Chapter 36

Justin and I finally got to go see Hamdan.

He was in good spirits and joked that his family would be in our debt for the rest of their lives. At least I hoped he was joking. The look and the nod his father gave us had me worried. It seemed these people take the saving of a life very seriously.

Oliver called us and said all the evidence was collected and being shipped to Gamma. The P2 team also believed they had collected what they could. He, Cantara and Jock, were personally going to oversee the relocation of the evidence.

Interestingly, Major Nancy Jones, the head of the MPs for Sigma Dome, was supplying a team to escort them. The Prince’s smile told me that she was to be trusted, and he had some say in her overseeing the protection. I was fine with this since I didn’t want my team harmed or any of the other evidence to be tampered with.

Neither Justin nor I were surprised when Simon called and told us we were done and to head home, now. The Prince wasn’t happy with this. He made a call. I was surprised to hear the name, Delegate Robert Watson. He was the current Australian representative for UNSEC.

I shook my head when he demanded that we lead the investigation into his and his son’s attempted murders. Oh, crap! I wondered if the Prince realised that he had just painted a huge target on our backs.

I was surprised when he asked me, “Why Not?”

“Rashid, officially today was our first day in the job. We are junior detectives. Other than Oliver, we don’t even know our teammates let alone how things are run here or who is who. We will be ostracised and blocked at every turn. If we have any hope of helping solve this case, we have to keep a low profile,” I told him.

We heard Robert’s voice come from Rashid’s comm, “I agree, Detective Carmichael but I also understand that Prince Rashid is worried that he and his family are not safe and that the delicate negotiations will be stalled because of whatever is happening there.”

“Please do as you plan but keep the Prince and me in the loop. I shall contact Major Carmichael, as I’m sure he is just as worried as the Prince is, regarding Justin’s and your personal safety. Rashid, give Danny my special number and I shall contact her shortly.”

Rashid agreed, and they signed off. He grinned at us, “He is a good man. One of the few I trust. It was lucky for him and me that he had a prior commitment and couldn’t come to the meeting. I need to send you a file for your comms.”

“Any call that comes in from Robert, me, and certain other people that we trust that are in the list, cannot be traced back to you or us. They will not show in your logs. I will feel better that you have access to these people.”

Justin and I accepted the file he sent and activated the executable program it contained. A new icon appeared that looked like a snake in a figure eight and biting its tail. I knew that it was called Ouroboros, the symbol of the eternal cycle of renewal.

“What stops anyone from accessing these names?” I asked as a contacts list appeared. Several names jumped out at me.

“Only your finger touching the screen can open the icon. You can also add a password or phrase that you utter for it to open. I suggest you do this,” he told us.

“Very cloak and dagger,” Justin commented.

Rashid frowned. “True, but sometimes these things are necessary. Hum, I wonder,” he stopped and looked thoughtful. “There is something I need to look into that may explain what is going on here.”

“I shall contact you when I know more. Danny, do not trust Carmel or Simon, tell them only what you must. I know they are your superiors, but I’m beginning to suspect who is behind what is going on here.”

“What, like Carmel, isn’t the one calling the shots? I already know that. That’s why I’m very worried about calling attention to us. Like you, I have some possibilities that need looking into.”

“We had better get going Justin, we don’t want Simon on our arses.”

We took our leave and Ymir drove us back to get our gear.

As soon as we entered the room we had used, I stopped.

“Someone has searched our belongings,” I told Justin.

“Sweetie, if they like handling my dirty jocks then good luck to them,” Justin replied.

“We will have to check those suits before we wear them again,” I told him. “I’m glad we took our forensic packs with us.”

“Me too, we will need to make sure they are tamper-proof,” Justin replied. “It’s a shame we don’t have more space in them, so we didn’t need any other baggage.”

I grinned and pulled up the spellbook on my Mad. “Oh, that’s very interesting,” I told him. “It seems that little program wishes to know if I want the spellbook data file to be protected. I believe I shall say, yes.”

Justin activated his Mad. We agreed to the request of the program and provided a passphrase. We then looked for a spell that met our requirements. I chuckled and pointed to one spell and wiggled my eyebrows.

While the spell was a bit complicated, as it had several parts to it, between us we had the skills to do it. Justin grinned, and we linked hands and did the spell.

We looked at the backpacks and noticed the new thin pocket that would easily fit a laptop. Despite the popularity of Mads and even peepers, portable computers were still popular in the business classes and for people like us. People of even fifty years before would hardly recognise them as far as functionality goes.