Fatal Blade (Decker's War#3) (27 page)

“That does make sense.”

“Of course,” Talyn said with a slight smile, “I also get a kick out of digging through databases and coming up with linkages that no one else sees.  It’s a hobby that drives Zack crazy, but he can’t argue with the fact that we remain gainfully employed nearly all the time.  If you’d like to continue using me as a fresh set of eyes…”

“I’ll talk to Verrill about how deep he’d want you to go.  You understand that there are things we don’t share with some of the Movement’s inner circle, let alone outsiders, no matter how well intentioned.”

“Of course.  I’d expect nothing less.”  She inclined her head briefly before standing up and following Corde to the mess hall.  “In the meantime, I think I’ll accept a meal that I don’t have to analyze before we continue.  My stomach is threatening to shut my brain down.  One of the bad habits I picked up from my partner, sadly.”

Corde chuckled.

“I think the chef is trying a variation on the usual game stew for lunch.  We might have to provide him with an after-action report.”

“I’ll let you deal with that.  I’ve learned to never annoy a man who has access to sharp blades.”

“Decker?”

“So he’s shown you his dagger.  Yeah, him too.”  Talyn smirked.

When they’d gone through the chow line, Verrill waved them over to join him and Larn Takan.

“How goes the analyzing?”  He asked Talyn once she was seated.

“I’ve squeezed what I could out of the data Corde gave me.  If there’s anything else useful left, it would likely need Fleet intelligence’s finest.”

“Perhaps we can give Hera a few more chunks,” the rebel army’s second-in-command suggested.  “Until Zack returns, she doesn’t have much else to do, and she is willing to go through the mind-numbing stuff none of my folks want to tackle.”

Verrill examined Talyn with eyes that seem to search for chinks in her cover and figure out whether she could be trusted.

“Sure,” he finally said.  “Everyone around here should be allowed to work for their keep.  You know what I consider too sensitive for anyone but the inner circle, Corde, so go ahead and have Hera delve into other areas.  It may be some time before her partner’s back.”

“Speaking of which,” Talyn said after savoring a mouthful of stew, “any news on my wayward boy?”

“Nothing.”  Verrill shook his head.

“By now he should have reached the Sisterhood of the Void,” Larn Takan said.  “If my daughter’s taken refuge there, we might see them back soon.”

At the mention of the Sisterhood, Talyn choked and then began coughing, her face turning a bright shade of red.  By the time she’d recovered her composure, everyone in the hall was looking at her, Corde wondering whether she should have called the duty medic.

“Are you telling me you sent Zack to a Sisterhood of the Void cloister?”  Talyn asked in a strangled voice.

“Yes.”  Takan frowned in puzzlement at the off-worlder’s reaction.  “Is there a problem?”

“There might be.”  Her voice sounded strangled and she fought off another urge to cough.  “You see, Zack is unafraid most of the time.  Jumping out of a perfectly good shuttle in the upper atmosphere to land on some scumbag’s head after spending an hour as a human kite requires a pretty defective sense of fear.  But there is one thing that’s guaranteed to send him into a spiral of dread, and that’s the Sisterhood of the Void.”

“Why?”

“I have no idea, Ser Takan.  It’s one of the things from his past that he refuses to discuss.  All I know is that the Sisters terrify him.”

“Will he not see if they have Kari then?”  The farmer sounded deeply worried.

“You needn’t be concerned; he’ll carry out his mission,” she replied without hesitation, “even if it leaves him gibbering in terror once it’s over, but he’ll hate every moment of it.”

“Do you have issues with the Sisterhood, sera?”  Takan asked.

An ironic smile lit up Talyn’s face.  “Of course not.  I’m a woman.”

TWENTY-EIGHT

A flagstone path, bordered on both sides by high, thorny bushes led to a small stone annex grafted onto the side of the cloister.  Its interior felt bare, cold and uninviting.

Though the Garonne colony was still young, its age not yet measured in centuries, the cloister bathed in the aura of permanence that comes from very long tenancy.

Decker knew the stones hid a door somewhere along one of the walls, but he also knew that to search for it would doom his quest before he even had the chance to speak.

After a brief survey of his surroundings, he took up a relaxed stance three paces from a shoulder-height grille covering an opening barely big enough for a human head.  He crossed his hands in the small of his back and composed himself to wait, for hours if necessary.  Through deep, mindful breathing he managed to push out most of the anxiety he felt at facing one of them again, but a small kernel of terror remained.

Visitors to the cloister had no way to summon the Sisters, no bell to ring or knocker to raise.  They would become aware of his presence in their own good time, and if they decided to hear him out, the sister on duty might show a veiled face beyond the grille and demand that he state his purpose.

Decker would wait for as long as he had to.  He’d promised Marnie Takan that he would make sure her daughter didn’t fall in the militia’s hands, and though he feared the Sisterhood, he would endure being in their presence so he could fulfill his pledge.

Outside, avian life forms chattered loudly, filling the late morning air with a discordant song never meant for human ears, but in the annex, only the sound of his own breathing troubled the deep silence.  He struggled to keep it measured and calm, but the Sisters would know of his fear.  Nevertheless, pride demanded that he present a stoic façade.

Decker’s internal clock watched the minutes fly by without a change to his enforced isolation, yet he kept his posture upright and a facial expression that showed no emotions.

He’d endured many military ceremonies where the reviewing officer had taken his own sweet time, unconcerned by troops standing in the sweltering heat.  In his experience, the Sisters were equally indifferent.

Eventually, he heard the whisper of slippers on smooth tile and a dark shape appeared behind the grille.  His body tensed up into a bundle of strained muscles and taut nerves, and he struggled to keep his breathing steady, but the sister behind the wall would know.

A high, bright voice, evoking the peal of tiny silver bells rang out.

“What brings you to our solitude, sinner?”

“I was sent to find a young woman whose life is in peril from the militia.”

And then that which he feared happened.  A sensation akin to fingertips passing over his brain sent a shiver of disgust down his spine.  Determined to keep a brave face, he successfully restrained himself from grimacing.

“You speak the truth, sinner,” the sister said.  “What is your name?”

“Zachary Decker, but everyone calls me Zack.”

He knew that his real name would have eventually come out, even against his will, so there was no point in obfuscation.

“You are a man of violence, of war…”

“And of base physical needs,” Decker added, to forestall the sister.  “I make no excuses for who I am – a simple human trying to live as best he can in a chaotic universe.  The Divine Power will judge me when my time comes and weigh the good I’ve tried to do against the evil I’ve done.”

The fingertips on the surface of his brain turned into gentle strokes.

“Tell me, Zack Decker, if you cannot accomplish your quest to save this young woman, what is it that you choose to do?”

He thought about the question for a few moments, aware it was a trap and then replied with a depth of feeling that not only surprised him but also the sister because the hand sifting through his soul suddenly vanished.

“Absent anything else, all I can do is decide what it is I get done with the time God has given me.”

“And if your time was to end now?”

“Then I can no longer devote what I have left to those whom I pledged my help.  It would suck, but dead men can’t be held to their promises.”

He repressed the urge to make a face at the veiled woman but knew nonetheless that she’d have felt his unexpected surge of irritation at these word games.  Instead, he concentrated on the image of Kari he’d been shown by her mother and projected it violently at the sister.

“That’s who I’m looking for,” he said.  “If you have any mercy for her parents, help me.”

The woman behind the veil gasped.

“You’re aware!”

“Yeah.  I’m one of the few men with the genetic mutation to sense when I’m being probed by an empath, so you can stop the metaphysical mumbo-jumbo.” A pause.  “Reach back into my mind and you’ll know that the following is true: if Kari Takan falls into the hands of the militia, she will die after an interrogation that will leave her an empty shell.  But before she dies, she will have revealed all she knows about her father’s activities in the Garonne Independence Movement, and more people will die, dozens perhaps hundreds, thousands even.  I know the Sisterhood doesn’t give a flying damn about worldly affairs and recoils in horror at the casual violence of the secular galaxy, but if you truly believe in mercy, then help me.”

“And yet if the independence movement is allowed to embark on an increasingly violent path, then thousands will die, perhaps tens of thousands.  Perhaps it is best if the authorities find a way to end the rebellion now, even if it means a few lives lost, including that of Kari Takan and yours for that matter.”

Decker snorted derisively.

“I know the Sisterhood doesn’t see much in humanity that they consider redeemable, but I didn’t know you were that cynical.  The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, is that it?  Trite bullshit.  Your souls are no more immune from the darkness than mine is.  At least I’m trying to do something about it.  Reach back into my mind because I’m going to show you another truth.”

When he felt the soft, feathery touch of the sister’s probe return, a cruel smile twisted his lips.

“There’s an evil force at play on Garonne, one that would turn the planet into a battleground for its own purposes.  I have no evidence of what those purposes are, but I know that the end result will mean devastation under the weight of a military expedition the likes of which hasn’t been seen in years.  The only way to prevent this outcome is to give the colonists self-rule, and that means defeating the militia.”

He felt the sister behind the grille recoil in horror at the images of death and devastation, culled from the memory of past wars.  Decker laughed when he sensed her mental gasp of horror.

“The needs of the many indeed.  When it comes to Kari Takan, the needs of the one will help take care of the needs of all, including your cloister.  You do not have enough sisters here to influence the battalion that will overrun this little oasis of hypocrisy once the rebellion turns into all-out civil war.”

“Yeah,” he continued, “I’m a man of war, but that doesn’t mean I enjoy taking lives.  If the universe were to find total peace, I’d gladly hang up my gun belt and tend to my garden, but I’m realistic enough to know that it won’t happen, not in my lifetime, not in yours, probably not in humanity’s lifetime, so spare me your empty platitudes.  I don’t begrudge you a life of contemplation, but the real world won’t stop doing the dumb things it’s been doing since we hairless apes first took up a stick and beat up our neighbors.  So what do you say, Sister?  Will you help me?”

Decker had so warmed to his subject that he didn’t realize the revulsion he’d felt at the woman sifting through his mind, tasting his emotions and judging his soul had been replaced by anger so pure it blazed with a white flame that burned away the sister’s mental tendrils.

Her veiled face vanished to the sound of running feet.

Zack sighed but composed himself to wait again.  Either she’d be back with reinforcements or they were going to leave him alone until he got get tired of waiting and walked out.  The Sisterhood wasn’t known for its social graces.

However, he heard footsteps only a few minutes later, heavier than those of the sister who’d played voyeur in his mind.  A broader, yet equally veiled face filled the grille, and a deeper, older voice rang out.

“I’m this cloister’s Sister Superior.  The sister who spoke with you acquainted me with the substance of your request.  She also said you’re one of the few men aware of our abilities.”

As there was no point in answering, Decker nodded once, waiting for the newcomer to run her fingers through his soul.  To his surprise, nothing of the sort happened.

“You frightened her badly, Zack Decker,” there was a hint of laughter in the Sister Superior’s voice, “when you pushed her out of your mind.  Few of the men who are aware have that ability.”

“Until you told me just now, I didn’t know I could do that,” he replied, “but I’ll take your word for it.”

“It is true.  If we were a breeding house, I’d ask for a sample of your gametes.”

“To be collected in a natural way or in a laboratory?”  He asked with a raised eyebrow.

The Sister Superior laughed.

“Since the matter is not one we wish to pursue, I’ll leave that question unanswered.”

“You’re not probing me?”  He asked, changing the subject.

“Unlike the sister who spoke with you first, I’ve gained enough wisdom to know when to use my particular ability and when to use my other senses.  After looking into your eyes, I have all the answers I need.”

“I still don’t.”

“Then you shall.  Kari Takan spent one night with us after fleeing the home of the friend she was visiting, but felt that she would put us in danger should the militia track her down and therefore left yesterday.”

Decker bit back a pungent curse.

“Would it have killed your sister to tell me that up front instead of going off on a debate about good and evil?”

He felt the Sister Superior shrug.

“Some of our younger brethren still feel the need to debate philosophy with outsiders.  She is one of the more egregious examples, which is why she volunteers to take on more than her fair share as greeter.  It will eventually lose its luster.  Few who stand where you are will dare challenge one of us so openly.”

“Yeah, well I’ve always been accused of having a thick skull along with a big mouth, so let the sister know that she shouldn’t take it personally.”

“I will.  And now you’ll ask me where Kari has gone.  I’m afraid I can’t answer that.”

“Can’t or won’t?”

“I see that you’re a man who analyses things very carefully and from a deeply skeptical angle.”

“Hah.”  Zack snorted.  “You’re the first who’s ever accused me of being careful.  It’s usually the other way around.”

“And yet I sense depths that you keep carefully hidden, Zack Decker, even from those closest to you.  I can’t answer your question about Kari Takan because she did not tell us where she was going.  All we know is that she headed down the road leading to Kaholo after leaving our grounds.  Whether or not that was her destination is something you’ll have to discover for yourself.”

“Thank you, Sister Superior.”  He dipped his head briefly.

“My best wishes accompany you on your journey.  We will pray that the outcome you’ve shown my young sister does not come to pass, though I fear we shall have to become hospitallers again before peace returns to Garonne.  Goodbye, Zack Decker.”

And then he was alone again in the annex grafted to the chapter house.  Outside, the avian life forms had kept up their incessant chatter but only now was he hearing them again.

Though disappointed at the outcome of his query, he felt oddly elated by the notion that he’d developed the ability to shut empaths from his mind.  How that had come about would likely remain a mystery, though Zack had the sneaking suspicion that his punishment in the Atabek’s juluk pit might somehow be involved.  He’d long suspected the insects’ venom might rewire part of the human brain.

The sun was now almost directly overhead and heat shimmered over the empty road heading into the countryside.  It just so happened that the second place Kari might flee to for refuge, according to her father, was in Kaholo.

***

“He’s just a supporter,” Steiger told Captain Kozlev after spending an hour with the prisoner.  “I don’t see any point in trying harsher methods.  He might paint slogans on walls and attend meetings, but he’s not the type to be trusted with inside information.  We’d be better off letting him go and then watching who he talks to.”

Kozlev’s reptilian stare made the mercenary feel as if she were on the wrong end of a probe and she looked away rather than keep trying to find a soul in those dark eyes.

“You have my permission to use harsher methods,” Kozlev said after an extended period of silence.

“If it’s all the same to you, sir, I’ll pass.  I’ve never been that enamored with interrogation.”

“Then perhaps I will.”  Kozlev stood up and adjusted her uniform tunic.  “You’re welcome to watch.”

Steiger understood that the invitation was really an order and her heart sank.