Justice Keepers Saga - Books 4-6

Chapter 3-1

A dirt path cut through a forest where trees stood tall on either side, their branches providing shade from the fierce afternoon sun. The sound of birds chirping filled the air, and every now and then, she caught sight of a squirrel.

Anna stood on the path in jeans and a dark blue t-shirt with white sleeves, her face shielded by the bill of a baseball cap. “Can"t imagine why they sent me down here,” she said for Seth"s benefit. “The girl who"s likely to piss everyone off with her big mouth.”

He responded with amusement.

The path stretched on for several dozen paces, but she saw light at the end, a place where the forest gave way to a field of yellow grass. Her multi-tool directed her to move onward, toward the coordinates where the Overseer device had sent its signal.

Anna closed her eyes, tilting her head back. She took a deep breath through her nose. “At least we"ll get a little fresh air,” she muttered. “Better than a day spent filling out forms at my desk.”

A few minutes later, the path ended in a wide open field that stretched on to a chain link fence, and beyond that, she saw the back wall of what appeared to be a school. The small group of teenagers who hid in the shade, sharing cigarettes, were her first clue. So, the device had been unearthed by high-school students; that might pose a problem.

About ten feet from the fence, she found a hole where the ground had been recently disturbed and a shovel that had been abandoned. Whoever dug up the device must have taken it and ran.

Anna approached the hole.

Dropping to her knees in front of it, she inspected it carefully before scanning it with her multi-tool. You could never tell how Overseer tech might react. “How long do you think it was down there?” she asked her symbiont. “How many centuries passed before someone decided to dig here of all places?”

Inside the hole, she found nothing but dirt. There was no sign that anything out of the ordinary had ever been buried here, nothing that she could detect with her n***d eye, anyway. Seth, however, was quite apprehensive. Some Nassai preferred to have a more open relationship with their partners, but her symbiont was something of an introvert. For her to feel his concern so strongly…It didn"t bode well.

Thrusting her left fist into the hole, she said, “Multi-tool active!” The metal disk on her gauntlet responded with a soft chirp. “Run a level three scan. Highlight any biological or technological anomalies.”

The tool began its work.

Anna winced, rubbing her nose with the back of her fist. “Whoever took this thing could be anywhere by now,” she said, leaning forward to peer into the hole. “Assuming they"re still alive, of course.”

Her multi-tool beeped, and the screen on her gauntlet lit up with bright text. It was as she had suspected; the scan had detected cellular residue consistent with that found in Overseer devices. Well, that settled it then. Not that she had expected any other results – the signal given off by Overseer tech was unique – but it was best to be thorough. A few years as Jack"s best friend had left her with a propensity to assume that nothing was quite what it appeared to be on the surface. She had yet to decide whether that was a good thing.

With the presence of Overseer tech confirmed, the next step was to figure out who had dug up that hole. Not an easy task in a school with several hundred students, but she had an idea of where to start.

Sunlight through a pair of rectangular windows was split into thin bands by blinds that were left half open, silver rays falling upon a rectangular table that took up most of the space in the staff room. The sweet scents of spring filled the air, and Anna picked up the sound of birds chirping in the distance.

Miss Sutherland was a tall woman in a black pantsuit who sat at the table with her head down: a truly beautiful creature with dark hair that spilled over her shoulders in thin ringlets. “I"m sorry,” she said. “Who did you say you were again?”

Anna leaned against the wall with arms folded, sucking on her lower lip. “Special Agent Leana Lenai,” she said, pacing across the room. “With the Justice Keepers. Your principal told me to speak with you about Kevin Harmon.”

The title was still new: granted to her less than two months ago in recognition of her success in recovering the telepath Keli Armana. Anna wasn"t sure she would call it a success; the incident had almost resulted in an interstellar war.

Miss Sutherland looked up with a tight frown, creases lining her forehead. “I told them not to start digging until I got out there,” she said. “I would have been there sooner if I hadn"t caught Paul Rutherford dealing pot.”

Anna lifted her chin to stare down her nose at the woman. “Are you assuming that I"m trying to place blame?” she asked, eyebrows rising. “"Cause I can assure you that I"m not. I just want to know where those kids might have gone.”

The teacher shook her head in dismay. “I honestly don"t know. Kevin"s a good kid, but he"s got a history of truancy.”

“And he took off?”

“He was gone by the time we got out there.”

Well, of course he was. Overseer tech was something of a wild card. Sometimes it did nothing – nothing they could detect, anyway – and sometimes it had a strange effect on the minds of anyone who got near it. The SlipGates were relatively safe; researchers on her world had studied them extensively before implementing them as a mass transit system. There was no evidence that traveling through SlipSpace had any influence on human behaviour, and every paper claiming otherwise had been discredited.

SlipGates, however, were something of an anomaly. For one thing, they were made of metal when most Overseer technology was organic in nature. It was almost as though they had been designed for human use.

Shutting her eyes, Anna tilted her head back. “We need to find him right away,” she said, nodding once. “There"s no way to know what he dug up or what it might do to him if he holds on to it for too long.”

“It can"t be that bad, can it?”

Anna dropped into a chair near the table, crossing one leg over the other. She stared into her lap for a long moment before saying anything. “We"ve seen Overseer technology produce serious health defects in people who were exposed to it.”

The other woman studied her with a scowl that could c***k rocks, shaking her head as she considered Anna"s words. “Can"t you do something?” she snapped. “You have all this technology to watch us from orbit.”

“We don"t watch you from orbit.”

“But-”

“No sensors are so precise that they can find a single individual among tens of thousands.” She let out a soft sigh, trying to contain her frustration. “We can scan for thermal signatures, electrical signatures, radio signals, but we are not omniscient.”

notA low groan escaped the other woman, and she hung her head, grabbing two fistfuls of her own hair. “I understand,” she said with forced emotional composure. “Do whatever you can. If Kevin shows up here, we"ll call you.”

It wasn"t very hard to figure out what Miss Sutherland was thinking; no doubt she blamed herself for not being there when Kevin dug up the device. Anna felt nothing but sympathy, but she had no time to indulge the woman"s guilt. “What about the girl?” she asked. “Principal Jensen said there was a girl working on the project. I believe her name is Amanda.”

“She went home.”

“Why?”

Miss Sutherland looked up with sweat glistening on her face. “Amanda was a little frightened,” she explained. “She didn"t get a good look at whatever Kevin had dug up, but his reaction scared her. We called her father, and he insisted that she be excused for the rest of the day.”

Anna got out of her chair, folding her arms as she stood over the other woman. “All right then,” she said with a quick bob of her head. “I"d like to talk with Amanda. Can you give me her address?”

“I"d advise against it.”

“Why"s that?”

“The girl"s father is a school board trustee with some very conservative opinions. He dislikes Leyrians; he sees you as foreigners interfering in Earth"s affairs. I doubt he"ll let you speak to Amanda.” And there were no legal grounds for Anna to enter the man"s house. Brilliant. Finding out what Amanda knew, even if it was very little, was crucial, but if the girl"s father stood in the way…Perhaps it would be best to wait until tomorrow. Amanda would be back at school, and Anna could speak to her without fear of any parental obstructions.

“I recommend talking to the other students,” Miss Sutherland went on. “Some of them are friends with Kevin. They may have some insights.”

Taking the woman"s suggestion proved to be a fruitless enterprise. She interviewed several students who were often seen with Kevin Harmon, but none of them were able to tell her anything specific, and one young man who couldn"t be more than two months shy of graduation decided to try his luck by hitting on her. There were days when a Keeper"s youthful face was more curse than blessing.

After finding nothing of value at the school, she decided her next move would be to check in with the local police department. If there was a piece of Overseer tech wreaking havoc in this town, the authorities deserved to know. Anna wondered how the citizens of Manchester Tennessee would react to that tidbit of news. Hopefully they would display a little more sense than Miss Sutherland had.

A long hallway with doors in the wall to her left stretched through the police station to the front lobby, and one of the fluorescent lights in the ceiling flickered. The scent of floor cleanser was quite strong.

Officer Bruce Smith was a tall, broad-shouldered man in a dark blue uniform, a handsome fellow who wore a cap over his dark hair. “Who did you say this kid was?” he asked, pausing in the middle of the hallway. “We see a lot of teenagers around here.”

He rounded on her.

Lifting her forearm, Anna tapped a button on her multi-tool to reload the image of Kevin"s yearbook picture. The hologram rippled into existence between them, oriented so that the cop could see him clearly.

“Yeah I"ve seen him,” Smith said, tucking both thumbs into his pants as he backed away from her. “The kid hangs out with a bad crowd. I"ve arrested a couple of his friends for petty theft.”

“Does Kevin himself have any priors?”

“No. But it"s only a matter of time.”

Anna held his gaze for a moment, then narrowed her eyes to slits. “That sounds like a bad attitude,” she said, shaking her head. “Tell me, Officer, have you ever heard the term "self-fulfilling prophecy?"”

“Look, Agent Lenai, you can play Little Miss Idealist all you want.” The disdain in his tone made his feelings on that issue perfectly clear. “But those of us who live here have to accept certain realities.”