Chapter One #2
“You are welcome. Oh, I ran into Cabree out in the islands a few weeks ago. She’s glowing.”
Zera nodded ruefully. “And thankfully, she’s good to work remotely.”
Ava nodded. “Lucky you.”
Tirra asked, “How did you meet Jienne?”
“I was at the restaurant where she works and sitting at the bar. I was playing my favourite game. Analyzing strangers. She broadcast her good mood, and it got into their minds but only surface deep. She soothed them all, one by one. When she left for the night, she went for coffee rather than joining the crew at the bar. I brought her a cupcake and chatted with her about the BDC. Jienne is keen, she’s sweet, and she was doing really well, and then he doxed her and forced her to engage in public displays.
Ah, there is my com. Dex is waiting. This should be short.
He’s followed her to the building, so he’s waiting outside. ”
Tirra sat straight. “I am calling the guards.”
“Great. I am going to ask for forgiveness, not permission. Worst thing that happens is I get deported again.”
Zera frowned. “What do you mean?”
Ava laughed. “Where do you think I went? I was booted out of the capitol. I refused to use my activation for government work, so they kicked me out in the middle of the night. It was all stealthy and stuff. I suspended my account with y’all and went.”
Zera stared at her. “No one said anything.”
“Of course not. If they told you, they would have had to explain that they were using my activation for government purposes for a country that wouldn’t give me citizenship.
Oh, by the way, I have an appointment for an assessment to see if I can be of use to Aksalla.
Now that they have organized that program, I might be able to stick around. ”
Tirra looked at her. “You are Uraddan?”
Ava nodded. “I escaped when I was eight and just walked to the capitol. I thought this was in my file.”
Zera cleared her throat. “We had a security breach a decade ago, and the escort histories were dumped and rewritten before we noticed.”
Ava nodded. “How unfortunate, and right before Aksalla was about to audit the escort histories for your push to get licensing.”
Zera sighed. “Ava...”
“Zera.” She looked at the projection.
Tirra snorted. “Did you two always butt heads?”
Zera sighed, and a face appeared behind her. Ava grinned. “Hey, Torun. You look shorter naked.”
“Investor? Oh, gods. You are looking good. Very good.”
Zera elbowed him and then winced.
Ava smiled. “How is your portfolio doing, Torun?”
“Excellent. Thank you.”
She inclined her head. “Sorry. Dex is here, and she doesn’t have clearance for this level, so I am heading up to brief her about the perv waiting for poor Sixty-Six.”
She walked to the elevator, went up, saw Dex in the lobby, and then did what she rarely did: she shared her vision. Dex took the information and nodded. “Got him. He’s a block down, and he has shadows outside the door as markers.”
“Are you going to hunt him?”
“Oh, yes. I already registered the hunt with the guard on the way over here. You never steer me wrong.”
Ava grinned and smacked Dex on the butt. “Go get him. Guards have been notified, and I will make sure they are aware of you and your sword.”
“Thank you. Take care of her.”
“I will. Below I go. You do you.” Ava smiled and headed back down as Dex got the sword ready to take care of the shadow.
Jienne was going to need help to recover from the mental invasion, and Ava was going to offer her very secure home and her very big pet as assistance.
She went down in the elevator, and the markers she had planted in the area gave her a delightful view of the pursuit. She guessed that he never expected a shadow killer to be accessible and licensed by Aksalla.
When she returned, Jienne was talking softly with Arcady and the counsellor. Ava waved at her, and she smiled with a tear-streaked expression. The humiliation she felt was the worst part.
Arcady walked over and said softly, “Drin wants you to contact her. She will come here if necessary. Or she and one of hers can meet you upstairs in textiles.”
“That is the best idea. I am guessing it will be Vikor.”
“How do you know all of this?”
“Oh, you really don’t want to know. Plausible deniability.” She looked over at the corner where Jienne was giving her testimony to the woman. It was being documented for the official record. Jienne would be held blameless, and that was important.
She caught Jienne’s gaze, and the other woman smiled.
Zera contacted her, and Ava answered, looking up at the display. “Hey, what’s up?”
Zera looked at her. “He’s dead. Dex got him and split him down the middle. Do you know what he was doing?”
“I am guessing he’s been collecting female actives who can output to manipulate others. There should be a few of them chained up in a warehouse building near the harbour.”
Zera gritted her teeth. “Do you have an address?”
“Three-seven-six Port Acker Storage.”
Zera nodded. “Message sent to the guard. All women?”
“Yup, and all delicate, so bring some females and no psychics.”
“Got it. So, you knew this whole time?”
“No. But the pieces are coming into place. You know, I see things that are wrong, things that are right, and the wakes they both make. I follow the paths.”
“Why tonight? Why Jienne?”
“Me or him?”
“You.”
“I was there for dinner, and there were shadows around her. I couldn’t follow her into Hell, so I stayed nearby and waited.
Nothing horrifying could occur in a public place, right?
I forgot the private levels were rated for public sex.
The whole consortium went in, I got a strange feeling, and I had the whole path before she came out, shaking, a few hours later. ”
“And when you saw her...”
“I saw it all. I have all of his accounts frozen. Nothing is moving, but that is where I got the warehouse and the most recent meal delivery for five, plus two larger meals for the guards. Delivered twice a day.”
“I am passing this on. Why didn’t you lead with this?”
“Oh, if I had, he would have gotten to the warehouse and killed them all. Now, he’s dead, and the ladies are free. I am guessing at their ages being seventeen to twenty-one.”
“Shit. Too young. How old is Jienne?”
“Twenty-five. She’s had practice at using her activation at work. The elite of the city need to be soothed a lot when they don’t get what they want. She’s very good. A pity she’s going to quit.”
Zera blinked. “What? Why?”
“Because Klauz was with the others, rolling around in her pleasure emissions. He and Techor were the worst participants because they leaned into it. The shadow invited them, and they came to watch Jienne’s surrender.
That isn’t something she’s wired to do in front of her boss.
Her soul is so repulsed by this evening that she isn’t going to be able to go back.
Klauz and the others are going to need counselling as well. ”
Zera paused. “Drin and her consortium are upstairs.”
“Excellent. Now I get to tell them that they just psychically raped a woman. This should be the way I wanted my evening to go.”
She ended the communication and headed for the elevator.
Being a silent partner in Z Tech and, now, in Z Corp, meant she knew where she was going. She had designed the building, after all.