Star Law: A Marshal Cole Series

Chapter 27 (a)

Roberto Diaz's skills in psi were telekinetic in relation to organic material. For reasons he could not discern, his abilities were not able to have an effect on inorganic material. He could not move a coin across a table but he could move someone's finger. He'd discovered his ability during a school ground tussle that didn't even involve him. A girl was pushed down in a confrontation with bullies and he triggered bleeding noses in the four boys responsible.

He had no particular attachment to the girl, didn't know the boys and was not a social justice activist. He'd been bullied in the past and seeing it as he had, he just lashed out. No one was aware of what he'd done but from then on it set him upon a path where he used his special skills. Much of this occurred when the poverty and dysfunction of his family drove him from school and into the streets of the city.

The evolution from petty crime to murder was a quick one. However, it was his intelligence combined with his psi talent that kept him below the radar. He was as skilled an operator as they came. Surreptitiously, he surveilled the security office and noted the comings and goings. He observed that a ship steward named Miguel had been assisting the Commonwealth Marshal on the ship. However, with both the Marshal and Security Chief in what looked like a forced rest period, Miguel had gone off with the ship captain's droid named Boz and another man. On a hunch, he followed.

He had no idea who the third man was but he didn't look like law enforcement or part of ship security. And yet the Marshal seemed to have entrusted this trio with the investigation. Diaz supposed it made sense to use an AI. Most in the psi community tried to avoid them. They were hard to fool, recorded everything and were outright dangerous. He hung back some distance so as to not draw attention. It was around Central Plaza's main level near the lifts that he lost of the men. His impression was that they had entered the area closed off for repairs but headed to where he didn't know. When he worked his way around the other side of the barricades, he saw no sign of the three. Taking a seat at a re-opened coffee kiosk, he sat with his back to the still closed pressure doors and stole furtive glances at a mirror to see if there was any activity.

It seemed clear that Miguel, the captain's aide droid and the unknown man were in between the large space between the pressure doors. He went through a list of motivations about why the three would be there. He knew that this particular entrance had been blocked to conduct repairs for the death and destruction wrought by Singh. Crews were almost done cleaning up the fire damage. What would the Marshal want his people down here for? And then it dawned on him.

Everyone on the ship was looking for Goroshenko and Orion Ruskovich. The Marshal was no dummy. He knew that he was dealing with something related to psi even if it was all new to him. Diaz was pretty sure that Goroshenko's skills at apportation were what drew the attention of ship security. There was no way to be sure but it was a good guess. So the problem for the investigation was despite knowing who it was they might want to take into custody was the fact that the suspects could slip away each time. The only way to possibly overcome this was to know in advance where and when a suspect was going to be and surprise them.

Diaz considered the matter and smiled. They were building a trap. And now he was pretty sure he knew where. The question of how such a trap was going to work was a mystery. The only thing that came to mind was some kind of knock out gas that overwhelmed the suspect before they could apport away. Still, there was also the possibility that the Marshal did not intend capture at all. A lot of people had died. Perhaps the decision was to kill before being killed.

It would be better if execution was what the Marshal intended but it struck Diaz that this was too much to ask for. No, when it came down to it, it was he who was going to pull the trigger as it were. If he knew where the trap was and could determine when it was going to be sprung, he could do what he did best which was to eliminate a problem.

So far it looked like he knew where it was, it just a matter of figuring out when.