Page 54 of Pandion

“Yeah, I think I got it. You can sleep. We’ll stay put for now, but we need to be ready to leave if it comes to that.”

“Leave where?” Harumine asked, but once he’d lain back down, his mind started to wander.

“I’ll figure something out.”

“Uh huh. Good. I can’t… Red. God damnit. Red, blue.”

“Sleep.”

“OK.”

Chapter 21

Kagesawa wished he’d had Satoru in a better state to keep him grounded through this, but Satoru was still out of commission sleeping off his migraine. Kagesawa sat in the dark with only the light from his screen as company.

He needed to come up with a plan. No matter how the data had leaked, he was responsible for digging it up in the first place. Innocent people were dying because he’d been so caught up worrying about himself.

The police had arrested some of the protesters, but the number of people now gathering on the streets was staggering.Even after the worst of the commotion had died down for the night, there were still occasional unsettling cries coming from outside. There weren’t that many empaths in the local community. At this rate, by dawn there might not be any left.

Maybe if he could prove the organism either wasn’t sentient or didn’t mind being used? Would any of that make a difference at this point? The rioters were out for blood, and half of their reasons for hating the empaths were based on false accusations. Why would they care if a few were proven wrong?

Kagesawa turned his attention to preparing for the worst. He exhausted all of his usual channels and gathered as much information as possible, mapped out escape routes and made calculations to figure out how far his resources could stretch.

Around one o’clock Harumine woke up. Kagesawa had dragged him here and into his bed so he could keep an eye on him while connected to his BCI.

“Uh, what time is it?”

“Twelve past one. You can go back to sleep.”

“My head hurts. I’m going to get my meds.” He shambled out of the room. Kagesawa was in the middle of something and hardly paid attention to it. When Satoru returned, he crawled back into bed and curled up under the covers. Kagesawa looked up to check on him.

“Is it getting better at all?” Several days of this excruciating a headache seemed excessive.

“A little. Maybe tomorrow.”

“All rig—” A noise from the corridor alerted Kagesawa mid-word. He got up and moved into the hallway to hear better. There were people somewhere below, making their way into the apartments. Familiar voices expressed their complaints and rushed footsteps in the stairs headed up floor by floor.

This is bad.Kagesawa pushed aside the covers and yanked Satoru out of bed.Sorry. We need to go.

Their route out the door was blocked, and the window in the living room was the only other option. The drop down didn’t bear thinking about, but Kagesawa had to look to check that no one was at this side of the building. He couldn’t see anyone.

The outer wall felt rough against his hands, but there wasn’t much to hold on to. Kagesawa was confident he’d be able to reach the downspout at the corner of the building, but Satoru was shorter and had a significantly shorter arm span. On top of that, he was not at his best.

Look out to the left, do you think you can reach that?he asked and guided Satoru to the window.

Satoru hesitated only for a moment and jumped onto the window sill. He held on to the jambs and leaned out, back first.I think, if I can gain a bit of momentum…He leaned over to the opposite side and swung himself with complete disregard for his safety.

With his heart jumping to his throat, Kagesawa reached out to grab him. Thank heavens Satoru was more athletic than expected and caught a hold of the downspout—if a metre or two lower than the window.

Shit, fuck, Satoru! You scared the living daylights out of me.Kagesawa climbed out the window and shimmied it shut from the outside.

Satoru climbed down a few steps to reach a ledge on the other side of the corner and moved aside to give Kagesawa space.

The ledge was a godsend considering the downspout probably wouldn’t have carried the weight of the both of them.Can youmove over some more? I don’t want to be here if they think to look out the window.Kagesawa tried to fit in the tight space left for him on the ledge. Satoru moved over as much as he could.

On this side of the building, there were only a few small windows that led into the bathrooms of some of the other apartments. The neighbouring building was only about a metreaway with a narrow alleyway in between. The area was secluded enough to give some shelter from the worst bite of the wind, but having to stay still in an awkward position not wearing a proper jacket or any other outerwear, it took less than ten minutes for Kagesawa to start to shiver from the cold.

Satoru was huddled next to him with a death grip on the corner of a window sill.How long do we wait?he asked, pressed his forehead onto the surface of the building and closed his eyes.

---