by R. K. Thorne
Chapter Five
“What did she say he did?” Kael asked again. “Something about communications infrastructure?”
“Nothing official. He’s on break from school. Indefinitely.” Jenny shook her head at the wrist holo they’d hacked into. “From the look of this, he didn’t do much of anything, if you ask me. Nothing productive, anyway. Lots of rides to fancy nightclubs, rich celebrity’s houses. Not much on here other than travel details. Odd.”
“Oh, he did something all right.” Adan cleared his throat, then glanced over Jenny’s shoulder at the door to make sure Persad wasn’t too close. “Take a look at this.”
The desk screen had its holo off; images splayed across the glass surface almost like real images on an actual table. Over a dozen images of beautiful young women smiled up at them, accompanied by a few short sticky notes.
“They’re… all very pretty.” Jenny groaned. “God, just who I want to go hunt all over this hell hole for, some playboy. From the looks of this list, we’ll probably find him in a two-week-long orgy or something.”
“What does that note say?” Kael pointed at the nearest yellow square tucked under a photo of a brunette wearing a gold and silver breather whose metallic tubing evoked delicate butterfly wings.
Adan leaned closer rather than blowing it up, likely to preserve the placement. “Dipeli Tsao. Missing since 04-032-738. Last seen: Elderflower Club.”
Jenny’s eyes were wide. “Playboy or psychopath?”
Kael elbowed her and glanced at the door. “It’s her son, remember? Ease up. Where else does it mention? Are those locations on the wrist holo? And while we’re at it, where was the last place he went?”
Adan was already on it. “Another says the Elderflower. This one says the home of Reordan Esomo. And… the Chartreuse Poppy?”
“All of those are in here,” Jenny added. “He at least visited them all. The last place he went isn’t that helpful, because it was here. For whatever reason he didn’t take this with him wherever he went after that.”
“Intentionally?” Adan scratched his sideburn.
“Unless someone picked him up here without leaving a trace.”
“There’s one more here. Anaka Cho. Last seen: home of Crispin Ostrov.”
Kael groaned. “Great. That guy.”
“I know.” Jenny nodded. “Seemed like a well-pedigreed creep.”
Adan smiled crookedly at them. “Maybe you’ve found your multiday orgy then.”
Just at that moment, Persad appeared in the doorway, eyebrows shooting up. “Uh… excuse me?”
“Oh, that’s nothing!” Adan’s laugh was thin and nervous.
“Need any help finding anything?” Persad looked unconvinced.
Kael smirked. Adan elbowed him hard. Not that it mattered through the armor.
“No, we’re almost done,” Jenny said, her face beet red. She held up the wrist holo with an overdramatic flourish. “Got some info off here. Have you tried any of these places he went to yet?”
Persad pursed her lips. “I tried to get the police to, but I don’t think they believe me that anything’s wrong. I visited a few, but there are back rooms I can’t get into.” She massaged her furrowed brow. “If he’s just living there, he doesn’t want to be found. But it’s… it’s not like him.”
“Did your son have a girlfriend or any women he dated?” Jenny asked.
Persad shook her head. “No. He went out many nights. Said he was always working. Never brought any girls home. He was a hard worker, a momma’s boy, really. We told each other everything. Said he wanted to find a good Hindu woman, but they are so hard to find these days.” Her voice faltered, and she stopped. “Sorry, I’m rambling.”
They all nodded. Her pain was suddenly palpable, thickening the air.
She shook her head. “Listen, I’m making some coffee. Come on out when you are done and I’ll fix you some.”
Kael listened carefully as her footsteps trailed off down the hall. Then he met Adan’s eye. “Think she’s right?”
Adan scratched his temple. “I think she believes what she says.” He unlocked the screen now. “But I’m not sure they were as close as she thought they were.”
“Wait.” Jenny held up a forefinger, paging through the wrist holo. “These trips do have him returning home nearly every night. Sometimes as early as midnight.”
“So?” Adan asked.
“So if he had relationships with any or all of these girls, don’t you think he would have stayed over once in a while? I don’t see any signs they’re part of a celibate sect…” Her eyes darted around the room with new purpose. “If there even are any. I know shit about religion.”
“What’s the date on his trip to the Elderwhatever Club?” Kael said, leaning over the holo now too. “Before or after the date under Ms. Palmer here?”
Jenny read the numbers off. “Only a single trip.”
“It’s over a week later!” Adan’s eyes lit up. “He went there after she went missing.”
Karl nodded crisply. “He wasn’t dating them. He was looking for them.”
Jenny frowned. “The question is, why?”
“And what did he find out?”
“Here. This is him.” The kitchen wall display shifted to show a young man perhaps Ellen’s age.
He had a wide smile, his arm thrown around his mother, the same bronzed skin and black hair, although his was short and neat. He had a tablet on his lap and a stack of actual paper books beside him. He looked just as he described him—studious, industrious. A boyish charm, a small mole over the cheekbone. Nothing really much out of the ordinary, although the jacket he wore in a similar style to Ostrov’s seemed a bit high fashion to Ellen. Everything here seemed high fashion to her. But she wouldn’t have even made him for a Capital type if she’d run into him on a space station or something. She didn’t think.
She sat in Dr. Persad’s kitchen, hunched over a glorious white marble bar. Persad was keeping busy on shiny white counters, pulling out all sorts of things in some kind of stress-induced frenzy.
“Coffee, we need coffee,” she muttered.
Ellen couldn’t argue with coffee. The smell of it alone had her mouth watering, and the calming cream tiles and white marble of the elegantly appointed kitchen were definitely more different than the Audacity’s mess. Maybe it should have been more homey, but Ellen had always felt more at home in the industrial corridors of spaceships. The others had been shown to the young man’s room to look for some clue about where to get started.
Ellen zeroed in further on the tablet in front of her, pretending to read for the first time the message Adan had hacked into.
“I see. All right. This will help. Tell me about your son, Dr. Persad. Do you know who this ‘they’ is?”
“Not beyond that email.”
“Do you have any suspicions?”
“I doubt there’s anything you can do.” Persad ran her fingers through her hair, removing the delicate monocle for a moment and setting it on the counter. “I only know that someone sent me that message. But I can’t even trace it back—nothing. They’re not amateurs, whoever they are.”
She turned back away, angrily punching commands into the food generator, churning out cup after cup of coffee. Apparently not everyone drank manga-whatever-it-was.
She slid the second cup over to Josana, who had the good sense to only sneer slightly once Persad’s back was turned. She muttered a mild thank-you. The girl lounged in a chair Ellen would have looked like a toy soldier in, shapely legs crossed and one arm slung over the back like the thing was a chaise lounge.
Ellen accepted the next cup with a grateful nod.
“Coffee is sort of… illicit in Capital, you know,” Josana said mildly. “The doctor honors us.”
Ellen frowned down at her cup. “This is illegal?”
Persad nodded. “All stimulants and depressants are. A holdover from the original colonists.”
“No alcohol either? But didn’t we buy c
offee or something on the way here?”
“It’s all decaf,” Josana said, frowning down at her cup as she took a sip. “Supposedly. They don’t even bother to label it, just assume you know.”
Persad nodded and waved a hand in the air. “It just means the real stuff costs a ton on the black market—and you better be prepared if an inspector shows up at the door.”
“An inspector? Like the ones that won’t listen to you about Vivaan?”
Her gaze dropped to the floor. “Yes. And I tried bribes, trust me. Not for caffeine. For my son.”
Josana frowned harder now.
“So… someone else is bribing them with more?” Ellen said slowly.
Persad nodded. Josana had the decency to look a little sad while she frowned.
Ellen cleared her throat and took a sip. “When did you see him last?”
“Two weeks ago.”
She hissed in a breath and hoped Persad didn’t notice. Two weeks was a long time to be missing. That kind of time could mean no one was finding her son alive again. “And did he say anything about where he was going? Can you tell me more about that day?”
“Just to the library to do some research. I asked at the library several times, but no one can remember seeing him that day. So it must have happened between here and there.”
Ellen rubbed her chin. Or that was a lie, and the library wasn’t where he’d been headed.
“There’s not much else to say. I got up to go to work, made coffee. We had some together, talked. He never came home.” Persad stared down at the mug in her hands now, a lost look in her eyes. Like she was waiting for everything to make sense.
“I understand. Did he often visit the library?” Most research could be done at home, especially on well-connected, high-tech worlds like Capital. What could he have needed from a library specifically? “And which one was it?”
“Lotus River Archives. And no, I remember it because it seemed odd for him.” Muffled laughter drifted from across the apartment where the others were reviewing the son’s room. Persad frowned. “Let me go check on… if they need anything. Be right back.” She shuffled out.
“Why there?” she muttered.
To her surprise, Josana answered. “Public law enforcement records are stored there. Not freely accessible on the net here.”
Ellen frowned. Since when did Josana care about anything, let alone a tidbit like that? “How do you know—”
A soft chime at the door cut her off. She started from her seat as she seized the rifle from her lap.
Josana snorted. “Do you really think whoever’s trying to kill her will just politely knock?”
“You never know.”
“They seemed like bust-through-the-windows types to me. Literally.”
“But look how well that worked.”
Their glaring contest almost distracted her from Persad rounding the corner, heading for the door.
“Wait!” Ellen scurried in front of her as she hit the helmet raise button. “Let me do it.”
Persad nodded. “We do have the finest security in this building.”
“Security that’s probably easy to case if you just ask for a prospective customer tour. So let me. Unless you’ve got armor you want to put on?”
“No, no, by all means.” Persad stopped at the door console and hit a button.
Ellen stifled a groan. Not him again.
“Ostrov,” Persad grumbled, not sounding particularly thrilled either. She looked to Ellen. “Ready?”
Stepping between the woman and the door, she held her multi low but ready. “Go ahead.”
With a beautiful answering chime sequence, the door slid open. Ostrov practically fell inside on a stream of words before it opened. “Chayana—are you all right—I heard gunshots. But when it seemed clear—oh.” He stopped short. “You again. Well, hello.”
“You’ve met?” Ellen didn’t miss the tinge of anger and suspicion returning to Persad’s voice.
“He so helpfully stopped by while we were waiting for you to return,” Ellen said, her tone dry.
“I see you met your objective, then.”
“I always meet my objectives, Dr. Ostrov.” His long, angular coat had plenty of room to hide weapons, but she couldn’t see any obvious ones, nor did he seem to be going for the pockets, so she stepped aside to reveal the doctor behind her.
He raised his eyebrows, an intrigued glint in his eye as he leaned in her direction. “Please, call me Crispin.”
She thinned her lips. Yeah. Right.
The door slid shut behind Ostrov as he took the hint and shifted his focus to his colleague. “As I was saying, Chaya—I rushed over when the chaos had settled, but then you weren’t there. And then security showed up. What happened? Are you all right?”
“You could have called,” Ellen heard herself say. Damn—now she had his attention again.
“So could you.” He smiled, eyes glittering. “Sometimes visiting in the flesh is just… so much better, don’t you think?”
Something about his words made her want to shudder. She ignored him instead, which seemed far crueler. He just wanted the attention.
Persad was sighing, folding her arms across her chest. “I don’t know what it was all about. We had some rather unfriendly visitors.”
“After your research, perhaps?”
She shrugged. “That would be the obvious thing. I have no idea.”
He shook his head. “You would think, given the, ah, high security of the building, that wouldn’t be a problem.”
“Foolish me, to have windows on the thirty-fourth floor of a skyscraper.”
“Indeed.” He glanced from the doctor to Ellen and back again. “Is it just the two of you then? Perhaps I could take you both to dinner tonight to recuperate?”
Persad timed it so that he missed her eye roll.
“I believe we will be busy discussing business matters, Doctor, but thank you for the invitation.”
Ostrov was unswayed, flashing a larger grin. “Please, I beg you to humor me. You know it’s not every day we have a war hero among us humble scientists.”
She stilled. He dropped it casually, that he knew who she was, but she could read the edge of threat in his voice, the feral tinge to his smile, all carefully mingled with fake admiration. Or perhaps it was real admiration, hard to tell. She’d never been good with admiration.
“War hero?” Persad said, frowning.
Ellen grunted, not a trace of a smile on her face. “Hero or villain. Just depends on which side of the war you’re on.”
Ostrov laughed. “We’re neutral here, remember?”
“I remember.” Her own voice was gaining an edge now, from more than annoyance.
“Chaya, you seriously recognized Jenny Utlis but not the architect of the SHR defense? The galactically renowned strategist?”
Persad’s eyebrows shot up. “Uh. Yes, I suppose that’s exactly what I did.”
“He’s cheating. I gave him my name. He didn’t recognize anything.”
“You gave me part of a name, and I recognized that.” He shifted closer again now. “Please, I must admit to being a bit of a strategy game buff. It would be heaven to play you at Peaks and Valleys. Or Go, perhaps?”
She pinched the bridge of her nose, forgetting she was still in her armor. “I, uh, can’t leave my command.”
“I’ll bring dinner to you both then. Let us demonstrate feats of strategic brilliance. I’ll pour wine and feed you sushi.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. In spite of the horror show that sounded like, he was sticking to Persad like flame on rocket burners. He asked too many questions. He could have something to do with the son’s disappearance—or the attack—or both. She should accept his offer, try to wheedle information out of him.
If only she could do it without wincing.
“I assure you, Dr. Ostrov, that the same brilliance that allowed me to defend my planet and avoid certain death also allows me to navigate food from a plate to my f
ace.”
He straightened, his face falling. He opened his mouth, looking ready to back off. Yeah, no one had ever accused her of being excessively charming.
“But I suppose I could crush you at Peaks and Valleys if you really want,” she ground out. “You can work your way up to Go.”
Someone stiffened in her peripheral vision. She turned her head minutely. Kael had stopped in the doorway. Shit. When the hell had he gotten here? She couldn’t look at him or she’d give it all away.
“Excellent, it’s a date then.” Ostrov grinned and slid smiling eyes over in Kael’s direction, pausing briefly, his grin widening.
She glanced more directly at Kael now but couldn’t read anything. Apparently Ostrov was better at this than she was. She opened her mouth to say dinner should include everyone, but then she would have to tell him exactly how many of her team were here on the ground. And who knew who he would share that information with. Damn this man. She shut her mouth again.
He patted Persad on the shoulder congenially, looking pleased with himself. “I’ll be back at seven then? Be safe, friends.”
No one said a word as Ostrov turned and left. She scowled at nothing, and everything, and she could have cut the air with a knife.
She looked balefully at Kael, searching for words to explain, but his eyes were fixed on the door. There was something strange and new in them—shut down, closed off.
Fragging meddling Ostrov.
“We’ve got some ideas, Commander. Whenever you’re ready.”
She gritted her teeth. Sure. Just go back to work like it’s nothing. That’s what she did every time. Why would this moment be any different?
It clearly was different, though, because Persad was looking from her to Kael and back again, confusion growing.
“Fine,” she spat out. “Everybody in here.”
He jerked his thumb over his shoulder. “There’s something in there you should see.” His eyes flicked up and met hers now, guarded.
Their gazes locked. What did he see—or hope to see—that kept him from looking away?
“You found something in the holos?” Persad continued glancing between them, but apparently whatever weird vibes they were giving off weren’t enough to keep her from asking the important questions.