Different Senses (65 page)

“Ah yes, the governor made a
point of stressing your...loyalties.”

Shardul’s face flashed into my
mind. I shoved the image aside. “My loyalties are to my family, my
country and to the law, sir. I just happen to believe the law is
for everyone.”

“And those who break it, who
may be friends, or friends of friends?”

“
No friends of mine if
they do, not if they burn and murder and threaten. If you had any
question about my loyalty, you wouldn’t be here,
sir
.” Dad
winced but I ignored him. “What do you want me to do, and what does
it have to do with Tara?”

Reoda wasn’t fazed by my
rudeness, and replied calmly, “We want Javen Ythen to disappear,
and a man, apparently mixed-race, with a new identity and new
appearance, to take his place. That man will infiltrate the
militant groups as a sympathiser.”

“The idea,” Dad said, “is to
announce that you’re going to Kelon with Tara and the family, but
in reality you’ll stay behind to have facial enhancement surgery.
It will have to be done in complete secrecy. No one, not even your
closest friends, can know.”

I wiped my hands
surreptitiously on my pants. “My appearance—would it be permanently
altered?”

“Not unless you want it to be,”
Commander Reoda said. “That’s your biggest concern?”

“It’s a concern, but not a big
one. Yes, I’ll do it.”

“It’ll mean spying on
indigenous individuals, you realise. Posing as one of their own,
and possibly leading to convictions.”

I thought of Shardul again. I
knew what he’d say. But this was more important than his feelings
or mine. “I already said I don’t have friends who kill. My Nihani
friends are as shocked by all this as you are. It’s hurting them a
lot more than it’s hurting us.”

“You want to be absolutely
sure, sergeant. Undercover work is a massive strain on people.
Friendships, relationships, can be shattered.”

“I’m sure. But why me? Don’t
you have mixed race officers you could use?”

Commander Reoda coughed. “Ah,
we have a slight difficulty in being absolutely sure of their
allegiance.”

“You realise I’m actually mixed
race, just as my father is.”

“Yes but...the circumstances
are different.”

My father tsked. “Javen, do you
really want me to tell the commander you can’t be trusted?”

“No, I don’t. Just pointing out
a few facts. I don’t speak Nihani. Just a few words and phrases,
and I can read a little.”

Commander Reoda nodded. “That’s
fine. We’re working up a biography for you that will dovetail with
your real skills.”

“When do we start?”

“When your sister-in-law
leaves. You have until then to change your mind. Of course you
could pull out at any time....”

“I won’t. I’m an officer of the
law, and I abide by my oath of service and loyalty. I want these
bastards.”

He smiled. “So do I. Governor,
looks like our instincts were right. Congratulations on a brave
son.”

“Thank you. See you return him
how you found him, please.” Dad didn’t smile at all as he said
this.

“We’ll do our best to equip him
with the skills and backup he needs, sir. But it’s not a risk-free
enterprise.”

“Dad, don’t worry. I’m not
planning to get myself killed.”

It was the worst thing I could
say. My father’s face drained of colour and he put his hand over
his chest. “Javen,” he murmured. “I couldn’t bear that.”

“Dad, it won’t happen.”

“Sir, he’s well-trained, and
will have full support.”

Dad rubbed his forehead, then
cleared his throat. “Yes, of course. And we all must make
sacrifices. Javen, I’m sure you want time to digest all this, and
please do think about it some more. Commander, thank you for your
time. You’ll be in touch with my son, I’m sure.”

I would have stayed and tried
to reassure him, but we were clearly dismissed.

Commander Reoda gave me a
sympathetic look as we left his office. “I don’t want to offer him
false promises of your safety, sergeant.”

“I know. I also know what’s
involved. I don’t need false promises either.”

“Good. From this moment, your
status on the police force register has changed from reserve to
active.”

I grinned. “Thank you.” I was a
cop again, even if I couldn’t tell anyone. Even if it might just
get me killed.

“You’re welcome. Sergeant, I
didn’t want to mention this in front of your father since he, ah,
is somewhat distressed about the matter, but I have someone I need
you to meet.”

“Now?”

“Yes, please. We’ll take my
vehicle. I’ll give you ten minutes to collect your weapon and body
armour, and meet me at the security office.”

“Yes, sir.”

Back in the apartment, Tara
smiled with relief as I returned. “Everything all right?”

“Dad needed my help with
something, and now I have to go out for a bit. Hang on, I just need
to put my outside gear on.”

The sight of me with my holster
and armour never failed to distress her. “How long will you have to
wear all that?”

“For a while, I suspect.” I sat
next to her, and let Nita grab my finger with her chubby hand. “You
know I want to catch who did this to Yashi, don’t you?”

“Of course. Javen, you’re not
going back on the force, are you?”

“No,” I lied. “Of course
not.”

“Are you sure everything’s
okay?”

I smiled and kissed her cheek.
“Absolutely sure. I want you to have a good year on Kelon, but not
too good so you want to come back, okay?”

“So long as you and your
parents are here, I always will. Be careful, Javen. Today, I
mean.”

I patted her hand and tickled
Nita under the chin. “I’ll be back this afternoon, probably. I’ll
take the boys out for a run on the estate, wear them out. See you
soon.”

The commander nodded with
approval at my prompt arrival. We drove in his anonymous dull blue
auto into the city. He gave me no clue as to our destination, and
when, to my surprise, we pulled into the parking area of the
central police station, he only glanced at me. I kept quiet,
practicing creaky skills of being a good subordinate after years as
my own boss.

I’d long since stopped
flinching around uniformed officers, but it felt weird to realise I
belonged here in the station again, even covertly. The smell of the
place plugged right into my basal brain, and I even found myself
doing the cop walk—the lopsided one we all ended up using because
of the equipment we carried on our belts and shoulders.

“Miss it, sergeant?” Commander
Reoda asked quietly as he led the way to the elevator.

“Like a limb, sir.”

“It gets into your blood,
police work. You learn to see the world differently and you can
never unsee it.”

So, another former cop. Not the
usual career path for the security force, but not unheard of.
Hadn’t been an option for me back then—but it was now, in theory.
Dad would have a stroke. Once I thought I wouldn’t have cared. Now
I knew I did.

We headed to the low level, and
despite myself, a fear shiver ran up my back. The basement was
where bad things were dissected, the worst crimes discussed, the
hardest criminals targeted. It was also the location of the high
security cells, rarely in use in my day. I had a feeling they’d
been busy of late. Cheap disinfectant, urine and sweat assailed my
nose, and the stark, sickly coloured lighting had been designed to
drain the heart out of a man. I’d always tried to spend as little
time as possible down here when I’d been a cop.

He took me to a small interview
room. Another officer, a captain, rose and saluted him. “Sir.” He
was young, unremarkable in appearance but with a keen intelligence
in hooded eyes. He gave nothing away as he looked at me. I tried to
look as if this was all routine.

“Captain Largosen, Sergeant
Ythen has agreed to help. I think he’ll be able to assist us with
the current matter. Take a seat, sergeant.”

I sat across from the captain,
who opened the file in front of him, and slid a picture from it
towards me. “You’re acquainted with this man, sergeant?”

Shardul. It was an official
police photo, and a recent one. I frowned at it. “Yes, sir. Has he
been arrested?”

“Two days ago on suspicion of
communicating with terrorists.”

“
Shardul
? Really?”

The commander gave me a thin
smile. “No. Oh, the police had enough to arrest and hold him, but
it wouldn’t take a lawyer of his calibre to have the charges
dropped. What we want is a lever. We need his help. Unfortunately,
he has so far declined to give it or be persuaded into it.”

“Or forced into it. Sir, you
picked a really bad individual to intimidate. What do you need him
for? He’ll never help the Kelons.”

“
We need him to do just
that. It’s precisely because of his impeccable standing as a
champion of his kind that we need him to help us plant agents such
as yourself. No
banis
would doubt his recommendation.”

“But he’ll never give it. I
know him. You’d have a better chance of persuading Uterden to stop
rotating.”

Commander Reoda tapped
Shardul’s picture. “I think you might have some influence. You and
he were engaged at one point, were you not?”

I flushed. “No, sir. That was a
stupid media story. We were friends...but not any longer.”

“Ah. And yet you greeted him at
the hospital in a friendly manner.”

How long had they been watching
me? “I’m willing to talk to him, sir. But I don’t think it’ll
work.”

“I’m willing to risk it.
Captain, have the prisoner brought into the observation room.
Sergeant, you know where that is, don’t you?”

I didn’t like this, and I
didn’t like the calculated smugness Commander Reoda exuded. Captain
Largosen’s emotion remained spookily opaque—whatever his thoughts
about this, he felt uninvolved emotionally, like this was just a
game to them, and Shardul a pawn.

Yashi’s life was more than a
game, though, and if Shardul help find the people who’d tried to
kill my family, then I’d do my best to persuade him. I went two
doors down to the interrogation room.

Five minutes later, Shardul,
shackled and dishevelled and mad as hell, was hauled in and dumped
into a chair. The guards left us glaring at each other across the
table.

He tossed his braids back with
a disdainful flick. “Well, there’s a surprise. When you surrender
your principles, you really do a good job, don’t you, Javen?”

“Oh, shut up. I hear you’re
communicating with terrorists. Not many principles there
either.”

“
I was monitoring
conversations of anti-indigenous agitators, something
you
advised me to do and which I’ve been doing for years. Oh,
don’t tell me the terrorists are Kelons? Suddenly it makes
sense.”

“Knock it off, Shardul. We need
your help to catch these people. Why won’t you give it?”

He raised his cuffed hands. “I
have no idea. After all, I was asked so very nicely.”

I turned to the observation
window. “Please unlock the restraints, sir.”

A long delay. I imagined a
pretty heated discussion was going on, but finally the locks
emitted a beep and the cuffs fell away. Shardul didn’t move.

“Oh thank you, master. In
gratitude, I will fall down on my knees and do whatever master
wants.”

I gave him the finger. “These
bastards tried to kill my family and crippled my brother, possibly
for life. Help us.”

“ ‘Us’ being the race which
beat my cousin to a pulp, and killed a pregnant woman by running
over her in an auto four nights ago, not to mention the race which
produced Kaushik Denge? You forget, don’t you. For every atrocity
you can come up with against your people, I can list ten—and they
go back a long way. You won’t guilt me into this, you won’t bully
me, and you will never force me.”

“But why won’t you help? These
people are hurting yours as well as mine.”

Did I imagine the very
slightest softening of his snarl? His anger overlay the rest of his
emotions, hiding them. “I know. But my own arrest shows the lax
manner in which the law is being applied, how quickly our legal
guaranteed rights are destroyed, and without protection being
guaranteed, anything I do for you will oppress the innocent more
than the guilty. I’ve spent my entire life protecting the helpless,
and you want me to overturn that?”

“They could arrest your aunt,
or Rupa.”

The look he gave me told
me as much as my empathy did how much he despised me for saying
that. “Do your worst,
chuma
. They would die, as will I,
before we act to harm any innocent Nihan.”

“I believe you. Tell me
this—are you helping the terrorists?”

He scanned my face, my eyes. I
hoped he could tell I was serious, because I was. “No. Not in any
way, and I never would.”

“I believe you.”

“Will you help me get out of
here?”

“Yes.” I turned to the window
again. “I’m done here.”

Commander Reoda had lost the
smugness when he joined me in the corridor. Now he was coldly
furious, walking with clipped, angry steps towards the elevator as
if the very ground offended him. “Is that your idea of assistance,
sergeant?”

“I warned you, sir. Just let
him go. Holding him is only inflaming racial tensions and he will
never, ever help you under duress. No more than I will.”

He turned and glared. “You’re
here voluntarily.”

“Yes, sir. So long as that
remains the case, I don’t have a complaint. Shardul’s not a cop or
a soldier. He’s a man more devoted to principle than any I’ve ever
met in my entire life. If you want his help, you need another
lever.”