Estranged [Completed]

Comparing Notes

Kalei walked into the computer room and sat in a chair next to Erit. Walker was probably out running an errand for Terin, while Mar was most likely smacking some new recruits around. Jenna still didn't exist in her corner.

Erit asked, "Any progress?"

Kalei was thoroughly frustrated. Days were slipping through her fingers, and all she could come up with was, "Well, Maya finally launched her new line of perfume last fall. Oh, and Landen likes his rum on the rocks."

Erit laughed. "It seems I've had a bit more luck on my end. Jenna pointed me to a conversation between a couple of Landen's subordinates, and it sounds like Xamic is converting one of Landen's condominiums into a sort of luxury barracks. Open bar, massage parlor, the works. He's also doubled the Tusic patrols in the city."

Kalei furrowed her brows, her frustration making friends with anxiety in the pit of her stomach. "So, playing the sugar daddy even as he puts them to the grindstone, eh?"

Erit leaned back in his chair. "It gets worse. He's carting a number of Untouched into the barracks. The few that come out are turned. And, well, the recruitment process is engineered for the enjoyment of the turners, not the turnees."

Kalei's felt a touch of bile rising in the back of her throat. "What is Xamic getting at? Is he trying to build a clientele? An army? Shit, how can we stop him when we aren't even in the game?"

Erit replied, "Truly, I do not know."

Kalei closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Well, regardless of the bigger picture, we need to stop to this Untouched trafficking before it goes any further. Maybe if we're lucky, we'll pick up more information on Xamic's plan before it blows up in our face."

"Indeed. I've already put word to the police to increase their patrols, and we have the local news stations doubling their 'Estranged Awareness' bulletins. Terin has even allowed me to send some SWORDE patrols into the city to support the police."

"Do you think that's wise? Sending Estranged, even trained Estranged, to patrol the city?"

"Wise or not, the police patrols won't do any good unless they have teeth, and our Estranged can be those teeth."

The thought of more Estranged in the city made Kalei uncomfortable. She had to agree with Erit, though; it was the only thing they could at the moment.

"Okay, you seem to have all that under control then. What can I do? Besides meditating on prissy lady's favorite brand names."

"Well, until we can pin down the 'why' of Xamic's activities, I will need aid pinpointing the 'where' of this supposed Ruffian Paradise. Landen owned a plethora of condominiums in this city, so learning its exact location is proving to be more difficult than I had originally anticipated."

"Start with the ones in T-Town. Landen favored those because they gave him easy access to City Hall and the financial district. Let me give Marley a call and tell him to keep an eye out. He might have heard something about those condos that we haven't." Kalei stood up to leave, then turned back to Erit, "Oh yeah, and any word on Lecia yet?"

"No. Unfortunately, the girl is still missing."

Kalei paused. 

Where could she be? 

Kalei felt her phone in her pocket and returned her attention to the work at hand. 

"Alright. I'll start looking for her again when I get back." 

She pulled out her cell phone and made her way to the elevator. 

While she waited for it to come back down from the fifteenth floor, she called back to Erit, "Hey, how did you pick up that conversation anyway? Ear cams don't have mics."

"The smoking buddies didn't take notice of an Estranged passed out across the street. Their faces were perfectly visible for any passing lip-reader to discern."

"And I take it lip-reading is one of your many secret talents?"

Erit smiled. "Indeed."