Justice Keepers Saga--Books 10-12, page 62
“He’s probably gone through a SlipGate,” Anna muttered.
“No,” Jack said. “He’s still here.”
Bil gave him a long, silent stare. “How can you be sure?” he said at last. “It seems unlikely that he would remain in the city when he has to know that we would have our best people looking for him.”
It was a good question.
Jack stood up with a sigh, shuffling past the chief director on his way to the door. “Anna told me that Admiral Ethran sent Arin here to kill her.” He spun around, glaring daggers at the back of Bil’s head. “Guy’s got a one-track mind to make Ahab jealous.”
Bil grunted, nodding as he considered that. “You’re saying that since he failed to kill Operative Lenai, he won’t stop until the job is done.”
“Bingo.”
“I’m sorry?”
“It means you’re correct,” Anna explained. The thought of Arin lurking in this city, waiting to get another crack at her, did not sit well. “We’ll have to pull up city plans, look for places he might hide.”
“I have Field Operative Lenaysa’s team working on that,” Bil informed her. There was something in his eyes, something that warned her not to get involved. “I may need you for other assignments.”
“Such as?” Jack asked.
Bil spun around to face him, staring up at him with what Anna could only assume was a very angry scowl. “That is not your concern, Agent Hunter,” he said. “You are no longer a member of her team, remember?”
Jack opened his mouth to say something, but he cut off when he saw the look she gave him. Now was not the time to pick a fight with Bil. Thankfully, her partner decided that discretion was the better part of valour. “Fine,” he said. “Send me after Arin.”
“Why should I allow that?”
“I don’t know,” Jack said. “Off the top of my head, I’m figuring that you’d want someone with experience, and I’ve fought him twice before.”
“I have no intention of sending you out to pursue a vendetta, Agent Hunter.”
Jack answered the man with a mocking grin and a burst of laughter. “You don’t get it, do you?” he snapped. “I don’t want to go after him so that I can kill him. I want to be the one who brings him in because I think I can get through to him.”
“That is highly unlikely.”
As much as she hated to admit it, Anna was forced to agree. Jack’s last attempt to redeem Arin had not ended well. Still, she kept that opinion to herself. Solidarity meant solidarity. She wasn’t going to undermine her boyfriend in front of a man that neither one of them was sure about.
Bil let out a breath, then hunched over and buried his face in his hand. “If I forbid you from going after Arin, you’ll just do it anyway, won’t you?”
“See?” Jack said. “Now, you’re starting to get it.”
“Very well, Agent Hunter. You have this assignment. But I want daily reports on your progress. Is that clear?”
A chirp from her multi-tool interrupted their conversation. When Anna checked the message, she saw Harry’s face on the screen. His hair was a mess, and his eyes had that haunted look of someone who had just endured a harrowing experience. “Hey,” he said. “You think you guys can stop by the house?”
“Sure,” Anna said. “What’s wrong?”
“Just come on by. I’ll explain when you get here.”
“So, you have no idea who attacked you?” Jack asked. He was sitting in a chair at Harry’s kitchen table, leaning forward to frown at their host. “But you’re sure this guy had a symbiont?”
Harry was directly across from him with his back to the patio door. One look at him, and Anna wanted to break out the painkillers that Dr. Seladra had given her. Harry wasn’t exactly bruised and battered, but he did look worse for wear. “I’m sure,” he muttered. “I saw him use Bendings.”
Covering her mouth with one hand, Anna felt her eyebrows climbing. “But he wasn’t with Arin,” she murmured. “Two attacks at the same time.”
She had taken the chair at the end of the table, putting herself between the two of them. Maybe she was being excessively cautious, but Harry’s comments at the rally this morning and Jack’s tendency to see anyone who criticized him as an enemy made it all too likely that an argument would break out. Those two would have to sort out their ideological differences another time. They had larger concerns at the moment.
Behind her, the SmartGlass television was playing at a low volume. She heard snippets of a news report on her fight with Arin. Police had the area on lockdown, and the crowds were dispersing.
Jack sat back with arms folded, watching her from the corner of his eye. “How do we know they weren’t working together?” he asked. “Maybe Telixa was thinking ‘Oh look! Two birds! And here I am with a surplus of stones!’”
“Would Telixa even know that Harry exists?”
“Fair point.”
Harry bent forward with his elbow on the table, massaging his forehead with the tips of his fingers. “There’s more,” he choked. “Isara came to my rescue.”
“What?”
“She said that she had made a pact with you, Jack. That the two of you were going to kill Slade together, and she wanted my help.”
Jack rolled his eyes in annoyance. “Guess it was too much to hope that she would keep that little tidbit to herself.” He drummed his fingers on the table, clearly bothered by this revelation.
“So, it’s true?”
“It’s true,” Anna confirmed. “I’m part of it.”
Harry sat up straight, and the stare of disapproval he gave her made her feel like a girl who had just been called to the principal’s office. “I asked Isara about the man who attacked me,” he began. “She said she didn’t know who he was.”
Tossing her head back, Anna blinked as she considered that. “Well,” she muttered. “Assuming she’s telling the truth, it means Slade has been giving out symbionts without keeping her in the loop.”
“No,” Harry growled, shaking his head. “I don’t think so. Isara said there was a third faction. Someone else who had gained access to the corrupted symbionts.”
Well, that was a disturbing possibility, but when she got past the initial shock, Anna realized that she should have seen this coming. Until five years ago, no one had known that it was possible to corrupt a Nassai into the abominations that Slade and his people used to mimic a Justice Keeper’s abilities. Wesley Pennfield had been quietly perfecting the process on Earth, far away from prying eyes. She should have realized that someone else would eventually get a hold of Pennfield’s data.
She felt Seth’s anger growing at the idea of his brethren being subjected to such torture. Thinking through that haze of rage was difficult, but luckily, her Nassai chose to mask his emotions.
Anna closed her eyes. “A third faction,” she said. “Well, no one ever claimed our lives would be uninteresting.”
“Did anything stand out about this guy?” Jack asked.
Grunting with disapproval, Harry sneered at him. “You know, kid, I do have some experience with this line of work,” he said. “I would have told you if anything caught my eye. The guy wore a mask.”
Leaning forward with his hands on the table, Jack stared intently at the other man. “And that’s something,” he said. “It tells us this guy was willing to compromise his Spatial Awareness.”
“How does that help us?”
A small smile was Jack’s answer to that. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “Maybe it says that he’s unfamiliar with his powers. That he hasn’t had a symbiont very long.”
Glancing out the window, Anna felt a frown coming on. “Okay,” she said, nodding once. “I think I know what our next move should be. We interrogate Aiden.”
“You think he knows something?”
“He’s the only one of Slade’s lackeys that we have in custody, which means it’s worth a shot.”
Anna stood up, resting a hand on Harry’s shoulder, giving him a squeeze. “When the time comes,” she said, “I hope you’ll help us to bring down Slade.”
A momentary grimace betrayed his anguish, but he smothered it quickly. “I can’t,” he whispered. “I can’t betray the Overseers. They’ll hurt Claire.”
“We can protect her.”
“No, you can’t!” Harry snapped. “They’re more powerful than you can imagine, Anna. They bring people back from the dead. They came here from another universe. If you go up against them, you will lose.”
“Then we lose,” she said. “But I’d rather go down fighting.”
17
“The Defense calls on Agent Jack Hunter.”
Rising from his seat in the gallery, Jack nodded once. Let’s get this over with. He shuffled past several people and then strode through the aisle between the benches. He could hear the sound of voices murmuring. Not all of it was pleasant.
Cassi looked up as he passed her table and offered the barest hint of a smile. Her face was paler than usual, and there were dark circles under her eyes. The poor woman probably hadn’t slept well in weeks.
Three arbiters sat behind three desks on the dais, one turned slightly toward the prosecution, another turned slightly toward the defense. And the third one facing him dead on.
Conol Drin rose from behind that middle desk, frowning at Jack. He gestured to the Seal of Justice on the floor.
Jack took his place.
When he turned around, he saw a hundred faces staring at him, and many were not friendly. Anna was sitting at the end of the third row on his left. Her warm smile eased some of his anxiety. Knowing that she was out there made him feel like everything would be all right.
“Please state your name,” Arbiter Vin-Shari said behind him.
Jack clasped his hands behind his back, standing tall with his head held high. “I am Agent Jack Hunter,” he said. “Ms. Seyrus’s former partner.”
In his mind, he saw an image of the arbiter as she tapped something into a tablet. She fixed a hard glare on the back of his head. “And do you certify that your testimony is true and accurate with no omissions?”
“I do.”
“So noted.”
Mr. Devarin rose from behind his table.
A handsome man with a tanned face that would make the ladies swoon, he greeted Jack with a curt nod of respect. “Agent Hunter,” he said, “Would you please describe for the court your experience with the virus?”
Just hearing those words made Jack feel as if he had a band of iron wrapped around his chest, and it was getting tighter by the second. His palms were sweaty. His clothes felt too tight. They had put him in dress pants and one of those ridiculous high-collared shirts that the Leyrians liked so much, both black.
Closing his eyes, Jack pushed the painful thoughts aside and focused on the love he felt from Summer. “Slade injected me when we tried to take him into custody,” he said. “As I understand it, the virus activates various neurons in the victim’s brain, simulating certain physical sensations.”
“What kind of sensations?”
“Nausea, headaches, burning pain in the skin.” Some people muttered at that. Off to his right, he could see members of the jury exchanging glances. But Jack wasn’t finished. “Slade was able to induce visual and auditory hallucinations as well.”
“He could make you see things?”
Grinning, Jack let his head hang. “Not just see things,” he answered with a shrug of his shoulders. “He could make things disappear as well. At one point, he tried to torture me by making Anna invisible.”
“Why do you believe Slade did that?”
Jack looked up at him, narrowing his eyes. “Why does Slade do anything?” he spat. “Because he is a vicious, cruel monster.”
“Did you believe that your condition was permanent?”
“I was unconscious for most of my recovery.”
Stepping forward, Mr. Devarin spread his hands as if to apologize for asking such a stupid question. “If your situation had been permanent,” he began, “what do you believe you would have done?”
Jack forced his face to smoothness, smothering every last trace of emotion. He put a great deal of effort into keeping his voice steady. The jury had to see a rational man, not a raving lunatic. “I would have found a way to kill myself.”
“That sounds like an extreme reaction.”
Wincing so hard it hurt, Jack shook his head. “No, sir, it’s not,” he replied. “You don’t know Grecken Slade.”
There was something in the way that Devarin spoke, something that reminded Jack of his counselor. This wasn’t just about establishing facts anymore; it was about creating an emotional connection. “So,” the attorney said softly. “You believe that my client was justified in capitulating to Slade’s demands?”
“I believe any human being would have done the same thing in Cassi’s place.”
“Thank you. No further questions.”
As soon as he was done, Roderon Tolmane stood up from behind the prosecution table. The man wasn’t exactly hostile, but there was no empathy there. “Agent Hunter,” he said. “You claim that any person would have capitulated with Slade’s demands if they were left at his mercy.”
“That’s correct.”
The prosecutor began to pace behind his table, looking over his shoulder with his gaze locked on Jack. “And yet you refused to capitulate,” he said. “You found the will to deny Slade even in light of the prospect of torture.”
Jack heaved out a breath, unable to lift his eyes from the floor. “It’s not so simple,” he said. “I’m kind of a freak.”
“A freak?”
“Driven by a singular hatred for people who abuse their power.”
Turning on his heel, Roderon Tolmane faced him. The man’s disapproving frown spoke volumes. “I’m confused, Agent Hunter,” he began in mocking tones. “Forgive me, but isn’t ‘a singular hatred for people who abuse their power’ the defining characteristic of a Justice Keeper? Wouldn’t Ms. Seyrus possess that trait in abundance?”
“Objection,” Devarin cut in. “Agent Hunter cannot testify to the defendant’s state of mind.”
“Mr. Arbiter,” Tolmane countered. “I would argue that as a Justice Keeper who has Bonded a Nassai symbiont, Agent Hunter is qualified to comment on what a Nassai looks for in a potential host.”
Jack could see the three arbiters with Spatial Awareness; they were huddled together, convening with one another. A thin force-field popped up to muffle the sound of their deliberations. Yes, he saw the arbiters, but they weren’t what held his attention.
Cassi was looking right at him with such sympathy in her violet eyes. He almost thought she was about to start crying. It was as if she were trying to tell him that it would be all right, that no matter what he said, she would forgive him,
The force-field vanished, and the arbiters broke apart, returning to their seats. Vin-Shari remained on her feet, which was not a good sign. Her desk faced the prosecution table, and she would only speak if the three had ruled in Tolmane’s favour. “We believe that Agent Hunter is qualified to testify as to what qualities are considered favourable in a Justice Keeper.”
“Defiance of unjust authority is a quality found in most Keepers,” Jack admitted. “As is mercy…and compassion for those who are victims.”
Mr. Tolmane was rolling his wrist as he spoke in that condescending tone. “So, Agent Hunter,” he said. “My original question remains. Why were you able to defy Grecken Slade while Ms. Seyrus was not?”
Jack shut his eyes, a flush singing his cheeks. Those bands around his chest were getting tighter. “I don’t know,” he rasped. “Perhaps Slade had more time to break her.”
“Do you believe you’re stronger than Ms. Seyrus?”
“Not for a second.”
Tolmane glanced at Cassi, then returned his attention to Jack. “If that’s the case, shouldn’t she have been able to resist?”
“I don’t know.”
“Thank you, Agent Hunter. That will be all.”
Jack was reclining in his office chair, staring up at the ceiling. Warm sunlight came through the big window behind him, but he still felt cold inside. At least the tightness in his chest was fading.
The door swung open, and Anna came striding in, shaking her head. “Well, we knew that would be painful,” she said. “I think it went pretty well.”
Shutting his eyes, Jack let his head rest against the seat cushion. He exhaled slowly. “Oh yeah!” he said. “I let that guy Matlock Cassi into a conviction.”
In his mind, he saw Anna standing next to his desk, staring down at her reflection in the SmartGlass. “Don’t be so hard on yourself,” she said. “You answered the questions honestly. That was all you could do.”
Well, no, it wasn’t all he could do. He could have tried to make an argument. He could have shared more details about what it was like to have Slade in his head. The pain, the fear. The creeping dread that he might have to live his life that way.
Recalling those memories made his hands shake. Trying to say more might have left him whimpering in front of the courtroom or snarling at the prosecutor. He and Mr. Devarin had gone over his testimony several times, trying to find the balance.
Twisting his chair around, Jack faced the window. He opened his eyes and let the warm sunlight fall on his face. “It’s not going well, is it?”
“It’s hard to tell,” Anna replied. “But Mr. Devarin isn’t confident. The jury seems to have a lot of anger toward Cassi.”
“Is there anything we can do?”
“I don’t think so.”
Jack wheeled his chair around and stood up. He opened his mouth to speak, then clamped it shut again. Snapping at his girlfriend wouldn’t do anything.
Anna was watching him with those big, blue eyes, blinking slowly, waiting for him to make his point. “There are appeals, Jack,” she said at last. “Even if Cassi is convicted, she won’t be thrown in a hole and left to rot.”
“Oh really?”
“You’ve seen how it works here,” Anna pressed on. “No one stays in prison any longer than they have to. Once the counselors are satisfied that they aren’t a threat to anyone, they’re reintegrated into society.”
“No,” Jack said. “He’s still here.”
Bil gave him a long, silent stare. “How can you be sure?” he said at last. “It seems unlikely that he would remain in the city when he has to know that we would have our best people looking for him.”
It was a good question.
Jack stood up with a sigh, shuffling past the chief director on his way to the door. “Anna told me that Admiral Ethran sent Arin here to kill her.” He spun around, glaring daggers at the back of Bil’s head. “Guy’s got a one-track mind to make Ahab jealous.”
Bil grunted, nodding as he considered that. “You’re saying that since he failed to kill Operative Lenai, he won’t stop until the job is done.”
“Bingo.”
“I’m sorry?”
“It means you’re correct,” Anna explained. The thought of Arin lurking in this city, waiting to get another crack at her, did not sit well. “We’ll have to pull up city plans, look for places he might hide.”
“I have Field Operative Lenaysa’s team working on that,” Bil informed her. There was something in his eyes, something that warned her not to get involved. “I may need you for other assignments.”
“Such as?” Jack asked.
Bil spun around to face him, staring up at him with what Anna could only assume was a very angry scowl. “That is not your concern, Agent Hunter,” he said. “You are no longer a member of her team, remember?”
Jack opened his mouth to say something, but he cut off when he saw the look she gave him. Now was not the time to pick a fight with Bil. Thankfully, her partner decided that discretion was the better part of valour. “Fine,” he said. “Send me after Arin.”
“Why should I allow that?”
“I don’t know,” Jack said. “Off the top of my head, I’m figuring that you’d want someone with experience, and I’ve fought him twice before.”
“I have no intention of sending you out to pursue a vendetta, Agent Hunter.”
Jack answered the man with a mocking grin and a burst of laughter. “You don’t get it, do you?” he snapped. “I don’t want to go after him so that I can kill him. I want to be the one who brings him in because I think I can get through to him.”
“That is highly unlikely.”
As much as she hated to admit it, Anna was forced to agree. Jack’s last attempt to redeem Arin had not ended well. Still, she kept that opinion to herself. Solidarity meant solidarity. She wasn’t going to undermine her boyfriend in front of a man that neither one of them was sure about.
Bil let out a breath, then hunched over and buried his face in his hand. “If I forbid you from going after Arin, you’ll just do it anyway, won’t you?”
“See?” Jack said. “Now, you’re starting to get it.”
“Very well, Agent Hunter. You have this assignment. But I want daily reports on your progress. Is that clear?”
A chirp from her multi-tool interrupted their conversation. When Anna checked the message, she saw Harry’s face on the screen. His hair was a mess, and his eyes had that haunted look of someone who had just endured a harrowing experience. “Hey,” he said. “You think you guys can stop by the house?”
“Sure,” Anna said. “What’s wrong?”
“Just come on by. I’ll explain when you get here.”
“So, you have no idea who attacked you?” Jack asked. He was sitting in a chair at Harry’s kitchen table, leaning forward to frown at their host. “But you’re sure this guy had a symbiont?”
Harry was directly across from him with his back to the patio door. One look at him, and Anna wanted to break out the painkillers that Dr. Seladra had given her. Harry wasn’t exactly bruised and battered, but he did look worse for wear. “I’m sure,” he muttered. “I saw him use Bendings.”
Covering her mouth with one hand, Anna felt her eyebrows climbing. “But he wasn’t with Arin,” she murmured. “Two attacks at the same time.”
She had taken the chair at the end of the table, putting herself between the two of them. Maybe she was being excessively cautious, but Harry’s comments at the rally this morning and Jack’s tendency to see anyone who criticized him as an enemy made it all too likely that an argument would break out. Those two would have to sort out their ideological differences another time. They had larger concerns at the moment.
Behind her, the SmartGlass television was playing at a low volume. She heard snippets of a news report on her fight with Arin. Police had the area on lockdown, and the crowds were dispersing.
Jack sat back with arms folded, watching her from the corner of his eye. “How do we know they weren’t working together?” he asked. “Maybe Telixa was thinking ‘Oh look! Two birds! And here I am with a surplus of stones!’”
“Would Telixa even know that Harry exists?”
“Fair point.”
Harry bent forward with his elbow on the table, massaging his forehead with the tips of his fingers. “There’s more,” he choked. “Isara came to my rescue.”
“What?”
“She said that she had made a pact with you, Jack. That the two of you were going to kill Slade together, and she wanted my help.”
Jack rolled his eyes in annoyance. “Guess it was too much to hope that she would keep that little tidbit to herself.” He drummed his fingers on the table, clearly bothered by this revelation.
“So, it’s true?”
“It’s true,” Anna confirmed. “I’m part of it.”
Harry sat up straight, and the stare of disapproval he gave her made her feel like a girl who had just been called to the principal’s office. “I asked Isara about the man who attacked me,” he began. “She said she didn’t know who he was.”
Tossing her head back, Anna blinked as she considered that. “Well,” she muttered. “Assuming she’s telling the truth, it means Slade has been giving out symbionts without keeping her in the loop.”
“No,” Harry growled, shaking his head. “I don’t think so. Isara said there was a third faction. Someone else who had gained access to the corrupted symbionts.”
Well, that was a disturbing possibility, but when she got past the initial shock, Anna realized that she should have seen this coming. Until five years ago, no one had known that it was possible to corrupt a Nassai into the abominations that Slade and his people used to mimic a Justice Keeper’s abilities. Wesley Pennfield had been quietly perfecting the process on Earth, far away from prying eyes. She should have realized that someone else would eventually get a hold of Pennfield’s data.
She felt Seth’s anger growing at the idea of his brethren being subjected to such torture. Thinking through that haze of rage was difficult, but luckily, her Nassai chose to mask his emotions.
Anna closed her eyes. “A third faction,” she said. “Well, no one ever claimed our lives would be uninteresting.”
“Did anything stand out about this guy?” Jack asked.
Grunting with disapproval, Harry sneered at him. “You know, kid, I do have some experience with this line of work,” he said. “I would have told you if anything caught my eye. The guy wore a mask.”
Leaning forward with his hands on the table, Jack stared intently at the other man. “And that’s something,” he said. “It tells us this guy was willing to compromise his Spatial Awareness.”
“How does that help us?”
A small smile was Jack’s answer to that. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “Maybe it says that he’s unfamiliar with his powers. That he hasn’t had a symbiont very long.”
Glancing out the window, Anna felt a frown coming on. “Okay,” she said, nodding once. “I think I know what our next move should be. We interrogate Aiden.”
“You think he knows something?”
“He’s the only one of Slade’s lackeys that we have in custody, which means it’s worth a shot.”
Anna stood up, resting a hand on Harry’s shoulder, giving him a squeeze. “When the time comes,” she said, “I hope you’ll help us to bring down Slade.”
A momentary grimace betrayed his anguish, but he smothered it quickly. “I can’t,” he whispered. “I can’t betray the Overseers. They’ll hurt Claire.”
“We can protect her.”
“No, you can’t!” Harry snapped. “They’re more powerful than you can imagine, Anna. They bring people back from the dead. They came here from another universe. If you go up against them, you will lose.”
“Then we lose,” she said. “But I’d rather go down fighting.”
17
“The Defense calls on Agent Jack Hunter.”
Rising from his seat in the gallery, Jack nodded once. Let’s get this over with. He shuffled past several people and then strode through the aisle between the benches. He could hear the sound of voices murmuring. Not all of it was pleasant.
Cassi looked up as he passed her table and offered the barest hint of a smile. Her face was paler than usual, and there were dark circles under her eyes. The poor woman probably hadn’t slept well in weeks.
Three arbiters sat behind three desks on the dais, one turned slightly toward the prosecution, another turned slightly toward the defense. And the third one facing him dead on.
Conol Drin rose from behind that middle desk, frowning at Jack. He gestured to the Seal of Justice on the floor.
Jack took his place.
When he turned around, he saw a hundred faces staring at him, and many were not friendly. Anna was sitting at the end of the third row on his left. Her warm smile eased some of his anxiety. Knowing that she was out there made him feel like everything would be all right.
“Please state your name,” Arbiter Vin-Shari said behind him.
Jack clasped his hands behind his back, standing tall with his head held high. “I am Agent Jack Hunter,” he said. “Ms. Seyrus’s former partner.”
In his mind, he saw an image of the arbiter as she tapped something into a tablet. She fixed a hard glare on the back of his head. “And do you certify that your testimony is true and accurate with no omissions?”
“I do.”
“So noted.”
Mr. Devarin rose from behind his table.
A handsome man with a tanned face that would make the ladies swoon, he greeted Jack with a curt nod of respect. “Agent Hunter,” he said, “Would you please describe for the court your experience with the virus?”
Just hearing those words made Jack feel as if he had a band of iron wrapped around his chest, and it was getting tighter by the second. His palms were sweaty. His clothes felt too tight. They had put him in dress pants and one of those ridiculous high-collared shirts that the Leyrians liked so much, both black.
Closing his eyes, Jack pushed the painful thoughts aside and focused on the love he felt from Summer. “Slade injected me when we tried to take him into custody,” he said. “As I understand it, the virus activates various neurons in the victim’s brain, simulating certain physical sensations.”
“What kind of sensations?”
“Nausea, headaches, burning pain in the skin.” Some people muttered at that. Off to his right, he could see members of the jury exchanging glances. But Jack wasn’t finished. “Slade was able to induce visual and auditory hallucinations as well.”
“He could make you see things?”
Grinning, Jack let his head hang. “Not just see things,” he answered with a shrug of his shoulders. “He could make things disappear as well. At one point, he tried to torture me by making Anna invisible.”
“Why do you believe Slade did that?”
Jack looked up at him, narrowing his eyes. “Why does Slade do anything?” he spat. “Because he is a vicious, cruel monster.”
“Did you believe that your condition was permanent?”
“I was unconscious for most of my recovery.”
Stepping forward, Mr. Devarin spread his hands as if to apologize for asking such a stupid question. “If your situation had been permanent,” he began, “what do you believe you would have done?”
Jack forced his face to smoothness, smothering every last trace of emotion. He put a great deal of effort into keeping his voice steady. The jury had to see a rational man, not a raving lunatic. “I would have found a way to kill myself.”
“That sounds like an extreme reaction.”
Wincing so hard it hurt, Jack shook his head. “No, sir, it’s not,” he replied. “You don’t know Grecken Slade.”
There was something in the way that Devarin spoke, something that reminded Jack of his counselor. This wasn’t just about establishing facts anymore; it was about creating an emotional connection. “So,” the attorney said softly. “You believe that my client was justified in capitulating to Slade’s demands?”
“I believe any human being would have done the same thing in Cassi’s place.”
“Thank you. No further questions.”
As soon as he was done, Roderon Tolmane stood up from behind the prosecution table. The man wasn’t exactly hostile, but there was no empathy there. “Agent Hunter,” he said. “You claim that any person would have capitulated with Slade’s demands if they were left at his mercy.”
“That’s correct.”
The prosecutor began to pace behind his table, looking over his shoulder with his gaze locked on Jack. “And yet you refused to capitulate,” he said. “You found the will to deny Slade even in light of the prospect of torture.”
Jack heaved out a breath, unable to lift his eyes from the floor. “It’s not so simple,” he said. “I’m kind of a freak.”
“A freak?”
“Driven by a singular hatred for people who abuse their power.”
Turning on his heel, Roderon Tolmane faced him. The man’s disapproving frown spoke volumes. “I’m confused, Agent Hunter,” he began in mocking tones. “Forgive me, but isn’t ‘a singular hatred for people who abuse their power’ the defining characteristic of a Justice Keeper? Wouldn’t Ms. Seyrus possess that trait in abundance?”
“Objection,” Devarin cut in. “Agent Hunter cannot testify to the defendant’s state of mind.”
“Mr. Arbiter,” Tolmane countered. “I would argue that as a Justice Keeper who has Bonded a Nassai symbiont, Agent Hunter is qualified to comment on what a Nassai looks for in a potential host.”
Jack could see the three arbiters with Spatial Awareness; they were huddled together, convening with one another. A thin force-field popped up to muffle the sound of their deliberations. Yes, he saw the arbiters, but they weren’t what held his attention.
Cassi was looking right at him with such sympathy in her violet eyes. He almost thought she was about to start crying. It was as if she were trying to tell him that it would be all right, that no matter what he said, she would forgive him,
The force-field vanished, and the arbiters broke apart, returning to their seats. Vin-Shari remained on her feet, which was not a good sign. Her desk faced the prosecution table, and she would only speak if the three had ruled in Tolmane’s favour. “We believe that Agent Hunter is qualified to testify as to what qualities are considered favourable in a Justice Keeper.”
“Defiance of unjust authority is a quality found in most Keepers,” Jack admitted. “As is mercy…and compassion for those who are victims.”
Mr. Tolmane was rolling his wrist as he spoke in that condescending tone. “So, Agent Hunter,” he said. “My original question remains. Why were you able to defy Grecken Slade while Ms. Seyrus was not?”
Jack shut his eyes, a flush singing his cheeks. Those bands around his chest were getting tighter. “I don’t know,” he rasped. “Perhaps Slade had more time to break her.”
“Do you believe you’re stronger than Ms. Seyrus?”
“Not for a second.”
Tolmane glanced at Cassi, then returned his attention to Jack. “If that’s the case, shouldn’t she have been able to resist?”
“I don’t know.”
“Thank you, Agent Hunter. That will be all.”
Jack was reclining in his office chair, staring up at the ceiling. Warm sunlight came through the big window behind him, but he still felt cold inside. At least the tightness in his chest was fading.
The door swung open, and Anna came striding in, shaking her head. “Well, we knew that would be painful,” she said. “I think it went pretty well.”
Shutting his eyes, Jack let his head rest against the seat cushion. He exhaled slowly. “Oh yeah!” he said. “I let that guy Matlock Cassi into a conviction.”
In his mind, he saw Anna standing next to his desk, staring down at her reflection in the SmartGlass. “Don’t be so hard on yourself,” she said. “You answered the questions honestly. That was all you could do.”
Well, no, it wasn’t all he could do. He could have tried to make an argument. He could have shared more details about what it was like to have Slade in his head. The pain, the fear. The creeping dread that he might have to live his life that way.
Recalling those memories made his hands shake. Trying to say more might have left him whimpering in front of the courtroom or snarling at the prosecutor. He and Mr. Devarin had gone over his testimony several times, trying to find the balance.
Twisting his chair around, Jack faced the window. He opened his eyes and let the warm sunlight fall on his face. “It’s not going well, is it?”
“It’s hard to tell,” Anna replied. “But Mr. Devarin isn’t confident. The jury seems to have a lot of anger toward Cassi.”
“Is there anything we can do?”
“I don’t think so.”
Jack wheeled his chair around and stood up. He opened his mouth to speak, then clamped it shut again. Snapping at his girlfriend wouldn’t do anything.
Anna was watching him with those big, blue eyes, blinking slowly, waiting for him to make his point. “There are appeals, Jack,” she said at last. “Even if Cassi is convicted, she won’t be thrown in a hole and left to rot.”
“Oh really?”
“You’ve seen how it works here,” Anna pressed on. “No one stays in prison any longer than they have to. Once the counselors are satisfied that they aren’t a threat to anyone, they’re reintegrated into society.”
