Chapter 59: Stop Following Him
Rhovan clearly realized all of those as he grinned. This Ophiuchus-marked young man had increasingly impressed him. This wit would never come from a nineteen-year-old. It was like he was an old man trapped in a young body.
If Marek heard Rhovan, he would probably smack his soul out of his body.
"Stop following him," Rhovan ordered.
Kellan stared, wondering whether he had heard wrong. "What?"
"All of you."
Nadia folded her arms, begrudgingly. "We spent several hours trying to find him."
"Because he noticed that we were tailing him."
"That is usually what following someone poorly does," Silas said.
Kellan turned toward him. "Whose side are you on?"
"Accuracy."
Rhovan tapped the map and ignored the two. "Marek is not running away from us. If he wanted to disappear, he would stop visiting facilities, stop using the same vehicle, and stop asking questions about a Gemini route. He is trying to determine what we want before he gets any closer to his sister."
Dario understood first. "He thinks we might use him to find her."
"For once, you somehow sounded smart." Rhovan folded the map.
Dario’s forehead darkened.
Eren looked at him. "So, we disappear."
"No. He would hardly believe a bunch of people trying to tail him for several hours... would simply give up."
"Then what?"
"We actually stop following him."
Kellan frowned harder. "That sounds like giving up with extra words."
"It sounds that way because you are listening with your feelings."
Dario covered his face with one hand.
Rhovan continued before anyone could waste more time. "We stop chasing Marek. We chase the movement pattern he is chasing."
Nadia’s expression changed. "The woman."
"Yes."
The silver-white Gemini had been changing routes whenever public registries became useful to Marek. At first, Rhovan only had one assumption, and that was: she was avoiding government systems generally. Well, it would still work, but as of the moment, it was no longer the only one.
Eren brought out the copied movement records. "Every time he asks about Mara by name, the next confirmed route shifts."
"Not every time," Silas said.
"Enough times," Eren corrected himself.
Rafe pointed at three roads west of the abandoned checkpoint. "If the last Gemini group was refused passage north, these are the routes they could have used without going through another government post."
Rhovan studied them.
Then, Nadia added another important detail. "The volunteer said the silver-white woman asked whether anyone else had been asking about Mara."
Rhovan looked at her. "When?"
"Before she changed direction."
"Who had?"
"A young man. Well, of course, we all already know him."
Nobody needed help identifying him. Rhovan leaned back against a table, both his hands gripping its edge.
’The silver-white woman knew Marek was coming and that he was looking for Mara. Mara might have divulged information about her brother to that woman. More importantly, she seemed always aware whenever Marek got too close. Marek constantly asked questions somewhere in Linden. The woman answered by moving Mara somewhere else.’
Rhovan smiled.
Dario noticed. "Why are you smiling?"
"Because we have been solving the wrong problem."
Kellan sighed. "Again?"
"We do not need to find Marek." Rhovan stood straight and tapped the surface of the table slowly. He then marked the three western routes on the map. All of them watched him do it as he continued, "We need to identify where Mara’s escort expects Marek to go next."
Nadia looked at the marks. "And then?"
"Then, we arrive first."
Silas watched him. "You assume Marek will keep following."
Rhovan looked at the shelf again.
A nineteen-year-old had crossed broken districts, stolen a car badly enough to leave money behind, corrected strangers’ bandages on the way, and carried food, noodles to be specific, for his sister.
"That is the least dangerous assumption we have made all week," he remarked.
They withdrew from the route.
Marek noticed several minutes later. He stopped beside a closed clinic and watched the road behind him through the reflection of a dark pharmacy window.
He could no longer sense anybody following him. No stranger car, no woman with short hair asking questions about him, no Aries-marked man pretending to care about a motorcycle that was clearly not moved in three days.
Their absence was more obvious than the pursuit had been. However, Marek found it suspicious.
"They stopped," Marek said. "Was I not their target after all?"
"Yes," Celeste answered.
"Why? Were they after all trying to search for Mara? What’s with Mara anyway?"
"..."
Marek just looked north. Expecting an answer from Celeste was the same as expecting someone who said they were already on their way to their meet-up place but had just truly come out of the shower.
Well, the straightforward choice was to continue.
He entered the clinic, left through its loading area, crossed two alleys, and reached another stabilization tent from the wrong side.
A single record there placed a private Gemini group at the western checkpoint less than six hours earlier.
Passage denied.
Route changed west.
Marek photographed the notice and stood there for a while. The pressure behind his ear remained absent.
’They didn’t stop.’ He folded the old map and put it away. ’They just stopped letting me see them.’
Several districts away, Rhovan looked at the same denied-passage record Eren had already obtained through another source.
He traced the western road once.
Then, he asked, "How long until he reaches the sports complex?"
Rafe checked the current route. "If he keeps avoiding checkpoints? Two hours. Maybe three."
Rhovan magically manifested a coat in the air and wore it with such undeniable majesty.
’Where the fuck did that come from?’ Kellan cussed inside his head.
Dario looked at him, trying to ignore the way the coat just appeared out of nowhere. ’A wannabe magician?’
"We are going there?" he asked.
"No."
"Then where?"
Rhovan walked toward the stairs. "Somewhere he can decide whether to meet us."
Kellan followed, narrowing his eyes. "That sounds suspiciously polite."
"It is."
"Why?"
Rhovan smiled without looking back. "Because cornering an Ophiuchus-marked young man like him, who’s clearly already suspicious of our constant tailing, while he’s looking for his dear sister... sounds like a good way to get attacked before we can explain anything to him... well, you know what I mean, even most of you attacked a poor stranger like me..."
’Poor, your ass! I demand you kiss my ass instead to prove that you’re poor! Damn this bastard!’ Kellan balled his fist as he followed the man who kept touching the tips of his nerves.