“The criminals have control of a deadly fire-suppression system that could potentially kill everyone in the building,” I say flatly.
If he’s shocked, I don’t hear it in his voice. There isn’t even so much as a pause on his end.
“I just received a call,” Prefect says. “There is something on the premises. Government intelligence. I’ve been told it’s exceedingly valuable.”
I grimace. I can feel the others’ eyes on me, and I wish I could take this call into another room without making them suspicious. It’s difficult to convey the urgency of the situation while also maintaining my cover as some lowly intern.
“And you didn’t know this untilnow?” I ask. Another thought occurs to me. “Oh. That’s what these guys are after, aren’t they? You don’t hack an entire building during a blackout just to rob a few people. They’re after something big.” I shake my head. “Why was it brought here?”
“It probably wasn’t done through official channels,” says Prefect.
“You mean someone brought confidential files home from work,” I groan. “Probably to sell or leak. And these people decided to steal it all.”
“I don’t know,” says Prefect grimly. “But that’s a possibility.”
“Are we talking a computer?” I ask. “A flash drive? The blueprints for the next cryptocurrency? You’ve gotta give me a clue here.”
“They did not tell me anything. Apparently it is very classified.”
I wish we were on a video call so he could see me face-palm. “Andyoudon’t have clearance?”
“No,” he says, “I do not.”
That isn’t good. Prefect only stops using contractions when he isreallypissed.
“Can you tell meanything?” I say.
An exhalation. “I have been informed that I cannot let it fall into criminal hands. It’s worth more than my job and your status as a wraith.”
“And how are you going to stop them?” I say, an incredulous laugh on my lips. “Prefect, they have an apartment building withhundredsof people hostage. They killed a security guard. They’ve locked down the building. You’ve got no plan and no idea what they’re trying to steal.”
I realize the answer a heartbeat before he says it.
“I know,” says Prefect. “But I have you.”
IDENTITY SECURITY DIVISION
WRAITH CASE STUDY: AUGUSTA PINE
INTERVIEW WITH SUBJECT
I should tell you a bit about my handler.
The first time I met Prefect, I was recuperating from surgery, dragging myself upward through the depths of pain and drugs. Sitting at my bedside was a man studying a holographic chessboard. “You aren’t going to know my name,” he told me. “But you may call me Prefect.”
Wraith handlers always have titles in place of actual names. Supposedly it’s so wraiths can’t track them down after they are freed. Personally, I think it’s because they enjoy that extra degree of power that comes with anonymity. In my time at ISD, I have met a Decurio, an Alderman, a Warden, a Monsignor, and a Centurion.
And then there is Prefect.
Prefect has dark hair and a face that remains stubbornly boyish. When he doesn’t have time to shave, I’ve glimpsed flecks of silver in his stubble, but that probably has more to do with stress than age. A scar runs along one temple to his hairline.
“How’d you get that?” I asked once.
He gave me a flat stare and said, “Someone shot me in the head,” so flippantly Istilldon’t know if he was serious.
He wears expensive but unremarkable suits, and he always has coffee within reach. The only interesting thing about him is the elaborate tattoo running up his left arm. It’s biometric, but it isn’t electron-ink. Small clocks are etched in gold from his wrist to his elbow. It’s a beautiful, almost art deco style. It took me a year to realize there are twenty-four of them: one for each time zone. He is never content to remain in one moment—he lives in the past, present, and future all at once.
But here’s what you really need to know about Prefect: His world is a chessboard, and I am his knight.
