Dawnrunner

Chapter 17

“After the raid at Istanbul, you and your colleagues were taken as prisoners of the rebels in the area…” From behind his glasses, Stein’s eyes flick back and forth from his desk to me. “What can you tell me of the place where they took you?” A large computer screen sits to one side, ignored in preference for a thick file and a notepad, in which my interrogator makes countless entries. I try to keep my face calm and my voice level as I respond.
“They took the Dawnrunner to a city. We were blindfolded and taken out of the carriages, and then moved in jeeps.” Certain details are fast approaching, details which I hesitate to share with the special-investigator.
“Do you know which city?” he asks coldly.
“I’m… not sure,” I lie. Stein lifts his eyebrow by a millimetre as his eyes flick towards the file. He closes it, and it occurs to me that he probably has the contents memorised. Or worse, he wrote most of it himself.
“Sofia,” he says finally. “Formerly of Bulgaria.” My heart doesn’t know if it should start racing harder or stop altogether. What else does he know?
“That sounds familiar.” Hopefully half-truths will be enough to make me sound sincere.
There’s a brief pause in which Stein says nothing, seemingly content just to stare at me.
“What happened after the jeeps stopped? Were you immediately confined?”
I swallow nervously and consider my answer. If he doesn’t believe I’m against the resistance, then I won’t be able to complete my mission, I won’t be able to help Michael. By now he’ll know that Commander Rayne is dead, so there’ll be no harm in my giving that away. Besides, if I don’t tell him, someone else from the train will.
“Miss Webb, what happened when you reached Sofia?” There’s a tension in his voice that wasn’t there a second ago, pushing me to respond.
“When we arrived,” I begin, letting the memories of that night flood through me, “they tied us up in a courtyard. The soldiers from the train were there, and a man, Rayne.”
“Commander Rayne?” It sounds more like a correction than a question.
“Yes. He was there…” My voice breaks in exactly the right place as I finish my retelling: “They shot him!” They, not him, not Michael, not even Lazarus. I want to keep the conversation as far away from him as I can.
“The rebels killed the Commander, right in front of you all?”
I nod, saying nothing. In truth those memories do hurt, so it isn’t difficult to give Stein the performance I know he’s looking for.
“Well, I’m very grateful those mindless killers came to their senses before any more innocent lives were lost.” I wince at the GE propaganda spin and decide the time is right to try my exit-strategy. I push a few tears to the surface as I lean towards the desk.
“Please, Mr. Stein. Going over all of this so soon is too much. I just need to rest.”
Something crosses his face, a look that on anyone else may have passed for sympathy.
“Of course,” he says. “I understand. The guard outside will show you to where you will be staying.”
I stand, letting the grateful relief wash over me.
“Just one more thing, Miss Webb.” I don’t turn around but stay facing the door as he talks. “It has come to my attention that these rebels are being controlled by a particularly dangerous man, a man who personally lead the attack in Istanbul. I believe he calls himself… Lazarus.”
All at once my heart plummets and my feet turn to lead. I’m frozen in place, staring at the door, so close and yet so utterly unreachable.
“Miss Webb?” The voice is cold and hard and totally unyielding. Without wasting another moment I turn on the spot to meet his fierce gaze.
“I don’t know anyone like that. I was just a prisoner.” That’s it, no going back now.
Stein’s face gives away nothing as he pushes the file away without so much as a glance down.
“Thank you, Miss Webb. That will be all.”

Somewhere in this city there exists a reason why the Commander-General himself was willing to abandon the absolutely safety of the Sanctuary Island and risk travelling halfway across the world to get to Amsterdam. On my way to my quarters, I try to find out what I can from the guard escorting me.
“The GE presence in Amsterdam is the first step to extending the safety and protection provided by the Australian Sanctuary to those in need here in Europe…” I turn away and roll my eyes as the prepared speech comes rolling out like a memorised mantra. I’m just about to give up on the soldier completely when something in the message triggers an idea, stopping me in my tracks.
“Extending the protection… how?” I ask, letting just enough genuine curiosity creep into my voice. “I don’t see any dome like what they built on Australia.”
The guard blinks unsurely like a door-to-door salesman being asked to come inside. “I’m sorry Miss, but that information is classified for the time being.” Any trace of expression vanishes from his face as the military training kicks in and he shuts down altogether. I follow my escort quietly the rest of the way, satisfied with my prodding for the time being.

The apartments look more like a converted office block than actual living quarters, consisting of a drab building several stories high separated from the rest of the city by a high fence. Unlike the central offices, this fence has no sentries, just a thoroughly bored-looking watchman.
Once inside, I am lead to a small room with a single military-issue bed. The faded blinds are pulled down, concealing a view across the city. I’m vaguely aware of the guard’s efforts to describe the location of the shared bathroom and kitchen, and after a few minutes he gives up and leaves.
Anxiously I wait for Rachel to arrive. In my head I replay the conversation with Stein over and over again, trying to find answers which could be undermined by the other passengers. For the thousandth time I pray to Rachel, telling her not to give anything away about Lazarus.
I spend a long time watching the sun set slowly behind the city, casting a multitude of colours over the buildings. It’s almost enough to make me forget about the situation I’ve gotten myself into, trapped in the middle of a strange war. The clicking of Rachel’s shoes coming down the hallway pull my back to my reality. When she gets to the door she’s holding her pink backpack. I hadn’t even noticed my purple one sitting in the corner of the room. We hug on sight and wait for the guard to leave before talking.
“What did you tell him?” I ask anxiously.
“Stein? Nothing, of course. He was beyond creepy!”
I smirk a little. “I know. I can’t believe someone like that is in control of this place.” The tightness in my chest returns with a vengeance. “Did he ask you about Lazarus?”
“Yeah, right at the end. It was strange though.”
“Why? What did he say?”
“He wanted to know if you talked to him. Not me, you.” I try to speak but my throat is too tight.
“Don’t worry,” Rachel says. “I didn’t tell him anything. I’ve seen how that Lazarus guy looks at you.”
My face goes as red as the city in the setting sunlight. “It’s… not like that,” I manage weakly.
Rachel smiles her best disarming smile. “Carli, you’re my sister, and I not saying I approve, but whatever’s going on with you two... I’ll back you up.” I’m beaming as she holds up her backpack. “Now come on, we’ve got work to do!”

Our belongs have all been removed and repacked, and several items are missing, but the majority of the things that survived the de-tour through Sofia are now spread out on the floor in our apartment. Among the things that are gone are any and all electronics.
“Well, I guess we won’t be calling them,” I mumble aloud.
“Don’t be so sure,” Rachel replies, glancing over her shoulder before picking up her nail-file.
“What are you going to do with that?”
“You’ll see.” She’s wearing her patented I-know-something-you-don’t-know grin. A quick step later and she stops in front of a device set into the wall.
“It’s a wireless intercom,” she explains, already at work unscrewing the front panel. “We have one just like it back at the labs.”
“How come I’ve never seen it?” I ask, bubbling on annoyed.
“It’s just between the labs, so we can communicate without breaking quarantine… there!” The panel slides of and is carried gently to the floor, revealing an array of wires inside. Rachel quickly sets to work reorganising what looked like several key components.
“Tanya showed me how to do this before we left. We’ll get one shot, so we have to wait until we know as much as possible.” I stand, speechless, watching the deft fingers of the would-be criminal mastermind at work.
“You can do all this, and run the scanners back home, but you won’t let me teach you how to download torrents?”
Rachel’s grin reaches its full flourish as she replaces the cover panel. “Ok, it’s ready. Now we need a message. Where should we start?”
The last rays of light from the sun draw my gaze out the window and over the rooftops.
“I think I know just the place.”