by Alex Hughes
“What?”
“Why don’t you lead this time?” He held out the binder with all the meeting notes, all the words you were supposed to say to lead the group.
“I can’t—”
“It’s just reading, kid. Reading and asking the right questions. You already know how this goes.”
Somehow I couldn’t say no, not to Swartz. I cautiously took the binder, its weight in my hands sobering. “I’ll try.”
“You’ll do fine.” He nodded to one of the regulars, and called out a greeting to a newbie, then engaged him in a conversation. The whole time I was sitting there, my heart was beating nearly out of my chest.
When the clock hit the hour, I opened up the binder and started to read.
* * *
It was late by the time I got home, and I picked up my mail from the basement of the building, the usual pile of junk and a heavy vellum envelope that rustled. The second round of my PI application papers, maybe, or a summons to court. Maybe the FBI papers, though it seemed too early for those. I climbed the stairs with a heavy heart, tired to the bone.
Somehow I wasn’t surprised to see my door open, Stone sitting on my couch, with his feet on my coffee table and his arms crossed in a carefully studied ease.
I stopped in the doorway, mail in hand. I was going to have to move if it was this easy to get in my apartment. “What do you want?”
“You have a wave cancellation device in your bedroom,” Stone began. “It’s illegal in forty-nine states and most of the Western European block.”
“So is Satin,” I said, and dropped the mail on the coffee table next to his hip. “And everything the Guild does now, apparently. I’m glad to see you’re okay.”
Stone nodded. He dropped his legs from the table onto the floor and stood up. “I’m here to remove my tag and tell you my decisions.”
I relaxed, all at once. “You decided I’m not a threat,” I croaked, my voice rough. “Finally.”
“That’s not what I said.”
I tensed right back up again. “Let’s do the tag and we’ll worry about the rest in a minute,” I whispered, my voice on its way out. Since my shields didn’t matter with the tag in place anyway, I let them go. In my present state they were hard to maintain anyway.
Two seconds later the tag was gone, him keeping his mental hands to himself, which I appreciated. I rebuilt my protection slowly, having to work at it. No one but Cherabino would be getting into my head any time soon.
Then I waited, my gut knotting. Stone still had absolute jurisdiction, and for all he’d saved me in that room with Sibley, he wasn’t an ally. Not quite. He could still kill me, if he wanted to, and right now I couldn’t stop him.
I waited for my fate.
“You’re a dangerous man,” Stone said. “But, I think, chiefly to yourself. I’ve recommended you be given a very long leash and otherwise left alone. For now. If you and I hadn’t made the deal for the medic, this is the part where I would give you my card, tell you to report any other suspicious Guild-type behavior on time, and walk away. With a stern warning so you know I’m serious.”
The beginnings of relief began to stir—and stopped. No tea in sight. If we hadn’t made the deal, I leaked painfully into Mindspace.
“But we did make that deal, and despite all your shenanigans, you’ve managed to pay off less than half of the debt. And I’m being generous.”
What about the telepaths with Tamika? I asked. They were up to no good. Don’t I get any credit for reporting them? Your damn secrets still haven’t gotten out.
“I know.” He paused, and nodded. “That’s why you’re still alive.”
I suppose I should thank you for that. I swallowed. Did you include credit for the bounties on those rogues?
“My tally includes those bounties. Like I said, generous. And my superiors expect me to get the full value out of you in a reasonable time frame.”
I don’t have any more money, I said. Better or worse, I’d had the accountants empty my accounts. And nothing I own is worth anything in trade. And I won’t share any department secrets. I told you that.
“We’ll be working it out of you in labor. Our choice of what kind.”
The thought was like a black hole, an uncontrollable descent into something that would rip me apart. I get veto power, I insisted. But it could be so much worse.
“You get one veto. And lest you think about skipping town on me—”
Would I do that? It wasn’t a bad idea actually.
“—or publicizing our deal, or anything that will be embarrassing for the Guild, keep in mind we know about a certain ten-year-old with medical issues and a strong Ability. A ten-year-old you’re aiding the parents to hide him from the Guild.”
He’s medically fragile!
That was out of bounds. He’s just a kid, I said desperately.
“He’s not your concern. And honestly, for the moment, he’s not mine. But if you do anything, and I mean anything, to make my life difficult, I can and I will use that knowledge against you.”
You’ll take him to the Guild.
“He’s medically fragile,” the Watcher said coldly. “There’s no telling what will happen to him.”
The implied threat hung in the air, cold and merciless.
“Am I clear?”
Crystal. Now get the hell out of my apartment. You have no call involving the kid.
He shrugged. “I’ll be seeing you.” Then he sauntered out, down the hall, and through the door to the stairs. I watched him go in Mindspace, anger eating at my gut, until he got into some kind of vehicle and drove away.
I sat down on the coffee table, the heavy envelope crackling under my butt. I pulled it out—
The handwriting on the front said Adam Ward. No address.
I opened the envelope. Inside, pictures, pictures that fell from my numb fingers to slide all over the floor. Pictures of me at the station, at my apartment, at the meeting with Swartz. Close-ups.
And floating down to land squarely on top of them, another handwritten note: I know who you are.—Fiske.
Click here for more books by this Author
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Alex has written since early childhood, and loves great stories in any form including sci-fi, fantasy, and mystery. Over the years, Alex has lived in many neighborhoods of the sprawling metro Atlanta area. Decatur, the neighborhood on which Sharp is centered, was Alex’s college home.
Also Available by Alex Hughes
Clean: A Mindspace Investigations Novel
Payoff: A Mindspace Investigations Novella