Lia's files 1_Presumed extinct Page 13

  “Yes, Dad, I can talk to you now. You know, we were in the basement just now and there the connection was very bad.”

  She was clearly very tense and nervous. She sounded off and her dad surely noticed.

  “How are you and Mum doing? Is everything alright with you?”

  She switched her phone to loud-speakers and I could hear her dad’s answer.

  “Umiko, I want you to go to the American embassy right away! No matter the time of day or the circumstances! You will go there and report to Todd Marshall, the consul. Immediately! He has been informed that you will be coming today. You will go there this instant, do you hear me!”

  “But Dad, why should I do this, what has happened?”

  “We have obtained classified information about an imminent global terror assault. Some kind of bio-terrorism assault. And I want you to report to the embassy and be taken care of by them! Right now! Do you hear me! They are organizing a last minute flight back to the States. We’ll try to get there, too, and we can all meet in Washington.”

  “But Dad, I don’t want to leave Nin, or Alice and Lia behind. Can they come with me?”

  “No, this emergency evacuation is for family members of embassy staff only. I managed to get your name on the list only because of my good relations with Todd – I am afraid and sorry, but you’ll have to leave Nin and his family behind. I know, this will not be easy for you, but it is necessary, absolutely necessary.”

  He was clearly aware of what he was asking his daughter to do and uncomfortable; that’s why he spoke harshly and commanded rather than asked her.

  “No! NO!” Yuki shouted the words out angrily. “I won’t do this! We have known about this attack, too. From Nin’s Dad and Uncle. I never told you or Mum because you would never have believed me. But we have been preparing ourselves for it. We are going to be safe and I will not leave them! Do you understand me, Dad! I will not leave Nin!” She broke out in tears and I embraced her.

  I took her phone from her trembling hand.

  “Sir, this is Lia speaking. I am sorry, but it’s too late to evacuate anyone now. Yuki will be absolutely safe with us here, I promise! We are prepared and have food, water and equipment to stay safely in hiding for several months. If Yuki were to go to the embassy now to be evacuated to the States, she would place herself in real danger. Because, we all wouldn’t know where she’d end up, whether she got where she was supposed to in time and was safe. She really is safest here, with us, Sir. Please understand this.”

  “Dad, Lia is right! How could we be certain to meet in time, I don’t want to go anywhere alone, I’d be scared!” Yuki had grabbed the phone back from me.

  “Yuki, Umiko darling!” This was Yuki’s Mum now, her voice heavy with emotion.

  “Umiko, I can hardly bear the thought of it, but it looks like we will be separated for some time! Please contact the embassy, please! I see your point, yes Charles, I do! The idea of Umiko being stranded on her own in Washington or some other place is simply unthinkable. See reason, Charles! Umiko and Lia are quite right. She is safest where she is now! But Umiko, you must call Todd and tell him where you are, promise me this!”

  “Oh, Mum, I love you so much!” Yuki was both crying and smiling. “I love you so much! I wish you were here, you and Dad, but I am really safe here with Nin! And I promise I will call Mr Marshall as soon as possible!”

  “Umiko!” This was her dad again, sounding still very angry. “How come you know about this terror attack? Nin’s dad, I guess!”

  He almost growled now, which made me grin. My Dad’s reputation had apparently also reached Yuki’s dad.

  “Yes, Dad, he called us last Saturday and told us about it. I first wanted to call you, but then I thought that you wouldn’t believe me anyway. And then the airlines shut down. Just then Nin tried to book tickets for us to Japan, you know, but it didn’t work anymore. And, I knew that the government would notify you and Mum in time to prepare. And we did everything we had to ourselves. We’ll be really alright, you know we have a hideout here…”

  I punched her heavily in the sides and the phone slipped out of her hands.

  “Ouch, hey Lia, what’s …,” Her anger evaporated immediately when she saw my face and the realization hit her that she mustn’t reveal our hideout. She nodded and whispered, “I see, stupid of me, sorry.”

  She picked up the phone, “Sorry Dad, the phone slipped out of my hand. I am back now. As I said before, we are going to be safe. Nin’s house has a huge bomb-shelter and we can live down there without feeling too cramped. We’ll be totally alright and safe! Don’t you worry about me or us.”

  She caressed her stomach with slow circling movements, as if she wanted to communicate with the baby inside. It was unnerving and lent a whole new meaning to the word “us”.

  “Yuki, Lia, where are you?” This was Nin, pounding up the stairs, looking for us.

  Before we could answer he stormed into the room and came to an abrupt stop when he saw us sitting on the sofa. He crossed the distance to Yuki carefully, one step at a time, as if he were afraid. He held out his hand, palm up, pleadingly. He was afraid!

  But Yuki wouldn’t have any of this. She threw herself into his arms and he embraced her tightly. Her phone slipped down again and I caught it in my hands, uncertain of what to do. Meanwhile Alice came into the room, running, Piglet in her arms. She ran straight over to me.

  “Is this Nin?” Yuki’s dad meanwhile inquired.

  “Yes, Sir, Nin speaking.” Nin replied, a bit over-formal. “I just talked with my Dad, Sir, that’s why I wasn’t present before. He is in the States and he tells us that a global bio terror assault will happen within the next 24 hours.”

  Yuki and I must have looked totally aghast at this, because he added. “Yes, 24 hours! Dad thinks that it will happen very fast now. Reason for this being that the United States government has issued a classified terror warning to all their embassies and embassy staff. This, Dad says, kind of triggered events now.”

  He paused and looked at us gravely. Alice squirmed closer to me and I hugged her tight.

  “Within 24 hours!!” That was Yuki’s father again. “How can he be certain of this? Umiko, I want you to immediately call Todd and notify him where you are! Discuss with him how to proceed!”

  “Sir, with all due respect. I really think that it is too late for this now.” Ninian’s voice was bristling with indignation. “My dad as well as my uncle and other scientists of consequence have been monitoring this terrorist group for months. They tried to notify your government as well as many other governments time and again. But nobody would listen. Some few days ago our friend Josh hit onto a very important piece of information which my Dad immediately handed over to your secret service. That your government issued this global terror alert was the trigger for the terrorist group to act. My Dad just told me this. I am sorry, Sir, that we couldn’t inform you earlier; but you wouldn’t have believed us anyway, would you? And now it’s too late for Yuki to go to the embassy. I won’t let her out of the house anymore! We’ll all stay indoors from now onwards! My Dad as well as my Uncle just instructed us to do so!”

  He drew Yuki closer to him, choking with emotion and unable to speak he handed her the phone.

  “Dad, you heard Nin! Oh, I am afraid for you two, Dad, Mum, will you be safe?”

  “Darling, Umiko, don’t worry about us. We are going to the embassy’s secure bomb shelter today,” Yuki’s mum sounded both reassuring and sad.

  “Umiko, darling, please do take good care of yourself! And please call Todd, let him know where you are and how he can contact you. Leave your number as well as Lia’s and Nin’s with him. Please!”

  “Mum, I will try, I promise! Take care of yourselves, too. I love you both, I do!” Yuki couldn’t speak anymore, she started crying and so did her Mum. Her dad took over the phone and said his good-byes then the line went silent.

  We all sat there, huddled up in pairs, Nin and Yuki, Alice and me.


  Just to say something and end the uncomfortable silence I finally asked of Nin, “So Dad is sure about these 24 hours? This is really unexpected. What are we to do now?”

  “We have to call Josh”, Alice chipped in. “Dad said as much and I want to say good-bye to him! Let’s do it!”

  She got up from my lap and nudged me to follow her example.

  Amazing! She took it in her stride! As if we were just talking about some cosy trip somewhere. Probably she was too young to see the consequences. Because she felt secure with us, trusted us implicitly to do what was right. I felt glad for her and relieved that she seemed so unfazed by it all. But I wasn’t as confident now as I had been earlier this morning, not after this message by Dad.

  And I agreed wholeheartedly with Alice. I also wanted to talk with Josh now, urgently!

  So we all trooped back down into the sub-basement and Nin took over the task of getting the connection with Josh up and running.

  Josh must have been waiting beside the phone because he answered it right away.

  “Lia, Nin, are you alright? Have you already talked with your Dad? Do you know that it’ll start tomorrow? Where have you been yesterday? I – we were very worried! How can you just disappear without leaving a word where you’re going!!! Is everyone okay?” He bombarded us with his questions, one after the other, without waiting for us to answer.

  But how good it was to hear his voice! Even when anxious and obviously distressed, his voice had the immediate effect of calming me down. I felt secure now, ready to face anything.

  Alice took over and explained Josh what we’d been doing yesterday and about all our telephone calls since we’d returned from Grindelwald. She rattled on about that she had now not only Piglet to look after, but also his sister Malinda, who like herself was very much looking forward to seeing him soon. How we would now stay down in the sub-basement and how excited she was and not at all afraid. Just like Piglet and Malinda who were all very brave.

  I let her talk; the satellite line was safe from interception, not like Yuki’s phone.

  Josh being Josh, he spoke earnestly with Alice, taking her seriously. As if we had nothing else to worry about. He took his time to discuss with her how she might calm Piglet and Malinda down should they, after all, show some fear, which would be quite understandable, wouldn’t it?.

  How I loved him for this! Not only did he listen carefully to her worries, but he talked to her in such a way as to make her completely at ease and forget her anxieties.

  How I wished he were here with us in person! How much easier it all would be!

  Yuki was beaming at me, clearly as happy at how Josh handled Alice as I was, and even Nin was grinning.

  But he wanted to confirm some technical details with Josh and soon took over from Alice. They discussed these problems while Alice came to sit on my lap, nestling to my chest and whispering, “I really like Josh, you know, and I am looking so much forward to seeing him soon. You know, it’ll take just some days and then he’ll be here, won’t it?”

  “I hope so,” I whispered back. “I really hope so, too. It will be so much easier having him around!”

  Alice sighed contentedly, leaning closer to me and planting a little peck on my chin. I loved her so much, my little darling sister! How I wished that it would really turn out to be just some few days until we’d see Josh! But I knew better; it’d take a long while, an agonizingly long time.

  Nin turned around, indicating that it was my turn to talk to Josh. I had questions, lots of them, for him.

  “Josh, how will they start this? Do you have any idea?”

  “Not exactly, but we think that they will release the pathogen both by air, somehow, and into the water distribution system. Exactly how, we don’t know. All we know is that this pathogen is incredibly effective and virulent. Once it’s set loose, it’ll trigger a terrible chain reaction that no one will be able to stop.”

  He paused and I put another question to him.

  “Dad said we shouldn’t go out anymore. Do you think so, too? Do we really have to stick inside from now onward?”

  “Yes, Lia, you mustn’t go out anymore, not at all, it’s too dangerous! We can’t be sure when and where they’ll strike first, but I am convinced that all major cities are going to be their prime targets.”

  His voice had an urgent, pleading edge to it. “Your area surely will be a prime target, just as ours will be. I am glad that Phil and Kamene with your Mum and Nate are out of harm’s way. And your Dad can look after himself. But your area and ours will certainly be hit hard.”

  “But do you think we could still spend the afternoon upstairs, maybe go a bit in the garden? It seems so awful to go down underground right now? We haven’t had any time to really prepare ourselves for it!”

  “I think, it’s okay for you to spend the afternoon upstairs and even go out in the garden a bit,” Josh relented. “But don’t venture anywhere further, stay close to the house. And in the evening, go downstairs, lock the doors and stay there. Put on the TV and monitor the situation via TV as long as possible. And, I’ll try to contact you daily, around 13:00 hours, for as long as I am still here and the phone lines work.”

  “Okay, we’ll do! But you know, it’s really scary to think that we have to remain indoors and underground from now onwards! Do you think we should lock ourselves up in the sub-basement for good or could we still move around inside the house?”

  “No, Lia, NO! Absolutely not!” He exclaimed. “Once you’re downstairs tonight, you have to remain there. Lock yourselves in and don’t come up for at least two weeks. And don’t go outdoors at all for at least a month! You mustn’t! It’s far too dangerous! We’ve got information that their pathogen is absolutely lethal during the first seven to ten days after having been released. We found that out because it was a major problem for this Nemesis group to keep it viable for even that long. After ten days the risk of infection is minimal, yet not zero. But we don’t know whether they will release it in waves. Maybe even covering certain areas twice or more. You really should stay indoors for at least a month! That’s all the advice I can give you. I wish I could be with you! Lia! But it would have been too dangerous to travel over to you sooner.”

  He paused before going on. “Please, Lia, take good care of yourselves! I’ll try to travel to you within two month times, but don’t expect me to come before end of May. It’ll take me, I mean us, at least ten days to get over to you.”

  “How and with whom will you spend the time underground? And why do you say “us”?” I wanted to know. I needed to know that he was safe, that he was with someone secure.

  “I’ll stay with Professor Papadopoulos, his wife and some of our friends. We’re going to be ten people in total. There are also two of my friends from Kenya staying with us and they will travel with me to your place.”

  “That’s wonderful news,” I blurted out. “I was so worried that you would have to travel all by yourself! It really tormented me!”

  “Not to worry, Lia,” his voice sounded pleased, as if he were smiling now. “I’ll be all right; it’s you I am anxious about – Phil told me, Lia!”

  His voice had become very serious now, “Listen Lia, please don’t do anything rash and take care of yourself as well as all the others! Please! Be safe! For my sake! I couldn’t bear it, were something to happen to you, Lia!”

  Eh! What did he say?

  Never before had he revealed any deeper feelings for me! But what he’d just said now left no doubt, didn’t it? While I was still marvelling at this and debating with myself how to answer, Yuki chipped in, smiling sweetly at me.

  “Josh, we’ll make certain she’ll be whole and safe and will not do anything reckless. She’ll be all right, you’ll see.”

  I finally found my voice again. “Josh, ditto! It would kill me if anything happened to you! Take care! See you soon! And, greetings to everyone else, good luck to them, too!” I couldn’t go on. And I didn’t want the others to see my tears, so I got up
, handed the phone to Yuki and hurried out of the room, over to the cooking area.

  There I sat down, buried my face in my hands and took several deep breaths.

  How was this possible! Why did he have to say these words now? These words and how he had said them left little doubt about how he felt for me! But why now? I felt both wonderful, lightheaded. Because he obviously cared for me! And at the same time angry.

  Why did he have to say this now! Now that I had to carry out a plan that was dangerous and stood a mere 50:50 chance to succeed. It made it all so much harder for me! After hearing Josh’s voice, his words, all I wanted was to stay put, and wait for him. I didn’t want to face the world outside, let alone fight it.

  What a sissy you are!

  I angrily wiped my tears away, got up, and busied myself with setting the teapot on the stove and getting some sandwiches ready.

  They let me be for about ten minutes. Then, Alice came over and helped me set the tea tray ready. When we carried it over to the big room, Yuki and Nin looked at me tenderly but said nothing.

  I didn’t set the tray down there but headed for the door instead. If we’d have to stay down here from tonight onwards, we’d best enjoy our last few hours upstairs. The others quickly followed. Nin ran ahead of me to open the doors. We went to the living room, sat down on the sofas, Alice poured the tea and I distributed the sandwiches. We tentatively looked at each other.

  “Josh cares for you very much, you know,” Yuki softly urged.

  Nin looked embarrassed and Alice a bit confused.

  I just glared at her. Really! As if I would want to discuss anything like this in public! Plus, we really had more important things to deal with than who might or might not care for me!

  “I don’t want to talk about this!” I growled.

  This made them all laugh and released the tension instantaneously.

  “You are so funny when you are cornered, emotionally cornered, I mean”, Yuki added teasingly.

  Uh, now she was playing at being the more experienced!