‘Inspector Tara Meridian,’ Fox stated. ‘My resignation isn’t final yet, unless you’ve rushed it through.’
Canard glared at her. ‘Inspector Tara Meridian. You are aware of your rights, Inspector?’
‘I am, Captain. Do I need to be? Are you detaining me?’
‘Not at this time, but–’
Fox smiled. ‘That’s okay then, please continue. I have nothing to hide so I don’t believe I require an attorney at this point.’
Canard pulled in a slow breath and let it out. ‘You’ve been asked to attend here today regarding the death of Detective Joshua Sandoval. You don’t deny shooting him and we have the record of your weapon’s sighting camera indicating that you fired on him.’
‘Correct.’
‘I’d like you to explain, in your own words, why you did that.’
‘You have my report on the shooting, Captain. He was trying to kill me. You also have video evidence of him meeting with known UA terrorists.’
‘How did you get that evidence?’ Canard snapped out, his eyes narrowing.
‘Anonymously. It doesn’t matter, does it? The video timestamps and metadata allowed you to pull the feeds from the city video logs. MarTech’s lawyers requested and obtained it. The video is genuine. That makes Sandoval dirty, right?’
‘Sandoval was not dirty,’ Canard growled. ‘He was–’
‘A NIX agent embedded in Wayden Executive Services who moved on to covering NAPA. Yes, I was aware of that. However, given that his task here was to obtain information on new processes being researched by MarTech Technologies, he was engaging in industrial espionage. That would be illegal for NIX to undertake, so they aren’t going to acknowledge that he was doing it under their orders, even if they acknowledge he was one of theirs. You can write him up as a dirty cop, but NIX won’t let you hang this on them.’
There was silence as Canard glared at her, and she got the distinct feeling that he had already figured that one out or been told it by NIX. ‘You went in to get Teresa Martins on your own rather than getting official backup and a proper NAPA antiterrorist team–’
‘NAPA’s antiterrorist and special action units aren’t that good. Jackson Martins was within his rights to take action himself to free his daughter, and he asked me to assist because he knows I have experience in hostage rescue and counterterrorism. The operation was successful.’
‘Internal Affairs are very interested in your relationship with Martins,’ Cant said, his face forming into a rather malicious grin.
‘They can investigate all they like. They won’t find anything improper.’ Fox fixed her gaze on Canard and affected a slightly unhappy expression. ‘If they do wish to investigate fully, however, they’ll find some additional evidence I was sent regarding Sandoval which I have, to date, kept private. I’ll be required to disclose certain emails between Captain Canard and Detective Sandoval.’
‘What?’ Canard asked.
‘Discussions on my assignment to the Hunt case which make it clear that you knew he was NIX and that he wanted me on it.’ She let her eyes widen. ‘Oops. I do hope IA won’t be listening to this.’ Canard’s face was turning scarlet, but Cant put a hand on his shoulder which seemed to pull him back. Fox shook her head. ‘I’m not sure why you’re pushing this, Captain. I shot Sandoval, sure, but he was trying to kill me and you’ve got enough evidence to put him down as a bad cop. The Martins kidnapping is resolved, favourably. I’ve resigned so I’m out of your designer-cut hair. Unless you think my resignation makes you look bad and you want to make it look like I’m having to resign. That it? Are you trying to save face?’
‘I’m trying… Officer-involved shootings need to be handled carefully and–’
He stopped as her eyes narrowed, the words choking in his throat. ‘That would be why you dismissed Sandoval’s recent entirely unrecorded shooting of Donovan Bucksbridge after a couple of hours of interviewing then. That would be something else you wouldn’t want IA looking at, I’d imagine. They might conclude that you were colluding with him in the cover-up of one murder and one attempted murder, the latter of a NAPA detective. You really have more to lose by continuing this harassment, Canard. Just let me finish up my time and move on. I thought knowing which battles to fight was one of the main skills of a politician.’
Apparently he did, if you pointed it out to him. ‘Interview terminated,’ Canard said. ‘I’ll put through a recommendation that you be released from your contract on medical grounds following the damage to your arm.’
Fox’s smile was more or less genuine. ‘Thank you, Captain. I’ll stop off and clear out my office before I leave.’
14th February.
Kit could only really see things which Fox looked at. She could pick up all the v-tag signals in the area, which meant she could construct a full image of the viron of 27Lex, but she only got to match that with a visual image of the real world when Fox’s eyes looked in a given direction. It was not stopping her from standing there, visible only to Fox, Terri, and Sam, and peering around as though the club was the most fascinating thing she had ever seen.
‘She’s been in Niflhel,’ Fox commented. ‘She’s seen clubs before.’
‘I have mostly been to Vali’s farm,’ Kit pointed out.
‘You came in with me and had a little tour of a few places on Thursday night.’
‘And they were interesting, but this is a physical club with real people. People are interesting and a little strange at times. That man there appears to be attempting to see through your shirt despite it being opaque.’
Fox bit her lips to avoid laughing and Sam said, ‘Imagine what they’d be doing if they could actually see our little fox-girl.’
Terri giggled. ‘I don’t think Kit’s ready for that much attention yet.’
‘And what would her boyfriend say?’ Fox added.
Kit’s cheeks flamed. ‘I do not have a boyfriend, except in the sense of having a friend who happens to be a boy.’
‘I think I need to meet this Vali,’ Terri said, ignoring her creation. ‘If he’s wooing my Kit, I think he needs to be vetted.’
‘I did already ask him about his intentions,’ Fox told her.
‘You didn’t!’ Kit squeaked, clutching her hands to her cheeks.
‘He said they were honourable, but–’
‘He did?!’
‘–I don’t believe him.’
‘Stop embarrassing the poor girl,’ Sam said, all ‘voice of reasonableness.’
‘That would be nice,’ Kit said meekly.
Sam grinned at her. ‘My pleasure, Kit. So, Fox, what’s next? You’re out of NAPA. Are you taking the job at Palladium?’
Fox shrugged. ‘I’ve been working for one form of governmental agency or another since I left home. Time to strike out, I guess. Try something new. It’s either go private or go corporate.’
‘And we have all the best toys,’ Terri pointed out, grinning.
Fox lifted her hand, curling her fingers as she looked over the skin of her arm which was now all a uniform, very natural colour. ‘Yeah… you sure do. But do me a favour, would you, Terri?’
‘Uh, if I can, sure. What?’
‘Try to avoid getting kidnapped for the next five years or so. It’s getting to be a habit.’
###
About the Author
I was born in the vicinity of Hadrian's Wall so perhaps a bit of history rubbed off. Ancient history obviously, and border history, right on the edge of the Empire. I always preferred the Dark Ages anyway; there’s so much more room for imagination when people aren’t writing down every last detail. So my idea of a good fantasy novel involved dirt and leather, not shining plate armour and Hollywood-medieval manners. The same applies to my sci-fi, really; I prefer gritty over shiny.
Oddly, then, one of the first fantasy novels I remember reading was The Dark Is Rising, by Susan Cooper (later made into a terrible juvenile movie). These days we would call Cooper’s series Young Adult Contemporary Fantasy
and looking back on it, it influenced me a lot. It has that mix of modern day life, hidden history, and magic which failed to hit popular culture until the early days of Buffy and Anne Rice. Of course, Cooper’s characters spend their time around places I could actually visit in Cornwall, and South East England, and mid-Wales. In fact, when I went to university in Aberystwyth, it was partially because some of Cooper’s books were set a few miles to the north around Tywyn.
I got into writing through roleplaying, however, so my early work was related to the kind of roleplaying game I was interested in. I wrote science fiction when I was playing Traveller. I wrote “high fantasy” when I was playing Dungeons & Dragons. I wrote a lot of superhero fiction when I was playing City of Heroes. I still love the idea of a modern world with magic in it and I’ve been trying to write a novel based on this for a long time. As with any form of expression, practice is the key and I can look back on all the aborted attempts at books, and the more successful short stories, as steps along the path to the Thaumatology Series.
Recently I took the big step of quitting my day job and taking up full-time writing. My favourite authors are Terry Pratchett, Susan Cooper, J.D. Robb, and Kim Harrison. Kim’s Hollows books were what finally spurred me to publish something, even if the trail to here came by way of Susan, back in school, several decades ago.
For More Information
Take a look at the Witches and Ray-guns blog: http://witchesandrayguns.wordpress.com
Other Books by this Author
Amazon US: http://amazon.com/author/niallteasdale
Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B006J6II9O
The Thaumatology Series
Thaumatology 101
Demon’s Moon
Legacy
Dragon’s Blood
Disturbia
Hammer of Witches
Eagle’s Shadow
Ancient
Dragonfall
The Other Side of Hell
For Whom the Wedding Bells Toll
Vengeance
Anthologies in the Thaumatology Universe
Tales from High Towers’ Study
Tales from the Dubh Linn
The Aneka Jansen Books
Steel Beneath The Skin
The Cold Steel Mind
Steel Heart
The Winter War
The Greatest Heights of Honour
The Lowest Depths of Shame
Hope
The Ultrahuman Books
Ugly
Shadows
The Unobtainium Books
Kate on a Hot Tin Roof
The Reality Hack Books
Reality Hack
The Fox Meridian Books
Fox Hunt
Inescapable – November 2015
DeathWeb – January 2015
Table of Contents
Part One: Earthlight Becomes You
Part Two: Lunar Transit Blues
Part Three: Murder Is My Business
Part Four: Music to Get the Blood Pumping
Part Five: The Anarchy Meme
Part Six: Keep Your Friends Close
Part Seven: Striking Out
Fox Hunt (Fox Meridian Book 1) Page 24
