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  Not waiting for a response, Vick turned and hurried towards the back of the facility, pausing to hold open the door to the sorting area as Father Nathan followed.

  “How have things been since we met,” Father Nathan asked.

  “Busy,” Vick grunted, hurrying off in the direction of Pastor David’s office. Father Nathan ignored the man’s brusque manner. The New Light Church was understaffed and clearly served a large and growing population of poor and indigent people. Vick’s blunt nature wasn’t served well by the endless number of tasks he had to perform every day in order to serve God and the people who relied on the church for having their basic needs met.

  Hurrying as he weaved his way through the maze of halls and boxes, Vick suddenly stopped and knocked on a door.

  “Pastor David?” Father Nathan found the man’s sudden change in demeanor interesting. Vick didn’t seem to have respect for authority or too many people for that matter, but this Pastor David had somehow established in Vick a sense of awe.

  Vick stepped aside and motioned for Father Nathan to enter the office. “If you need anything, Father, just shout.”

  A disheveled, time-worn man stood up and extended his hand in welcome. “Well, you’re the mysterious priest that’s got Vick so upset.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Even with her improved auditory senses, Katrina could not make out any sounds indicating movement in the flat of rooms her kidnappers had moved her to. She found it impossible to believe they had left her alone, unguarded. Pressing her ear against the wall again, Katrina listened for the telltale sounds of snoring, indicating Josef had fallen asleep. Nor were there any sounds of voices suggesting Rondello was watching the newsfeed.

  Her captors had not fed Katrina since they'd arrived at the new location. Perhaps, she thought to herself, they'd left to obtain necessary supplies. She'd never given them any reason to believe she'd try to escape and the pair was certainly stupid enough to leave Katrina by herself, unrestrained, and able to escape.

  First, Katrina's hands began to shake, then her knees, and finally she felt sick to her stomach. "Calm down, girl," Katrina told herself. "Be smart, and you can do this."

  Smoothing her blouse and skirt, Katrina took a deep breath and smartly walked out of the room she'd been deposited in. She walked down the hallway with the confidence of an owner. By the time Katrina reached the entrance, it was clear Josef and Rondello were gone.

  The door was inconveniently locked. Katrina kicked the door in frustration after examining the lock and realizing there was no way for her to defeat the mechanism. “Maybe they aren’t so stupid after all,” Katrina muttered in despair. She hurried back to her room and examined the window. It was sealed shut without a fire escape outside the window.

  Katrina found it necessary to lean against the wall as she made her way to the next room. The thought of her captors returning any second and finding her trying to escape unnerved Katrina, causing her legs to grow weaker and tremble even more. Her breath began coming in shorter and shorter bursts, causing Katrina to make gulping sounds.

  Entering the next room, Katrina found it necessary to lean against the wall for a moment to catch her breath before examining the window. Crossing the room in a few unsteady steps, Katrina placed a hand on either side of the window and leaned forward, taking a peek outside the window. Her pulse began beating even faster at the sight of the black steel of a fire escape, covered with dirt, grime, and flecks of rust.

  With both hands, Katrina pulled at the bottom of the window. The window gave, rising up several centimeters before becoming stuck. Squatting down, Katrina got under the bottom of the window, her hands grasping the frame and elbows pulled in tight to her body. Keeping as biometrically aligned position as possible, Katrina strained to stand up, using her lower body strength to move the window. On the third attempt, the window gave, opening enough she could slither her way through the narrow clearance.

  Katrina wasted no time looking around from the fire escape platform. She went down the old, metal steps two at a time until she reached the bottom. Taking a second, Katrina examined the ladder that separated her from the ground below and her freedom. She kicked the rusty latch free, allowing the ladder to slide free of its bindings and hurtle down to the pavement below. Katrina climbed over the railing and scurried down the ladder to the alley below.

  Several minutes passed while Katrina waited and listened. She had no idea where she was and to just run off after having escaped the confinement of one prison to be recaptured because she hadn’t been cautious was sheer folly. Steadying herself, Katrina made her way carefully towards the end of the alley where sounds of hovercars passing by emanated.

  Stepping out of the alley and onto the sidewalk, Katrina turned to her right and began strolling down the street. Trying not to draw attention to herself, Katrina glanced around furtively in hopes of spotting a cab or determining where she was.

  Quickening her pace, Katrina decided to put several blocks between herself and the prison she’d just escaped from before trying to find help. Each step away from the alley took her one step closer to freedom.

  THE WHINE OF THE TURBINES grew steady as the craft leveled out at its cruising altitude. It would take less than thirty minutes before the descent began to the mining community that had diversified its economy by becoming a popular winter resort as well. Markeson chuckled inwardly at the phrase winter resort. As if any other kind of resort could exist on Beta Prime.

  To his right, Jennifer was watching the white haze of the planet rush by. “There’s really nothing to see,” he offered. “Everything is white.”

  “That’s not true,” Jennifer answered, her voice tinged with excitement. “There is a herd of some kind below, wild animals that I don’t have in my database so I can’t identify them. The snow and ice all reflect the light differently and the refraction has created a beautiful display of colors. The atmospheric display is interesting as well.”

  “Okay, there’s nothing to see for someone with human eyesight.”

  Jennifer’s head snapped around to face her master. “How inconsiderate of me, Master. I was so enthralled I did not recall the fact you have organic eyes and cannot filter and record light and images.”

  Markeson leaned closed to Jennifer and kissed her cheek. “Be careful how you choose your words, Jennifer. I don’t want anyone to realize you’re a cyborg. Also, it’s not good public relations politically for me as the Chief of Police to have anyone calling me Master.”

  He felt his AI's body stiffen. "I'm sorry," Jennifer whispered. "This is all so new, and I have so much to learn. It's causing my processor to be overloaded with data streams."

  Amused by the naïve sincerity of Jennifer, Markeson slipped his right hand over her left and intertwined his fingers with hers. “Just be careful. This is all new to you and to some extent, me as well.”

  Jennifer squeezed his hand gently and looked back out the window, this time keeping her observations to herself. Without warning, Jennifer turned back and looked at Markeson. “I should be seen and not heard, a trophy for you to display.”

  “That’s not what I said,” Markeson answered defensively.

  “I know, but for now, that is how I should act,” Jennifer informed him. “You have a reputation to maintain. It would be appropriate for me to appear as one of your many conquests. That way nobody will examine me too closely.”

  Impressed, he nodded his approval. Jennifer was smart, and she learned fast. She also had a better understanding of his world than he'd realized. "You are a worthy trophy," he smugly informed Jennifer.

  “I should hope so,” Jennifer answered, a hint of snark in her voice. “My figure is much better than Cassandra’s. She needs to lose a kilo or two.”

  In her new form, Jennifer was growing more appealing by the minute. “Be nice, Jennifer. We may have a use for Cassandra in the future.”

  Jennifer’s gaze remained fixed on the white blur passing outside the window. “I will never
have a use for her,” was the cyborg’s response.

  “Business relations sometimes require providing entertainment services,” Markeson said firmly.

  His cyborg still did not turn away from the window to look at him. “I suppose," Jennifer said. "She is a cheap skank, and there is no sense in spending more on entertainment for a guest or client than is necessary."

  Unable to help himself, Markeson chuckled at Jennifer’s disdain for his favorite consort. He leaned the seat back and made himself comfortable. A short nap before the shuttle landed would do just the trick.

  SARAH HAD LEFT WITH Saundra to use the lady’s room and bring back some food, leaving me alone with Ambassador Marshall. The man paced back and forth while I sat in the Chancellor's chair with my eyes closed, watching the replay on my internal display in my right eye.

  “You have accomplished nothing since you arrived,” Marshall informed me.

  "Actually, that's not true," I answered. "You and Saundra, on the other hand, left out some significant pieces of information that would have been helpful.”

  “How so?”

  "For starters, there's a little fact that the local economy is undergoing changes. A lot of blue collar and working- class people are suffering. Then there's the not so little fact you've been having riots the past year or so. Nothing like a little political turmoil to make the disgruntled of a world kidnap the child of the planetary leader."

  “We deemed the information sensitive and irrelevant,” the Ambassador informed me.

  I let my irritation show in my voice. “Everything is relevant in a kidnapping, particularly one that is politically motivated like this one.”

  “The Chancellor must maintain appearances. She cannot appear to be weak or indecisive,” Marshall insisted.

  “Whatever,” I shot back, growing weary of the man. “Who are her enemies?”

  “That’s just it,” Marshall answered, his frustration evident in his face. “She has the complete support of the elite and the wealthy.”

  “The owners in other words,” I pointed out.

  “What others could matter?”

  “All the little people, the workers who make the economy of Athens II function. Their families, the little people that make every planet function, that’s who!”

  It was the Ambassador’s turn to answer with disdain. “Whatever,” he said dismissively. “These so-called little people as you describe them are just that, little. They have no significance, no importance to someone like Saundra. She is above them.”

  He never saw my right fist coming.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  We don’t know where she is,” Josef stammered. Unable to draw his eyes away from the unconscious Rondello, the kidnapper struggled to prevent the dry heaves from returning.

  “I’m getting a bit weary of this routine,” Broken Nose growled, lifting Josef’s with a hard yank of the younger, more slender man’s hair. Unable to look away from the fury in the face of his captor, Josef struggled uselessly against the restraints holding him upright in an old steel and plastic chair.

  "I'm telling you the truth," Josef protested. "We went to make sure everything was set to move her, and when we got back, Katrina was gone."

  "And therein lies the problem," Broken Nose shouted, releasing the handful of hair as he slammed the heel of his boot down on top of Josef's bare feet. Bones crunched, and eyes rolled back into his head as Josef screamed while passing out.

  Disgusted, Broken Nose kicked the chair with Josef strapped to it over on its side. "What a pair of idiots!"

  “Nothing we can do about it now,” his partner replied calmly. “They don’t know anything,” he added, nodding at the pair of incompetent guards. “If they knew anything they would have talked.”

  “There’s a lot at stake here,” Broken Nose replied. “They could be holding out on us.”

  "I agree," the partner said smiling at his pacing companion. "But these two are weak minded. Any thought of holding out went with the wind on the fifth broken finger on the first idiot. The second idiot wet his pants on the first finger I broke. He was telling the truth."

  Broken Nose stopped and glared at his partner. “Are you sure?”

  Standing up, the other thug motioned towards the door. “We should have been the ones handling this from the start. This is what happens when professionals are not used,” he replied. Broken Nose nodded in agreement, pulling out small caliber projectile weapon. He took aim and without emotion dispatched Josef and Rondello with shots to the head.

  “We’ll just have to find this Katrina then.”

  “Yes, we will,” the other thug answered. “We’ve wasted enough time here.”

  “I SHOULD HAVE YOU ARRESTED,” Saundra said a second time.

  “Fine, have me arrested,” I told her a second time. “It won’t get Katrina back.”

  Saundra sat on the floor, holding Ambassador Marshall’s head in her lap, holding an ice compress to his face. “Neither will hitting my Ambassador!”

  “It will if it knocks some sense into him,” I answered. “The two of you haven’t been very forthcoming on a lot of things. That has to stop. Otherwise, Katrina is as good as dead.”

  I let that sink in for a minute. Saundra had to choose. Her political career or the life of the young woman she’d paid a fortune to have created on the black market. Our daughter, Katrina.

  "What kind of person are you, Saundra?" I heard the words coming out of my mouth but couldn't believe I was the person talking. "This is our daughter, and you're playing games like this? What could be worth her life?"

  Father Nathan tells me all the time that words hold great power. Mine seemed to, at least the ones I’d just uttered. Saundra transformed before my very eyes from the beautiful woman I remembered to a cold, impersonal automaton. She deserved the name the Iron Chancellor.

  “I have worked my entire life to get where I am and don’t forget that, Inspector. Unlike you, I have plans, ambition.”

  At that moment I hated Saundra like I had never hated anyone else before in my life. At least the serial killers I hunted had a reason for what they did. An evil, twisted, sick logic, but a purpose that made sense to them.

  “What could you possibly want that would make you not do everything to get Katrina back?”

  “I want her back,” Saundra said with chilling bluntness. “Having a daughter could be an asset when I run for Regional Governor.”

  Appalled I stood up from my chair and with two strides made my way over to the two politicians on the floor. “I hit the wrong person,” I growled. “Whatever happened to caring about your daughter as a person?”

  A chill filled the room as Saundra replied. “I do care about Katrina. But the stakes have been raised with the demands the kidnappers made. If I have to choose, I choose my career.”

  My eyesight began to blur around the edges as a reddish tint appeared. With my throat tight and pulse racing, I could feel my restraint slipping. Slender fingers slipped into my right hand, intertwining themselves with mine.

  “What does she care, Sully?” Sarah tugged on my hand with surprising firmness, leading me towards the door. “She’s got the money to clone Katrina a second time.”

  “ARE YOU SURE?”

  After listening to the voice on the other end of the comm, the man sat in silence, thinking. “Is there anything left to clean up in that regard?”

  The man nodded at the response. “Good. There will be additional compensation for cleaning up that unfortunate situation.”

  Once again, the man listened to the speaker on the comm, nodding in agreement. "Find her. It is imperative she is recaptured. There is too much at stake." He paused and drew a deep breath and exhaled. "Find her within the next twenty-four hours, and each of you will receive a bonus of five thousand credits."

  Ending the link, the man stood up, pocketed the device, and picked up his hat. He needed to think about the next step to take. It had been an unfortunate mistake on his part to have entrus
ted Josef and Rondello with the task of guarding Katrina. Unlocking the door next to the loading dock of the building, the man stepped out into the road running between the building and the warehouse across the street.

  “Perhaps all is not lost,” he muttered. The Chancellor didn’t know Katrina had escaped. The girl hadn’t made a beeline to her mother nor had she called law enforcement. Perhaps our fair Katrina doesn’t want either party to find her he thought to himself. “I can work with this,” he mumbled to nobody in particular.

  “HOW COULD YOU DATE someone like that?”

  “It was a long time ago, Sarah. Saundra wasn’t always like this.”

  Sarah crossed her arms and glared at me from across the booth. “Whatever you say.”

  I didn't need Sarah to act like a child right now. It was a distraction I couldn't afford, that Katrina couldn't afford. "Sarah, look..."

  “She’s trash, Sully. She’s just no good. You don’t Dear John somebody,” Sarah informed me. “You give them the dignity of doing it face-to-face so they can yell at you, cry, beg, ask questions, whatever. You deserved that much.”

  “Stop it, Sarah,” I ordered.

  “No, I won’t,” my clone partner snapped back. “What I have to say has to be said.”

  Sarah wasn't going to let this go, and her voice was starting to rise. "Keep your voice down," I commanded.

  “That woman is a narcissistic sociopath,” Sarah hissed between clenched teeth, her jaw muscles bulging in her cheeks. “She needed a daughter, for whatever reason, but she didn’t want the inconvenience. So, your ex-honey conveniently had one cloned.”

  I didn’t say a word while Sarah paused to catch her breath.

  “We’re disposable, Sully. If you don’t like the first model, just kill it for its organs, have a few changes made to the genetic code, and have another one grown in the tank! If something tragic happens, you just have a new copy cloned and the memories implanted.”