A Break in the Sunlight

24. A Need to Know Basis

Jaren slipped down into the alleyway, breathing hard, her legs burning with the effort of running and doubling back again. She hurdled past the dumpsters, around the back corner and into a brick wall. Dead end.

"Up there! I saw something go between the buildings!" The voice was out on the street and still faint, but getting closer.

"Up here?" called another officer. She recognized the voice as belonging to the captain, a small, almost skeletal man with a thin voice and an optical blaster. Jaren glanced right, left. No doors. No windows that weren't bricked.

"Yeah." Shadows appeared across the tall narrow opening to the street as Jaren looked up. A fire escape. Jaren closed her eyes, bent her knees and jumped.

Then they were in the alley below her, peering around the corner into the dimness. She could see the tops of their helmets, glowing white in the ambient light of the enclosure. They stood almost under her. With an effort she controlled her breathing, willed herself into a passive state.

"I don't see anyone." The first, and younger officer was saying, as he kicked over rubbish bins and piles of boxes. Thin Voice was perfectly still, with his head cocked.

"If we had a damned Heat MR we'd have found her by now," the younger officer continued, scowling broadly. He kicked another pile of boxes, which fell with a deafening crash. Jaren closed her eyes and pressed herself closer to the cold blue brick of the building, into the indentation that protected her from view.

"If we had a fu–" the younger officer was cut off by a sharp downward movement of Thin Voice's hand. "Do you hear something?" he whispered, leaving off the kicking and leaning toward his superior.

Before Thin Voice could answer, another shadow appeared across the opening of the alley. "Captain Rigg! T'lash! We found her. Medlin saw her getting on the tube. Some old lady said she knocked her over, and he thinks he can get a DNA off her coat."

"Fresh!" said the younger officer, pumping his arm and grinning in approval. Thin Voice merely frowned.

"You mean you lost her," he said in a deadly tone, and the newest man shifted uncomfortably.

"We're covering the stations. Medlin thinks–"

"I don't give a rat's testicle what Medlin thinks, Lieutenant." Rigg cut in coldly. "Do you really think this kind of gutter trash leaves a DNA trail? You were expecting to just knock on a door and make an arrest? How easy for you."

The Lieutenant hesitated, "Well, we thought-"

Jaren saw Rigg shake his head and step back, the helmet moving only feet below the rusted metal of the platform she lay on.

"No. You didn't. And one of these days you lot are going to not think yourself right into Stalwith Prison on incompetency charges."

The Lieutenant looked uncertain. "I-I don't understand, sir."

"Of course not." Rigg sighed. He turned his head to the third officer, who was watching them with a confused expression. "T'lash, go secure the main road and wait for my command. Lt. Deck, a word."

The younger officer glanced at his captain quizzically, but knew better than to argue. Once he was gone, Rigg stepped closer to the Lieutenant, his voice dropping so low that Jaren could barely make out the words, though they were almost directly below her.

"I know what the Governor said in the briefing, but this isn't about a couple of cheat codes, Lieutenant. Let's just say there's a teeny tiny leak out somewhere. And those little rat bastards on the East side are selling us out faster than a Derian could sell his mother into slavery. If RobRoy gets wind of the crap that's getting out of this system it'll be a hell of a lot more than your job on the line. You following me?"

Lt. Deck's reply was lost, but Jaren could have sworn he whispered "Gennwrugh?"

"Bingo," said Rigg.

"But this girl...?"

"Oh, that much is true. This girl is just an operative. A courier. But we've got reason to believe she's carrying codes from one of the databanks."

"Which one? Can't they just be changed?"

Jaren could hear Rigg's voice flatten even more. "They don't know which one."

"But can't they just ch-"

"No." Rigg replied, clearly starting to lose his patience. "I told you, right now Gennwrugh has no idea. If RobRoy gets even an inkling that security has been compromised, they'll shut this place up like a whorehouse on Sunday morning. And what do you suppose the Governor will do then?"

"What if she gets off planet?"

"She won't. She's not going off planet anyhow. She's just a courier. They've got people watching the ports for the contact, but right now the chances are she's headed back to her little rat's nest."

"But what if she does.."

"Don't ask stupid questions, Lieutenant. What do you think will happen?"

There was a pause then, Jaren could hear her own heartbeat echoing in her ears. She couldn't believe they couldn't hear it, below her. Any moment they would look up and see her and drag her off to break her mind and body. She knew what the PWN did to Code Smugglers, and death was pretty by comparison. She couldn't risk getting caught, she'd known that when she'd met her contact at Lyestown. When she'd agreed to the run and the hefty reward it carried. She'd known that all the way across town to her connection and she'd known it when she found her contact point swarming with the PWN forces. The load she was carrying was encrypted. She couldn't dump it if she wanted to.

"I don't need to tell you not to repeat any of this, Lieutenant."

"No sir." Lt. Deck replied quickly, and the T'lash appeared back in the opening of the alley. Jaren pressed even tighter against the wall, but the young officer's attention was on his superiors.

"Captain!" he called. "Medlin and Dewar are here. They sent the Aux to the tube stations on the West side. You want to talk to them?"

Rigg swore under his breath before replying in the affirmative, then he made an impatient gesture to the Lieutenant and the two of them stepped back out into the sunlight.

Jaren allowed herself to breathe, but didn't really move from her place against the wall until more than an hour later, when darkness began to fall. She emerged stiffly from the alley and glanced about for any signs of danger. Finding none, and not allowing herself to think too much about it, she blended quickly into the crowd and headed for Biddle's.

All rights reserved. Copyright Jae Darcy 2016