Chrono Inquisitor (Gods Be Damned) (40 page)

Laughing, we went back to her workstation and programmed the new thugs. Then we both injected each other. I went to reunite with Kali and Death.

I took Kali’s yantra off the reader, turned it over in my hand, examining it. Sam had told me that all I needed to do was place it on my tongue so Kali could disperse herself throughout my body again.

I found I was still hesitant. I questioned whether the thugs Sam and I had programmed were good enough to protect me.

There was really only one way to find out.

I put the
yantra in my mouth and felt it dissipate on my tongue.

Only time would tell.

“Kali, you there?”

‹I’m here, Travis.›

“Everything okay? The thugs playing nice?”

‹So far, so good. I will keep you apprised of any issues.›

“Hey, Kali.”

‹Yes, Travis?›

“It’s good to have you back.”

‹It is good to be back.›

Sam came back into the room then. She didn’t look happy.

“Lillian left a message saying she went ahead and interrogated Inquisitor Noble. She says he confessed to killing Julius as revenge for the Inquisitors who were killed. Do you know what they’re talking about?”

“Four Inquisitors assigned to Beit’s case were killed on their way here. I was nearly killed myself. Someone planted a bomb on my pip.”

“How come I’m just now hearing about this?”

I shook my head and shrugged. “Ranger Stevenson seemed to know about it. What’s the deal with him, anyway?”

“It’s complicated,” she said.

“Most things are. Care to summarize though?”

“I slept with him,” she said. “Not recently. Nothing’s happened in years, not to say he hasn’t tried. It was after you and I divorced, shortly after this place got built. Back then we worked together a lot, going over security stuff. When the job was complete, I moved on to my next project. I told you I’m only here for a couple weeks out of the year. He wanted me to stay here full-time as head of security. He wanted something long-term, but I’d just been looking for some comfort.”

That explained a lot.

“So he knows I’m your ex?”

She nodded.

“Now I understand why he was such a dick,” I said.

“I doubt it was just because he knew you were my ex-husband. He doesn’t like Inquisitors to begin with, and, he really is an asshole. Not always. He does have a sweet side, but most the time he’s an ass.”

A part of me hated knowing that the two of them had been together, more than once, but I didn’t have a millimeter of righteousness in me to judge her for it. I actually felt like an ass, remembering what I’d said to her earlier about her spying on me.

I moved in and kissed her, as if to show her that I didn’t mind, that I loved her.

“So where’s Lillian and Noble now?” I asked.

“She said that her and Kody were taking him to the Ranger’s jail on  the premises, and then they were going to find the Horsemen and clear everything up.”

“Well then, it sounds like the case is closed. Maybe you and I should go back to your place, or we could go to mine?”

Just then I remembered Death had said he believed the Horsemen were dead, but never explained it.

Kali piped in at that same moment.

‹Death believes that something has happened to his physical self, because he would have informed the other Horsemen of your innocence after he released you. The fact that the Horsemen tried to take you into custody in the stairwell, indicates that Death never made the communication with them. I wouldn’t allow him to communicate then, because I didn’t fully trust him, which is why I instructed you to run.

‹
Later, when we’d been brought down here to the bunker, I opened a secure line for Death to contact the other Horsemen. They didn’t respond. We just tried again, and there is still no connection. Death thinks that something has happened to them.

‹
Inquisitor Noble may have killed Mr. Beit, but someone tried to kill you, and succeeded in killing the four other Inquisitors. Also, someone tried to kill you with the robots in the basement. Death and I don’t think it was either Noble or Dewhurst. Noble was trying to apprehend you, and Dewhurst didn’t have the knowledge to take control of the robots. We believe that Mr. Beit was being used by E3 as bait for Inquisitors and the Horsemen to come to the Regency in order to be eliminated.›

I relayed what Kali had said to Sam.

“I’m going to contact Lillian and see what’s been going on,” Sam said.

A minute passed.

“Damn. Lillian isn’t answering, and neither is Kody.”

“Wait a second,” I said. “When I came across Noble and Dewhurst in Cook’s suite, I tried to contact the Horsemen, but couldn’t. They said a barrier had been cast over the hotel. Could that be why you can’t contact anyone, and why the Horsemen can’t be reached?”

“I didn’t know a barrier had been put up.”

“It seems there’s a lot you don’t know about. Who has the ability to put one up?”

“Either Lillian, or Brandin could have done it.”

“You have a way of contacting them with the barrier in place, don’t you?”

“Yeah,” she said, and went to a landline on the wall which I hadn’t noticed before.

I watched her push a few buttons and wait. I could barely make out a ringtone. I couldn’t recall the last time I’d used an actual phone.

“Hey, Brandin, it’s Sam. Is there a barrier in place?” she asked.

I watched her listen.

“How come no one told me, and why is it still up?”

-

“Well take it down.”

-

“Since when?”

-

“Why the hell didn’t anyone contact me?”

Whatever it was, she was pissed.

“I don’t care what Lillian said, I’m in charge, and if you want to make sabbatical, you better remember that. I want to be informed immediately and directly by you if something like this ever happens again. Do I make myself clear?”

-

“Good. Now remove the barrier.”

Sam slammed the phone onto the receiver. It didn’t catch. It fell and dangled by the cord. Sam picked it up and with some restraint made sure it stayed.

I remained silent.

“The security feeds are down again,” she said.

“How is that possible? Dewhurst is dead, and Noble should be in a jail cell.”

“That’s what I intend to find out.”

From the look on her face she was attempting to contact Lillian again, and this time she was successful.

‹“Kali, the barrier is down, try to contact the Horsemen,”› I said.

‹I am already attempting to do so, but there is still no answer.›

‹“Well keep trying. I don’t like the way Sam is looking.”›

A minute later Sam said, “Damn it! I’m enveloped in incompetence.” Then she looked at me. “Come on.”

She went to a big metal cabinet and opened it. Inside was a small arsenal.

“Do you need any weapons?” she asked.

I looked at all the pretty toys she had while running through the inventory of my vault in my head.

“I’m good, but I’ll take a few rounds of ammo,” I said. “What’s going on?”

“Noble escaped. Lillian says some other Inquisitors showed up and ambushed her and Kody while they were escorting him to the jail. Now there’s a gunfight occurring on the roof of the Shareholder’s building and they could use our backup.”

‹“Kali?”›

‹I still can’t reach any of the Horsemen. Death says no other Inquisitors were assigned, and that whoever is assisting Noble, must not be an Inquisitor. He also has no clue who would come to his rescue. Noble’s only friend was Dewhurst.›

‹“Did Dewhurst have anyone else? Could Noble have recruited them to avenge Dewhurst?”›

‹Death says Dewhurst had a brother, but that he is in Australia and wouldn’t have been able to get here in time, and that there is no one else close enough to do so.›

‹“Is it possible for me to communicate with Death directly? That way in the future we don’t waste time relaying.”›

‹I could arrange that,
›
she said.

‹“Good. Then do it. I just had a thought, can we thread Sam in as well, like I was with the
waitstaff at dinner?”›

‹Yes, would you like me to do so?›

‹“If it’s all right with her.”›

It was.

Kali, Death, Sam, and I linked up.

We got in the elevator. I’d forgotten about it going sideways first. The unexpected motion made me woozy. It was only for a second, but it was long enough for Sam to take notice.

“Want some advice?” she asked.

“That depends, what it is, and how much are you charging?”

“Think of it as a consultation, first one’s free.”

“How generous of you.”

She smiled.

“Have Kali put a Mnemosyne block on whatever stimulus is causing your discomfort.”

“Oh yeah, it’s as simple as that, is it?”

“It is. All she has to do is track down the source of the discomfort, and have an M-myte block the path. Don’t you keep up with what people are doing with mytes?”

“Only when it’s illegal,” I said.

“You should pay closer attention; maybe even do some experimenting yourself, because you haven’t even scratched the surface of what they can do for you. For instance, thanks to H&M, there’s a little trick I like to do when I’m on the road and have to eat less desirable fair. All you have to do is share a memory with yourself of you eating your favorite meal. I almost mentioned it to you when we were eating and you complained about food in other Republics, but I was still pissed with you, so I didn’t.”

I harrumphed. “You’re serious? You can really do that?”

“You think I’m lying?”

“No, ma’am.”

“Good. So then next time you come across something unpleasant, have Kali make you think it’s the opposite.”

“If you say so.”

‹“Kali, you think you can do what Sam suggested?”›

‹I will try, but it might take some trial and error.›

“Kali thinks she can do it,” I said.

‹“I’m inside your head, you dolt, I can hear her as well,”› Sam said.

‹“Oh, then maybe I should just keep my mind shut and let you two women handle things.”›

‹That would probably be a wise decision,
›
Kali said.

‹“I know we technically met earlier,”› Sam said. ‹“But what do you say we forget about it, since it wasn’t a proper introduction. It’s good to finally meet you, Kali, I’ve heard so much about you.”›

‹Likewise, Ms. Matsuzaki.›

‹“Please, call me Sam.”›

‹As you wish, Sam.›

I cut in. ‹“Do either of you have any fucking idea how weird it is to have two independent voices conversing in your head, like you aren’t even there?”›

‹Yes,
›
‹“Yes,”› the two said in unison.

I sent them both a mental image of me flipping them off.

‹“He can be such a child sometimes, can’t he, Kali?”›

‹It is good to know that I am not alone in that assessment.›

‹“You’re a lot more pleasant than Enki makes you out to be.”›

‹Why thank you. I have always thought very highly of you myself.›

I cut in again. ‹“This is exactly what I was afraid of, you two forming an alliance against me. Hey, Sam, got a question for you, you can hear and converse with Kali, but how come I can’t hear Buddha?”›

‹“Because I have actual control over my end of the link, and he doesn’t want to speak to you.”›

‹“But he can hear me, right?”›

‹“He can hear you.”›

‹“Hey Buddha, you aren’t jealous, are you?”›

A male voice, one that quite possibly could be considered the perfect male voice, spoke to me for the first time. ‹“Do not overrate what you have received, nor envy others. He who envies others does not obtain peace of mind.”›

‹“Yeah, I think he’s jealous.”›

He didn’t respond. Sam and Kali laughed, almost exactly in the same way.

Just then the elevator reached the roof and the door opened into darkness. A storm had moved in at some point and it was down pouring. The wind slapped us in the face with cold rain.

“You sure they’re out there?” I tried to yell over the howling wind and the pounding rain of the storm. “I can’t see shit.”

‹“Why are you yelling? We’re linked,”› Sam said.

‹“It’s habit.”›

Something seemed to move a few meters out, but with the darkness and rain, it was hard to tell.

‹“I think I saw something,”› Sam said.

‹“Yeah, me too. Maybe you should get ahold of Lillian and Kody, loop them in. The last thing I want to do is walk out of this elevator and get shot by both groups.”›

I felt Sam tickle Lillian.

Nothing.

Then I felt her tickle Ranger Stevenson.

Nothing.

Then I felt a tickle in my mind. I answered it hoping it was good news.

‹“Hello, Ze’ev?”›

‹“I’m kind of busy, Quentin.”›

‹“I’m sorry to disturb you, sir. I was notified you were still awake and thought you might want to know that the painting you acquired is crated and ready to be shipped.”›