Mort decided that Governor Winthrop was one of the more boring persons he had ever followed. In the late morning, the capitol building was a buzz of activity. Senators came and went, followed by their entourages of aids and reporters. Office workers dashed in and out, great bundles of papers and folder tucked into their arms. Mort saw no sign of the Governor until late evening.
Parked in the plaza across the street, Mort had a great view of the front of the capitol. He'd circled the monumental building several times and decided that security was too tight in the back and sides. In the front, Mort could blend in with the rest of the street. He steadied the zoom lens of his camera and scanned the front of the building now and then. Moments before the Governor came out, a small convoy of black cars pulled to the front of the capitol. Mort perked up and zoomed closer on the front doors of the stone building. After a few seconds, Governor Winthrop came jogging down the stairs of the building in his crisp suit and climbed into a car. The convoy took off and Mort half-tossed his camera in the passenger seat as he pulled a U-turn and fell into traffic behind the Governor's procession of cars.
Mort knew that the Governor wasn't headed to do anything incriminating-- not with that tell-tale squadron of government vehicles. But his only other leads would be much more difficult to tail. The Shifter King's security detail was much more heavy-handed, and as for Autora's brother, Mort didn't even know his name. He didn't have the first clue about where to find him. He followed the Governor's car onto a wide boulevard and realized that they were headed toward Shifter territory-- toward the shield. Mort racked his brain. The Governor was not a Shifter, and surely none of his security was. How did they expect to pass through the shield?
Without warning, the convoy quickly turned off the boulevard into a fenced compound less than a hundred yards from the barrier. "Of course," Mort said to himself. The neutral zone, as it was referred to by the newspapers. The military base on the border of human and shifter territory, made especially for meetings between the two governments. As the convoy pulled into the parking lot, the chain link fence closed behind the last car. He could see soldiers patrolling the fence, and others in towers overlooking the boulevard. "Shit," he said and drove past. He realized then that there was no other place for him to turn around before crossing the barrier. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat, trying to remember the last time he'd been in there. The mountain climbed above him, the shifter portion of the city climbing its soft slop and stopping where the rock cliffs became nearly vertical over the rest of the city.
Mort crossed the barrier and intended to find the first spot to turn around. The buildings had changed little since he'd last seen them. He thought he remembered a street that looped back onto the boulevard and would allow him to head back the way he'd come. He turned off the boulevard and onto the smaller street. Another car was coming toward him and he kept his car tight to the curb on his side to avoid clipping them. He slowed to allow them to pass. When he saw the driver and the man in the passenger seat, his breath caught in his throat. The man driving had been one of the goons who'd chased him in the alley yesterday. In the passenger seat, was Autora's brother.
Mort's heart began to jackhammer. He waited for the other car to get past him a bit, then he calmly cut a U-turn and fell into traffic behind them. He kept his eyes glued to the license plate, trying to make out the letters and numbers. If he lost them in traffic, he could at least try and pull some information from the car. He gripped the steering wheel tighter, hoping that he wasn't making a huge mistake following this car.
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