Justice Keepers Saga - Books 4-6

Chapter 6-2

Blushing hard, Jack closed his eyes. He tried to ignore his own rising anxiety. No, this won"t be awkward at all, he assured himself. Just stand here and try your best to look like you"re having a good time.

No, this won"t be awkward at all,Just stand here and try your best to look like you"re having a good time.

Up on the balcony, Ben watched his friends enjoy themselves. It would have been nice if Darrel were here with him, but this kind of mission was best handled by a smaller team, and his boyfriend wasn"t exactly well-versed in Leyrian culture. At the very least, he could take some pleasure in seeing his friends happy.

Jack seemed to have found some companionship, though it was clear that he wasn"t quite sure what to make of the woman who pressed her body up against him. The irony would have been delicious if it wasn"t so tragic; here was a man who could jump several times higher than a normal person, react several times faster than a normal person and call on years of martial arts training…and he had no clue what to do with himself when put on a dance floor with a beautiful partner.

On the other side of the room, Gabi watched him with one hand over her mouth, trembling as if she found the whole thing very funny. Well, it was. Though Ben wasn"t sure how Jack would react to the idea that the woman he was seeing wasn"t the least bit jealous. Problems, problems, problems.

Ben closed his eyes, taking a deep breath through his nose. “And you can"t solve any of them,” he said to himself. “Focus on your own concerns. Let them sort this out on their own.”

He tapped at the screen of his multi-tool, logging in to the e-mail application. One particular message had been sitting there for three days, vexing him. With a few quick taps, he read it for the hundredth time.

Ex-militia operatives still in possession of stolen weapons captured on Palissa. Serial numbers match those of the missing shipments. Interrogations have proved fruitful. The prisoners have confirmed that the weapons were delivered by a rogue LIS agent, but they are unaware of his identity.

- Agent Marc Tarens

LIS field ops, Palissa.

Ben had asked his superiors to keep him up to date on the investigation that would eventually result in his arrest. That e-mail had come three days ago. He wasn"t willing to interfere with that investigation – his willingness to ignore his conscience in the service of some greater good only went so far – but if they had come this far, it was only a matter of time before they learned the identity of the culprit.

Ben felt a single tear rolling over his cheek. He drew in a rasping breath. You may have to say good-bye after all, Darrel, he thought to himself. I know I promised to come back for you, but…

You may have to say good-bye after all, Darrel,I know I promised to come back for you, but…In the meantime, he had a mission to complete. He would do his duty for as long as he could, and when the hammer fell, he would accept his fate. That was all anyone could expect from a man.

A long rectangular window behind the couch in his sitting room looked out on an endless void. There were no stars – they would be invisible so long as the ship remained at FTL speeds – but just the same, he found the view sufficient for a little introspection.

Jack stood by the window with his head down, his chin touching his chest. His face twisted into a grimace. So, you"re finally going to visit Leyria, he thought. With a woman who hates the thought of dating you.

So, you"re finally going to visit Leyria,With a woman who hates the thought of dating you.The door chime rang.

“Come in.”

The door slid open to reveal Gabi standing in the corridor. Somehow, he"d known it would be her; Keepers couldn"t see through walls, but something in his gut told him this conversation was inevitable.

Gabi strode into the room with her arms swinging, refusing to look up at him. “Nice to see you having a good time,” she said. “I was worried you"d spend the whole night moping.”

“It was fun.”

“Was it?”

He turned on her with his arms crossed, blowing out a deep breath. “Let"s cut to it, Gabs,” he said, forcing down a wave of anxiety. “I like you a lot, but if it"s really this hard for you to commit to something permanent, maybe we should call it quits.”

She just stood there like a statue with her eyes glued to the floor, her lips twitching as she tried to find the words. “I like you quite a bit as well,” she murmured. “But I have to be honest; I want kids one day.”

Lifting his chin to stare down his nose at her, Jack narrowed his eyes. “Well, now that"s out in the open,” he said softly. “Gabs, I"m not gonna stand here and give you the "we can make it work" speech.”

that"s“I wouldn"t expect you to,” she said. “But you mean a lot to me.”

He set his hands on her shoulders.

Gabi fell forward, touching her nose to his chest. He gently laid a hand on the back of her head. “I know,” Jack whispered. “I"d like to find a partner that I could live with one day; if you don"t think that"s you…”

She looked up at him with tears glistening on her cheeks, blinking as if to clear her vision. “Maybe it could be,” she said. “I don"t…There are Keepers who have made great parents to adopted kids.”

“That, there are.”

“So…”

Tilting her chin up, he leaned in to press a soft kiss to her lips. “Maybe we don"t have to decide it tonight,” he whispered. “I don"t expect you to marry me tomorrow, but I would like it if you stopped trying to downplay our relationship.”

The fierce hug she gave in response to that told him she was amenable. Well, that was good at least. He wanted to believe there was some hope they might have a future together. Sadly, he wasn"t feeling very reassured by her hesitation. Jack didn"t consider himself to be an expert on relationships, but he did have a very simple outlook. Either you were in, or you were out. And if you kept trying to straddle the line, if you weren"t willing to say “yeah, let"s do this…” it probably meant you wanted out.

some

The windows in this penthouse apartment looked out on the city of Beijing under a starry sky, tall buildings rising up with hundreds of lights in their windows. Bright, silver moonlight spilled through the glass, leaving a soft sheen on hardwood floors that stretched from wall to wall.

Lounging on a gray couch with his feet propped up on an ottoman, Grecken Slade held a tablet in front of his face. Interesting, he thought to himself. It seems the boy has been doing a little digging.

Interesting,It seems the boy has been doing a little digging.With a casual flick of his finger, he scrolled through a list of Jack Hunter"s recent search history. Links to database entries on the Overseers appeared in a list on the tablet"s screen along with web-searches for cat-food and something called Buffy-Con: Toronto. Most of it was fluff, but Hunter"s fascination with the Inzari caught his attention.

As the former head of the Justice Keepers, Slade had taken a hands-on approach to the construction of the twenty-four space stations that now floated in orbit of this planet. The back-doors he had left in each station"s mainframe allowed him to periodically check on his former subordinates. Provided he didn"t do it too often, of course.

Cyber-security teams had located and shut down many of the programs that would allow him to take direct control of each station"s core computer functions – he had to give them credit for being able to oust several Trojan horses that he would have expected to go unnoticed for years – but there were still a few weak points he could exploit.

Hunter"s recent searches included data on a professor Aldin Nareo, one of Leyria"s foremost experts on the Inzari. Slade was vaguely familiar with the man"s work. In all likelihood, Jack intended to contact this professor.

If that was the case, Slade would have to remove Nareo from the game before he could divulge anything useful. Assassinations were always regrettable – they tended to draw unwelcome attention, and Hunter would almost certainly realize that Slade had deduced his intentions – but he could think of no other recourse at this point. Analyzing the comm logs revealed that Hunter had not placed a call to Nareo"s office, which meant one of two things: either the log had been deleted or young Jack intended to go in person. Slade was willing to bet on the latter.

His multi-tool beeped.

Slade felt his mouth tighten. Is it time already? He pinched the bridge of his nose with thumb and forefinger, groaning under his breath. That fool woman will drive me to insanity if I let her.

Is it time already?That fool woman will drive me to insanity if I let her.He stood.

The sitting room in this apartment was vast and decorated with gorgeous paintings hung on the cream-coloured walls. Behind the couch, an elevator led down to the ground floor, but he seldom went out that way.

This apartment was not really his, after all, but the small cabal of men and women who served the Inzari on this planet maintained several safe spaces they could make use of at need. It would do for the moment.

In the wall to his right, a hallway branched off and led to the three bedrooms that had been vacated upon his arrival. He started down the corridor with a sigh. So much to do and so little time.

Pushing open the second door on his left, he found a SlipGate in the middle of an empty bedroom, its surface gleaming when he flicked the light switch. The metal triangle stood tall and proud, its top corner nearly brushing the ceiling. Most of the time, that was how he left the apartment.

thatAt the moment, the Gate was dormant, undetectable by anyone else on the network. It wouldn"t do to allow Justice Keepers to come waltzing into his home at their leisure. A little privacy was one of the most treasured commodities a man could possess. Slade only activated the Gate when he intended to use it, and visitors had to request his permission before they made an appearance.

Rolling up his sleeve, he tapped at the screen of his multi-tool and brought up an app that would let him interface with the Gate. He keyed in his passcode and cleared the Gate to receive incoming travelers.

A moment later, the grooves on the triangle"s surface lit up with a fierce white glow, accompanied by a soft humming noise. A bubble appeared from out of nowhere, seeming to expand from a single point to something large enough to contain a full-grown man.

Inside, he saw a cloaked figure with her hooded head bowed, her body rippling in the distorted light. In truth, she looked almost like a physical manifestation of Death himself. Isara did have a flare for the dramatic.

The bubble popped.

Quickly, he deactivated the gate.

Isara flung her cloak open, exposing a low-cut black dress that displayed milky-white cleavage. “They sent Lenai to Tennessee,” she said. “Locating the boy will be extremely difficult if I have to avoid crossing paths with her.”