Only Human (Themis Files #3)(67)
<Don’t go there, Vincent. You know why I left.> I’m sorry, Eva. I’m sorry for what happened to Ekim. If there was anything I could have done to— <There was something you could have done! You could have left him alone, not put a gun to his head. You could have left the both of us alone.> No, Eva, I couldn’t have. I’m sorry Ekim died, but if I had to do it all over, I’d make the same choice. I’d do it again.
<Fuck you, Vincent!> I had to get you out of there!
<WHY? Why? I was happy. Do you think I’m happy here?> They were gonna kill you, Eva!
<You don’t know that!> Oh, God, Eva. I do know that. There’s … so much you don’t know. They were going to arrest you for what happened in Eskyaks. They were going to kill you.
FILE NO. EE463—PERSONAL FILE FROM ESAT EKT
Personal Log—Dr. Rose Franklin and Vincent Couture
Location: Assigned residence, Etyakt region
—Where’s Eva, Vincent?
—I was going to ask you the same thing. I thought she might have gone to your place.
—Did she come home last night?
—She did. She went to bed early. We didn’t fight or anything.
—Something’s wrong, Vincent. Her picture is on every wall at the market.
—What? What picture? What did you see?
—I went to get some yat for breakfast. I was about halfway there, when I noticed everyone was staring at me, more than they normally do. When I got to the market, one woman spit in my face, another tapped me on the shoulder. People wanted to hold my hand. The old man who sells the yat gave me a handful of them and wouldn’t let me pay. He’s never done that. That’s when I saw her. On the large wall, where they show the esketots games. She’s in all the alleys that run behind the market. That picture, I don’t know where it’s from. She’s staring at the ground, the wind blowing her hair across her face. It’s … pretty.
—What is she doing?
—It’s just her face. That wall must be a hundred feet tall. All we see is her face, and the word Esant written underneath.
—Esant?
—Yes. I don’t know what it means.
—It’s a knife. A dagger. The … I forget her name. The … fortune teller in the blue tent. She has one. It’s an ancient thing. I think they used it in ceremonies a long time ago.
—Why would they call her that?
—I have no idea. People here call her a bunch of different things. Eva’s hard to pronounce, people don’t want to say Evat, that’s a man’s name. Her friends call her Yev. Maybe …
—Maybe what?
—Maybe nothing. The vowels are the same, that’s all. Did you ask? Did anyone say anything?
—No. I didn’t talk to anyone. I didn’t know what was going on, so I just ran back here.
—Could it be Ekim making some sort of grand gesture? You know, like a proposal on the giant screen at a baseball game?
—I don’t know, Vincent. He didn’t strike me as the grand gesture type.
—He might be. He’s not as shy when Eva’s not around. I think he just knows she’ll kill him if he puts her on the spot.
—That would qualify, don’t you think?
—Yeah, she’d be mad. I think he would have asked first, anyway. He asked for my permission before he bought her that necklace. Could Ekim even access these walls? Those are run by the government, right?
—They are.
—Maybe he knows someone? Someone who can hack the system, someone at the regional government?
—Vincent, I don’t think it’s Ekim at all. I think …
—What, Rose? You think what?
—I think someone is forcing our hand.
—The empress?
—Who else could do this? Think about it. It’s perfect. Either we go for it and give her names. She swoops in and arrests everyone. Or we don’t, she does it anyway, but now she has an excuse to get rid of us no matter what. Eva’s the poster child for what these people are marching for. Make her a terrorist, and suddenly everyone asking for more food starts to look suspicious.
— …
—Vincent?
— …
—Vincent, say something!
—We have to turn them in. We have to give the empress what she wants.
— …
—We have to find Eva, and we have to turn everyone in.
—They’ll kill them, Vincent.
—They’ll kill Eva.
—Are you sure about this?
—No matter what, Rose. That’s what you said.
—I know what I said. I just …
—We’ll have to move fast. Her friends will know she’s in danger. They’ll be hiding her. We have to get to her before the security forces do.
—We don’t know if the security forces are even after her, Vincent.
—Yeah, we do. They’re here.
FILE NO. EE464—PERSONAL FILE FROM ESAT EKT
Interview between Vincent Couture and Opt Enatast
Location: Assigned residence, Etyakt region
—Enatast! Why are you here? Why is security with you?
—Vincent, you and I have espent time together. I do not know how easy your people form reyationships. You are the one Terran I know good—