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Episode 3
"That's an awfully old kid,"
Teriesa grimaced. The painkillers had yet to kick in.
She shrugged into the Danez company jacket her cousin had pulled
from storage.
The young woman shoved the
sleeves up her arms wishing it fit better but there was nothing
for it. The logo on the coat was different that her own clan
tattoo. The Mistress
settled into her office chair. If it was her office. The
room held no personal effects and could have been a random office
she had elected to use for the day. This came as no surprise
to Teriesa. The Mistress had never considered Atur a permanent
assignment and always planned on moving up in the family operation. They
stared at the globe suspended from the ceiling. It
displayed a young man, not much older than Teriesa, pacing a small
cell. He paused periodically to glare at the camera,
rub the stubble on his chin and then resume pacing. His worn
jumper suit hung loosely on his wiry frame.
"Let's not split hairs," the Mistress murmured,
fighting back the tide of nagging concern. Was she doing the
right thing? Was she sending Teriesa out too late--No!
Teri would do just fine. A bit short tempered but she knew
how to keep a low profile and that was what was needed. Teriesa could handle it.
The Mistress removed a wallet from one the
desk drawers. "We've had had him here for almost a month."
She turned toward her cousin, feeling pain lance down her side.
"There were delays. Here's cred to get you through."
The raven haired youth tore her attention from
the monitor and to flip through the wallet. Not much but
enough to get her to Pani and back. The wallet disappeared
into her jacket pocket.
"You'll fly out and then come back on Slade's freighter."
"Hellfire, Janet. Why don't you send me
with Alexi? He could kill me as easily." Slade cut too
many corners. It would get him and
whoever else was around killed.
Janet Danez's permanent scowl set further into
her face as she eyed her cousin reproachfully. Teriesa bit her
lower lip and dropped her head. "Sorry."
The Mistress rocked back in her chair. "Steben,
your old instructor will meet you on Pani and take the boy. Then
Slade'll get you
out. You'll want this too." She removed a lazer
pistol and holster from one of the desk drawers. "Don't get
caught with it, all right? The last thing I need is a charge of
selling arms to a minor."
"Why," she asked carefully, "do I need that?"
She didn't move to accept it.
Her cousin arched an eye brow at her.
"Since when'd you become a pacifist?"
"Skip it." Teriesa was going to add
something but was distracted by the Mistress' fingers drumming on
the desk top. Something big was up. The
drumming sounded hollow and off, due to the tip missing from her
ring finger. The Mistress pulled her hands from the desk and let them fall
to her lap. "He's AWOL from the Academy."
"That's impossible." The response was
automatic. The Hemlins were proud of that fact. Everyone in the galaxy knew
it. You signed up because you wanted in and you didn't leave
until you completed training.
She returned her attention to the
monitor. "It's impossible."
The Mistress touched a dial on the desk,
causing the camera to zoom in on the boy's forearm. Just
above the elbow was the green ink of an enforcer tattoo.
Teri touched her own tattoo. Neither of
them had a choice about being branded.
"This is a major embarrassment for them."
"I can imagine."
"Why the interest in him?"
"You don't need to know that."
He looked nothing like the
enforcers inhabiting spaceports or patrolling Atur.
He had a gentle look about him despite the impatience he currently
demonstrated. "Nero
Casdon's mobilizing his own forces to find him, so be careful."
"Why send me to his planet?" She
remembered meeting Casdon several cycles ago. Grandmother had
taken her and her brother on holiday to the carnivalworld.
Casdon was a dominating figure with curly dark hair guiding them
through the park and chatting incessantly with their grandmother.
"It's the last place he'd expect."
"No one else is looking for him?"
"No one else knows."
Teriesa found that hard to believe but didn't
contest the point.
"The Madam has stifled all the
news on this," she added.
She turned back to her cousin. "You
never call her "Grandmother" any more."
The Mistress drew in a long breath. "She
ceased to be Grandmother to me."
"Will that happen to me, too?"
"I doubt it." The Mistress smiled a bit
but it faded quickly. "She dotes on you."
"She does?" She fell silent considering
this.
"Teriesa, can we please stick to the matter at
hand?" The fingers resumed drumming.
Teri watched the young man
a moments longer before turning to take
the lazer. She shut the battery off and tucked in a pocket.
"Third door on the left. Best hurry.
We've lost a lot of time. Thanks again."
She embraced Teriesa, fighting the urge to
reveal to her how much depended on this assignment. She broke
contact abruptly and resumed her seat.
Teriesa
entered the monitored room. The man turned at the door's
snap open, and raged, "Just how long're you going to keep me
locked up?!" He froze mid-sentence seeing her Clan tattoo.
Teriesa tugged the jacket collar
self-consciously over the tattoo, disappointed to see his energy dissipate. He
backed up, realizing that he wasn't dealing with security. "Let's skit." She
caught his hand before he could get out of
reach. The last thing she wanted was him bowing to her the
entire trip. She could tell from the look in his eye that he
was capable of doing just that. And there was something fine
and gentle in those brown eyes. "What's your name?"
"Jim--Harris," he stumbled. He stared down at her blankly and
she forced herself to release his hand, feeling oddly embarrassed.
An emotion she was not often familiar with.
"If that's not your real name, you'd better
work on saying it so it sounds like it is."
"Yes, ma'am."
"We'd better get going."
"Yes, ma'am."
"Teri. My name's Teri. Are you
hungry?" "Yes."
"Good. We'll stop for food first."
Episode
4
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