The Days of Tao

by Wesley Chu

  Annelie shook her head. “I can’t do this. I’m staying.” He nodded. “Take care of yourself, Annelie.”

  A chorus of goodbyes followed.

  Now we are down to eleven.

  Cameron adjusted the rear-view mirror and looked back at his new wards huddled in three rows of seats as the van rumbled down the asphalt road and turned onto Kesariani Street heading toward the heart of the city. The group was mostly silent. They drove by more signs of civil unrest with each passing kilometer: burning cars, shattered windows, protesting mobs, blockades. In the distance, he could hear the faint rat-tat-tat of gunfire.

  The whispers grew in the van grew louder. Someone began to cry.

  You have to put them at ease. Let them know things are under control, that things will be all right.

  “How can I tell them that, Tao? I can’t even convince myself. This should feel like any other mission, but it doesn’t. It’s freaking me out.”

  You are feeling the weight of being responsible for others. You have never had to look out for others before, except for that one time.

  Except for that one time was their code for referring to anything remotely related to Alexandra. It was one of those things that he would have to put up with for the rest of his life.

  Surrett slid up to the front seat next to him. “Cameron, are we heading to your Prophus people?”

  “We’re heading into the city. Is that wise?” Negin said, coming up from behind him and putting a hand on his shoulder.

  “We deserve to know the truth, Sun,” Chris piped in. “If you’re screwing with us, and we get in trouble for being truant, we’re going to have problems.”

  Cameron tried to keep his cool. “We’re going to a hotel to pick someone up, and then we’re going out of town.”

  “What guy?”

  “What’s the name of the hotel?”

  He gritted his teeth, not taking his eyes off the road. “Just… hang on. Let me concentrate.”

  It was hard enough to drive in these conditions without being interrogating. Dusk had settled over the city. The streets were poorly lit and littered with zooming motorcyclists and bicyclists, not to mention everyone drove like they owned the road. The traffic became thicker as they approached the downtown area, until soon, they had slowed to a crawl. Sirens and car horns blared into air, joining the awful chorus of bumper-tobumper traffic.

  Cameron checked the time. This was taking way too long. Maybe allowing his friends to come was a bad idea. Was he going to be too late getting back to Nazar? Were the Genjix or the police going to catch him before Cameron could reach him? Did Cameron just sentence a guy to die?

  “Tao, help me.”

  Continue on foot. Pull over on the left into the Church of St. George. It should be only a two kilometer walk to Ira’s Hearth.

  Cameron pulled into the church’s parking lot. He got out and beckoned for the others to follow. “We’ll go the rest of the way on foot.”

  More protests followed.

  “How far is the walk?” Nick whined.

  “Are we coming back for our stuff?” Chris asked.

  Just tell them yes.

  “I think so.” Cameron had no idea.

  That is not a yes.

  Chris opened the back trunk and pulled out his luggage. “Doesn’t sound like you know, Sun. I’m going to bring mine with me just in case.”

  There was a chorus of agreements and Cameron watched helplessly as the rest of the group followed Chris’s lead. Pretty soon, the eleven of them were walking down a narrow Athens street with everyone carrying their luggage. He looked back at the sullen group trudging behind him. Most did not want to abandon the van. He was their de facto leader, but already, there was dissension among the ranks.

  A foreboding vibe hung in the air as they made the trek toward Ira’s Hearth, yet none of his wards exhibited any sense of urgency. He wished he had a pistol. He wished his father was here. Hell, he wished he had something better to defend himself with right now than this stupid fruit knife.

  To his relief, they reached Ira’s Hearth without any incidents. Chris’s large boxy monstrosity lost a battle against the uneven brick street and sent a wheel spinning off. Now, he was dragging the thing behind him with one corner constantly scraping against the ground. That damn thing was not going to last the night.

  The entrance to Ira’s Hearth was off a main street in a side alley down a set of steep stairs. Between the barred windows, broken stones, and with half the display lights on, it looked nothing like a hotel. Cameron checked the address twice, and then stared at the wooden sign next to the entrance long and hard before deciding this had to be the right place.

  Seth stared dubiously at the crooked sign. “We going dungeon crawling, mate? This place looks seedy.”

  The group followed him down the stairs, their luggage thunking down each step. They entered a narrow worn-down lobby where a bored clerk sat behind a desk. The man, hair covering almost all of his body except for his head, barely looked up. “By the hour. No women allowed. That one is down the street. No more than four to a room.”

  Cameron ignored him, and led the group upstairs and down a narrow hallway under the haze of blue and red lights and walls decorated with framed pictures of nude men and small statues of Greek gods in compromising positions.

  “What kind of hotel is this?” Seth asked.

  “I don’t know want to know.”

  He found Room 262 and knocked on the door.

  “Who is it?” Nazar’s voice came from the other side.

  Cameron repeated the pass phrase, and the door swung open. Nazar’s mouth fell open when he saw the gaggle of young people behind Cameron, and reluctantly allowed them into his room. The eleven of them in total could hardly fit.

  Nazar surveyed the group and then looked down at Yang’s viola case. “You said you had to tie up loose ends, not bring the entire marching band.”

  “It’s a viola,” Yang replied. “They don’t use violas in marching bands.”

  “Who is this?” Surrett asked.

  “Who are you?” Nazar shot back.

  I hear sirens.

  Cameron raised his voice and his hands. “Everybody just calm down.”

  Their next door neighbor thumped the wall and shouted “Shut the fuck up!”

  Negin tugged on his sleeve. “Is it too late to go back to the dorm?”

  Order disintegrated once more.

  Sirens! There are police outside this building.

  Cameron noticed the blue flashes of light just outside the window and put a finger to his mouth, shushing everyone. Everyone quieted, and shouts from downstairs soon bled through the floors and walls. The voices grew louder and were followed by the thump, thump of footsteps walking up the stairs. There was a sharp banging of doors, and more shouts and curses followed. The pattern repeated, each time growing a little louder.

  “We’re too late,” Nazar hissed. “They found me.”

  “We don’t know that. It could be anything. Quick, in here.” Cameron pushed everyone into the bathroom. He turned to Nazar. “Try to get rid of them.”

  They left their luggage on the floor on the opposite side of the bed and then crammed into the tiny room. They were just able to fit everyone in after a fair amount of configuring. Seth and Nick stood on the toilet, Surrett sat on the sink, and the rest huddled in the tub. Cameron closed the door until there was just a sliver left open so he could get a direct view of the front door. He slipped the knife into his hand.

  There was an aggressive knock on the door. Nazar walked up to it, looked back at Cameron, and then answered in Greek. His thick Ukrainian accent was replaced by rough nasally voice. “Who is it?”

  “This is the police,” the voice yelled. “Open up!”

  “What the fuck do you want? I’m busy here,” Nazar replied.

  “Open up or you will be arrested for resisting arrest.”

  Nazar looked over at Cameron again and gave him a what-doI-do shrug. Cameron
pointed at the door and willed his body to relax as he cleared his mind. Fighting the Genjix was one thing, fighting law enforcement was a whole other issue. That was walking was a fine line. The police had to be treated carefully. They weren’t the enemy, but he still had to do what had to be done.

  The door opened the chain lock’s length. Nazar muttered through the opening. There was a harsh back and forth, and then the door flew open with a loud crack. Nazar stumbled backward onto the bed as two policemen barged in and piled on top of him.

  Four men. Armed with batons. One at the door has pistol drawn. Go non-lethal.

  Cameron took a breath to visualize the scene, and then he emptied his mind and burst out of bathroom. Time slowed as he reached the first policeman at the door. He grabbed the arm of the gun-hand, raised it to avoid accidental discharge, twisted and then spun, using his momentum as leverage for a throw. In real-time, the policeman barely had a second to cry in pain as his arm jerked at an awkward angle before his body slammed into the far wall.

  The second policeman turned to face Cameron and was rewarded with a punch to the face and a quick slice of the dull fruit knife to the back of his hand that made him drop his baton. Cameron caught the baton with his left hand and, using both weapons, slashed horizontally, scissoring the man at the knee and at the side of the head. He crumpled to the ground.

  The two remaining policemen on top of Nazar froze, batons quivering in their hands. Nazar, laying on his side with his hands behind his back, just stared mouth-opened. The silence was broken when the hotel attendant at the door decided to book it down the hallway.

  I forgot to take him into consideration. Here, say this.

  “Let him go. Drop your weapons. Take your friends and leave,” Cameron said in awful, broken Greek.

  The two men looked at each other, then at their two comrades, and scampered toward the two unconscious policemen to drag them out of the room. As they passed him, he reached out and grabbed the cords to their radios and yanked them off. Cameron picked up the pistol the first policeman had dropped and tucked it into his back waistband.

  “Leave your magazines,” he shouted after them in English. “Hey, hey!” It was too late. The men had already turned the corner and fled down the stairs.

  Worry about the rounds later.

  Cameron helped Nazar to his feet. “We have to go.”

  The bathroom door creaked open and his friends filed out. They all stared at him, terrified, as if he had turned into some sort of monster.

  “What the hell was that?” Nick asked. His face was white as a sheet.

  “You attacked police,” Negin said softly. When Cameron offered her a hand, she pulled back.

  Cameron’s stomach twisted into knots but he held it inside. “We have to go.”

  Fortunately, Seth and Emily were there to help. Emily guided the other students while Seth pulled him aside. “Everyone’s spooked right now.” He pushed Cameron out the door. “Give us just a second to calm them down. Go on ahead.”

  We do not have time. The two policemen will have radioed for backup once they reached their vehicles. Get Nazar downstairs now. If the police return, be ready to leave your friends.

  Cameron looked at his still-terrified friends and, feeling numb, dragged Nazar out the door. The looks on their faces killed him. Just when he finally thought he had found people who accepted him, this happened, and again, he was the freak, the guy who didn’t belong.

  Listen, Cameron, you are special, and being so does not make you a freak. You are no more different than a math genius or a musical prodigy. You have very unique skills and must own your greatness.

  “I just thought it would be different with these guys.”

  Cameron and Nazar headed downstairs to the lobby and looked out the narrow front window. Unfortunately, all he could see were the front steps up to the ground level. He went to a mirror hanging on the wall and struck it, causing long spidery cracks to appear from the center of impact. He pried out a long glass shard and motioned for Nazar to stay put. Holding the mirror at an angle, he opened the door and crept up the stairs. No sooner did the tip of the mirror reach ground level, then a gunshot shattered it into fragments. He stumbled back, nearly losing his balance as an explosion of shards burst near his face.

  A dozen worried thoughts entered Cameron’s mind. What if there was no other exit? Had he just trapped all of them in here? How did the police even find them?

  Problem solve your predicament and prioritize. Gather everyone up and locate another exit. There has to be a back door, or perhaps a window onto the roof. Most importantly, Cameron, stay calm. Take control.

  Tao’s strong and soothing words were exactly what he needed. A switch flipped in his head and again, time slowed. He hurried back downstairs. By now, his friends were gathered in the lobby.

  “There you are,” Emily let out a sigh of relief.

  “Hey, Sun,” Nick began. “Some of us were thinking—”

  “This is not the time,” Cameron said, cutting him off. He pulled Seth and Emily close. “Help me keep the group together.”

  He didn’t wait for them to acknowledge him as he pushed his way toward the back of the hotel. A few moments later, after passing through the kitchen and a storage area into the utility room, he found a set of cellar doors opening outward. Cameron motioned for everyone trailing behind to wait as he unhinged the lock. He reached for his newly-acquired pistol.

  No. Do not draw your sidearm. You are tactically disadvantaged. Better to let them take you alive than try to fight your way out.

  Cameron didn’t much like that, but Tao was right. He took a deep breath and pushed the cellar doors open, half expecting to face flashlights and gun muzzles. Fortunately, the only thing that hit him was the terrible stench of garbage. He stuck his head out of the opening like a gopher and swiveled it left and right. He was in the middle of a long narrow alley. To his right was an overflowing dumpster and to his left, a busy street.

  That may be Menandrou or Tsaldari. Head that way, and make your way back east toward the van.

  Cameron motioned for the others to wait downstairs. “Wait until I check topside.”

  He stepped outside and ran to the end of the alley. There was a policeman standing with his back to him a few meters away from the entrance. Cameron glanced both ways, making sure the coast was clear, and then leaped out, putting one hand on the policeman’s mouth and one below an armpit. He dragged the man back inside the alley, lifted him up, and slammed him on the cobblestone. He quickly rummaged through the man’s possessions and took his pistol and spare magazines.

  “Hey guys, the coast is…” Cameron looked behind him and saw the entire group standing there, staring at him. “…clear.”

  Their faces were a mixture of horror and shock and fear. He took a step toward them and all of them—save for Seth and Emily—took a step back.

  Chris stepped in front of the group as if protecting them from him. “Listen, Sun, a couple of us have been talking. You assaulted a bunch of cops. We didn’t sign up for this. I can’t have a criminal record. My dad will kill me. We want to go back to the campus.”

  “This whole country isn’t safe,” Cameron said.

  “I was safe until I followed you. Give us the van keys.” Chris held out his hand. “I think if we make it back to our ride, we can make it back to the university. If Eliades tries to bust us for stealing the van, I’m throwing you under the bus for that one.”

  “Chris…” Cameron said.

  Let them go. You cannot help those who do not wish to be helped. Besides, the smaller the group, the better.

  Cameron bit his lips, and then handed the keys over. “Good luck. Stay off the main roads if you can.”

  Chris nodded. “I don’t know what the hell you’re up to, Sun, but good luck to you too.” He glanced back behind him. “Who’s coming with me?”

  To Cameron’s surprise, only Nick and two others stepped forward. The rest stayed put. Chris looked over at Emily and
held out his hand. Emily didn’t miss a beat as she crossed her arms and stayed standing next to Cameron. At that very moment, he adored his best friend.

  With a shrug, Chris, still dragging that giant hard-shell luggage with the bottom scraping against the ground, led Nick and the two girls in the other direction. Before they turned the corner, Cameron heard Chris ask Nick if he knew how to drive stick.

  Nick did not.

  And then there were six. Seven with Nazar.

  Cameron was losing them one by one. Some kind of leader he turned out to be. Every friend that abandoned him felt like a personal failure. There was a shout from around the corner. He turned to the rest of the group. “Anyone else want to leave or have something to say?” When no one responded, he nodded. “Okay.” Cameron looked down the street and pointed. “Let’s go.”

  Actually…

  He pointed the other direction. “That way.”

  Escape

  On Tao’s advice, Cameron herded everyone west of Ira’s Hearth at a full sprint. The group tried valiantly to maintain the hard pace he kept while lugging their backpacks, duffel bags, briefcases, and carry-ons. It would have been comical if the situation weren’t so dire. After all, he had just beaten up three police officers.

  By now, evening had set on Athens. It was a moonless sky, and the faded lights from the street lamps struggled to beat back the night. Shadows and dark shapes leaped out from alleys, behind corners and garbage bins.

  Cameron didn’t call for a break until they reached an alley that led between two buildings to a parking lot behind them. The others, unused to this exertion and overstimulated from anxiety, collapsed, exhausted. The first thing Cameron did after they had a moment to catch their breath was force everyone to unload all of their excess baggage.

  It was like pulling teeth, but one by one, he was able to reduce each person to one small pack. He forced Negin to leave all of her books, which were a bunch of romance novels. He made Surrett ditch his video game system. Even Emily had a stack of fashion magazines stowed away that she claimed she had forgotten about having in her bag. Yang was the only one who steadfastly refused to leave his viola. Cameron let that one slide. For now.