Read Online Phoenix Rising by Pip Ballantine - Free Book Online Page A

the least bit curious about why these cases are down here?” Braun looked around and snorted. “Why are they down here to begin with, and not up in Assignments?”
    â€œBecause Assignments is for active cases. As these cases are dead enders, they would not fair well in the sunlight. I happened to find this alcove, and recommended to Doctor Sound we use it for the unsolved cases on account of its dryness and lack of light.”
    â€œSo Doctor Sound knows the extent of how many cases are remaining open, and he’s leaving them as such?”
    Wellington slid the box to Braun and motioned over to the only bookcase that was not empty. “This goes on the bookcase marked 1891, under ‘T’ if you please.”
    The wood crate jerked out of his grasp and was thumped down on the indicated space. Wellington gave himself a silent accolade and hoisted the next box up to the thick table.
    â€œSo many cases,” Eliza muttered. “I wonder if the lads know . . .”
    â€œAnd if they did, Miss Braun, how would that help the Ministry?” Wellington retorted, taking a different tactic with the former field agent. Doctor Sound had told him this was an indefinite assignment for Braun, so perhaps distancing herself from “the lads” was in order. “The Ministry is a small, clandestine organisation with limited resources on call, in order to preserve our secrecy. No matter the superlative talents, abilities, or means we do make the most of at our disposal, some cases will simply not end in resolution. It is a fact, a fact we must come to terms with. And in the Archives, we must make certain the facts remain preserved until such a time when the Ministry can return their full attention to them.”
    Braun opened one of the ledgers from the new box, searching for a year. The book snapped shut. “Welly, being in the Ministry, even down here in Archives, you had to pass Field Agent training.”
    The strange knot he had felt in his stomach on seeing Braun contemplate the Archives’ Restricted Access returned. “What of it?”
    â€œSo, you have the basics under your belt. With me working the details, we’re fully capable.”
    She couldn’t possibly be serious. “Fully capable of . . . ?”
    â€œOh, come off it, Books, you know where I’m going with this.” She gave a wry grin and shrugged. “Why don’t we take on these cases?”
    She was serious.
    â€œBecause that is not our job, Miss Braun,” Wellington stated. “We have our orders and our responsibilities to the Ministry, and those orders and responsibilities do not include investigating these cases. Insubordination out in the field brought you to the Archives. Where do you think insubordination in the Archives leads you?”
    Braun straightened up to her full height. Perhaps it was the amber luminescence of the alcove or Wellington’s hunched posture over the evidence box, but the image of Eliza D. Braun took him aback. Her eyes narrowed with some sort of survivalist’s glare, as if silently promising Wellington she would—without hesitation—remove any threat to her position, no matter what that position was, in the Ministry.
    For the first time since her arrival, Wellington actually felt afraid.
    â€œI am merely suggesting,” he continued after the awkward moment passed, “you reconsider whatever it is you are considering, because I believe if you did not care so much about your standing here in the Ministry, you would have told Doctor Sound to ‘shove off’ on being assigned here.” He closed the ledger in his hands and swallowed, hoping the peculiar fear would abate. It didn’t. “Second, Miss Braun, I do not wish to partake in any such behaviour that would complicate or jeopardise my position here.”
    Returning his attention back inside the ledger he held, Books’ eye fell on the date: May 7, 1893. Hmm,