The Secret War - 1st novel in the Shadow Series

Chapter 22 .

Vai

I disconnected from the ansible and ripped the okulus away from my eyes. I reshaped it to fit around my wrist even as I ran out of our quarters.

"What is it, sir?" Warpaint said as he followed quickly.

I wasn't sure which quarters were Owens, but I had seen the direction he had gone when we parted ways. It wasn't hard to find him. He was saying, "It wasn't me." Just as other voices were saying, "It wasn't my son." And. "We have evidence. Don't interfere please."

Five security officers seemed too much for one little Owen, but there were five anyway.

Owen was sandwiched between two of the officers. He wasn't handcuffed. I wasn't sure what G.E.F. regulation was so I wasn't sure if that was because he was a minor or because he was small. The officers on either side of him had a hand on his arms.

I reached them. "Don't interfere," one of the officers said to me.

"Don't touch him, officer," Warpaint said. He put his oversized arm out in the space between me and the officer.

"He didn't do it," I said. "There's a girl."

"Yes," Owen said. "The girl. It was the girl. I saw her last night on the 6th level."

"There was no girl in the surveillance camera. Only you. You two take him to the security office. Go through his volo recordings and his okulus." One of the officers said to the two who were on either side of Owen. "You two," he said to the other two, "go search his room."

"No," Owen said. "It really wasn't me. Please don't go through my things."

"Stand aside, sir," one of the officers said to Owen's father. "Or you will be arrested for obstructing justice."

Owen's father looked at Owen. "I believe you didn't take it," he said. He took a step to the side to allow the two officers in.

Owen closed his eyes tight. The two officers on either side of him began to drag him away.

"Vai," Owen said. He opened his eyes to look at me over his shoulder as they took him away. "There is something in my room I smuggled on board, but honestly I didn't steal anything from the museum. I didn't. It wasn't me."

They turned the corner and he was out of sight.

"There has been a girl on 6th floor," I said to the officer who had been giving orders. "I've seen her twice. Owen has seen her too. I saw her in the museum and she was looking at the K'thaktran wall."

"You can go to the security office to give a statement," the officer said.

"She got off the elevator at the 8th level."

The security officer looked at me for the first time. "That's impossible."

"I know it is, but she did it."

The security officer shook his head. "It's admirable that you are trying to defend your friend, but he was on the security cameras. There wasn't a girl. I saw it myself."

"Don't break it," Owen's father's voice came from inside their quarters.

Should I go help him, stay out and try to convince the officer or go to the security office to give my statement? I bounced lightly on my feet like I would in boxing. I went into the quarters. The setup was exactly like my quarters. Owen's room was to the right of the living room just like mine.

"That's his new suitcase," Mr Morgan said.

One of the officers pulled a metal box out from one of the compartments under Owen's bed. The other compartments were all opened and various items - like a model ship of the Shadow like I used to have - were strewn nearby on the floor. The other officer was going through Owen's desk.