Neither man even looked up.
“This is a waste of time.” Tean Lee looked like he wanted to try a more hands-on method of getting an answer, but a knock at the door had him turning away from the men. “What?”
The messenger gestured and all three of them left the room.
“I went to Jaden Tris’s office to see if he was back, and he is,” the woman said. “I decided to not make myself known. I watched him for a few minutes and then came straight back.”
Tean Lee looked irritated at the interruption.
“We’ll go speak to him, Tean. You can stay here and see what you can get out of them,” Fee said.
Tean Lee gave a satisfied nod. “That works. I’ll see you later.”
Fiona glanced at Hal, and he gave a nod of agreement. They weren’t going to get anywhere here and with his team searching the streets above, Hal wanted to be with them.
They left the security building, walking down the street to the big building that housed Fee’s offices, and passed Grih Battle Center’s Larga Ways headquarters on the way. Hal noticed it was very crowded outside Battle Center’s doors.
Grih were standing around in small groups, and he waved to someone he knew from before he’d made captain of theIllium. “Falna.”
“Vakeri!” Falna turned toward him and waved back. “I saw your ship was docked. How are you?”
Hal knew Fee was in a hurry to corner Jaden Tris, but he wanted to find out what was going on in the Grihan military building first. Something was off.
“Is there a problem in headquarters?” he asked, and sensed Fee’s attention suddenly sharpen on the building.
“Apparently there’s a major water leak,” Falna said. “They’re claiming the comms issue caused a valve to open and it’s tripped the power. They need to sort it out before they can let anyone inside.”
Fee went still beside him.
He looked down at her.
“That sounds . . . possible,” she said. “After the Battle Center building was blown up and your headquarters were moved here, Eazi built serious fire prevention systems into the new building. It could have malfunctioned.”
Falna was no fool, and she was listening in. Her gaze sharpened onto Fee’s face. “You’re no Grih. Not with that voice.”
Fee made a face. “Sorry, I’m in disguise right now, because apparently there are assassins after me.” She tugged a little at Hal’s arm.
“Fiona Russell?” Falna knew enough to keep her voice down to a whisper, Hal was pleased to note. “What’s going on?”
“We’re trying to work that out,” Hal told her. “Listen, can you make sure this headquarters shut down is legit? There are strange things going on, and we’ve got other commitments.”
“I was about to go nosey my way in there, anyway. I never was good at standing around and waiting.” Falna gave him a friendly nod, and strode toward the headquarters entrance.
As he and Fiona headed for her office, and hopefully Jaden Tris, Hal saw theIlliumslowly rise up above the buildings and slide through the gel that encased the dome’s frame.
TheIlliumwas only just able to fit through.
“Looks like that request you made to Tean Lee before he took us down to the cells was acted on immediately.” Hal felt a sense of relief at the sight of his ship no longer docked and unable to maneuver. “He must have sent a messenger straight out to arrange it.”
“I’m surprised.” Fee stopped for a moment to watch the battleship move a little way away from the dome and then hold in place. “He gave me such a pained look, like I was really imposing on him.”
Hal looked over at her. “You think he resents you?”
“He definitely resents me. But then he’ll go above and beyond, like now, putting the request through and expediting it. He’s a bundle of contradictions.” She sighed. “I’ve nearly fired him so many times, but he knows this way station like the back of his hand, and he’s got the respect of the security team.”
Before he could respond, Hal saw Lieutenant Rial Corvac approaching him. His team leader looked barely able to contain his excitement.
“Captain, I’m glad to see you’re free. We found their hidey-hole.”
