecker changed the rules?"
He slowly pushed himself up on his elbows, "Not just that…" He started shaking his head, "There was something else."
Tima was about to ask what when the doorbell rang, "Shit!" Tima said as she checked her watch again, "C'mon, get up," She said gruffly, "You're mystery is going to have to wait for a few hours," She pulled him to his feet and with one hand on his arm she began to herd him toward the back of the apartment. She opened the door to her bedroom and pushed him inside. That was when she noticed the blood on her hand, she looked back up at him in concern. Hearing the doorbell ring again she yelled, "Just a minute!" and then stepped into the door, "your hurt?" she whispered. His lips thinned a minute as he nodded silently. She motioned him toward a smaller room just off of the bedroom, "There's a first aid kit in there, use what you need. You can make use of the bed if you need to. I'll be back in a few hours, just stay in here," and without another word she left shutting the door behind her.
Left to his own machinations Kito first made use of the First Aid kit, which with Tima was a very extensive kit indeed. You could do just about anything short of surgery with the stuff she was supplied with. He thought back to when he had really known Tima and nodded smiling knowingly. She'd always had a bent for medicine, everyone thought that she would end up being the company's doctor. She regarded even the treatments and sometimes the experiments with more fascination than horror. He mulled over that long distant past as he slowly and carefully replaced the dressing on him arm. The wound was ugly, even his revved up blood was having a hard time dealing with the damage, the edges of the wound were tinged green and it oozed a sickening smelling green fluid. He doused it with peroxide gritting his teeth at the sting of it, then he wiped it clean and applied a new dressing to it, hoping that he could get to that doctor soon.
That done Kito returned to the bedroom looking around and trying to determine what Tima's life was like now in the real world. There was a menagerie of things in Tima's room, childish things like Stuffed animals and toys adorned a shelf across from the queen sized bed that took up the majority of the room. She had a jewelry box on the dresser and vanity that was filled with very pricey looking rings, earrings, bracelets, and chains. Two, silver colored, drawn silver, spiraled armbands lay next to it neatly coiled together. There was what looked like ancient handmade lace lying across the surface of the dresser and upon closer inspection of the workmanship he was at a loss to say just how old it might have been.
There were books of all genres neatly arranged on the shelf with the toys.
Kito gravitated toward the door leading back to the living room of the dwelling, as the music caught his attention. He opened the door just a crack and looked out toward the source of the sound. He heard several different voices including Tima's talking excitedly over trivial things, laughing and that incessant music kept them practically yelling to be heard over it.
Tima had changed a lot, Kito thought quietly. She was always the quiet one in Manticore a loner, reinforced by her exceptional smarts and ability to absorb almost anything the first time. That made even the most highly trained Manticore kid jealous and wary of her. He laughed silently, and Manticore was supposed to be all about teamwork… go figure. It didn't help that she had gotten more than her share of attention from the drill instructor and from Lydecker. But here she was with… he closed his eyes and listened for a second sorting out the number of voices in the next room that he could not see… five, no six people, talking and having a good time. He was impressed, adaptable, even more so than he could have been given the circumstances. He was feeling more and more like a fish out of water right now.
Kito shook his head and stepped back from the door, closing it silently behind him. Suddenly he found that he was very tired and thought about Tima's offer of the bed for his own use. He stripped out of the utility vest that he had escaped in and slowly sat on Tima's bed. Soft… it was very soft… He was sure that it was the softest bed that he had ever had the privilege to sleep on. He lay back and closed his eyes, and was asleep before another thought had run through his head.
Tima smiled graciously as she let the last of her guests out the door thanking them for coming and wishing them well until she saw them again at work. Sighing she closed the door behind her, a smile still lingering on her lips as she thought about just how well that had gotten. She felt that she had cemented some very decent friends tonight.
The smile slid off her face as she remembered the Pandora's box that she had left in her bedroom to tend to this party. She looked at her watch it had been nearly six hours since Kito had arrived, he was probably going crazy in her room. With grim determination she set her self and headed back for the room, still unsure whether or not to trust him. She opened up the door expecting him to pounce on her as soon as she cleared the doorframe. She was surprised however to find him sprawled out, face down, sound asleep on her bed. Tima frowned slamming the door and Kito jumped visibly at the sound. She watched stoically as he pushed himself slowly up and looked sleepily at her.
"Make yourself at home," she said sarcastically. Kito looked confused by the reference, "So?" She added impatiently, "What are you doing here if not as a hit-man to kill a renegade Manticore?"
Kito sat up wiping the exhaustion from his eyes, Tima noticed it for the first time, and he looked as if he hadn't slept in years.
"Lydecker almost killed me after you left… for my inaction," He started slowly, "He almost shot me on the spot," He looked away unable to meet her eyes, "And being the good soldier I accepted my punishment. But he didn't go through with it, instead he put me on the perimeter patrol, and that is where my trouble really started."
He began to explain about his discovery in building 241, about his obsessive need to find out what Lydecker was hiding. He explained about finding the Manticore woman in bondage being tortured for a reason even she didn't know. About his contradictory behavior regarding his directive to kill any rogue Manticore and his need to keep this one… one of his worst failures, alive only to torture her. How Lydecker had returned too soon and turned him into a fugitive against his wishes.
"She told me that her name was Max," Kito said about halfway through his explanation. Kito didn't see the shock on Tima's face when he mentioned the name, nor did he see her far away expression, as he continued to talk. She only half heard the name of the husband that this Max had supposedly lost, a name she already knew, and a man whom she knew all too well.
She refocused her eyes to look at Kito as he finished with, "That is why I need your help."
"I know someone who may be willing to assist us," Tima said distantly, "If I can convince him its not a trick," she thought grimly, "And how do I know it's not a trick?" She thought logically, "Because Kito doesn't lie… he never learned how," another part of her said.