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Maggie halted in the middle of the rounded lobby, over the federal insignia on the marble floor, the letters DAA encircling an image of the Earth.
Zirkov strode across the lobby, ignoring the humans who stared at him. To her surprise, he halted ten feet from her, aware of the attention he’d drawn.
“I have an errand to run, Commander Kesk. Is there anything else you need?” Maggie said in as light a voice as she could muster. If she didn’t convince him of her innocence, he’d speak with Earth Intelligence about her. Even if she eventually found proof, she’d never work in law enforcement again because of the lingering doubt in people’s minds.
With his hands tucked behind him in a casual military stance, he nodded, as if greeting her for the first time today. “I’ll walk with you,” he said, the sly devil.
Tall deadly horns pitched forward when she didn’t reply. The usual hum of conversations and clicking of heels against the floor subsided as dozens of agents and DAA personnel watched them.
“Sounds good,” Maggie relented, forcing herself to smile to make their interaction appear normal. “I need coffee first.”
The casual conversations of the others in the lobby picked up again. She’d fooled them. Now she had to convince Zirkov she wasn’t the mole.
A gust of cold November air blasted her the second they stepped outside. Maggie clutched her blazer closed, hoping to block out the worst of the wind. She considered returning for her coat, but that entailed going through the lobby again, likely with Zirkov on her tail, pressing her to talk.
He pointed down the street. “Let’s go to the coffee shop on the corner. We can talk there.”
“That’s cute that you think I’ll go anywhere with you.” She increased her pace, hoping he’d take the hint.
Instead, her blue stalker matched her pace and maintained his position next to her. “You can’t keep avoiding me.”
“Sure I can. Watch me.”
“We don’t have to talk. But there’s something I need you to see.” He thrust his arm in front of her so she could see a video playing on his comm.
It was her, walking through a park late at night.
“You’ve been following me?”
“This is one of the cameras Earth Intelligence set up after Planetary Defense detected an unauthorized ship approaching Los Angeles a year ago.”
“I remember the push to wire key areas of the city.”
“Konnitch and I sifted through recent footage hoping to find the dead og’dal from the warehouse and discover why he was here. Keep watching.”
Maggie recognized the pull-up bars and climbing walls of the park in the video. Built after the Coalition left Earth, Freedom Park brimmed with kids during the day and drug users and black marketeers after sundown. No one strolled through that park at night unless they had business to conduct.Illegalbusiness.
The video had caught her, not the og’dal. In the video, she wore dark jeans and a dark gray hoodie not her usual blazer and slacks required for work. She’d gone to the park for something personal.
“That’s you, Maggie.”
Back to ‘Maggie’. “Call me Magdalena.”
“You hate when I call you Magdalena.”
“Precisely. Maggie is reserved for friends.”
His horns dipped back in that way they did when something upset him. “I’m trying to help you.”
“You mean convict me.”
“Explain what you were doing in that park.”
She couldn’t. That was the problem. She had no memory of being there at night.
“I probably couldn’t sleep.”
“Lies don’t suit you.”
