Nirvana Effect (31 page)

Callista
heard footsteps inside the house.  It sounded as though ther
e might be several people inside, but no one responded to her knocking.
  She
tried
again
, but still no answer.  Curious, s
he walked along the porch so that she could check out the driveway.  As she passed a window, the curtains inside abruptly parted, revealing a face of a nationality she had only seen once in all her time in
Lisbaad
.

Dark, dark skin, half Indian, half Chinese in feature. 
He
was almost invisible in
the shadow, his face only lit by the porch light. 
His wide
, surprised
eyes peered out at her.  She restrained herself from sprinting back to her house.  He regained his composure as well. 

She waved, friendly, as though just calling on a friend.

“Not home,” said the Onge in Tamil. 
Odd, maybe I’m wrong.  The Onge only speak Onge…
He waved his hand in a side to side motion. 
Maybe he’s not Onge.

She nodded.  “Thank you,” she said, also in Tamil.  She turned and walked away down the porch.  She had to measure every step, carefully planting one foot after the other to resist the urge to flee.  She gave one quick glance back to the house.  The dark eyes were still watching her. 

She walked around her house to her back yard.  As soon as she was out of sight, she leaned against the wall and breathed deeply. 

Focus. 
She had to collect her thoughts.  She couldn’t just run.  She had to somehow leave Edward a trail.

Callista bolted inside and grabbed a pen.  She had to f
orce her hand to stop shaking as she wrote him the note and hid it in her bedroom.  She kept checking out the window for the door to Seacrest’s house to open and half a dozen Onge to come after her.

Had they been there the whole time, staking us out?
she asked herself.  It didn’t seem so.  There would have been much more of a reaction to her knocking on the door. 
Are they on Edward’s side?  Probably not.

She didn’t know. 
Only what she didn’t know could hurt her.

She started running through the jungle behind her house.  There was a neighbor, seven houses down, who was always home.  Her husband owned the only ship supply company on the island.  She stayed with her two children.  She would let Dr. Knowles borrow her car.

Callista knocked on the lady’s back door. 
She quickly answered
with a four-year-old on her hip.  She looked slightly bewildered to be
greeting Callista at
her back door, but still friendly.  “Hello, Dr. Knowles,” she said.  “Can I help you?”

“Hello, Lindsay…Ms. Webb.  Maybe you can.  I’m sorry I’m knocking on your back door like this.  Just…in a hurry, you know.  I got a call from the clinic, it’s an emergency, and my car’s on the fritz again.  You know, I’m a doctor, not a mechanic.  Not in my job description.”  Callista forced the joke, forced the chuckle.  All she could think about was that dark face in Seacrest’s window.  She hoped Seacrest hadn’t come to harm. 

Lindsay laughed overmuch.  She seemed starved for adult conversation.

“I know what you mean.  I’m not a mechanic, either, Dr. Knowles!” she said, laughing again.  It wasn’t funny at all but Callista laughed with her.  “Whenever my car breaks, I have to nag Mr. Webb ‘til it gets fixed or I get a new one…so I guess you could call me a mechanic.”

“I’m only a body mechanic,” said Callista.  She was hoping Lindsay would offer
. 
If not, she would ask.  If
Lindsay said
no, and if
Callista’s
pulse kept rising, she would probably take it anyway. 

Lindsay’s face suddenly took a look of concern.  She frowned.  “Is it a bad emergency?”
she asked.

“Just an average, run-of-the-mill emergency…” Callista looked at the four-year-old.  He was playing with his mother’s hair.  She could see a staircase behind Lindsay to the second floor of the house.  “Just a child, couldn’t be more than five years old, one of the merchant’s kids, had an awful spill down a flight of stairs.  They think he broke his neck.  They got him to my clinic, but I wasn’t in.  I don’t want to have to move him to another clinic and risk disabling
him
permanently just because I need a new mechanic.”

“Oh, God!” shouted Lindsay.  She covered her face.  There were tears welling up in her eyes.  She looked at her own, impressive staircase.  “I just keep telling Donald how we need to get an elevator.  It’s just not safe for the kids, and so wearisome for me, doing the laundry, up and down, up and down.  Oh, God!”

Jesus Christ, lady.  I need this car.  At this rate, I may as well have just hunkered down on Seacrest’s porch.

“Yes, would be a terrible shame…” Knowles said.

Lindsay’s eyes darted around.  “Listen, promise me you won’t tell Donald, he has no compassion for children, but I could lend you my car.  It’s a mess inside.  I hope you don’t mind.” 

Callista smiled warmly.  “I won’t mind.  You’re sure it won’t be any trouble?”

“Just don’t tell Donald.  He’ll have a cow.  He’s out of town on business, but he’ll be back next week.  You won’t need it for that long, will you?”

Callista shook her head.  “No, just for today.  I just need to get to the clinic.”

“Yes, that’s fine.  Oh, I’m sorry, I’m such a terrible host.  Would you like to come in, have some tea?”  She motioned warmly.  The kid just stared at Dr. Knowles from her hip.

“No, no, I need to get to the clinic to help the child.” 
Geez, this woman is off her rocker.
 

“Oh, right.  Let me go get my keys.”

“I’ll get them, mom,” said the little boy.  He jumped off her hip and ran down the hall.

Callista checked behind her.  She wondered how much time she had.  She wanted to grab the keys herself and leap into the car, but she had to restrain herself.  She made wise use of the time.

“Have you seen Doctor Seacrest?” she asked.

“No, no,” said Lindsay.  “I haven’t seen him in several days.  As a matter of fact, I always see his Corvette pull in, he always comes in at three and I’m
just waking up from my afternoon nap
,
but
I haven’t even seen him pull by in the next couple days.  Is he on vacation?”

“I guess so,” said Callista.  “I guess so.”

“He’s got such a fine car, don’t you think?  I’ve been trying to get Donald to get one.  It’s so fine.  Doctor Seacrest is a fine man, too, don’t you think?  And single.  If I weren’t married to Donald ‘the fish’ Webb--”

“Here you go, mom!” The kid ran up and handed her the keys.  Lindsay passed them to Callista.  Callista grabbed them.  Lindsay kept them gripped in her hand. 

“You’ll come by some time, and have tea?” she asked, eyes like lasers into Callista’s skull as though searching out some deep, embedded truth.

“Yes, of course.  What are neighbors for?” chuckled Callista.  Lindsay let go of the keys.  “Thank you.  You
just
saved a child’s life today.  I’ll see you tonight.”

“Wonderful.  I’ll see what they’re making in the kitchen and have them
add a plate
!”

Callista had already started walking to the car.  It was a black 2007 Lincoln Town
c
ar.  It was immaculate except for a couple children’s toys on the seats. 
Very messy. 
“Actually, I might be late with this surgery.”

“Oh, we’ll wait.  You’re a guest of the house.”

“I wish you wouldn’t.  I might be all night with this case.”

“Another time, then.”

Callista got into the car.  “Absolutely!” she called out before closing the door and starting the engine.  She pulled out of the driveway, waving.  When she got to the road, she saw three men sprint from Seacrest’s house across the lawn to her own.  Two were dressed casually, one in a business suit, all natives with the same build and skin tone as the man in the window.  She pulled away, watching them in the rear view mirror as she left the neighborhood.  Two went around back.  The man in the suit peered into the front windows.  She accelerated.  Seacrest’s clinic would be no refuge for her.  She had to think and stay safe.

Edward
was not impressed with Mahanta’
s stage presence.  “Hello, Manassa,” he
quietly
answered as he sidestepped away from the temple’s entrance.  He preferred not to move any closer to Manassa.  He didn’t know what sort of weapons the Onge had behind his chair.

“You’ll call me Mahanta before we are done today,” Ma
nassa
said pleasantly.

“I’ll call you as I see you.”  Edward kept walking until he had an optimum distance between himself and the door - closer than Manassa, but far enough away to give him wiggle room should the guards come bursting through.

“We’ll give me one of your Western names, yet.”  Manassa smiled.  He held his eyes closed.

“How about Judas?” suggested Edward.

Unperturbed, Manassa said, “And I will call you Simon.”

“I think the man who doubts is the one who sent a stalker,” said Edward.  As long as Manassa was talking, he would play along.  He needed the whole truth from the Onge god, and he wouldn’t get that just from reading his eyes.

“I foresaw you
r
coming today,” said Manassa.

Edward didn’t know whether this was true or not, but fenced. “Or else, you’re in trance, and heard my footsteps in the entrance.”

“You were keeping something from me, Edward,” said Manassa.

Edward laughed.  “I think you kept something from me, too.”  Manassa did not find anything funny, but just kept sitting on his throne.

“You had an idea about the substance.  Something for the after-pain.” 

Never lie to a seer. 
“Yes,” said Edward.  “And you have a plan
you’
ve been hiding meticulously.  The guards, the cars.”  He focused all his attention on Manassa’s face, eyelids, hands, muscles.  He now knew why Manassa stayed in the meditation position.  It would be difficult to read him. 

Edward recognized the need for an overt strike.

“Yes,” said Manassa.

“Out with it, Manassa.”  Edward pitched his voice into the beginnings of fear.  It was an honest emotion.  It was all honest, what he would say, but from a far corner of his mind which he never let out.  He hoped it was a sufficient deception.  Just by the
careful
tone of
Manassa’s
“yes
,” Edward could tell that
the Onge god
planned
to deceive him once again.  He wondered how deeply Manassa could read
him
.  “In
Lisbaad
,” Edward started,
“I did something that has committed me on this course.  I will no longer be able to remain in my Order.  Please tell me you have not betrayed me.”

Success! 
Manassa opened his eyes to look at him.  Edward had taken the
encounter down an unpredicted course.  Manassa doubted him, needed to read him, hadn’t seen through him yet.  Now Edward had the god’s eyes.  They told him everything he needed to know.

Manassa watched him, modulating his voice to a deadpan.  “I did not betray you, Edward.”  He saw that Edward did not believe him for an instant.  “I may have hidden things from you, but I never lied to you, nor have I betrayed you.”  Edward willed himself to believe it in part.  It was key that Manassa thought he had the upper hand, and just acting wouldn’t do.  He made himself believe it. 
He is acting in my best interests.  He is working in a logical fashion. 
And the one other assumption that he now sensed Manassa was looking for:
I am willing to follow his lead.

“But why did you hide things from me?” asked Edward.  He knew the questioning sold it, as though he’d already accepted Manassa’s premise.

“You were not ready,” said Manassa.

“For what?”

Manassa stood from his throne.  He walked
forward idly
.  Edward matched his step towards the door, maintaining his advantage.  Manassa raised an eyebrow. 

“I do not trust you, yet, Manassa.  Explain yourself.  I deserve an explanation.  I am not your subject or your villager.”  He threw some real anger into the mix.  It was an acting job of life and death.  “For what, Manassa?”
he repeated.

Manassa returned to sit at his throne.  “This road we are on has many forks, but there are three of consequence that we mu
st face.”

“Yes?” Edward prompted.

  “The first is darkness.  The second is chaos.
T
he third is order.”

“Go on.”  Edward had to force himself to be receptive.  He remembered how forceful Manassa had gotten with
him
after the fight with Dook, how easily
the young man had
assumed the role of teacher. 
Edward
hoped
Manassa’s trance certainty and desire for subservience would mask
Edward’s
deception.