Lia's files 2_Heading down south

by Kathrin Kilambya

  “It took Nin and Yuki about an hour to find me, once I had contacted them. I was soaking wet by then and feeling very low. Nin was really cute and protective. He offered to go beat Steve up. He was seriously troubled by the whole affair. But I told him to just ignore it and forget Steve. He’d tried to humiliate me. And had certainly succeeded. But I just wanted to forget that all. What I didn’t understand then is why he did all this? Why could he not just leave it be? Why did he have to lash out verbally to such extremes? Why did he threaten us all that much? Because I had witnessed how Dad had bust his grand ideas and giving him a heavy set-down? Maybe. But why did he hate us so much? As I quit university soon after that, I never again met him. And, as I said, now in hindsight it all makes sense, doesn’t it?”

  “If ever I get hold of this swine, I’ll wring his neck, I swear.” Josh muttered wrathfully, fists clenched. “How dare he! And why didn’t you file a case against him? After all, he threatened you and your family with violence!”

  I was taken aback a little by this. It was touching and, stupidly, heart-warming to see that somebody should feel that protective about me. Another cloud of butterflies took of within my stomach and it must have showed, because Winter giggled and Josh calmed down when he saw my face. He held my gaze with so much love in his that I felt myself blush.

  “Calm down, bro.” Rob clapped Josh on the shoulder. “It’s water under the bridge. Should we happen on Steve and his lot, you are certainly welcome to finish him off. But stop harassing Lia, it’s none of her fault and she behaved laudably throughout that whole affair. The way I see it.”

  Josh looked abashed but his smouldering eyes still locked with mine. He reached out for my hand and pressed a kiss onto my palm. “Sorry Lia. I didn’t mean to shout at you. It’s just. The thought that something might happen to you! It’s unbearable! And that that swine …”

  He heaved a sigh, obviously trying to get a grip on himself.

  It made me smile. That seemed to help him, because he suddenly relaxed and managed a small grin himself. “Ah, Lia! I love you! Please take care of yourself, for the sake of my sanity, will you?”

  “Promised. And by the way, I love you more than words can say. But to get back to my story, I think I got my revenge on Steve when I gave him the run-around that day I left our house in Muri, don’t you think?”

  I pulled his hand closer and kissed his palm.

  Josh didn’t look convinced but smiled at me anyhow.

  Then I looked at them all and said. “That’s all there is to that story with Steve. Why he hates Dad and us so much, is still a complete mystery to me. But what I really would like to know is how and why he ended up with this Nemesis collective in the first place. Maybe we’ll be able to get some insight from all these papers here. So, let’s have a closer look, shall we?”

  “Wait. Just one more question, Lia.” Rob insisted. “I guess, it’s okay if we tell Paul about all of this, isn’t it? We all need to be on the same page with regard to these Nemesis people. The more information we have, the better. We might gain some useful insight just by knowing how they think and who they are.”

  “Of course, Paul must know.” I answered and bent to pick up some more of the identity papers. We’d had enough talk about Steve and ancient histories. I wanted to move on now, least of all because of the looks Josh gave me. Clearly, he wouldn’t let this all rest. He was still seething with indignation. I gave his hand a gentle squeeze and smiled at him soothingly, but even though he answered my smile, he didn’t look entirely convinced.

  Ah well, I guess I would feel the same if I were in his shoes.

  Meanwhile, Winter had had a closer look at the documents and informed us what she had found out so far:

  “These papers here are all of the same kind like the passports you just had a look at.” She pointed to a little pile she had formed. “I have had a look at them before. All in all, there are passports for eleven people. And all of these people belong to that cell Middle Europe.”

  With a feeling of fascination and horror, we leafed through these passports. Indeed, all of the passport holders were from Middle Europe; they were all male and young, not one above 35 years old.

  “Look!” Josh suddenly said. “All these passports were issued on the 16th of March, just one day prior to the global onslaught of the Nemesis. Whatever for? Do you think that they need identification papers among themselves?”

  “And their place of issue? Is any indicated?” Rob asked, bending forward to have a closer look.

  “Several in fact. See here, the one of Steve for example was issued in London, whereas several others were apparently issued in Zurich, two in Frankfurt and four in Paris. Which probably means that they have had cells all over Europe, don’t you think?”

  Josh gave the passports to Rob to peruse, but Rob took just a precursory glance at them and laid them aside. He was obviously more interested in the other material from the box.

  While Josh took a closer look at the various maps we’d found, Rob had a go at the pile with the statistics. Meanwhile, Winter and I tackled the manual-pile.

  We hadn’t yet gotten very far when Alice came dancing along the corridor, shouting excitedly. “We have just finished the Mediterranean! We are over Africa now!”

  She jumped onto my back and slung her arms around my neck, kissing me. Then she went to Josh, but didn’t quite dare to simply jump on him. He saw her hesitate and held out his arms for her. With a shout of utter joy, she jumped toward him and he caught her in mid-air. She squealed with delight and he laughed out, too. “Alice, little tiger; it seems you are alright.”

  “It’s wonderful, we are almost there! Come and see, all of you.” She wriggled free from Josh’s embraced and pulled him toward the cockpit. We all obliged her and went in front to see where we were heading.

  Paul and Nin greeted us with a grin. Yuki had woken up, too, and was sitting close to Nin, clearly as excited as Alice.

  “Lia, look, we’ve already crossed the Mediterranean. It’s not that far anymore. And Nin says that we have fuel for all the way down to Kenya. Just imagine! We may be there within just a few hours, maybe tomorrow!”

  She looked flushed and excited and I hated to bust her bubble, so I kept quiet and motioned for Winter to say nothing because I had seen her sceptical look. Rob, too, refrained from comment.

  Josh, however, would have none of this. After one calculating look at Nin, who looked rather helpless in the face of this joint and misplaced enthusiasm, he tackled Yuki.

  “Yuki, don’t delude yourself. You know full well that we’ve still a huge distance to cover. We may have made it across the Mediterranean. That is certainly wonderful news. But don’t imagine yourself in Kenya before we’re actually there.”

  This wiped the smile from her face and she struggled to keep the tears back.

  Instantly Nin started to growl at Josh and Alice wailed that she wanted Mum, and now, at this instant!

  What a conundrum!

  Winter moved in and tried to make Alice see reason. “Look, Alice, little tiger. Why don’t you let Paul show you how to navigate that plane? And don’t you worry.” she added when she saw that her words didn’t have much effect. “We will get you to your Mum. That’s a promise. It just won’t happen in a day. You know.”

  Paul added. “I’d certainly love to fly this plane all the way to Nairobi. We’d have enough fuel. That’s not the problem. It’s just not a wise course of action. I think. We have about another seven hours of daylight left. I think we should land somewhere before it gets dark. Plus, I think it’s far too risky to fly all the way to Kenya. We might as well advertise who we are and where we are heading over the radio. We need to touch down some other place, far away from our actual destination. Preferably a place so far away from Nairobi that it won’t raise any suspicions about our real destination even if this plane were found later by Nemesis people. But, of course, still close enough so that we can reach Blue-Hill-Farm within a week or two.”

>   “A week or two?” Yuki exclaimed in dismay.

  And of course, this set Alice off like anything again. She was wound up, nervous. It had all been too much for her and she wanted Mum now more than ever.

  “Mum! Lia, I want Mum! I am afraid! Lia!” She was sobbing heart-wrenchingly now.

  Knowing that it would take her a while to get a grip on herself, I bent down to pick her up and carried her toward the back of the plane where I could sit down with her on my lap. She hid her face in the hollow of my neck and cried. “Lia, where is Mum? Where are we going? I want to go home!”

  “Shh, shh, it’s okay, Alice.” I held her tight and tried to calm her. “You don’t have to be afraid. We’ll get to Mum and Nate. We are on our way to them. You know that. It’s just going to take a little while longer than you thought. But we’ll reach them soon.”

  “But I want Mum now! You said we’d be there soon. I don’t want to wait anymore! I want Mum!”

  Seeing that she needed to get it all out of her system, I refrained from reasoning with her and just held her and let the crying take its course; patting her back and humming a tune, hoping that this would calm her down enough to fall asleep.

  Yuki had followed us and sat down beside me. She looked at me, her eyes pleading and searching. “Do you really think that it will still take us weeks to reach Blue-Hill-Farm?”

  I nodded. “There’s no use pretending, Yuki. We are not yet there, not by a long chalk. This journey is dangerous, despite the ease with which we have covered all those hundreds of kilometres so far. And you know it. So, really, don’t delude yourself.”

  She heaved a big sigh and looked down at her hands that she was knotted ceaselessly.

  “I just wish we would be there soon! I am so scared of all of this. You can’t imagine, Lia. I want to reach Blue-Hill-Farm, your Mum and mostly Aunt Kamene as soon as possible…” Her voice trailed off.

  “What do you mean?” I was suddenly alarmed. “Is something the matter with you? With the baby? Yuki? Are you alright?”

  “No, no, Lia! No need to worry. It’s nothing like that. Really!” She quickly added when she saw the doubt in my eyes. “Really and honestly. It’s just that I would feel so much safer if I were with Aunt Kamene already. I am weary and tired, often so tired. I just would like to reach Blue-Hill-Farm soon.”

  “We all do, Yuki. But Paul was right. We can’t risk landing too close to it, or even to Kenya. We mustn’t give away our final destination. We have no idea whether and how the Nemesis might track this plane and our flight. They may soon enough find us. We must be prepared.”

  “What makes you say this? Anything you found among their luggage?” Yuki was alarmed now and I cursed myself for having spoken out loud what I secretly feared.

  “No, no, just being my usual suspicious self.” I answered evasively. No need to frighten her unduly. Should my suspicions prove wrong, so much the better. Otherwise, it would still be soon enough to tell her.

  Yuki didn’t look convinced but refrained from asking further explanations.

  Alice snuggled up to me now, hiccupping from all the crying. She snuffled and wet my t-shirt with her tears. But I let her. She was calming down. Finally, she started to breath in such a way that I knew she would fall asleep soon.

  Good! Let her sleep some hours. She was a brave one. I knew that she’d manage.

  Just let us find a safe place to land, gather our gear, find some suitable means of transport and roads that will lead toward Kenya. Please! I whispered silently to myself. Please!

  Yuki sat twisting a strand of her long black hair, forcing herself to breath deep, calming herself with a great effort. I reached over to her and clasped her hand in mine. She squeezed it tight in answer to my unspoken words and forced a smile.

  “I am alright, Lia, really, I am.”

  “The hell you are. And don’t you try to fool me, or Nin, for that matter. He was shaken, before, by your little fit.”

  It wasn’t exactly fair to play that card. But I knew that it would help her get a grip on herself. Apart from her baby, Nin was the one priority in her life. She didn’t want him disturbed or distracted, certainly not by her behaviour.

  She shot me a quizzical look and then, suddenly, grinned. “Lia, you certainly know how to press my buttons! You don’t play fair!”

  “Never said I would. I am just trying to help you cope.” I grinned back affectionately.

  “And it helps. Thanks heaps, sis! What would I do without you?” She replied and gave my hand a good squeeze. “I guess, I better back to Nin then; to make him see that I am alright. Will you be okay with Alice?”

  “Sure, sure, no problem. Just you go and calm Nin before he comes looking for you.”

  She bent quickly to kiss Alice’s hair, patted me on my back and headed back to the cockpit.

  Alice was asleep by now, breathing quietly, snuggled up on my lap, her face hidden in my chest. I folded my arms around her and enjoyed the feeling of holding her, feeling the intense warmth her small body radiated.

  And making plans how I would and could protect her. Once the Nemesis collective, or rather, Steve, would come looking for us. For I was sure, he wouldn’t let go. They would find out, probably sooner rather than later, what had happened. Even if this Chris and his lot would try to cover up their mistakes. Eventually, probably already by now, the truth would dawn on them. And then, they would try to get us, wouldn’t they? Could they track this plane? Was there some inbuilt transmitter or device that would allow them to locate that plane? I must ask Paul. We mustn’t land anywhere too close to Kenya. Otherwise, Steve would guess who we were and where we were heading. Surely they wouldn’t put up with the theft of their plane and all their things, especially that box with the Pathogen and those documents, just so. They’d try to recapture everything and find out who we were. At least, that’s what I would do, were I in their shoes. It couldn’t be that easy. Us getting away, I mean.

  “Hey, what are you brooding over?” Josh sat down next to me, smiling, but his eyes asking how we were doing here.

  “It’s okay! She’s asleep now.” I whispered.

  He took my hand and held it in his, tracing the lines in my palm with his fingers. Gently, caressingly. I sighed happily and he smiled at me wistfully.

  “You know, Lia; this feels all very surreal. I mean, us being up here in the air, on our way to Kenya. After all the many things that happened today and yesterday. I can understand that Yuki and Alice freaked out a bit just now. There’s been just too much happening lately. Not that I want to complain about it, there was too much sheer bliss involved.” He looked at me tenderly, lovingly.

  How right he was, and I told him so. He smiled and replied. “I can hardly wrap my head around all the things that have happened; it’s really crazy. I for one am rather shaken by it all. However focused and forward-minded I may usually be. I can very well understand that for little Alice it is all simply too much. By the way, Lia, I love you. What we had yesterday, it will forever stay in my mind, my heart, my entire being.” With this he lifted my hand to plant a tender kiss on my palm.

  Yes, the same applied to me. I would never forget those blissful moments together we’d been granted yesterday. It had come totally unexpectedly and, somehow, this made it all the more special. My thoughts lingering on what had happened there down by the little brook, I smiled wistfully. And Josh, forever picking up my moods, locked his gaze with mine and pressed another fervent kiss on my palm.

  “You made me so happy, Lia.” He whispered. The intensity of his gaze made me feel self-conscious and I blushed, which made him gently touch my cheeks. “How I love it when your cheeks give away your feelings. You are adorable when you’re self-conscious, Lia.”

  How much conflicting sentiments could one heart bear?

  One moment anxiety for Alice and our all well-being, the next instant utter bliss and romantic happiness because the one person I truly loved was with me, loved me too and didn’t seem to get tired to show
and tell me. It proved to be almost too much for me now and, with a shy smile, I tried to reach safer, more neutral ground.

  “Did Nin and Paul say something about where they are heading now? Do they have any idea where we should or could land?”

  When I saw the hurt in Josh’s eyes, I dropped my guard and added, “Sorry, I didn’t want to hurt you, Josh. It’s really been too much happening lately and I feel overwhelmed with the happiness of being with you and the nerve-raking situation we are in right now. We are a sitting duck right now. As I said before. If the nemesis people start searching for us they will certainly find us. And then what? I would feel so much safer had we already reached our destination, landed somewhere and were on our way down there somewhere. This uncertainty is getting to me, you know. And when I am nervous I tend to try to hide it. I didn’t mean to fob you off or to disregard your feelings. Oh, the heck, I am really sorry, Josh.”

  Josh relaxed at this. He traced some lines on my palm with his fingers and pensively answered. “I know, Lia. I understand. It’s basically the same with me. I will be very thankful once we have landed and can continue this journey ever so less conspicuously on the ground. As to your question of before. When I left Paul and Nin they were discussing the merits of Khartoum versus another place closer to the border with Ethiopia, I can’t remember its name. Paul is all for Khartoum and Nin for that other spot. His argument being that we’d be much less obtrusive there. Paul saying it was exactly otherwise; Khartoum being the safe choice and that little spot way too obvious. Though, how he would come to that conclusion, beats me, honestly.

  “I am in favour of Nin’s choice and, I think, so are Rob and Winter. For once we all agree that Paul’s motto of doing in plain sight what you actually intend to hide might not work here. If we knew how hard hit Khartoum was by the Pathogen, the death toll it has had to face and all this. Now, that would be another matter. But as it stands, I think it would be safer to land near a smaller town.”