Veklocks

by S. H. Jucha

  “I think the key to understanding that question,” Sasha replied, “is to think about her personality or the lack of it. Let’s say we’re right about why I can’t get an emotional read from her. How could she live downside like that?”

  “There’s only one answer,” Imian responded.

  “Family,” they’d echoed simultaneously.

  Those conjectures had led Sasha and Imian to suspect the worst about Luna, and they were determined to uncover her secret. In which case, their best hope was to follow her. Sasha had checked the shuttle’s passenger manifests and saw Makana and Luna’s names on the first flight. As a repaired, Imian had a reserved seat on that flight, and Sasha secured one for herself.

  JOS terminal services directed Danny to the ship’s assigned docking arm. Dual green and red lights flashed intermittently to the pilots to indicate their dock. When the shuttle was at rest relative to the station, a tech extended the docking arm and ensured a seal.

  Claudia double-checked the connection. The internal telltale registered green for a tight air seal.

  Harbour and Jessie preceded the passengers out of the shuttle.

  Sika wanted to follow, but she’d have had to step across Makana, who had no intention of moving.

  After Harbour and Jessie exited, the rest of the passengers filed off, starting with the aft seats first.

  By the time Sika and Makana made the arm, Harbour and Jessie had already caught a capsule and transferred across the ring, where gravity was restored by the station’s rotation.

  Sika realized that following her targets was no longer an option. She would have to wait for an opportunity to cross their paths in public, the sooner the better.

  When an opening presented itself, Sika told Makana that she needed to use the facilities. She hurried along the main corridor to her hiding place. She had to wait until traffic in the room lessened. Then she accessed her bolt hole.

  Sika had chosen to use a pair of auto-syringes as weapons. She loaded them with a powerful paralytic. It would interfere with the nervous system almost immediately and stop a heart seconds later. These particular syringes had extended microneedles. They were designed to penetrate layers of clothing and skins.

  Stuffing the syringes into a shoulder bag, Sika returned to Makana’s side.

  The pair continued to shop along the premier corridor, which was home to the station’s more prestigious shops. Throughout the time, Sika kept an eye out for her targets.

  Sasha and Imian ducked into an eatery, as Makana and Luna reversed course after exiting a shop and came their way.

  “I can’t believe women shop this much,” Imian complained.

  “Watch it,” Sasha warned, although she was thinking the same thing.

  “Sorry,” Imian apologized.

  “Well, there is something to what you’re saying,” Sasha allowed. “They’ve been perusing art supplies for most of the day, and Makana’s buying, but Luna isn’t.”

  “What she is doing is surreptitiously glancing up and down the corridor,” Imian said.

  “I noticed that,” Sasha said.

  While one pair shopped and the other surveilled, Jessie and Harbour left a meeting with Liam in security administration. They’d been gathering data on Pyre’s total population and registered comm units. The former would determine the number of representatives, and the latter would estimate the potential number of voters.

  Jessie and Harbour walked leisurely along the shopping corridor. They planned to visit with Henry and then enjoy a meal at the Pit.

  Makana and Sika were walking in the opposite direction and headed toward the couple. They spotted Jessie and Harbour at the same time. Makana waved, and Sika shifted her shoulder bag from her side to behind her. She reached into the bag with both hands and gripped the auto-syringes.

  Sasha and Imian were close behind Makana and Luna. They saw Luna move her bag and reach into it. When her hands remained there, they frowned at each other.

  Imian was by far the taller of the two teenagers. He saw Harbour and Jessie coming toward them through the throng. Harbour was smiling and waving at Makana.

  “Harbour,” Imian whispered urgently to Sasha and pointed.

  Imian’s single word didn’t motivate Sasha as much as the strident spike of fear that shot through him. In the same moment that she caught sight of Harbour and Jessie, she noticed Sika withdraw two objects from her bag.

  “Jessie, danger!” Sasha yelled with all her might.

  Sika wanted to take a few more steps before she launched her attack. The yell from behind her put the advisor on alert. Makana’s reaction to the warning was to stop and turn around. That left Sika closing the distance to her target on her own, and the advisor focused on her.

  The advisor stepped in front of the envoy, which Sika expected. One of his hands flew up to thwart her attack. Her right hand wove around his guard, and she jabbed forward to strike his chest. Simultaneously, the advisor launched a right cross. Sika ducked her head, and the blow glanced off the upper portion of her skull.

  Sika ignored the pain from the punch. She sidestepped to the left of the advisor, readying the second injector for the envoy. The advisor should have been dropping to his knees from the effects of the fast-acting paralytic. Instead, the air blew out of her lungs. The advisor had delivered a second strike to her solar plexus, which paralyzed her diaphragm. She was bent over and left gasping for breath. She had a brief image of the advisor’s knee before it snapped her head back and her vision faded.

  As onlookers crowded away from the confrontation, Jessie looked at the empty auto injector that skidded across the floor. Glancing down at his chest, he saw liquid dribbling down his skins and moved a hand to touch it.

  “Don’t!” Harbour said in alarm and grasped Jessie’s hand. “Don’t touch it.”

  “Harbour, Jessie, we think she’s a downsider,” Sasha said breathlessly, as she ran up to them.

  “Imian, Sasha, stand by that empty syringe. No one must touch it,” Harbour ordered. “Makana, stand by the full one, and Jessie, you just stand still.”

  Harbour yanked out her comm unit and made some hasty calls. In response to her calls, Liam, Cecilia, Miguel, and several security officers arrived first.

  “Don’t touch anything, Commandant,” Harbour warned. “We don’t know what’s in those syringes. Medical is on their way.”

  Cecilia knelt on the floor to examine the attacker’s face. She swiped at the heavy makeup application, which came off on her fingers. “It’s her,” she whispered urgently to Liam. “It’s our assassin.”

  Except for security personnel, the others in the tight circle stared in alarm at the woman sprawled on the floor.

  “We believe this woman killed Roby and Emerson,” Miguel said quietly, aware of the onlookers that the officers were pushing back.

  “She came aboard the station a while ago, but then we lost her,” Cecilia added.

  “She was aboard the Belle,” Makana said in a hushed tone. “She said she was a widower who had lost her husband to a mining accident.”

  Liam saw the empty syringe and noted the liquid dribbling down Jessie’s skins. “You okay, Jessie?” he asked anxiously.

  “Fine, I think,” Jessie replied. “Could be her stuff is slow-acting.”

  Liam peered closely at Jessie’s chest. He was careful to keep his hands at his side.

  “I think her syringe hit your medallion,” Liam said. “It looks wet, and the liquid starts its trail from there.”

  Jessie blinked twice, while he digested the good news. Then he said in a concerned voice, “This is going to be awkward. I’m going to have to figure out how to kiss a Jatouche ruler.”

  A medical team arrived, and Liam directed them. He wanted evidence collected, but the medical personnel were worried about containing the dangerous liquid. The two syringes were bagged. Then a med tech swabbed a sample from Jessie’s skins. A few moments later, his test device gave him readouts.

  “Nasty paralytic,�
�� the tech pronounced. He examined Jessie’s eyes, grunted, and then examined his skins. He pulled a sprayer from his kit, loaded it with neutralizing solutions, and covered the front of Jessie’s skins in a light coat.

  “You should be good,” the tech said to Jessie, which earned him a frown and narrowed eyes.

  “Come with me, Advisor,” another tech said. “We’ll get you out of those skins and give you a checkup to be sure.”

  Harbour followed Jessie and the medical team.

  Two more security officers arrived with a stretcher that Liam had ordered. Sika was bundled onto it and strapped in place.

  “Makana, I’ll need to question you,” Liam said.

  When Sasha and Imian made to follow, Liam held up a hand to stop them. Before he could speak, Sasha said, “We’ve important information about Luna for you.”

  “Come along then,” Liam responded and the entourage made their way to security.

  In security’s observation wing, Liam ordered, “Cecilia, while she’s unconscious, strip her down and put her in coveralls. Miguel, call medical and request a thorough sweep on her, and I mean thorough. Until we’re sure she’s clean, I want her restrained and an officer stationed outside her cell at all times. No exceptions.”

  When Liam received crisp replies from Cecilia and Miguel, he stalked off to set up the interviews of his three witnesses. The capture of the downside assassin was a stroke of good fortune for security and the multiple investigations. None of the senior officers wanted to see anything jeopardize their follow-through.

  -27-

  Interrogation

  Sika woke slowly. Her ears were ringing. Her neck and jaw hurt, and breathing produced a deep pain in her abdominal region. The advisor, she thought. She recalled the strikes of his fists and knee. Begrudgingly, she admitted that the man knew how to fight, and she’d failed to prepare for that. Then again, she’d never been assigned to eliminate an experienced spacer.

  When she opened her eyes, it was as she expected. She was in a security detention cell, and she was strapped to a cot. She felt for the tiny piece of faux skin at the base of her thumb that hid a precious escape tool. The skin and the sliver that contained the deadly poison were gone.

  If they got that, then they probably found everything, Sika thought.

  Immediately, Sika’s cold, logical mind, unimpeded by emotion, decided that she’d have to bide her time. She believed that security personnel would eventually make a mistake, and then she’d escape. Her plan was the same as it had been before her capture. She would hide in the maintenance tunnels and wait. When the time was right, she’d adopt another disguise and make her way downside.

  “She’s awake,” Cecilia said in a call to Liam. “She’s checking for the items we removed from her body or, at least, the ones she can reach.

  “It was scary the number of things medical removed from her body,” Liam replied. “Some of them would have required that she cut into her flesh to extract them.”

  “And she carried the tools to do that under the arches of her foot,” Cecilia added.

  “What’s Jessie’s status?” Liam asked.

  “Medical cleared him,” Cecilia replied. “Harbour and he are on their way here. Theo said he was happy to get rid of them. Apparently, the advisor makes a lousy patient, and the envoy has become extremely protective of him.”

  “For the love of Pyre, it finally happened,” Liam said.

  “I believe so,” Cecilia affirmed and laughed softly. “Might be that facing imminent death by giant insectoids was an incentive.”

  “They’re here,” Liam said, spotting the notification on his comm unit, “Get Miguel, and meet me in the conference room.”

  When everyone was seated, Liam said, “We’ve confirmed that the woman we’ve got in our cell, who’s been masquerading as Luna, is the woman who we’ve been using our tech services to find. After we removed her disguise, we got a facial match. We can make a case to the Review Board of her complicity, if not direct involvement, in the murders of Roby and Emerson. We can definitely charge her for the attempted murders of you two. However, that’s not why we’re meeting.”

  “I want to know who sent her, and can she prove it?” Jessie declared.

  “And that’s what I want to know,” Liam replied. “I thought Harbour could accompany me, while I interrogate her.”

  “Did you speak to Sasha and Imian?” Harbour asked.

  “I did,” Liam replied. “I’m not sure I understood what they were trying to tell me. A lot of it was conjecture.”

  “Don’t let Sasha’s youth dissuade you from listening carefully to her,” Harbour warned. “Her power will someday exceed mine. That means you should believe what she tells you.”

  “It also means you might want to start making friends with her now,” Jessie chimed in.

  “Just the same, Harbour, I need you to confirm what’s Sasha’s suggesting to me,” Liam requested.

  “And I’m happy to help,” Harbour replied.

  “Liam, I don’t want to tell you your job, but do you know what you’re doing?” Jessie asked.

  Liam bristled at the innuendo. Harbour sought to calm Liam, and he swung toward her. “Don’t do that,” he said harshly.

  In turn, Jessie got angry and stood up.

  “Take a breath, everyone!” Miguel yelled, slamming a palm on the table. “Sorry, Commandant,” he quickly added. “I think we should all back up and start again.”

  Apologies were offered by Jessie, Liam, and Harbour, in that order.

  “Liam, what I meant to ask was what do you plan to gain by your interrogation?” Jessie inquired. “Your case against Luna, or whatever her name, for the attack on us is solid. She’ll know that.”

  “You’re suggesting she has no reason to talk to us,” Liam said.

  “Yes,” Jessie responded. “We want to know who hired her, but we need to figure out how to get that information out of her.”

  Liam rubbed his jaw in frustration. “I don’t disagree with you, Jessie. Do you have a suggestion?”

  Jessie’s half smile was apologetic, and he raised his hands to indicate he had no idea.

  “Thanks,” Liam grumbled.

  “Sasha said that Imian and she deduced that the woman is a psychopath,” Cecilia said. “That’s a condition in which a person is born without empathetic capability. They can’t develop relationships with others.”

  “She fooled Makana,” Miguel pointed out.

  “According to Sasha and Imian, that’s exactly what she did,” Cecilia replied. “She played a part, and she was really good at it. Sasha said that the reason she became curious about her was that she couldn’t sense anything from her … ever.”

  Harbour blinked, and her gaze questioned Cecilia. “Ever?” she asked.

  “Sasha said she deliberately sought moments to cross paths with Luna. Her experience was always the same. She saw expressions that imitated emotions, but she received nothing,” Cecilia explained.

  “Think about that,” Jessie said, staring intently at Liam.

  “Can’t form a relationship,” Liam mused. “No empathy. Probably can’t tell right from wrong, except by following rules.”

  “How did she survive downside?” Harbour asked.

  “She’d need protection,” Cecilia supplied.

  “She’d need a patron,” Miguel added.

  “This young woman isn’t a hired killer,” Liam concluded. “She’s a family’s secret weapon.”

  “That would mean that she’s not available for hire by other family heads,” Miguel reasoned.

  “One family head. We’re looking for just one,” Jessie summarized.

  “If we include the other murders, does anyone come to mind?” Cecilia asked.

  “The attempt on my life was clumsy,” Liam said. “We can rule that event out.”

  “But someone wanted to clean it up,” Miguel said. “That someone sent Luna to kill Roby.”

  “Yes, but it doesn’t help us identify w
ho might have done that,” Jessie argued. “More than likely those two events involved two different family heads.”

  “What about Emerson?” Harbour asked. “He’d lost the election. Why kill him?”

  “Secrets,” Liam replied. “He knew too much. We know he was paid by Markos, and then Lise, and finally Dorelyn, but payments to him don’t prove any one of those individuals ordered his death.”

  “Supposedly, we can’t read her emotions. We certainly can’t threaten her, not with the charges she’s facing, and she has no reason to give up her protector,” Jessie summarized.

  “Liam, we need to be sure of our primary assumption,” Harbour said. “Might I borrow Cecilia?”

  Liam agreed, and the two women visited Luna.

  “You’ll pardon me for not getting up, Envoy,” Sika said, when the women entered her cell.

  “Is your name truly Luna?” Cecilia asked.

  “It’s as good as any,” Sika replied.

  “You’re in a great deal of trouble. You know that, right?” Harbour asked.

  “I knew it would happen one day,” Sika replied.

  “Why?” Cecilia asked.

  “People don’t like what I do,” Sika replied.

  “Then why do it?” Harbour inquired.

  “It’s what I’m good at,” Sika replied.

  “Who is your employer?” Cecilia asked.

  Sika turned her head to stare at Cecilia.

  Cecilia quashed the shudder that threatened to run through her body. The young woman’s eyes appeared lifeless to her.

  Harbour touched Cecilia’s arm. Then she led the lieutenant out of the cell.

  In the conference room, Cecilia said, “That was one creepy look that I received at the end. I had no idea what she was thinking or feeling.”

  “Probably measuring you,” Jessie volunteered. “You’d get the same feeling from looking into the multi-faceted eyes of a gray insectoid. What did you sense?” he asked Harbour.

  “Nothing, absolutely nothing. No anxiety, no fear, no desires at all,” Harbour replied. “No wonder Sasha was intrigued.”

  “What about Imian?” Jessie asked. “What did he have to say?”