I was a little surprised by her sudden change in demeanor. Gone was the tough bitch, and instead she now looked embarrassed. “I’ve overstepped myself sometimes. If you want to see how things are done on a well-settled planet, I’m probably not the best person to show you.”
“The important thing is getting the job done.”
She shook her head. “No. I don’t believe that. I don’t want to be that person. Anger can really take control of you…and it’s easy to let it if it’s a righteous anger…you know what I mean?”
Righteous anger would be a new one for me. Anger was, in general, just an obstacle to rational thought and was to be avoided. It never felt right. “I think I do.”
She smiled, a little nervously. “I have a bit of a dark side, but I’m trying to be a better person…I just don’t always succeed. Maybe this isn’t the best job for that.” She laughed like it was a joke, but it wasn’t convincing.
Some jobs take a mental toll on people…or so I hear. Sucks to have a conscience. “Dark side, eh? Anything I should be concerned about?”
She firmed up. “Just sharing some things, one officer to another. You want to get going?”
She was kind of interesting, but I didn’t need interesting right now. I had prey to hunt. “That I do, blondie.”
“Don’t call me that. Anyway, you said you’re good at reading people. Did you think Shakey was telling the truth?”
“About where the guns came from? There was a definite look of recognition when he saw the picture, and what he said about that religious center seemed genuine. What do you think?”
“I think he was just telling me what I wanted to hear….Of course, what I wanted to hear fits. The Talbrook Religious Center has been a breeding ground for radicals for some time. We’ve never been able to get anything on its leader, Nakhai, but he always seems tangentially related to any religious violence we have in this city.”
“Now, the human adherents of the Calabrai see themselves as Muslim, correct?” I asked.
“Yes, and what’s practiced at Talbrook is sort of a radical offshoot of Islam. Now, the Calabrai are considered heretics by most Muslims, but the followers at Talbrook have been pretty tolerant of anyone who frustrates the Alliance. My guess is that if there are human Calabrai adherents here, they go to Talbrook for their daily prayers…and Nakhai probably even knows who they are.” So there was a religious center in the area known for facilitating violence, and it was still standing. The part of “being civilized” I least understood was the willingness to tolerate such things, but the alternative involved lots of violence and bloodshed, and that certainly wasn’t “civilized” either. “So we should question Nakhai?”
Diane hesitated. “I’ve had dealings with these people, and…perhaps I lost control. I’m not exactly allowed near Talbrook.”
“A restraining order?”
“Not officially…but I’ll be hearing about this from Rudle.”
Her getting fired—or shot for that matter—was of no particular concern to me. I figured I had to pretend it was, though. “You think there are people at this religious center who were involved in these attacks?”
“I know there are. There’s no way radicals came through here without Nakhai’s help, and if Shakey was right about the guns, then they are there.”
“And you believe some of them will be there during prayers today?”
“It’s pretty likely. If they’re planning to carry out an attack soon, that’s when they’re going to be most observant.”
I acted like I was thinking this over, but I already knew what to do. “No one told me to stay away from there.”
“I can’t send you in alone. What would you do?”
“I’ll just say I know someone from the Calabrai is there. These are amateurs. They’re not going to know how to hide their dispositions when surprised like that.”
She did not look convinced. “So your plan is to go in there and cause a ruckus?”
“The more ruckus, the better. I am telling you: if there are members of the Calabrai in there involved with terrorism, I’ll be able to pick them out. I know killers. I can spot them. Trust me.”
“There’s no real guarantee they’ll be in there.”
“It’s worth a shot.” I grinned. “And I don’t have any other plans for today.”
She stared at me for a few moments. The detective was perhaps too smart to entrust this job to an unknown entity like me, even though I really could do as I told her. But the direness of the situation finally won out over common sense. “You do seem to know how to handle yourself, Rico…but you said the more ruckus the better?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Then I’m going with you. They know me and hate me. It’ll be crazy…and don’t call me ‘ma’am.’”
“Won’t you get in trouble, Detective?”
She paused and looked genuinely worried for a moment before making her expression more resolved. “Let’s find these people and worry about that later.” She then smiled. “Like I said, maybe I need a change of jobs anyway. Let’s go cause a scene.”
CHAPTER 13
I certainly saw more alien diversity while walking through the outer edges of the city than I had downtown. Unlike those in the more sophisticated areas, these people weren’t ashamed of sticking with their own kind for safety. The simple fear of violence tends to make sentients cling to easily identifiable groups. Humans struggled with racism for centuries; it turned out the way to overcome it was to replace it with something nearly equivalent.
We passed by a group of reddish sentients that had things on their heads resembling feathers. One of them muttered something about “humans” that I could only assume was derogatory. His anger was greatly misplaced: I treat everyone the same.
“By the way, you really handled yourself well back there,” Diane told me.
“I’ve been doing this a long time, Detective. I may not know all your laws and procedures, but I know how to get things done. Sometimes criminals say I’m a bit mean, though.”
Diane chuckled. “I think in a situation like this, yours is the kind of attitude we need.”
She was nervous. She knew she was going to step over a line and needed to feel it was justified. “The families mourning the dead from the café aren’t going to take great comfort in the fact that we closely followed the letter of the law.” I didn’t think she needed the push, but I figured it wouldn’t hurt.
She nodded. “There’s a lot of injustice in the universe. I hope to at least end a little of that.”
Yes, there was a lot of “injustice” in the universe…so much so that it seemed pretty pointless to worry about. But if it was people on your own planet blowing things up, the least you could do was kill them.
We were back in what looked like a primarily human section of the slums. By far, the nicest building in the area was the large religious center. On top was an arrow floating in a glass globe pointing off to the east and slightly upward—the current direction to Earth from Nar Valdum. The more old-fashioned sects of Islam continued the tradition of praying toward Mecca, a Muslim holy place located on the human home world. This, of course, was a fixed location for people on Earth but in a constantly changing direction for those on other planets. A lot of early religions seemed to have made the faulty assumption that the planet they started on was the be-all and end-all—though I guess it would have been a reasonable assumption. Some modern strains of different Earth religions have tried to become more inclusive and less Earth-centric, and some of those religions have successfully united humans and other species against them, since they all agree that these modern religions are heresies. And then there are the Calabrai, who have successfully united alien religions…but in the cause of killing others.
Well, religion is a messy subject. I try not to judge and just shoot whoever is threatening me regardless of their belief system.
Diane stood still for a moment, looking at the building. “There will probably be dozens of p
eople in there. You really think you’ll be able to spot the terrorists?”
“I’ve rarely gone wrong overestimating criminal stupidity.” I have almost died underestimating other people, but not the average idiot who ends up as a criminal. “That was their call for prayers we just heard, right? So they’re in there.”
“That they are.”
“Let’s go say hi.”
She held out a hand to stop me. “Give them a moment; let them finish their prayers.”
Being respectful of religion was the least of my concerns, but I didn’t argue. After a minute more of waiting, Diane led the way. “I’ll do the talking.”
“Good, you have a nicer voice.”
We barged through the doors and were soon in front of about sixty men (looked about all human) bowing in our direction. “Who here knows something about the bombing yesterday?”
Everyone glared. This area was apparently just for men, which I could only assume made the detective’s intrusion all the more irritating. I scanned the crowd. There seemed to be more than a few people capable of murdering the detective, but I didn’t think they were the ones we wanted. I hadn’t really considered what I’d do if people did start attacking her. I assumed I should make some effort to save her, but I’d have to play that by ear.
An older, bearded man who I assumed was the leader strode toward Diane. “We’re in the middle of prayers! And you’re not even supposed to be near here! I will make sure you are fired for this!”
“I’m truly sorry for the interruption, Nakhai, but I didn’t have time to wait.” Her tone was neither contrite nor mocking. “You probably heard about the terrorist attack, and we have reason to believe there are others planning more. I also have reason to believe they might be at Talbrook.”
“We have nothing to do with the Calabrai! That is not our religion!” Nakhai was a decent liar, but I’d certainly seen better. I could tell he had something to do with this; but he was also probably too smart for my purposes. I needed one of the dimwitted foot soldiers. So I kept watching the men behind him, looking for someone not just murderously angry but visibly nervous. Nakhai looked my way. “And who is this?”
“A tourist.” I kept looking around. I very much didn’t want this to be a waste of time.
Nakhai looked back at Diane. “No one here has anything to do with the Calabrai, so leave this place now.”
Diane pressed right up into his face. “But you’re a lot like them. You like to hide. You make threats, but you’re unwilling to fight in the open. It really makes me wonder what sort of people would follow a coward like you.”
That made some of the men so angry they looked like they might attack, but I saw one who actually seemed to be restraining himself, as the words hit him more personally. He had something to hide. He was involved. He was mine.
Some men finally did start to move toward the detective, but I moved quicker, pushing through the crowd to grab my target, a young man a little smaller than me. “Hey, Skippy, we need to talk.”
“What, I—”
I pulled him toward the door. “Detective, I’m going to have a real quick chat with this guy outside. You stay and chat with your friends.”
Diane looked a bit perturbed by my initiative, but she quickly hid it. “Okay, have fun.”
I dragged Skippy outside, slamming him into the door on the way out to daze him a little. I figured I’d only have about a second before someone decided to come check on us, so I acted quickly. Now, I know many ways to get people to give me the information I need, but most of them would probably put the detective off me for good. So I tried to come up with an approach that would conform to normal societal rules.
I was unable to think of one.
Skippy was soon running back inside the building, yelling and spitting. “He forced me to swallow pig’s blood.”
He quickly disappeared into the group of men, I assumed toward an alternate exit. Diane was not able to hide her surprise and started to go after him, but I gently grabbed her arm. “That guy is crazy. I did not force him to drink pig’s blood.”
“What’s that in your hand?!” Nakhai demanded.
I assumed he was talking about the vial. “I don’t really know.” I tossed it aside. “I think we’ve taken enough of your time. We’ll be going now.”
Nakhai was apoplectic. “This is the worst police abuse I’ve ever seen!”
“I’m not a police officer. I’m just a tourist,” I said.
Everyone had forgotten Diane for the moment, which gave her time to get over her bewilderment. “I’m very sorry for this disturbance. We’ll be leaving now.”
“GET OUT!” Nakhai shrieked.
We quickly made our way out, and I led the detective to an alleyway out of view of the center’s front door, in case anyone decided to come outside to glare at us. Or kill us.
Diane already had a handle on the angry glare, though. “What the hell?”
“That guy—he’s who we’re looking for.”
“So you made him drink pig’s blood?” She wasn’t smiling—I thought that was at least a little funny. Instead, it looked like I was close to seeing her dark side.
“Where would I get pig’s blood? It was just some liquid dyed red.”
“Which you happened to have on you so you could threaten someone with it?”
I wasn’t sure what the accusation was. “I knew a little about the Calabrai and the relation of its human adherents with Islam, and how they find pigs unclean, so…I planned ahead. Anyway, we’re getting off topic. I have tags on my bags so I can track them if they get lost. They work on people, too. Figured we’d spook the guy and see where he goes.”
“You made him swallow a tracker?”
“I don’t know if the tracker would work if swallowed. I put it on his clothes.”
“So making him drink the liquid…”
“…was so he wouldn’t notice me putting the tracker on his clothes.”
She stared at me, still angry—but a little less so. “A heads-up would have been nice.”
“I figured this was the quickest way to go about it, and I was afraid you’d say no.”
“Of course I would’ve said no! I’m going to be fired in an extremely spectacular fashion when this is over! And with good cause!”
“He’s going to lead us to the terrorists one way or another. Trust me on that.”
“I don’t really have a choice. I’m all in at this point. So is this how you do things on Rikar?”
“We don’t have the luxury of following proper etiquette there. I’m just trying to save lives.”
She sighed. “No more surprises. Will you promise me that?”
“I promise no more surprises.”
She stared at me a moment. “You’re a good liar. Let’s go.”
CHAPTER 14
“How is the terrorist hunting going, Officer Rico?”
“Dip, you should see one of my luggage trackers somewhere near me. I need you to direct me toward it.”
“I assume by ‘luggage tracker’ you mean one of your standard bugs. Take the road ahead of you, going west. Twenty yards down on your right will be a building which records say is a store selling religious paraphernalia. Your ‘luggage’ is in there. From the audio, there are seven other pieces of ‘luggage’ around it who seem to be armed.”
I couldn’t pass that last bit of information on to the detective, as I couldn’t come up with a good excuse as to why a tracker for my luggage would have audio. I pointed down the street. “Our target is this way.”
“Who is Dip?”
“My computer.”
“What’s the name stand for?”
“Huh?”
“D-I-P: What’s it stand for?”
“Nothing. It’s just what I call him.” I could see the store that looked to be an Islamic merchandise shop. “He’s in there.” The smart thing seemed to be to go in and kill everybody—but save one or two for questioning. Of course, I wasn’t even supposed to have gun
s, so at this point it was Diane’s game. “What’s the plan, Detective?”
“Out of secret plans that involve force-feeding people?”
“Hey, I led you to where I believe the terrorists are hiding out. I’m ready to leave it to the big city folk at this point.”
She stared for a moment at the store, and her hand casually brushed her jacket at about where I assumed her gun was. “Well, you seem pretty professional, Rico. I’m thinking we go in and see what we can see.”
“And if it is full of armed terrorists?”
“Then we have trouble.” She walked close to me, smiling oddly. Seductively? She pressed against me, her hand caressing my side, finally coming to a firm grip on one of the guns concealed under my jacket. “I’m guessing you have another secret for that occasion.”
I’m very good at concealing weapons, so I doubted she had spotted the guns. Perhaps she was just confirming some assumptions about me with that little maneuver. If she was beginning to think she knew me, though, that was probably to my advantage.
Diane backed a step away from me, not smiling but not looking angry. “I don’t have anywhere near enough evidence to call in backup, but time is of the essence here, so let’s head in there and do what we can. We can discuss you later.”
I shrugged innocently. “What’s to discuss?”
She headed for the store. “Just be careful…and follow my lead.”
I was not going to be careful. Now that I didn’t have to be secretive about my guns, my plan was to shoot everybody in there at the first opportunity. That was the quickest solution, and I really didn’t want to spend more time on this terrorist nonsense than I needed to. Not to sound haughty, but going after amateurs like the Calabrai was beneath me.
Now, I was already quite certain the terrorists were in there, so I could just go ahead and open fire upon entering, and the correctness of my actions would be known soon after. But my understanding of legal and moral principles is that you don’t shoot people before they are obvious threats. I’d have to get them to try to shoot me first if I didn’t want it to be too obvious that I was just a “cold-blooded killer,” as they call people like me.
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