Read Online Adamant by Emma L. Adams - Free Book Online Page A

meeting.
    “I’ll come for moral support if you buy me a Coke,” said Alber.
    I needed more than moral support. I needed a miracle.
    ***
    KAY
     
    “This is a disaster,” Markos said.
    “No shit,” I said. Markos, Ellen, Lenny and I hovered around the main office the following afternoon, all in varying degrees of tiredness. Markos stood by a filing cabinet and occasionally shuffled papers. Ellen had given up on work entirely and was texting someone. And Lenny hadn’t stopped shaking. He’d been called out for questioning three times already—the rest of us had got off lightly with once each, but Lenny had made the mistake of admitting he’d been the last person to speak to Mr Clark before he’d died. It was obvious he was the least likely candidate to commit murder, but then again, there was no evidence to speak of.
    With no one to leave instructions, we were at a complete loose end, turfed out of our old office, and most of the area was under investigation. Nothing was out of place; all the offices had been in the same state we’d left them at the end of the day. That was the last time we’d seen Mr Clark alive.
    How could any of us have known that? Death wasn’t uncommon in the Alliance, by any means—the average guard ran into more than their fair share of near-fatal situations, and Ambassadors risked their lives every time they went into hostile offworld territory. The death list was a mile long. But there was a world of difference between that and a brutal murder right here at headquarters.
    I’d been too rattled by the murder to sleep in the few hours at my apartment last night and now that I was wired on caffeine, hanging about the office all day was slowly driving me insane. I paced back and forth, counting the seconds to my next patrol shift so I could get the hell out of here and do something useful.
    “Oh, for heaven’s sake,” said Markos. “Quit your bloody pacing. You’re making my head spin.”
    “Well, what am I supposed to do?” I said. “It’s a waste of time us even being here.”
    “Tell me about it,” said Ellen, yawning. “It’s all right for you guys. You have an alibi. I arrived ten minutes before Clark died and they’ve given me a right grilling.”
    “It’s awful,” Lenny mumbled. “And that’s just the regular police. The Law Division’s going to be involved later, and then we’ll all be screwed.”
    “Your optimism is infectious,” said Markos. “Where’s that idiot Aric?”
    Good question. He had zero moral scruples, if the wyvern incident proved anything. But killing our supervisor? Even I thought he’d have to have a damn good reason. Besides, he’d been with us.
    “No idea,” said Ellen. “That guy’s the most disrespectful ass I’ve ever met.”
    Markos looked at me. “What’s your guys’ problem with each other?” I groaned inwardly. I was not in the mood to discuss Aric. Typically, we were both on the same patrol later. Someone up there was having a really good laugh at my expense.
    “We both went to the Academy. He didn’t quite grasp that he needed to actually study and not try to bribe people to do it for him. He scored an ‘A’ in ‘Being a Twat’, of course.” I stopped pacing to open the window. It was too damn stuffy in here.
    “Hmm,” said Markos, plainly not satisfied with that explanation. “He needs a reality check. Most offworlders wouldn’t stand for his bullshit.”
    “Well, he must have got in on connections,” I said. “His family are offworld technology tycoons with links across three universes.”
    “That explains it,” said Markos. “I tried to quiz him on the new restrictions in offworld trade. He didn’t seem to appreciate it.”
    “Considering it probably lost his family a crap-ton of money, I’m not surprised,” I said absently. The Alliance were right to push up barriers on offworld trade, considering the absolute chaos that inevitably resulted when magic-based technology went wrong on worlds