Infernal Affairs (25 page)

“She just needs to introduce herself. Among her species, introductions are extremely important. And sensitive. They can be life-defining.”

Rashid was breathing quicker, but he didn’t move. He kept his eyes on Latyrix. She had a beautiful silvered nose and black spotting on her head. Her pupils were very large, and her eyes were liquid, smooth in all their movements.

Her whiskers hesitated in the air between them. They were curled and stately, emerging like a kind of lacy textile from the sides of her face. The way each whisker curled up, it almost resembled the collar of a high cape, or a cravat.

Latyrix sniffed along Rashid’s face. Her whiskers dragged against his skin, and he shivered, but didn’t move. She sniffed down his neck.

“Thank you. I didn’t mean to startle you.”

Her voice came from the amulet, as if from a microphone. It sounded clear, but also slightly grainy. It wasn’t her real voice, but rather the bare tone of her voice without any gestural information factored into it. I thought it sounded sometimes like a book on tape, but it was our most effective mode of communication with the animals who worked in the law court. I mean, really, they designed the law court. Most of the prosecutors weren’t even mammalian, or barely so.

“Doctor,” Selena was saying patiently, “Latyrix is your counsel. We’re recording this session, and if necessary, she’ll be your advocate in court.”

“Is—” He tore himself away from Latyrix, who was still regarding him without any change in expression. “Is your court really run by animals?”

“Not entirely.”

“Falih is scared and disoriented,” Latyrix said. Her voice settled over the room, and we found ourselves going still. “That is the name you go by, correct? Rashid is your—what is the name for it”—she made a low growl in her throat, followed by a flick of her ears—“surname? Namelast?”

“Last name,” Selena said.

“Yes.” Latyrix looked at him for another long moment. Then she settled to her haunches, about a foot away from him. “This floor is cold. You need carpet.”

“I agree, madam. But the floor is designed to be stain-resistant.”

“Of course. You must get a lot of secreters in here.” She looked at Rashid again. “I will call you Falih, if that is all right.”

He nodded slowly. “Call me anything you want.”

“I’m sorry that my appearance makes you nervous. It’s a hard-coded biological response, and it will take you a few moments to work through it.”

I was never quite sure if we were supposed to call animals “sir” and “madam” or not, but I did it out of deference. Mostly, I just copied Selena. But you could tell already how concerned the CORE was about Rashid being a code seven. I’d only seen Latyrix attending a deposition once or twice, but it was widely acknowledged that she was one of the best defense lawyers working for the CORE.

I knew little about the mechanics of occult litigation, save for the fact that panthers usually made the best prosecutors. Although I’d once seen a mink who was very persuasive in his closing arguments.

“Falih,” the snow leopard continued, “it’s important for you to know that you aren’t being held here against your will. There’s no evidence that can keep you here, and Officer Ward can’t simply chain you to the table. You’re free to go.”

She moved her head slightly. “However. As your counsel, I would advise you against leaving. You’re much safer here.”

“Is someone going to rip my head off as well?”

“Quite possibly.” Latyrix made a gesture that might have been a shrug. “Like it or not, you’ve blundered your way into a very serious situation. You’ve seen things that you shouldn’t have. There’s a mark of contagion on you now, and others will be able to sense it. Others will then be able track you.”

He stared at her. “Who are these others?”

“The type of thing powerful enough to do what you saw in that office. The type of thing that makes even me nervous. Understand?”

He nodded. “I still don’t fully believe that we’re talking, though. I mean, I understand that I’m hearing your voice, or
a
voice; I don’t know. I understand you. But I think I may also be hallucinating. Someone could have easily put something in this water. GHB, LSD, or a combination of the two.”

“You aren’t drugged and you aren’t dreaming.” Latyrix looked at him. “You’re not supposed to be here, talking to us. But you are. We can’t do anything about it. What we can do is figure out a solution that works for everyone.”

“You really do kind of sound like a lawyer.”

“That’s because I am a lawyer. I have been my whole life.”

“But—I mean—” He blinked. “You can forgive me for being skeptical, right? A talking leopard?”

“You think animals have no language?” She regarded him calmly, her eyes very still. “It’s true, we have very little reason to talk to hominids like yourself. But for some of us, the situation demands it. As long as you manipulate the natural world, some of us have to live among you, to keep watch.”

“Animals have always been involved in our justice system,” Selena told him. “It may be hard for you to understand. But we’re immensely grateful for the help and expertise that they offer us.”

“Why are you telling me this?” Rashid shook his head. “Why not just shoot me full of drugs and leave me in my bed, at home? You made me forget once. I’m sure you could do it again.”

“The procedure was imperfect,” Selena replied. “It didn’t take. You’re risking brain damage if we attempt it again, and I can’t allow that. So we have to do this properly, through the correct legal channels.”

“Correct legal channels.” Rashid closed his eyes. “I’m in an interrogation room, talking to a wild animal.”

“Latyrix has no interest in harming you,” Selena said, glancing at a folder in front of her. “We need to proceed. Falih, I’ve got all of your information here. Medical records, transcripts, DNA samples, relationship history—it’s all in this file.”

His eyes widened. “How did you get all of that so fast?”

“It actually took longer than usual, since you’ve lived in so many places. But we have very good connections, and very fast computers.”

“If you already know everything, then why are you asking me questions? Just read my life on paper.”

“There are things that the file can’t answer. Tests that we need to perform whose results aren’t instantaneous. We’ll need more time.”

“Time for what? I don’t understand what you’re looking for.”

“What Detective Ward means,” I told him, “is that we’re testing your blood to see if anything is out of the ordinary. You may have a preexisting condition. Something that would predispose you to—well—us. To who we are and what we are.”

“You mean like a mutation?”

“You could call it that.”

“You think I’m infected with something.”

“We don’t know anything yet,” Selena said. “We just want to make sure that you’re healthy and that your immune system is uncompromised.”

“Do you think I was exposed to something? Back there, at the apartment?”

“It’s possible.”

“Great.” He closed his eyes. “I’ve already lost my job, and now I might be sick. I can’t imagine how this night is going to get better.”

“Well, you are talking to a snow leopard,” I reminded him. “And if that was the sort of thing you were able to tell your friends about, they’d probably think it was pretty awesome. But you can’t tell them. You understand that, right?”

“I understand that you’ve basically kidnapped me and possibly drugged me. I don’t feel ready to agree to anything just yet.”

“You don’t have to convince him,” Latyrix said. “He’s not going to tell anyone. They never tell anyone. Dr. Rashid would only be declaring himself insane if he shared the events of tonight with anyone else.”

“I could say I was really drunk.”

“But you don’t drink.”

“How do you know that?”

“Alcohol has a distinct odor. You don’t drink, but you have smoked a cigarette recently. I don’t believe you’re anything but a casual smoker, though.”

He swallowed. “That was close to a week ago.”

“As I said. Recently.” Latyrix looked at him. “Falih Rashid, let us be honest with each other. You don’t understand any of this. Yesterday, you believed that you were a successful pathologist. Now you’re talking to an animal, and you don’t believe in talking animals. Nevertheless, here we are.”

Rashid rubbed the back of his neck. He seemed to have lost some of his fear, but his body was still very stiff, and he couldn’t take his eyes off the leopard.

“It’s true,” he said. “I’m not sure this is really happening. But I do know what I saw in that office. I can’t forget that. I know what I felt, too. It was all over that body, everywhere, like an oil slick. Evil. I felt it. I know that I did.”

“You’re probably right,” Latyrix replied. “Even someone like yourself, with no perceptible genetic anomalies or innate powers, can sense the presence of certain things from other worlds. Your body registers it as an electromagnetic disturbance. You feel it in your hair and your teeth, you smell it, just as I can smell it.”

“Is that what it was? Evil?”

“It was certainly destructive. As your philosopher Blaise Pascal says, ‘Evil is easy, and has infinite forms.’ Maybe you sensed one of those forms. Whatever happened, you’ve been touched by it. Infected. And now whatever was after Corvid will also be after you.”

“But I didn’t do anything.”

“No. You were at the wrong place at the wrong time.” Latyrix looked at me suddenly. “And twice, if I’m not mistaken. Agent Corday, did you not encounter Dr. Rashid at the morgue originally, while you were retrieving the Ptah’li child?”

“That’s right, madam.”

The leopard almost seemed to wink at me. “I’m not that old. You can simply call me by my name.”

“Sorry. You’re right. We did meet that way.”

“What’s a Ptah’li?” Rashid asked. “Are you talking about the little boy?”

“Yes. His name is Ru.”

“Is he here?”

“He’s safe.”

“Let me see him.”

Selena shook her head. “I don’t think that’s possible.”

“Look.” Rashid exhaled. “That child was open on my table. I was cutting into his body, and he woke up. Screaming. Do you think that’s ever happened to me before, in the history of my medical career? I can’t stop thinking about it.”

“Ru’s fine,” Selena said. “I promise you.”

“I just need to see him for myself. Please. If he’s here, it’ll only take a second, right? Then you can get back to interrogating me.”

Selena at Latyrix. “What do you think?”

“It couldn’t hurt. We want them both to be comfortable, and they’ve cooperated so far. As long as we’re all here, I don’t see a problem in it.”

Selena dialed a number on her cell. “Yes. Bring him to Conference Room C. I want a full guard detail accompanying him.” She hung up. “Fine. He’ll be here in five minutes. Then you can see that you haven’t just been hallucinating all of this.”

“Can—” Rashid looked at Latyrix again. “I mean, may I ask you a question?”

Her blue eyes held him. “If it is within reason.”

“Please don’t take this the wrong way. I mean no offense. But wouldn’t you be more comfortable living in the wild?”

She flicked one of her ears. I interpreted it as a minor signal of annoyance. “Would
you
be more comfortable living in the wild?”

“I don’t know. But we have very different instincts, you and I.”

“It’s true. I’ve undergone a good deal of conditioning to allow me to live among hominids. If I lived on a Siberian plain, I might be happier, more carefree. But I inherited the sacred duty of litigation. I chose this path, and I do not regret my choice. No matter how alienating it can be sometimes.”

“I can relate to that. I think.”

“A lot of us can,” Selena said. “We’ve all inherited complex genetic legacies. You might even say some of us got shafted by our ancestral responsibilities. But we’ve all managed to build a life for ourselves.”

“In this guarded complex,” Rashid said. “No. Pardon me. In this secret guarded complex, which isn’t supposed to exist.”

“I didn’t say it was perfect.” Selena’s cell rang. She put it to her ear. “I’m here. What?” Her eyes widened. “Oh, bloody—”

The lights flickered. Then an alarm sounded.

Rashid looked around him. “What is that? What’s going on?”

Selena put down the phone.

“Ru’s gone,” she said. “And so is Basuram. Both cells are empty.”

The alarm was still going, and a few seconds later, the emergency lighting kicked in. It was basically the same as the floor lighting they always talk about in the safety demonstration on an airplane, just before takeoff. Latyrix was the first to move. She stood up on her haunches, not growling, but making a very low sound in her throat, like the prelude to a growl. Selena walked over to the door and placed her hand on it.

“They’re still here. Both demons. I’d say they’re three floors beneath us and moving rapidly.”

“Ru’s fast,” I said. “But I’m more worried about the path of destruction that Basuram’s going to leave behind.”

Selena crossed the room and hit the emergency PA button.

“Code Black,” she said. “Evacuate all nonspecialized personnel. Combat-trained personnel are to cover floors one through fourteen. Use armor-piercing rounds for the Kentauros demon, and if you encounter the—”

The speaker went dead. Selena swore.

“They’re in the subbasement.” I looked at Selena. “Could they have gotten to Esther? The elevator won’t even go there without a key card.”

“The elevators aren’t entirely demon-proof, unfortunately.” Selena started dialing her cell. “Latyrix, if you’d be so kind, please escort Dr. Rashid and Agent Corday to a safe area. I have to organize a security pattern.”

“Follow me,” Latyrix said. “Agent Corday, are you armed?”