The Cracks in the Labyrinth

Chapter 13 (Part 3)

Adam's pulse leaped. He could almost see himself, with a shovel in hand, standing over Evi's grave; every thought about her loosening the soil above her empty casket. They'd never found her body, but what if he dug up the ground and realized she'd been there all along?

Are you sure you want to face your rotten past?

He tried to shake a horrible image from his mind: a yellowish Evelia inside a coffin, almost intact, except for a few blemishes; a thin smile on her blackened lips, glad to have died before all of this happened.

"What do you mean by my dead ex-girlfriend?" he asked.

"Because I'll kill her," Lili said. "If she's breaking your heart, I will tear her apart."

Adam shivered, feeling a light sweat despite the cold. How can she be so sweet and then say something like that? He got up from the chair.

"Only one woman is causing me problems. Her name is Venezuela."

She put her hands on her hips and raised an eyebrow.

"Mr. Comedian, don't tell me you are one of those who blame the government for every wrong in their lives."

"Not even the reddest socialism explains what I've seen today."

As Adam moved past her, he had the strange feeling he was forgetting something important. Why can't I remember how I got to the UCV? What happened after the blackout?

"Bah!" Lili watched over Adam's shoulder to make sure the barman would not bother them. The guy was busy making a phone call. "Don't worry about what's out of your hands."

When did I leave the subway car? He asked himself, struggling to control his anxiety. The man from the bus—he was there too! And then...

Bright crimson light flooded his memories.

"Lili, do you believe in aliens?"

Silence settled over them as the next song hadn't started yet. She looked uneasy for an instant before shaking her head in amusement.

"Like ALF?" She joked. "'No problem.'"

"Forget it. Thanks for the dance."

"God!" She threw her hands up in frustration. "You people are so short-tempered. At least they gave you all deeper pockets after the..."

"After what?"

"Nothing." She chewed on an ice cube from his glass. "My shift ends soon, so if you want—"

"What do you know?"

Adam's mind was racing. What did she mean by 'you people'? At first, he thought she'd taken a jab at men, but that didn't add up with her snarky comment about money. He eyed her again. There's only one group I've belonged to that ended up with hefty bank accounts.

"I asked you a question," he took her by the wrist and held her hard.

"Are you nuts?" She glanced at the bar and then back at him. "You can't touch the dancers. Carlos will put you in a wheelchair."

"Tell me what you know."

"Let go of me."

"That comment about my dead ex-girlfriend was no coincidence, right?"

"Mr. Comedian, you're hurting me."

"Hey!" the barman shouted, coming towards them with a baseball bat in his hand. "What's going on there?"

Lili shook Adam's grip and stood between him and Carlos.

"Nothing. He's a mirage." She smiled. "He already left."

"Seems real," the bartender poked at him. "Shall we see if this optical illusion bleeds?"

Despite the bat pressing against his ribs, Adam refused to back down an inch.

"What do you know about the Mission, Lili?"

She sighed, resigned.

"Only what you've told me."

His mind replayed all the conversations he'd had with her.

"I didn't tell you—"

"You sleep talk."

"I do what?"

"You speak when you are dreaming." She paused. "Last night, you did it in my apartment for hours."

"Fuck this," said Carlos. "I warned you: zero-tolerance policy for jealous boyfriends."

"We are not dating," she crossed her arms.

"Yeah, I don't care." The barman headed towards the entrance. "I'll have my brother take out the trash."

"Brother?"

"The bouncer," Lili explained. "You should go."

Adam struggled to stay calm, forcing himself to override the instinct to run. He needed his suspicions gone. She said, 'you people.' That means she knows someone else that was on the Mission besides me.

"I need to talk to one of my friends." He'd never regretted severing ties with Ernest and the rest of them so much. If he could contact them, clear his doubts about Rafael and the email, everything would be better. "Maybe you have their phone numbers."

"Does she look like the yellow pages to you?"

The bouncer grabbed him by the neck, dragged him, and tossed him out to the street.

This is going to hurt, Adam thought before hitting the pavement hard.

With all the wind knocked out of his lungs, he waited until the strip club door had closed to rise on one elbow. I can't do this. Bleeding again from his arm and bruised in new places, he collapsed onto his back, staring at the black, starless sky.

"Take this," said a woman's voice.

He squinted up at the waitress that had given him his glass of Virgin Cuba Libre.

"What is this?" he asked, noticing the piece of paper she was handing to him.

"Hope you can roar."

It was a baseball ticket.

"Do I look like I'm in the mood?"

"Lili said to meet her there tonight."

"The hell I will."

"She'll tell you what she knows," the waitress added before heading back in.

It was clear his neighbor had met another Red Christmas survivor. And this left him with no choice. To reconnect with his friends and find out what they knew about his mentor, whether he was alive or dead or who might have sent that email, he'd have to go to the stadium tonight.

"Play ball."

To be continued...