Gate Deadlock (12 page)

He closed his eyes and I moved closer to him,
unable to resist the strong desire to kiss him. Again and again and
again.

‘Make me forget, Christopher. Please, make me
forget.’ I whispered to him.

He rolled over me.
His beautiful eyes were so intense, they were burning me,
as passion and fervor were unconcealed in them. He started
kissing me all over my body, his hands carving fiery paths on it…
And we both forgot.

Later that afternoon, we were both in the porch,
lying on the big double sun bed, one of Suzan’s major
accomplishments. I have to admit I liked it, as I could enjoy the
view and the summer sun without having to leave Christopher’s hug.
Being with him made everything easier. He was the most effective
distraction for my confused, overloaded mind. I was sure that if I
went back to my apartment, the nightmare would take its substantive
dimensions and I knew I couldn’t bare this. Everything seemed less
hurtful when I was around him. He was wearing his swimsuit and had
asked Suzan, who had also bought a house next to his, to lend me
one of her bikinis. She had given me a purple one, which, under
different circumstances, I would not even have thought of putting
on.

‘How come Suzan hasn’t dropped in yet?’ I asked
curiously.

‘I guess Tom is keeping her busy.’ he said with
his eyes closed behind his sunglasses. ‘Tom is the third member of
our team. He came yesterday.’ He smiled widely.

‘Suzan is crazy about him. I think you will like
him. He and Suzan took your car home last night. By the way, I’ve
texted Kate that you are staying with me, so that she wouldn’t be
worried about you. Do you mind?’

‘You think of everything, as always.’

‘Least I could do. I’ve checked your schedule
too. You’re free today.’

‘I know.’

‘But you shouldn’t miss classes anymore.’ I knew
he was right but I wondered if he had thought about the following
week. With the commencing of the excavation, I would be so busy I
might have to quit summer school anyway. This was really
frustrating, but the excavation was my top priority now.

‘Christopher?
There is more to this, isn’t there?’ He knew immediately what
I was talking about.

‘You are right, there
is
more.’ he said opening his eyes and turning
his head to look at me as I rested my head on his
shoulder.

‘Do you want to hear the rest now?’ I nodded and
he started but not before sighing deeply, foreshadowing his
oncoming moroseness.

‘After that night, everything changed for
me. Tex had accused me to Denzel, my commanding officer, of
breaking the Squad rules. Tex had always wanted to be in command of
the team in my place. In fact, we never saw eye to eye. Denzel
trusted my judgment and he would always take my side. You see, my
boss’s intention had always been to take out all the evil in me,
because he’d always thought I’m capable of more…and
of
worse. He had seen in me exactly the opposite to what your father
had
seen I guess. Or… as Plato once told me, he might
have detected some signs of goodness in me that stood as a
challenge for him, and he would have them vanished so that pure
evil would prevail. Either way, he had to follow a procedure this
time. Disobedience constitutes a crime for the League, which meant
I had to go through a re-evaluation of my eligibility to serve
them, much similar to court-marshal of your world. The League
Operation Board would decide either for my eligibility to remain in
the Squad or… for my extermination. I didn’t care about anything
then, so, when it was time to make my statement, I stood up and
simply asked them to exterminate me as I couldn’t go on with that
life anymore.’

The word ex
terminate
made me gas
p
as I was sure it must have meant death. He stroked my hair and went
on.

‘It was the only solution I
could think of.
I had noticed a dark bearded man in
the Board who had his eyes fixed on me during the whole process of
the hearing. He was Plato, my present commander. The verdict was
announced the following day. It was decided that I wouldn’t be
exterminated, as Denzel had persuaded them about my potential.
However, the Board had decided that I shouldn’t serve the Squad
anymore, and put me in another corps, called the Crusaders. Their
commander, Plato, had asked for me, offering the Board the best
alternative. Denzel hated this, of course. He was furious. He still
wasn’t done with me, you see.

Since then, I have been working with Tom and
Suzan, in one of the many Crusaders groups. Our duty is, mainly, to
clean up the mess the Squad causes or, even better, to get there
before them and solve problems bloodlessly. We’re some kind of
negotiators, in other words. Our mission is to fix things.’

‘So, yesterday you were telling me the truth
about been a Crusader. And Suzan… I could never have thought of
this.’

‘Yes, we all follow Plato’s commands. Plato is
my mentor, you see. He’s like a father to me. He knows the whole
story of course, and approves of my determination to take care of
you, although he thinks it is extremely risky and impulsive
behavior. He is a very perceptive man, he knows me so well. He
understands my obsession with you.’

‘You have an obsession with me?’

‘What would you call it? Every time I was on a
mission, I slid off to your world, to check on you. I’ve been
stalking you, peeping through in many occasions. Your walks with
Alice in the park, graduation, parties, your first years in the
university. This must be shocking to you, isn’t it?’

I realized my eyes were wide
with astonishment and so was my mouth.
I was
simply
stunned
. Christopher
had been stalking me ever since I was a child? Like a guardian
angel? I only managed to say ‘I just can’t believe what you’re
saying. All these years….’

He smiled, looking slightly embarrassed.
‘Sometimes, I overdid this and tried to change the future for you
so that you would avoid difficulties. Small changes of course, no
one would notice. I wouldn’t want to stand in front of the Board
again you see.’ He hesitated before he said with a grin. ‘I did the
same with your presentation, you know.’

‘You mean …you are able to …see my future?’ This
was too hard to believe.

‘Hardly. I only got a glimpse of you in the
auditorium and it was enough to understand you were having problems
with the videos.’ he said, as if it was the most natural thing.

‘So ... you decided to help me.’ I was talking
to myself, trying to absorb what he had said. He moved his body
slightly, so he could see my face better and asked,

‘Emma, aren’t you angry at me now that you know
I’ve been stalking you? Do you think of me as … a pervert or
something?’

‘No, I don’t think you are a pervert’ I smiled,
‘…although I can think of other words that fit.’ He chuckled when I
said that.

‘I’ve always thought of you too, you know. The
image of that man, on that dreadful night I mean, I thought it had
been an angel…’ an angel of death, who had come to take away my
dad, was the rest of the sentence, but I decided to leave it
there.

‘Not quite. I was more of a demon… although a
repentant one.’ he said, losing his smile as grief had shaded his
eyes again.

‘Tell me about Plato.’ I tried to distract
him.

‘Plato is very perceptive, as
I said before.
He knew about all this from the
beginning. There is no way I can fool him, you see. But he has
allowed my small diversions every now and then. I guess he was the
first to realize the truth, much sooner than I did.’

‘What is the truth?’ I asked.

‘That I love you. That I have always loved you.’
He had said that in the most disarming manner. My eyes had started
to fill with tears.

‘This is only part of the truth.’ I
whispered.

‘What’s the other part?’ he frowned.

‘That I have always loved you too, even before
you came here. I just didn’t know where to find you… but…I’ve
always known you existed. And… when I saw you… I knew it was you…it
had to be you.’ I was delirious, speaking with my eyes shut. But I
couldn’t go on, not because of the tears that had wetted my cheeks,
or the sobbing that shook my chest, but because his lips were on
mine, tender, sweet lips. He wiped the tears of my face with the
back of his hand.

How absurd it is,
I thought
, to find happiness through
sorrow and devastation
!

Time was on our side for now, going by slowly,
as if trying to make up for the misery of the previous day. The
soft wind the Greeks call meltemi that was blowing from the
northwest, had made the sea rougher than usual but it had kept us
cool enough as we still lay on the sun bed, our bodies unable to
part.

At some point Christopher
asked me if I was hungry and offered to cook his specialty for me,
shrimp spaghetti. Suzan had taken good care of him. He had a full
fridge. I offered to make the salad. He was a very good cook and
the spaghetti was really delicious, despite my aversion for
sea-food.
When we were enjoying the cool white wine, I
wondered if it was time to ask him about what I feared he had kept
from me, a suspicion, which had started to
grow in my
mind.

‘Christopher, that’s not the whole truth, is it?
You’ve come here for a reason, haven’t you? And that is not about
my presentation.’

He focused on his glass without speaking, but I
could tell he was taken abashed.

‘I mean, if you had been watching me for so
long, what made you change your mind and …show up? And how come so
many of you have come here? Is it about me?’

He cleared his throat, his eyes still on his
glass. ‘I was hoping we wouldn’t get into this today. Haven’t you
had enough for one day?’

‘I’ll risk it. It has to do with the project,
right?’

He looked at me and sighed. The sound of a
bird’s song in a high-pitched tone startled me.

‘That must be the doorbell.’ he said, unable to
hide his relief, and went to the door.

‘I’m sorry sweetie, but I couldn’t wait any
longer.’ Suzan’s voice sounded anxious from the living room. ‘I
want to know what Emma thinks about the house.’

‘Hello to you too, Suzan. Do come in
please!’ Christopher said sarcastically. ‘Hi Tom.’

‘Sorry pal, I did my best to stop her, but you
know Suzan.’ Tom said apologetically. But Suzan had already found
me in the kitchen, doing the washing up.

‘Well, what do you think?’ she hugged me and
squeezed me on her body, ignoring the soap on my hands. She put her
arms on my shoulders and looked straight into my eyes.

‘You really have
done a great job here. You’ve thought of everything. You’ve
amazed me!’ I tried to exaggerate.

Tom was right behind her smiling, his hand
on his chest and his mouth silently pronouncing
Thank you.

Christopher introduced us and Tom shook my hand
with a cordial smile. I could understand why Suzan was so fond of
him. He too was a handsome man. He was tall and athletic like
Christopher but his hair was blond, and he had warm brown eyes and
a beautiful face. I had a very good feeling about Tom from the very
first moment. My intuition was about to be affirmed a few weeks
later.

‘Emma darling, you shouldn’t be doing this.
Christopher, why didn’t you tell her you have a dishwasher?’ Suzan
complained. Christopher just shrugged. Although he had been
relieved to avoid my questions when Suzan came and he was literally
saved by the bell, I could see he was irritated by her now.

‘Never mind, I’m almost finished.’ I said.

‘You know what? You boys wait for us at the
porch until we make cappuccinos. We girls want some time alone
here. We have to try this coffee machine Emma. You will just love
it!’

Christopher seemed reluctant to leave me alone
with her but Tom pushed him out of the kitchen, probably following
Suzan’s orders.

‘Off we go Christopher.’

‘I’m so happy the two of you are together,
Emma!’ she said. ‘I knew it from the first day I saw you with him.
You belong together.’ I just smiled in response.

‘We’ve all been worried about him, I have to
say. He has been so preoccupied with you, that he asked to be
excluded from any other mission.’

In a flash of inspiration, it occurred to me
that Susan might tell me more than Christopher intended to say, so
I just let her go on. And I was right of course.

‘And when they gave him only a month to get here
and try to…’ She looked at me and I knew my face had given me
away.

‘Oh, crap. I thought … he told me you knew
everything. He’s going to be mad at me.’ Being upset made her
careless too, and she spilt some milk on the floor. She bent down
to wipe it and I took the chance.

‘
Don’t worry Suzan. I won’t tell him.
Just … please. Can you explain to me this month thing?’

‘Sorry honey. This is something he has to tell
you himself.’ She saw the disappointment in my face and added,
‘Don’t worry. It will be all right in the end, you’ll see.’

She wasn’t going to tell me more. She took the
tray to the porch hastily.

When we joined Christopher and Tom they were
talking about how Suzan had bargained the price of the two houses.
I sat next to Christopher, on the day-bed, and he put his arm
around my shoulders. Suzan and Tom were sharing the loveseat. For a
couple of hours we were just two young couples, chatting about
holidays, the sea, the weather, Greece and the warm, hospitable
Greek people. But my mind was on other things and I couldn’t wait
to get some answers.