Red: What do you do when the rules cannot help you? (Rule Number 3)

by Teya Tapler

Evan pulled her hand back gently and turned towards the coffee machine.

  “Coffee?” She asked.

  “Sure.” Alex said.

  As she poured the revitalizing liquid in two mugs she heard him text. The unmistakable humming of the virtual keyboard was muffled by Alex moving on his chair and pretending to clear his throat. When she turned back, mugs in hands, he had hidden the device all together.

  “Milk and sugar?” Evan asked placing one of the mugs in front of Alex.

  “No, thanks,” his slightly husky voice hugged every word. “What d’you say you’re doing here?”

  “I’m a reader,” Evan said.

  “Ni-i-ice,” he said.

  “How about you?” Evan returned the question quickly.

  “I’m Alex - special ops,” he said.

  “I haven’t seen you here before,” she said.

  “That’s because I’m special ops.” He took a sip from his coffee.

  “And what’s so special about you?” she focused on his dark brown eyes.

  “That’s a secret,” Alex looked her in the eye, ”see you later,” he patted her shoulder and left the kitchen.

  Evan remained there, coffee mug in hands, slowly sipping from the dark liquid. The encounter with Alex had made her forget to add cream and sugar. She wasn’t feeling the bitter taste, the smell or even the warmth of the coffee. Her thoughts were moving like a caffeinated hamster in its training wheel.

  His name was Alex just like the name of the guy from Analysis4All. He had the same dark hair, charming dark eyes and wonderful smile, even the same slightly husky voice like Alex from Analysis4All. If she hadn’t met him there Evan would have sworn he was Alex Somos, the guy from Analysis4All she was dating back in the 21st century. And what was that special ops thing? The Inquisitors didn’t have a special ops group. Their group consisted of the four crazy men, Amanda, Kevin, Emil and her. Evan thought she knew everything about that group, or did she? And again if that was really that Alex from her past, didn’t he recognize her, or probably he came from another point in time before they’ve met. Or he couldn’t recognize her with her now burgundy hair.

  Evan closed her eyes. The thought that she might be going crazy crept in and she tried to fight it with the last night’s memory of the glowing pearls. Just when she started feeling that her little trick was working something buzzed and vibrated from the other side of the kitchen isle. She opened her isle eyes and looked in direction of the buzz. There wasn’t anything on top counter. The buzzing continued as she got off her chair and circled the isle to the other side. There on the floor she found Alex’s phone. The button size item must have fallen from his phone bracelet when he had left the room. She knelt to pick it up. The holographic screen unfolded in front of her as her fingers touched the phone. It was still in text mode. The screen was filled with lines from an interesting conversation between Alex and someone called the Chancellor. The bottom line on the screen was flashing indicating the newness of the message. Afraid that Alex could return any moment Evan quickly read the texting tread shown on the screen then pressed a small button to hide it and left the phone button back on the floor.

  The conversation was quite bothersome. It was…about her. That Chancellor was someone who most likely knew who she really was and how she had arrived at that location. He was instructing Alex to either call Ollie to kill her or convince Ranshen to do it. It was too much to comprehend. Too much for a day that had started so nicely. Seeing both Alex and Ollie’s names together made her think of Analysis4All, and the time when she and the Alex from the 21st century made a day trip to Salem and Ollie showed in that restaurant. Were they tasked to kill her then too? No, that was impossible. That was not the same Alex, and that Ollie from the message was not the guy with the loose handshake that couldn’t stop talking about his life. Those were two different people. But again, she saw that Alex…and he looked so much like the Alex she knew.

  Evan headed to her room. There wasn’t a problem in the world that couldn’t be resolved with a long hot shower.

  “Where are you going?” Ranshen’s voice chased her down the corridor.

  “I feel a little bit off today. I might be coming down with something.” She turned to see him closing the distance. Her eyes inspected his hands and then rested on his face. He not carrying a weapon out in the open would give her some time to react or run if he attacked her. Or he might have an anger powered weapon hidden in his palm, just like Zull Mort. While Evan wondered what would be his choice of weapon Ranshen loomed over her and looked down.

  “I hear you’ve met Alex,” he said.

  “Yes,” steam came out of her mouth. They were still keeping the corridors and the common area of the apartment at 40 degrees Fahrenheit.

  “He’s new to our time. The existence of people like you is intriguing to him. After Amanda does the initial introduction I want you to make him feel welcomed here. He is very important for us.” The corridor echoed with the hissing ‘s’ from his last word.

  “I feel a little bit off today. I might be coming down with something.” Evan tried to retreat toward her room.

  “You have two hours to get better. After that I’ll personally drag you out of your little den.” Ranshen left with a swish of his cape.

  Evan gulped slowly and watched him walk all the way to the living room. Then she entered her room and bolted the door shut with all three locks. Throwing her clothes on the floor Evan got into the shower and let the warm water cover her body from head to toe. It felt nice. It was both calming and invigorating. Her head cleared slowly as if the water drops were washing off the distractions and making it easier for her to comprehend the obvious. She started replaying the text conversation in her mind.

  “Found a girl that m8 be Evan.” Alex had written.

  “Do u need Ollie to kill her?” the Chancellor had replied.

  “Not yet. Need to run some tests 1.” Alex had written.

  “Convince Ranshen. Even younger I’m still the same.” The Chancellor had replied.

  That was all that she could see on the holographic screen. Four relatively short lines of text. Now she knew for sure that Alex had arrived there to find her. And she helped him by starting the conversation and telling him her name. And as a dead giveaway she was still wearing that malachite bracelet he gave her for her 21st birthday. Angry at herself Evan pulled the bracelet off her left wrist and threw it towards the wall. It bounced and rolled under the sink.

  Her thoughts continued uninterrupted. She was wondering how he came there.

  Had he transcasted himself like everyone else? Who was that Chancellor guy? Evan searched her memories vaguely remembering a conversation between the Anaconda team members about some Chancellor. Could he be the same person?

  She stopped shampooing her hair. The warm water washed off the foam leaving white streaks down her body and then slowly melted them away.

  How many Chancellors could be there in the 25th century?

  The water covered her mouth and nose.

  Regardless, his position souns respectful. He must be a very influential person.

  Evan stepped out of the water stream, cleaned her face and gasped for air.

  They were in the 1970s and the Chancellor she was thinking about was in the 25th century. How did the text messages travel five centuries to and fro? She rubbed her skull with all ten fingers to stimulate her thoughts. Nothing came to mind. Not that she was an expert in the 25th century technology but there wasn’t anything she had heard of that could do that. Evan had to find out if that was possible because if there was a way to exchange messages between the different time dimensions she should be sending an S.O.S. message to her friends from the Anaconda team.

  Evan smiled and turned off the water. She had to talk to Emil and find out.

  ***

  A few minutes later Evan bumped into Emil in the corridor. He was headed to the elevator with Amanda. It was Tuesday, the day she was refilling the supplies.

  “Hi
Lin,” Emil and Amanda said one after another.

  “Hi,” Evan greeted them back then turned towards Amanda. “Amanda, would you mind if I join you. I’ve that terrible monthly headache. You know how it is. Getting some fresh air will really help me.” Evan gave an exhausted smile.

  “Amanda, this may be your chance.” Emil turned to Amanda. “If Lin and I go for groceries you’ll have all the time for yourself. We both know where the stores are and I’ve the list here with me,” he flashed a piece of paper in front of Amanda’s face.

  “You’re a darling,” Amanda smiled and kissed him on the cheek. “Thank you, thank you, thank you,” she chirped and waltzed back into the maze of corridors and rooms.

  “Don’t ask.” Emil said seeing Evan rolling her eyes.

  “Let’s go.” Evan said and called the elevator sticking to her decision not to spoil the beautiful day with conversations about the test in Miami. They had to return in two hours or someone might notice that Amanda wasn’t with them.

  “You look like” Emil started but she put a finger on her lips and he changed topics mid-sentence, “you’d benefit from some fresh air.”

  When Evan entered the elevator Emil pressed the ground level button and looked at her. She quickly put her index finger on her lips and moved her head sideways. She was extra cautious. Knowing the brothers in addition to the microphones in the apartment corridors and the common living areas they might have bugged the elevator as well. There were no cameras though, because Mort didn’t like seeing himself on the screen, and that allowed Evan to signal Emil anything as long as there were no sounds.

  A few minutes later Evan was happy to be outside. She had been looking at the New York streets from the lab window for quite some time. It wasn’t that she was not allowed to go outside alone. It was that every time Amanda was ready to go out for supplies Evan was with Mort in his lab. However, since the first formal usage of the pearls outside of the test lab was successful, Mort wasn’t that obsessed with getting the mixture right. That had been done and his work had shifted to charging the pearls with the correct negative energy to ensure they yield the greatest damage.

  Evan stopped outside of the building entrance and took a deep breath of fresh air. The scents of the city crawled in her nose. She quickly recognized the unmistakable smell of exhaust fumes from the cars and busses and the aroma of pepperoni sizzling on top of melted mozzarella cheese coming from the nearby pizza store. She smiled and opened her eyes. It was a rare and pretty nice winter day. It hadn’t snowed for the last two weeks and the streets were clean. There were no clouds. The sky was a perfect blue color and the sun was reaching the sidewalk on their side of the street. Evan felt like an early sprint flower hungry for the light and warmth of the sun, like a sparrow happy to have survived the winter storms. People rav around busy with their daily tasks: pushing carriages, rolling carts with groceries and vegetables to resupply their stores. Running to work or sightseeing no one suspected that the red-head with the maroon cardigan had a bull’s eye on her back.

  It was much warmer on the street than in their apartment. The temperature in the 50s made Evan unbuttoned her thick cardigan. She spread it open trying to soak the sun with her whole body.

  “You look like someone who’s been locked in for years.” Emil smiled.

  “Kind-a,” she said.

  “I guess you wanted to talk with me about something,” he said.

  “Kind-a,” she said. Emil was the only person she could talk to but again he wasn’t Emil from the correct time dimension. He had come here from a point in time a few years before the point in time she was.

  It was going to be harder than she originally expected. Age difference was much easier to deal with. She only had to use simpler or more complex words to match the knowledge and comprehension level of the person who was younger or older than her. Dealing with time dimension differences was a whole another issue. And when you add the fact that she hadn’t told Emil that she knew who he was it was going to be very tricky. Evan grabbed his elbow and pulled him towards the nearest store to buy canned fish and vegetables – the first items on their list.

  “Did you meet Alex?” She asked.

  “The new guy?” He asked.

  “Yes. What d’you think about him?” She asked.

  “He spends too much time with Ranshen,” Emil said, “and I don’t know yet if this is good or bad.”

  “D’you think that he likes me?” Evan asked.

  “You are a reader, right?” He suddenly smiled.

  “So?” She asked.

  “I thought that readers don’t, you know, have relationships like the rest of us,” he said feeling uncomfortable.

  “I can always use another friend!” She shrugged.

  “When you say that, there is something… in his eyes when he talks about you.” Emil said.

  “You talked with him about me! When?” Evan pretended she was getting excited.

  “When I entered the kitchen this morning he was talking with Ranshen. They didn’t notice me and I overheard them talking about you. It sounded as if Ranshen was telling Alex who are you, how long have you been with us, normal introduction stuff.” Emil said.

  “And was it then that you saw his eyes? Did they light up?” she asked with a voice expecting a positive answer. She was becoming a better liar with every word. Remembering the text messages from that morning, Evan didn’t really expect to hear anything good.

  “He was facing the door. When Ranshen said that you’re a reader he became silent, as if there was something he didn’t want to tell in front of me as he noticed my presence.” Emil said.

  “He told me he’s special ops. This might explain it.” She said.

  “That’s what Ranshen told me too. He also said that Alex comes from another time dimension. There he really is special ops and that we have to accept him as one of the Inquisitors.” Emil said.

  Evan suddenly stopped before Emil finished the last sentence.

  For a few seconds he was walking ahead talking to himself. When he realized that he turned back and found Evan standing in the middle of the sidewalk, all alone, tears filling up her eyes.

  Now she was sure that Alex was after her. He had spoken to Ranshen and had become silent when another pair of ears had entered the room. The two of them were discussing something top secret, most likely her credibility and identity. The last line from the text message began streaming in her mind over and over.

  Convince Ranshen. Even younger I’m still the same.

  Alex had started to work on Ranshen even before he received that directive. He already knew that Ranshen and that Chancellor person were one and the same. Now Ranshen will learn who she really was and then …

  “Hey, hey, calm down.” Emil’s worried voice stopped her panic from settling in. “What’s the problem? Why are you crying?”

  Evan started cleaning the tears from her eyes and cheeks. She couldn’t tell Emil the truth. She had to protect him by continuing to lie to him.

  “I’m okay. I just…realized that he’s like me, all alone here away from his time and place. It reminded me… of the friends I lost back there.” Evan said between sobs.

  She looked at Emil the sadness slowly fading away from her face. That was a moment of weakness. He shouldn’t see her cry. Not anymore. For a moment she felt like the little girl looking up to her big brother for help. For a moment she had forgotten that Emil didn’t know who she really was. Evan sighed. The time when she would be saved from that place may never come. She had to face Alex and safe her own life all alone.

  Emil didn’t say anything. He had the perplexed look of a man not understanding the emotions the lady in front of him was going through. The only thing he could think of doing was to pat her shoulder.

  “Would I be able to write to him when he goes back to his time dimension?” Evan found her chance to ask the question which was burning her mind.

  “Probably,” Emil said.” A few months ago the news talked about a
n experimental texting between the time dimensions. It’s expected to help the archeologists, historians and the tourist industry.”

  Evan focused on the sound of his voice and started to calm down pretending that it was his words that were helping her. They were not. Emil’s words meant that the message exchange between the time dimensions was possible and that Alex had been sent from the future to kill her there in the past. Evan’s face turned white. She lost her balance and instinctively grabbed Emil’s arm.

  “You all right?” He asked.

  “Yes. I think, I stepped on a dog poo.” She looked down pretending to wipe her shoe clean off the sidewalk tiles before they entered the first store.

  ***

  “She suspects I am after her.” Alex sent the text message. He was laying on one of the lounge chairs at the living room terrace. The wireless in his ear was delivering clearly every line from Evan’s conversation with Emil. The other end was an almost invisible microphone he planted on her shoulder before leaving the kitchen earlier that day. Evan wouldn’t have noticed it at all. The microphone was as tiny as a dust particle and was going to decompose in eight hours.

  Alex listened to the conversation Evan and Emil were having on their way for groceries. The way she talked to Emil was puzzling him. Alex had the feeling that Evan both knew Emil and at the same time she didn’t. Every time Evan opened her mouth she talked as if she was going to share a big secret with Emil but she never got the courage to say it. Emil on the other hand was treating her with the respect every reader deserved. Alex closed his eyes and focused on the voices coming to his ear.

  “Hey, hey, calm down. What’s the problem? Why are you crying?” Emil’s puzzled voice came to him, then after a while Evan started talking between her sobs.

  “I am okay. I just…realized that he is like me, all alone here away from his time and place. It reminded me… of the friends I lost back there.”

  She was either too lonely or was playing that Emil really well. If the Chancellor was right, then it must be the latter. But the former also made sense. It was not likely but still Lin might be one of the readers that got banished. She might be someone who got casted in a separate session. It was too confusing. Alex had to find the truth on his own. If that was Evan he had seen in the 21st century he could charm her again and she would tell him everything. She had been there all alone for quite some time. He heard her searching for new friends. That might be the way to get to her again. Dazzle her mind and get straight to her heart. Every girl will easily surrender after such an approach even if she was a reader. A smile came on his face and made him look more threatening than happy. He decided to bring Lin to the places where he and Evan had visited. Alex would take her to Massachusetts.