Gate Deadlock

  Chapter16

  Denzel

  I must have been sleeping for hours. I wanted to wake up but it seemed awfully hard. I felt warmth coming from some kind of radiator that must have been close to me. Suddenly I realized I was very cold, I was shivering. I wished I could go closer to the source of heat, but my body felt unbelievably stiff. I guessed I had crushed the living room sofa the previous night and the heat I felt was probably coming from the fireplace in front of me. My mother often found me sleeping there with a book next to me if I hadn’t dropped it on the floor. She would always bring me breakfast and then we… But if I was at home why did I have the feeling that I was in danger? Why was everything so wrong, the smells, the sounds, the voices… Voices?

  ‘Well? Is she stable?’ an impatient voice was asking, certainly not my mother’s.

  ‘No, not yet. She’ll be in shock if we don’t sedate her again.’ another worried voice replied.

  If only I could open my eyes. Wait, I thought. Is this dejavou? No! No! I’m still in hospital. I never woke up after the crash. It’s all been a dream. A hallucination. I never got out of hospital, I never walked!

  ‘She’s waking up.’ The same worried voice said.

  ‘Rise and shine sleepyhead!’ someone else was addressing to me.

  ‘Well?’ the same cold voice asked. I sensed it was full of menace. It sounded like a pin scratching against a smooth surface, making your spine shudder.

  I’ve heard it again in my nightmares. If I try hard I can recall the face it’s coming from, I thought.

  ‘She wouldn’t be in this state if you had injected her the right dose.’

  ‘I brought her back in one piece, didn’t I? Those had been my orders.’

  ‘You do realize you could have killed her, don’t you?’

  ‘You don’t know what she’s capable of. I had to be sure she wouldn’t pull something off with him.’

  I had to find my strength. My instinct of self-preservation warned me that I was in danger. I had to protect myself. Now it was the time to wake up. I was perfectly aware of whose the voice was and where I was. But a strong wave of convulsions overwhelmed me.

  ‘That’s it. I’m sedating her again. When she calms down take her to her room.’

  My last actions performed in full consciousness started coming back to me. I had probably overdone it back there, on that mountain. I should have known better not to bandy words with Tex as he was very unpredictable and really dangerous. For a long time I’d been number one in his hit-list. He had always exhibited his eagerness to harm me. And he had obviously done it with the drug he had given me.

  A strange noise made my ears buzz. Grrrr…It sounded like a hurt animal. An animal in a hospital room? That can’t be. No, of course not, because the strange noise was coming from me.

  The convulsions had stopped as abruptly as they had started. I could feel the heat again but I couldn’t hear the voices anymore. The only thing I could hear was my breath as it slowed down and then… nothing.

  ‘How do you feel?’

  A young woman with very short black hair and Asian features was asking me the same question, over and over again.

  ‘Dizzy.’ I said eventually.

  ‘Do you know where you are?’

  ‘I think so.’

  ‘You will be feeling much better in a few minutes.’ she said. In the meantime, you can wash and change. I’ll be back again in an hour to take you to the headquarters. In case you need something just speak loudly and I’ll be with you within a second.’ Her tone was dry, but still polite and her accent was strange, a foreigner’s accent.

  ‘Okay.’

  She turned around. ‘She’s awake.’ she said, making me wonder who she was talking to. I looked around but there was nobody else. My mind was trying hard to adjust to the new environment and I remembered Susan telling me that once I would be in the Squad premises, Denzel’s eyes would be on me the whole time.

  The room looked exactly like Susan had described it to me. It was a replica of a hotel room of my era that the League used for those who had to travel to their time. The traveler shouldn’t see any of the developments of the future so that future could be protected, she had told me. The replica was very convincing. A simple, modest room with all the essential facilities. Only the minimal, white uniforms in the wardrobe were not matching the context. That, and the fact that there were no windows on the white walls.

  The shower was refreshing and my head had stopped spinning after a few minutes. I put on the clothes they had left for me and sat on a comfortable armchair to wait for my Asian maid, this is how I wanted to think of her instead of my warder, to come. The elastic fabric made the tight uniform fit on my body perfectly, but it also made me feel uncomfortable. Kate would say I look sexy and Christopher wouldn’t find it hard to make me blush dressed like this. I wondered if the Squad guys could see me through transparent walls or tiny, invisible cameras and I couldn’t help feeling like I was a museum sample behind a glass wall on the other side of which scientists were watching me, keeping notes of my every move.

  I recalled everything that had happened in front of the ancient cave on the sacred mountain, trying not to jump to conclusions about Christopher’s attitude. Still, the possibility that he might now be a different man was poisoning my thoughts. His image showed up in my mind, the image of a man who belonged to the Squad. Nothing more, nothing less.

  The door opened and the young woman appeared behind it.

  ‘Are you ready?’

  ‘Yes.’ I replied decisively, standing up at the same time.

  ‘You must put these on.’

  She gave me a pair of black glasses like those I’d seen in science fiction films. Susan had told me all about them. Once I put them on they automatically adjusted to my head and I could not see anything in front of me apart from a pattern of the room in a screen, like a virtual reality simulator. I knew where the door and the walls were and I could make out the figure of the Asian woman so that our journey to the headquarters would be safe for me and the League could be sure that their world would remain a secret at the same time.

  We walked through long, narrow corridors and met a few people on the way but nobody spoke to us. Susan had told me that there was one of Plato’s men in the Squad, working under false pretences but I wished she had also told me his name. I was now aware of how dangerous Denzel could really be. He was the one who called the shots down here. My life depended upon his decision. But that would be the worst time to get cold feet. There was no going back.

  We got into a kind of shuttle bus, at least that was what it felt like. Then we walked again and I felt like we were raised as if we’d been in a huge elevator. Another automatic door opened and eventually we stopped in a round room where I could see the figures of two other persons. I remembered how desperately I’d wished to come to Christopher’s world once. He wouldn’t even talk about it, concerned about the effect such a huge change might have on me. He had said that he’d seen people lose their mind doing so. Now I wondered how safe my mind was anyway.

  ‘You can take off your glasses now.’ my companion told me before she left.

  The room was dimly lit and my eyes took a few seconds to adjust. The man standing in front of me spoke softly.

  ‘We meet at last, Miss Ioannou.’

  He made no move to approach me. I tried to make out the expression on his face because his flat voice allowed me no

  conclusions as to his intentions. He was a tall, slim man, dressed in a black uniform. His head was shaved and his small, animal-like dark eyes were horribly cold, hostile and annoying as if they were trying to see through me. I had to avoid his eyes so I tried to concentrate a little higher, at the level of his brows. Susan’s voice was echoing in my head as I was trying to remember her instructions, but I was suddenly scared. I heard Tex’s disgusting chuckle behind me.

  ‘I guess introductions are needless.’ Denzel said.

  ‘Why am I here?’ I ask
ed, doing my best to hide the tremor in my voice.

  ‘It seems that you have broken the terms of our agreement. Instead of applying our law, as we would normally do in any other case, we’ve brought you here until we find a solution to this…inconvenience. I apologize for the overzealous effort of my men. Things got a little out of hand for a couple of hours as I have been informed, but it’s over now. Your health is not affected by your transport here, this I can confirm.’

  ‘What did I do to break the agreement? As far as I remember, I haven’t made any agreement with you, so how do you expect me to know the terms?’

  He cast a disapproving glance at me.

  ‘Oh, the terms are simple. You just stay away from everything that is related to my era. But I’m sure you know this. You’ve been informed about the risk. It was so precipitate of you to think that you could expose us so easily. Such a waste of effort! Anyway, there is no reason to go back to the past. Let bygones be bygones. I think it’s time to bury the hatchet, don’t you?’

  ‘You mean I should forget that you’ve murdered my father, that you’ve taken away my inheritance and that you’ve threatened to kill me more than once. Should I just sweep this under the carpet and pretend it never happened?’

  ‘Ah, my dear Miss Ioannou. I think those are issues we’d better evade. There will be much greater benefit for you if you cooperate with us instead of being our enemy. This is an offer I

  don’t often make you know. You should consider yourself very lucky you’re still alive in the first place.’

  ‘Why don’t you get to the point? There is no need to waste our time with gratuitous assumptions and threats you know you’re not permitted to carry out. What do you want from me?’

  ‘A brave woman. You’re exactly as they have described you to me. Tex thinks we should get rid of you because you’ve threatened our world enough. But I think his opinion of you is …overrated. Still, I warn you not to underestimate me. I’ve disobeyed my orders many times for the sake of our leaders. I can do it again.’ He walked around me, like Tex had done on the mountain. I didn’t move an inch.

  ‘I will try to make it simple for you, miss Ioannou. After our settlement, there was a small… side effect. You see, the reason we claimed the piece of land your father left you … it was important to us for a specific reason which for the time being is…lost.’

  ‘Are you talking about Point –X?’

  ‘Exactly. It is not an uncustomary phenomenon in cases like this. But it can be undone, with your help.’

  ‘So, if I’ve got it right, you want me to help you relocate Point –X for you? You’ve got the map and the excavation plans, don’t you?’

  ‘They’re useless. They don’t show what we want. Not anymore.’

  ‘I don’t understand. How can I find what you need? If you can’t do it, what makes you think I can?’

  ‘The cosmic laws are a mystery even to us. You are the only person who can do it. I have reasons for not revealing to you the importance of Point-X to my world. But I will tell you this. The future of both our worlds depends upon a sequence of events. And this place is part of this long chain, an important, essential part I should say. Our people have been working hard for an alternative but they’ve come up with nothing so far. In the meantime, somewhere between you era and mine, the world is fighting for survival. Certain people, saviors of mankind I should say, are entrapped and this place is their only way out. So you do

  realize this is bigger than you and me and our animosity. It’s in your hands. Of course you only have my word, as nobody else has the authority to confirm or belie what I’ve told you. You have to make a decision. Soon. The clock is ticking.’

  ‘Can I think about it?’

  ‘Of course. I will be expecting your decision tonight.’

  ‘I wonder…What will happen to me if I refuse?’

  ‘I was hoping it wouldn’t be necessary for you to find out. You see, I can’t touch you, but accidents happen all the time to the people we love. That is something we don’t want to happen, do we?’ He nodded to Tex. ‘Take her to her room and give her dinner. We don’t want our dear Emma to starve. Otherwise, she will think we’re not hospitable enough. I’m afraid you have to put on the glasses again.’ he said to me with a devious grin that made my whole body bristle. That he would flaunt his power by threatening my life was expected. But to threaten the life of the people I cared about?

  My Asian maid took me back to my room where a huge tray with junk food was expecting me. I had to put my stance about healthy diet aside because I was too hungry. Later, the young woman came back to take the empty tray. She gave me a surprised look. Obviously she wasn’t expecting me to polish off the whole tray.

  ‘Wait!’ I stopped her. ’What’s your name?’

  ‘Lian.’ she said, taken aback. ‘Is that all?’ She seemed anxious to go.

  ‘Yes, Lian. I just wanted to thank you for the wonderful dinner.’

  She tried to hide a smile of contentment. ‘I’m glad you liked it. If you will excuse me now. I must leave you.’

  I tried to persuade my watchers that I was thinking about Denzel’s proposition. Of course, there wasn’t much to think about. Not because of the danger my family and friends would be into if I refused to help him. My Commander, Plato, had in fact carefully planned that proposition. I wondered who that double agent was, who was working for the Crusaders behind the scenes. Would he let them know that everything was according to plan and that I was safe, at least for now? The thought of putting in

  danger the people I loved was something I was trying hard not to consider as a possibility. My mother’s worried face came to my mind and, with a pang of guilt, I realized I hadn’t thought about her or any other person who was part of my normal life since I had got to the League’s time. I didn’t have the time to think of them. I’d been really pressed. But Denzel’s threat had brought me back to reality.

  The deadline soon drew to an end and it was time to announce my decision. It wasn’t long before I was called back in the same dark room.

  ‘Well? Have you made up your mind Miss Ioannou?’ Denzel asked with his eyes fixed on mine. I had to remember not to look into his but concentrate an inch above them, otherwise I was sure I would lose my train of thoughts.

  ‘I have. I will help you. I cannot guarantee I will find what you’re looking for but I will do my best. You have my word for it. You must know, I’ve always adhered to my decisions.’

  ‘This is a very wise decision. I’m absolutely certain you will make it. You are the only one who can find that Gateway.’

  ‘Still, I have one condition.’

  ‘Let’s hear it then.’ For a split of a second, I got the impression that he’d looked alarmed but that had been so fleeting that it could have been my imagination. ‘I can give you whatever you want, as long as it is within reason. How do you call it in your world? A catch 22 situation.’

  ‘I need a helper. Someone who knows what to do.’

  ‘Of course. I can give you more than one of my men.’

  ‘I want a specific helper. I think you know who I mean.’

  He shook his head. ‘So you want Christopher. That’s quite a fit of daring!’

  ‘Yes. I’ve waited a long time to revenge on him for the lies he’s told me. For making me fall for him so he could achieve his purpose. What? Haven’t you seen an avenging woman before?’ I had to play all my cards. Susan had warned me that the chances of letting Christopher come with me were thin.

  ‘And of course, I want your word of honor that you will stay away from my family and my friends. Otherwise, you can’t count on me. And I’m sure your boss would like to know that you have failed your mission to secure the Gate.’ The rage that was apparent in his eyes satisfied me instead of frightening me.

  ‘They don’t know, do they? They don’t even know I’m here. Don’t worry. Your secret is safe with me, as long as you accept my conditions.’

  ‘I should know that you??
?re not an ordinary woman. The more I get to know you, the more I understand why my best soldier liked you. I think you too are where you belong Miss Ioannou. I will enjoy working with you. Under the force of circumstances and as a token of my goodwill, I cannot but accept your conditions. I hope you know what you’re doing. You see, some people persist on hankering after things they can’t have. I’ve always considered that a pitiful attitude. Have it your way then. You’re going back tomorrow with Christopher, of course. You know, he has displayed a great presence of mind by coming back to us. There is no way to flout the law in our world and get away with it. He knew what was going to happen to him.’

  He was challenging me, hoping I would reveal more to him about my feelings for Christopher. But I knew better than that. When he acknowledged my determination to remain silent, he let me go.

  ‘I’ll see you both in the morning.’ He nodded to Tex and I put on my glasses without waiting for him to remind me.

  Back in my room, I recollected everything that had happened in the cold, circular room. I had done it. The biggest part of my mission was over. I wondered if I had been convincing enough. Had I made Denzel believe me? Susan had warned me that he was a cunning man who could not easily be fooled. What were the chances that he was playing with me instead?

  Susan had trained me well. During those thirty-minute meetings we had covered every possible deviation to the plan. For instance, I knew that if they hadn’t put me in that ‘replica room’ or if they hadn’t given me the glasses that made me look like a cyber-chick,

  it would mean I was in danger. To put it simply, it would imply that either Denzel had not been deceived or that he had inside information from the corps of the Crusaders that betrayed Plato’s plan. The only weapon I had in this case to defend myself, would be that double agent and, of course, Christopher. There was no way Christopher would let them hurt me, I had to believe that, despite his weird attitude when he helped Tex arrest me. That had to be an act. This was the only explanation I could accept. He had to go along with the League’s terms in order to protect me. The memory of his cold voice made me shiver. This wasn’t my Christopher, not the one I had loved so deeply. But he wasn’t the only one who had changed. I also wasn’t the girl he had loved that summer. I never expected myself to be such a good actress, for one thing. It was one of my new talents, my new dark talents that I didn’t know I possessed before this part of my double life had started. Because I had a double life now. And that newly discovered part of me, I wasn’t sure I like it. Denzel had seen this too. That’s where his contentment was coming from after he had overcome his initial anger when I, indirectly but effectively, threatened him. What else was left for me to do? Because I had already tried manipulation, lying, extortion and hypocrisy. To my old self, all these were unforgivable sins. I had touched bottom. And the worst of all, I had felt a wild satisfaction with what I had achieved through them. The only comforting thought was that the people of my old life had no clue of my comedown. To them, I was still the naive university student who lived under the shadow of her father’s vision. Still, the man I adored would sooner or later find out what I had become. Because I was changed. A lot. I wasn’t the innocent girl he had fallen in love with that summer, but a strong, daring and devious woman, willing to try anything to get what she wanted. I knew I couldn’t feel safe until I was back in my world with Christopher on my side. How he would feel about this change I could easily guess. And yet, it had been the only way. I wondered how he would react when Denzel told him that he was coming back with me. Back, to my life. One thing I knew. He had no choice. He would have to follow

  Denzel’s orders. And then everything would be as it should. I had to believe it.

  The same tour to the Squad’s headquarters took place the next morning, after Lian had served me breakfast. She didn’t speak much but the expression on her face made me think she was expecting my comment on the food.

  ‘That was exactly like British breakfast Lian. You’ve really done it.’ I told her.

  She bowed her head to hide a smile.

  Denzel was waiting for me in the same, impersonal room. Only this time he was sitting in an armchair with his back turned to me. The circular wall in front of him was transformed into a huge screen where a video was on. It was like silent movies, the volume had been turned off and I didn’t really pay attention to it as I was expecting to see Christopher in any moment. The abandoned building in which some people were running frantically in their effort to protect themselves from their pursuers was probably a show of force by Denzel. I didn’t know that he hadn’t played his last card yet.

  ‘Are you ready to leave us, Miss Ioannou?’

  ‘Yes, I am ready.’

  ‘And you’re anxious to meet your old friend I guess. He’ll join you in a few minutes. But I’m afraid you’ll have to accept another one of my men to come with you. Just in case you run off again. Which of course if you’re clever, as I think you are, will not cross your mind.’

  The people in the video had reached a dead end. They were desperately looking for a way out but they must have got to the basement of the building and their faces revealed pure horror as they realized that the only way out was behind their pursuers. It was a sickening film.

  ‘I believe you like adventure films, don’t you?’ Was there anything about me they didn’t know?

  ‘Consider this as my farewell present to you. I just wanted you to be fully aware of the potential of the man who will be next to you

  until your mission is over. I don’t believe that ignorance is bliss, you see. To consider him as just a soldier would be an understatement. That he has the makings of an executioner is certain. See for yourself. ’

  I thought he was talking about the man he was sending to spy on Christopher and me. I was sure this man was going to be Tex. But, before I had time to protest, the video camera had turned towards the other side of the room where I was able to see the face of the condemned people’s pursuers. The man whose ponytail hair and unshaved face carried a wild attraction as he smiled to his victims before shooting at them with something that looked like an advanced machine gun, was the man I loved, the man who I had considered to be my guardian angel, the man whose soul I was trying so hard to save. It was Christopher who was laughing after he had executed those poor, unarmed men and women. I could see his distorted features, his mouth wide open and his head moving backwards in a horrible silent laughter the echo of which I was certain I could clearly hear in my head. The video camera turned to the mass of dead people and started zooming in to the bloody parts of their lifeless bodies. Among them I saw the dead body of a child.

  I didn’t want to watch anymore. I realized I was sobbing and the laughter was so loud now. But it wasn’t coming from the video. It was coming from the man in front of me who was laughing out of delight either for the images before him or for my reaction to them.

  ‘Show our friend out. And make sure she’s not given an overdose this time. ’ he ordered Tex in a threatening manner.

  If I hadn’t been in shock I’d have enjoyed the humiliation on his henchman’s face a second before putting on my glasses. The sooner I got out of that room, the better for the plan and for my sanity. What I had feared the most had finally happened. I was paralyzed out of shock. But I never expected this to be caused by Christopher. You’ll deal with this later, a voice whispered in my head. There must be an explanation for this. It has to be a lie. Fake videos come up all the time even in your world. He’s

  obviously trying to drive a wedge between you and Christopher. It has to be a lie.

  ‘You’re in really deep water now, sugar!’ Tex whispered to me in an amused, nasty voice as he walked next to me.

  He took me to another room. Behind my dark glasses I was able to see three figures moving. Someone made me sit on a hard, uncomfortable chair. There were two other similar chairs on my left that were now taken by the two dark figures. I knew one of them had to be Christopher. Normally, I would feel
safe being so close to him. That was before Denzel’s farewell present. I wished Susan could have prepared me for this. I wondered if Susan and Plato knew about the dark part of Christopher’s personality.

  I remembered his cold face the day I was captured by Tex on that mountain. I had chosen to believe that it had all been an act. I had decided not to even think that Christopher, my Christopher, had become the cruel criminal the Squad wanted him to be. It wasn’t making any sense. How double-faced could he be? How fool did this make me?

  The third figure was next to me. ‘You won’t feel a thing.’ he said. I recognized the voice of the “doctor” I had heard the previous day before going into convulsions. He must have thought I was afraid of becoming sick by the drug he was injecting me. But I had bigger problems than that.