[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]could get out of there.
And the door wouldn t budge. Again.
Damn it!
After the place burned, they must have closed off the front door for safety
considerations.
He cursed again, the words echoing in the space. Well, he d lost Imreen Dal for
good. Now, he just had to try to get out of there and figure out what exactly was going
on.
62
Echoes of Passion
Bosaru tugged at the door, finally choosing one of the heavier-gauge weapons he
had been assigned. He had to admit, he had admired the weapons master s prescience
in the pieces he had suggested. Vonner s people knew their stuff.
He stepped back and powered up the laser rifle, which took just a second. And
fired.
The first blast blew off the handle, but that was all, leaving the door itself intact.
When the settlers decided to close off a door, they didn t mess around. Let s see if
this makes a difference, he muttered as he twisted the dial. He fired again.
Bosaru narrowed his eyes as he watched the metal glow from the intense heat, but
it didn t fall, nor was there a hole in the middle. They made their doors solid, at least.
At least that would or should have kept the residents safe from roamers. So what
had happened that it hadn t?
He twisted the intensity level dial and fired again. And when that still didn t do the
job, this time all the way up.
Fourth time was the charm. By the time he kicked the door open and stepped
through, he noticed that the day had gone by much quicker than he had expected. It
was at least mid-afternoon, judging by the light. Imreen Dal was long gone, but that
didn t mean he couldn t backtrack, try to figure out where she had come out, and see
what he could find there about her.
He looked around to where he had come out. And with a sinking sensation, he
realized he recognized it.
This was around the corner from Jenatt s restaurant. So that door he couldn t
open that door that had stopped his hunt of Imreen Dal
He swore.
I should have realized, he muttered. The Secont family was holding onto their
secrets as tightly as they could.
Irritated, he shoved open the door to Jenatt s. At that time of day, the restaurant
was packed, and the first thing Bosaru saw between the crowd and the steam wafting
out of the kitchen was Jenatt and Agie looking harassed as they hurried between the
prep station and the individual tables. He headed to the kitchen.
By that time, Bosaru was not in the mood to be subtle. He stepped into the path of
Jenatt as she came rushing in.
She didn t look surprised to see him. She s not here, she informed him as she
stepped around him and plated up another order. She came up here from the tunnels
and rushed out. I figured you would be right behind her.
The door to the tunnel wouldn t open. Was that on purpose?
She looked genuinely surprised at that. The exits to the tunnels are always kept
unlocked, just in case. She frowned. But they can be locked. Maybe she locked it. Let
me go see.
No, he said. I ll do it. Which way is it?
63
Eilis Flynn
The door to the tunnels ironically, near his room was locked, as he had
surmised.
Great. Just great. Second time you ve given me the slip, Imreen, he said aloud.
There won t be a third time. The SSP officer in him wasn t going to let him.
He flipped the lock to unlock it and then went back to the restaurant.
It was locked, he informed Jenatt, who grimaced a little, but that could have been
because she was clearing a table loaded with dirty dishes.
I should have realized when she came through so quickly, Jenatt said with a sigh.
Never mind. Let me help, Bosaru said, taking the dishes from her. I ve already
lost her, you re putting me up and I ve got no clues where to go now for the moment.
There was a momentary flash of something in Jenatt s expression as he stacked the
dishes and started off for the kitchen. Guilt? He doubted it. Well, maybe. He wasn t
above that bit of manipulation, at least.
This was letting him learn a new skill, anyway. If he couldn t go back to the SSP
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