Page 48 of Vistaria Has Fallen

Chapter Nine

“There he is!” Minnie said, her voice lifting.

Duardo, again wearing jeans and a black sweater, lifted his hand when he saw them. He waited across the street, while Minnie rushed across without pausing to assess traffic. She dived between cars, causing at least one set of brakes to squeal, and made the other pavement with a jump. Still running, she pushed through the peoplestrolling the Avenue, taking in the evening air. She threw herself at Duardo, wrapping herself around him, her legs around his waist, her arms around his neck. He held onto her, grinning, and ran his hand through her hair, then kissed her, passionately and long.

When Callie crossed the street and made her way through the flow of pedestrians to the place where they stood, Minnie had regained herfeet and Duardo caressed her face. The gentleness of his touch made Calli’s heart ache. Oh, how she hoped for Minnie’s sake that he loved her!

Duardo turned to face her, came to loose attention and bowed. Vistarian men did it often, she realized, and it did not seem silly or archaic. It seemed like a very genuine expression of honor. He took her hand and kissed the back of it. “Miss Calli.”

“Thank you for the flowers, Duardo.”

“They were not enough,” he declared. He lifted her hand to his head, pushing her fingers under the hair. She felt beneath her fingers a long, hard welt of skin about an inch across.

“Ugh,” she said.

Minnie lifted her hand to check, too, and pulled it away with a grimace.

Duardo grinned. He pointed to his temple. “I still see double a little. So I am offduty until I see just one.” He tucked Minnie under his arm and squeezed her. “We walk, okay?”

“Yes.”

Calli noticed bruises and scrapes around his wrist, peeping beneath the sleeve of the sweater. However, he used the hand without hesitation, gripping Minnie’s. “Hey, you guys should go on without me,” she said. “I can go get dinner somewhere.”

“No,” Duardo said firmly, even as Minnie protested.“You come with us.”

“I don’t want to be in the way,” she said.

“No,” Duardo said again. He pulled her around and made her walk beside him, keeping a grip on her elbow.

Realizing she wouldn’t be able to leave them alone without creating a scene, she tried to relax and enjoy the stroll. Many people seemed to be doing the same thing, in twos, threes, even more. It seemed fashionable to strollthe Avenue of Nations in the evening. The cars on the four-lane paved road also moved leisurely and passengers in the cars would call out to pedestrians. Along the pavement many pushcarts sold flowers, food, cheap jewelry, clothing and trinkets. There was no hard commercial push. They seemed content to watch the crowd wander past and chat with people they knew.

“This street, they see many parades,”Duardo explained.

“It’s wide enough.”

“That’s the palace up there, isn’t it?” Minnie asked.

Calli looked up. The road sloped upwards from here, a gentle incline that ended at a semi-circular building in white stone, bathed in spotlights.

“That isel Edificio Legislativo,” Duardo said. “The President’s residence is behind it. There is much park in between.”

At the top of the hill, the roadwidened out into a very large circle, matching the curve of the legislative building. In the middle of the circle was a fountain, which seemed to be the center of social activity on the Avenue. Many people sat around the fountain and many more lingered in the area, talking and walking about.

A wrought-iron fence separated the public circus from the legislative building, and in the middle, twogates stood open, with armed soldiers at attention. Duardo headed toward the gates.

“We’re allowed in there?” Calli asked.

“The public, no. Me, they let in. I am part of the government.” He lifted his hand in a salute to the guards, who brought their feet together at parade attention as they passed by. Duardo walked over to the gate house, where a man in normal army uniform sat behind the glass.He chatted to him for a minute, then pulled out his wallet from his back pocket and showed the man the inside of it.

The man behind the glass pushed a clipboard through the slot. Duardo signed it. The man gave a salute, which Duardo returned. He tucked Minnie back under his arm. “No sweat,” he told Calli.

“I’m sure they don’t let just any soldier in here,” Calli said.

“Ah, no, but I am walkingwounded. They feel sorry for me.” He grinned.

“You’re lying,” Calli said.

“It is perfectly true!” Duardo protested.