Adamant (6 page)

“Right,” said the night supervisor, Carl, striding over to us. He was late twenties, I guessed, with a ropy scar on the left side of his face. Definitely a claw mark, from an offworld monster, I’d wager. “Three of you are new, right? Damn that idiot Clark. The patrols are supposed to be an even split of novices and experienced assistants. No offence to you, Markos, I know
you
know what you’re doing.”

“Actually, we ran drills at the Academy,” said Aric, with an air of superiority. “Same format as the patrols. Except keeping quiet and alert with a
centaur
on the team might be a bit difficult.”

And here comes the bigotry.
I was content to let Markos take care of this one, and when he turned on Aric, the blood drained from the idiot’s face. Lenny let out a terrified whimper and backed away so rapidly he tripped over his own feet.

“It might be difficult to move stealthily with both your legs broken,” said Markos. “Want to find out?”

“Enough!” said Carl. “Aric, you’re forgetting the first principle of the Alliance. You
never
insult a fellow team member if you want to keep your job. Nor do you speak in that manner to a colleague regardless of homeworld, race, whatever. Don’t let it happen again.”

Ha. I gave Aric a scathing look, but he was too busy defending himself to Carl.

“He threatened me!” he protested.

“You deserved it,” said Carl, and I decided I liked him. “Right. You have one hour. You’ll know where the entrance to the Passages is, am I right?”

Carl went through the standard safety lecture, specifically on the use of the knives all guards carried as part of our uniform. The term ‘knife’ was misleading, because they were far from the flimsy, stainless-steel implements carried by morons attempting to look tough. These were the Alliance’s specially developed automatic blades made of adamantine, with hilts of reinforced wyvern hide—an irony that wasn’t lost on me—and could cut through virtually anything, magic reinforced or otherwise.

Of course, they were never, under any circumstances, to be used on another human, if it could be avoided. We were only to incapacitate, not kill. But monsters were fair game. No one could bring down a chalder vox using hand-to-hand combat alone. I’d already learned
that
lesson at the Academy. I watched Aric out of the corner of my eye, not trusting him in the slightest. True, we had an implicit understanding that neither of us would mention anything of our history at the Academy to anyone at Central, and some things were best left buried, but there was still the chance he’d try to start trouble anyway. Because he couldn’t leave the hell alone.

“That’s all,” Carl finished. “Any questions?”

“There aren’t any monsters, are there?” asked Lenny.

Aric snorted. “Kid, if you can’t handle it, get out.”

“That’s enough,” said Carl. “Markos will lead the way, as he knows the route. Return in an hour and report to me. If you see anything out of place, tell me via communicator. Obviously, there shouldn’t be anyone coming in from offworld at this time, but you’d be amazed how often someone decides to wander this way from Valeria.”

“Absolutely, sir,” said Aric, back into sycophant mode. Carl, however, did not look impressed.

“Whatever the hell you guys have a problem with, I’m not interested. Do your jobs. Keep an eye out for trouble. And no
whining.
That clear?”

“Sure thing, boss,” said Markos. “As long as that asshole keeps in line.”

Aric started to retaliate, but Carl interrupted. “Enough! Talk to Clark about your patrol preferences, but I have no interest in why you all hate each other so much. Keep your personal opinions out of your work life. Got it?”

“I wouldn’t worry,” I said. “Aric hates everyone with more brain cells than he has. So, everyone.”

Carl actually looked amused. Aric glared at me, but didn’t retaliate. Carl tapped a button on his communicator. “The last patrol has checked in. You’re up.”

“Excellent,” said Markos.

Much as I hated to admit it, Aric had a point about stealth being difficult for a centaur. Aside from his size, the clip-clopping sound of hooves was difficult to mute. Still, it wasn’t like Academy drills, where they sometimes set monsters loose in the Passage to give us a taste of an emergency situation, always obtaining permission from the Alliance first. Except for the wyvern incident, of course.

Even Aric wouldn’t be idiot enough to try any tricks in a real patrol, but I sure as hell didn’t trust him, especially knowing he carried a fully charged stunner. Then again, so did I. It was shaped like a remote control but had only one switch, and I could feel the static charge as I tucked it into my pocket. Three shots were all it could handle, but a level two would still temporarily paralyse anyone or anything that got hit.

“Well, this is a rather frosty atmosphere we have going on here,” said Markos. “Lenny, I don’t believe we’ve met. You’re Mr Clark’s assistant, am I right?”

Lenny made a nervous sound. “Aren’t we supposed to keep quiet?” he asked, tripping over the kerb. His communicator fell out of his pocket with a
clang,
and he fumbled to pick it up.

“Did you know,” said Markos as we turned away from the gate and headed down the back road behind Central, “there’s supposed to be a ghost in the Passages around here.”

Aric gave a derisive snort.

“It’s true,” said Markos, with a straight face. “There was this guy who thought it’d be funny to shoot a gun in the Passages. The magic didn’t like that. He blew his own head off.”

“That’s bullshit,” said Aric.

“It’s true,” said Lenny. “I mean, I don’t know if the story’s true, but you can’t fire a gun in the Passages, right? The magic interferes with it.”

“Everyone knows
that,”
said Aric, shooting me a glare.
Oh, get over yourself.
If he wasn’t careful, he’d be getting a well-placed zap with the stunner.

Markos pressed his hands against the wall of the building facing us. I hadn’t used the Alliance’s official entrance to the Passages before, but I knew that there’d be a sliding panel somewhere, where metal hid beneath the brick facade. The building behind looked like a disused factory, but like other Passage entrances, it was just a cover. Markos stepped back and part of the wall slid aside, revealing a wide metal door-like shape. That, too, slid back, and the cold tunnel of the Passages beckoned us.

Despite the late hour, I was wide awake and ready to face whatever waited ahead. In fact, bring it the hell on. It had been two weeks since the final Academy tests in the Passages, and now, it was almost a disappointment to find a monster-free corridor waiting ahead, lined with doors on either side.

My skin buzzed, like a mild shock from the stunner, as we followed a path through the winding corridors, lit by the faint bluish glow from the walls and floor. I didn’t acknowledge the presence of magic even though it pulled at me like a seductive whisper. I had no intention of tempting fate, not again. I’d dreamed of the Multiverse my whole life, since long before I’d known I was a magic-wielder, and I was damned if I let anything wreck my chances of making Ambassador and seeing the worlds on the other side of these doors. Top of my list was Valeria, one of the few worlds which was similar enough to Earth to be easy access for Ambassadors. And okay, maybe I wanted to test-drive one of their premium hover cars.

As a faint shuffling noise came from up ahead, Lenny made a terrified sound and moved closer to Markos.

“Honestly,” Aric muttered, who’d got out a torch regardless of the ever-present blue light, and was aggressively shining it into corners. “I don’t know why the Alliance hired you. You’re useless.”

“Well, they’d filled their dickhead quota,” I said.

“Shut it,” said Aric.

Markos stomped a hoof, so close to Aric he almost fell over.

I smirked. “A little jumpy, Aric?”

“Quit laughing at me, Walker,” he snarled.

“Only when you stop being so entertainingly stupid.”

Aric swiped at me with his stunner, but I’d already moved out of range, my own stunner in hand. It wasn’t like I was planning to use it, but it didn’t hurt to be armed, too.

Markos let out a loud, sudden
neigh
sound. My heart damn near jumped out of my chest, even though I knew it was only the centaur. Lenny whimpered and backed away, and even Aric didn’t laugh.

“Right!” he bellowed. “As much as I’d dearly love to watch the pair of you kick the crap out of each other, we’re in a restricted area and… insert serious lecture here. I’m done.”

I shot Aric a glare and followed, Lenny stumbling behind us.

No one murdered each other on the way around the corridors, which was some achievement. The buzz of magic was starting to get on my nerves by now. It was always there in the Passages, and no doubt it’d be the same offworld. Especially on high-magic worlds. Some, like the Enzarian Empire, had been torn to pieces by magical warfare. Hell, it had nearly happened on our neighbouring worlds, which was part of the reason the Alliance had revealed itself to the public on Earth. But even the Alliance couldn’t control magic. It was a force all on its own, and on no one’s side.

“Pretty quiet tonight,” Markos commented, as we made our way back. “’Course, this is only the first level. They’ll have you down in the lower-level corridors soon enough.” He threw a glare at Aric, who’d tapped Lenny on the shoulder in the dark and scared him half to death.

“I’m shaking,” said Aric. “Bet you’ve never been down there, seeing as centaurs can’t climb-”

“I wouldn’t finish that thought,” I said. “Did you know when centaurs reach peak speed, they can turn anything they trample on into paste?”

“You’re a liar, Walker,” said Aric, but he took a step or two away from Markos. The centaur grinned at me. Of course he knew I’d made that up.

“You’d be a mess of blood and splintered bones,” said Markos, and Lenny moaned behind me. Really, he’d picked the wrong career.

“Yeah. He almost trampled me earlier,” I said.

“I did. It would have been a shame. He’s pretty, for a human. Pity I can’t say the same for you.”

“Oh, go fuck yourselves, both of you,” said Aric.

The centaur chuckled softly. “Humans. So easy to wind up.”

Lenny gave a weak laugh. Markos tilted his head to face him.

“Please don’t hurt me,” said Lenny.

Markos sighed. “It’s a pain, looking so intimidating. In my world, I would be called majestic. It’s wasted on you people.”

“My heart bleeds for you,” I said, rolling my eyes. Centaurs.

As we came out of the Passage and headed back down the road to Central, I almost dared to think things would pass without a hitch. Then the clamour of urgent voices broke the quiet. Even in the dark, between the fence bars, I could see a crowd had gathered outside the back door.

“There’s never that many people at Central this late,” said Markos, frowning. “Something’s up.”

“No shit,” said Aric. “Get out the way. We have to find out what’s going on.”

Just before we reached the gate, a small figure ran through, turned left and pelted into the night, so fast it appeared a shadowy blur.

“Oi! You!”

Two guards followed, vanishing into the shadows too. Markos cursed under his breath.

“What the hell?” I said. “Was that–?”

“Trespasser, probably,” said the centaur. “Come on. Let’s see what’s up.”

Trespasser? Who the hell would have the nerve to break into Central?

We went through the gate, towards the crowd. The entire night guard had congregated out back, by the look of things. Carl beckoned us over, and he, along with everyone else wore a dead-serious expression… like someone had died.

Oh, shit.

“What happened?” Markos got there first.

“Mr Clark,” said Carl. “He’s been murdered.”

No way.
I looked from Markos to Carl and back at the guards. Like someone would reveal this to be an elaborate prank.

“What… how?” I asked.

“Strangled from behind, we think. In his office. You knew he was working late?”

“Yeah. He spoke to us. Before our shift.” Damn—we were the last people to speak to him. “When did this happen?”

“We’re still trying to determine that,” said Carl. “No one has
ever
been murdered on the premises before. Not in thirty years.”

A shiver went down my spine. “Damn,” I said.

“Who would do that?” Lenny blurted. “He—he was…”

“A supervisor,” Aric cut in. “He wasn’t a higher-up, right?”

A blond woman stepped forwards to glare at him. I recognised her as Ellen, whom I’d met earlier that day. She’d been part of the next shift.

“Might you show a little respect?” she said to Aric. “A man has died.
Your
supervisor, to be precise.”

It seemed unreal. I’d spoken to Mr Clark that
day.
Barely an hour before he died. He’d been reading those papers I’d fetched from the archives.