The elevator stopped, and the doors opened.
The image of Bernardo awaiting them in the garage appeared in front of Lucy.
It was a hallucination. Bernardo wasn’t there. The only reception she had was a slap of icy air filled with snow particles and a chilling howl. The blizzard that ran outside sneaked into the garage through the vent, and it sounded just like a woman’s cry. The agonizing crying of a mother, Lucy thought, and as she pushed her hair away from her forehead, she found out she was sweating. No, she wasn’t sweating thanks to the protection her coat gave her; in fact, she felt cold just the same. It was the fear that exuded from her skin.
THUMP, thump… THUMP, thump…
The garage was a gigantic shoe box made of concrete. The light from the lamps hanging from the ceiling was dim, much of the place was abandoned in the shadows. The heating was on full blast, as confirmed by the small red light glowing next to the switches to the side of the elevator door, yet the hot air blowing from the ducts that passed over their heads felt as insufficient as the lighting. There were a few vehicles scattered here and there, deathly silent, between vans and tractors; each equipped with wheels covered with chains to transit in the snow, and others with triangle track wheels. To the naked eye, there was not a soul in the surroundings.
The exit gate, which also functioned as an entrance, was about a hundred and fifty feet in front of them. It was a wide metal gate, with a thin crack at the top through which the icy wind and even a little snow filtered through. Next to it was a door, the back door of a security booth that faced outwards.
Lucy knew that, at that moment, even when she didn’t see them, there had to be one or two guards wrapped up warm inside that booth, watching the snow loops the wind drew outside. She crossed her fingers for them to be too cold and too focused on the boring landscape to get out of there, at least until she could hide Broga in the car.
She charted in her mind the path she should take once she crossed that gate. She just hoped the road would be clear, and there would be no predicted snowstorms; otherwise, the moment she lifted the gate with the remote, the guards from the booth would stop her to recommend her not to leave, and she would waste time trying to persuade them to let her go. After all, they were in the Duane Archipelago, very close to the far north of the planet, where harsh weather could mean the difference between life and death.
She made sure Broga was well covered with the blanket and, clasping his hand, she took him with her, hiding between two tractors.
THUMP, thump… THUMP, thump…
The child looked at her with his eyes wide open. He didn’t talk, but it was obvious he was scared. He trembled; he had turned pale, his lips had darkened, the wind had blown part of his hair that the blanket couldn’t cover, and he had snow all over him. Damn! It was really cold in there! Lucy was so nervous and scared she practically didn’t feel it, but her cheeks had gathered frost, and her hands were so cold she struggled to move her fingers.
“Don’t worry. You’ll be safe with me,” she told Broga, although the little boy was now more interested in watching the condensation of his breath. That simple natural equation of water vapor enthralled him. Such innocence!
There will be no other Major Surgery! There will be no more Major Surgeries!
A wave of icy wind pulled her out of it, and her jaw rattled. Lucy glanced back; the elevator doors remained open, which meant that, for now, no one had asked to go there.
Without releasing the child, she walked crouched down among the few vehicles, and reached her car; a gray sedan parked next to Bernardo’s.
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Bernardo! Was it possible he had discovered her absence by now? Quick. She had to get away fast. Otherwise…
THUMP, thump… THUMP, thump… Her heart was about to explode.
The security booth’s door was still closed.
Oh, Lucy! What a fine mess have you gotten yourself into? Those guards are armed and ready to shoot any intruder. Or any traitor.
THUMP, thump… THUMP, thump…
Something wet and cold on her lips. Her nose was running, so she wiped it with a finger. She discovered poor Broga was also bunged up; he had snot oozing out of his nostrils; his cheeks were red because of the cold wind, but the rest of his skin was as white as his pajamas. Hurry! They had to take shelter in the car before one of them sneezed. A sneeze inside that huge concrete shoebox would become quite a rumble.
THUMP, thump… THUMP, thump…
She opened her car’s trunk; she tried to carry Broga and put him inside. It took her a great deal to do it. The child wasn’t heavy, but she wasn’t strong; she had weak arms. Besides, she was so nervous her hands wouldn’t stop trembling. Haven’t you ever carried a little boy? You won’t be a good mother if you don’t know how to do it.
THUMP, thump… THUMP, thump…
“Come on. Help me with this, will you?” she whispered. The strength was about to leave her, and she attempted to bear the weight of the little one and not fall flat on her butt.
Broga understood her intentions and helped her. He stepped on the back fender of the car and got into the trunk.
Lucy rewarded him with a nervous smile, and he replied with another, a little more pleasant, albeit with traces of fear.
“Don’t take your blanket off,” she warned him. She lowered the trunk cover but didn’t close it completely. The next step in her plan might take a couple of minutes, and she didn’t want the child to spend a lot of time locked up; she feared he would panic and scream.
Quick! Do it fast!
THUMP, thump… THUMP, thump…
Her throat felt scratchy already. The cold was like an invisible grip squeezing her neck. With the back of her hand, she wiped her nose, which kept dripping. She removed from her trouser pocket the artifact she’d taken out of her room. She switched it on, and the screen lit up with a green halo.
“What’s that?” Broga wanted to know, peeking his little head over the edge of the trunk.
She signaled for silence.
“What is it?” the little one insisted, though this time he spoke softly.
“A clo-cloaking d-device. A fri-friend invented it,” Lucy answered to appease the little boy’s curiosity. She didn’t know if she’d stuttered because of the cold or because of fear.
As she waited for the device to start running, she looked up toward the exit; the booth’s door was still closed; no guard had peeked over there. It was a shame she didn’t look where she should have looked: over her shoulder, at the elevator.
On the inhibitor’s screen appeared the image of a radar, and after a few seconds, a red light flickered along with a series of numeric codes. Come on! Do it faster! Lucy waved her legs as if she were about to run. She felt cold, and she was very, very scared. How long could it take this freaking device to decode the electronic systems of the parking lot and change them?
THUMP, thump… THUMP, thump…
“Loaking delvice?” Broga asked.
“Yes,” Lucy hastened to answer before he could speak again. “It’s a gift for you, y’know? It’ll make you invisible so that the bad men on the way out can’t see you.”
The device’s screen announced, Infrared detectors neutralized. Protection area: 1 yd2.
“Here,” Lucy handed the device to Broga and asked him to wrap his hands around it; she barely felt hers. “Hold it tight, okay? Don’t drop it because it might break, all right?”
Broga nodded, alerted.
THUMP, thump… THUMP, thump…
All right! Now they could get out of the lab with no problems. The car would pass in front of the booth, the soldiers would see only Dr. Templeton at the wheel, and the infrared scanners that would probe the vehicle before it left would detect only one person inside: her. Her stowaway would go unnoticed. For the sensors, Broga would be nothing more than a bag, a lump in the trunk.
THUMP, thump… THUMP, thump…
“We going to get Brun with this?” the little boy asked, shaking the device.
Lucy grabbed his wrist to stop him from shaking it.
“Yes, yes,” she lied, and with a trembling finger to her lips, she asked him to be quiet. Then she gave him a knowing smile and a wink to put him at ease; she was going to close the trunk and leave him in the dark for a moment; she didn’t want him to freak out.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
The voice broke behind them and stuck thorns of terror into Lucy’s neck. The wind howled louder.
It was Bernardo. He was behind her. He’d found them.