Parker folded his arms and continued staring at the floor as though he could see things that nobody else could see. 'Reports are coming in,' he said. 'I thought you would want to know that there's movement in the city.'
Markov nodded and got to his feet. When he glanced at his wrist console, he saw that it wasn't yet midnight. He'd only slept for a couple of hours. 'Go on.'
The patrols say there's been a reduction in the number of violent incidents, but they've seen a number of families moving East in the night.
'What do you mean, moving?'
'They're travelling with roaches piled high with their personal possessions. Many are families, carrying sleeping children in their arms. They're heading out of Cinnamon City, walking towards the East.'
'How many are we talking about?'
'A couple of dozen families, perhaps. Enough to be considered unusual.'
'Did you question them?'
'Yes, the patrols did.'
'Where did they say they were going?'
'To visit relatives, mostly. Some said they had business trips.'
'In the middle of the night?'
'That's why I woke you, General. I think these people know something is going to happen. They've heard something that we haven't. They're evacuating their families before Jacob attacks the city.'
Markov frowned. 'You could be right, Parker. We should keep a list of their names. If they know this much, they might have contacts in the Kamari ranks.'
'They could have heard this from our own soldiers too.'
'Either way, it sounds like they have contacts that we need to know about. Whether its someone in the Kamari ranks or one of our soldiers with a loose tongue, we need to investigate this further.'
Parker nodded. 'We could arrest them now and find out what they know?'
'I don't think we have much time. We should focus on our war preparations for now. Keep a record of who they are and we'll take them in for questioning later.'
Parker nodded with a frown.