The man in the blue suit climbed onto the roof of an abandoned car. He stood with his left hand in his pocket while his right hand jabbed and gestured at each word that came out of his mouth.
“As the commissioner of patrols, I’ve guided you and defended your liberties. Under my leadership, we have hunted down the cockroaches that set fires and steal our food. When this sector is finally rid of these parasites, then we will march on the other sectors and take over the Island.”
The mob cheered, and several men thrust their weapons in the air. Maya stared at Gabriel, trying to see if he was conscious. A line of dried blood ran from his nose down to his neck. His eyes were closed.
“As you know, we have captured this visitor from the outside world. Through rigorous interrogation, I have increased my knowledge of our situation. My goal is to find a way for all of us to leave this island together. Unfortunately, spies and traitors have sabotaged my plans. These two prisoners made a secret alliance with the visitor. They betrayed you and tried to find their own private means of escape. Should we allow this? Should we let them run away if we remain captive in this city?”
“No!” shouted the crowd.
“As commissioner of patrols I have sentenced these traitors to-”
“Death!”
The commissioner moved his fingers as if a fly had landed on his hand. One of his followers kicked out the stools, and the two prisoners were strangled to death, jerking at the ends of the ropes while the others mocked them. When the prisoners finally stopped moving, the leader raised his palms and quieted the crowd.
“Be alert, my wolves. Watch those around you. All the traitors have not yet been discovered-and destroyed.”
Although the man in the blue suit was supposed to be in control of the wolves, he kept jerking his head around as if he expected to be attacked. When he climbed off the car, he hurried back into the school with Gabriel and the bodyguards.
Maya remained in her hiding place as the crowd dispersed in different directions. The patrols had been unified at the moment of execution, but now everyone glanced at one another with a certain degree of wariness. The two prisoners were left hanging from the ropes, and the last patrol in the area stayed around long enough to steal the dead men’s shoes.
When everyone was finally gone, Maya crossed the empty street to the building next to the school. Some kind of bomb had exploded, and the staircase was reduced to a metal frame with a few crossbeams. Climbing with her hands and feet, Maya reached the top floor, and then jumped across a three-foot gap to the roof of the school.
When she entered the third-floor hallway, she found a skinny man with a beard chained to a radiator. He had a green silk tie around his neck, the knot pulled so tight that it looked like a noose.
The man looked unconscious, but Maya crouched beside him and jabbed his chest with the handle of her sword. He opened his eyes and smiled. “Are you a woman? You appear to be a woman. I’m Pickering, the ladies’ tailor.”
“I’m looking for the man in the wheelchair. Where did they-”
“That’s Gabriel. Everyone wants to talk to the visitor.”
“So where can I find him?”
“Downstairs-in the old auditorium.”
“How many guards?”
“There are twelve or more in the building, but only a few in the auditorium. The commissioner of patrols doesn’t trust his own wolves.”
“Can you guide me?”
Pickering shook his head. “I’m sorry. The legs won’t move.”
Maya nodded and began to walk away. “Remember my name,” the man said. “I’m Mr. Pickering. Gabriel’s friend.”
Standing at the top of the stairs, she breathed evenly and prepared herself for a long, continuous attack. Both her father and Mother Blessing had always made the distinction between observing and perceiving an enemy. Most citizens spent their lives passively observing what went on about them. In combat, you had to use all your senses and focus on your opponent, anticipating their next move.
Maya took the first flight of stairs slowly, like a student who didn’t want to go back to class. Then she heard someone moving below her and she picked up speed, taking the steps two at a time. One of the commissioner’s bodyguards was trudging upward and she caught him by surprise, driving the point of her blade through a gap in his ribs. A few seconds later, she reached the ground-floor hallway and ran toward two more wolves. She slashed the first guard in the neck, ducked a blow from a club, and stabbed the second wolf in the belly.
Clutching her sword, she ran into the auditorium. One of the wolves was near the front of the room. She stabbed him and leaped onto the stage. The commissioner of patrols was getting up from his desk and reaching for his revolver. Before he could aim, Maya swung the sword downward and chopped off his hand. The commissioner screamed, but she brought the blade up hard and silenced his voice forever.
She turned. And there was Gabriel in the wheelchair. He opened his eyes when she cut the ropes off his arms. “Are you all right?” she asked. “Can you stand up?”
As Gabriel opened his mouth to speak, a creaking sound came from the back of the auditorium. Four armed men had entered the room, and more followed a few seconds later. Six wolves faced her. Seven. Eight. Nine.
43
Gabriel got up from the wheelchair and took a few clumsy steps toward the men. “What about the food?” he asked. “Now that the commissioner is dead, you can have all the food that you want. The storage room is on the other side of the courtyard.”
The wolves glanced at one another. Maya thought they might attack, but then the man standing closest to the exit slipped out of the auditorium. Everyone lowered their weapons and hurried after him.
Gabriel reached out and touched Maya’s arm, then smiled as if they were back in the Chinatown loft. “Are you really here, Maya? Or maybe I’m just having another dream…”
“It’s not a dream. I’m here. I found you.”
Maya placed her sword back in its sheath and embraced him. She could tell that he had lost weight. His body was fragile and weak.
“We can’t stay here,” Gabriel said. “Once they divide up the food, they’ll come looking for us.”
“So they’re like human beings back in our world? They can get hungry and thirsty?”
“And they can die.”
Maya nodded. “I saw the execution in front of the building.”
“These people can’t remember their past,” Gabriel said. “They have no memories of love or hope or any other kind of happiness.”
Gabriel put his arm around her shoulder, and Maya helped him out of the auditorium. Out in the hallway, they stumbled past the two men she had killed.
“How did you get here? You’re not a Traveler.”
“I used an access point.”
“What does that mean?”
Maya told him about the sundial of the Emperor Augustus and her journey to Ethiopia with Simon Lumbroso. She decided not to mention that the Tabula had attacked Vine House and almost killed his Free Runner friends. There was a time for these revelations, but not now-when they had to escape.
Gabriel opened a door to a room filled with rows of green file cabinets. A musty smell reminded Maya of old books rotting in a cellar. The only light came from two gas flares burning from pipes that had been ripped out of the walls.