The news from Belaria continued to feed the major news outlets. Most regarded the latest protests as merely a symptom of the growing unrest throughout the region. Factionalism always thrived amidst discontent, but moves by the Russian government in the Ukraine fed the dissent in other countries. Restlessness invaded many of the former Soviet Bloc countries—the same kind of restlessness which collapsed the Wall. Would this pass erect a new Wall? The news continued to prey on the back of his mind as he let himself into Mallory and Penny’s apartment. The girls never locked it, not after learning no one could take the elevator to their floor or access it from the stairwell without being monitored and intercepted. Beyond a tacit complaint about not being able to host parties, they’d both adapted well. Maybe too well. His life had always been marked by a cautious schedule, planned in advance, and with very little room for spontaneity.
