Defender

by Janet Edwards

  Lucas was still thinking about Kareem. There were critical points for telepaths where they could break under the strain of their work. There were critical points for Tactical Commanders too.

  Lucas knew he’d reached a critical point, and one of two things was going to happen. The first was that he would break under the harsh reality that his decisions could kill people, run from the responsibility, and hand his position to Emili or anyone else who would take it. The second was that he would shoulder the burden and move on; accepting he was good at his job but nobody could ever be perfect.

  He’d known this moment would come eventually. He’d been imprinted with the information to prepare him for it, but knowing about something in advance didn’t always make it easier to cope when it happened. Lucas’s mind was torn by conflicting emotions, but one thing was clear. Whichever path he chose now, there would be no turning back.

  I would keep on loving Lucas whether he was a Tactical Commander calling instructions in my ear crystal, or just quietly sitting in a corner of the Tactical office and listening to events, but I didn’t know how Lucas would feel about himself. If he turned away from the job he loved, chose to imprison the glowing light of his mind within self-imposed boundaries, how would that affect him?

  I was a telepath, so things on the mental level were as important to me as the physical. I felt that Lucas was in as much danger right now as when he’d been trapped in the crawl way. He’d worked so hard to help me, and now I had to find a way to help him in return. I wasn’t imprinted with knowledge of psychology, I wasn’t imprinted at all, but I had to find words that would reach him.

  “You can only work with the information you have, Lucas, and this time it wasn’t enough. The target or targets had cut one woman’s throat. There was no reason for you to expect that to escalate to an attempt at mass murder using a complicated arson attack.”

  “That’s true,” said Lucas aloud. “Total change in both method and scale. Definitely two targets. Quite possibly more.”

  His mind was suddenly racing away, thoughts analyzing the situation on multiple levels. Lucas could never stop himself thinking. There were times when I found that maddening, but now I was hugely grateful for it. If I could keep Lucas thinking about the case rather than brooding on his own guilt, he might work his way through this.

  My pocket started vibrating. I took out my dataview, tapped it to make it unfurl, and saw a message from the incident coordinator with the final casualty list. A set of fifty-one names, each one tagged as dead, critical, recovering, or missing.

  If I told Lucas I had the list, he’d go back into guilt mode and start demanding names again, so I lifted a finger to close my dataview. At the last second, I saw the name that was tagged as missing. I blinked at it in disbelief.

  “Lucas, you know that Law Enforcement systems recorded fifty-one people entering the Security Unit before the fire started?”

  “Yes?”

  “Well, according to Law Enforcement systems, one of those fifty-one people was Fran. She’s supposed to have entered the Security Unit at four o’clock yesterday morning. That was several days after she was murdered, and five hours before you called the unit to warn them about your visit.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  “Stop right there!” ordered Megan, looking regally intimidating and speaking in a voice of thunder.

  The members of the Tactical team froze, turning into a line of statues, still guiltily clutching the chairs they were carrying. I was awed. I’d never seen Megan act like this before.

  “This is a medical area,” continued Megan. “A sanctuary where sick people have the peace and quiet they need to recover. You don’t traipse through it dragging furniture. You don’t …”

  She finally noticed me at the back of the group, and broke off her sentence. I didn’t need to read her mind, because her thoughts were plain to see in her disconcerted face. You never lecture telepaths. Her voice instantly changed to be sweet and coaxing.

  “Amber, you know Lucas needs to rest to complete his recovery. We can’t allow a mob of people into his room, worrying him about work.”

  I waved the Tactical team on towards Lucas’s room. They hesitated, unsure which authority they should be obeying, but my second wave sent them scurrying on down the corridor with their chairs, reminding me of a line of ants carrying eggs.

  I turned to Megan and lowered my voice. “We have to allow the Tactical team into Lucas’s room, Megan. He’s having a crisis of confidence. If we let him stop working on this case now, if we let him lie there brooding about the people who died in that fire, then he’ll insist on resigning as Tactical Commander and giving his post to Emili.”

  “He can’t do that,” said Megan.

  “I know. Emili’s frantic with fear about Rothan, in no state to take over Lucas’s responsibilities, and I don’t think she’s had enough experience to be promoted to Tactical Commander yet anyway.”

  Megan shook her head. “No, I mean it’s impossible for Lucas to give the Tactical Commander position to Emili. She’s only imprinted for the deputy position. She can take over for a few days if Lucas is out of action, but her psychological profile in Lottery showed she wouldn’t handle the strain on a long-term basis.”

  “Lucas must have been even closer to breaking point than I’d realized to forget Emili wasn’t imprinted for Tactical Commander. That proves we have to keep Lucas working on this case, because if he stops, he stops forever. Believe me about this, because I’m a telepath, and I can see what’s happening in his head. Lucas is in deep water, Megan, and if we don’t make him keep swimming then he’ll drown.”

  I dipped into the highest level of Megan’s mind, saw her absorb that, accept it, and start panicking about the difficulty of finding a replacement Tactical Commander. Lottery found very few people with the necessary combination of intellectual ability and intense sensitivity, who also had the emotional toughness to survive the pressure.

  “If Lucas is brooding,” she said, “I could keep him sedated for the next couple of days until he’s physically ready for work again.”

  “That wouldn’t help. I’ve seen the way Lucas’s mind keeps analyzing things in his sleep. Even if he was sedated, Lucas’s subconscious would still be going over and over what happened, hammering home his guilt. We need to throw as much information as possible at him, and get his mind thinking about the case constructively again.”

  Megan gave a sigh of agreement, and walked away. I hurried on down the corridor to Lucas’s room. The Tactical team had wedged their illegally imported chairs in a semi-circle around Lucas’s bed, and he was briefing them. I went to sit in the single, legitimate chair by his bedside.

  “… difference in methodology indicates we have at least two targets,” said Lucas, “the one who cut Fran’s throat and a firebug, but there could be three or even more. Since we’re certain Fran died days ago, we have to assume one of our targets used Fran’s identity card to enter the Security Unit at four o’clock yesterday morning.”

  “That person must have been the firebug, making preparations to set fire to the unit,” said Kareem. “The firebug couldn’t have been triggered into action by your visit, Lucas, because that wasn’t arranged until five hours later.”

  I’d said this to Lucas several times already. I’d told the Tactical team to keep saying it as well. I gave Kareem an approving smile.

  “It’s true that the firebug must have had an unrelated reason for entering the unit,” said Lucas. “However, he or she then learned about my visit, and that discovery triggered them into starting the fire. It’s an undeniable fact that my meeting was timed for eleven o’clock and the fire started precisely ten minutes later. That can’t have been coincidence.”

  “No, it can’t have been coincidence,” said a female voice.

  I looked round to see who’d said that, saw it was a woman with closely clipped hair in an unlikely shade of purple, and glowered my displeasure at her. She ignored me and kept talking.
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  “I don’t believe your visit was the reason for the unit being burned, Lucas, but I do believe it was the reason it was burned at exactly ten minutes past eleven.”

  Gideon pointed a finger at her. “Justify that with a logic sequence, Hallie.”

  “Logic sequence part one,” said Hallie. “Law Enforcement systems show the firebug used Fran’s identity card to enter the unit at four o’clock in the morning. The cards of the other forty-eight staff members were used to enter the unit between eight o’clock and nine o’clock. There’s no record of anyone leaving the unit at all. Therefore the firebug must have hidden somewhere in the unit before the members of staff began arriving, and the obvious hiding place was Fran’s office. The firebug knew it would be empty, and they had Fran’s identity card to unlock the door.”

  “That’s plausible,” said Gideon.

  “Logic sequence part two,” said Hallie. “Once inside the office, the firebug could use Fran’s identity card to activate her desk’s link to Law Enforcement systems. That would automatically display any incoming messages, including the one sent out to every unit member instructing them to attend Lucas’s meeting at eleven o’clock. That would be the ideal opportunity to start a fire.”

  Gideon nodded. “You might as well complete the sequence before we challenge.”

  “Logic sequence part three. Once the firebug had started the fire inside the unit, the alarm sounded, sending the exit doors into emergency evacuation mode. Nobody needed to use their identity cards to leave, so the firebug could just walk out and start the additional fire outside the unit. Amber wouldn’t notice anyone by the exit, because she was focused on reading the minds in the meeting room.”

  Gideon looked round at the team members. “Any challenges?”

  “Are we justified in assuming it was the firebug that entered the unit rather than a different target?” asked Kareem. “Did the unit internal or external fire alarms sound first?”

  “The internal fire alarms sounded first,” said Lucas. “They detected the smoke coming up from under the floor. I recognized the smell of accelerant in the smoke from attending previous cases involving firebugs, and knew the floor itself would catch fire soon, which is why …”

  Lucas started coughing. He had to gulp down water from the glass at his bedside before he could speak again. “Which is why I took everyone up into the crawl way.”

  I bit my lip. I was worried about Lucas’s physical condition, but I had to let him keep talking. It would be easier to heal damage to his throat than to his mind. I refilled his glass with more water, and he took another sip.

  “Since the fire inside the unit was started first, I agree it was the firebug that entered the unit at four o’clock,” he said. “A firebug would never delegate the pleasure of starting the fire to anyone else. However, that’s still consistent with the firebug entering the unit for a different purpose and being triggered into starting the fire by my visit.”

  “No, it isn’t,” said Kareem. “Stop trying to prove yourself guilty, Lucas, and examine the facts. The firebug used a large amount of accelerant to start the fire inside the unit. Nobody carries round accelerant unless they’re already planning to start a fire.”

  “The firebug could have found the accelerant inside the unit,” said Lucas.

  Kareem sighed. “I concede the firebug could have found some flammable liquids inside the unit. Now explain the time factors to me. The firebug started the fire at ten minutes past eleven. That set off the fire alarm. It was less than two minutes before people found there was a wall of fire encircling the whole unit. How could the firebug have spread accelerant along every outside wall of the unit in less than two minutes?”

  Lucas frowned.

  “You can’t give me an answer because there is no possible answer,” said Kareem.

  “Exactly,” said Hallie. “The firebug must have placed accelerant outside the unit before entering. The decision to burn the unit had already been made before four o’clock. Therefore the reason for burning the unit was unrelated to Lucas’s visit.”

  “If the firebug had already decided to burn the unit, why didn’t they start the fire at night when there would be far less risk of being caught?” asked Kareem.

  “Presumably because the purpose of the fire wasn’t just to destroy the unit but to kill everyone who worked there,” said Gideon grimly. “The firebug probably intended to start the fire soon after everyone had arrived at work, but delayed a little because of Lucas’s meeting. Having all the staff gathered in one room made it easier to start the fire, and the firebug may also have been tempted by the chance to kill a Tactical Commander.”

  “That’s right,” I said eagerly. “Lucas, I hope you accept now that your decision to go to that Security Unit didn’t kill anyone. It actually saved dozens of lives. If you and Rothan hadn’t been there to help, nobody would have survived the fire.”

  There was a long pause before Lucas spoke. “I suppose that could be true.”

  I reached out to his mind. The thought levels that had been dark with guilt and self-accusation were brighter now, cautiously considering the possibility that he hadn’t caused those deaths.

  “It is true,” I said firmly. “The only …”

  I was interrupted by several dataviews chiming in a medley of different notes. “The detailed fire analysis just arrived,” said Hallie.

  Lucas looked round urgently. “Where’s my dataview?”

  “Megan took it away to stop you working,” I said.

  Lucas groaned. “Show me the report.”

  I took out my dataview and displayed the report on the ceiling. There was silence while Lucas studied the ceiling and the rest of us studied our dataviews.

  “Lengths of hose, filled with inflammable liquid, and sealed at both ends,” said Gideon finally. “Long lengths placed at intervals around the outside of the unit. Shorter lengths left inside under the floor. That’s a very distinctive and methodical approach. Rather than spreading accelerant, lighting it, and running, this firebug was setting traps to be lit at a time of their choosing.”

  “This firebug is highly experienced,” said Lucas, “and not solely driven by the joy of the fire itself. The extra pleasures of anticipation, planning, power, and control are important as well. Everything has to be precisely done.”

  He stared up at the ceiling again. “So the firebug placed the long lengths of hose outside the unit first, then went inside and placed the short lengths of hose under the floor. That would involve taking up and replacing sections of flooring, but he or she would have a clear window of four hours to do the work.”

  “When staff started arriving at the unit, they’d see a few lengths of hose lying around outside,” said Gideon, “but they’d just assume there was maintenance work going on. They wouldn’t see the lengths of hose hidden under the floor of the unit at all.”

  “The firebug turned the unit into a death trap,” said Kareem. “Why was he or she so determined to kill everyone?”

  Lucas tugged at his hair. “This started with Fran being murdered. This is all about Fran. It must be. We’ve been thinking of Fran as being a victim. What if we were wrong about that? What if she was originally one of our targets? In fact, what if she was originally their leader? She could have recruited the other targets to work for her, but they turned against her and killed her.”

  I blinked. I’d never liked Fran, but she’d served the Hive dutifully for decades, and been a member of my own unit. It was hard for me to make the mental leap from thinking of her as a murder victim to imagining her as the leader of a dark conspiracy.

  “Our brainstorming session came up with the theory that we had at least one target who belonged to Law Enforcement,” said Gideon. “You’re suggesting that particular target was Fran herself?”

  Hallie glanced nervously in my direction. “Fran was very angry about being fired.”

  “She might have been tempted to take revenge on our unit,” said Gideon.

 
I remembered the fury on Fran’s face when she called me an ugly mutant freak. Would that anger fade over time, or harden into a bitter grievance? I remembered that Fran’s hatred of telepaths had begun when Sapphire rejected her as a candidate for her unit. That was twenty-five years ago, and Fran’s anger hadn’t faded. Yes, it was credible that Fran would want revenge. It wouldn’t be my unit she wanted to hurt though. She’d want revenge on me personally.

  “Fran was only left free to roam the Hive because she wasn’t capable of harming our unit by herself,” said Lucas. “Fran knew she’d never talk any members of Law Enforcement into helping her, so she decided to go through the records of old targets and recruit some of them.”

  I sighed. “Please stop dodging the issue by talking about harming our unit and say what you really mean. We all know that Fran thought I was a mutant abomination. You’re suggesting that she recruited some past targets to help her kill me.”

  Everyone else in the room winced. “In fact, we were avoiding saying that to protect ourselves, not you, Amber,” said Gideon. “It’s not easy for us to picture someone murdering our telepath. It would be utter disaster for our unit and the whole Hive.”

  “It’s an especially painful thought for me,” said Lucas. “I get hit by both the disaster for our Hive, and the personal disaster for me.”

  “Sorry,” I said, “but that’s related to the point I was about to make. Fran hated telepaths but she was loyal to the Hive. Would she really try to kill me when she knew how much my death would harm the Hive?”

  There was a moment of silence while everyone thought that through. “Tactical teams track down a large number of potential criminals by examining the evidence and using behavioural analysis techniques,” said Gideon. “Perhaps Fran convinced herself that we could catch all potential criminals that way if we tried harder, so we didn’t need telepaths.”

  “If we tried harder,” repeated Hallie. “We try as hard as humanly possible already, we refer every case we can to be dealt with by borderline telepaths and hasties, but the fact is that the most lethal targets are often the hardest to catch using conventional approaches. A hundred million people packed tightly together are dreadfully vulnerable to attack. Without telepaths to help us, events like yesterday’s fire would be happening on a daily basis.”