Ntshona (12 page)

Lon told him, and a few seconds later his information was onscreen in the same format as Eve’s.

Strys scrolled down to the ‘Criminal Status’ section.

‘Potential Terrorist’ read the status.

Lon had expected something along those lines, seeing that he had been pursued all morning along with Eve. He leant towards the monitor to read the status comments. “This person has a close relationship with terrorist Evelyn Chen, who is directly linked to an as yet unknown terrorist cell, likely from China, responsible for multiple kidnappings and murders in the Ntshona area. Furthermore this man has attacked and injured numerous Ntshona police personnel using short range and long range weapons. He is believed to be in possession of a multitude of firearms. Approach with extreme caution”. He let out a large sigh. “Well, at least
…” he took in a deep breath and tried to steady his trembling, “at least we left an impression”.

Chapter 6

Many minutes past as Lon consoled Eve while Cat and Strys conferred privately in a separate room about the situation.

“How will we get our friends back if we’re considered terrorists?” Eve cried bitterly, the tears dampening her lap.

Lon gently lifted her face by her chin, looked her straight in the eyes and said with confidence, “We
will
get them back”.

This was impossible for her to believe. How could he be so confident? Was he stupid? Did he not understand what was happening? Yet, somehow, there was a connection between them at that point so strong that Eve changed her mind to be more in accordance to his.

The door to the workroom opened, and in returned Strys and Cat.

Immediately Cat spoke. “This situation is very complicated”.

Really? Lon refocussed his attention. He wanted to comment sarcastically, yet thought it better not to. “In what way?”

“We can’t explain everything clearly at the moment, but the way things have turned out may not be completely negative”.

Eve too realigned her attention towards Cat. “How isn’t this negative?”

Cat sighed. “Like I said, it’s not easy to explain now”.

“Why not?” asked Lon. Why did it seem like she was stalling for time?

Strys answered, “Because it really is quite complicated. Put it this way, if we explain it wrong, we might affect our chances”.

This intrigued Lon. “Chances?”

Strys looked for backup from Cat.

“Just trust us on this, we’ll explain properly later,” she said.

Eve dried her tear-soaked chin with the back of her hand, sniffed, and said “Isn’t there something you can explain to us now?”

Strys took his seat. “There are many secrets in this city”.

“So we’ve been told,” said Lon.

“Yeah, well it’s true. There are a lot of secrets in the whole country, in fact. The government does a lot of bad things”.

“We’ve noticed that,” said Lon.

“No, we still don’t know if the government is truly involved in what happened to you two. But we do know that the government has been doing other terrible things for a long time”.

“Like what?” asked Eve.

“It’s pointless telling you everything,” said Cat, “because we don’t have proof. We want to expose them, but haven’t had a proper chance until now”.

“Now?” repeated Lon.

“Yes, but again, it’s best if we don’t tell you everything now”.

Lon and Eve did not know how they should feel.

“Anyway,” said Strys, “It’s getting close to evening now, I think you two need a proper rest, and you need to see a doctor about your injury,” he was looking at Eve.

She looked back confoundedly, “What injury?”

“Didn’t you guys tell her?” Strys looked at Lon, then Cat, then back to Lon.

“Shame man! Eina! It looks sore!”

Eve was still confused.

“Yeah
… Eve,” said Lon, “you’ve got a massive bruise on your face”.

“Huh?! Have I?!” she touched her right cheek where she had earlier been struck by the policeman and his baton. “Ow!” she did not notice until that point that there was any pain. The adrenaline must have kept it numb until it became unnoticeable without a touch. “Why didn’t anyone tell me? I feel stupid”.

“I didn’t want to alarm you,” said Lon.

She punched his arm and called him “Idiot”.

“Ow, you little sod,” said Lon, to which Eve gave a slight smile.

“Right then, we’re going to the hospital,” stated Cat.

“Which one?” Eve asked.

“There’s one on the way back to the city that I think would be the best place to go. It doesn’t have many ties to the government”.

Lon and Eve stood, ready to leave with Cat.

Before continuing with his work, Strys warned Cat, “Be careful, hey. If they’re looking for terrorists, they’re going to be thorough. Remember to change your plates and your paint colour regularly”.

Cat smiled at him, “Thanks for the advice, but you know I’m not stupid”.

Strys laughed. “And you two,” he addressed Lon and Eve, “you mustn’t get yourselves killed”.

“We don’t plan on it,” said Lon.

Eve simply nodded.

The three of them left the company area, passing Kaya at the reception desk.

“I hope you enjoyed working on your project! Cat, fetch me some apple pie the next time you come in, will you?”

“Of course, anything for you my dear,” replied Cat as she closed the main entrance door behind them.

The Atrium was still lit with the shine from the sun, however, it was waning. Eventide was setting in, and the shadows cast inside the building were long.

“We should be safer in the dark,” posited Cat.

“How come?” asked Lon.

“Less chance of anybody seeing my car change colour”.

They stepped into the lift which took them to lower floor of the atrium.

“How come you and Tan have that kind of paint on your cars? I thought nobody used it because it’s so expensive,” said Lon.

“Nobody uses it because it’s
illegal
,” said Cat, “that’s one of the reasons I don’t want anyone seeing me use it”.

“Oh. I take it that it’s illegal because the government or police won’t be able to track you so easily, right?”

“Exactly”.

“It’s completely understandable,” Lon said.

They entered the next lift to take them to the ground floor. Cat gave it the instructions.

“Where will we go after the hospital?” asked Eve.

“My place,” replied Cat.

“Where is your place?”

“Near the city centre, so we have to be careful”.

The lift came to an early stop and let in another passenger.

Eve turned her face to hide the hideous bruise she was now conscious of.

The inside of the lift was silent for the remainder of the journey.

Once on the ground floor, Cat, Lon and Eve alighted and went straight to the check-out console by the nearest exit, checked out using their palm screens, then left the building.

The air outside was much cooler than earlier, yet still quite warm, and the sky was already darkening.

Fewer cars were present in the parking areas around the Tech Centre, and the area’s human presence had also decreased.

As they walked towards Cat’s car, Lon could not help himself from staring at the emerging moon. Were there really people up there? Had the government actually censored so much information? He squinted in a futile effort to see the surface more clearly.

“What are you doing,” Eve asked him.

“Oh, I
…” he exhaled deeply, “I want… I mean, I… I want to go to the moon”.

“Where did that come from?” asked Cat.

“Well, ever since I was a child I’ve wanted to go to the moon, but never thought it was possible. But if what you told me is true, it’s already been done. The thing is, I won’t get the chance to go because of the restrictions put on normal citizens by the government. Not to mention the fact that they think I’m a ‘potential terrorist’”.

“Already been done?” she repeated, “It’s been possible to go to the moon for well over two-hundred years”.

“What?! You’re taking the piss now!”

“Seriously, and it’s well-known history in the rest of the world, not just ‘American propaganda’”.

Eve, too, was shocked. “How do you manage to keep information like that away from half a billion people?!”

“This is one of the
many
reasons we want government reform,” stated Cat.

“Is there anything I know that’s actually true?” asked Lon as he slowly entered the car, followed by Eve and Cat.

“Probably not,” said Cat.

The car pulled away from the parking area, and back onto the road, which was busier than in the morning due to the rush hour traffic going to and returning from the city centre.

There were so many questions Lon, as well as Eve, wanted to ask about the things they thought they knew, but were too confounded as to what topic to inquire about first. Instead, Lon decided to turn on the television screen built into the seat in front of him.

“It won’t matter if I watch TV will it? I mean, nobody’s gonna track us, right?” he wanted to be certain, despite knowing he sounded like a sarcastic child.

“Well, they can track us, but they have no reason to because they don’t know who we are right now,” said Cat.

“I take it that’s fine then”.

“Yes, you can watch TV, don’t worry”.

“Ok, I just want to check the news,” he said, and began to search through the channels for anything pertaining to that morning’s pursuit.

“Okay, but keep the volume down please, I need to make a phone call,” said Cat as she brought up a phone and keypad display in the centre of the windscreen using a panel close to the driver’s side dashboard. “Access palm screen phonebook, call West Athlone General Hospital”.

The car’s computer gave a confirmatory bleep, and started the call.

After a few moments a woman answered. “West Athlone General Hospital, how may I help you?”

“Yes, can I please talk to Dr. Gqirhana?” said Cat.

“If you would like to make an appointment with Dr. Gqirhana, I can do that for you now,” said the voice on the other end.

“Is it not possible to talk to him directly? Is he busy?”

“Just a moment please, I’ll check,” the line went silent for nearly half a minute, during which time Cat continued to drive steadily. The voice returned, “Dr. Gqirhana would like to have your name please”.

“Tell him I’m a feline friend,” said Cat.

“Excuse me?”

“Please tell him that, he’ll understand”.

“Okay, one moment,” said the voice, now confused. Another ten seconds or so passed before the voice again returned. “Okay, I’m putting you through to Dr. Gqirhana’s office”.

“Thank you,” said Cat.

Again there was a calling tone for a few seconds.

“Hello, this is Dr. Gqirhana, who am I speaking to please?”

“Hi Doctor, this is Catalina”.

“Oh, hello Cat! What can I do for you?” said the doctor.

Cat smiled. “Glad to know you still remember me”.

The doctor chuckled, “Of course I remember you Cat. So, what can I do for you?”

“Well, I need you to see someone, one of my friends, but she’s
lost
her ID”.

“Oh, she’s lost her ID has she? How unfortunate. When do you want her to be seen?”

“We’re currently on our way. Seeing as it’s rush hour, it may take more than thirty minutes. Would that be okay?”

“That’s fine,” said Dr. Gqirhana, “I don’t currently have any patients, I’m just finishing off some paperwork”.

“Great, we’ll see you soon then,” said Cat.

“I’ll be waiting for you inside the main entrance. See you when you get here!”

There was another bleep to signify the end of the call.

“How do you know it’s safe to see that doctor?” asked Eve.

“Actually, there are many staff at that hospital who we can trust, but it’s best to stick with one or two,” said Cat.

“But how do you know he’s trustworthy? How well do you know him?”

“Like I told you before, the hospital we’re going to doesn’t have many ties with the government. The reason I, and some others at offices in the Tech Centre know some of the staff there is because we built and installed their network and database system, plus a few other bits and pieces. We happen to know that a certain few doctors, including Dr. Gqirhana, are against the current government, and are willing to help those who oppose the government and are in trouble for it”.

“Lucky for us,” said Eve. “But, how often do you visit that hospital for that reason?”

Cat laughed softly. “Are you calling me a dissident?”

“Ummm
… well, going by all the things you’ve told us so far, you do, in fact, seem to be a dissident. Not to mention that you’re helping two terrorists,” said Eve.

Lon interrupted their conversation. He increased the volume of the television so the other two could hear. “I’ve found something on the news about this morning”.

“… Police are yet to issue a formal statement, however one police chief is reported to have said that ‘It’s in the public’s interest to apprehend these two people’. Some remain sceptical, however, as eyewitness footage reveals that the young woman was carrying no weapons, and was not acting in a violent or provocative manner”.

Cat brought up the feed from the same television station on the display in the centre of the windscreen, and tried to watch while driving.

The scene changed to a female witness of the incident. “He just moered the poor girl right in the face with a baton, and she hadn’t done nothing! Then a young oke, probably her boyfriend, came to protect her and moered the policeman!” The feed then cut to another witness, “Ag, man! The bloody coppers have gone too far this time, I’m telling you man!”