Case: Interference — Demonic Pact (Maternal)
Subject: Mercy Hollis, 34
Contract Holder: Patience Hollis (mother) Terms: “No harm shall come to her daughter so long as breath remains in her body.”
Source: Entity classified as Collector-class demon, identity unconfirmed
The summary was brief. Patience Hollis had made a deal with a demon after her daughter nearly died of fever. The protection held for eleven years. The system flagged the interference, investigated, and identified the contract holder.
Greg turned to the resolution page.
Interference identified: Patience Hollis (contract holder).
Obstruction clearance: Authorized.
Contract holder collected: 14 March 1638.
Protection dissolved. Subject collected within standard window.
Case closed.
Greg stared at the document. He'd never heard of 'obstruction clearance'. That wasn't in any of the manuals. Was there a form for it? Did someone have to approve it the way Morrith approved collection assignments, or was it automatic?
Was there a waiting period?
Greg read the file again, and then the true horror of it caught up to him.
Contract holder collected.
A chill went down Greg's spine. The system had identified Patience Hollis as an obstruction, authorized her removal, and sent someone to collect her the way Greg had been sent to collect Dustin.
Except Patience Hollis hadn't been dying. She'd been living. She'd been a mother who'd made a deal to save her daughter, and the system had made dying happen to her so the math would work.
But that was only one case. One outcome.
Greg opened the next file.
Case: Interference — Demonic Pact (Spousal)
Subject: Thomas Ashby, 29
Contract Holder: Margaret Ashby (wife)
Terms: “My husband will not die before me.”
Obstruction clearance: Authorized.
Contract holder collected: 9 November 1672.
Protection dissolved. Subject collected within standard window.
Case closed.
Greg's hands were cold. He opened another file.
It read much the same way.
No, no, no.
