The Voting Machine

The Fog of War

Under the cliff we found Moonlight and Phoenix rearing and screaming, tugging against the ropes that kept them fastened to the rocks.

"Let me try to calm them," Annabelle said, stepping forward carefully. "I used to ride horses a long time ago."

She slowly reached out to Phoenix and brushed his mane. This seemed to have a soothing effect and the horse finally held his head still. She held her face close to his nose and looked into his eyes. She exhaled slowly and tried to align herself with the horse's breathing patterns. Their lungs moved to the same rhythm and the animal gradually seemed to trust her.

She moved onto to Moonlight and repeated the same process. Then we covered the horses in two of the silver robes and wore the second pair ourselves. I checked the hiker's pouch in the saddle where Luke had stashed his supplies for a random survival kit. Our water bottles had fallen somewhere in the dark floor of the creek bed.

"There's no time to search," she said, mounting Phoenix, pointing to the clouds of ash above the burning ruins of the compound. "We can't let those fumes catch us."

I climbed on Moonlight's saddle and we trotted together through the floor of the canyon but it was slow going since our horses had to struggle for every step through rocks and pits and darkness.

"Maybe we should try to go up the side of the mountain," I suggested. "Luke had a cabin up there with food and water."

"That's not going to work," Annabelle said. She was right. Above us to the east I would see a wall of smoke had nestled against the slope of Potosi. "A drifting ember might set the whole mountain on fire. We can't take the chance."

Luke hadn't explained it at the time, but now I understood why he told me to push through the desert. Once we reached the plain of the desert, we kicked our horses and they galloped fast. A wall of smoke still sealed off the sky from eyes overhead. We rode for an hour until orange and grey clouds from the bombing faded farther in the distance. Finally, the ash ceiling lifted and there was nothing but clear, starry skies.

Annabelle stopped her horse for a moment and lifted her head to gaze at the constellations. She held up hand, tracing the flat side of her palm to make an outline.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Those two stars at the edge of the Big Dipper point to the North Star," she explained. "If we're moving away from it, that means we're still headed south, towards the freeway."

"You can't see the stars where I grew up. And I missed the class field trip to Griffith Observatory." I didn't mention that I was already using the GPS tracker to mark our direction, the same one I'd used to track her back in Vegas.

She must've known I had it anyway. "How did you find me out here in the middle of nowhere Temo?" she asked.

"Luke and I were following you."

"Why were you doing that?"

"We thought maybe you could help us."

"So you followed me in secret."

"We couldn't let you know we were close. Then you'd be an accessory."

"How could I help you if I didn't even know you were there? That doesn't make any sense."

"We didn't really have a good plan."

"I find that hard to believe. I know you. You've been in some tough spots before and you always came up with a plan. Is there something else you aren't telling me?"

Of course there's something I am not telling you, I thought, just like there's plenty you aren't telling me.

"I was desperate, Annabelle. You remember what that feels like. Don't you?"

"When did you start following me?"

"We went to Zeke Legend's house. We saw you talking to the widow."

"Then you must've seen me leave with the files."

"That's right."

"And you know I had lunch with Emmanuel Stevens."

"I do. We couldn't stop Los Empresarios from taking you at the motel. It happened too fast."

"I have been working to prove your innocence. I told Stevens I would show everyone they were wrong about you. That must've been why they captured me. They were trying to protect Shiro."

"Had you heard that name before?"

"Never."

"Your father never mentioned it?"

"What does my father have to do with this?"

"I am not sure."

"Why would you bring up my father?"

"I met J.P. in the Babylonian two days ago, before the drone killed him. J.P. told me that Shiro was structured like a corporation. It seemed like he'd been working with them a long time. I think he knew the Chief Executive. Where would he meet someone like that?"

"I can't believe what you are implying. Who has been planting these lies in your head? You trust J.P.? He was a snake who testified against my father in the wire fraud trial. Are you listening to Teresa? She used my father as her get-out-of-jail free card. They'd swear under oath that my father plotted 9-11 if it put another dollar in their pocket. No one has any gratitude. My father's serving his time, paying for his crime. He's barred from banking for life, lost his company to that parasite Chet Castle. He's suffered enough already without more smears and accusations."

"I am sorry I mentioned it," I said, hoping she'd let it go.

"I hated my father for years before you found me in the carriage house. I blamed him for all my problems. But now I have a more balanced view. He's loyal and he risks a lot to help the people who he believes in. He knows he made some mistakes with Passion. That's why he transferred so much of his wealth to the Sunflower Foundation, to use that money to help the powerless. He's furious about what's happening to you right now. He'd help any way he could."

"That's good to know," I said awkwardly, flush with embarrassment.

"I think I found something in the widow's files, Temo. There's a trail of documents connecting Globaltech to Los Empresarios. We can share them with the press and start to make our case in public."

"You should contact Fatima Shahabi," I said. "They killed her father after he was taken into custody. She's reaching out to bloggers and civil rights attorneys. We get enough facts out there and they have nowhere to hide."

"What about you?"

"I can't turn myself in. You know that. They'll lock me up without a trial."

"I don't want to be separated again, Temo."

"It's the only way."

"We have a connection, Temo, you know that. You're the only one who sees everything in me. You see the angel and you see the monster."

"There's no monster."

"Yes there is. Don't lie, Temo. Don't do that thing where you pretend people are better than they really are."