Port Casper

Chapter Fifteen

The door between the antechamber and office was closed again. Just like before, Grace heard voices coming from behind the door. She remembered Raj's instructions and paired her ptenda with her mimic fabric. Her suit acted as a large microphone, and she heard garbled phrases from the office. A man's voice. He spoke rapidly, and though the ptenda had difficulty locking in on pitch, it sounded like he was angry.

One word was clear, because it was repeated often: "Gobi." She also thought she heard "Cloister Eleven."

The voice sounded familiar to Grace: a distinct accent. She fiddled with the controls again, but the voices stopped.

"Come in, Protector Donner."

Van Decker was behind her desk. Grace tried to read her expression. It wasn't anger, at least.

"Close the door behind you, and have a seat."

Grace sat. Her back pressed into the comfortable cushion as she waited for Van Decker to speak.

"I've listened to your recording, Donner." Van Decker looked at Grace and frowned, her eyes squinting. "When I ask a protector to keep her eyes and ears open, I want everything. What did you and the vice minister discuss before the meeting? What about after?"

"We barely spoke. Nothing important," Grace said, locking her eyes with the other woman.

"How would you judge if something were important?"

There is something odd about Van Decker's behavior, Grace thought. Was she pretending to be upset? There wasn't a hint of the emotion that would exist if her boss were truly angry. Grace thought back to Red Fox Academy and her last conversation with Commandant Huber. Now that was honest emotion.

"My apologies," Grace said. "You're correct, of course. I can relate our complete conversation in its entirety."

Van Decker raised an eyebrow.

"In its entirety?" she said. "You're fresh out of cloister, Donner. Don't tell me you have a grafty."

"No. But a good memory."

"Proceed."

Grace related the conversation at the diner. She mentioned Gobi's concern about being followed and his comment about his life being in danger.

"He's a paranoid bureaucrat. A typical gene addict," Van Decker said, waving her hand dismissively. "What did you notice at the meeting?"

The two protectors reviewed the audio of the Unlimited Unlimited conference. At one point, Maud interrupted the playback and asked Grace if anybody mentioned the identity of the inventor.

"No, I didn't catch any names. Neither at the meeting nor during the chit-chat afterwards," Grace said. "But isn't that typical, to protect inventor identity?"

"Yes, but people slip." Maud steepled her fingers. "Did Gobi say anything after the meeting?"

"He wanted me to escort him to a mover. I did, and he left alone."

"Anything else, Donner?"

"No, Protector Van Decker." Grace had the nagging feeling she'd given information her boss already knew.

"Good. You may go. We'll contact you with another assignment shortly."

Grace left the office, confused about the interview. She wondered why she had been placed in a spying situation with no advanced briefing. The snippet, "Cloister Eleven," she had heard beforehand made her ponder. Was that a reference to the invention? Or to her?