Conjured Defense (Terra Chronicles Book 4)

by J. C. Jackson

  “Why is this so important?”

  “So I know what to do if it happens again.”

  “I think you know by now.”

  “Okay how about so I know the signs and can avoid it?”

  I rolled my eyes. I understood his concern, but there was no helping it once it started. Especially when I did not realize it was happening.

  “Hey,” Silver said and waited for me to look at him. “We will talk about this later. I really don’t want you working until you’ve gotten more rest, but you’re probably going to fight me on it.”

  “Not probably,” I said flatly.

  “Yeah, I should know better. Why do you think there's something else going on we need to be concerned about?”

  “Why would Jake bother with the military?”

  “It's a massive contract, right?”

  “Yes, but not the most lucrative. Going into the private sector, he could sell to the highest bidder. And you said it sounded like the meetings he had outside of the base weren't by chance.”

  “That was the distinct impression I got.”

  “But how does all of this go unchecked by the military? Jonim seemed to keep quiet out of fear of his job. And why bother with the process? The private sector could supply him with the same opportunity without the oversight.”

  Silver stroked the small patch of hair on his chin. “Shouldn't we leave this to the others back at the main office and the military? It sounded like they planned on investigating how Spelltech got this far.”

  I glared at my partner. “I think there's something else going on. The whole set up has been bizarre.”

  “Okay, okay. We'll look, but we need to turn it over to the others to deal with.”

  I nodded. Unless there was something we needed to immediately deal with of course.

  ~*~

  “I think we finally found it,” Silver said after he pulled off yet another panel. “Surprised it was this far away. Also surprised there’s this much wiring between the station and the amplifier.”

  “If you think about it, there would be far more wiring on something the size of a battleship. Plus it also makes sense to want to protect the amplifier,” I replied.

  Silver insisted I let him do most of the work finding the source while I wrote up the reports I was backlogged on.

  I moved the portable keyboard for my tablet and got up, wanting to see what he found. Silver dug out the camera and took pictures.

  Standing on the balls of my feet, I peered over his shoulder to the damage within. Halfway through the wiring burnt out.

  “Is there anything in the bottom that looks like it could have triggered it?” It made no sense for it to be burnt out not connected directly to something.

  My partner turned his handlight down. “There’s some debris in here. Not sure if it’s related.”

  “Can I see?”

  Silver turned to look down at me. “Are you done with those reports?”

  “Almost. Let me see. I’ll know what we’re looking for now that Sparks pointed it out.”

  “I can handle this,” Silver argued.

  “Please? I’ve done this enough times in the lab.” I really wanted to see if it was sabotage or some random element connected which burned out.

  Though there would be little reason for there to be an element here.

  He sighed, fully turning to frown down at me. “Look, do not touch.” Then he gave me his handlight.

  “I can get gloves.”

  “No. I really don’t want you near the system at all, but you’re better at this than I am. I almost lost you the last time you were in there.”

  I had not the nerve to tell him I wanted to give up. I could put up with his overprotective behavior.

  Shining the handlight down in the direction Silver said, I saw the debris. I knelt down to get closer and twisted to get a better look without touching the wires.

  The wires moved and I glanced up to see my partner holding them out of my way. “Thanks.”

  I turned my attention back to the debris on the floor inside the wall. The pieces were certainly bigger than the ones in the ceiling. It appeared to have been clamped around the wires. It must have had a lot of power to send feedback all the way to the station.

  Was it sabotage? Was it a repeater? I turned my handlight back above to look at the wires. The wires would have been spliced into a repeater.

  I sighed and sat back on my heels. This would have to go back to the lab for full analysis.

  “Done?” Silver asked. By his tone, I could tell his patience was thin.

  “Yeah. I want to say it was sabotage, but I’m not certain if it was a repeater or not.”

  “Repeater? Haven’t seen anything else of the sort so far.”

  “I’m fairly certain it shouldn’t have been there, but I don’t want to claim it until Sparks can process it.”

  “Alright, let me finish up here while you complete those reports.”

  I frowned and gave him back his handlight. We all had our tasks and Silver hated writing reports. Thinking on it, he would have submitted reports for what happened with the system. I bit my lower lip as I got settled. Should I read the ones he submitted? Would it put my mind at ease over what occurred?

  Silver’s back was to me and I could skim them quickly. I dove through the case file, looking for the reports Silver filed recently. I found the one in regards to nearly getting run over after the tire on our vehicle was slashed. There was one with what he learned at Watered Down.

  Finally I found the one of our test of the system. Opening it, I was surprised at how short it was, but he always kept his words precise. He spoke about his interaction with the system and then the report stopped.

  Raising an eyebrow at the half-report, I backed out and looked for the rest. Why would he divide it up?

  I could not find it. Even his report about the attempted theft barely mentioned I used the system and nothing about me being stuck in the system. I leaned back against the wall and crossed my legs at the ankles. This was absolutely strange.

  “You're supposed to be typing,” Silver said, his voice muffled from inside the wall.

  I mentally cursed the fact the keyboard clicks were loud. Should I ask about his missing reports? Granted, I omitted certain details also, but for Silver, it was downright strange. He may keep his words to a minimum, but normally he made sure to note everything.

  He backed out of the wall and turned to look at me. He held a bag in his hands with what looked like the debris from the floor inside the wall. “Alright, what are you doing?”

  “I, um…” The tablet in my hands was suddenly far more interesting. “Just reading.”

  “Reading what?” he asked as he filled out the form on the bag.

  I hesitated. Would he be mad if I told him I read his reports? They were in the case file. “Just refreshing my memory on a couple of things.”

  “Like what?”

  I shook my head and pulled my keyboard back onto my lap before precariously balancing my tablet so I could get back to writing. I needed to get back on task.

  “Hey, what were you trying to remember?” Silver asked, squatting down next to me.

  “I’m sorry, I read through your reports because some things still don’t make sense to me. You omitted some events so I’ll just have to figure it out.”

  “Lockonis ordered me to send her more detailed reports directly. I think she wanted to keep others from seeing it who don’t need to. I still have them on my tablet. Let me finish up here and then we can get this stuff sent out and head for lunch.”

  Now I found myself torn between being relieved he was still thorough and embarrassed about what his reports might contain. It made it difficult to focus on the report I should be writing.

  Not that explaining the sensation of being locked in the system was easy to begin with. The more I thought about it the more I sounded crazy to myself.

  “Want to talk about it? You haven’t said much about what it was
like in there. Might help put the pieces together.”

  “No thanks,” I said quickly.

  “How about when you let go this last time?” It was impossible to miss the anger in Silver’s voice.

  I clenched my fists. “I had nothing left.”

  “There's more than that, isn't there?”

  Clenching my teeth, I glared at my tablet even though it was innocent in all of this. He would never understand the draw.

  “I understand you were exhausted, but why let go?”

  I took a deep breath and rubbed my face, hiding from my partner for a brief moment. “I was so tired and I needed to rest. If I let go, I could recover for a little while. Once the fighting ended and I backed out of the systems it was so peaceful in there.”

  “And then you held on when you got out.”

  “I was afraid of falling back in. Look, I know it doesn’t make sense and I’ve been trying to make sense of it since it happened.”

  Silver let out a soft huff. “No wonder you’ve been irrational.”

  I glared up at him.

  “I’m not being a jerk. I’m fairly certain I would be also given the circumstances.”

  Shaking my head, I packed my things. I needed to get out of here. It was cold, the floor was hard, and I was hungry. Mostly I needed to get away from the system and any reminder of what happened.

  “With this, we’re technically done. I’m guessing you don’t want to be.”

  Taking a moment to stand up, I hiked my gear bag up on my shoulder. “I really think there’s something else going on. There are far too many inconsistencies.”

  “It could simply be Jake wasn’t a good business owner or wanted to sell to multiple parties. Why not use the military’s resources to develop the system?”

  Sometimes I attempted to dig too much when it was a simple answer. But to develop such a complex system that tempted pirates enough into trying to steal from the military? And what about the lack of actual oversight?

  Who sabotaged the system? At least the part we were certain about.

  Chapter 17

  Jonim opened the door to Jake’s apartment and my heart sank. It looked like someone ransacked the place. Either that or he was a slob. Given the original office we dealt with, I remained uncertain.

  The mound of dishes led me to believe the latter more.

  “I’d like to tell you this is just how he was, but I ain’t never seen his place before today. Hard to believe he could afford a place like this. Treated it poorly.”

  Now that Jonim mentioned it, once one looked past the mess, it was an impressive place. The woodwork throughout and stonework on the counters and around the fireplace alone appeared expensive. I picked my way carefully through the apartment. Where to start?

  Silver stood next to me. “Are you sure you want to go through this?”

  “I can do it myself if you want to start your downtime early.” I needed him to stop doubting me.

  My partner folded his arms. “No, I’m not leaving you to work yourself to death. I’m just not sure if we’re going to find anything here. I don’t immediately see anything telling us he worked here.”

  I pursed my lips while I thought on it. Silver had a point, but we could only see the common, kitchen, and dining areas. This place seemed pretty large and there might be an office.

  Then there was also the fact we needed to check-in at the front desk downstairs. I turned to Jonim. “Is it possible to get a list of the people who visited Jake?”

  Jonim stroked his beard. “Don’t see why not. I’ll go ask. You two okay here?”

  “Yes, thank you.” I gave our escort a short bow.

  Once the door closed, Silver asked, “What’re you thinking?”

  “The people he had been seen meeting. They could have come here to do business. I’d like to know who we’re dealing with.”

  “Who Naval Command is dealing with,” he corrected.

  “You know what I meant. Having background information on these individuals will help put this thing into perspective.” I moved forward into the apartment, wanting to get a better idea of the layout, taking pictures as I went.

  Reaching with a gloved hand, I opened the first door in the hallway. Bathroom. I continued down the hall, opening the next door across the hall from the first. This looked promising - a small office with another computer. I planned to come back to this one.

  Further down the hall was Jake’s bedroom. It had a large walk-in closet and the moment I opened the door to the attached bathroom, I was shoved back. My head hit something hard as I fell.

  The world went out of focus and I could make out the colors of Silver fighting the person who I assumed pushed me. Voices were distorted. My partner yelled at the person as he pinned whoever it was to the floor.

  Then the pounding began. I struggled against the disorientation and the pain to get up. What if there was another here?

  “Dammit, stay down!” Silver barked. Who was he ordering?

  Then it sounded like he spoke with someone else at a rapid pace. This case had been nothing but a chain of headaches.

  I managed to get to my hands and knees when Silver yelled again, “I said stay down! I’ll knock him out and sit on you instead.”

  Me? Why should I stay down?

  Suddenly there were more people. Someone pulled me back to sit against the wall.

  I jumped when two sets of unknown gloved hands reached for me. I backed away, but could only plaster myself against the wall and let out a distressed whine. Everything remained out of focus and voices distant despite the people talking directly in front of me.

  “Can you give me a minute?” Silver’s voice cut through the white noise. “I'll help you with her.”

  The hands backed away. They kept talking. Why did my partner's voice cut through?

  People moved about. Eventually a figure who looked like Silver came over and knelt down in front of me. “Ketayl, what’s going on? How badly are you hurt?”

  “I don't know,” I whispered, but it sounded like I might as well be screaming. “Hard to hear and everything is blurry.”

  “Can you let these people check you? I'll be nearby.”

  Sitting still was the best answer I could give. Maybe now he would believe me about there being something else going on.

  It took a few more minutes before I could make out other voices. Longer for my vision to clear and by that point I held a cold pack to my head.

  The Dwarven woman of the pair combed through my hair gently with her fingers searching for where the blood had come from. I kept shifting the cold pack out of her way. The Dwarven man who accompanied her was busy writing something down.

  Silver argued with another Dwarven man on the other side of the room. Jonim stood over our intruder who was tied up on the floor. The side arm in the Commander’s hand never wavered even as he joined my partner's conversation.

  Great, another call to Lockonis was coming and now I needed to explain why I insisted on pushing for more. With my luck she would order us off the case.

  The headaches just kept coming.

  Silver came back over to us. “How is she?”

  “Fading in and out. No loss of consciousness though so that's good news,” the male Dwarven medic answered.

  “Concussion?” Silver asked.

  The Dwarven medic tilted his head, looking at me. “I'm fairly certain, but it's been hard to tell how bad. Her symptoms are all over the place.”

  Silver gave a short laugh. “Well, it’s not the first one this week.”

  I glared up at Silver. This had gotten ridiculous.

  “That good of a week, huh? We can take her to the hospital, but I’m not sure they’ll figure out much else without doing a bunch of scans,” the male Dwarven medic said.

  “No,” I said firmly.

  Silver sighed, looking down at me. “You sure? I can handle things here and come pick you up later.”

  “I’m sure. No hospitals,” I stated firmly.

/>   “Okay, okay. Geez, you can be so stubborn,” Silver conceded.

  “It may still happen if I can ever find the cut,” the Dwarven woman who combed through my hair said. “I’d rather have them handle closing it with as much hair as you have.”

  “No,” I reaffirmed.

  “That means you’ll have to let me do it,” Silver chimed in.

  I rolled my eyes and sat still. My head cleared slowly. Maybe I just needed the cold pack.

  What I really needed was to get back to work. Why did this have to get more complicated? Why could I not have listened and let it be?

  “Any chance you know why he was in here?” I asked. I needed something to focus on.

  “No, he shut right up,” Silver said, folding his arms. “I'll try again when we have a better place to talk. Since he's a civilian and on private property, he's going to be held by the local law enforcement until we can send him somewhere else.”

  Silver really had things under control. I felt even worse for just sitting here while people poked and prodded at me.

  “And if you keep this up, I'm not going to be able to heal you for a while,” my partner added.

  Because I absorbed divine energy for whatever reason. I could not use it, but I would become over-saturated and needed to wait between sessions when he healed my shoulder last summer.

  Silver eventually joined in combing through my hair, but between the two of them, they had no luck finding the cut. The medics packed up and left as did everyone else, except Jonim.

  My partner finger combed my hair, getting it back into some semblance of order. I still nursed the cold pack.

  Jonim was on the phone and walked out of the room. I could hear him continuing down the hall. It sounded like he was having about as good of a day as I was.

  Silver knelt down in front of me as soon as I felt him tie off the end of my hair. “Okay, how did you do it?”

  “Do what?”

  “Heal yourself. I found where the cut should have been, but I wanted to keep this between us.”

  I tilted my head in confusion. “I didn’t heal myself.”

  “Then how in the Hells did it heal? And you’re far more coherent than when they first began examining you.”

  I pulled the item in my hand away from my head. “Cold pack?”