The Circle

by Kat Mayor

  Love,

  Lilly

  Michelle slumped down into a kitchen chair. She thought back to that night a couple of months ago when she told Lilly not to give up on Charlie and told her about running off with Lalo. Could she have inadvertently encouraged Lilly and Charlie to do this? When she had eloped she had been an impetuous, rebellious teen. Lilly was neither of those things. But Lilly and Charlie were both eighteen. There was nothing she could do to stop them.

  The phone ringing startled her out of her thoughts. She jumped up to answer it. “Hello, Lilly?” she asked.

  “No, I’m afraid not.” A male voice sighed. “I guess this means Lilly’s not home. Are you, by chance, Mrs. Garcia?”

  “Yes, to whom am I speaking?”

  “Mrs. Garcia, my name is Louis Gray. My son Charlie is missing, and I was wondering if your daughter might know where he is. Has she ever mentioned him?”

  “Mr. Gray, Charlie has been over here many times. Lilly and Charlie have been dating for most of the year.” She was shocked that Charlie’s father had no idea his son and Lilly were dating.

  “You were aware of their relationship, and you approved?” Louis was incredulous.

  “Yes, I was,” Michelle said defensively. “They are both eighteen. They’re responsible young adults. I didn’t see a problem.”

  Louis blew out his breath. He wanted to scream at this brainless Earthan woman, but he knew he had to keep his cool. If he made her mad, she wouldn’t cooperate, and he needed her cooperation if he wanted to find Charlie.

  “Yes, of course. You’re right.” Louis tried to sound reasonable. “But I’m still concerned. It seems Charlie went missing after graduation, and there’s a Jeep here that some of the other students have identified as your daughter’s. Is she driving your car?”

  “No, she’s not. But I did get a note from Lilly, and I think you should know what it says. It seems Charlie and Lilly have run off to get married.”

  “What!” Louis yelled. He covered the phone and whispered to Evelyn. She clenched her fists and motioned to the elders to come over. All efforts by Louis to be reasonable went out the window. “That’s terrible. We’ve got to stop them. Where did they go?”

  “Calm down, Mr. Gray. Lilly didn’t say where they were going. Look, I’m not thrilled about this either, but they are eighteen. There’s really nothing we can do about it.”

  “No, that’s unacceptable. Charlie cannot marry your daughter. We must find them and stop them. Mrs. Garcia, I’m going to give you my number. If you hear from them, please call my wife, Helen. I’ll be checking in with her.”

  Michelle took down the number and agreed to call if she heard from Lilly, but she wasn’t crazy about Mr. Gray’s attitude. It was as if he thought Lilly wasn’t good enough for his son. Getting married so young was the last thing she wanted for Lilly, but still, she didn’t believe Charlie was no good for her daughter.

  She called a friend and made arrangements to pick up the Jeep. After that she didn’t plan on leaving the house. She wanted to stay home in case Lilly called.

  ***

  “OK, where would an Earthan couple go to get married quickly?” Evelyn asked no one in particular.

  “Definitely out of state,” the fat elder named Bob said. He had been researching popular wedding locations and laws for marriage licenses while Louis took Helen home to wait by the phone. “Texas has a waiting period. I’m sure Silas is aware that as soon as he applies for a license, we will be notified immediately.”

  “Well, they must be at least two hundred miles away from here, because his locator chip hasn’t pinged,” Evelyn said.

  “I believe Las Vegas, Nevada, would be the most likely destination,” Bob said. “There is no waiting period for a marriage license, and weddings can be performed at any time of day.”

  Evelyn grabbed her PCD and input Las Vegas, Nevada. “Louis, you ride with Bill, and I’ll ride with Bob. Keep your PCDs on so that we can share information. C’mon people, let’s go,” Evelyn ordered.

  In a matter of minutes Evelyn and the others were flying down I-10. Evelyn had contacted the magistrate and told him what had happened. He was staying behind to coordinate the arrival of the ship from Sentria that would be landing on Sunday. He gave the order to bring Charlie back with or without his cooperation. That included killing him, if necessary. Evelyn decided to keep that bit of information to herself.

  “This is very clever of Charlie, in a sick, twisted way,” the thin elder named Bill said. “He knows we can’t do a thing to them once they’re married.” They were speaking to each other through their PCDs.

  “Oh no, it’s not going to get that far,” Evelyn said. To emphasize her point she depressed the accelerator and sped ahead. “Now hand me my coffee,” she said to Bob. “We’ve got a long drive ahead of us.”

  ***

  It was still very early. The sun had not yet peeked out over the horizon. Evelyn decided last night that they would drive straight through and try to catch up to them. Bob and Louis drove the cars last night so that Evelyn and Bill could sleep. Now rested and on her third cup of coffee, Evelyn took the wheel again.

  Evelyn’s PCD began making a chirping sound. “We’ve got a signal, we’re in range,” Bob announced excitedly. A green blinking dot appeared on the screen.

  “Bill, Louis,” Evelyn said. “Did you get that? We’ve found his tracking signal.”

  “Is he on the move?” Bill asked.

  “No, he’s still,” Bob said. “Maybe he’s asleep. It is very early.”

  “Keep me posted on his position,” Evelyn instructed. “I’m going to try to close the gap.”

  An hour later Bob made an observation. The green blinking light was no longer stationary. “They’re moving now. Heading west.”

  “That’s OK,” Evelyn said. “They won’t get far.”

  ***

  Charlie and Lilly stopped at a gas station for fuel and then headed to McDonald’s for coffee and breakfast. El Paso was the next big town coming up before they crossed into New Mexico.

  When they got back to the car, Lilly loaded her CD into the player. “Road music,” she said. “We’ll be back in your old neighborhood soon.”

  “Huh?” Charlie asked.

  “New Mexico. Roswell.”

  “Oh yeah,” Charlie said absently. She snuggled up next to him, and he put his right arm around her. A moment later he had to move it to rub the back of his head and neck.”

  “Is something wrong?” Lilly asked.

  “I’ve had a headache ever since I woke up this morning. In fact, it’s what woke me up. My neck’s kind of bothering me, too.”

  “That’s probably from sleeping on the hard ground last night,” Lilly told him.

  “Probably,” Charlie agreed. But there was something else bothering him. He could hear a high pitched squeal he didn’t recognize, and unlike most things, he wasn’t able to filter it out. It was almost as if it was emanating from inside his head.

  “You want me to shut the music off?” Lilly asked.

  “No, that doesn’t bother me,” Charlie said. Actually, it helped muffle the shrill, piercing siren in his head. He smiled at her. “You seem in a more cheerful mood today.”

  “Well, you have to admit, yesterday was pretty stressful. That getaway was pretty intense.”

  “Yeah, I really thought Ian was going to blow it for us. At least they don’t know about this car; that will certainly slow them down.”

  “Do you think they’ve figured it out yet?” Lilly asked.

  “I’m pretty sure they are aware we’ve left Houston. I just hope they don’t know where we’re headed or what we’re planning.”

  Lilly hoped so, too. She started playing with her necklace again. “Just Like Heaven” by the Cure played, and Lilly leaned into Charlie’s side. He winced and grabbed his head as a sharp pain shot through his neck.

  “Charlie, are you OK?”

  No, he definitely was not OK. Now he realized what w
as causing the pain and the squealing noise in his head. It was like a bad nightmare. “No, it can’t be. I’m so stupid,” he said.

  “What? What’s wrong?”

  “The chip. I forgot about the chip.” He struck the steering wheel with his right hand.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “On Sentria, when you’re born they put a chip in your neck, so that the government can keep track of you. It was designed to catch criminals, but all the lawbreakers soon realized they would be caught anyway and just stopped running. Now it’s mostly a deterrent, since no one has tried to run away from the Sentrian authorities in about fifty years. It just lies dormant in our heads. They haven’t had to activate the chips in decades.”

  “Until now?” Lilly asked.

  “Until now,” Charlie confirmed.

  “What can we do?” Lilly’s voice shook. “How much time before they reach us?”

  “I don’t know. I’ve had this piercing sound in my ear for a while now, and it just got louder. That probably means they’re getting close. Maybe, if we can get to a store to get a knife, you can cut the chip out of my neck.” He wasn’t sure if that would work, or if they would have the time to get that far.

  Lilly cringed. The idea of cutting Charlie’s neck was not appealing, but getting caught was not an option.

  Out in the country, stores were few and far between. Charlie pulled in the first one he saw and bought a little pocket knife. He checked. The blade was sharp; it would have to work. He drove off the main road and into a field where his car would be obscured from view, not that it would help them much.

  ***

  Half an hour had elapsed. Lilly was sitting on the ground sobbing, Charlie’s blood all over her hands. She had been sawing on his neck for the past several minutes, but had been unable to locate the chip. Charlie couldn’t pinpoint the exact location of it. She knew she was hurting him. And the blood. So much blood.

  “Just try one more time,” Charlie said, holding the knife out to her.

  Lilly shook her head, tears streaming down her face. “No, I could nick an artery. It won’t matter about the chip, if you bleed to death,” she said, wiping her eyes with the sleeve of her shirt.

  Charlie looked at her. He knew she was right. With no idea where the chip was, she could cut all the way down to his spine and still never find it. They were out of time. “C’mon, let’s go.” He gave her a hand up and got back in the car.

  “What are we going to do?” She couldn’t keep the fear and worry out of her voice.

  “The only thing we can do. We’re going to try to outrun them.”

  ***

  The green dot had stopped for about thirty minutes. Now it was moving again. “How close are we?” Evelyn asked.

  “According to my calculations, we should overtake them in about twenty minutes,” Bob said.

  Evelyn nodded and turned her attention to the flat Texas highway ahead.

  ***

  Charlie pulled out on the road and drove as fast as he could toward the Texas/New Mexico border. Lilly had found a rag in Charlie’s glove box. Her hands were shaking as she rolled it up and applied pressure to stop the flow of blood from his neck. They drove in tense silence. Charlie was concentrating, speeding down the road as fast as he could. About twenty minutes later he noticed someone tailing them.

  “They found us,” Charlie said simply. A black Blazer was coming up on them quickly. Lilly turned to look. It was the same vehicle the two elders drove when they came to school to threaten her a few days ago. Charlie swerved off the main highway and onto a farm-to-market road. The black Blazer followed. Behind the Blazer, Charlie spotted his father’s sedan.

  Now they were really out in the boondocks. Charlie sped up and turned down every county road and farm-to-market road he came across in a futile attempt to shake them. But every turn he made, they made, too. “Hold on,” Charlie said as he made a sharp U-turn and sped off in the opposite direction. The Blazer took the turn and was right behind him.

  “Bill,” Evelyn said. “I want you to turn around and block the road. I’m going to try to cut them off on the other side.” She stayed on Charlie’s tail, and he finally had to whip around again to get away. Now Evelyn had him where she wanted him.

  ***

  Charlie saw his dad’s sedan blocking their way up ahead and Evelyn hot on their tail behind. They were trapped. There were no roads on either side to turn down. If he went off the road into the grass, they would catch them in no time. The only thing standing between them and imminent capture was a telephone pole. Charlie looked over at Lilly. In as calm a voice as he possessed he asked, “What do you want me to do?”

  “Floor it,” she said, squeezing her eyes shut and holding tightly to his arm. Charlie aimed the car at the telephone pole and punched the accelerator as far down as it would go.

  ***

  “No,” Evelyn shouted when she realized what Charlie was doing. She sped up and managed to get close enough to Charlie to sideswipe his car, knocking him off his intended target. Bill drove his car up on the other side and hemmed Charlie in. Evelyn and Bill forced Charlie’s crippled car off the road and into the tall Texas grass. They were at a dead stop.

  “Are you OK?” Charlie asked. Lilly nodded. She was a little shaken up, and there was a laceration on her forehead, but she was otherwise unharmed. “I’m going to go talk to them. Stay here; you’ll be safe.” He hoped it wasn’t a lie. As he turned to open the car door, Lilly grabbed his arm.

  “Charlie, I love you—infinity.”

  He turned back and squeezed her hand. “I love you—infinity.” Then he got out of his car and walked over to Evelyn.

  ***

  Evelyn was already out of the Blazer and walking toward Charlie. The two elders and Louis followed close behind.

  “That was a valiant effort, Charlie, but you never had a prayer of evading us.”

  “Please, Evelyn. We are not a threat to you. I swear we won’t ever tell your secrets. Just leave me here. Go back to Sentria without me.”

  “Enough, Charlie,” Evelyn said. “This so-called romance with the Earthan is over.” On Evelyn’s order, Bob came up behind Charlie and restrained his hands. Evelyn signaled to Bill. “Take care of that loose end over there.”

  “No!” Charlie yelled. Bill pulled Lilly out of the car, and she fought and struggled against him. She kicked Bill in the nose, which infuriated him. “Stop kicking me, you sweaty Earthan.” Bill grabbed her left ankle and squeezed down hard. The sound of cracking bone was audible to Evelyn and the elders, but it resounded like thunder in Charlie’s sensitive ears. He closed his eyes and steeled himself for the screams that were sure to come.

  ***

  Lilly did scream. The pain spread through her body like a wildfire. She was vaguely aware of Charlie and the others shouting and making gestures, but she couldn’t understand what they were saying. The pain was too intense.

  Charlie could have filtered out her screams, but that didn’t seem fair. He was the reason she was suffering now. “No, please. No more. Just let her go,” Charlie begged Evelyn. He looked over his shoulder at Lilly. She had stopped screaming and was just moaning softly. Either she was in shock or had come to the realization it would do no good. He looked back at Evelyn. “Do whatever you want to me.”

  “Oh, believe me, I will. I have orders to bring you in dead or alive, and frankly, I don’t care either way.”

  “No,” Louis objected, rushing up to Charlie’s side. “That was not part of the arrangement.”

  “There was never any agreement,” Evelyn said. “I will do whatever is best for the state.”

  “Look,” Louis said. “Let’s just take him back with us. We’ll kill the girl and make it look like an accident.”

  “No!” Charlie screamed. He flailed against the fat elder who had restrained his arms behind his back.

  “Charlie, better her dead than you,” Louis told him.

  Bill, who was holding the now still Ea
rthan girl, repositioned her so that he could more easily snap her neck the moment Evelyn gave the order.

  It was over. There was no talking them out of it. Charlie was so tired—tired of running, tired of fighting. It didn’t matter how hard he tried, they were always one step ahead of him. Charlie did the only thing he could do. He called out to her in his strong, steady voice, “Liliana, look at me.” From somewhere in her fugue of pain she heard his voice—the melodious way he always pronounced her name. She made an effort to focus her eyes in his direction. “Look at me, Liliana. Don’t look away. That’s good. That’s good. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. Don’t be afraid. I’ll be with you until the end.” That was the last thing Lilly heard. Her world went from gray to black.

  Chapter 18

  Hopeless

  Evelyn nodded toward Bill, and he moved his hands to Lilly’s throat. “Wait,” Bob said. “I have a better solution.” The fat elder, the more reasonable one, had a better solution.

  Charlie released his breath. “Thank you, God,” he whispered.

  Evelyn motioned for Bill to stop. “I’m listening.”

  “They’re in our custody now; it’s not like they can run. Let’s put them in a sleep state. Take Charlie back to Houston without a fight. We’ll stage an accident scene and stay here until the Earthans pick the girl up. Then, we’ll head back to Houston too.”

  Evelyn considered this. An injured Earthan was easier to explain than a dead Earthan. If they put her in a sleep state, she wouldn’t remember much about what happened, and no one would be the wiser. As long as Charlie and the girl were permanently separated, she had no issue with leaving her alive. “Do it,” Evelyn said and turned to go back to her car. She was already leaving a message to the magistrate to let him know the problem had been taken care of.