by Jaleta Clegg
"It was my mistake, sir. I should be the one looking for her." Paltronis rose to her feet. Her head spun.
Tayvis caught her elbow, dropping her into the chair. "I knew you were stubborn, but the reports said nothing about stupid. Sit down before you fall down."
"Sir, I'm fine."
"Do I have to make it an order? Stay in that chair and be quiet, Ensign."
Paltronis snapped her mouth shut. She pressed the cold pack against her head. It dulled the throbbing. She closed her eyes, listening as Tayvis' men reported to him.
"The room's clean. We found nothing. Traces lead both directions. No way to tell which way they took her. We locked the building down but we were too late. She's gone. We didn't find any blood. Except the Ensign's."
Paltronis ignored the jibe. She frowned. Something didn't quite fit. Black shoes? Why did they bother her? A woman's black shoes.
"Sir? We've got a ransom call. Patching it through to your com."
The feeling in the room changed, everyone freezing in place. Tayvis tapped his com, answering the call.
A gravelly voice filled the tiny room. "I know you're listening, Patrol. You've got one day to pay twenty thousand credits. Search all you want, but if you don't pay, you'll only find her body. You'll find instructions on the last page of the Representative's speech. She left it on the podium."
Tayvis muttered under his breath before snapping orders. "Go search that podium, look for fingerprints, anything we can use to track these people." His hand dropped to Paltronis' shoulder. "Go report to the infirmary. You did your best."
"No, sir, I didn't. If I'd done my best, Sila Nurai would still be here."
"Paltronis, I'm not blaming you. They were professional, beyond your experience. They planted a ransom note under our noses."
"I saw a pair of shoes, woman's shoes, after they hit me the first time. Something isn't right, sir. I think I remember hearing Sila say something, too. I couldn't make out words, but she didn't sound scared."
"Are you certain?" His eyes were cold behind his usual mask. "Don't try to cover your mistake, Ensign."
"I'm not. You charged me with her safety and I failed. But I know what I saw and heard." Paltronis dropped the ice pack in her lap. "Send me to prison, but it won't change my story."
Tayvis studied her in silence.
She closed her eyes, wishing her head would quit hurting. She'd been given one last chance and she'd failed. Maybe prison wouldn't be too bad.
"What did she say?"
"Something about Calum. I have no idea who or what that might be."
"And you are certain you saw her shoes?"
"No, I'm not. I didn't note what shoes Sila wore, but someone in woman's dress shoes walked in front of me as I lay on the floor. Black pumps."
Tayvis crouched in front of the chair, studying her face for a long moment. The other Patrol cleared the room, leaving the two of them alone.
“I know what I saw, sir.”
“Why would she orchestrate her own kidnapping?”
“So she could get the sympathy vote.” The pain in her head made her voice sharp. She winced as she replaced the ice pack.
“You’re officially off duty, Ensign, as of this moment.”
“And unofficially? It was my fault she got away with it.”
“Report to the infirmary. If you aren’t there when I come looking for you, you’d better keep running as a deserter. Do you understand?”
“Yes, sir.”
* * *
Paltronis paced in the room despite the medic’s attempts to get her to lie down and rest. Her head pounded, but she couldn’t stop picking at the problem. She’d been charged with the woman’s safety. It was her fault the woman was gone. She knew the bathroom had been their weak spot. Why hadn’t Tayvis covered it?
Was he involved in the plot? She paused in her pacing.
“This is not what you’re supposed to be doing, Ensign.” Tayvis stood in the door of her room. “Do I have to order the medic to drug you?”
“What good will I be if I’m unconscious?”
“About as much as you are with a concussion.” Tayvis stepped into the room, letting the door swing closed behind him. “We’re officially off the case. The planetary police pulled jurisdiction.”
Paltronis dropped her head. He was going to send her back to prison. She’d screwed up her last chance.
“Lowell wants us to stay. Consider yourself reprimanded.” He sank into the chair in her room.
Paltronis studied him for a long moment. “That wasn’t much of a reprimand.”
He closed his eyes. “Lowell also told me if I didn’t find out what happened to Sila, I’d learn what a real reprimand felt like.”
She eyed the commander’s clusters on his collar. “I didn’t think people of your rank ever got reprimanded.”
His lip twitched into a brief grin. His eyes stayed closed. “You don’t want Lowell reprimanding you. Ever. Just a word of advice.”
Paltronis settled on the bed. Tayvis didn’t look like he was going anywhere for a while. “How long have you worked for him?”
“Long enough.”
“Why are you talking with me this way?”
Tayvis opened one eye. “You’re my new recruit. The rest of the Patrol are assigned to the base here. You’re leaving with me when we’re through.”
“Through with what?”
“Finding Representative Nurai. But since we’re off the case, starting tomorrow, I’m on vacation for two weeks.”
“And me?”
“You’re on probation. I think the paperwork says you’re my personal aide.” He slouched lower, stretching out his legs. “Get some sleep, if you can. If anyone asks, I’m making sure you don’t run away.”
“This is the strangest assignment I’ve ever heard of. You don’t act like an officer.”
He closed his eyes.
Paltronis eased back onto the bed. She watched Tayvis until she fell asleep. He never moved.
* * *
“What are we doing?” Paltronis leaned on the rock wall. The city spread far below them. A breeze teased her hair.
“Sightseeing. We’re both on vacation, remember?”
She gave him a sidelong glance. He looked good in casual clothes. She felt uncomfortable in hers. She preferred her uniform, but it would have been too noticeable.
The other group of sightseers moved off the platform, back to the tramway. The two of them stood alone on the isolated peak.
Tayvis met her look. She dropped her gaze back to the city, trying hard to ignore the heat in her cheeks.
“We’re still on duty,” he said. “I know I promised no undercover work. But you’ll have to pretend until we either find Sila Nurai or Lowell sends you somewhere else.”
She took a deep breath. “I’ve been trying to remember what I saw and heard.”
“I’ve got some inquiries out. You and I aren’t the only members of Lowell’s team here. Just the most visible ones. Sila’s biggest political rival is Calum Freligh. He’s the one most likely to keep her from landing a seat on the planetary council.”
“Why are we involved in this, Tayvis? It’s planetary politics. The Patrol has no jurisdiction.”
“Unless they invite us in. Sila wants to discredit the Patrol, prove we’re incompetent. With the Academy here, the Patrol has a fairly large presence.” He pointed to the Academy and Patrol grounds, hazy in the distance. “Prime real estate. If she can push the Patrol and Academy back to a minor presence, she gains a huge political bonus. The Patrol doesn’t vote and they don’t pay taxes, not like a business would. Lowell suspects she’s trying to push the Academy offworld and the Patrol base to a station in far orbit. Either she set us up and planned her own kidnapping, or she’s involved in something deeper. I don’t have to warn you not to breathe a word of this, do I?”
“No, sir.”
They lapsed into a silence filled with birds fighting in the bushes just below the platform.
“What are we doing up here, sir?”
“Sightseeing, as I said earlier. Calum Freligh’s mansion has a lot of traffic, considering he isn’t in residence. He’s at the capitol all month.” He watched a flitter pass over the wide-spaced grounds of the rich section of the city. “What’s really bothering you, Paltronis?”
“Why didn’t you have someone watching the vent into the bathroom? Why didn’t you seal up the maintenance hall?”
“I did.” He let the statement hang in the air.
It took her a minute to work through the implications. “Someone in the Patrol is involved?”
“Up to their necks. I’ve got no idea who yet.”
“Why? What reason would they have to push the Patrol out? Havors needs their presence. It’s a messy system and it’s on three major trade routes. The Patrol holds jurisdiction for everything in the system except the planet itself. It keeps the area safe.”
“That’s your civics course talking. The Patrol brings in people from all over the quadrant and beyond. The Patrol answers to the Emperor, not the local system government. Havors is after more independence from the Sector government, but with the Patrol here, they can’t push too hard. They get the Academy relocated to a different system, and the objections fade away.” He shifted his position, putting his back to the view.
“I still don’t understand why.”
“Lowell has someone else working on the why. Our job is to find Sila.”
“We can beat the answers out of her.”
He shook his head. “No, we return her to her home and act very concerned for her safety. Someone else will find the answers. You really aren’t very good at this, are you?”
“I prefer problems I can fight.”
The tram rolled into the station, saving her from his reply. The doors slid open, releasing a group of chattering tourists.
Tayvis sauntered towards the tram, taking his time. It wouldn’t leave for another fifteen minutes. Paltronis trailed behind him. He browsed through a rack of brochures splashed with colorful pictures of the port city.
“What looks interesting to you, dear?” He glanced over at Paltronis. “A tour of the museums or historic architecture? Or perhaps the botanical gardens?”
Paltronis flushed. Dear? Right, they were pretending. Out of uniform, they had to explain being together somehow. She shrugged.
Tayvis traded brochures. “Homes of the rich and famous sounds fun. We still have time to catch the early afternoon bus.” He slid the paper into his pocket.
They took a seat on the tram. It glided leisurely down the mountain.
Paltronis suffered through the tour, doing her best to stay focused.
Tayvis nudged her as the bus crept past a gated area with several large mansions beyond. “Security? That’s Calum’s.”
She leaned closer to the window. “Cameras and sensors, no guards that I can see.”
Tayvis leaned back in his seat, by all appearances fascinated by the lawn sculptures of the house they circled.
Paltronis twisted in her seat, studying the neighborhood around the suspect mansion. It was surrounded by a high wall and shaded by thick trees and hedges. The bus crawled through the area, climbing a low hill. Paltronis smiled. One section of fence on the back side was overgrown by trees on both sides. It could provide a way in.
The bus stopped at the top of the hill in a small, private park. They climbed off with the other tourists to enjoy rubber vegetables and plastic cheese dip. Tayvis and Paltronis drifted to the far side of the gathering.
“I think I spotted a way we could slip in,” Paltronis said, her voice low.
“We don’t know she’s there.”
“Then we sit up here tonight and watch. This park provides a perfect view. And it’s not gated and guarded.”
He fingered the leaf of a bush. “It is monitored. Cameras in the trees and streetlights.”
“Basic ones. A signal jammer would take care of them. No problem.”
“Except for alerting someone watching. This needs finesse.”
“The Patrol has a lot of people with finesse.” Paltronis watched his profile. “We get them to run interference for most of it. But if we come up that gully and stay below those rocks, we could slip in and hide and no one would ever know.”
“We’re off duty, remember?”
She opened her mouth to reply when she caught sight of the tour guide headed their way. “Incoming.”
Tayvis flicked a glance at the trim woman in her white and pink suit. “This one would be perfect in the front yard, don’t you think?” He plucked the leaf.
The tour guide smiled her fake smile. “Is there a problem?”
Tayvis smiled at her. “Just admiring the shrub. It’s a beautiful specimen. Tell me, is there a brochure of something about the plants that grow here?” He took the guide’s arm, leading her back to the group.
Paltronis stood alone. She noted placement and location of the cameras and sensors. She glanced down the hill at the mansion. At this distance, she couldn’t make out details of the two men standing on the back patio. But with distance viewers, she could see everything. All it would take would be the suspicion that Sila Nurai was inside, and they could bust down the door and rescue her. Whether she wanted it or not.
* * *
Paltronis ghosted through the wild bushes scattered along the steep hillside. She knew Tayvis was ten paces to her right, but she didn’t hear or see him. He was good. She was better. She settled under a bush with a good view of the mansion.
She slid the distance viewers out of her pocket. She was in uniform, a dark camouflage that blended well with the shadows.
The mansion showed several lit windows, five on the ground floor, another three on the second floor. She focused on the wide expanse of glass that opened onto the back patio. Four men patrolled the grounds and the main floor. Three of them were average thugs, no real skill and no real threat. The fourth one was the problem. From the way he moved, he knew hand combat.
A woman exited a rear door into the service area behind the garage. She carried a trash container, dumping it into the receptacle. Paltronis noted her apron. She adjusted the magnification. Was the woman armed?
She shifted her view to the upstairs windows. The shades were drawn on all but one. As she watched, a woman pulled the drapes closed. Was it Sila? She couldn’t tell, but it might have been.
She tapped the tiny com clipped to her collar. “I think we got her. I count four guards, at least one staff, on the bottom floor.”
“Are you certain?” Tayvis answered.
“Why arm the staff unless you have something to hide? The woman who brought out the trash had a stunner.”
“We can’t move until we’re certain. Assaulting Representative Freligh’s family in his mansion will get us both court-martialed.”
Paltronis tucked the viewer away. “I can get up to the fence. Close enough to confirm.”
“Security is too tight.”
“Are we supposed to find her or not?” Paltronis glanced at the dark bush where she knew Tayvis hid.
“Take the south corner. I’ll take north. Two hours and we meet back at the groundcar.”
She heard the click of his com going offline. The sensors on the fence must pick up transmissions. She turned off her gadgets.
She caught a single glimpse of Tayvis as he melted through the undergrowth on the hillside. She took a deep breath, centering herself before following.
An errant breeze ruffled the bushes as she worked her way down the slope. The crescent moon gave only a little light. Paltronis placed her feet carefully. She reached the stone wall circling the neighborhood without triggering any alarms. She slid along the wall towards the south end of the property. A low tree spread branches over the wall. She paused in its shadow. The leaves would obscure any camera view. The branches brushed the top of the wall, which would confuse any sensors. She could slip over the top, run a quick loop around the property and be back be
fore anyone knew.
She jumped for the top of the wall, hands finding purchase on the flat top. She pulled herself up, then eased over the other side. She crouched next to the trunk of the tree, scanning the area.
The two guards on the back patio stood to one side, talking in low voices. She saw no sign of the others. She darted forward, rolling under a spreading shrub. She was close enough to make out the conversation.
“…tomorrow. Think that’s what she wants?”
“I don’t know. Women are fickle. You should know.”
The first man glanced up at the second floor window, then shook his head. “Her Majesty will shoot us both if we don’t run another check of the grounds. I swear I’ve never seen anyone more worried about being seen.”
“Meet you around front in ten minutes.”
The guards split, one heading north around the mansion, the other one passing within a few feet of Paltronis under the bush.
She held her breath, watching until they moved out of sight around the sides of the mansion. She rose from her hiding spot, ghosting across the patio to the back doors. If there were alarms set, the guards would have triggered them. She should be safe enough. And she’d never get a better opportunity.
The door was unlatched, open just wide enough. Paltronis hesitated only a moment before slipping inside. The room was dark, lit only by a light in the hall outside. She padded across the room, peering into the hall before venturing further into the house. She saw no sign of people anywhere. The guard had glanced up, though.
She found the stairs. Just a quick look, enough to confirm Sila was inside. Then she’d call Tayvis. She pretended her heart wasn’t racing and her palms weren’t sweating.
She was halfway up the stair when she heard a door open below. She swore silently as she raced up the remaining steps. Several doors along the upstairs hall were open, spilling light across the carpet. She heard voices farther along. Someone downstairs whistled as they approached the stairs.
Paltronis panicked. She ran down the hall, glancing briefly into the open rooms. She caught a startled glance from a man in one room. Paltronis put on a burst of speed, racing for the farthest doorway.
“Hey!” The man burst into the hall, chasing her.
