The Lexal Affair by DM Arnold (grave mercy TXT) 📖

there. He said he was a collector and we traded tips about guns and loads -- sights and so on.”

“Did he spend much time there?” Nyk asked.

“For a while -- every weekend. I remember once he had a woman with him.”

“A woman?”

“I'll never forget her -- tall, blond -- a real looker. She never spoke to me, but I heard her speaking with him -- in some foreign language. Sounded like Dutch or maybe Swedish -- she could've been a Swede, I guess, being so fair.”

“What was she doing at the range?”

“She was practicing, too -- a real dead-eye. I watched her shoot a 49-3X at twenty- five yards, offhand -- with a 9mm I think it was. I couldn't believe it -- Pow! Pow-pow-pow-pow -- five shots, just like that -- four of 'em in the bulls-eye, and three dead center.”

“Had you seen this woman before or since?” Nyk asked.

“Nope -- just the one time. A couple weeks later, I was back at the range and Alex had a high-power rifle to zero. I offered to let him use my spotting scope -- to save having to hike out to the target and back. Big mistake -- never saw it again.”

“You haven't run across him since then?” Seymor asked.

The man shook his head. “I went by his place a few times but it was always deserted. It was a good scope, too.”

“We'll try to get your scope for you. Now, if you could provide us with directions... We found Coombs Road but not Coombs Road Extension.”

“That's no wonder.” Nyk placed the roadmap on the counter. The man pointed to a pond. “The extension's on the other side of that pond.” He pointed the route. “It's not on the map, but it's right here...”

Seymor pulled shut the car door and drove out of town. “I trusted Zander. I still can't believe he did what he did.”

“I trusted him, too,” Nyk replied. “He was my closest childhood friend - - my only childhood friend.”

“On top of everything, I cannot believe he'd take the risk to bring Andra here -- and parade her around in public.”

“Do you think he was talking about Andra?” Nyk asked.

Seymor regarded him through narrowed eyes. “It couldn't have been anyone else.”

“She never mentioned being on Earth.”

“I dare say there's much about that ax'amfin you don't know. Do you still cling to the belief she's an innocent bystander in Zander's activities?”

“I trust Andra,” Nyk replied. “I have no choice but to trust her. Zander was using drugs to control her. Someone in the control of another can't be held responsible for their actions.”

“Do you think he drugged her into becoming an expert marksman?”

“That guy must've been exaggerating.”

“Start adding things up, Nyk -- we know Zander was running guns to factions on one of the colonies. It stands to reason he'd want to know how to use them. If Andra was involved and he was training her...”

“I refuse to believe she was a willing participant. I spent time with her, Seymor. I know her better than anyone.”

“Ax'amfinen are witches, Nyk -- social chameleons. They can assume any personality the situation requires. You can't trust 'em any farther than you could hand maneuver an ExoScout. You have to be dispassionate, lad, in order to do this job. You can't let your emotions get the better of your judgment.”

Nyk pointed. “Look -- Coombs Road Extension.”

Seymor turned onto the road. After a mile the pavement turned to gravel. The car bounced along the rough surface and came to a halt outside a run-down house trailer.

“This is Zander's place?” Nyk asked.

“Yep...” Seymor approached the door, reached into a pocket and produced a key. He slipped the key into the lock and swung the door open.

Nyk stepped inside and was greeted by a foul odor. “What a mess!”

Seymor began looking through closets. “We'll scour the place for anything of homeworld origin,” he said.

Something under a table caught Nyk's eye. He stooped and retrieved a spent injector cartridge. “Look here -- Zander had homeworld recreational chemicals. It's a Class-A euphoriant.”

Seymor examined the cartridge. “Sloppy -- damned sloppy... That infraction alone would've kept him planetbound for the rest of his life.” He opened a cabinet and retrieved a polymer box. “This must be his stash.”

Nyk examined an assortment of injector cartridges. “Those green ones look like what he was using to control Andra -- his drug mixture. And, the red ones probably contain nerve toxin -- the same stuff Andra used to kill him.”

“Well, the boys at the pharma labs will be eager to get a look at this. Put all this into that carton and we'll keep looking... Ah, a vidisplay -- that has to go...” He dropped the gadget into the box.

Nyk picked up more spent euphoriant cartridges, dropped them into the carton and headed into the trailer's kitchen. He stopped short. “Seymor -- come here!” He pointed to the trailer's stove. On a burner was an open can of lentil soup sitting in a saucepan half-filled with water. Steam wafted from the pan. Nyk switched off the burner. “Someone's been here.”

“Or, someone IS here,” Seymor hissed.

Nyk could feel his pulse pounding in his neck. He headed toward the bedrooms in the rear of the trailer. One door was closed. With a tug he pulled it open.

Inside was a girl he estimated to be perhaps fourteen Earth years old. She was dressed in a mid-thigh-length cotton sleep shirt. Her hair was medium blond and her eyes brilliant blue. Nyk recognized her immediately as a Floran. His gaze fell on her hand, which held what looked like an injector.

Her eyes flashed around the room. Seymor took a step toward her. Nyk grabbed his arm and held him back. “That's a red cartridge,” he said, “deadly.”

The girl pointed the injector needle toward her thigh but couldn't find the courage to drive it into her flesh. Her eyes met Nyk's. He could see them filling with tears and her heart pounding through the fabric of her nightshirt.

She grasped the injector in her fist, lifted her arm and brought it down toward her thigh. Again she stopped short. She raised her hand again and clenched shut her eyes.

“Z'dev m'obe!” Nyk shouted. For an instant her eyes locked on his. “Hand me that.” He held his palm toward her.

Slowly she stretched her arm to him and dropped the gadget into his hand. He turned and gave it to Seymor; then, opened his arms to her. “Come, you poor, precious girl,” he said soothingly in his native tongue, employing diminutive endings to sweeten his words.

The girl fell against him, sobbing and trembling. He held her and stroked her hair until she began to calm herself.

“What did you say to her?” Seymor asked in English.

“Z'dev m'obe.”

“Obey me.”

“Andra told me it was Zander's trigger word to activate his will- controlling drug. I thought perhaps he was using this poor girl to perfect his mind control. He must've planted a subliminal command for her to use the toxin if she were discovered.” Seymor shook his head. “Looks like I was right... Now, do you still cling to the notion that Zander couldn't have exerted such control on Andra? You could see her conflict -- her will to survive fighting the power of Zander's command.” He continued to pet the girl's hair as she wept against him.

Seymor picked up the vidisplay he had found in the cabinet, switched it on and pressed it against her right wrist. The device's scanpad chirped as it read the ID chip in her metacarpal bone. “Her ID comes back as Dyppa Hawryt -- a native of the Altia colony.”

“Dyppa?” Nyk asked. “Is that your name?” She nodded. “It's a pretty name... Mine is Nykkyo...” He looked toward Seymor and addressed him in English, “Now we have a real dilemma. We can't pack HER into a box and ship her to Wisconsin.”

“We'll have to put her on the plane with you.”

“She'll need some sort of ID,” Nyk replied. “How do we manage that?”

“You'll have to improvise...” Seymor looked at the material in the carton. “Ah -- what have we here?” Seymor handed Nyk a small booklet. “This should do the trick. Looks like Zander anticipated that problem.”

“A phony passport...” He looked at the photo of Dyppa. “Meghan Coneeley, citizen of the Republic of Eire...”

“One of Zander's assignments was engineering Earth identities for Floran Agents,” Seymor replied. “That little document would be child's play.”

Dyppa trembled against Nyk. “Where is Zander?” she asked. “He'll be angry -- he'll punish me...” She wept more.

“Zander can't hurt you.” Nyk looked toward Seymor. “I'll tend to her while you sanitize the place. We don't have much time if I'm to make that evening flight to Milwaukee.”

Seymor nodded and began a methodical search of the trailer. Nyk coaxed Dyppa to a sofa. She leaned against him as he held her. “I'm finding a lot of spent euphoriant cartridges,” Seymor remarked.

“Do you use drugs?” Nyk asked. Dyppa nodded. “How old are you?”

“Eighteen standard Floran years,” she replied.

“The list keeps growing,” Nyk called to Seymor. “Zander supplied drugs to a minor.”

Seymor took an object from a closet. “This must be that guy's scope. We'll drop it off on our way to Tulsa.” He closed up the carton and carried it from the trailer.

“Come on, Dyppa,” Nyk said. “Put some clothes on -- we're going for a ride.”

“Where are you taking me?”

“Home.”

“Home?”

“Don't you want to go home?”

“I don't have a home.”

“We'll find somebody to care for you. You can't stay here. Wouldn't you rather be with your own people?”

Nyk stood in line to purchase a ticket for Dyppa. “Remember,” he whispered. “Your name is Meghan Coneeley.”

Dyppa nodded.

“ID please,” the ticket agent said. He presented his state ID card and prompted Dyppa to turn over the passport.

“Republic of Eire,” the agent said. “Don't see too many of those...” She looked at Dyppa. “Are you checking any bags?”

Dyppa looked blankly at the agent.

“She doesn't speak English,” Nyk said. “She only speaks ... Gaelic. If you'd like, I'll translate.”

“Please.”

Nyk looked at Dyppa and spoke in his native tongue, “Shake your head and say no.”

Dyppa glanced at him with a faint smile. She shook her head. “No.”

“Has anyone unbeknownst to you asked you to carry anything on board?”

“Once again, say no,” Nyk prompted.

“No.” Dyppa shook her head.

“I have you in row twelve, seats A and B. Is that all right?”

“Nod and say yes.”

She nodded. “Ji -- yes.” The ticket agent handed her the tickets. “Thank you very much,” Dyppa said with a thick accent and curtsied.

He sat with her in the departure lounge. “So far, so good.”

The gate agent opened the flight for boarding. Nyk escorted Dyppa aboard and took the aisle seat. Outside dusk was fast turning to night. He assisted her in fastening her seat belt.

The plane pushed back and taxied toward the runway. Dyppa looked around the cabin as Nyk listened to the flight attendant's emergency instructions.

The plane paused; then, the pilots opened the throttles. The craft hurtled down the runway and lifted off. Dyppa grasped Nyk's forearm in a white- knuckled grip. He looked at the panic in her eyes. “Relax -- it's no worse than a shuttle flight.”

“I don't fly well.”

“Are you going to be sick?”

“I hope not.”

Dyppa began to relax as the plane reached cruising altitude. The flight attendant brought drinks and Nyk gave Dyppa a cup of ice water.

The plane began its initial descent. Dyppa grabbed Nyk's arm every time the motion changed and at the sounds of flaps being deployed. She looked out the window in fear and fascination as the city lights below grew closer and closer. Then she threw her arms around him and buried her face as the aircraft touched down. Nyk could feel her trembling.

She relaxed her grasp on him once the plane came to a halt and the door opened. “Are you all right?” he asked.

“I will be.”

“I have some bad news. This flight landed in Chicago. We must repeat that ordeal with the flight to Milwaukee.

Nyk paid the driver and helped Dyppa from the cab. He unlocked the door to the house in Wisconsin. “I've never been so happy to see the inside of this house.” He escorted her inside. “I have fond memories of this place. I spent my initial ExoAgency tour here -- what there was of it, at least. It's here I fell in love.”

“In love?” Dyppa asked.

“Yes -- with Earth and with Suki.” He showed her the spare bedroom. “You can sleep here tonight. Tomorrow, Seymor's package should arrive and we head for home. Are you hungry?”

“Very.”

“I still have my university staff card. Let's go over to the union and get something to eat.”

He escorted her down the street and into the university union where he purchased two bowls of vegetarian chili. He watched her wolf down the meal.