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  Rawiri swallowed. “You aren’t going to find it.”

  He dropped back when Portland opened fire on his position. It didn’t last long. Especially as it was still dark in the rooms and Mana wouldn’t be able to pinpoint where he was. There was a lull as everyone gathered their bearings. No one moved and Rawiri wasn’t sure where his brother was but he didn’t put his head around the door to find out either.

  The wall he hid behind was only made of plaster board. It was filled with holes but the bullets hadn’t made any dent in his own skin.

  He briefly ran a hand over the blue atramento on his chest that made him strong enough to handle high speed projectiles.

  Rawiri called out, “You’re going to have to do better than that.”

  He had the luxury to speak. Portland growled. “Hand it over Agent and you can keep your career.”

  Rawiri chuckled softly. “I’m afraid it is your career on the line, Councilor. Not mine.”

  Mana said, “Come on Rawiri, this isn’t worth your life.”

  Except that it wasn’t his life at risk here. “It is worth all the lives he is willing to destroy to keep his position of power.”

  There was silence and he heard the soft scuffle of shoes. He still didn’t look around the corner as at the moment they didn’t know that he was bulletproof. And he wasn’t about to make himself an obvious target.

  Mana spoke again, “You always like to hide things inside other things. So, is it in the cookie jar?”

  Mana’s voice was very conversational and calm. “I’m surprised you guys survived the bomb. No one was supposed to get their hands on this stuff.”

  He heard the snick of a latch and he knew his brother had found the decoy. He had only hidden it to stall them. But easier enough for them to find so they weren’t frustrated and willing to take risks to get it.

  Mana swore. “Where the heck is all of it?”

  Rawiri huffed. “You didn’t think we were stupid enough to make it this easy, did you?”

  Mana’s voice was icy. “A trap eh, Waha?”

  Rawiri moved to the door as his brother’s voice indicated he was moving towards the door. Rawiri couldn’t let him leave. Not yet anyway. They still had to put all the people into place to snap the trap shut.

  Rawiri came out of the room and saw that Mana was the only one there. “Where did Portland go?”

  Mana aimed the gun towards him. “He figured it was a trap. Are you going to shoot your own brother?”

  Rawiri had a gun but it was at rest at his side. “Probably not but then I’m not the only one with a gun.”

  Mana turned as he heard something in the door and saw that Jephry was there.

  Mana’s voice had that edge of ice again, “Ah, you were willing to get your hands bloody on a man that was like a father to us but not my own blood. I think I’m a little insulted.”

  Rawiri was about to say something when Mana turned towards Jephry and pulled his trigger. Jephry didn’t wait, he returned fire. Mana dropped. His hand went to his chest where he was bleeding.

  He looked shocked for a moment then toppled over onto his knees then slumped onto his face.

  Jephry went to crouch by his side and checked his pulse. He shook his head but Rawiri knew he was already dead.

  Jephry frowned up at him but he knew what the man was thinking so he put his mind at ease. “This is better. He would have hated prison.” And most likely why he had stayed when Portland had run.

  Jephry shrugged. He didn’t disagree. Rawiri knelt down next to Mana and placed a hand on his head. They were always heading on this path. He didn’t blame Jephry for killing his brother.

  He looked up at Jephry. “Portland left.”

  Jephry grumbled. “The others might pick him up. I’m sorry about your brother and that we couldn’t end this tonight.”

  Rawiri smoothed the hair of away from his brother’s face. “Don’t be. We just need to get the bastard.”

  Portland managed to get past the other agents and when they checked the recordings, they all swore violently as Portland had worn a mask the entire time. There was no way to tell it was him from the image alone. So much for their smoking gun.

  ___

  Mana’s funeral was surprisingly well attended for someone who had been living alone in the Wildlands and a cold-blooded murderer. Though to be honest they were mostly Rawiri’s friends rather than Mana’s.

  Freya reached out to hold Rawiri’s hand. He looked calm but she knew he was thinking.

  They had decided they wouldn’t do a formal funeral at a church or anything as Mana had never been into that stuff.

  They were in the coroner’s office and the ashes of Mana’s body was in a small grey can, sitting on a metal table. Freya thought it was morbid, even for her. She would get Mana a nice vase and they could take his ashes out to the Edge to spread in the wind. That would be good for Rawiri.

  She looked at him and realised she was already thinking of them as a ‘we’. A unit. Freya and Rawiri. She hoped he thought the same as it would break her if he wasn’t.

  Once the funeral was over the coroner approached them. “We found this inside the body. It came up on the x-rays. We didn’t do a full autopsy as we knew what killed him. But this was a surprise and it was lucky we found it before we cremated the body.”

  He handed over a small thumb drive. They were old but then most technology now was out of date, mixed with the more modern stuff that was created during the wars.

  Freya asked, “Do you think it has something important on it?”

  The coroner nodded. “He had it surgically placed in his hip. No one could take it off him. I’m sure it was his insurance.”

  The coroner had obviously been working with the Agents long enough that he understood the motives of criminals.

  Freya frowned. “Insurance against what?”

  Rawiri took the thumb drive. “His employer. I think this is the smoking gun we needed.”

  He slipped it in his pocket and reached for her hand. She smiled at the coroner in thanks as they left.

  They were quiet but it was a comfortable quiet. After a long moment Rawiri said, “You know you make me feel special.”

  She grinned. “Ah, yeah?”

  He shook his head at her casual tone. “No, I’m being serious here, Freya. When I was a kid—well I thought there was something wrong with me. When he picked me. I never wanted anyone to pay attention to me again. That is probably why I enjoyed undercover so much. But with you I had to come out of the shadows. You don’t let me hide. That used to scare me. It doesn’t anymore.”

  He was silent for a moment and she let the silence stand. They were close to his apartment. It should be clean as they had sent in the professional cleaners in that morning.

  She was worried he would have memories but at least she hadn’t been there when Mana had died.

  She said, “You didn’t need me to be special, you know that.”

  He flashed her a sad grin. “Yeah, I know. But it is easy to shine when I’m with you.”

  Freya leaned closer to him. “Ah shucks, you are too kind.”

  Rawiri grinned with soft laughter and she was pleased to see she could amuse him.

  He flashed her a look. “It is easy to love you.”

  She stopped walking and he turned to see what had caught her attention.

  She let out a breath. “You love me?”

  He frowned. “Yeah. I thought you knew.”

  She shook her head. “I hoped. I think there is something you need to know about me. I’m oblivious to most things.”

  He chuckled. “Yeah, I noticed that when you are in your lab. You mean you are like that all the time?”

  She let out a breath. She had always worried that her manner would chase everyone away. It certainly had chased away friends. She blinked at him as she internalised what he had just told her. “Yes.”

  He tugged on her arm and pulled her closer to him. “I don’t know if I should be offended or f
lattered.”

  She frowned and he laughed and pulled her completely into his arms. Pulling her close against his heat.

  He kissed her. “I take it you love me?”

  She smiled against his lips. “Yes.”

  He kissed her again. “Come on. Let’s go to my place.” He hesitated. “After this is all over you can stay there until—well.”

  He blushed red and she smiled at his sudden stammering.

  She went up on her toes and lightly kissed his lips. “I’d like to stay with you for a while. It will take me awhile to find a new place and even longer to get new furniture.” He let out a breath.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Whatinga: April 2088

  The large doors opened into the ballroom that had once been the same room the Council members had signed the City Charter. Now it held a large table shaped like a doughnut with a bite out of one side.

  Everyone turned to look at Jephry as he entered. The head of the Council said, “What is the meaning of this? We are in session; we will not countenance interruptions.”

  Jephry wasn’t intimidated and stepped forward into the large room. “Sorry to interrupt you gentlemen but I have some grave news.”

  The head of Council waved his hand towards him in a frustrated and hurried gesture. “Well, get on with it so we can get back to work.”

  Jephry let out a breath. He had waited years for this moment. “I have come to accuse one of your members of some serious crimes.”

  The head of the Council snorted. “Preposterous. We are all upstanding members of this community. We would not throw away our positions for petty crime.”

  He gritted his teeth at the haughty tone of the man and his clearly incorrect supposition. “This is no petty crime. The crime I’m accusing one of your members of is murder. Conspiracy and drug dealing. You might know the drug. Ambrosia.”

  There were hushed conversations and Jephry looked over to Portland.

  Portland frowned. He probably wondered if he had enough evidence to bury him or not. Probably thought he could talk his way out of this. Jephry wouldn’t have come this far if he didn’t have everything sewed up. He would only get one chance at this.

  The head Councilor asked, “Who was the murder victim?”

  Good, he had their curiosity. They would want to know it all by the end. “Victims, plural, but I won’t bore you with the list, the one name that will interest you is Doctor Nasser, the shield builder.”

  This caused a stir and the head Councilor had to yell at the others to get control.

  He waved for Jephry to speak. “Start from the beginning.”

  Jephry reached down for the box he had left on the table when he had first entered the room. It was large and bulky as it held copies of all the evidence he had collected over the years.

  He opened the top and slowly removed other boxes from inside. There was a reason for the suspense. He wanted these people to have no doubt that the Portland was guilty.

  He opened the first box and brought a few pieces of clothing. “These are pieces of evidence left at various crime scenes. Mostly murders. They date back as far as thirty years. I won’t bore you with the details. Only to say that all of these have the same DNA and places this person at all of these murders.”

  The Councilor asked, “Are you going to tell us who it is?”

  Jephry ignored him and then placed a book on the table. It was tattered and stained. There was even very suspicious rusty brown on the edges of the pages.

  “This here is a record of the tributes paid by all the gangs in Whatinga to one king pin. We found this ten years ago but it does not name the kingpin.”

  He opened it to another page. “It does show the payment to one gang member called Mana for killing a Russian man. This was paid out a day after Alexei was killed.”

  There were a few murmurs. Jephry had come to the Council about that murder when it had happened. It had troubled the Councilors as the Russian had known many of the city’s secrets and he was one of the people who helped found the city and yet lived well below his means.

  That mystery had been solved earlier in the year when it was discovered that Isabella’s father had actually tried to steal the brother’s cut. The money had since gone to Misha who was using it to build a community clinic and center.

  The head Councilor asked, “They had him killed?”

  Jephry nodded his head as he answered. “That is what I believe. But when I found this out, I did not have proof of the person’s identity.”

  The head Councilor waved for him to continue. “You said this person had the Shield Maker killed. I thought that was ruled an accident.”

  Jephry opened another box and brought at the part of the bomb he had found. “We discovered fragments of a bomb at the lab. The techs thought it was part of the equipment. I only found it when I had a closer look at the accident site. It was mass murder not an accident.”

  The head Councilor frowned. “But that doesn’t link it to this person. The bomb could have been placed by anyone.”

  From the same box he brought out a flower. Some members gasped. They must have recognised the flower as one of them asked, “Where did you get that? That is regulated. You shouldn’t have one of those.”

  That is what they believed. “I got it from Professor Nasser. This is what Doctor Nasser was working on when she was killed. She discovered the flower had special attributes. She was worried that people would die after ingesting the flower so she went to a Council member she trusted and told him about the flower.”

  Jephry wasn’t surprised that the council was completely silent at this stage as he told his story. “She thought she had done the right thing. Then when Ambrosia came onto the scene, one of her lab techs brought it to her attention that it had the same effect as the flower. She confronted the Council member. He told her he would deal with it. She was killed the next day. I know this because she told her husband. Professor Nasser decided it was safer for him to wait. He did not want to be killed like his wife. He also didn’t have any evidence.”

  Which meant it was only circumstantial, with Professor Nasser’s word against Portland’s. But it had meant that they now had a name. That had started everything rolling. With Portland’s name they had dug deeper.

  He placed the canister on the table and he let his gaze travel over the Council members. Portland was sweating. Good.

  He tapped the lid of the canister as he spoke. “This here are the early trials for Ambrosia. We retrieved it from the lab of the latest producer of Ambrosia. It has blood samples from early test subjects. The most interesting is the Control sample. You see it matches the DNA found on all these pieces of evidence found at all of these murder scenes. We know these murders were committed by the king pin that was controlling all the gangs in the city and making Ambrosia. The same king pin who had the Shield Maker murdered because she had discovered him.”

  The Head Councilor was leaning forward in his seat when he asked, “Whose DNA is it? I know that Council members are not required to give over samples of DNA so how did you figure it out. Or is that why you are here to get us to give you DNA?”

  Jephry smiled but there was no humor in it. “We would only need DNA from one of you. As we already know who the person is.”

  The head Councilor drummed his fingers on the desk. “Well, who is it? Stop playing your games.”

  Jephry pointed and Portland didn’t wait he jumped up pushing over his chair. Jephry thought he was going to make some speech about why he shouldn’t have to hand over his DNA. Instead, he spun on his heels and ran out of the room.

  Jephry swore and motioned to some men who waited at the door. But the building was a warren. The bastard could escape. But not for long.

  ___

  Freya looked up when Rawiri came back into the lab after he had received a phone call. He was still staring with concern at his phone.

  She frowned at him and he said, “That was Agent Harold, he says Portland ran. They are looking f
or him. There is no way he can get out of the city without people knowing about it.”

  But she could hear the doubt in his voice. “What about your brother? He lived outside. Portland was probably the one who organized all that.”

  He slipped his phone away but he still frowned in concern. “Yeah, if he could get in and out then so can Portland. Maybe it is better this way. It will be a nightmare to try him like everyone else. And it isn’t like they can put him in prison like others. He was the one who helped build them. I’m sure he still has connections. He could bribe someone, either to let him out or get him luxuries.”

  She nodded. She had always known this but she still didn’t want him to escape. There as some visceral need to punish him for what he had done. He had hurt so many people. Was still hurting people and she wanted justice for all of them.

  Rawiri motioned to her work. “How is it going?”

  She motioned for him to come see the slide though she knew he was just being polite by asking. “I think I have the vaccine. With what I learnt from the atramento and the early trials I can give people a vaccine that if given straight away should prevent any permanent damage. At the moment I’m working on something for those have been using the drug for a while. I have to approach it differently as the receptors are already compromised…”

  A smash of glass made them look up. But when they saw no one they realised their atramento senses had given them a warning as the glass had been the front door shattering.

  Rawiri grabbed Freya and pushed her down. He pulled out his gun and looked around the leg of the table.

  Portland huffed as he came into the lab. He wasn’t alone. He had one of the lab techs. A gun pressed to the young man’s head while he forced the young man to be a human shield.

  Freya recognised him as Andrew. An intern who worked at the lab for extra credits. He was only seventeen. His wide eyes told her he was petrified and she didn’t blame him. Unlike them, he didn’t have atramento that could protect him from a gunshot.

  Rawiri stood up and stepped forward with his arms away from his body in a placating gesture. “Councilor.”