The Haven Hotel

A Word About Explosives

"You were drinking." Omar says while we walk towards the lobby.

"Uh huh." I was planning on avoiding this conversation altogether, but I might still be able to weasel my way out of it. "What happened with Nadia?"

"I don't know." He seems resigned to letting me make my own decisions. I'm not sure if he hanged himself with his own words earlier or if he said them to justify his non interventionist stance on my life. Either way, he drops the subject as quickly and as awkwardly as he brought it up. "They didn't give me any specifics. They just told me I needed to find you."

We make the walk to the lobby in silence and find a car waiting outside. It's a white Chevrolet; old but in shockingly good condition. The wheels seem almost new and the windows are entirely clear and the metal shines in the light from the moon and stars. Two men are standing on the sidewalk, waiting for me, and I can see the bulge of weapons in their shoulder holsters underneath their unseasonal jackets. 

"Officer Monday." The one on the left says. It's more of a statement than a question; they obviously know who I am.

"Yes." I confirm my identity anyway, more to fill the silence than anything. 

"We'll need you to come to Central with us." The one on the right says.

"Why?"

"Doctor Carver can explain that." The one on the left opens the back door and sitting on the left side is a woman with a head of silver hair and a face dominated by deep wrinkles, which curve and twist when she smiles at me. It's obvious by the pattern of those wrinkles that she doesn't smile often, and the insincere grin she gives me is further evidence of that.

"I'll see you when you come back." Omar momentarily puts an arm around my shoulder and then leaves. I don't know how long I'll be gone; a few seconds ago I didn't even know I was leaving, but I don't hesitate before getting in the car. It's about Nadia, that's all I need to know.

"Good evening." Doctor Carver has a raspy voice and an accent just as manicured as the hand she extends to me. It's been a long time since I've seen someone as well dressed as her. 

"Hello." I reach my hand out and she shakes my first two fingers as the car slides forward. I haven't sat in a car in nearly five years so the acceleration, although soft, is a bit jarring. 

"I'm Doctor Carver." She continues. "I'm a medical doctor and I've been working with Nadia, keeping her as healthy as I can. She really is a delightful child once you get to know her." That last statement is even less sincere than her smile, but I do appreciate that she feels the need to say it; it's somewhat humanizing. 

"Why are you, why am I going to Central?"

Doctor Carver stares out of the window for a moment; this is probably the closest look at an abandoned city she's had, being from Central. Then she turns back to me and ponders the question as if she hadn't thought of it before I asked. 

"Do you know anything about explosives, Officer Monday?" She asks, finally.

"No."

"Neither did I before two months ago. Nor do most people, really." She points at a jacaranda tree whose purple blossoms are obscuring the moon. "I love jacarandas, weeds that they are. They remind me of amethyst.

"Anyway." She shakes the distraction out of her head and goes on with the explanation. "When matter and antimatter collide they explode." She makes two fists and then spreads her fingers to illustrate an explosion. "Well, they destroy each other and the destruction releases pure energy, I've not had the time to go into all the physics, but that's basically what I understand of it.