The Gardener of Nahi

Chapter 9

Cassidian

Superfluously, the man in black raised an index finger to the side of his head.

     “Answer call.”  Seconds later and slightly louder he said, “John here,” his voice echoing within the small circular stairwell.

     We were ascending the same rough-hewn steps which we had descended moments earlier, but this time we were hurrying, taking two steps at a time.  In the cell below we had lingered far too long and we knew the girl would be waking soon.

     “Yes, yes,” he said to the unknown caller.  “It was badly cut, but the doctor repaired it.  No, she has not woken yet, but will soon.  She’s fine.  Mr. Smiles arranged it.”

     Soon we reached the floor above.  I shielded my eyes temporarily as the brightness of the work lamps flooded my field of vision.  Far away I could see the UpMove agent’s large body resting oddly on the floor.  He was still unconscious, and would be for quite some time.

     “No, I don’t know.  He left some time ago.”  John was pointing to the body on the floor in the distance, shrugging his shoulders in deliberation.  I took the candelabra from him and placed it on the ground, moving the large oil canvas back in front of the stairway’s entrance.

     “You’re coming here now?”  John looked back at me with a panicked look upon his face.  I flashed him both of my hands, palms forward and fingers extended.  John nodded in understanding.

     “Make it at least ten minutes.  I need to wake her up first so please give me some time.  You know where to go, right?  Yes, downstairs.  Yes, of course the area is clear.”  After a brief pause, he quietly uttered, “End call.”

John turned around quickly to face me.  “You know they will never let you come with them.  They don’t even know what happened here.  They’re wondering why they never heard from him.”  John was pointing to the body on the floor.

“Calm down,” I said slowly.  “The first thing we need to do is carry him somewhere so they won’t see him.”

“Isn’t he going to wake up soon?”

“No.  Not for a few hours at least.”

John was looking around, searching the large room with his wide eyes for somewhere to hide the body.  “We could take him back down there in the cells-”

“No,” I said, walking over to a large purple couch with a rip in the center that sat against the wall.  The brass-wheeled legs drew my attention, and I pushed the couch slightly to see how easily it would move.

“What are you doing?” John asked.

“Come on,” I said.  “Give me a hand.”

We turned the couch around and started pushing it toward the far end of the room, where the darkened stairwell and body lay.

“You’re going to put his body in it?”

“Yes,” I said.  “I don’t want to drag the body.  There is dust on the floor and it could leave a trail.  However these wheels will not leave much, I’m hoping.”  The brass wheels were giving off an audible squeak, but the couch was moving fairly effortlessly.

Once the piece of furniture was positioned directly in front of the body, I asked John to grab the man’s legs and lift him up.  John was surprisingly strong, and together we dumped his body onto the couch without much effort, placing him across it lengthwise where one would normally sit.

“Back this way now,” I said.  “All the way towards the back.”  We pushed the couch back all the way into the darkness of the corner where the canvas and hidden entrance lay.  Spinning the purple couch around so that the back of it was facing out, we made sure that the body could not be seen from the direction we came – the main stairwell which led to the church entrance above us.