A.I. Evolution: The Fall of Lucien

Chapter 30

Katherina is humming away happily as she finishes up the dishes from supper, in the kitchen at the clinic. Lucille walks by the open kitchen door and hears the happy tune she is humming. "What has you in such a good mood?"

Katherina looks up from the dish she is drying with the towel. "Today is a special day. I have been free of the institute for the criminally insane for a full year now, which was where I ended up after my breakdown exactly six years ago."

Lucille smiles at her friend who had also been cured from her mental disability by Lucien the Son of God, who had stopped in front of the clinic she now works in. "Are you going to do anything special tonight to celebrate?"

"Yes. I think I will go out on the town and see who I can meet and have some fun with."

"Oh, that sounds good. Can I come with you?"

Katherina smiles to herself. "No, I prefer it to be intimate; just the two of us, and besides, you are what, maybe eight years old."

Lucille's face clouds over in anger, but she quickly changes it back to a little girl again. "True. Well, you have fun. I will be thinking of you the whole time."

"Thanks," adds Katherina, before picking up the last plate to be dried.

The dishes are now done and that ends her obligation to her job. She quickly gets her things and rushes home to prepare for her night out. She takes a hot shower and scrubs her skin almost raw as she makes herself as clean as possible for her meeting tonight, because this marks the end of her carefully laid plan. She dresses in her clothes and arranges everything to make her look as appealing as possible as she waits for the sun to go down, so she can go out into the night.

The moment arrives, and she slips out the back entrance of her building, moving from one shadow to another till she reaches the main street that runs towards the entrance to Vatican City. She is tempted to make this the last night a special one by entering the Holy City, but the small voices from her mother and the Son of God, tell her to turn back to the side streets and the shadows there.

Jan and the other female policeman had been wondering the streets in the target area for almost two hours now, and she was getting tired of trying to walk casually. The thought of her sister doing this the night before unaware that someone was lying in wait for her made her want to run from the area. But she had promised her mother that she would do whatever she could to stop the same thing from happening to another young woman.

Smit was dressed as a shabby tramp and was monitoring her mike just a couple of blocks away, while always staying within sight of her.

Jan walks along almost absentmindedly as she remembers the fun times, she had had with her sister that was just two years older than her. A tear starts to run down her cheek as she walks slowly along the sidewalk, away from the main entrance to Vatican City. The night is cooler than the day's heat, bringing many people out into the night air.

She heads for the more deserted areas, hoping to draw out the attacker, as Smit struggles to stay within sight of her without drawing to much attention to himself. He steps around the corner of the building just as Jan stops on the sidewalk and looks across to the other side of the street.

Smit moves down the sidewalk past Jan to make himself look just like any other person out for a walk as he keeps a sideways look on the person who has gotten Jan's attention. The man is dressed in old style clothes, with a baggy pullover and leggings that are tighter than they should be by what he can see, along with a large hat sitting on his head hiding his facial features. He moves down the sidewalk a little farther before slowly making his way across the street to the same side the man is standing on.

Jan wants to chuckle at the old-style clothing but cannot help but notice the effect she seems to be having on the handsome man. He raises his hand to her motioning for her to cross the street. His whole-body language calls out to her and she starts across the street before she realizes that this could be the person that killed her sister. She tries to push the thought from her mind when she notices that Smit had stopped to tie his shoe at the next intersection and moves closer to the strange man.

Smit stands and moves to the edge of the sidewalk looking both ways before moving again as he glances back to Jan and the stranger. Then, while he is looking away from them for a second, he touches the small button on his lapel. "Smit here. Jan has been approached by a man on Piazza di Santa Maria Alle Fornaci in front of Martinetti's. He could be taking her into the alleyway beside the store to the inner courtyard."

"Understood," sends back Alan'd. "We will enter from the far side."

Jan steps up on the sidewalk beside the man and feels strangely compelled to move up to him as he stares down on her suggestively. She can feel her body responding to his smile and suggestive manner.