Justice Keepers Saga--Books 10-12, page 66
And what’s more, Leo and Valeth had both shown up at Harry’s house. Which probably meant that all of Slade’s lackeys – and former lackeys – knew the address. A new thought occurred to him.
Jack sat on the edge of his desk, bent over with an elbow on his thigh and his chin resting on the knuckles of his fist. “Computer,” he said. “Access security camera footage for 45 Layarn Street.”
His old apartment building.
“Go back seventy-two hours and scan the footage for visual distortions or electromagnetic anomalies. Play any relevant clips.”
“Working.”
He twisted around just in time to see a new hologram rippling into existence. This was the feed from the door camera. He recognized the familiar sidewalk and the small coffee shop across the street. By the sunlight, he guessed that this clip was filmed in the late afternoon on a cloudy day. But it was hard to be sure.
At first, there didn’t seem to be anything out of the ordinary. No cars on the street, no one on the sidewalk except for one man walking his dog. Jack didn’t recognize the breed. The animal looked kind of like a German shepherd but with floppier ears.
Then he saw it.
A brief shimmer like heat rising off pavement. For about two seconds, it blurred the sign above the coffee shop. Arin had gone to his old building. Because he was trying to kill Anna, and he thought Anna still lived there. “Did 45 Layarn report any break-ins?”
“Negative.”
“So, he’s just stalking then,” Jack muttered. “Hoping to catch her when she comes home.” And when that didn’t work, he began moving toward Harry’s place. But the break-in at the restaurant had happened thirty-six hours ago. More than enough time for Arin to make a move if he was so inclined. Which meant that he wasn’t planning to attack Harry. More likely, he was hoping that Harry would lead him to Anna. “Why not just camp out in front of Keeper HQ?”
The answer came to him before he even finished asking the question. Keeper HQ had some of the best security scanners on the planet, and if he found Anna here, she would be surrounded by dozens of allies. No, he had to corner her when she was alone.
Jack grabbed his coat and went out the door.
Ecklin was a narrow street in the south-east quarter of the city, a two-lane road lined with small buildings made of gray bricks and duroplastic. Almost every one of them had a large front window so he could see inside. Jack passed a youth centre, an indoor pool and the Leyrian equivalent of a sports bar. There were a few people out and about, but not many. And no cars.
Jack strolled along at a leisurely pace, his lips pressed together as he turned his head back and forth. “I know you’re around here somewhere, bud,” he muttered. “Come on out, and we’ll have a chat.”
He had come unarmed. Maybe that was a stupid decision, but if he was going to have any chance of getting through to Arin, he couldn’t make any threatening gestures. The man had been so close on Telixa’s ship. Until that damn ziarogat had smashed his progress.
It was a hunch more than anything else that brought him here. He had spent more time than he would have liked combing the streets around Harry’s place, searching for some sign of Arin. If the guy wasn’t up there, maybe he had been camping out somewhere near-
Jack froze.
A strange warping sensation washed over him, faint but distinct. He knew that feeling well. Someone had used a Bending. And for him to have felt it at all, they would have to have been very close.
He peered into an alley between two gray-bricked buildings and found nothing. Just a narrow corridor between two walls. He was about to leave when an invisible figure dropped from the roof to land twenty feet away.
Without a second’s hesitation, Jack pressed a button on his multi-tool to activate a preprogrammed message to Justice Keeper HQ and Denabria PD. He would have back-up here in less than five minutes. All he had to do was keep the guy talking.
Arin stood before him, growing more and more opaque as he deactivated his cloak. The man removed his gray mask and greeted Jack with a smile. “You weren’t the one I was looking for,” he said. “But you’ll do.”
Jack plodded into the alley with his hands raised defensively, his mouth tight as he held the other man’s gaze. “I don’t want to fight,” he said, shaking his head. “I’m here to help you, Arin.”
“Like you helped me last time?”
“You were the one who betrayed me.”
Cocking his head, Arin studied him for a long moment. A sly smile grew on the man’s face. “You mean I rejected your false promises?” he scoffed. “There is no escaping the Inzari. They will burn us all.”
Closing his eyes, Jack took a deep breath and then nodded once. “Yeah,” he said. “I’ve heard that speech before.”
“Clearly, you didn’t listen.”
“Everyone’s so eager to tell me that these Inzari of yours are unstoppable,” Jack snarled. “But that ziarogat you were so afraid of? Anna killed it. And I’ve done a few myself. I’m starting to think these Overseers are all hype. But even if they aren’t, I’d rather die fighting for what I believe in than be a lab rat in their experiment.”
Arin was smiling down at himself, shaking his head with despair. “You don’t understand,” he said. “There is no escaping the experiment. They will use us and discard us.”
Cautiously, Jack pressed forward. If he could just show that his intentions were genuine, that Arin had nothing to fear, maybe he could end this without violence. Each step he took made Arin retreat until they were almost at the back of the alley. “Maybe we can’t beat them,” Jack said. “But we can make their existence painful.”
The other man looked up with hate smoldering in his dark eyes. “Oh, there will be pain,” he promised. “You and I are damned, Hunter!”
Arin threw a hard right-hook.
Jack ducked, evading the hit. He punched the other man’s stomach with one fist then the other, driving him backward, deeper into the alley. Keep him off balance.
Jack jumped with a high snap-kick.
Leaning back, Arin brought a hand up to swat his ankle, forcing him to land at a slight angle. The other man was a wraith as he slipped up behind Jack and threw an arm around his neck. Arin whirled him around to face the alley wall.
Then he gave a shove.
Using his momentum, Jack ran up the bricks and pushed off, back-flipping over his enemy’s head. He landed just behind the other man.
Arin was already facing him.
A fist smashed Jack’s nose, flattening him against the other wall. He barely caught a glimpse of Arin lashing out with a fierce kick.
Jack stepped aside.
A gray boot struck the wall where his head had been.
Backing away toward the street, Jack raised his fists. “You seem stronger than I remember,” he said. “Been working out?”
Arin rounded on him and began a slow march forward through the alley. He bared his teeth in a vicious snarl. “You have no idea,” he spat. “They train me against ziarogati. I win or I die.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“You apologize to me?”
Jack was almost on the sidewalk when he stopped and let out a breath. “Yeah, I do,” he mumbled. “I wish we hadn’t left you on that ship.”
Closing the distance in three quick strides, Arin laughed maliciously. “You created this monster, Jack Hunter,” he said. “Now, live with it.”
Arin spun for a backhand blow.
Turning his body, Jack clamped one hand onto the man’s wrist and the other onto the back of his collar. He threw Arin forward, face-first toward the wall, but the bastard was slippery.
He kicked the bricks and pushed off, flying backward.
Jack casually hopped out of the way, and when the other man landed behind him, he bent forward to deliver a kick to the belly. His opponent wheezed as he was slammed against the wall. “You’re not the only one who got stronger.”
Spinning to face Arin, Jack punched his nose. The poor guy rebounded off the bricks, begging for another hit. Jack threw a second punch.
Arin’s hand came up, easily deflecting the blow. The next thing that he saw was an open palm striking him right between the eyes, and then his vision blurred. He barely even felt the boot that landed in his stomach.
Wheezing, Jack stumbled across the alley.
Arin charged in for a high roundhouse kick.
With quick reflexes, Jack ducked and let the other man’s foot pass over him. He popped up, but Arin hit him with a backhand to the cheek. Once again, everything went dark. He felt something grabbing his shirt.
Jack was thrown sideways, out onto the street.
Grunting as his shoulder collided with a lamppost, he struggled to clear the fog out of his brain. He couldn’t afford even a second’s inattention. It was that desperation that made him focus on Spatial Awareness.
His enemy flew out of the alley with a beastly kick.
Jack slipped out of his path.
Arin’s foot hit the streetlight, and the man hissed as he bounced off, landing on the sidewalk. He turned around with fists raised, face red and glistening with sweat. “Let me be clear about this. You cannot beat me.”
Backing up along the sidewalk, Jack shook his head. “Maybe not,” he said. “But I can keep you here until a TAC team shows up.”
Arin came forward with a quick jab.
Twisting out of his path, Jack grabbed the man’s arm with both hands. He used Arin’s own momentum to spin him around in circles and send him head-first into the lamppost. Any normal person would have been knocked unconscious.
Jack kicked Arin’s back.
The impact flattened him against the pole, producing a wheeze. But then Arin drew a knife from his belt and spun around. He slashed at Jack’s throat.
Jack leaned back, sharp steel passing within inches of his skin. Arin reversed his swing, trying to plunge that blade through Jack’s eye.
Lightning quick, Jack crouched and reached up to seize the man’s forearm. A little pressure on those joints sent the knife clattering to the sidewalk, but he had made the mistake of trying to hold on to someone with a symbiont. He had only a second’s warning before gravity changed direction.
Jack was yanked backward through the front window of a café. Glass shattered around him. His ass landed on a round, wooden table, and then the whole thing toppled over. He fell hard onto his backside. People screamed, rising from their seats and running for the back exit.
Curling his legs, Jack sprang off the floor and landed on his feet. By instinct, he assumed a fighting stance.
Arin stepped through the shattered window.
The man kicked a chair and sent it flying at blinding speed. Jack ducked, allowing it to pass over him, and when he popped up again, his opponent was right on top of him. Arin bared his teeth in a snarl.
He threw a punch.
Bending his knees, Jack brought a hand up to deflect the blow. With a twist of his upper body, he swung his elbow around to connect with Arin’s chin. That left his enemy stunned for half a second.
Jack shoved him with both hands, augmenting the blow with Bent Gravity. An invisible tether pulled Arin backward through the window. He landed in the street, dazed, clutching his chest as he gasped for breath.
Jack ran for him.
He leaped with a high kick, but the other man ducked and let him sail past. Jack’s feet hit the ground. Something struck him between the shoulder blades before he could get his bearings, and then he was stumbling across the road to the opposite sidewalk. Where was his backup? He couldn’t keep this up forever.
As if in answer to his prayer, police cruisers came around the corner with sirens blaring. Arin looked frantic when he saw them, but the moment he turned around, he was confronted by another group coming from the opposite direction.
He looked toward the roof.
Any thought of escaping that way died when a black shuttle flew into view and hovered above the street. Arin froze. Men and women in heavy armour dropped down on thick ropes. In less than thirty seconds, there were twenty of them in the street, each one hoisting up an assault rifle and pointing it at Arin.
Taking the hint, Arin dropped to his knees with his hands up. One officer came forward and slapped a collar around his neck. Well…Now, it was over.
The easy part, anyway. Getting Arin into a cell was one thing. Convincing him to listen? That was something else entirely. And Jack needed all the allies he could get.
21
The Crystal Skies Tour was a buffet dinner on an airship that floated over the Sunset Fields, a vast expanse of grassland to the east of Denabria. From up here, Melissa could see how the plains had gotten their name. A golden sun floated over the horizon, and the sky was a mosaic of soft pastels.
Melissa stood by the window in a blue dress and a white sweater, her hair pulled back in a clip. “It’s gorgeous,” she said, smiling. “I should have done this a year ago.”
Novol stepped up beside her, looking dapper in gray pants and a short-sleeved shirt that he wore tucked in. He nodded once. “I’m still marveling at the fact that this was free. We just showed up and said we wanted to ride.”
“Well, I had to call first,” Melissa said. “They’re often booked up.”
“Still.”
Melissa turned away from the window.
Round tables with linen cloths were spaced out in a dining room with cream-coloured walls. Chandeliers hung from the ceiling, casting a warm glow over people who ate happily. Almost every seat was filled. “Earthers say that a lot too,” she said. “Everything is free on Leyria. That’s not quite accurate. Nothing is free because there is no money here.”
“No money…”
She forced a smile, then shrugged. “It takes some getting used to,” she said. “But I’ve come to like it.”
She guided him to the middle of the room where a large buffet offered everything from marinated meats to vegetable dishes, fruits and desert. Melissa filled a bowl with trayleen soup, a Leyrian dish she had come to love. It was a kind of beef stew with spicy beans and corn. She chose a thick roll to go with it. Novol chose hathari, a marinated pork chop in a pear sauce.
They returned to their small table by the west-side window. Melissa took one last look out on the plains before sitting down. The sun’s golden glow was bright. If she strained, she could almost make out the distant buildings of Denabria.
Novol sat across from her with a piece of pork on the end of his fork, gazing up at it in wonder. “This was cloned?”
“The Leyians have abandoned factory farming.”
“You can’t taste a difference. But then, I might not know the difference. I’ve never had food like this.”
Bending low over her bowl, Melissa scooped up some soup and then paused to smile at him. “Never?” she asked. “No one ever made pork chops when you were a kid?”
Novol turned his head so that she saw him in profile, gazing out the window. “On my world, only the very rich experienced this kind of…luxury.” He invested that word with quite a bit of disdain. “My family mostly ate canned vegetables and packaged poultry meat.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. You didn’t do it.”
Slipping the spoon into her mouth, Melissa closed her eyes and took a moment to savour the stew. The spicy broth made her tongue sting. “It must have been hard for you to live like that.”
He cocked his head, considering her words, unsure of how to answer. “It’s why I joined the military,” he said hesitantly. “It’s one of the best ways to find a steady income. My family needed the money.”
Melissa sat back with a hand over her mouth, her eyes widening. “Your family,” she whispered. “Novol, I’m so sorry.”
“For what?”
“You left them behind to save Jack,” she said. “It never occurred to me what you might be giving up.”
Grinning, he shook his head. “You don’t understand,” he said. “I don’t have any family left. My older brother was a space-rat too. He died putting down an uprising on Rathala. My father had a heart condition.”
“What happened?”
“He was taking medication to stabilize the condition, but the pharmaceutical company raised the price of the drug. His insurance refused to cover the extra cost. So, he started rationing. And it killed him.”
“I was off-world at the time,” he said. “On a planet called Helathrin, where we were…pacifying the locals.”
Melissa reached across the table, gently squeezing his hand. It felt like a feeble gesture, but he seemed to appreciate it. “That’s awful,” she said. “I understand why you left.”
“What I don’t understand,” Novol muttered, “is why these Leyrians are so eager to throw everything away.”
“What do you mean?”
“Look at them!” he spat. “They live on a world without poverty or war! Everyone goes to bed with a full stomach. Clean clothes, comfortable homes. And yet here they are, embracing the kind of short-sighted hatred that would drag them back into deprivation and hardship.”
“Not all of them.”
“I can’t even understand why some of them would do this.”
Melissa hesitated. How to explain…Granted, she wasn’t a historian, and it probably wasn’t fair to call her an expert on Leyrian culture. She was just a girl with two eyes, but she knew what she saw. “I was raised a Catholic,” she began. “It’s one of Earth’s major religions. When I was young, a priest taught me about the Seven Deadly Sins.”
She noticed his small smile and wondered if Novol thought she was being silly. She had the distinct impression that he was an atheist.
“What are these sins?”
“There’s a bunch of them,” she said. “Greed, wrath, envy. But the most dangerous is pride. Pride lures us into believing that we are good and just. And maybe we start out that way, but pride makes us turn a blind eye to our failings.
