Calling the CPD and asking to speak to Jim proved just as fruitless. He was under and equally tight lockdown, and if not for some jurisdictional arguing between the CPD and the AARO, I might not have learned where Jim was being held. The operator at the precinct was a woman I knew well, though, and something of a gossip. Five minutes into that call, and I knew more about Jim’s situation than the Xalanite at the intake center.
Poor Jim had gotten cornered by some of the other inmates, and he’d taken a bit of a beating. I would have felt bad about that, but the memory of him shooting at me and N’kal in the hotel kind of killed any potential sympathy I might have had.
Jim also now faced divorce from his wife, who swore she didn’t know about his stash ofkrinor the hit he’d accepted. Isomewhat doubted that, but I didn’t argue with Erin when I had her on the phone and spilling beans.
My “transfer” from the CPD to the AARO was also apparently all but complete, which was news to me. I guessed that Director Hall had pulled some strings to keep me from being outright fired, so I should have been grateful. I missed my job, though, and missed having a bigger purpose. I still had cases that weren’t closed, other things to do when I got back to work, only … only I guess I wasn’t going back to work. Not at the CPD, anyway.
I hung up after thanking Erin and pondered my next moves. I hadn’t thought very far beyond catching the Xalanite that was out for N’kal’s blood, so the uncertainty of my future concerned me. If the transfer to the AARO went through, would I have to move to Rochester and work at the intake center full time? I’d have to have a talk with Director Hall at some point to get the real scoop on where I belonged in the AARO. Our current situation made this assignment work, but I wasn’t sure I really wanted to work for the agency full-time.
N’kal walked in just as I was getting off the phone, and I filled him in on what I’d learned.
“Divorce?” The way he enunciated the word made it sound vulgar. “His wife wishes to undo their mate bond?”
“Marriage,” I corrected, “and yes, she wants to undo it. He lied to her and hid important things from her. Why would she want to stay?”
N’kal frowned. “I suppose that is a valid point. I still do not like the idea.”
While I appreciated his loyalty and dedication to our bond, as a realist I knew that people sometimes grew apart, and rifts like the kind Jim caused couldn’t always be mended. Sometimes it was just better to break up and move on. I didn’t want to hurt N’kal’s feelings by voicing that opinion, though.
Shaking my head to clear it, I decided to change the subject. “So, N’kal, have you given any thought to where you might want to live once things settle down? I know they haven’t issued any permanent visas to Xalanites yet, but it couldn’t hurt to plan ahead.”
He blinked at me like I was speaking a different language. Did his nanites quit working?
“I want to stay with you. What else is there to plan?”
I sighed and rubbed my temples. “There’s where we’d live. What college you might go to, whether it be online or if politics permit, in person. There’s the matter of where you can get a job once you graduate. You’re smart, so I’m not worried about you doing well in your classes, but after you finish, you’ll need to apply for places. Interview. Things like that.”
His eyes widened, and he sat back. “I did not know so much went into it.”
“Well, yeah.” I spread my hands in a broad gesture. “Things like what field you choose matters, too. If you go into engineering, which sounds along the lines of your former Xalanite studies, there are some places with better schools and jobs than others. Since I’m, erm, between jobs at the moment, it doesn’t matter as much for me. I can go just about anywhere you go, provided Director Hall sees fit to keep me assigned to your case.”
“What if she does not see fit?” Panic edged his voice, and I hurried to keep him calm.
“Then I’ll turn down whatever job she offers that might take me away from you.”
His shoulders relaxed, and some of the tension in his posture eased. “That is good.” He opened the beer I handed him out of the fridge then took care of my bottle. They weren’t twist tops, but to Xalanite skin that wasn’t a problem. “Wait a moment. Why are you between jobs?”
Oh yeah. I hadn’t gotten that far yet; we got hung up on Jim’s divorce. “My job at the CPD is pretty much toast. Having sex with someone I’ve been assigned to protect is strictly forbidden, so it was just a matter of time after our tryst at the hotel in Detroit before I was canned. I’ve got a spot waiting for me at the AARO after my temporary assignment with you is done, but that all depends on what happens here. If you end up staying on Earth, if everything works out, I’ll fight for a position that lets me stay close to you, whether that’s here at the intake center or somewhere else.”
His brows knit together in concern. “You do not have a job lined up because of me?”
“To be honest, I lost my job because of you, but it’s also because of you that I haven’t fought to get it back or anything. I’m not blaming you; that’s just the fact of things. It’s more my fault for not resisting you.” I let the corners of my mouth turn up in a grin to ease the bite of my words.
N’kal grabbed my phone off the table.
“Hey!”
He stood and held it out of my reach while he futzed with the device. Before I could stop him, he had called his childhood nanny, Killaria, on Xalan.
She answered in Xalanite, and they held a long exchange in their native tongue before I was able to get the phone out of his hands. By the time I apologized to Killaria in English and disconnected the call, N’kal had a smug grin on his face.
“Too late, Timber. It is done.”
“What is done?”
I poked and prodded for several minutes, but N’kal just stood there grinning like a cat that had just caught a bird. His grin widened as the phone rang. I checked the screen and saw the AARO office number.
“Hello?”
