Chapter 28, a shattering realization 2
(Callie)
Callie awoke, dressing slowly, while she checked her comm. It was five pm, on a Saturday. It's not like the different days of the week mattered much when every day was busy. Callie checked the news and realized why today was important. In bright letters, floating from Callie's comm was the news.
A special news bulletin broadcasting Warren's and Villuses' faces in high resolution was on repeat every few minutes. Each time it popped up, a flashing red message appeared, declaring both terrorists armed and extremely dangerous.
There were several articles about skin treatment, dental care and an accusation about Senetor Orlean cheating on his wife. Near the top of the list was an article proclaiming the trial of the war criminals Jerry and Peyton were postponed to a later date.
The official reason for postponing the execution was the emperor was too busy with peace talks to hold the trial. Callie smiled, elation filling her at that sight. Until now, she hadn't actually believed they would release Peyton, but now it was looking extremely possible.
But so far, there still was no news about Peytons deal with the enforcers, or the Devalis involvement. Callie sighed, and she doubted there would be any. The Devali was not known for blabbing.
She stretched, slipping on her weapons before walking from her room, her steps light and quiet. Dustin lay on the couch, his chest rising and falling evenly. His head was kinked to the side as he leaned on the armrest of the couch. Well, he was going to be cranky when he woke, sleeping like that was going to make his neck ache.
She drew closer, and soft snoring drifted to her ears. Something dark lay on the table, a soft light blinking from the screen every couple of seconds. The device was sleek, composed of dozens of small fragments, split with faint lines of energy. It was a state of the art comm, and must belong do Dustin.
She paused. The device shouldn't be active. Surely Dustin turned it off before going to sleep? The flashing light from the device said otherwise, telling her she would only need to nudge the comm to see what he was working on. Slowly she advanced, her socks utterly silent on the living room carpet.
The only sound she made was her controlled breathing and the swish of her clothes. She inspected Dustin, trying to decide if he was faking being asleep. He was lying on his side, breathing evenly, his arms tucked beneath him for warmth. She looked closer, watching his closed eyes, as that was usually a good giveaway.
Callie had once recorded herself while practicing to fake sleep. The breathing and a still body were easy to get right, but the eyes were the hardest. It took her hours of practice to keep her eyes from moving while she held her eyelids closed.
She watched Dustin closely for a minute, first watching his eyes for signs of faking sleep. When nothing happened, she just watched him sleep for a while, admiring the sharp lines of his jaw, his short brown hair and his upturned nose.
The muscles of his face were relaxed, revealing the worry lines around his eyes. Her eyes drifted to his full lips, wondering what they tasted like. She glanced to his comm and back to him, wondering if she should violate his privacy and look at see what he was working on?
She shook her head. If their conversation last night was any sign, then she wouldn't understand whatever he was looking at. Callie headed for the door, leaving the tempting prize on the table untouched. She had little to gain from snooping through his comm so openly and a lot to lose.
Straining his trust further would be asking for trouble. Besides, there were other things she had on her mind. She bounced with nervous energy for both the weeks' investigations, and meeting the Etrian prime minister next week. She glanced at her messages, wondering why she still hadn't received more than a simple no in response from Warren?
Sure, Warren was brash and acted on impulse, but he was usually more talkative than this. Callie stepped out into the bright light of the city's green barrier, squinting as her eyes adjusted to the light. The door to Dustin's two-room house clicked shut, beeping as the locking mechanism engaged.
The navy base was bustling more than usual, with squads of soldiers running laps and performing parade exercises. Today there were about a thousand of them, marching instep, geared in full kit over their light shelled suits.
Bunched up in line and marching in step, the dark black armour and assault rifles of the navy were intimidating. And that wasn't even accounting for their artists and the firepower of their battleships..
Callie made her way around the marching soldiers, keeping a watchful eye on them as they marched in perfect step. Lacking an army uniform, Callie was distinctly out of place, standing out like a fox in a sheep pen.
The city's green barrier shimmer drawing her attention, and she could swear she could see the main drive thrusters of a battleship on the other side. That momentary transparency faded back to opaque green energy that seemed to ripple like the surface of a lake.
She dressed in the locker room, slipping on a soft suit, very similar to the hard shelled battle armour. It was lighter and didn't restrict her movement as much, but they meant this suit for sparring, not battle.
She locked her weapons in a locker and enter the massive warehouse where hundreds of navy soldiers were training at all hours. Although she was wearing army property, she bore no rank, and so anyone who looked could tell she wasn't in the active military but some other branch.
Working for Dustin had some perks. Callie approached the track and jogged at an even clip, passing other soldiers in training. Her pace increased, the somewhat restrictive body armour making her gait awkward. But that was the point of training in armour, to get used to the restrictions it placed on your movement.
After about forty minutes, she was building up a good sweat, and paused to get a drink of water. There was a convenient water fountain next to the track for this very purpose. It was thoughtful of the gym designers.
Now that her warmup was complete, Callie approached the nearest fighting ring blazing with a transparent green barrier. With a little smack talk, one of the gathered soldiers agreed to spar with her. These were the artists of the empire, each with varying levels of skill in the art. The group of ten navy soldiers watched with curiosity as Callie dismantled her opponent, a one star artist, in under a minute.
The others all lined up to fight her after that convincing victory, seeming to think she got lucky. It was almost an hour before Callie got through them all, finding out that their lieutenant was far more skilled than his two star rank would imply.
After fighting nine of them back to back, Callie was growing bored with the sparring.They were sub par at best, lacking even Taniyas skill in hand to hand sparring. Her last opponent was a little different, sweeping Callie's feet from under her in a surprising burst of speed.
The others had all attempted to fight her standing up, which was a dangerous move. Callie was six foot three with long reach, excellent endurance, and could kick them in the face before they knew what happened. With green energy shielding his entire body, the lieutenant darted in with a blur, sliding low and kicking at her legs.
She flew onto her back with a whomp, the air rushing from her lungs, but her own barrier cushioned the blow. The lieutenant lept atop her, his superior weight holding her down. Or so he thought it might. Undaunted, Callie locked her legs around one of his ankles, grabbed one of his arms and flexed her core, twisting.
She rotated, twisting his wrist and slamming him face first into the floor. She rose, digging her knee into his lower back, twisting his arm to hold him down. He struggled, but she held him tight, giving him only one option to free himself. The man decided he didn't want to dislocate his shoulder and tapped the mat with his other hand, admitting defeat. Callie released him and stood, backing away several paces.
"Lets go again!" The lieutenant groaned, slowly rising to his feet with a wince. The man didn't sound mad, but exited.
Her heart raced, and under the layers of padding she was drenched in sweat, her muscles sore from the day's exercise. Okay, maybe the soldiers were more difficult to defeat than she had previously implied. Or at least they were difficult to defeat and keep alive at the same time.
The other soldiers outside the sparring ring both cheered and booed in turn. A familiar brown hair and hazel eyed man was mixed with the crowd. He caught her looking at him and gesture her over.
"Sorry lieutenant, duty calls."Callie said, opening the visor covering her face and wiping sweat from her eyes. Callie stepped out of the ring, smiling at each of the soldiers and meeting their eyes. "Can you teach me that move sometime?" A private asked, her blond hair cut short.
"If you stop by around this time tomorrow morning, we can spar."Callie responded, smiling as some of the group cheered. The woman, Briane, nodded seriously, her expression determined. Callie approached Dustin, and they walked away from the group.
Dustin eye her speculatively, matching her log stride with a hurried step. "You have been making friends, and no shortage of rivals. Rumour has it someone will pay five hundred crowns to anyone who can beat you in a sparring match."Dustin said, seriously.
Callie paused and turned to him with a startled look. "Wait, really? Why would anyone offer five hundred crowns for a sparring match?" Callie asked, feigning bafflement.
"I do not know. But I feel bad for anyone that tries to collect."Dustin said, with a shrug. " Speaking of which, why have you been so lax? Training regularly could improve your skills."Callie said, her heart racing as she said that.
Dustin glanced at her dubiously."Are you offering to spar?" Dustin asked with a raised eyebrow."If you aren't afraid of a few bruises. Besides, Taniya has been coming for practice almost every morning as well. The exercise could be good for you."Callie said, heading for the change room and a shower.
"Are you saying I'm getting fat?" Dustin asked, glancing down at his athletic body."I wouldn't say fat, more round."Callie said, tauntingly. She grinned as he gaped at her.
Dustin waited outside of the locker-room while Callie enter, taking a quick shower and redressing in her civilian clothing. Feeling refreshed, she tied her wet hair in a ponytail, wishing she had a comb to get out of the knots.
"Lets go, we have some things to do today, and a lot of driving ahead of us."Dustin said, gesturing them forwards.
They exited the massive chain-link fences of the navy base to the streets of the city. Callie was excited for the day, wondering what they would be doing? They drove across the city to a large skyscraper dominating the sky in brilliant silver and blue.
Callie followed through a mess of security, losing nearly all of her weapons before both she and Dustin arrived in a meeting room. Callie's skin tingled as she walked through the door after Dustin, noting the shimmer of a familiar sound ward. The barrier was a three layered construction, designed to distort the sound leaving and amplify outside noise inward.
A familiar older woman waited in one seat, her light brown eyes locked onto Callie. While another somewhat familiar man sat in the other seat, his suit immaculate. "You have already met Lady Veronica. And this is senator Bradly."Dustin said, gesturing to the straight-backed older man beside Veronica.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Callie. I have heard only good things about you."Senator Bradly said with a pleasant smile.
Callie smiled to them both, nodding her head in greeting."You really brought Callie to this meeting? This information is on a need to know basis." Veronica asked, with a glare for Dustin. The senator stayed quiet, his eyes roving between Callie and Veronica curiously.
"Lady Veronica, she is my chosen partner. Her clearance is therefore what I choose to allow her to know."Dustin said, his body tense.
"That is only in the case of foreign matters. This information is all domestic, and lands in my jurisdiction." Lady Veronica replied. Dustin winced, but matched his mother's stare evenly. Callie smiled at his efforts to defend her.
"Its fine Dustin, if Veronica doesn't want me to help I will stay outside of the meeting." Callie said, unoffended. She turned to the silent senator Bradly, gracing him with a genial smile. "It's a pleasure to meet you as well senator Bradly. I would love to stay and chat more about your campaign, but alas, I saw some tea in the lounge."Callie said.
"I am sure we can chat later. I'm interested in hearing about your own deeds."Senator Bradly said with a nod. "Of course senator, I'm sure Dustin can pass you my contact information."Callie said, with a slight smile. Veronica glared from Callie to the Senator, and then to Dustin. The senator's eyes glinted with amusement at that.
Judging by Veronica's frustrated glare, she was going to have words with Dustin later. Callie smiled, well this could be somewhat amusing. Maybe she would meet with Senator Bradly later, if only to vex Veronica.
Callie wasn't expecting to be on mundane guard duty all day, much less stuck in the lounge. She waited outside in the lounge, while Dustin talked with the empire's spymaster and Senator Bradly. Despite having the access to the internet, and the news to browse all day, Callie found little about the attack on the empire two years ago.
There was a lot of speculation and assumptions, but not a lot of hard evidence. In fact, even after searching for most of the day, Callie was still unconvinced that the secari were terrorists. All the news really showed of the attack was an image of a massive tower turning into a mushroom cloud. All the news articles about the attack seemed like propaganda and lacked much, if any, hard evidence.
There were dozens of speculations about who did it, and most of them pointed to the Slax or Etria as culprits. But that was just here say, and no doubt used to rile the public up.
After several hours of searching the internet, Callie gave up for now, deciding it was mostly misinformation. Maybe she could get more information from Dustin or Taniya about the attack two years ago.
Callie sunk back in her chair, feeling like she hadn't learned a lot. She sighed after reading the hundredth unfounded accusation. She wanted to discard this line of thought, but Dustin's words kept coming back to her. He was so certain of himself, and so certain the secari were the terrorists.
Callie let out a frustrated sigh. This line of thought wasn't getting her anywhere. Maybe it was just her boredom, but Callie was actually considering his words. Normally this would be a splendid opportunity to spy, but she couldn't even listen in on Dustin because of the sound barrier, and so was stuck with her thoughts, bored out of her mind.
Callie would have snuck around city hall, but after senator Sergile was shot on the front steps, they upped the security. Every thirty minutes or so, an enforcer poked their head into the lounge before retreating.
Instinctively, she kept her face turned away from the camera in the corner, giving the camera a bad profile of her face at all times. With such close attention on her, she couldn't exactly snoop through the building.
The staff of the building brought her breakfast, a sunny side egg seasoned with dill, which wasn't all bad. The only real highlight of the day was the food and the excellent raspberry tea. By the time dinner came, Callie was contemplating her life choices. During that time, she messaged Ferra, Taniya and Warren. Ferra was mid voyage to Salia on a contract. Taniya was busy with some politician, and Warren wasn't responding to her messages.
Anxiety filled her, making the boring guard duty worse, as her mind brought up the worst potential outcomes. Was Warren captured by the enforcers, or worse, dead? She even messaged Villus, but as always, he responded curtly and unhelpfully.
She knew why she wasn't allowed in those meetings. But it still stung her pride, reduced to a low body guard just like that. After about ten hours, Dustin exited the conference room, his shoulders slumping, looking exhausted. Callie rose from the chair and followed him out to the car, her mood soured.
Her mood brightened significantly when she retrieved her p223, and combat knife, but that wasn't by much. On the bright side, Taniya had something planned for tomorrow but wasn't sharing the details.
"Well, what is it?" Dustin asked as Callie drove them down the street at a reckless pace. "Nothing, don't mind me. I'm just a good little bodyguard."Callie said, her tone snappish.
Dustin sighed, leaning back in the passenger seat. "I take it you didn't appreciate sitting around doing nothing all day?" Dustin asked. "Not really, with so much happening, I just feel useless sitting in the lobby all day. Worst of all, there are dozens of guards already guarding the city hall." Callie said, weaving through the throngs of traffic expertly. She wasn't exactly going to the speed limit, but Callie didn't care all that much.
A shuttle honked as Callie cut in front of them, taking an exit ramp just before it was too late. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Dustin's hands clenched in a terrified, white knuckled grip. "What do you expect? You admitted your entire identity was a lie, and told me some vague story about where you are really from."Dustin said calmly.
Callie glowered, but couldn't refute a single word. Her answers the other day were half truths at best, and she was lucky Dustin hadn't fired her or had her turned over to the enforcers for fraud. The shuttle shudder a little, as the air outside beat against the windows..
"What do you want me to say? What can I say to make you trust me?" Callie asked after several long minutes. "I trust you."Dustin said, his tone genuine. The instant and sincere reply took aback Callie. Guilt gnawed and her, her stomach clenching.
"Why?" Callie asked, almost taking off someone's mirror in her surprise. Dustin let out an unmanly yelp at the close call. "I trust you to watch my back, not with state secrets. And to make sure we are perfectly clear, I do not trust your driving skills."Dustin said, his voice strained.
Callie took a sharp corner, going twice the recommended speed with a grin."At this speed, that's basically the same thing."Callie said, her attention on the road as she weaved in and out of traffic.
Her foot was to the floor, maxing out the speedometer on Dustin's shuttle.
"Tell me again why we are in such a hurry?"Dustin asked desperately. Callie pulled into an open parking spot at a breakneck pace, slamming on the brakes. The seatbelt tightened, holding her in place as the shuttle came to an abrupt halt. Her silky black hair flew around her face, and she grinned over at Dustin. Callie tossed Dustin his keys, her heart racing at the excitement.
"Oh, I'm not in a hurry at all. I'm just meeting up with Taniya soon. We are going for some dinner and maybe a scam or two."Callie said excitedly.
"What sort of scam?" Dustin asked cautiously. Callie smiled, opening the driver's side door and stepping out. She peered back inside the parked shuttle at him.
"I would tell but then i would have to kill you."Callie said, with a cheeky grin. Dustin laughed, stepping from the shuttle. "Do you mind if I join you two for dinner? I'm hungry."Dustin said, walking around the car.
"But then how will I complain about my boss?" Callie asked with a pout, walking in stride with Dustin. "Knowing you two, you will make fun of me if I'm there or not."Dustin said, seeming more exited then earlier.
"You are not wrong."Callie said, with a radiant smile. "So, what is this about a scam? What are you two up to?" Dustin asked, worried. Dustin looked up at Callie's innocent smile and into her light hazel eyes. He could tell she was up to no good. When she didn't answer, he grew more nervous, wondering what Taniya and Callie were up to?