Manifest Destiny

Dolly walked along the sidewalk downtown, cautiously surveying her surroundings. Too nervous to doze more, she’d only slept a few hours under the park bench fauna, waking just as dawn was flushing the sky. She used the anonymous card to buy an orange juice from a street vendor, hoping that Jabba’s smoke-and-mirrors trick would be enough to keep them from tracing her movements. A hasty meal of bread and cheese from a nearby bakery refreshed her, and she bought a new set of nondescript clothes to hide in and a pair of sunglasses to hide behind. There were surveillance cameras everywhere. Dolly knew she had probably been seen in the homeless clothes both at the ATM and otherwise. Changing in the alcove of a dark alley, she pulled the hoodie over her bright hair, shoved the homeless clothes in a bag and dropped it in the dumpster.

Four blocks away, she hailed a cab, not even sure where she wanted to go. The driver looked at her expectantly. Her face hardened.

“Museum Mile, please.”

Her voice was still in the cultured tones Keisha had derided her about. Another question that needed to be answered. She didn’t know what made her choose Museum Mile as a place to begin looking, but the encounter with the strange man who’d followed her in the Hammer Museum was something she wanted to explore. He seemed to think her name was Grace and was convinced enough to push that assumption. Something about him had frightened her. She wanted to find out why. It was doubtful he’d be there, but it was a start.

The cab pulled up two blocks from the Hammer. Dolly, stepping out onto the immaculate sidewalks of Museum Mile, started cautiously walking, changing her gait in case of software that could identify her through movement. She’d read it could be as accurate as a fingerprint. No drones hummed overhead, but they weren’t necessary. Security cameras were everywhere.

She arrived at the Hammer, standing indecisively at the bottom of the stairs. It was only eight in the morning. There were still two hours before it opened. Dolly thought she might hide somewhere and watch the entrance to see if the man might show up. But to her astonishment, she saw him sitting on one of the front benches already, watching her. Braced to run in case he spoke into a device or came after her, she stared back guardedly. He smiled in what looked like relief and started toward her. Dolly realized that he recognized her immediately, despite the clothes and dark glasses. She tensed and half turned away. He froze in his tracks.