Seri eyed the place. The walls and floors were white, from what he could see, but unlike the rest of the communal cabins they’d passed, there were bronze rugs spread out on the floor, the wall trimmings were bronze instead of black, and there were golden geometric designs covering the walls. To the left of the cabin were two luxury beds with bronze frames, thick purple comforters, and piles of golden pillows. A crib sat in a corner nearby that matched the colors of the beds.
The middle of the room was a living space, with a TV and what looked to be other forms of entertainment, such as game consoles and more. While the far right was made up of a small kitchen and dining area. There was a semi-circle door on the far wall, which he assumed must lead to a bathroom.
It all looked…luxurious. Seri was a bit surprised that any government agency would pay for a private room for a criminal, let alone one for two and a half people—the half being Skya.
Only first-class tickets came with private rooms. Regular tickets were open common rooms. Beds were provided, but privacy wasn’t—with the obvious exceptions of bathrooms, showers, and changing rooms.
Private rooms were a privilege of the rich. His gaze slipped to Severo, his suspicion growing.
Severo nodded politelytowards the male attendant who had shown them their quarters. When the man left, he pressed his left thumb to the scanner there, and the door of the cabin slid shut with a beep. The frame of the door flashed red as it locked.
He looked at the room, grimacing at how close the beds were as he walked further in, towing Seri behind. Setting the carrier down—Skya blissfully asleep—he turned to apologize for the lack of space, but the words never came out, as he found Seri eyeing him narrowly. Severo gazed around the room again, and sighed on realizing how all this must look to Seri.
“The look on your face… Seri, I’m not crooked. I paid for the room upgrade myself. Think of it as an apology for freaking you out.”
Seri’s expression didn’t change. In fact, he possibly looked even more suspicious. “And how could you afford such an extravagance?”
Severo huffed and walked between the beds, sitting down on the edge of one. Running his hands through his hair, he roughly removed the tie in frustration.
“I’m over two hundred years old, with few hobbies, and even less time to spend what I earn.”
Well, that and the money he’d been given by his parents at eighteen. Honestly, he didn’t need a job, and even now he could be living the high life off of what they’d given him.
“Look, I know you don’t trust me. But I’m not crooked. Something you will see for yourself three days after tomorrow when we reach the US, and I take you directly to the Bureau.”
Seri’s eyes widened. “Three days after tomorrow, bu—” He cut off and then blurted, “We are on an expedient flight?!”
“Yes,” he replied slowly as he eyed Seri’s increasingly clouded expression.
Expedient meant the flight path would take half the time of a normal shuttle. Different engine boosters or something. Severo was never one to try to understand how something worked, as long as it did work. Many in his family were scientists, but that gene, or whatever it was, had definitely skipped him.
Seri didn’t appear too happy about this development though. The Nymph had begun to bite his thumbnail, and was no longer looking at him.
“If I could let you go, I would,” Severo admitted.
Seri paused in his nervous destruction of his nail to glare. Though, now that he looked, there wasn’t much of a nail left to bite off.
He cleared his throat under the fierce look and continued on. “You won’t be put in a jail cell. They are preparing a room for you and your child at the CEB headquarters in Kansas. It's where we usually house witnesses that need protection. Um…if you think about it, the sooner we land, the sooner you’ll be somewhere safe. Actually, for now, I can unlock your cuff.”
He pulled the key out of his pocket and pressed his thumb to the scanner on the center link as he used the key to unlock them.
When the ends opened, Seri pulled away, rubbing at his wrist. The Nymph sat on the opposite bed. “How are you still so naïve at your big age?”
“I’m not—” Severo began.
“You are,” Seri cut in. “Because, crooked or not, Preston is using you to fetch back his toy. The murder of Leal is inconsequential in the end. Just a tool so he can have someone else drag me back across the terrestrial borders without questions.”
“I don’t doubt he is using the case in such a way. But now that charges were filed, and he involved the CEB, he won’t be able to just take you and make it all disappear.”
The words‘even if Chanway did have the local police in his pocket’were on the tip of his tongue, but he held them back. The info wouldn’t exactly drive much confidence now, would it?
“Don’t you get it? That is exactly what he plans to do. Because who is going to be able to stop him? You? Your little government agency? On Earth, Preston’s playground? Highly unlikely. And if you think he doesn’t have people working for him in your organization, you are more than naïve, you are stupid.” Seri chuckled, his voice full of derision.
It was hard to argue the point because Seri was right. On Earth, Chanway had a lot of unsavory connections. A lot of pull, power, and money… Probably an endless amount. But, so did the CEB. And he wasn’t so naïve to think that Preston didn’t have his hold on someone in the CEB, but he trusted his people to be able to circumvent them.
He got it though. Severo understood Seri’s lack of faith. So far, with any criminal cases dealing with Chanway, the Dweller had scraped by with disappearing witnesses, changed testimonies, judges suddenly feeling fucking lenient, and more. However, this time was different. This was murder, not some financial crime that could be more easily brushed or bribed aside.
Severo wouldn’t put it past Chanway to have already managed to do so before. There were just a lot of disappearances and no bodies. But that was the thing, the bodies had never been discovered, to even start the cases. This time, they had a body… Well…they had pictures of a body. So, there was more proof this time…sort of. Either way, they had a person who was ready and willing to tell of Chanway’s crimes.
