He’s shooting. He’s shooting at me. Her mind had refused to process the information, her legs to answer her panicked commands. Then she broke from her trance and sprinted away.
The Guard played with her, toyed with her. He could have caught me at any time. Flew up and over me, blocked my path, and brought me down with the tracers. The knowledge brought a sharp metallic taste to her throat, made it difficult to swallow.
Between labored breaths, she considered stopping to explain to the Guard. Right. Like he’d listen. Obviously, SecDept believed whatever Susan had reported.
With a final burst of speed, she emerged from the field and spied the welcoming shade of the trees across a narrow clearing.
And Eleanor felt rather than heard the flitter land right behind her.
The girl sprinted before Adam. A kid, running scared. He shouldn’t, but he liked making people who broke the law frightened. He’d feel guilty about it later. Probably. Maybe.
He put the flitter into a quick descent and leapt out before the rotors shut down.
“Stop! I’ll fire!”
He raised the stunner and aimed as the girl crossed into the shadows of the trees and lowered it, swearing.
He bared his teeth in a snarl. I guess there’s still time to hunt for a bit.
Adam took off after her into the darkness of the trees, grinning as he ran.
I haven’t done anything wrong, Eleanor’s mind screamed. But she saved her breath. The Guard wasn’t interested in her explanations. She ducked around the rough crags of a broad tree and crouched, hands over her mouth, trying to quiet the sounds of her gulps of air. She had to think.
The Guard would need a clear shot to get her. He could run as fast as she could, probably faster. And she’d never be able to outrun his weapon. So be it. She crept away, still crouched over. If speed would do her no good, she’d have to try stealth. She winced each time she brushed against dry branches, as twigs caught and snagged against her pack. No matter how carefully, how slowly she placed her feet, the sounds of the scrapes, the crunch of leaves under her feet crashed in her ears like hammers.
Adam paced, annoyed with how long the game had dragged on. It’s been a nice jog through the trees. Time to end it, though. The branches arched above him, casting him into a murky gloom. Dapples of sunlight speckled a fallen trunk that lay before him.
She’s got to be around here somewhere. I can’t believe she’s gone far. He stood still, quieted his breathing. Closed his eyes to the shade and light, the ropey branches as they reached for the sky. Listened and revolved in a full circle.
A rustle of leaves, as if someone had brushed past a low hanging branch. A smothered gasp for air, a slight tremble to the sound. Fear. Adam opened his eyes and trotted towards his prey.
Eleanor heard the man running behind her and dove into a thicket, stifling the pain from the thorns that pressed into her as she clung to the ground, wrapped herself into a small package. The Guard’s boots ran by.
Then the boots slowed, came to a stop. Circled back again, trying to find her trail.
His voice sounded as if he spoke in her ear. The tone started her. She hadn’t thought he would sound so young.
“Look, kid. I don’t know why you have to make this so hard on us both. This is your first offense, you’ll get off light, end up with service to the state or something and we’ll all get on with our lives.”
He waited, but Eleanor stayed in her hiding spot.
“Or, you can make me keep chasing you, get me angry and I can find a whole slew of other things to charge you with.”
Eleanor tried to still the trembling of her body, terrified she would cause the bush’s leaves to shake and betray her hiding space.
“Fine. Damn, I’m just talking to myself.”
And with that he left the clearing at a light jog.
Eleanor forced herself to stay still. Wait, she pleaded with herself. She tried to count to five hundred, lost track, started over. The third time she reached two hundred she gave up. She inched out from under the brush and headed in the opposite direction from that taken by the man.
The most excruciating ten minutes of her life crawled by. Trying to hurry, trying to stay low, and trying to stay silent. But knowing she failed and fearing the consequence.
Eleanor heard the faint rushing sound for long minutes before she understood what the noise meant. The river. She headed toward it, desperate to reach the other side. Tomorrow she could pick up her trail again, get back on target for the city, but right now she could only think of escape.
The noise grew louder as she approached, but when she found the source, her heart sank. No path, no bridge, only a steep cliff where the river rushed by at the bottom. Eleanor paced along the edge and searched for a way down, some way to cross.
And then the Guard found her.
“You! Stay right there!”
No point in looking behind her. No point in looking for understanding, he’d made that clear. She took the only option she could think of, and leapt into the raging waters below.
Chapter Six
After shutting the motors down Adam stepped out of the flitter into the farmyard. A man and woman stood in front of the house. The woman held a small boy on her hip and a little girl, not much bigger, gripped the woman’s pant leg. Behind her stood two teenaged boys, one dark, one fair, who regarded both the man and Adam with the same heated gaze.
The woman’s pale hair didn’t quite cover a dark bruise at the side of her face. When she noticed his eyes on her, she lowered her head and let the fall of hair obscure the mark.
When Adam reached the group, the man stepped forward.
“I’m Neil Forrester.” He thrust his thumb back over his shoulder. “This is my sister Laura and her kids.”
Adam shook the offered hand and nodded to Laura. “Ma’am.”
“Let’s go inside to talk,” Neil said.
Laura waved to the older boys. “Guys, go check on that fence on the east field, will you?”
With a sullen look at both Adam and Neil they headed off.
“Please come in.” She gestured towards the farmhouse door with her free hand.
Neil led them to a large table in a well-lit, tidy kitchen. Laura tried to send the two remaining children into another room to play, but they wouldn’t budge.
“Get. Now.” Neil growled.
“Don’t talk like that to the kids.” Laura hissed. “They’re not hurting anything, they can stay if they want.”
Adam tried to bring the discussion back to the point. “So, tell me about your visitor.” He hoped they had more information than the bare report he had been ordered into the field with, anything that would explain why the girl had been willing to die rather than be taken back to Prime.
The man grunted. “Laura took her in. I come home from work and there’s some complete stranger at the table, free as you please. After dinner I went to go check the news and heard the report. Called in to inform the Guard that the girl was here, but she got the wind up and left before morning.”
Neil glared at Laura, who returned his gaze unblinking, and continued. “Don’t know why you’re here, instead of out there getting her. There’s a reward for her, right? That’ll be mine.”
Adam had tried to break the habit of making snap judgments of people since he had joined the Guard. As usual, he failed.
Adam turned from the man and softened his voice.
“Ma’am, did she do anything to frighten the children? Did she take anything or hurt anyone?”
Laura’s hand drifted to her marred face. “No. . . She didn’t do anything like that. She helped me in the kitchen, showered and went to bed. That’s the last we saw of her.”
“Did you ever feel like anyone here was in danger from her? Did she threaten you or the
children?”
The report had been marked urgent. That only happened with violent criminals or a time-sensitive matter.
“Not at all. She was very sweet, polite even.”
“Did you see what she carried?”
“She had a backpack and a bedroll with her. Whatever they say she stole, it can’t be very large.”
“So nothing struck you as out of the ordinary about her?”
“No, she was going east to visit her Uncle Joel-” She broke off, looked away.
Neil rose. “I’ve got a farm to run.”
“I’ll be leaving soon, but I need to make sure my report is thorough.” Adam parroted lines from SecDept posters. “We appreciate citizens like yourself who help maintain our security.”
Neil nodded, receiving his due praise. “Just make sure that reward comes to me.”
“Of course. Hope your day goes well.”
As Neil left the room, Adam watched Laura as she stroked her son’s hair.
“So,” he began, unsure of how to restart the conversation, “she didn’t hurt you or the children.”
“No.” She remained focused on her son, not looking at Adam.
“Ma’am, if there’s a problem here, would you tell me?”
“There’s no problem. You should go, or he’ll wonder.”
Adam stood. “Please, remember what I said.”
He reached for the latch before he heard her.
“Wait.”
She faced him for the first time.
“That girl, Eleanor. I don’t think she did anything wrong, no matter what the report says.” Her words fell quiet and deliberate in the kitchen, her voice drained of emotion.
He waited, but she added nothing else.
As he circled over the farm, Adam spotted the two older boys repairing a section of fencing. He checked the chronometer, considered the report he’d need to make when he got back to Prime.
But he landed anyway.
As he approached the boys, they stopped and turned to face him. The likeness in their movements struck him.
“Hi, I’m sorry, I didn’t get your names back there.”
They didn’t move forward, but the darker-haired boy said “I’m Matt. He’s Davey. What do you want? We’ve got a lot of work to do.”
The open hostility took Adam aback. “Answers, that’s all. Something besides this girl’s visit has everyone on edge. I need to know if it’s something that’s going to affect my job.”
The brothers remained silent, lips pressed together. Adam took a breath and asked the question he always dreaded. “Has he hit your Mom before?”
The boys froze. Davey spoke first, eyes slitted. “She told us she fell. She told us she fell on the stairs doing laundry last night.” He glanced at his brother, nodded. “We’ll kill him.”
Adam held out his hand. “Clever to tell a SecDept officer first, don’t you think?” Adam pushed on, hoped to overwhelm them with words. “And then what will she do? Neil will be gone, but so will you. Who’s going to help her then?”
That quick glance between them again, eyes still hot.
“Look, do the smart thing. Watch her and call me if something happens, I’ll be out here as soon as I can. And you’ll get Neil out of the way and the farm safe for your mom, exactly what you want.”
After getting their reluctant agreement, Adam left them to struggle with the fence. As the flitter rose over the fields, he started mentally composing what he was going to put in his report. No one could have survived that fall, but that didn’t leave him with any answers.
Back at the station, tired and annoyed, Adam flicked to a fresh holoscreen and let his eyes rest on the dull grey blankness. Annoyed with the girl for running, with himself for forcing her fall, with her for dying on his shift and adding to the stack of reports he needed to file.
He shook his head. That’s bitter, even for you. Pretty sure she didn’t mean to ruin your day by dying like that. He tried to shake the responsibility, but it clung, sticky and dark.
What if the farmwoman had been right? He remembered the woman’s pale face, her conviction in the girl’s innocence.
An hour later he stood outside the dead girl’s family bar. Most SecDept officers went to a place closer to the station, one owned by a retired Guard. But he’d passed this place plenty of times, been in once or twice. No memory of the girl though. Two years behind him in school, he didn’t remember her from there, either. She must have blended right in.
Questioning the aunt had been a waste of time. She’d begrudged her time and her answers to the point of belligerence. “She stole it. She couldn’t have come by it honestly. Must have been off that dead prospector. But it wasn’t hers. Should have been mine.”
A strange vidplayer, which the woman didn’t know where it came from and had no clear title to. That’s what the girl died for.
Someone else should have caught this, questioned the report. Adam glared at the grey plastisteel front of the building until a soft cough startled him.
“Excuse me?” A young man with messy brown hair stood next to him, dressed in clean but worn clothes. Adam tried to remember where he had seen him before. Someone else too young to have shared classes with. Right, at the grocer’s.
“Doug, right?” The young man nodded.
“Officer, what’s going on? First Eleanor disappears, then that old woman came back, now you’re here. Where’s Eleanor?”
Adam examined the young face, clouded with worry. Now he had to explain why the boy’s girlfriend wasn’t coming home. Then the discrepancy with the aunt’s story caught his attention.
“That’s what I’m trying to figure out. Let’s go get some coffee and you can tell me about the old woman and anything else you know.”
They punched up their coffee from the wall vendor, neither speaking until they had their cups settled on a far corner table. The few people gathered around the racing bristlebots were too far away to overhear. “So, tell me about the last couple weeks before she left.”
Skips and pauses punctuated Doug’s story, but Adam decided to leave them for the moment. “What about the woman? And the aunt mentioned a dead prospector?”
Doug shrugged. “Yeah, some old guy died in his room at the end of the last trading run. But it wasn’t a big deal.” Doug shook his head and took another slow sip of his coffee. “That woman came the day before El left. Don’t know what she wanted, but the folks in the machine shop across the way said they could hear El yelling. Then she got quiet, but the woman stayed for a long time.”
Adam cocked his head.
Doug blushed and continued. “I got worried. Someone came into our store and mentioned the commotion. By then it quieted down, so I waited outside for a while to see if El would come.” His voice got quiet. “She used to come see me and talk when it got to be too much up there.”
“What did the woman look like?”
“Older, but in good shape. She wore one of those matching skirt and sweater things, like a grandmother. When I saw her leave, for a moment I thought she could kill everyone in the street. Then she took a breath and looked like a sweet old lady. Maybe she had a headache or something.”
Adam noted what few details the boy remembered, then continued. “You said she came back?”
“Yeah. The next day I delivered groceries. Susan told the woman the item was gone. The old woman said without it there was no deal. The two of them blew up at each other and I got out of there as quick as I could.”
Doug regarded his coffee, grown cold while he told his story. “Now, I’ve answered your questions, but you still haven’t answered mine. Where’s Eleanor?”
Adam thought about his words. “Her aunt called in a theft report on her. I went to follow Eleanor and found she had gone eas
t, as far as the Namok. I . . . lost her trail there and had to come back to town to make reports, but we’re still interested in the case.”
Doug stared at him.
“We’re not sure what she’s doing out there. She told a woman in a farmhouse along the way that she was going to visit her uncle, a prospector.”
Doug’s eyes flashed away, lips tight together. Adam jumped on the tell. “What is it?””
Doug shook his head. “Look. El’s never stolen anything in her life. If anyone would know, it’d be me. But it doesn’t make sense. She doesn’t have an uncle. Well, Susan’s husband, Mr. Browne, but he’s dead. Besides, he was a reclaimer.” Doug rose from the table. “I’ve got to get back. Let me know if you hear anything.” The worry sounded clear underneath his gruff tone.
Adam pushed screens over his desk as if they were puzzle pieces that might snap into place if he could discover the correct pattern. After an hour of fruitless shuffling, he stood in front of the door marked ‘deBaca’.
“Chief? You there?”
“Yeah, come on in.”
Adam felt a twinge of sorrow for anyone the Chief ran into when she took a turn on patrol. A rawboned woman, she kept her raven black hair clipped close to the skull, practical and efficient. Adam wondered if anyone had ever dared to mention it looked quite attractive.
“Tell me. What’s the problem?”
Adam recounted the story. “The weird parts are this woman the boyfriend saw and the vidplayer. The aunt doesn’t know what it was, or where it came from, or anything else about it. None of it adds up. But that’s got to be the item the woman was after. I need more time on this.”
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