Last night was different. Her commanding officer was required to know all the details of her mission and how it had gone south. The admittance would be humbling.
Troopers around her filed into different buildings or onto the training field, and the pathways around Jade emptied. A nearby clock rang out eight times to mark the hour. Jade was a full hour late.
She reached the Command building, a wide, two-story structure made of stone that housed the offices of the higher-ups as well as conference rooms, strategy rooms, studies, and archives. Jade pushed open one of the heavy wooden double doors and squinted as her eyes adjusted to the dimmer light. Sergeants, lieutenants, captains, and majors filtered through the tiled lobby, the click of their booted steps echoing off the high ceiling.
Jade made a beeline for Matherson’s office on the ground floor. The carpeting in the hallways muffled her footsteps, but noise was still abundant. A shrill telephone rang. Voices carried down the hall. A door shut somewhere behind her.
She paused outside the door to his office, the rich mahogany nondescript save for a gold placard readingCmdr. Antonius Matherson. Gripping the hem of her jacket, she tugged it even, then she stuck her chin out and straightened her shoulders.
Her closed fist hovered before the door for a moment before she rapped her knuckles across the wood of his door and heard his call for her to enter. She obeyed, coming inside and shutting the door behind her, then saluted her commander with an arm across her chest.
“Take a seat, Captain Ni’ihm.”
Commander Matherson sat behind his desk poring over a stack of papers, fingers on the arm of gold-framed glasses that rested on his nose. He pulled the glasses off and laid them on the papers, then lifted his eyes to her. His gaze was soft, the fan of wrinkles at the corners of his eyes betraying the smile that his lips did not show.
“Feeling well-rested, Captain?”
Jade took a seat in one of the plush leather armchairs across from him. “Yes, sir. Thank you.” She dipped her head toward him with her last words, indicating her appreciation both for asking and for the extra sleep.
Matherson gave her a small smile and nod as he entwined his fingers atop the shiny wooden desk. Aside from the papers, the smooth surface was laden with a small stack of books, a container of pens, a metal figurine of a hawk in flight, and a miniature red, white, and gold Marrani flag. His amused expression faded, replaced by a weary seriousness that Jade knew all too well. Lines around his eyes and mouth betrayed his age, though Jade wondered how much of that came from the demands of his position as Commander, as he wasn’t quite fifty.
One word left his lips, firmly but kindly. “Report.”
Jade swallowed her pride as she folded her hands on her lap. “I know my orders were to remain on the grounds of the estate and not go inside, but I had a sense something wasn’t right.” A lie, but good enough to give Matherson a reason why she went against orders without bringing her informant into it. “Unfortunately, Count Aubergine was already dead when I made it inside. I was able to do an examination of the body, and I suspect it was rienevoir, just like the others. A glass of wine sat on the table beside him, and his eyes and gums were tinged green. Plus, a poem about death was open on the count’s lap.”
Stern eyes held Jade’s gaze as she gave her report, but by the time she had finished speaking, Matherson’s expression had relaxed. “Your instincts have been helpful to us on multiple occasions now, Captain Ni’ihm.”
Herinstincts.If only that were truly the case.
“I can’t condone you going against direct orders, but you’ve done good work. And I trust you remained out of sight?”
Jade nodded, her breath held tightly within her lungs. She let it out in a gust. “Of course, sir.”
Matherson rubbed the short beard over his chin thoughtfully. “The same killer, the same method, the same kind of victim.” Matherson blew out a breath. “It’s fortunate our information was accurate and we had you at Aubergine’s estate last night.”
Accurate, but ill-timed.Jade bit back the retort. It wasn’t her place to say so, but her frustration with the military’s adherence to rigid protocols grew with every mission. They moved slowly to ensure all information or evidence was vetted, passed through the correct channels and levels of leadership, before taking further action. It took them too long to connect the murders, too long to narrow down to one killer. Jade’s patience with their stringent methods was wearing thin.
But Matherson and the military’s sources weren’t all-knowing. Not how her informant seemed to be.
“Anything else of note about the crime scene?” Matherson continued.
“The fire was going, and a book had been tossed in. I couldn’t make out anything from it except the name ‘Artis’ written on a page. I presume the killer lit the fire specifically to destroy the book.”
“Most likely destroying something that incriminated a potential employer.” Matherson leaned his elbows on the desk and pressed his lips to his joined fists.
“I believe so as well. But it was still burning, so I knew the killer had to be close. A different window than the one I used was unlatched. I climbed through and spotted a figure across the estate. He was moving quickly away from the house, and I managed to close the distance between us without him noticing. We got to the trees, and he stopped and turned to look behind, so I hid behind a tree.” Jade cleared her throat. She’d shorten this bit and cut to the chase. “I waited too long deciding what move to take next, and when I looked back into the woods, he was gone. I tried picking up a trail, but I couldn’t find it.”
Matherson’s eyebrows raised in surprise before he furrowed them, thoughtful. “You believe he was our murderer?”
Jade nodded. “I do.”
Matherson’s head bobbed in a slow, pensive nod. He dropped his hands onto the desk. “I think this confirms the killer is a hired assassin rather than an angry aristocrat. To lose you as he did requires the dexterity of someonewho has done this for a long time. I would say someone has paid a high price to give him this list of targets.”
Without solid information about the man’s identity or motivation, the military had been running on the theory that this killer was an aristocrat unsatisfied with the way the conflict was going and wanted to take matters into his own hands. More recently, the prospect of the actual killer being hired by a disgruntled aristocrat had become the predominant idea. From what Jade had seen and learned of the man herself, she could almost entirely rule out that he was some disgruntled nobleman or royal. This man was too stealthy and skilled to be anything less than a trained killer.
“It still raises the question of who hired him, though,” Matherson continued. “A nobleman involved in the conflict, or possibly even a member of the royal family.”
Jade pulled her eyebrows together in a frown. Didn’t the royal family have less messy ways to achieve what they sought to accomplish? Though she said nothing, the expression didn’t go unnoticed by Matherson.
