Hallie stared into her tea, frustration clawing at her. She wished they had better news for the director.
She and Girard had left Daydawn about two weeks before, with the mission of tracking down Findo Trask and bringing him back into custody. They’d had a list of possible places to look and Hallie for one had been hopeful that it wouldn’t be long before the powerfulveondkenwas back in cuffs.
Two weeks later, the last five days spent in Minamaan, and she was no longer as confident. She thought they’d get hold of Findo eventually, but had no idea when that might be. She’d learned that it was one thing to track a fugitive through the crowded streets of low city, which was a defined geographic location with only so many places a person could hide, and quite another to hunt a well-funded, determined fugitive across the world. As one person, tracking in low city had taken a great deal of time and effort. Across the world, even with the resources of the Conclave Investigators and Conclave, it seemed impossible.
In their last stop, at a fishing village on the very tip of the Lucien Islands, the town mayor had welcomed them with smiles and lies. Amongst all the false statements there had been a passing, throw-away reference to Minamaan. It had been the only true thing he’d said and it had stirred an itch under Hallie’s skin. So rather than going to the next place on their list of possible locations, they’d come here. And now, after four days looking for one man in one city, they had Manju Nayak in their charge.
Hallie scrubbed her hands across her face. “I feel like we’re not getting anywhere,” she complained, then dropped her hands, heat rising in her face. “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to say that aloud.”
“It’s alright. I know exactly what you mean. I’ve lost count of the number of people we’ve talked to, the number of false leads we’ve followed up on,” Girard said, running a hand through his hair and wincing as his fingers brushed the wound. “I really thought Manju would have better information for us.”
“He might still,” Hallie said, then shook her head. “No, I don’t know. I think I’m trying to fool myself.” A vibration and ping from her pocket distracted her and she pulled out her phone, brows lifting as she read the first line of the message.
“Good news?” Girard asked, sounding hopeful.
“It might be. I asked, er, someone in Daydawn to find out where to go for false papers and ID,” Hallie said, stumbling a bit as she tried to hide the identity of her source. “They’ve just sent me a name.”
“That is good news,” Girard said, leaning forward slightly, eyes brightening. “That’s exactly the kind of person that Findo might have dealt with.” From what they knew about Findo Trask, he was able to move around the world at will. And that took resources and contacts. He might even have a fake ID or two of his own.
“Yes,” Hallie said slowly, scanning the rest of the message. “It does look like a good lead. We’re going back to Daydawn anyway, aren’t we? Do you think the director will let us follow up?”
“I’ll make sure he does,” Girard said. He got to his feet. “Why don’t we get showers and a change of clothes and then regroup over dinner?”
“Sounds good,” Hallie said, getting to her feet as well, phone tucked back into her pocket. She took a step towards him and took hold of his hand, welcoming the feel of his fingers wrapping around hers. “I’m glad you weren’t badly hurt.” She hadn’t said that before, she realised. There had been no time, and no privacy with Manju as their companion.
Girard’s face lifted into a smile, eyes warm as he looked at her. “I’ve had far worse.” His tone might be light, but Hallie could hear the truth beneath it. She let go of his hand and took a step back, mind turning to work.
“I wonder if we should invite our, er, guest to join us? We might be able to get something out of him over a meal?” she tried not to sound too reluctant as she made the offer. She’d had two weeks’ travelling with Girard and he had been careful to keep their arrangements as professional as possible, so they had always had separate rooms and the majority of their conversations and interactions were about work. For Hallie, every place they had been to was strange and new and she was still adjusting to working with someone else day-to-day. All of that was proving more enjoyable than she could have imagined, more than she had believed might be possible. And yet, she still found herself craving more from Girard. She had the sense that he was holding something back and she didn’t understand why, and hadn’t yet found an appropriate moment to ask any of the questions in her mind. It was only in their rare moments off duty that he had let his guard down a little. And for the past few nights in particular, after long days in the heat of the city, she and Girard had fallen into a habit of having leisurely evening meals. With Oreste and Kasmo never too far away, the evenings hadn’t progressed beyond conversation, but Hallie had enjoyed every moment and found herself reluctant to give up her time with Girard even for the sake of the investigation they were on.
Girard grimaced, as if he, too, didn’t want to invite Manju into their time, but he nodded, releasing her hand. “That’s a good plan. If we can get information from him tonight, we can head off earlier tomorrow.”
“Alright,” Hallie said, foreseeing that the rest of their time in the city would be spent trying to prise what he might know out of Manju and then packing for the journey home.
“What’s wrong?” Girard asked. Clearly she hadn’t concealed her disappointment well.
“Nothing, really. I’d just hoped to get a chance to visit the market properly. Have a look at the goods. There’s a stall withthe most incredible array of spices - I’m sure Rosalia would love some,” Hallie said. And there had also been a stall with stunningly beautiful silk scarves that had drawn her attention, but that seemed very frivolous to mention.
To her surprise, Girard grinned at her. “We can absolutely go shopping for a couple of hours. It will take a bit of time to organise transport anyway.”
“Oh, good,” Hallie said, smiling back, ridiculously pleased. On impulse, she crossed the two strides between her and Girard and kissed him briefly on his mouth. It broke their unspoken rule about keeping work and personal separate, but she needed the contact.
Girard brushed his hand over her cheek. She wanted to lean into the touch and stay there for a while. His voice was quiet and full of the warmth she could see in his eyes. “I do wish we didn’t have company for dinner.”
“I know. But he might talk. We might get something useful.” She hoped it would be worth all the effort of finding Manju, and giving up one of her evenings with Girard.
On that thought, Hallie turned and left, heading upstairs to her room, glad to be able to wash off the dust and sweat of the day before settling down to interrogate their guest over Kasmo’s fine cooking.
Chapter three
Onceinsideherroom,door closed, Hallie sat on the cushioned stool in front of the enormous dressing table and, ignoring the three images of herself that were being reflected in the gold-framed mirror, took out her phone and re-read the most recent message with a mixture of anticipation and unease.
Anticipation because, if Manju’s information was correct and Findo had operated mostly in Daydawn, then someone brokering fake IDs was exactly the sort of person that Findo would have had contact with. The forger could be a more helpful lead than Manju had been so far. The name Rosalia had sent through was Zurine Halinburn, a name that Hallie had never come across before, which suggested that the forger was very discreet, likely a huge advantage in her chosen profession. This Zurine might even be able to give Hallie and Girard any alternate identities that she’d set up for Findo. That kind of knowledgewould bring them closer to getting Findo Trask back into custody.
And unease because the source of the information was Rosalia - Hallie’s roommate and best friend. And such knowledge was dangerous. The Daydawn forger that Rosalia had named didn’t just provide the necessary false paperwork, but also a way to counter-act the electronic ID that was recorded onto microchips that allkarlenandveondkenin the city were required to have embedded under their skin. Even the elite in Daydawn were not exempt from the requirement to have the microchip ID. Some quality ofhochlenphysiology meant that embedding the chips under their skin didn’t work, so the elite wore metal bracelets to carry their ID chips. After the attack a decade before which had nearly killed Hallie, and unknown to her at that time changed her from human tohochlen, her own body had rejected a chip, so she’d been fitted with a plain, steel bracelet that she still wore. Anyone who possessed the correct scanner would be able to read the information on the chip and verify her identity.
Hallie had never relied on the ID chips to verify a fugitive’s identity. She knew of other forgers in low city who would be able to falsify documents, but she’d only heard rumours about someone capable of concealing the information on a person’s chip and providing them with a duplicate chip with false information, so that a scanner would read the fake ID as genuine. Hallie hadn’t really believed it -hochlencontrolled the ID chip technology and it had seemed unlikely that anykarlenwould have been able to get around it. Or, indeed, would have been willing to take the risk. Creating, or even attempting to create, one was subject to severe punishment up to and including execution.Hochlenmight not care much ifkarlenorveondkenkilled each other on the streets of low city, but they did care, very much, thatkarlenandveondkenshould obey the laws that the elite had put in place.
Rosalia had mentioned that the fake ID - which she had obtained through a broker in low city, very much like Manju Nayak - had been astonishingly expensive, which made sense. And also explained why this Zurine Halinburn might take the risk in making the forgeries. There wasn’t much work in low city generally, and nothing that would pay as well as that kind of criminal enterprise.
