by KD Jones
The third councilman, Councilman Stone, perked up at that information. “How did she do that?”
“She pointed out the tattoo on the victim.”
Councilman Stone glared over at her. “That is not well known outside of Venetia.”
Uncle Ross kept the attention back on track. “We will have a chance to question Miss Mann. Right now, our questions need to be directed to Captain Veto’s testimony as the IDJ representative.”
Oh boy. She shivered at the thought of having to get up there to testify. Councilman Stone was going to give her a hard time. Uncle Ross didn’t look in her direction at all. Her hands were shaking again. Her dad reached over and took her hand, squeezing it in support. She smiled slightly at him. Then Phoenix took her other hand. The two most important men in her life were there when she needed them the most.
The council questioned Captain Veto for an hour. Then they called her name. She took a deep breath as she stood up. She passed Captain Veto on her way to the chair. He nodded at her but didn’t say anything.
She sat down, not sure what to do with her hands. She clasped them together and noted how sweaty they were. Uncle Ross motioned for someone else to start the questioning. She understood because she had a tight family connection with him.
The sixth councilman stood up and approached her. “Could you state your name officially?”
“Olivia Wanda Mann.”
“What do you do, Miss Mann?”
Really? They all knew her. She had been before their council before, and had done an internship. “I’m a lawyer and work for a legal advice firm for those with limited funds.”
“You brought unsubstantiated claims to us a few weeks prior. Why do you think this victim had anything to do with your case?”
“A Venetian girl was killed, Councilman. Other Venetian girls are missing. I don’t want any more of them to turn up dead as well.”
Councilman Stone pointed an accusing finger at her. “You told confidential information about the Venetian people.”
“I recognized the lineage symbol and told Captain Veto which family line the victim descended from. I didn’t tell them how to identify any other symbols.”
“You should be fined and your citizenship revoked for revealing Venetian secrets,” Councilman Stone shouted.
She heard a scuffling in the seats behind her and turned her head to see that her father and Phoenix both were standing and staring angrily at the councilman. Thank God for Uncle Ross.
“Councilman Stone, you will refrain from your accusations. Miss Mann is not on trial here. She is giving her statement, nothing more.”
Stone sat back, fuming. The sixth councilman continued to question her more. “How did you find out about the victim?”
“I had asked Trig Roberts and his partner, Rachel, to ask if the IDJ had heard about any cases of missing girls. They found out a body was discovered and they could physically identify her as Venetian but nothing else. So I went to identify her. I hoped she wasn’t one of my clients’ daughters. I was relieved to find that she wasn’t, but very sad to see how badly she had been abused.”
The councilmen each took the time to ask her questions, all except Councilman Stone. He kept quiet. Thankfully they didn’t make her give a detailed description of the body. Then they began to ask her questions about the missing girls.
She was questioned for two hours straight. Her throat was starting to get dry and her back hurt from the uncomfortable chair she was sitting in. How much more did they need to know?
Uncle Ross waited for her to answer the last question. “I think we are finished with Miss Mann.”
Councilman Stone stood up. “I want her to continue to answer our questions until I am thoroughly satisfied.”
“Fine. We’ll take a small thirty-minute break. No one is to leave the building. There are vending machines on the second level,” Uncle Ross said before dismissing everyone temporarily.
She stood and stretched. She was starving and so thirsty. She walked over to where Phoenix and her dad were waiting for her.
Phoenix took her in his arms and hugged her. “Are you hungry, babe?”
“Yes, and thirsty, too. Plus, I might need to use the bathroom.”
“Come on. Let’s see what they have upstairs.” Phoenix kept an arm around her shoulders as they left the conference room. Her father was right behind them.
“I’m going to have a talk with Ross about Councilman Stone. He’s treating you as if you are some kind of criminal.”
Her father was really angry. She put her hand on his arm. “Don’t interfere, Dad. I can handle anything that weasel dishes out.”
“You shouldn’t have to put up with all this nonsense. A written statement would have been just as acceptable.”
Phoenix was equally as upset about the situation. “I agree. We should take you back to the GCFA ship. You’ve answered enough questions today.”
Sighing, she turned to face both of them. “I have to do this no matter how ugly it gets. There is a dead girl and more that are missing. I can do this. Now, I need food or I might get quite unpleasant.”
Phoenix chuckled. “We better feed her something, then. She will be hard to deal with otherwise.”
Her father laughed. “There was this one time when she was just a little girl that she decided to go on a food strike until she was given permission to go to a classmate’s sleepover. Her mother and I felt she was too young for such a thing.”
Phoenix smiled down at her. “What happened?”
“Her mother made a batch of brownies and by the time the sun set, Olivia had eaten almost half the batch.”
Phoenix chuckled. “What happened to the food strike?”
“She stated that brownies weren’t food, they were dessert!”
All three laughed as they entered the elevator behind Captain Veto. Veto pressed the button to go to the second floor. Her father’s childhood stories of her and Lydia were good at lightening the mood. Then the world went dark as the elevator shook and she felt them plunging.
Chapter 20
“Get down to the floor!” Phoenix reached for Olivia, placed her on top of him, and wrapped his body around hers, hoping that it would cushion the impact. The elevator’s emergency brakes were trying to halt them but it screeched and kept dropping.
“I think I can slow it down even more.” Captain Veto ripped the top of the elevator off and lifted himself onto its roof. His body almost doubled in size as he reached out and gripped the elevator cable. It was working—they were starting to slow but it wouldn’t keep them from hitting the bottom.
“Hold on to me, Olivia!”
“Phoenix!” she called out right before they hit the bottom.
It felt like his body had been flattened and crushed into nothing. He knew he’d cracked a few ribs. “Babe, are you okay?”
Olivia pushed off him, dazed. “I feel shaky but…you took all of my weight. Are you okay?”
“I have some cracked ribs. What about your dad?”
They both turned to look at her father’s prone body. He groaned, trying to regain consciousness. Olivia crawled over to him. “Daddy? Are you okay?”
“I think I’m dead.”
She half cried and half laughed. “No, thank God.”
“Are you okay, baby girl?”
“Just dazed.”
“Why do you have blood in your hair?”
Phoenix looked up at the roof of the elevator and saw the bloody motionless hand of Captain Veto. “It’s not her blood.” He slowly sat up. The pain was excruciating but he pushed it down. “Captain? Are you okay?”
There was no answer. That wasn’t a good sign. He winced when he tried to get to his feet. Olivia was at his side helping him immediately.
“You shouldn’t get up.”
“I need to see how to get us out of here.”
He reached up to touch the pulse on Veto’s wrist. It was beating but it was weak. The male may have just given his life for theirs. He
went over to the emergency call button and pushed it. No response.
“Olivia, reach inside my pants pocket and get out my phone. Call Trig’s number and let him know what happened and that we need healers.” He leaned against the wall close to the doors. He needed to be ready to defend them if someone came in to finish off the job. He could hear voices above them and suspected that they had ended up in the sublevel.
“How are you doing, Mr. Waters?” Phoenix asked, noticing that the male’s legs were shaking. His body was going into shock and he needed to keep him distracted.
“I’ve been better. Thank you for protecting my girl. I don’t know how you’re moving around right now.”
“I will always put her wellbeing first. I’m curious, why does Olivia go by the last name Mann when you and Lydia go by Waters?”
“Mann was her mother’s maiden name. When she left Venetia for college, she decided to change it to her mother’s. I didn’t mind because I couldn’t bring her mother back so I felt that by taking her last name she was keeping a piece of my Belinda with her.”
“Trig and his men are coming and they are bringing the IDJ. There’s a paramedic in the team of IDJ.” Olivia went to her father’s side and helped him to a sitting position.
“Don’t try to stand up. The less you move the less pain you’ll feel. Trust me on that,” Phoenix said.
Mr. Waters stared at him in awe. “How are you standing?”
“I’ve got some special DNA that lets me heal at a faster rate than anyone else.”
“How fast?”
“I can feel one of my ribs is almost healed. In the next thirty minutes the other one will be repaired as well.”
“Holy shit. The GCFA must really love you.”
“Not as much as the military did,” Olivia commented dryly. From her tone, he was glad he hadn’t involved his military commander in the situation.
“Babe, I’m out now and won’t ever go back.”
“Good. I won't have my fiancé traipsing off on risky missions.”
He smiled—he couldn’t help it. No one had ever cared that much about his safety. It also was the first time that she had called him her fiancé. Her father gave him a hard look that spoke volumes.
Pounding on the other side of the door had Phoenix tensing up. Then he relaxed a little when he recognized Trig’s voice calling out.
“Are you guys okay in there?”
“No. Captain Veto is bleeding and unconscious. I’ve got broken ribs, and I suspect that Mr. Waters may also have broken ribs.”
“Stand back. We’re prying the doors open.”
Phoenix used the wall to hold him up as he moved away from the doors. He felt relief when Trig’s worried face came into view.
“I have a paramedic IDJ agent with me.”
“Check Veto first. His pulse was not strong when I checked it.” Phoenix pointed to the opening of the roof.
Trig turned to yell out, “I need four men in here now!” He had two go up top so they could lower Veto’s body down to the other two. They placed him on the floor so that the paramedic could examine him.
“Sir, he’s lost a lot of blood and there are internal injuries I can’t evaluate here. He needs to get to the hospital immediately.”
Trig nodded. “An ambulance is on its way and should be here in minutes. What about the others?”
“I’m shaken up but fine,” Olivia told them. “Dad and Phoenix are the ones injured.”
Trig looked confused. “How is it that you didn’t even get a scratch?”
“Phoenix had me lay on top of him while he laid flat on the floor. Captain Veto managed to slow the elevator down some.”
Trig looked up through the opening in the top of the elevator. “Why didn’t the brakes work?”
Phoenix gave him a knowing look. “There should have been multiple emergency stops but it seems as if all the emergency protocols were overridden. Who would have that ability?”
“Fire marshals or owners of the building.”
“I can’t imagine a fire marshal would knowingly sabotage this elevator at just the right time.”
“I’ll find out who owns this building.”
“Also see who has access to the video feeds. If they sabotaged this then someone had to be watching to wait until Olivia and Captain Veto were on board.”
“Olivia! Loman!” A voice called out on the outside of the elevator.
“Uncle Ross?” Olivia stood up in time to have the other male wrap her in his arms.
Uncle? She never said anything about her having an uncle on the council. Phoenix glared at the other man, not wanting him touching his female.
“What happened?” The man moved to kneel next to Mr. Mann.
“The elevator just dropped. The emergency brakes didn’t work. Phoenix protected me from the impact but we would probably all be dead right now if not for Captain Veto,” Olivia told him.
They turned to watch as a stretcher was brought in to take Veto. They moved out of the way as another stretcher came in and they loaded Olivia’s father. A phone rang and everyone turned to look at the councilman as he answered it.
“Yeah, this is Toller. That’s not going to happen. There’s been an accident and some of the witnesses were injured. We’ll have to reschedule the meeting. No, a vote is out of line. We haven’t finished questioning all the witnesses yet. Tell Stone if he presses this, I’ll…damn it. I’m on my way back up there.” He hung up angrily.
Phoenix looked at him suspiciously. “What’s going on?”
“Councilman Stone wants to reconvene the meeting immediately. If there are no witnesses, then he is pushing to dismiss the whole thing.”
Olivia gasped. “He can’t do that! A little girl died and there are other girls missing.”
Trig moved closer. “It sounds like this Stone guy might have a reason to want this thing thrown out.”
Olivia looked at him with those beautiful eyes of hers. Phoenix was helpless when she did that. He would give her anything that she needed or wanted. He sighed. “We’ll go back and let you finish testifying.”
“But you need to go to the hospital to get treatment for your injuries.” Olivia came to his side to hug him.
“I’ll be fine. Captain Veto and your father need to be seen by the healers but I’m already healing as we speak.”
Trig turned to Councilman Toller. “The IDJ is going to be taking over regardless of this council’s meeting because two people placed in their charge have been attacked. We’re going to close this up and I’ll have Stone brought in for questioning.”
“What if we can get a confession out of him?” Olivia asked.
He looked down at her serious face and knew what she was going to suggest. He didn’t like it but it could work.
“What do you mean?” Trig asked.
“Let me go back and finish my statement. Councilman Stone might slip up.”
Phoenix was worried. “Or whoever sabotaged the elevator could make another attempt at you.”
She placed her hand on his cheek. “I’m willing to take the chance in order to protect another child from a future of slavery and death. I can do this.”
How could he refuse her when he knew everything in her wanted to do the right thing by these innocent girls? “I want you protected at all times.”
Trig nodded. “Councilman Toller, the IDJ needs to be allowed inside the meeting room.”
Toller shook his head. “The council is going to have a problem with that, but I may have another option.”
Phoenix felt Olivia’s eyes on him and he looked down. “Thank you for understanding.”
“I am staying by your side the whole time.”
“Okay.”
Toller turned to them. “Are you ready to face this?”
“Yeah, let’s go. The sooner it’s over, the sooner I can get to the hospital and check on Dad and Captain Veto.”
Chapter 21
Olivia fought the laughter that bubbled up when the other
council members watched in shock as Phoenix dragged a chair over next to the one she sat in while facing the council. Councilman Stone huffed and puffed.
“What is the meaning of this?”
She smiled at him. “You’ll have to forgive my fiancé. After our near-death experience, he wants to keep me close until I’m done testifying.”
“This is unheard of,” Stone stubbornly mumbled.
“It may be, but it is going to be allowed,” Uncle Ross told them. He was angry on her behalf. “We are going to continue questioning Miss Mann and then we’ll hear from one of the families.”
For another thirty minutes Olivia answered more questions but Councilman Stone was unusually quiet through the whole thing. Just when she thought she would be free of Stone’s presence, he stood up to walk around in front of the table and glared at her.
“Come, Miss Mann, you know that none of these claims are real. You have a failing legal career and probably paid these families to come up with these falsehoods.”
“I didn’t make up a thing, especially not a raped and beaten thirteen-year-old girl!”
“She was a runaway and got mixed up with the wrong crowd.”
“She was thirteen. How the hell does a thirteen-year-old get off planet without someone finding out about it?”
He held up a piece of paper. “I have a statement here from her mother, who refused to come today to testify, that says that the girl was a troublemaker and that she ran away. She could have hidden on board a shuttle to leave the planet.”
Olivia looked over at Uncle Ross in surprise. “How is it that this is only now being shown?”
Stone was furious. “I’m not the one being questioned!”
She kept pushing him. “The Venetian government has a responsibility for the treatment of its children. If the girl had run away, it is required to be reported so that the runaways are not mistreated and a new home is found for them. When I came before the council months ago regarding the other missing girls, why was this girl’s runaway status not revealed then?”
Stone was sweating and wiped his hand over his forehead. He looked out at the crowd. Olivia continued.