Read Online Veiled by Benedict Jacka - Free Book Online

Keepers, and headed outside. By the time I was out in the street and in the cold air I’d calmed down a little. Now that I could think clearly again I knew that what I’d just done had not been a smart move. The Keepers already suspected me of murder—going for a killing attack like that would not have made a good impression.
    Why had I gone for that knife? The rubber blade had been harmless, but the move I’d used it for had
not
been, and I’d never even made the conscious decision to do it. I’d acted on instinct, and by the time I’d had the chance to think, it had all been over. Would I have acted like that a year ago? I was pretty sure I wouldn’t, and I had a nasty feeling that I knew what had changed. Even though it had been ten months since I’d seen Richard, just knowing that he was out there was enough to put me on edge, quicker to feel threatened, quicker to strike back.
    I’d been nervous about how Caldera was going to react, but when she finally appeared, gym bag slung over one shoulder, she didn’t seem particularly bothered. She was on her phone and held up a hand to me as she approached. “Uh-huh,” she was saying into the phone. “Yeah, but I’m off duty.”
    I leant against the wall, waiting for her to finish. “Okay,” Caldera was saying. “No . . . Well, too bad, ’cause unless it’s an emergency . . . Yeah . . . You okay with that? . . . Fine, you can check in with him later. Okay.” She rang off and looked at me. “Got a job.”
    â€œTorvald?”
    Caldera shook her head. “Some kind of magical fight on the DLR. It got called in through the Met and the liaisons flagged it.”
    â€œSo they want us to do what, find out what it was?”
    â€œApart from the ‘us’ part.”
    â€œCome again?”
    â€œI’m off duty as of three hours ago,” Caldera said. “You can have this one.”
    â€œSeriously?”
    â€œYou want to be an auxiliary, you’re going to have start doing solo jobs. Can’t always be there looking over your shoulder.” Caldera glanced at me. “You can handle it?”
    â€œI guess.”
    â€œCentral’ll forward you the report.” Caldera yawned. “I’m off. Have fun.”
    â€œUh . . .”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œAbout what happened in the gym?”
    â€œWhat about it?”
    I hesitated. Caldera looked surprised. “That bothering you? Don’t worry about it.”
    â€œOh. Okay.”
    â€œBest match I’ve had in weeks.” Caldera grinned. “You won’t get me with the same trick next time, though. I won’t go easy on you.”
    â€œThen I guess I won’t either.”
    â€œPromises, promises.” Caldera gave me a wave as she walked off. “Have a good one!”
    I watched Caldera walk away, then shook my head and turned away with a smile. At least there was one person who wasn’t bothered.
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    T he message that arrived a few minutes later directed me to Pudding Mill Lane station, on the Docklands Light Railway. It wasn’t a quick journey, and I had plenty of time to read through the incident report on my phone. Apparently a woman had made a 999 call claiming to have seen some kind of firefight on the station platform. The British Transport Police had shown up, found nothing, concluded that it had been a wind-up, and buggered off. Which was the end of the story as far as the authorities went, but the Keepers have listening posts in the police, and the report had raised enough flags to warrant sending someone over . . . though apparently not quite enough flags to send anyone important. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do when I got there, but I supposed I’d just have to find out.
    The Docklands Light Railway (aka the DLR) is