Different Senses (63 page)

“Let’s not talk like that. Will
you go back to work?”

I shook my head. “There’s
nothing more important than this.”

“
I understand. We’ll help
you financially in any way you need. There’s nothing more important
to
me
than all of you.
Nothing
.”

“Not even the job?”

“Not even. But the job
beckons.” I nodded, grateful for the time he’d taken when he had to
have police, press and politicians screaming down his neck. “If you
need transport, an auto is at your disposal. So is a bodyguard.
You’re under direct, named threat, Javen. Don’t make me worry about
you.”

I stood. “I won’t. Same goes
for me about you, okay?”

He smiled slightly. “Of course.
See you at dinner, I hope.”

I could have been angry at the
restrictions, but I sensed my father’s emotions, and they mirrored
my own. He was worried almost to death about his family, and so was
I. I didn’t believe any Nihan could be behind these crimes, or if
they were, that they had widespread support. But if word got out
about who was claiming responsibility, it would get very ugly.

My mother had known about Judge
Darn’s granddaughter and had kept it to herself. Once again I was
reminded how perfect a partner she had been to my father, and how
strong she was mentally. But she couldn’t carry the burden alone,
or forever. Time to step up in Yashi’s place.

I did have to deal with my
personal business, though. I called Madan from Dad’s secretary’s
office. “Javen, thank the Spirit. The attack was all over the news.
How is your brother?”

“Not out of danger,
unfortunately. I need to meet with you all. Can you arrange that
for this afternoon?”

“Uh, everyone’s in the office
anyway. The strike was called off this morning in sympathy with the
victims. People are horrified.”

Were they
all
horrified, though? “Things will probably get tough for your
people, you realise.”

“When are they not? See you
when you can get down here.”

Dad’s secretary smiled politely
at me as I closed the call and looked at him. “My father said I
could have a driver?”

“Yes, sir. Day or night, he
said. I’ll have a vehicle collect you from the back of the
residence.”

I wondered whether my own had
survived the blaze. When a sombrely dressed security officer joined
me in an auto with dark-tinted windows, introducing himself as
Agent Tordwel, I said, “I want to go past my brother’s house first.
Is that okay?”

“Yes, sir. Anything you want.
But you’ll need to wear body armour.” He reached into the bag he’d
brought with him, and pulled out a vest. “Are you carrying a
weapon?”

“No. I’d locked it in the gun
safe in the house.”

“Then take this.” He handed
over a sleek Gauta .25 laser-sighted pistol in a holster, helping
me into it and the vest. “We can arrange other weaponry as
required, Sri Ythen.”

“If someone’s waiting to pick
me off from a roof top, that won’t help.”

He looked at me with cold black
eyes, his emotions as opaque as his irises. “We don’t know where
the threat may come from, sir. You know what I’m talking
about.”

I did, in theory. But
that was different from being the target of an active assassination
attempt.
Another
active assassination attempt.

The road to the house was
blocked off, but our auto was whisked through once Agent Tordwel
produced credentials. The house itself was crawling with
overall-clad experts, watched by rifle-bearing cops. ‘House’ was a
charitable description. ‘Charred, unrecognisable mess’ was a better
one. The roof and upper floor had collapsed. Ironically all that
remained in some form was the new flat and deck Yashi and Tara had
built. They’d created a home for me, and lost their own.

I stared at it for a long time,
thinking how very close we had come to losing everything—and not
just a few material possessions—but also how much those few things,
like pets and toys and letters and jewellery, meant to my family. I
didn’t have much of that kind of thing to lose. All my documents
were in safe storage, and I wasn’t one to keep love letters, but
Tara and Yashi would have mementos of their courting. Locks of baby
hair, first fumbled drawings by the twins. How much would it
matter?

“Sir? Are you all right?”

I turned to Tordwel. “I want to
hurt someone very badly.”

“
I don’t blame you.
The
banis
bastards should pay.”

“We don’t know who’s
responsible, Agent Tordwel, and I’d appreciate you not
speculating.”

He stared back coldly. “My
apologies, sir. Shall we go?”

Dad wanted to keep a lid on the
racial tension, but I couldn’t see him succeeding. Even without
this ‘Justice for Nihan’ group’s claim, the Nihan were the obvious
suspects. And dead children roused strong emotions, as they already
knew.

I hadn’t looked at a news feed
all day, and even though now, in the auto, I could do so without
interruption, I couldn’t face it—not the regurgitation of the
attacks, the speculation, nor the interviews with the victims. It
was all too close and raw. The press didn’t have the real facts,
and they were what I craved. I envied Agent Tordwel. He could fight
directly, investigate directly. He wasn’t burdened with my family’s
name.

My team’s anxiety hit me even
before I opened the office door. No one spoke as I walked in, and
Prachi actually covered her mouth as if afraid she might say
something to upset me.

“I think chai’s a good idea
before we start,” I said, trying to sound normal and business-like,
but failing miserably.

Vik fled to put the kettle on.
I pulled up my chair. “You guys all okay?”

“We’re all safe and well,
except for worrying like mad about you,” Hamsa said. “Please accept
my sympathies about your brother.”

“Thanks. It’s been tough for
all of us.”

She nodded. Prachi flushed,
exuding discomfort. Madan, grim-faced, was worried underneath it.
Terrific. I was about to make it all worse for them. “Vik? Leave
the chai. We need to talk.”

He stood in the doorway.
“Water’s nearly boiled.”

“I know. Come in anyway, will
you?” He stepped back into the room. “The fact is, I’m taking
leave. I have no idea for how long, or if I’ll ever come back. I
feel bad for abandoning you, but until we catch the people who did
this, I won’t be able to think about anything else.”

“You're rejoining the force for
real?” Madan asked.

“No. My father doesn’t want me
to go back into uniform. Doesn’t mean I can’t help. These people
tried to kill my family. They did kill a little girl.”

“I’d do the same,” Vik said.
“I’d never stop until I found out who and stopped them.”

“Yeah. So...you
understand?”

“Of course,” Madan said as the
others nodded. “Not saying you won’t be missed, but we know why you
have to do this.”

“Good. Then we should talk
about workloads and such.”

We spent an hour splitting up
client files and deciding who would take what. But I couldn’t
ignore Prachi’s continued discomfort and nervousness. Finally I
turned to her. “Is something bothering you?”

“
No. I mean, yes.
Boss...people are saying it’s us who did this. The Nihan. No
udawa
would do this, you know that, right?”

“I haven’t made any assumptions
at all. I can’t stop other people speculating.”

“I know, but...what if it is?
One of us, I mean. Can you work with us again?”

“You work with me, don’t you?
After all the Kelons have done to your people.”

“Yeah, but this is personal.”
She bit her lip and looked down. “Sorry for bringing it up.”

“Don’t apologise. The answer
is, I don’t think it will affect me, but this is new for me. I hope
you guys will be patient, but I won’t blame you if you can’t
be.”

“We just want to help,” Vik
said. “If we could catch these people for you, we would.”

They were such great kids. “You
never know. You might be able to. Whoever did this, is no friend to
any of you, or your people. If you have any idea, hear anything,
it’s to your benefit to report it. My father will come down hard on
anyone harbouring terrorists—and so will I.”

“None of us would do such a
thing,” Madan murmured.

I realised how threatening I’d
sounded, and made an effort to smile. “Sorry. I know that. See why
I need the time off? Being normal, thinking clearly, isn’t easy
right now.”

They all tried hard, and so did
I, but I was glad to finally escape, even if it made me a coward.
Would I ever be able to go back? Even if the criminals behind this
spate of terror were caught, it would be so easy for someone else
with a grudge against Dad or the government to take it out on Yashi
or me. If Dad left politics, then it would be different. But I
didn’t want him to do that unless there was no alternative. He
could do more good as governor than I could as a private
investigator. I’d changed careers before. I could do it again.

Agent Tordwel peeled himself
off the wall as I exited the back way. “Back to the residence,
sir?”

“Yes...no. The hospital, first.
And do you think it’s safe to visit Sri Kirin Nel at his work
place?”

“No, sir, I don’t. Sri Nel
could come to the hospital, or to the residence. To be honest, the
less time you spend outside and in unsecured areas, the happier the
governor will be.”

“Then to the hospital,
please.”

Hegal’s main hospital was
modern and well-funded, but the private wing was a level above
again in service and luxury. I’d always been conscious that Dad’s
position had given me access my job and income couldn’t afford, but
all the nice furnishings and leather chairs in the world didn’t
make a difference to whether Yashi would live or die. No one raised
the slightest objection to me going to the intensive care unit, and
when I asked to see my brother, a polite medic took me to the
treatment room without delay.

The
guan
gel tank was as
alien and disorienting as I remembered it, Yashi barely
recognisable through the garish goo surrounding and supporting him.
Healing him too, though that couldn’t be seen. By mercy or
accident, the less injured side of his face was the one turned to
me, but I knew what the other side looked like. Now we were
different. All our lives, the fact we were identical had been
something that had amused us, comforted us, sometimes confused us,
always something we took for granted. But it wasn’t Yashi’s body I
worried about so much as what would go on inside his head once he
came out of this tank and was allowed to wake up. Disfigured,
almost certainly disabled, facing rebuilding his home, and
realising that all of our family could be now under a permanent
death threat. He’d be returning to a nightmare.

I wished that mythical bond
between twins was real, that I could read Yashi’s mind as once I
could so easily read his emotions. But Yashi was as dead and closed
to me as the pane of glass on which my forehead rested. “See you
soon,” I whispered, then turned away. I shouldn’t have come. It
didn’t help.

As we exited the lift, I heard
my name being called. I looked up in disbelief but yes, someone
stood there who was as familiar to me as my brother. “Shardul? What
are you doing here?”

Agent Tordwel moved in front of
me. “Sir?”

I waved him back. “It’s okay,
he’s a...friend. My father can vouch for him,” I added irritably as
my guard radiated suspicion. “Let me talk to him, will you? I’m in
no danger here.”

“Sir,” Agent Tordwel said,
disapproval clear.

Shardul eyed us warily. I took
his arm carefully and steered him away from the lift. “How are you?
Why are you here? Is someone sick?”

“
Harinakshi. He was
attacked last night by a couple of
chuma
men, wanting revenge for
the fires.”

“Sanity, that’s foul. How is
he?”

“He has a skull fracture,
broken ribs, dreadful bruising. He’ll be in here a while.
Roshni-ji’s very upset.”

“I bet. Please, uh, tell her
I’m sorry. Both of them.”

He nodded, and looked down at
his feet. Shardul never used to be diffident. “I heard about your
brother. You have my sincere sympathies. A terrible thing.”

“Yeah. I was just visiting
him.”

Clearly uncomfortable and
tired, at least he wasn’t trying to get away from me. Not yet,
anyway. “I’ve been thinking about you a lot over the last few
days,” I said. “Since the Denge decision, and with the riots and
everything. I wanted to help.”

“You can, if you’re serious.”
He was suddenly, surprisingly eager. “Your father. You’re on good
terms with him now, aren’t you?”

“Sure,” I said, confused by the
sudden switch of topic. “We worked on the Denge case together.
Didn’t do any good, though.”

“Of course not, not with a
Kelon jury. But you can still help, if you can talk to him. Our
community is being clamped down on, our people arrested and
questioned, treated like criminals—”

I took a step back,
rejecting his words. “Some of them
are
criminals. You want to
protect the animals who did what they did to Yashi, to the judge’s
grandchild? Them?”

“No, of course not, but if you
could ask the governor to go gently—”

The rage inside built so fast I
didn’t have time to stop it spewing out of me, all over him.
“You’re out of your fucking mind. My dad is trying to catch these
bastards before they kill or maim any more fathers or children, and
I’m going to help him. Go gently? You make me sick.”