static position, it could only be watching us.
Longinus and Jo continued to argue about
how long things would take, but neither was giving in to the other. Despite the
translator, it was like they were talking two different languages. I could hear
the anger in Longinus, the guttural bark of his words as he shouted, “Two
days?” The alien was pushing his last nerve and it wouldn’t be long before we
had another squished body to mop up.
“He’s right, Longinus. We need to be
patient,” I said, catching them both off guard as I rejoined them. The
ex-Anti-Christ spun on me and glared. I raised my eyebrows and rolled them ever
so slightly toward the door. “Let the man do what he needs to. I’m sure we can figure something out in
the meantime.” I stared outside, imploring him to understand why I was
interrupting him. His teeth clenched as he stared back, his gaze boring through
my skull. There was no telling what Jo might find out, but my gut was telling
me there were other answers to be found. Longinus exploding wasn’t gonna get us
anywhere. Besides, who was to say Jesus’ snitch knew anything at all? If he
did, we needed to let him find it. If he didn’t, we were wasting our time. No
one said we needed to rely on only this guy.
“I don’t know what—”
“Clearly,” I answered before I could put a
leash on my tongue and get it to heel. After a deep breath, I raised my
eyebrows again, slowly and almost comically—and all out of the line of sight of
Jo—to get Longinus to realize I needed him to pay attention. His own eyes
narrowed as if it finally sunk in, so I turned to the alien. “Find out what you
can, as quickly as you can, and we’ll be back. The quicker you can manage it,
the more profitable it’ll be for you.”
Without waiting for a response, I spun and
walked out of the shop. The quick flutter of movement at the corner told me our
watcher was still there. Longinus stomped out behind me, slamming the door
shut. The sound echoed through the quiet streets like a gunshot.
“There had better be a damn good reason
for—”
“We’re being followed,” I said just loud
enough to cut through his bluster. The fury on his face stilled. Without
another word, I turned and started off down the street. If the answers weren’t
gonna come to us, it was time to hunt them down.
Seven
Longinus snapped to attention after hearing
what I said. He stuck close while I drifted across the street and skirted the
devastated sidewalk as though I were out for a Sunday stroll. While Desboren
might be some alien city a jillion-quadrillion miles from home, it was as
trashy as they come…and I know trashy.
Even amongst the strangeness of the town,
Longinus and I stood out. This wasn’t El Paseo. We were obviously not from here
and all the natives seemed to be pretty small in stature compared to us. Well,
more so Longinus than me, but they were still runts. Just out of a war where
it’s clear their city got the stinky end of the stick, the general populace wouldn’t
have any interest in rattling the cage of the conquerors. There’s no future in
it. It’s best to keep your head down and see how things go before you get too
brave. Only the rebels, the people hiding something, the ones who know more of
what’s going on and who have a plan, skulk around and spy on the foreigners
traipsing through town. That’s what the figure around the corner was doing.
The rest of the people bailed the moment
they saw us, except for the few lingering outside of Jo’s shop. Even the
bravest of them turned and looked away; they wanted nothing to do with us. The
person behind the corner stuck around to see what we were doing. There had to
be a reason for that. And while that might not have anything to do with finding
Karra, Jesus’ go-to-guy was putting us on hold so it wouldn’t hurt to look a
little deeper on our own.
We turned the corner and moved down the
street on a ways, all casual and calm. A number of alleys were
Longinus and Jo continued to argue about
how long things would take, but neither was giving in to the other. Despite the
translator, it was like they were talking two different languages. I could hear
the anger in Longinus, the guttural bark of his words as he shouted, “Two
days?” The alien was pushing his last nerve and it wouldn’t be long before we
had another squished body to mop up.
“He’s right, Longinus. We need to be
patient,” I said, catching them both off guard as I rejoined them. The
ex-Anti-Christ spun on me and glared. I raised my eyebrows and rolled them ever
so slightly toward the door. “Let the man do what he needs to. I’m sure we can figure something out in
the meantime.” I stared outside, imploring him to understand why I was
interrupting him. His teeth clenched as he stared back, his gaze boring through
my skull. There was no telling what Jo might find out, but my gut was telling
me there were other answers to be found. Longinus exploding wasn’t gonna get us
anywhere. Besides, who was to say Jesus’ snitch knew anything at all? If he
did, we needed to let him find it. If he didn’t, we were wasting our time. No
one said we needed to rely on only this guy.
“I don’t know what—”
“Clearly,” I answered before I could put a
leash on my tongue and get it to heel. After a deep breath, I raised my
eyebrows again, slowly and almost comically—and all out of the line of sight of
Jo—to get Longinus to realize I needed him to pay attention. His own eyes
narrowed as if it finally sunk in, so I turned to the alien. “Find out what you
can, as quickly as you can, and we’ll be back. The quicker you can manage it,
the more profitable it’ll be for you.”
Without waiting for a response, I spun and
walked out of the shop. The quick flutter of movement at the corner told me our
watcher was still there. Longinus stomped out behind me, slamming the door
shut. The sound echoed through the quiet streets like a gunshot.
“There had better be a damn good reason
for—”
“We’re being followed,” I said just loud
enough to cut through his bluster. The fury on his face stilled. Without
another word, I turned and started off down the street. If the answers weren’t
gonna come to us, it was time to hunt them down.
Seven
Longinus snapped to attention after hearing
what I said. He stuck close while I drifted across the street and skirted the
devastated sidewalk as though I were out for a Sunday stroll. While Desboren
might be some alien city a jillion-quadrillion miles from home, it was as
trashy as they come…and I know trashy.
Even amongst the strangeness of the town,
Longinus and I stood out. This wasn’t El Paseo. We were obviously not from here
and all the natives seemed to be pretty small in stature compared to us. Well,
more so Longinus than me, but they were still runts. Just out of a war where
it’s clear their city got the stinky end of the stick, the general populace wouldn’t
have any interest in rattling the cage of the conquerors. There’s no future in
it. It’s best to keep your head down and see how things go before you get too
brave. Only the rebels, the people hiding something, the ones who know more of
what’s going on and who have a plan, skulk around and spy on the foreigners
traipsing through town. That’s what the figure around the corner was doing.
The rest of the people bailed the moment
they saw us, except for the few lingering outside of Jo’s shop. Even the
bravest of them turned and looked away; they wanted nothing to do with us. The
person behind the corner stuck around to see what we were doing. There had to
be a reason for that. And while that might not have anything to do with finding
Karra, Jesus’ go-to-guy was putting us on hold so it wouldn’t hurt to look a
little deeper on our own.
We turned the corner and moved down the
street on a ways, all casual and calm. A number of alleys were
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