Inceptio, p.26
Inceptio, page 26
part #1 of Roma Nova Series
He swallowed. His Adam’s apple bounced hard. A few drops of sweat formed on his upper lip. ‘You can’t do that.’
‘Really?’ I kept my tone cold, utterly flat. ‘You’d be surprised.’ I smirked at him. ‘Who are you going to complain to? The EUS government would deny all knowledge of you, so don’t look there for help. You know we’re not bound by international protocols. Forget the Vienna Conventions. You’re out in the cold.’
He leaned back in his chair, imitating relaxation, but his shoulders were rigid with tension. ‘What do you want?’
I laughed. And waited. I was enjoying this. I drew my carbon fibre knife out of the sheath strapped to my ankle. Murria took half a step forward, but Somna put her arm out and stopped her. I traced a few patterns on the table with the knife. Although my touch was light, it scored the surface.
Renschman’s eyes followed the knife’s circling tip.
‘My colleagues would like to know why you’re here and what you’ve been up to. I’ll hand back to them – they’re much more civilised. They don’t have any kind of personal grudge. But then, you haven’t tried to kill them twice.’
I stood up, right in front of him. ‘Look at me.’
He raised his head slowly and looked up reluctantly. I was so close, he was forced to bend his head right back. I used my trick of looking straight into the back of his eyeballs. ‘You need to tell them everything. I’m going to listen for a few minutes. If we don’t make enough progress, I’ll have Captain Tellus join me. He told me he was going to kill you the next time he saw you. He was very, very angry. Your safety and well-being would be entirely in our hands. I would think about that if I were you.’
The sweat oozing out on his forehead shone in the intense light. He looked away first, grunted and bowed his head. He slumped in the chair, making no attempt at movement.
I’d won. I’d conquered my fear and I’d conquered him. The terror he’d inflicted on me in New York and in that freezing kiosk in the park was gone. I could hardly believe how easily he gave it up. It dawned on me he was a bully, and so a coward.
I beckoned Murria and the DJ interrogator over and retired to the wall, still looking straight at Renschman and still playing with my knife. I watched him and listened as he told them about Palicek, the drug distribution, his role, payment mechanisms, their contacts to date in Roma Nova. It was sweet.
Murria forgave me. I thought. Later, back in the general office upstairs, she gave me a coffee. ‘I’m not going to speculate about how you know him, Bruna, but you certainly pulled off a hell of a trick there. My congratulations.’ She smiled at me. ‘Ever thought of working in the Interrogation Service?’
I couldn’t find any words. How could she suggest such a horrific thing?
She laughed and walked away.
LXII
Three days later, Lurio and I had finished lunch early and gone to grab some air. The weather was hot and I was glad of short sleeves. The clear air was refreshing, a tonic both on my skin and in my lungs after the air-conditioning.
At the back of the main building, a few tough nuts were sweating round the sports track. We paused, half-hidden in the shade thrown by the side wall of the semi-circular grandstand. He pressed me gently against the wall, slid his arm into the gap at the back of my waist, bent down and kissed me. His kiss was thorough and surprisingly passionate. My arms around his back pulled him in, my legs instinctively folding around his. I gasped as a warmth beyond tenderness rolled through me.
He drew his head back, looked into my eyes, closed his own and gave a tiny shake of his head, as if to himself. Eventually, he released me, and pulled me into the grandstand to sit on the steps. He laid his arm across my shoulders and drew me to him.
‘They want to pull it all together by the end of this week,’ he said, his voice subdued. ‘Trials for a week, then it’s back to normal.’ He looked into the distance.
I leaned over and kissed his lips lightly.
And at that moment, Conrad came jogging past on the track.
I wasn’t surprised when Murria gave me the message that Major Tellus asked me to drop by his office before I left for the night.
‘I know he’s been reading your reports and following the transcripts every day, so perhaps he wants to congratulate you. Or even recruit you.’ She laughed. ‘Don’t look so worried; he won’t eat you. Besides, you have your inspector to protect you,’ she added with a sly look.
I wasn’t going to bite on that.
I hadn’t seen Conrad since our row in the hospital wing. I was careful to keep out of his way when he attended the debrief sessions. I’d accepted a while ago that what we’d had was over. I gathered myself together and knocked on the door. Nothing. I knocked again and went in.
He was sitting behind his desk, but the chair was swivelled around and he was gazing out the window.
‘You wanted to see me, sir?’
‘Did you think I wouldn’t find out?’
‘Sorry?’
‘That you were screwing Lurio.’
‘With the greatest respect, it’s none of your business.’
He turned around, his face set and eyes cold. ‘Not very professional, is it?’
‘Then refer it to the DJ internal affairs people if you feel that strongly.’
I knew he couldn’t. And he knew it. The DJ was a separate service; they would politely ignore him and, as long as it didn’t impact on the work, or service discipline, they didn’t care what relationships people had with each other. How dare he? We hadn’t dated for nearly a year.
‘Do you think I’m made of steel, Carina? I was bloody furious when I saw your face staring out of Pulcheria’s body. How the hell did you become part of that dirty world, living with criminals? And dealing drugs?’
He slammed his hand on the desk. Everything on it rattled.
I jumped.
‘Then bloody Lurio prances in and announces you’re the undercover agent. Jupiter’s balls! What in Hades possessed you?’
I wasn’t going to say anything. I’d tried once, from my sick bed.
‘And how did you learn to fight like that?’
‘After Renschman tried to kill me in the park, I learned to protect myself.’
‘That’s it?’
We stared at each other. He looked down at the file on his desk and waved his hand over it.
‘How can this be you? I’d be extremely pleased if one of my field officers did this type of work.’
‘Strangely enough, people outside the PGSF are perfectly capable of producing results.’
‘Don’t be bloody sarcastic with me.’
‘Sorry, sir. You asked.’
‘Hmm. You’ve learned to be insolent like them, I see.’
I said nothing.
‘And that business with Renschman. Why in Hades didn’t you tell me?’
‘Not my call.’
‘You’re totally impossible.’
‘No, I’m not. You just can’t accept it. Imagine how I felt facing up to him. But I did it. He was a dirty bully and I had my revenge. And now he’s going down.’
He looked down at the file again for a minute, and glanced back up through his eyelashes. Did he realise the effect that had? I tamped it down.
‘If you were anybody else, I’d apply to have you transferred immediately into the PGSF.’
Cold rushed through me. No. I couldn’t be shuttled from one service to another. Could I?
‘You can’t do that,’ I croaked.
He leaned back in his chair and smiled. Not a pleasant smile.
‘Actually, I can. Then we’d find out what you’re made of.’
It was one of those ‘Superman, save me’ moments. I couldn’t find words, even in my head, to describe the dread of that prospect. And my anger.
‘Contrary to the delight almost everybody else would show at such an invitation, you don’t seem very happy about it,’ he said. He was right. Most people would move mountains to join the elite PGSF.
‘No. I like it where I am.’
He laughed. ‘Not up to it?’
‘Not a problem. I’d go up against anybody. No, it’s…’
‘Yes?’ He smirked.
I wanted to slap it off his face. ‘If you want the truth, I don’t like the idea of being surrounded by arrogant, brutal morons so up themselves they can hardly breathe. Sir.’
His face darkened. ‘Is that really what you think of us?’
‘That’s my experience so far.’
‘You’re wrong.’
‘Probably. It’s always me that’s wrong, isn’t it? You can’t possibly make a mistake, can you?’
‘Don’t be so bloody stupid.’
‘Like I said – arrogant.’
We glowered at each other.
It was at that precise moment the door opened and Lurio marched in. Thank Juno.
‘Major.’
‘Inspector.’
They didn’t bristle or circle each other but, if they’d been a few steps down the food chain, that’s exactly how I would have described it. They stared each other out for a full minute. Then Lurio walked forward, braced his hands on the desk and bent down to within centimetres of Conrad’s face.
‘If you want to talk to any of my people, put in a formal request. Got it?’
‘Get your attitude out of my face, Inspector.’
Lurio stood back and, without turning, said, ‘Okay, Bruna, get going.’
I was out before I could take a full breath. I stood in the corridor trembling, looking down at the wood floor. I heard the door open and shut again.
‘Take me home, Lurio. Now,’ I whispered.
‘Keep it together till we get out of here.’
At the apartment, we made for my bedroom, where we had the most shattering sex ever. He stroked my back and head afterward while I told him about my interview with Conrad.
‘You know something, Cara Bruna?’ he said, his finger touching the tip of my nose. ‘You are the most tremendous fuck I’ve ever had and I’m going to miss that.’
How coarse he could be, but it was a great compliment from him. ‘What do you mean “going to miss that”?’
‘After the trials next week you’ll be free to go home.’
LXIII
The evening before my first day in court, I tried on my dark navy uniform jacket and skirt; it looked smart. When I turned in front of the mirror to check the fit, Lurio said, ‘Yes, yes, you look very nice. Now get it off or it’s going to get creased.’
I’d been briefed on the procedure by a legal type and had her support before going in, but it was still intimidating. I had never been inside a courtroom in America. My life there had been excruciatingly ordinary, with not even a jaywalking ticket. Here, a dark oak, carved dais for the judges and the examining magistrate hovered above the rest of the mortals, dominating an elaborately decorated witness box and benches where the defendants and their lawyers sat. A scattering of uniforms broke up the overwhelming civilian presence in the audience area. Many were media, national and international, invited here to push the message of how severely the Roma Nova authorities punished drug dealers. I was screened from them, but not from the officials or defendants, in a smartplex box under the pseudonym of ‘Officer B’.
My written deposition had been filed Friday and I was asked to clarify various points. The defence lawyer tried some fancy stuff, but the magistrate told him to stick to the point. They were big on making long speeches, though, but I spoke simply as advised by the legal team. Palicek, Renschman and friends sat impassive most of the time on their bench, but Palicek threw me a poison look when I said my piece about the two meetings. Renschman? If doing hard labour in a tough prison gave him an inkling of the terror and pain he’d made me endure then I wouldn’t be too unhappy about it.
They went down for twenty-five years each, and I went home.
On my way, I returned to Lurio’s apartment by myself to collect my things; he’d gone directly to report to Aemilia Fulvia. I hesitated before dropping the keys through his mailbox. I didn’t know if I wanted to stay or go.
Junia welcomed me back to Domus Mitelarum. I breathed in the familiar smells: polished wood, honey, even the stone and marble gave out a subtle scent. Over dinner, I told Nonna everything, except for the sex with Lurio. She had it out of me eventually. Going up against Aurelia Mitela was never a smart idea.
‘I don’t know if I feel guilty, defiant or couldn’t care less. It seemed the natural thing to do at the time, I was so lonely.’
She put her hand over mine. ‘Carina, you don’t need to be so defensive. It’s always your choice.’
‘I’m so ticked off with Conrad, Nonna. He can’t seem to accept what I did professionally. But Lurio thinks he’ll try again to transfer me into the PGSF. Can you imagine how difficult it would be, working with Conrad like that?’
‘He’s due here tomorrow evening. Why don’t you talk to him then?’
I really didn’t want to see him. I would go out tomorrow.
Later, I tapped on Helena’s door.
She stared at me, her eyes widened in surprise. Then she grinned.
‘Carina! Come in. Brilliant to see you back.’
She poured out a glass of wine, handed it to me, and looked me up and down.
‘Nice uniform. You look fit. Having lots of sex?’
Heat flooded my face. Would I ever get used to this frankness?
‘So that’s a yes. Who is he? Tell me everything.’
I managed to fend off most of the personal questions and gave her a strongly edited version.
‘So Goldlights is closed? Really? I’d heard it’d recently been refurbished.’ She went over to her terminal and loaded the site. I looked over her shoulder. It was under new management and had reopened two days ago.
I drove into the DJ building next day in my own car and parked in the visitors’ lot. No sign of Sentius in the Organised Crime Division, so I sat down at my desk and logged on to my account. Among the crowd of infomails was one message all printed in capitals. Such subtlety could only be from Lurio. I answered it then went to find some coffee. The section inspector invited me into her office and offered me a honey-coated biscuit – apparently a sign of great honour. After five minutes, I was on the point of excusing myself to check if Lurio had replied when the door opened abruptly and he strode in.
He nodded to the section inspector then said, ‘You’re not being paid to sit on your arse, Bruna. Come with me.’
I mouthed ‘thanks’ to the section inspector, and hurried after him.
‘What?’ I said as we walked along the corridor.
He raised an eyebrow.
I sighed. ‘What, sir?’
‘Upstairs.’
In his office, he flung himself into his chair.
‘Aemilia wants to see you, but first, why did you leave so abruptly?’
‘Isn’t that what you wanted? You know, clean break.’
‘No, it’s what I feared.’
His face was rigid, the light eyes staring at mine.
I took a deep breath.
‘I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you. I misread what you meant.’
He shrugged, said nothing and looked away.
At home, I dropped my personal weapon in the vestibule safe-box and headed straight for the atrium for a drink. I flopped in a chair and downed it in one.
‘Feel better now?’
My hand flew up to my chest. Where in Hades had he come from? The last person I wanted to see.
‘Juno, Conrad. You want me to have a heart attack?’
‘Don’t be so melodramatic.’ He brought the decanter over and refilled my glass. I watched him walk back to the side table, set it down on the tray and come and sit opposite me.
‘You look tired. Are they working you hard?’
‘Difficult day.’
‘I’m sorry I lost my temper last week.’ He looked down at his glass. ‘It was unprofessional. You were quite right. Your personal life is no longer any of my business.’
The hollow comfort of being right pressed down on me.
‘But I cannot understand how you’ve been able to carry out this operation. It takes years to reach this level.’ He was wary, as if expecting a hostile reaction. ‘You’ve totally confused me.’
‘I’m too tired to argue with you, Conrad. Leave it.’
We sat silently, finishing our drinks.
‘Shall we go and eat?’ Conrad asked.
I opened my mouth to say I was going out when I realised I didn’t want to. He stood up and held out his hand. I looked at it, and put mine in it as I stood up. The warmth passed up my arm into my whole body. I was jolted to see his eyes full of longing. I was so confused. I thought I’d had managed to get over him, to squash it all away in one corner and throw a blanket over it. And walk away. Minutes ago, he’d said the same. No, he’d said that it wasn’t any of his business. Did he still feel strongly about me, but was containing it? Was that why he’d been so hostile when I’d turned up as Pulcheria?
I’d forgiven him for his deception about Silvia and the children, but not how easily he believed I was a criminal or the harsh words about being tainted and poisonous. More than anything, I resented him not recognising I could make something of myself and succeed in a dangerous environment. It was too raw. I let my hand drop and the moment passed.
