by Mark Iles
“With respect, Ma’am, screw the rules. They’re made to be broken.”
“Oh really?” Delmar said, lips thinning and black-tinted alloy nails tapping away at her desktop. “I’m not going to change procedure just to suit you. They’re on a need to know basis for a reason, confidentiality. Once a trooper’s sentence is served they’re released back into society with a new identity, if they wish it. It’s only on that release that they discover there’s a five-year reserve time, which means if they commit another crime it’s activated and added to any sentence. Quite a deterrent against re-offending, wouldn’t you say?”
“For heaven’s sake!” Selena exploded. “I need to see those files, you’ve put me in charge of this case and I can’t do my job properly with my hands tied behind my back. If that’s going to be the case, with all due respect, I suggest you get someone else to do it—or do it yourself.”
“Careful, Commander,” Delmar replied in a deathly voice. “You don’t get to vote on this in a room full of happy-clappy citizens. You will do as you’re told. Despite what you obviously think, you follow orders—the same as everyone else.” She took a deep breath and fought to calm herself. “But I concede your point. I’ll grant the access to the files. To both of you.”
“What, to Jenks?”
“Yes, you’re working on this together, remember? He’s also in the Intelligence Corps and has access to areas that you don’t,” Delmar said. “And unlike you, he’s never been convicted of a criminal act in his life. Now both of you get out, and get on with it.”
“Very well,” Selena said stiffly, coming to attention and saluting. “We’ll let you know when we get anything.” She turned sharply and left Delmar’s office biting her lip, Jenks at her side.
“Don’t take offence,” Selena said, as their boots crunched across the parade ground. “None was intended. I’m just trying to limit access to personal data, that’s all.”
“Don’t worry, I’ve a thick hide,” Jenks replied. “Let me buy you a coffee.”
Entering a café, Jenks ordered lattes, while Selena selected a sofa with its back to the wall and a clear view of the room. A small wicker table stood in front of it, like a barrier to the inquisitive. There were few customers in the place, and several of those got up and left when they walked in.
Selena graced Jenks with a slight smile as he returned from the bar with their coffees. “Sorry if I was a bit off, I’m a tad tetchy. In a previous mission one of my team turned out to be a serial killer up to his old tricks again. The killer, Za’an, was a really sick bastard—a hired assassin who used to keep bits of his victims for a snack.”
“I didn’t hear about that part,” Jenks replied, visibly shocked.
“Yeah, well I guess they kept it quiet ‘for the good of mankind’. We were heroes, apparently. Despite how many of us died, and we didn’t know until right at the end that our mission was simply a diversion. Sure, we blew up the Manta’s world and drew attention while another ship hit their sun and destroyed the entire system. But a nest ship escaped and command didn’t get our message about it, so the bugs survived. What a waste of lives.”
“I wouldn’t say that, Selena. What you did was hellishly brave.”
“Huh, we were told the enemy couldn’t live without the crops they grew on their home world, something to do with minerals in the soil. The Manta didn’t know about that little bit of information, until they captured one of our ships and accessed their files. How ironic is that?”
Selena found herself biting her lip again, realising it was becoming a habit. Aunt May would have soon sorted that out. Annoyed at herself, she continued.
“Za’an eventually got his. The wife of Arthur, another member of our crew, was a victim of his. Arthur was a genius and he’d wrangled his way into the team just to get even with him. I found out about his plans during the mission and we struck a deal. He wasn’t to touch the killer until it was all over, then he could do whatever he chose. Arthur kept his word, bless him. He killed Za’an when the lifeboat crash landed, saved me a job.”
Selena shook her head trying to clear bitter memories, the gunfire and horror of the crash still echoing in her ears. This was far too close to home. An image flashed to mind of Samantha laying on the floor, stomach ripped open and her guts hanging out as she clutched at Arthur’s hand, staring wildly into his eyes, tears trickling down her cheeks even as she died.
Their lifeboat bucked as it ploughed through the atmosphere of that unknown world. Brilliant crimson flames roared past the port holes, the deafening atmospheric scream rising in their ears. Their craft pitched and turned over, and then … nothing.
Bryn. Bryn was dead.
She felt a hand on her shoulder, and someone shake her gently.
“Commander, are you all right—whoa!”
Selena had grabbed Jenk’s hand and twisted it into an arm lock, slamming him face down onto the table top, spilling their drinks. Her knife was already pressed against the side of his throat, blood trickling in a thin line onto the table from its pressure against his bare flesh.
“Commander?” he said, tentatively.
Slowly Selena came back to herself and looked at the frightened barista and other patrons watching them. Thinking quickly, she sheathed her knife, pulled Jenks back by the scruff of his neck and dumped him back onto the sofa. Dusting him down, she said loudly, “Guys, you’d think he’d know better.”
“No shit,” Jenks coughed, as he struggled to regain his composure. “You broke my nose!”
Selena reached forwards. “Hang on. Brace yourself, I’ll reset it.”
At the horrible grating crunch and accompanying gasp of pain, several more patrons got up and left.
Selena gave him a serviette, which he held to the blood flowing from his nose. Gesturing to the barista, she said, “Let me get some fresh coffees, you seem to have spilt the others.”
With the serviette now a deep red, Jenks changed it for another and touched his fingers to the slight cut on his neck. “Jesus, remind me never to piss you off.”
“Sorry,” she murmured to Jenks, somewhat abashed. “Word to the wise, don’t grab hold of me like that again.”
“Really?” he replied, sardonically. Regarding her quietly for a moment though pain filled eyes, he said. “You know, even though your eyes are as dark as the night, and hard to read, there’s something quite chilling in them. I take it you don’t get out much.”
“As it happens, no, I don’t.”
They looked up as the man replaced their drinks and swiftly stepped back.
“It’s on the house,” the fellow managed, as Selena simply looked at him. “As always! Can I offer you anything else?”
“Just some space. Get lost,” she said, sharply.
Jenks watched the rapidly retreating man. He coughed again, this time into the back of one hand. Eyes watering, he leaned closer. “Are you all right, Commander?”
“Peachy,” she replied. “I think your nose is better that way, although you always looked like a very bad boxer. Now, don’t be a baby and let’s take a look at these records.” Using their hand-helds, they paged through the files of troopers who’d arrived on Capulet in the past few months.
Jenks reached for another serviette and then froze. “Hey, this guy looks good.”
“Who is it,” she asked, eyes widening as she put down her hand-held and grabbed his. She snorted. “Staff? No way.”
“Do you know that for sure?” he asked, his gray eyes looking into hers searchingly. “We can’t screw this up. If you’re one hundred percent positive, then we’ll move on. If not, then let’s get him in and check him out. Says here he was an enforcer for organised crime, was caught red-handed battering someone who owed his boss gambling money.”
Selena was surprised. She took a taste of her bitter-sweet coffee. “Staff an enforcer for the mob, seriously? Guess that explains his bad attitude. Not that I suspect him but I’ll get surveillance bees to monitor him, just to be sure. He’s un
likely to notice them at a distance, or in the dark. But none of this makes sense. He’s afraid of the Lenars because they remind him of the big cat that killed his sister, so it’s unlikely he’d come into the city where he could run into them. Given all that, how could he have killed those girls?”
“You have to remember it could all be an act,” Jenks replied. “It won’t hurt to check him out, and there’s no mention of his sister’s death in any of the records. Tell you what, let me look into him.” Jenks rubbed at the graying stubble on his chin with a soft rasping sound. “If there’s anything there, I’ll find it. Should be relatively easy, I’ll get right onto it.”
Just then Selena’s hand-held bleeped. She looked down and snorted.
“Good news?” Jenks asked.
“Depends which way you look at it. Braxis has been released from the hospital, light duties by the look of it. I can’t see him standing for that.”
***
“Come in.” Selena looked up at the sharp knock from her temporary desk in the training camp. Apart from Staff, they’d only found three other possible suspects, but they were still looking.
To her left, Jenks glanced at his handhold and said,
“Sorry Commander, I’ve got to go. Duty calls, so if you don’t mind I’ll have to leave you to it.” He stood to one side as the door opened and Staff marched in. Then he left, closing the door behind him.
Standing to attention in front of Selena, Staff saluted. He looked straight ahead, eyes cold, fists clasped at his sides. “You asked for me, Ma’am?”
“So’s to speak. Tell me, Staff, I know I’ve no right to ask under our current rules and regulations, but I have to. Why were you sentenced to the Penal Corps?”
“You’re entirely correct,” Staff grated, obviously trying to rein in his temper. “You have no right to ask me that. But as you’re my Commander, you’ll have seen the official records. You need to know that they don’t reflect everything. I didn’t volunteer for the regiments, unlike some of our members, I was sentenced for committing a crime.”
“Which was?” She waited.
“One that I was guilty of, that’s all I’ll say. I deserve to be punished for what I did. They gave me forty years’ servitude, and when I get out I’ll not re-offend. I’ll be an old man, if I live that long.”
Selena looked him up and down, lip curling and all respect lost. “Don’t try to hide behind your rights and sympathy seeking. I’ve been given access to all necessary files because of necessity, including yours. Apart from being a mob enforcer, you’re a paedophile. You were sentenced for abducting and killing young boys. Isn’t that correct?”
His fists tightened, eyes spitting fire. “Partly.”
“You were caught in the act.”
“No, I was framed,” he said, with a smirk.
“Don’t fuck with me, Staff, I’m not in the mood. Why did you kill these girls?”
His eyes widened and abruptly he laughed. “Girls? I don’t kill girls. Don’t you read the information that’s in front of you? It was young boys I did in. I admitted it and I’ve been punished accordingly. But it wasn’t paedophilia, so get your facts right. Don’t you think I’d have killed girls beforehand, if that was my want?”
Selena didn’t flinch. “Not necessarily. So, why boys?”
“Because those little bastards I did in deserved it. Each of them were from my sister’s school. They bullied her constantly. Apart from beating her up, they sexually molested her on a daily basis, until she ran away. I didn’t know anything about that until it was too late. She must have been desperate because she knew where she tried to hide was a tiger sanctuary. It was in one of the few areas that had survived the devastation from the Independence Wars. Those creatures ate her, they ate my sister...”
Selena was shocked to see tears in his eyes. One trickled a lonely path down his cheek.
“My parents and I only discovered what had been going on when we found her note. I couldn’t save her from the tigers, but I made sure she was revenged. By doing so I saved other girls from similar treatment at those monsters’ hands. Unfortunately for me, their parents were very well connected, so my sister’s death was hushed up and I was framed as a paedophile. They threw the book at me and I have never hurt a girl in my life. So why would I now? If anything, I’m your least likely suspect.”
Selena was silent for a moment or two, giving him chance to settle down. The memories were obviously hard for him. Eventually, she said, “I had to ask because you were a killer in civilian life. Our witness says the murderer wore black and had pitch-black eyes, ‘like a demon’s’, she said.”
“Who said?” Staff asked, looking confused.
“I told you, a witness.”
“What did this witness say exactly?”
Selena told him, watching as he turned the information over in his mind. “So, let’s get this straight. There was you and Jenks in the doorway, the girl sees you and all hell lets loose.”
“That’s right,” Selena confirmed.
Staff stared at her. “It seems you’re missing the obvious. The person in black was a woman, you. Which says to me that you aren’t looking for a man, your killer’s a female.”
Selena felt sick, how could she have missed that? A woman, the killer was a woman! She leant back in her chair. “Holy shit!”
Staff’s stance relaxed, his face softening. “For some reason people always assume serial killers are men, and given the averages over the past hundred years or so, who can blame them?”
“Staff, I’m—”
“Sorry, yeah, I know. But you’re only doing your job. You’re a damned good officer, Commander, and for your information, you’ve seriously pissed me off—but I understand that you need to find the killer and will do what needs to be done. If anyone ever asks whether I said any of those statements, I’ll deny it. The question now is, what can I do to help?”
Selena’s hand-held beeped. She picked it up. “Dillon, what is it? I told you I wasn’t to be disturbed … what?”
Stunned, Selena put down the hand-held and stared at it.
“Something wrong?”
“I’m sorry, Staff. The witness … Lucy, she’s dead. So is the duty nurse and the security guard outside the ward.” She had a sudden vision of the guard studying his ancient E-Reader.
“Surely the security cameras will have caught the attacker.”
“No,” Selena replied with a frown. “For some reason they were all turned off, which is odd. Says here they’re always on, which means someone must have had the facility to tamper with them.”
“So, who do you know who has the access codes and authority to do that,” Staff replied. “May I?” he gestured to the chair.
Selena nodded for him to sit down.
“Let’s recap, Commander. You’re looking for a female trooper, who has high security access. Who do you know who fits that description?”
“Only one, Jessica Roberts.”
“Lieutenant Roberts, are you kidding me? I don’t know what she was sentenced for, but she’s no cold-hearted killer. I’d know.”
Selena looked at him with despair, so much for men’s intuition. “Staff, shut up. You’ve no idea what you’re talking about. We’re missing something and I can’t quite put my finger on what it is. Let’s go through the evidence together again. What do we know?”
“That you were stood in the doorway and Lucy shouted ‘Demon’, or whatever. The killer has access to high security and is probably a Regiment trooper.”
Selena played the information over and over again, then she froze. Oh, my, God! “Staff, what if Lucy didn’t shout ‘demon’ because of the black uniform but because she recognised the killer? It’s not a woman, the killer’s a man. Your law of probabilities was correct, and there were only two of us there at the time.”
“Yes, you and … Jenks? He left as I came in, I saw him from the corner of my eye.”
“But he has gray eyes, not black.”
“Get
real, Commander. He could wear contacts short term.”
“That’s true, and now our only witness has been killed. He must have known that Lucy recognised him at the door and that he had to silence her. It’d be easy for him to get one of our uniforms, and find out where the patrols in the city were whenever he needed, so he could skirt around them and kill at will. He must have bypassed the security protocols in the hospital and killed Lucy and the others. Staff, you’re with me, now!”
Selena contacted Colonel Delmar via hand-held and informed her of their suspicions. As she and Staff ran outside they found her skimmer was missing. Luckily Staff’s lay next to where hers had been and they quickly leapt aboard, with him at the controls.
“Colonel, can you find out where Jenks is right now?” Selena asked, shouting into the hand-held above the rising whine of the craft.
“Hang on.”
The skimmer rose and Staff accelerated the craft to maximum speed, something to be avoided in case they hit something mid-flight, but now they had little choice. Selena watched on the hand-held’s small screen as the colonel did something on her desk, no doubt tracing Jenks via his personal tracker and facial recognition software.
“That’s odd, he’s in the barracks. Seems to be approaching the accommodation block.”
“He’s going after Jas,” Selena said jaw clenching, as the skimmer braked harshly and landed. She leapt over the side to run the short distance, followed by Staff.
As they ran, Selena alerted Singh and the others, telling them to meet her at the accommodation block.
She prayed they’d be in time.
Kes and the others arrived just as they did. “It’s Jenks,” she said. “He’s the killer and he’s after Jas— we have to stop him! Kes, Singh, get the building secured. The rest of you come with me.”
They halted outside her apartment door. Holding a hand up Selena stopped the others. “Jessica, guard the door. Staff, you’re with me.”