Part 8
Chapter 8
"It's raining."
Xe looked first at the blonde who walked at her side and then at the heavy grey clouds overhead that were pelting them with icy droplets.
"And your point?"
Gabrielle shrugged, "just an observation."
Winter had arrived and brought with it cooler temperatures. The sudden change was almost as miserable as Texas weather, Xe mused. That's what she got, she decided, for complaining about the heat, even if her complaints were only internalized.
They continued trudging through the littered streets and alleys, retracing their steps back to the university.
Ravi and Altair, who, it turned out, was a near duplicate of her brother, had been left in the hands of the government's child welfare organization; the clerk in charge of their paperwork typing furiously to complete the mandatory stack of forms before Xe's plan could be realized.
"What do we do now, Xena?"
"First we get the grandmothers and you onto a plane headed home."
"But…"
"Look, I need you to prepare Ea for me; he deserves some kind of warning don't you think? You can tell him that Christmas is coming early this year. Santa's finally acquiesced to his plea for a sibling."
Brie remained silent, watching the cracked pavement beneath her feet and forming a plan of her own.
"You know what she's going to try to do." Janice tapped her cane on Ancher's desk to emphasize her point.
"And what's that?" Mel's good nature had been sorely tested ever since they'd received word of Xe Xe's abduction. She didn't feel like playing word games with Janice any more than she felt like abandoning her grandchild to the wilds of a foreign nation.
"She's going to come up with some wonderful plan to send us packing, to get us out of Turkey."
"And we'll listen to her reasoning," Mel replied firmly. "The girl's no fool, Janice. It would probably be best for us to both remember that."
"And when have I ever ignored the girl, when has she let me? She's got a mouth on her, that one. And when she chooses to use it, heaven help anyone who tries to stand in her way." Janice rubbed a wrinkled cheek with an aged hand. She wasn't nearly so young as she'd like to be, somehow old age had managed to sneak up and catch her unaware. Her bones ached at the very thought of sleeping on a hard, lumpy hotel mattress for even one more night. And she did miss American food, she had never expected that.
"I'm pleased that your grandchildren were recovered so quickly," Ancher said, entering the room with a tea tray and doling out its contents to his old acquaintances.
"Yes, and thank you so much for your assistance," Mel sipped the tea thoughtfully. "I'm sure they'll be back soon. Then we'll leave you to your thoughts."
"Oh ladies, you've been no trouble at all. I only wish the incident had been avoided altogether."
At last the university buildings loomed into view: dark and ominous in the hazy, fading light of late afternoon. Exhausted and shivering, Xe and Gabrielle wrung rainwater from their clothes and hair, and stomped water logged boots on the slate floor tiles, leaving slick puddles in their wake. The Social Sciences building was no warmer than the chilling gusts outside, but it was decidedly drier. The lusty sounds of the grandmothers' familiar bickering did more to warm the younger women than any stove or radiator might.
"Those cigars are worse even than that sorry clump of felt you insist on calling a hat!" Xe shoved open the office door, exposing Janice and her greatest vice.
"The girl can't seem to say hello to me these days, Mel. She's always got something to complain about. Bicker, bicker, bicker! You sound more like your mother every day, girl!"
Mel rose from her chair and reached for her granddaughter's arm to lead her to a seat.
"I'm fine, Gran-Mel. Really, I am. We're just soaking wet is all."
"You're white as a sheet, Dear, and with those smudges under your eyes you look as if you were on the losing end of a cat fight."
Yeah, thought Xe, a cat fight with a whip.
"Xe has another plan," Gabrielle offered.
All eyes turned expectantly to gaze at Xe, her complexion paled further. Seeing that she wasn't in a talkative mood, Gabrielle decided to elaborate, "We're all to return home and she's going to take care of everything, all by herself."
The noise level in the office intensified and Xe had to shut tight her eyes against the throbbing pain in her temples. "I need to rest before I do anything." Squinting her eyes against the achingly bright office lights, she located Dr. Eban. "Is there a sofa or something around here that I could borrow for an hour or two?'
"Of course, if you ladies will excuse me, I have an appointment I must keep." Dr. Eban directed Xe to the adjoining, unoccupied lounge before rushing out into the chilling rain.
Grinning foolishly, Byron pushed past the exit of the last clinic. No one had seen either the elusive Xena or her blonde companion; they had somehow managed to slip safely back into oblivion. He would wait another hour or so before checking the airports, he decided, just to give them plenty of time to make their departure for parts unknown, or at least parts far distant from ancient Anatolia, Catalhoyuk and Turkey.
Xe stretched languidly, enjoying the induldgement of the movement every bit as much as Enki's ginger colored kitten did when he roused from his naps. Listening through a haze of weariness, she heard a few lines of Enki's favourite storybook, recited in his sweet, singsong voice.
"…Max the king of all wild things was lonely and wanted to be where someone loved him best of all. So he gave up being king of where the wild things are…"
"…Loved him best of all…" she repeated, reaching out to stroke Enki's silky hair.
"Mama?" Hazel eyes bored into her, brimming with excitement, "Mama!"
"Ea?" She rose uncertainly, perching on the arm of her ancient sofa. Something wasn't quite right but she couldn't pin point what it was that was wrong.
"Mama, your show…I taped it for you while you were gone. Uncle Lyall showed me how and everything." Ea grinned and drew a cassette from behind his back.
"What are you talking about? I don't watch television except after you've…" her voice trailed off as she looked down at the crudely formed letters scrawled across the label. "Ea, how did you know that I watch this?"
Shrugging noncommittally, Enki's eyes brightened. "Can we watch it together?"
"No, absolutely not. Sweet Pea, La Femme Nikita's not appropriate for someone your age, it's too dark, too violent, there's no clear-cut division between good and bad. No; maybe in ten years but definitely not now."
Her mind was so foggy: thoughts whirled and churned in an endless stream of nonsense. The violence of her television obsession blended with flashes of Turkish captivity. The grandmothers…they had asked her to do something…something dangerous…something involving Brie. That was it; she had gone to Turkey to bring Brie back home. She and Brie had been held prisoner…yes! She remembered…her rescue mission had turned sour and she'd been captured…she'd been tortured. Xe raised a hand to her shoulder: the skin was smooth, unmarred by the crack of a whip. Confusion clashed with understanding. A dream? But it had seemed so…
Realization struck. "Enki!"
The child whirled back around to face her.
No, please no...
His eyes…gone were the icy blue depths he had inherited from Gran-Mel. They were hazel now; an exact replica of Brie's…
"You have information for me?"
The professor nervously fumbled in his pockets until he at last extracted a sodden handkerchief, using it to dab at his streaming face. "Well, that is… yes…I do," he stammered.
"And how did you come by this information?"
His anxiety unabated, Dr. Eban cast a worried glance over his shoulder to the younger man who was lounging against the wall behind him. "I can't say really…no, I truly can't. I give you my word the information is correct. But I require an assurance that the two elder ladies will remain unharmed."
"Of course, Doctor. The young Ms. Cadmus will prove more than sufficient for our purposes. However, we will require some information which is available only in your beloved Dr. Covington's coveted scrolls. See to it that we gain access and the rest we will be taken care of. It is beneficial to us that we acquire the information from as few persons as possible. It decreases the likelihood of a compromising situation."
She opened her eyes to darkness and a returning awareness of blinding pain. Closing her eyes again, she tried to remember…where she was, what was happening, where her son had disappeared to, anything useful. She couldn't pin anything down; memories whirled in an endless parade of possibilities. Panic set in for a moment until she recalled running out of the building in which she and Brie had been imprisoned; they were free of their tormentors. With agonizing slowness, the events of the last week returned with crystal clarity.
Muffled voices drifted in the otherwise stiflingly silent air. Standing slightly ajar, the heavy door let dim light filter into the room, illuminating it enough to allow safe movement but not so much that it would disturb the blistering headache which had begun to blossom in her temples. The grandmothers and Brie were talking softly in the adjoining room.
God's in his heaven and all's right with the world, she mused, smiling over the hushed albeit argumentative tones of the next room's conversation. Maybe that should be the gods are on Mount Olympus and all's right with the world.
"Humph. I think I'd better stop tempting the fates…"
Slowly pushing herself up onto her hands and knees she swayed slightly and almost considered plopping back down on the sofa's musty cushions. The scratchy upholstery and lack of suitable padding put an end to her indecision. The sooner she pried herself away from her nap and got out there to find their abductors, the sooner she could go home.
"And I'm supposed to be conducting my research next week, damnit!" muttering seemed to help lessen the pain that threatened to overtake her thoughts and she continued swearing and complaining softly all the way from the sofa to the adjoining room, stopping only long enough to grasp the knob and pull the door toward her.
"How am I supposed to do participant-observation field work when I'm running around the wrong part of the globe? These people don't have any opinions about elder ethnic relations in Auckland!"
Brie was relaying her plan to the grandmothers, despite their initial disapproval, when Xe staggered into the room.
"Man, Xena Xandria. Umm, I mean…wow…" Brie was shocked at how much worse the woman looked after her nap. The circles under her eyes were darker and her complexion had become even pastier, a stark contrast to the dark hair that hung limply about her shoulders and the huge coal colored eyes that still held their usual smoldering animosity. "Well, you look just awful!"
"Thanks," Xe had to force her voice above a whisper. Clearing her throat, she continued, "We need to get to the airport as soon as possible. I probably shouldn't have wasted the time with that nap…"
"Xe Xe." Mel at last recovered from her shock. "Dear, Janice and I have agreed to fly back home, but only if you keep Gabrielle here with you."
"She's in danger here."
Janice stepped forward to join the argument, "No more so than you are. And besides, she now knows what the dangers are, she can protect herself. But heaven only knows what that father of yours will do if he ever finds out about this little adventure." She pointed her cane at her grandchild in a failed attempt at menace.
Brie nodded her head, she understood how much her grandmother worried over her, but she couldn't let Xe risk life and limb alone. She had a whole household to take care of now. "We'd better get going. The last flight to Atlanta leaves in an hour and I've already switched your return flights."
They had almost made it to the airport before the hair on the back of Xe's neck began to stand on end; she was relatively certain it wasn't due to the cold gusts of wind that buffeted them across the hazy streets, nor was it from the icy rainwater that continued to trail rivulets beneath her blouse, uncomfortable though it was. Danger lurked somewhere nearby, call it a warrior's instinct, women's intuition, or just a reasonable guess considering the reason for their presence in eastern Europe in the first place.
Hurrying her charges along the sidewalk and pushing Brie and the grandmothers into the terminal building, Xe ducked back out into the downpour. If she could draw out whoever it was that was following them, she just might be able to get some answers; observing an unoccupied recessed doorway, she tried to blend in with the deepening shadows of evening.
Gabrielle stood sputtering her dissent at being left behind to an inattentive audience of reservation clerks and customs officials. The grandmothers stood close to the ticket counter, seeming to enjoy the scene the girl was making. The young woman's eyes were blazing with unfathomable fury. Janice smothered her chortle in a fist, masking it with a half-hearted cough.
"She just left me behind," the livid blonde demanded, "didn't she?!"
"Indeed she did, Sugar." Mel was curious to see what the girl would do next and stood beside her old friend eager to watch the fireworks begin.
"Well, I never…yes I…she used to…of all the nerve…"
"You sure you're alright, Brie? You seem to be having trouble forming a complete thought." Janice tapped out a syncopating rhythm on the grungy linoleum. "Maybe that hit she took to the head was worse than we thought, Mel."
"I'm fine!" Gabrielle slammed her fist down on the counter, "Give me that damned trench coat that I know you brought," she insisted, indicating the travel bag at the women's feet. Snatching the garment from her grandmother's proffered hand, she spun around to face the exit, and stomped back across the room, a telltale trail of rainwater pooling behind her. She turned again to face the pair of elderly women before returning to the inclement weather. "If I'm not back, if we're not back, before your flight departs, you two had better be on it anyway. No waiting around here, changing flights and risking mortal harm." she demanded angrily, "agreed?"
"Yes, Darlin'. We understand and agree."
"Humph!" Gabrielle's grumbles faded into the rain as she departed the terminal in search of Xe, a string of inventive curses trailing in her wake. The street was devoid of her companion, the street was pretty much empty of all pedestrians, and Gabrielle nearly began to shout out the woman's name when she caught a glimpse of a tanned arm, bare to the inclement weather. She reached Xe's side just as Byron also stepped into the alcove.
His eyes widened at the pair of women standing before him, they resembled drowned rats more than anything else, and he had to shelve his desire to offer them drier accommodations. He was baffled however, at the reasons for their presence in the street. He had hoped they would be airborne, peacefully crossing the Atlantic. Why were they still hanging around? And how could he manage to get them on a plane without revealing his own guilt in their danger?
"I'm sorry, I didn't see you here. The rain has made me a bit single minded, I'm afraid." He tipped his head slightly, and looked into startled hazel eyes. "Gabrielle! I didn't recognize you. You must be freezing."
The blonde grinned up at him, her eyes sparkling with recognition and delight. "Byron! What a surprise! What are you doing here?"
"Sadly, the rainy season has deposed us from the site. But you, how are you doing? They wouldn't really tell us anything other than you were missing. Did you opt for a holiday and dump the site jeep to throw us off your trail?" Byron teased as he watched unnamed emotions soar across the young woman's face. He regretted his continued deception but it would have to persist until both the women were safely gone.
"Brie!" Xe hissed through teeth clinched in anxiety.
"Kinda," she ran her free hand through dripping hair. Byron had been so kind and helpful during her first weeks at Catalhoyuk and she felt herself warming again to his outgoing personality, it was such a stark and pleasant contrast to that of her brooding companion. "This is a friend of mine." She offered, pointing toward Xena even as she draped the loose coat across the woman's shoulders. "Xe, Byron was at the sight before all that other stuff happened." Xe's expression caught her off guard. At Byron's initial appearance she had been surprised, but then something darker had crossed her eyes. Gabrielle couldn't pin point the emotion but was aware it wasn't pleasant.
"Well, I'm in a bit of a hurry, I'm afraid." Byron bowed slightly to the two women. Xe's expression was making him incredibly nervous. If he didn't know better, he'd swear that she was perfectly aware of his part in their abductions. Smiling at Gabrielle, he turned and walked back out into the rain.
"Who was that?" Xe's voice sounded strained, nearly drowned out by the noise of the downpour, it was so soft.
"That was just Byron," Gabrielle turned to watch his slowly retreating form. "Like I said, he was at the site, at Catalhoyuk. He was probably the nicest person there, very attentive." A slow smile spread across her lips, followed by a crimson blush when she noticed Xe's close scrutiny. "I'm young!" she exclaimed, exasperation once again encroaching on her temperament, "I'm supposed to behave foolishly! You did!"
"Yeah, you've got that right, I did behave foolishly." Xe rounded on her, "I believed a man's lies because I was physically attracted to him. I didn't want to delve any deeper into our relationship than was absolutely necessary. And for my youthful transgressions I nearly cost Granma Janice a lifetime of research, Gran-Mel almost lost her life altogether and I have a son who can never see his father!" Xe's anger bubbled over into the heavy air in the alcove, oppressive as the rain-laden skies.
"What are you talking about?"
"Byron. I know his voice." Xe leaned wearily back against the wall, suddenly more exhausted than she had been in a long while. Memories of her long pregnancy on the grandmothers' site flooded her senses; fear, panic, unwavering animosity: they all waged war against her senses yet again. The voices, why had she not been able to recognize them when she'd first heard them? How could she have blocked the memory so thoroughly from her mind?
"Xe?" Gabrielle's concern broke through her musings. "What is it? What's going on?"
"I never met his brother." The rest was long in coming, Xe was still having difficulty comprehending the entire situation. "He spoke about him periodically, but his brother was away at school when I knew him. I should have remembered his name though…" She shook her head to discourage the questions Gabrielle wanted to pose, continuing instead with her rambling half-explanation. "I know who they are. And I know what they want and why they're trying to use us to get it."
"Don't leave me in the dark."
"They want to claim the grandmothers' accomplishments as their own, expose them as some kind of fraud."
Gabrielle was confused, "but how can they do that?"
"I'm not sure. I wasn't sure six years ago either, I just knew what their intentions were. Now though, we have a slightly bigger problem."
"How's that?"
"Liam."
"Who's Liam?"
"Byron's brother and Ea's father."