"Wake up, sleepyhead."

"Five more minutes."

"You've been saying that for the past fifteen minutes."

"This is the last time."

"Wake up, you idiot! Or you're gonna be late for the meeting!"

"Woah! Okay!" Clint sat up with a jerk.

He only saw a swirl of Marie's jet black hair and heard the rustling of her skirt before she disappeared back into the corridor. It was seven in the morning. He climbed out of the bed and walked over to the window to let the sun warm his face. A host of sparrows were chattering away on the electric line outside.

It was still just half past seven. The traffic wasn't quite flooding the streets yet. He heard the clatter of pots and plates in the kitchen, hissing of hot oil on the pan. They were having eggs and bacon for breakfast today. He was certainly looking forward to that.

It took him about twenty minutes to brush his teeth and shower, another ten to get dressed. He was wearing a navy blue blazer over a dark blue shirt and dark khakis. It was casual but not too casual for a Wednesday. It was alright for the meeting he had in an hour.

He joined his wife and son at the dining table.

Marie had set his plate for him. Zack was almost halfway done with his breakfast.

"Good morning, dad!" Zack smiled.

"Morning, kiddo. Quite excited for school today, huh?" Clint took a bite of the bacon.

Zack leered at his dad. "Not exactly for school."

Clint raised an eyebrow.

"We are gonna buy him a new pair of studs today, remember?" Marie said as she brought over a bowl of potato salad and took her own chair.

Clint frowned. "Studs?"

"They are shoes worn while playing football, dad," he said.

"I thought I told you I was taking him to the market after school today," Marie said.

"Apparently, I forgot."

Marie took a sip of her orange juice before saying, "You're thinking about today's meeting, aren't you?"

"Yep."

"Nervous?"

"A bit."

She put her hand over his. "Don't worry, honey. You've got this."

He smiled at her. "Thanks."

He rose to leave after finishing his breakfast. He kissed his wife goodbye, ruffled his son's hair and then walked out the door.

Old lady Ruben from their next door apartment had just walked up the stairs, lugging a cardboard box the size of a television. Looking at her old wrinkled face anyone could've told that the effort of heaving the box was certainly killing her back. Clint rushed to the rescue and put a hand under the box. "Careful there, Mrs. Ruben," he said with a disarming smile, "I know you work out but you don't have to show off like that."

The old woman actually blushed, smiling at him. "Oh, Mr. Chambers, always around to help out a damsel in distress." She chuckled, letting Clint take the box from her.

"You know, I'm just a regular boy-scout, Mrs. Ruben," he said.

"Gloria is such a lucky girl to have you," she said, her old and weathered face still blushing slightly.

"If only Gloria could agree." Clint sighed rather dramatically, giving a playful side-eye to Marie who was still standing in the doorway.

Marie rolled her eyes. "If only you could flirt with me like you do with Mrs. Ruben, Frank," she said just as playfully as Clint.

Clint gasped at the old lady. "My wife is calling you a homewrecker, Mrs. Ruben!"

Mrs. Ruben giggled again. "Certainly not the first woman to call me that." She winked at the two of them.

"Trust me, you still got it, girl!" Marie whistled at the old lady.

Mrs. Ruben burst out into a full throated laughter. "You two are just as much of a hoot as ever," she said.

Before either Marie or Clint could carry on with the banter, Zack asked: "Mom, what's a homewrecker?"

"Forgot you had school, go and grab your books!" Marie snapped, herding the boy back into the apartment before blowing a discrete kiss at Clint.

Mrs. Ruben was still giggling. "It's so nice to see a family as sweet as yours," she said. "It's difficult to find one that can still have a laugh together."

"It means a lot coming from you, Mrs. Ruben. I bet you and Mr. Ruben were just as sweet," Clint said.

"I like to believe we were," Mrs. Ruben said with a sigh. "God, I miss that man." She looked out at a billboard advertisment on the opposite building. It was a toothpaste commercial featuring two film stars posing as a couple, smiling big computer-enhanced smiles. The old lady shook her head before she could drift off. That's when she noticed Clint (or Frank Chambers–as she knew him) was still holding the box for her. "Sorry for holding you up like that."

Clint just chuckled. "No harm done, Mrs. Ruben," he said. "Just tell me where do you want me to put the box."

She led him into her apartment and pointed at the space next to the refrigerator in the kitchen. She asked him if he would like to sit down for some tea, perhaps. The man just declined with a gracious smile. She saw him off at the door. Some people could always find happiness, she thought, find it even in a war torn hell like this. She watched him as he disappeared down the stairs.

###

It had been a week and a half since the Harrises moved into the city of Kingsville. Their apartment building was in Trinity Square, owned under the alias of Frank and Gloria Chambers, loving parents to their twelve year old son, Teddy Chambers. Their story had been a simple one. A military doctor came back from deployment after an accident, took early retirement to get a more peaceful job in the big city and was now spending the rest of his life with his wife and son.

The packet that Erik's friend (or his friend's employee, more precisely) had handed them on the sail over from C3 had been solid. The packet had ration cards, travel permits, college degrees, even a certificate of honorable discharge from the Army of Ardvenia for the guy named Dr. Frank Chambers and several other documents. The accuracy with which everything was forged was almost terrifying.

Clint wondered if these papers had actually belonged to someone real. And to what means did Erik's friend even resort to acquiring these. That thought bugged him almost everyday.

Trinity Square was the busiest part of Kingsville. Yet the streets still were fairly less crowded. A billboard raised high in the air declared in big red words: STORY OF THE NATION'S VICTORY, TOLD BY A GREAT MAN.

ELI HODGES WILL SPEAK TO THE PUBLIC IN THE CITY OF LAW!

Clint scoffed as he passed by the billboard. Eli Hodges, the spokesperson for the Seat Of Authority was going to show up to Trinity Square to boast about Ardvenia's current exploits in the Republic of Vardin.

The Conquest of Vardin had been all over the news. Ardvenia talked about it's heroic victory in the country that was 'trying to hoard a dangerous element for it's own selfish gain.'

Clint had noticed this thing to be a regular occurence in the unsectorized cities. The news only ever talked about the nation's glory and how Ardvenia is just a step away from being the land of victory and fortune.

There was hardly anything else left to watch on the television or to listen on the radio except for that kind of news. And now Eli Hodges himself was going to land right outside Clint's apartment building to scream about that thing on a bullhorn.

That explained the open and empty streets. All the traffic was being redirected while Trinity Square was being prepared for Hodges' arrival.

He held back a groan and kept walking past the hospital where he had just started working a week ago. He'd applied for a leave as he needed a bit more time to get settled in his new apartment. They'd obviously wrinkled their noses at his application for leave within just a week of his appointment to a job. But eventually they'd let him skip the work day.

He walked up to the bus stop and boarded a bus that would take him to Hartwell street. It was quarter past eight. He still had fifteen more minutes before his 'meeting'.

###

Moon's Edge had a wind chime just past the entrance door. It pitter-pattered like rain drops on a tin roof each time it swayed. The lights in the club were always dim, leaning more towards ambience than visibility. The floor was made of textured wood so dark you felt like you were walking on the night sky. There were no more than seven booths inside–which made it feel more exclusive on busy nights with the security raised up a notch. Abstract paintings adorned the walls.

Clint walked up to the bar on the right side and settled into one of the stools. There were liquor cabinets behind the bartender. The bottles on display all looked expensive and imported. Just above the cabinets was a television mounted on the wall tuned to a news channel.

"I would like to have a bourbon. Neat." He said to the bartender. It was a young girl in her mid twenties with hazel eyes and short black hair.

She stared at him for a second before saying, "We don't serve bourbon in the morning."

"I hope you'll be able to make an exception for me." Clint pulled out a fifty kerver bill that was torn in half. (He got a strange sense of Deja vu on using the Ardvenian legal currency after such a long time.)

The bartender raised an eyebrow. She pulled out a half torn kerver herself and matched it with the one Clint laid on the bar. The serial numbers aligned. She smirked; and then she rang a call bell thrice.

Two attendants locked the front door and turned the 'We're open' sign to 'We're closed'. It was just the bartender and Clint inside the Moon's Edge now.

"I'm glad you managed to make it for the meeting, Mr. Chambers," she said.

###

Watcher--Erik's friend--the man who ran the cabal of spies in the city of Kingsville had never shown his face to the Harrises. Neither did any of them receive any direct calls. The only way to reach Watcher were through these 'meetings' at the Moon's Edge club. Each time he would meet a different bartender and hand them a different half torn fifty kerver bill from a set of other such fifty kerver bills he'd received with the packet of forged documents on the boat.

The girl tending the bar that day introduced herself as Kelly. Probably an alias, just like Frank was for Clint.

"How are you and your family settling in your new home then?" Kelly asked him.

"Pretty perfect." Clint nodded. "Gloria and I have become really good friends with one of our neighbors."

"How's your son's school?"

"He started classes a couple of days ago. He hasn't necessarily made any friends yet, but he is trying out for his class football team." Clint shrugged.

"How is your wife doing?"

"She is preparing for the interview at Teddy's school." Teddy Chambers was the alias for Zack.

"What subject is she gonna teach?"

"English literature and composition. She is pretty good at it."

Kelly nodded and smiled. She seemed impressed. "You have been doing really well, Mr. Chambers. But this is just the phase one of Watcher's plan."

Clint let out a quiet sigh. "A plan that I hope to get to know something more about," he said. "The person who recruited me to this job had no idea what I was supposed to be doing here. But ever since we came to Kingsville, it's all been just as much of a mystery."

"That's why you were called in here today, Mr. Chambers." Kelly grinned at him.

"So you're finally gonna tell me something?"

"Indeed, " she poured him a bourbon and slid the glass over to him. "The Watcher told me to give you a brief rundown of phase two. And what role you are gonna play in it."

Clint didn't touch the drink. "Well? What is it, then?"

"You'll just have to do what you already know. Be a good doctor."

Clint frowned. Kelly kept going.

"In a week, the hospital you are currently working at will receive a patient with a severe injury," she said. "You'll have to treat him the best you can."

Clint swallowed hard. "And who is this injured patient gonna be?"

Kelly grinned and looked up at the wall mounted television. The news channel was still interviewing The Party spokesperson, Eli Hodges. "Make a guess," she said.