Her blog. She hadn’t told the company about that, either. So far, she’d thought she had gotten away with it, kept her head down, not made any updates since leaving Askreya. There had been nothing for the corp to trace, a complete break in her trail—and with her past.
“How well do they know you?”
“They probably have my biometrics, as well as photographs. And they’re vindictive enough to be updating it for age.”
“You don’t just hear the fish, do you?”
Jamie felt her face heat. She’d forgotten Lassiter’s ability to pick when she left something out. She just hadn’t realized he could work out exactly what.
“Well?” he pressed, and this time she felt the nudge inside her head that told her why.
“HQ know you’re a low-level psi?” she retorted.
His expression remained stern.
“Don’t change the subject,” he said. “Yes, HQ knows. And you should have told them. Now, you can tell me, or I’ll pull it out of your head.”
From the look on his face, he meant it. Great, now she’d managed to irritate Lassiter as well. Jamie raised her chin defiantly and looked him in the eye.
“I can speak with them, as well,” she said, “and I can project an emotion, or direction, to them. If they trust me, the fish will do as I ask.”
“Including swim into the corporation’s nets,” Lassiter added for her.
“Including that,” Jamie admitted, “and if there were no survivors to warn the others—no witnesses, so to speak—then I’d get away with it again, and again.”
“Not such a low-level psi, then, are you?” he challenged.
Jamie remembered Lassiter’s threat to pull the knowledge from her mind.
“About as much as you,” she said.
They stared at each other for a long moment, Jamie half-listening to what the reporter was saying about the convention, and its guests.
“This is also the first time the creature known as the Pinnacle has left its world to attend the convention…”
Lassiter’s sudden expletive made Jamie jump, and they both turned to stare at the screen. A pure white craft, comprising sleek, sharp lines was gliding through the water toward the conference centre. At first, she didn’t see what had caused his reaction, and then she noted the distinctive mountain peak with its overarching part-circle.
“That’s going to make it a bit difficult for me to keep it safe,” she said. “Weren’t they told I was to travel with the principal?”
“They were told you’d meet them there.”
“Well, that’s going to be a bit difficult, isn’t it?” Jamie bit out. “I’ve only just learned of the assignment—or is this going to be another baby-alligator scenario where I’m somehow to blame for not being prescient?”
“You’re sure?”
“Dammit! I didn’t see this coming. I take it the Odyssey contract is already in place?”
“It’s set to start at 13:45 on the tenth.”
“The tenth on whose calendar?” Jamie asked, and watched as Lassiter paled.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
“Oh, stars and heavens above!” He got no further than that, before his mobile started to ring, and both their pagers activated.
Jamie headed out into the hall to make her call-back, leaving Lassiter alone in her flat.
“Yeah? Yes, I saw the news. No. Because I have only just been given the assignment. Yes, I agree, I cannot save anyone’s ass when said ass is in the next system. No, I’m not being facetious. Yeah? You beam me up, and I’ll be there, but I’ll need”—light flared around her—“Sonuva…! You should warn a girl.”
She shut her mobile down, and glared at the assignments officer standing in the interview room. He didn’t waste any time.
“Where’s your gear?”
“I’ve only just been told of the mission. I haven’t even agreed to take it.”
“Why not?”
“Ask the boss,” Jamie retorted, remembering all the times Lassiter had advised her to let him handle HQ.
Lassiter arrived on cue, minus the cussing. He merely oriented himself on the assignments officer and raised an eyebrow.
“She hasn’t agreed to go?”
“She has history we weren’t aware of.”
“Can it jeopardize the mission?”
“That depends if you consider the personal protection officer being a target a jeopardy.”
“Not as big a problem as not having protection in place on the agreed-on date.”
“It’s not yet the date intended.”
“The client has a different opinion.” The assignments officer reached down, and picked up a duffle bag Jamie hadn’t noticed sitting at his feet. “Catch.”
She had just enough time to wrap her arms around the bag, before she was bathed in light again.
This time, when she reformatted, she hit the floor on her knees and threw up. Three sets of boots waited patiently until she was done. Three tall, green-skinned men in uniforms of crisp white cloth viewed her without a trace of emotion on their faces, as she slowly stood up and slung the duffle over her shoulder.
“Odyssey?” one ventured, and Jamie nodded.
She swallowed, wished she had a water flask, or ten minutes privacy to wash her mouth out.
“Yes?” she managed, her voice a croak.
“We break orbit as soon as you’re seated.”
Seated? Jamie didn’t need to ask the question; she was escorted quickly to a small ante-chamber with padded flight couches.
“For late arrivals,” one of the men explained, taking her duffle, and stowing it behind one of the locker doors, while another indicated where she should sit.
Jamie wanted to ask how close they were to breaking orbit, but she didn’t have to. Her escort took the seats nearest them and strapped in. The officer attending her checked her webbing, and followed suit.
As he buckled down, Jamie felt a soft vibration run up through the seat, and then the ship accelerated. She was wondering why she needed to strap in for a simple departure, when the world around her shuddered, and her stomach felt as though it had gone into freefall.
Oh, crap. She’d been hoping to be in her cabin and sedated before the ship shifted into warp. Her day had just gotten unbearably long, and she hadn’t had time to inspect the gear she’d been assigned. She tried accessing her Odyssey implant on the off-chance they’d uploaded any data on the mission in between teleporting her in, or shunting her out. No such luck.
With a sigh, Jamie closed her eyes and tried to sleep. It was the only real answer to warp travel. In minutes, she was out to it, and she didn’t wake again, until one of the crew members touched her shoulder.
“Where are we?” she asked.
“Three days out.”
“Of Askreya?”
“Yes, ma’am.” He waited for her next question, and turned to retrieve her duffle when there wasn’t any. “I’ll show you to your cabin. Your employers have forwarded a secure message to your private terminal. They assured me you knew the protocols.”
“Do they differ on this ship?”
“No ma’am. The protocols have nothing to do with us. We use standard secure data procedures, and leave the rest to our guests.”
“Thank you,” and Jamie followed him to a small cabin several decks down from where she’d arrived.
Within minutes of securing her cabin, she opened the data packet and went over the very few mission details she’d been provided. By the time she’d arrived at Askreya to meet the delegates she was meant to be protecting, she felt no more prepared than when she’d left HQ—save for the fact that she had a new identity, a quick nanite cocktail to muddle her biometrics, contacts to disguise the color of her eyes, skin dye, and a different hair color.
Fantastic, she thought, viewing the faint patina of scales that dusted her cheeks and throat. Now, I look like I should be out partying with the fish.
“I need to know what to protect you from,” she reiterated, once she’d arrived on Askreya and secured a private moment in her principal’s quarters. Her request was met by a sense of open curiosity.
“Did your employer not explain the situation?” it asked.
“They said you needed to be protected from water, and would not share the nature of the threat, or the reason there was a threat.”
“It is the same as the misunderstanding with the date. We were most anxious when you were not present when we arrived.” Comprehension sounded in the voice, although Jamie could discern no obvious features on any of the rock facets opposite her.
