by R S Penney
“So we have no way to ID this man?”
“There has to be something!” Melissa protested. “Couldn't you at least estimate the height and build of the perpetrator from the size of the image?”
Anna was hunched over, tapping away at the control console with a sour expression on her face. “I could try,” she mumbled. “But there's no reason the height of the hologram would have to correspond to the height of the subject. Our perp could be five feet tall and use a six-foot tall hologram. Also, how do you know it's a man?”
“Brilliant,” Melissa grumbled.
She was out of options. Anxiety flared up when she contemplated the fact that she had no idea how to proceed from this point. Wasn't she supposed to know? Of course not, a small voice whispered. You're a cadet.
Harry shut his eyes and let out a sigh. “Okay,” he said, coming up behind her. “If we can't ID the perp, we should look at the surrounding information. How did they get to the farm with a bomb in tow?”
Melissa stood with her arms hanging limp at her sides, her eyes fixed on the floor. “A car service,” she whispered. “If he didn't take the train, maybe he hired a car to drop him off near the farm.”
“We can check that,” Anna said.
The hologram flickered out of existence to be replaced with a list of white text on a blue background. Addresses, Melissa realized. Some of them corresponded to Denabria's residential neighbourhoods, while others were in the downtown core. “Every destination requested by people using the central car service yesterday,” Anna said.
She scrolled through them one by one until she found a drop-off point roughly half a kilometer away from the farm. “There!” she exclaimed. “Time stamp has the passenger arriving shortly after sunset.”
“Who took the car?” Harry inquired.
“We don't know.”
“There's no record?”
Anna squeezed her eyes shut, breathing in slowly. “Leyrian privacy laws are quite strict,” she said. “The government can't just track your movements through the transit system. Usually, that's a good thing, but…”
“Can you tell where the car picked up this passenger?” Melissa asked.
A few taps of Anna's deft fingers brought up another list, side by side with the first. This one displayed pick-up addresses for every ride, cross-referenced by trip number. “I can indeed,” Anna said. “The car picked up its passenger at 14 Elidrea Street and drove them to a spot near the farm.”
“Elidrea Street,” Harry mumbled.
“It's a residential neighbourhood.”
“Well,” Melissa said. “Looks like we have a place to begin.”
Chapter 7
It was hard to keep his mind off Anna.
He made a valiant effort – there was no denying that – but whenever he wasn't able to distract himself with work, thoughts of her crept into Jack's mind. Silencing them took a great deal of effort. Strangely, this wasn't the same as when he had broken up with Gabi just a few months ago.
Instead of feeling miserable all the time, he mostly just worried about Anna. And he missed her. Their long talks had become a fixed point in his life, a pillar that held up his world. Now, he was forbidden from speaking with her…Well, maybe not forbidden – she hadn't been that firm with him – but she did need her space.
That was one reason why he wasn't exactly thrilled about the prospect of having a partner that reminded him so much of Anna. Cassi was a fine Keeper, he was sure, but he knew that working with her was going to be difficult. Not because of anything the poor woman had done, but rather because Jack Hunter couldn't manage his feels. He wasn't planning to protest, but he did want to know the motive behind Larani's decision. Bright sunlight through the window of Larani's office left the desk and the woman herself as little more than silhouettes in the middle of a rectangle of light that stretched across the floor tiles. It was an unnerving sight, to say the least.
Jack walked through the door with his head down, heaving out a soft sigh as he approached his boss. “A partner?” he began. “Well, I certainly don't object, but I would have liked to have been told.”
Craning her neck to study him, Larani blinked a few times. “You know, I thought you might,” she said softly. “Which is why I decided to surprise you. I wanted to see how willing you are to follow my lead.”
Jack crossed his arms with a grunt, backing away from the desk. “So, did I pass the test?” he asked with a shrug of his shoulders. “Are you ready to start trusting me? Or are you just gonna Walter Skinner me for the rest of my tenure as your attache?”
“Is that a director I don't know?”
“Never mind.”
The warm smile that slowly spread on Larani's face was not the reaction he would have expected. “You've passed,” she said. “This test, at least. I thought Cassiara might be agreeable to you. It seems you have a fondness for strong-willed women who speak their minds without hesitation.”
Jack felt creases form on his brow. “Are you trying to find me a partner or a date to the ball at Netherfield Park?” he asked. “I'll tell you right now: I get plenty of action by standing awkwardly in the corner and casting disdainful glares at the dance floor.”
His boss rose from her chair in one smooth motion, closing her eyes as she took a deep breath. “You and Agent Seyrus share something in common,” she said. “A fervent hatred of Grecken Slade.”
“Heh. I like her already.”
“Before Slade revealed himself for the traitor that he was, Cassiara made herself rather unpopular with a steady stream of criticisms of the man's policies.”
Well…that made the prospect of working with her a little easier to swallow, but just the same, a part of him felt uneasy, and part of that uneasiness came from the fact that he was starting to accept the reality of Cassi as his new partner. It felt like he was betraying Anna, though he couldn't say how.
Was it because some of Larani's observations had sunk in? Somewhere in the back of his mind, Jack was beginning to wonder if maybe the woman he was meant to be with wouldn't just disappear on him for months. And thinking that – thinking that it might not be Anna – ripped him up inside.
God, he was so messed up!
To recap, he was uneasy about accepting a new work partner because he was afraid that getting to know Cassi would make him like Anna less. If anyone could over-think a situation, it was Jack bloody Hunter.
“Are you all right?” Larani asked.
Jack closed his eyes, touching two fingers to his forehead. “Yeah,” he muttered in a breathy rasp. “I'm fine.”
“Then perhaps you should speak to Agent Seyrus,” Larani said. “I would imagine you have a lot of work to do.”
Sunlight glinted off the windows on each floor of a long two-story building in the middle of a field of grass. To Jack, the Keeper office in Shilenar looked rather plain. Not a glittering tower or a masterpiece of architecture. Just a simple two-story rectangle about a hundred feet from the street.
He went inside and suffered through the rigmarole of submitting his badge to the holographic receptionist. A male hologram, this time, which was encouraging; Leyrians really didn't put much stock in antiquated gender roles. Once that was done, he made his way upstairs to meet the woman he would have to interrogate.
Reviewing her dossier on the screen of his multi-tool left him feeling more than a little apprehensive. Cara Sinthel had silver-blonde hair that she wore tied back, a sharp contrast to her tanned face with large dark eyes. Of course, she looked like a teenager, but her profile listed her age as thirty-two. Older than him by almost ten years; he was really going to have to project authority this time. No easy task for Jack Hunter.
The building was pretty much empty. He passed one or two people in the hallway that branched off from the lobby, but for the most part, every door he passed was shut, every office unoccupied. It was a civic holiday here in Kenthera Province, and most of the local Keepers had taken the day off. Why Cara Sinthel had suggested today of all da
ys for their meeting was beyond him, but that already made him want to distrust her. Slade was exactly the kind of guy who would hate a holiday on principle, and he suspected the man's cronies would feel the same.
On the upper floor, white-walled corridors ran the length of the building with doors spaced at even intervals. Each office had a window that would allow any passersby to get a glimpse inside. Assuming the shades weren't drawn, of course.
Mostly, Jack saw only simple offices, about half the size of Larani's, with gray floor tiles and a desk in the middle. Rectangular windows on the back wall looked out upon the grassy field outside. The building was pretty much empty. It was a civic holiday here in Kentara Province.
He found the Keeper he was looking for.
Dressed in simple gray pants and a matching sweater, Cara Sinthel stood inside her office with arms folded, turned so that Jack saw her in profile. She seemed to be focused on some hologram on the wall.
He knocked on the glass door.
The woman stiffened, then shot a glance over her shoulder, squinting at him. “You can come in,” she said, her voice muffled by the window. Pushing it open allowed him to detect the soft scent of lavender, but he saw no potted plants.
Jack shut his eyes, bowing his head to her. “Special Agent Sinthel,” he said, taking a few cautious steps into the office. “My name is Jack Hunter; I work for Larani Tal. We were scheduled to have a little talk this morning.”
Spinning on her heel, the woman strode toward him with arms folded, then craned her neck to stare up at him. “So, you're the one,” she said. “The first Justice Keeper from your backward little world.”
The heat in his face told him that his cheeks must have been a bright shade of red. Backward little world? “Yeah, that's me,” Jack growled. “Now, if you don't mind toning down the nationalism, maybe we could have a chat.”
“What do you want to talk about?”
“Grecken Slade.”
Cara turned her back on him and marched over to the desk. “What about Slade?” she asked in a calm, controlled voice. “The man was a traitor, and I regret supporting his bid to become Chief Director.”
Pressing his lips into a thin line, Jack narrowed his eyes. “I don't buy it,” he said, shaking his head. “You were one of Slade's most dedicated supporters. You can't expect me to believe you did a complete one-eighty.”
“A what?”
“Never mind.”
The woman glanced over her shoulder, her face as smooth as silk. “Why is that so surprising?” she asked. “I agreed with Slade's policies, but not with his wanton acts of terrorism.”
Jack crossed his arms with a sigh, approaching her with his head down. “Do you know anything about Grecken Slade's policies toward Earth?” he inquired. “Your people tried to manage us.”
Cara turned around and sat on the edge of her desk, folding her hands in her lap. “Well, perhaps that's because your people needed managing,” she replied. “It's no secret that your world is a hotbed of bigotry and violence.”
Red-faced and fuming, Jack squeezed his eyes shut. “Yeah, you would say that,” he muttered, trembling on the spot. “Typical Leyrian arrogance! Just assume that you know what's best for everybody else in the galaxy!”
“And this is a crime to you?”
“I beg your pardon.”
The woman looked up at him with lips pursed, her gray eyes like polished silver. “Why are we having this discussion, Agent Hunter?” she asked in clipped tones. “Surely, you don't plan to hold me accountable for a difference in political stance.”
“We're having this discussion,” he began, “because three years ago, you went to Petross Station on a mission assigned to you by Grecken Slade.”
“What of it?”
“When you got back, your superiors noted a distinct change in your attitude. You were harder, quicker to advocate harsher sentences.” That wasn't much to go on, but how exactly did you find a pattern that would indicate the presence of a corrupted symbiont? “You displayed an almost jingoistic Leyrian nationalism; on several occasions, you were written up for conduct unbecoming a Justice Keeper. The most recent of which – dated roughly two years ago – saw you reprimanded for openly declaring Antauran citizens to be sub-human scum in a public venue.”
She was sweating, her face pinched into an uncomfortable expression. “So…Has Larani Tal's errand boy come to chastise me?” In the blink of an eye, she was on her feet and striding toward him, forcing him to back up. “Come to tell me that I'm no longer the model of an exemplary Keeper?”
“I want to know what caused that change in attitude.”
“Perhaps I just started saying what I've always thought.”
“No,” Jack said. “That doesn't make sense. You see – in theory – if you were prone to such unapologetic prejudice, a Nassai would never have accepted you as its host in the first place. So…Care to answer my question?”
“There is no answer.”
Jack turned away from her, clasping hands together behind himself as he walked to her office door. “You know, it's funny,” he said, glancing back over his shoulder. “Calissa Narim had some interesting things to say about you.”
It was a gamble; he hadn't been able to pull one useful tidbit of information out of Calissa, but he had to try something, and this lady was rubbing him the wrong way. If it paid off, he would have exposed one of Slade's minions; if not…Well, he'd end up tipping his hand for no good reason.
The tiny woman just stood there with stiff posture, her face twisted in disgust. “So, what did Agent Narim say?” she asked. “I suppose she offered you my name in exchange for some form of leniency after her debacle last year.”
“Oh, she named you all right,” Jack said, turning back to her. “Said it wouldn't be much of a betrayal since we were bound to find out anyway. She said that of all Slade's followers, you were the one who was least able to play the role of a good Justice Keeper. She was laughing at you, Cara.”
The woman flinched.
Cautiously, he moved toward her, watchful for any sign that she might bolt like a cornered rabbit. “She was really quite thorough,” Jack went on. “She said you got your new symbiont on Petross Station, but you weren't prepared for the sheer intensity of its emotions. She said you lacked discipline, and that's why you keep getting written up. A simple inability to control your-”
The woman jumped and kicked out.
Her foot slammed into Jack's face, filling his vision with darkness, and applying a light Bending. He went flying backward, crashing through the window next to her office door. Glass shattered as he dropped to the floor in the hallway.
Jack curled his legs against his chest, flinging himself upright. His hands came up in a fighting stance. “All right,” he said, shaking his head. “I suppose we could just go for the direct approach.”
Cara stepped through the hole in the window.
She punched him in the face, blurring his vision once again, then spun for a back-hand strike. In a heartbeat, Jack reacted, turning his body and catching her arm in both hands. He forced her to double over.
Jack grabbed the back of her collar with one hand. Then he whirled around and sent her face-first through the window of the office across from hers. It was unoccupied, thankfully, but Cara was standing stunned in a pile of glass shards, facing a desk with picture frames on its surface.
Jack followed her in.
The woman faced him with an angry snarl, shallow cuts on her face leaking blood onto her creamy skin. “I'm gonna make you pay for that,” she snarled, shaking her head. “Painfully.”
She jumped and kicked out.
Jack brought one hand up to strike her foot, pushing it aside. The woman dropped to the floor right in front of him, dazed and off-balance.
He delivered an upper-cut to the stomach that lifted Cara off her feet, driving the air from her lungs. Then he brought his other fist down on the top of her head, knocking her senseless.
She fell and lande
d on her backside, staring up at him with tears glistening on her cheeks. Instinct took over, and he knew that he had to finish this before things got out of control. You did not give a Keeper a chance to get back up.
Jack tried to kick her face.
The woman's hands came up, grabbing his ankle, preventing him from making contact. There was a twisting sensation that he recognized as Bent Gravity, and then he was thrown backward.
He went right through the shattered window, across the hallway and then through the window in Cara's office. The Bending fizzled out, dropping him onto his ass in the middle of the black-tiled floor.
Cara was on him in a second.
She leaped through the window like a cat pouncing on a mouse, landing on top of him and screaming. Her teeth were bared, and blood dripped from the cut on her cheek. “Slade was a great man.”
Jack grabbed her shirt and applied a Bending of his own.
Cara was yanked upward until her back hit the ceiling, leaving a spider-web of thin cracks. A moment later, she fell, legs kicking wildly as she tried to recover her wits.
Jack rolled aside.
His opponent landed on all fours in the middle of the office, shaking her head to clear away the fog. “I can see why Slade found you such a nuisance,” she said, struggling to get to her feet.
As he stood up and rounded on her, Jack pressed a hand to his chest and gasped for breath. “Well, tormenting him was so much fun,” he said. “Hey, did Greck ever tell you about the time I said he looked like he'd just come from-”
Cara ran at him.
Stepping aside at the last second, Jack let her slip past him. He kicked out behind himself, striking the back of her leg. That sent her sprawling head-first into the dark gray wall with a thunk.
He whirled around.
