Marked (18 page)

Latisha Jones, reporting as requested,
she said in a way that broadcast both her mental exhaustion and her high-level control. She “spoke” just loud enough to be heard by all, and not a fraction louder.

Thank you for agreeing to speak so soon after a scan,
Diaz said, with overtones of great respect and appreciation. She'd just labored at one of the most demanding jobs at the Guild, his mind put in, on very little notice and with no rest. Going through a person's entire life with a fine-tooth comb while the person tried to stop you . . . well, it was exhausting to say the least, and required a great deal of pain and suffering on all sides. If it was not an emergency, they would gladly have provided rest time.
We appreciate your sacrifice.

She nodded. The whole room was strangely silent.

The woman beside me, the officer of the court, then broadcast as though reading from a script,
Adam Ward, no status, formerly of the Guild, has accused Tobias Nelson, Guild member first class, voting rights, all honor, of two serious crimes: one, the consorting with a known normal criminal whose interests lie in opposition to the Guild's, without the knowledge of his superiors and for the clear detriment of Guild interests, and two, the knowing and planned manipulation of Council member Del Meyers and his senior assistant to the Council, John Spirale, for the purposes of their death and the creation of a contagious madness crisis in the Guild, for unknown reasons. Latisha Jones, senior deep-scanner first class, voting rights, all honor, has been asked to determine the truth or falsehood of these claims beyond argument through the application of a total scan of Tobias Nelson.
She paused, a clear sense of waiting coming from her mind next to me.

Rex shifted, but Diaz held up a hand before more than a sense of thought could come from him.

Tell us what you found.

The court officer nodded.
Ms. Jones, your testimony is beyond reproach. Have you examined Tobias Nelson?

I have.

And what is your judgment of the charges laid against him?

Ms. Jones shifted her weight, and I got a careful sense of not looking at me.
There is both truth and falsehood to the charges.

Explain,
Rex said, leaning forward.

Referencing the first charge, it is true that Tobias Nelson has met and bargained with a man named Garrett Fiske several times. He believes Fiske is both fully mind-deaf, as charged, and working for criminal interests, as charged. These criminal interests and power were referenced several times with full knowledge. Whether the criminal interests are in opposition to the Guild is undetermined.

Diaz looked at me.
Explain your knowledge of Fiske.
The context was that I should transmit as much information as possible, in images and memories rather than simply words.

I hesitated.
Fiske is part of an ongoing police investigation. I am not to discuss the details of the investigation. Officers' lives could be at stake. Most of what I know is the details of the investigation.
I put my certainty of that fact into the words, and my mixed regret and determination.

Rex leaned forward.
You are no longer employed by the police. The results of this inquiry could result in your death or mind-wipe. We expect the full truth from you.

I swallowed. I knew what I faced. But Cherabino was on that task force, along with other officers I knew and liked. Bellury had worked on that task force, to provide additional information. Could I let his work go to waste? Could I endanger Cherabino by talking with the Guild about her most difficult case, the one she'd spent years on the fringes of?

I realized I'd thought those thoughts in my public space, and likely with enough emotion that they'd broadcast to the room.

I spoke out loud, for the illusion of control. “If you kill me or you don't kill me, if you wipe me or not, I'm not going to endanger people who are just doing their jobs. Whoever wipes me is going to have to swear to keep the secrets until all of it is over, or I won't cooperate.”

Protecting your criminal friends will get you nowhere with the Guild,
Green said then.

You no longer work for the normals,
the woman from Finance put in, after a glance at Green.
There is no benefit to protecting them.

Don't they treat you badly?
Tubbs, Kara's boss asked.

Most of the room was filled with a sense of seeking understanding, not anger.

They took me in when I was nothing, and they gave me a chance to be useful. To make a difference. How they treat me doesn't have anything to do with those essential facts,
I said to the room, just realizing it.

A long pause while people looked at Diaz and Diaz looked at me.

For the first time, he spoke out loud, in a quavering baritone that sounded nothing like his sure mind-speech. “You may pick and choose what you say, out loud if needed, to tell us what we need to know about Fiske.”

I was surprised, really, genuinely, surprised. “You don't know this stuff already?”

Would we ask if we did?
the woman from Research asked me.
Why do you believe he is dangerous to the Guild?

“Fiske is dangerous to everyone,” I said. “He seeks power. He's risen in the ranks dramatically in the last three years. And he's already reached out to corrupt politicians and attempted to infiltrate the police. He's . . . well, he's getting involved in things I can't talk about, in crimes I can't talk about, and as near as the police can tell, there's some kind of master plan they can't see.” I realized I knew a lot more than I should as a direct result of my mind-Link with Cherabino these last months. What to choose? Stick to the question. “I believe he's dangerous to the Guild because he's tried so hard to get in here. He's dealt with several people—including Nelson here. He's meddling, and from what I know about him, his involvement is never for
your
benefit. It's for his. He was the one who was working with Bradley and buying his technology, something that clearly was bad for the Guild. I know you paid attention to the Bradley case. You assigned me a Watcher, for crying out loud. You realize how dangerous these things were.”

A blank moment, and finally Diaz nodded.
That was my doing,
he said, and the feelings around it in Mindspace were simply determined.
You have made yourself infamous, and possibly dangerous.

“And then you hired me,” I said. “And then you let me inside the Guild, at least some of you—” I looked at Rex. “And wanted me to solve this murder for you.”

He killed himself,
the pale woman said.

Madness,
madness,
and
fear,
the room echoed dimly.

“No, he didn't,” I said, in as clear and certain a voice as I could get. “Do you know how I know?”

A burst of concern from the podium, maybe from Green? He wasn't looking at me. Huh.

How?
Diaz asked.

Because we found a device influencing him through Mindspace, a device we also found in his assistant John Spirale's apartment. Meyers also threw out his knives and even his sheets and towels to avoid any possibility of the death he kept seeing in visions. He left a note telling us that those visions had happened.
My mind added all of the details of the case I'd found to support my belief in homicide.
The electrical system was tampered with. Kara Chenoa, a smart woman, thinks Del Meyers would never, ever have killed himself in that way. I believe her.
My complex feelings for Kara and my anger about her leaked out; I couldn't help it.
Kara may not be for me personally, but she loves the Guild. She loves the truth. And there's a reason you're letting her family get involved in what should be a Council matter. There's huge benefit to dialogue. To discussion. To truth.

Then, quietly, in Mindspace, with overtones of exhaustion:
Can I please finish my testimony?
Ms. Jones, the deep-scanner, asked.

We all looked at her.

Of course,
Diaz sent, with great overtones of apology.

The court officer had a moment in which she collected herself in Mindspace. Then she stabilized.
Ms. Jones, what about the second charge? The proposed manipulation and madness causing.

She again concentrated on not looking at me.
The second charge is categorically untrue. Tobias has neither caused nor participated in any action contributing to either the deaths noted or to the current crisis in the Guild.

Loud discussion in Mindspace swamped the room. I shielded, hard, to block out the huge noise.

And then I turned, and stared at her.

“How can that be true?” I asked.

The prisoner will be silent until spoken to,
Rex's mental voice cut through Mindspace with outright tones of anger.
Ms. Jones deserves rest!

Order in the room,
Diaz put in.
Thank you, Ms. Jones. You may go.

She nodded gravely and turned to leave, never once having looked at me.

It hit me then: I was wrong. I had been wrong. I had assumed . . . but assumptions were for idiots and fools. What he'd done, to meet with Fiske, was bad enough. But to leap to conclusions when my life—

Quiet your thoughts!
Diaz told me, on a private channel, the tone blistering in its ferocity.

I looked up at the old man, strong in his position, wrinkled and old, and quieted my thoughts.

Then he spoke out loud, in that quavering voice that did not match the mind behind it. “Tobias Nelson, do you have anything to say in your own defense?”

“What I did I did for the good of the Guild. What was done with the parts that I obtained is not my doing.”

Rex looked over at the Research chair. “Ms. Chin—”

Aha! I had remembered her name correctly.

“—what are the results of your inquiry into your depart- ment?”

Patience, Rex. There will be plenty of time for that,
Diaz said.

Chin sat very straight, and I got a faint feeling of embarrassment and shame from her.

Nelson, finish.

Nelson pulled himself up. He still looked awful, like he'd been run over by a truck and then had the flesh wounds healed. You still got the impression of unimaginable pain and exhaustion. But there was strength there too, and anger. “A member of this Council told me to obtain certain parts. Parts that the Guild could not get any other way. I did as I was told. No one asked where they had come from. No one wanted to know. Any deals I made with Garrett Fiske in addition to those parts were intended to keep the Guild safe.”

Diaz turned an eye to Rex.
What did you—?

It was me,
Chin said, and the room grew totally, completely silent.
Or rather, it was my department. I am ashamed that we have brought embarrassment to the Guild.

And why did you require specialized parts we could only get from a criminal?
Diaz's mental voice was very, very dangerous.

I—

Sir, do we really want to have this conversation in front of an outsider?
Green said, in the most reasonable voice I've heard so far. Of course, in Mindspace, “outsider” had entire layers of negative connotations that wouldn't translate into language, and specifically referred to me. There was a clear overtone of “criminal” as well. Thoughts were such a rich medium, well beyond words, and for the first time I had cause to hate that fact.

I'm not in any hurry to leave,
I said.

Diaz looked at his son, then me.
Let's wrap up the matter at hand, then, and then turn to the why and wherefore.

The Council officer beside me straightened.
Adam Ward, no status, has been informed of the severe consequences of a false accusation against someone of the first class.

And I held my breath, waiting for the ax to drop.

The officer went on.
Tobias Nelson has admitted to consorting with a known criminal whose interests do not lie aligned with the Guild's.

She paused for effect, making a silence as clear in Mindspace as a drumroll.
It is traditional for the accused to be sentenced first. What say you, Council?

My heart beat faster.

Diaz sat, his mind releasing grave determination as his robes settled around him.
Further investigation into Nelson's transgressions is required.

I agree,
Chris Tubbs said,
but Green's point is valid. We must sentence him now, at least provisionally. I propose Nelson is removed from his current post pending that investigation and reduced to the rank of base Enforcer until and unless such a time as he is cleared or earns his status back. Additional penalties to be assessed in the result of future findings. What say you?

I am ineligible to vote.
Chin's mind-sending was weak, quiet
.

You are,
Diaz agreed.
I vote aye.

My old classmate Charlie voted aye along with Tubbs, and nays came from the pale woman from Finance and from Rex. Then, quickly, two ayes from Johanna and Green.

So mote it be,
the officer of the Council said.

I couldn't breathe. Obviously Nelson had had the support of some on the Council, and now he was being stripped of his rank for being caught carrying out Council orders. No other reason. It seemed harsh.

On the matter of the accusation of Adam Ward against Tobias Nelson, what say you, Council?

“May I speak on my behalf?” Nelson asked, true hatred now in his voice.

You may,
Diaz said.

“This man falsely accused me of murder and worse. He has done damage to my reputation and to the reputation of the Guild as a whole. By removing me from duty, he has damaged the ability of Enforcement to respond to the current mental health crisis. And he has conspired with many—including Kara Chenoa—to discredit me and other members of the Guild. He was removed from the Guild once and he has returned to wreak more damage. He has been convicted of felonies in the normal system and he does not learn. I argue he should be killed.”