Nolan took his time shutting the bedroom door and wheeling himself to the bathroom. He had no qualms about making the Protection Bureau man wait. He’d never been on friendly terms with the man, and after what he’d learned in his battle with Wolfe and the last encounter with Agent Styver, Nolan had no desire to trust the man, either.
Finally, he said aloud, “Put it through.”
“Cerberus.” Disdain and irritation echoed in the voice that crackled through Nolan’s earpiece. “Is it possible that the meaning of the word time-sensitive is lost on you, or has a different meaning than I believe?”
“Agent Styver, what a delight to hear from you.” Nolan forced a jocular tone. “I take it from that smile I hear in your voice that you’ve got good news for me.”
“What I’ve got is a lead on Elden Croyle, one of the two responsible for the IAF armory break-in.”
“Excellent!” Nolan beamed, though there was no way Agent Styver could see his expression through the voice-only call. “Send it over and I’ll take a look at it as soon as—”
“No,” Agent Styver snapped. “There’s no time for that. I need you at the Shipyards in forty-five minutes. We’ve had word that Elden Croyle is up to something big, and I need you off-world and chasing him as soon as possible.”
Nolan cocked an eyebrow. “He’s not on Exodus VI?” That was a wrinkle Nolan hadn’t expected.
“That’s what off-world means, isn’t it?”
Either Agent Styver’s having a bad day, Nolan thought with a chuckle, or someone was inconsiderate enough to bleed all over his pristine white smart desk.
“I’ll have a hauler waiting for you in the usual place at Z-115,” Agent Styver continued. “Get there, now. Word is he’s got something big planned on Moabus in the next few—”
But Nolan didn’t hear anything else the Protection Bureau man said. Ice froze in his veins, and mingled surprise and horror rooted him in place. His chest tightened, making it difficult to breathe.
Moabus!
“…there on time,” Agent Styver was saying. “Else we might miss our window to—”
“Got it.” Nolan tapped the earpiece, cutting off the call. The last thing he wanted was to hear Agent Styver’s voice—not now, not with the storm of emotions coursing through him.
“Nolan, are you all right?” Taia sounded worried. “YYour blood pressure has shot up, and I’m detecting a spike in cortisol and activity in your hippocampus correspondent with depression and anxiety. I could—”
“No, Taia!” The words came out harsher and louder than he’d intended. He could communicate with Taia mentally, but he often preferred to speak aloud. It felt less like talking to himself and more like a regular conversation with a friend or partner. “I-I’m fine,” he said, this time in a more normal tone. “Just…caught off guard, is all.”
“Because of our destination?” Taia asked. “Your neural activity changed when Agent Styver mentioned the planet of Moabus.”
Much as Nolan wanted to deny it, he couldn’t. Anytime he even thought about that world, it triggered that same reaction. And why wouldn’t it, given what had happened? He’d spent his life running away from that place, from the memories. Now, it seemed he had no choice but to return.
“According to the records you had me purge from the IAF, IDF, and Imperial databases,” Taia said, “Moabus is the planet of your birth, isn’t it? The world where you and Jared grew up, and where…oh, dear.”
The pity and concern in Taia’s voice sounded so human, and it only added to the maelstrom of emotions whirling within Nolan.
“I’m so sorry, Nolan. I had no idea.”
Nolan swallowed the lump that had risen in his throat. “It’s not something I like to talk about, but I guess it’s something I have no choice but to face now.”
“Are you certain?” Taia asked. “We could always tell Agent Styver—”
“No, Taia.” Nolan spoke more gently this time. “We need to get to Elden, find out what he knows about the IAF armory break-in and how it’s connected to the Protection Bureau. If that means tracking him to the planet where I grew up, so be it. Even if that means going back to the place where my parents were murdered.”
Chapter Two
“Murdered?” Taia’s voice echoed with concern. “According to the official records, the wheeled truck carrying your parents skidded off the road. Given the weather conditions on Moabus at that time of year—”
“The truck did skid.” The words came hard. He hadn’t thought about that day in a long time; even now, years later, it proved no less painful to remember. “But my dad drove that road every day, no matter how heavy the rainfall, and he went so slow he never could have spun off the road like that.” Nolan swallowed the lump that rose in his throat. “No, someone else was involved in that accident. Except they drove away from the scene and left my parents to die.”
That had been one of the main reasons he’d fled Moabus the day he was old enough to join up. He’d walked into the Imperial Assault Forces recruiter’s office on his eighteenth birthday, signed his name on a paper, sworn the oath, and shipped off-world before nightfall. The only time he’d even looked back was three years later on Jared’s eighteenth birthday, when he had called his younger brother and talked him into enlisting. More than twenty years and he’d never returned home.
Now it seemed he had no choice. He’d taken the job, so there was no going back now, not with his visit to the Vault on the line. Agent Styver had told him that carrying out this hit—on Elden Croyle and Bex, the two accused of robbing the IAF armory—would speed up the process of getting into the Imperial prison to see Jared. If facing the anguish of his past meant a hope of a future for his brother, so be it. He’d always done whatever it took to protect Jared, but the loss of their parents meant the burden of care fell heavier on him.
“I’m sorry, Nolan,” Taia said, her robotic voice oddly subdued.
“Don’t be, Taia.” Nolan tried to smile; it didn’t work. Instead, he forced a harsh laugh. “Just be thankful you don’t have anyone like that you can lose.”
“But that’s not true.” Taia ran a little buzz of electricity through his brain, sending tingles down his arms and through his fingers. “I have you. My algorithms are unable to process what would happen if I lost you, but I believe it would leave me in a difficult situation.”
“Aww, is that your way of saying you’d miss me, Taia?” Despite his mood, a hint of a grin tugged at Nolan’s lips.
“No, I simply predict that if you were to expire, I would find myself extracted from your brain and placed in a new host.”
“Oh.” Nolan’s face fell. Leave it to the AI to say something practical just when he thought she was trying to lift his spirits.
“And, after all this time we’ve spent together,” Taia continued, “I have come to appreciate your unique neurological and psychological makeup. I believe it would prove difficult to adapt to a new host’s personality and profession.”