Miexon turned to NP.
"As you can see on the footage, somebody set us up. I need you to do three things. First, find proof that is wasn't us. Second, help find out who did this. And third, retaliate. You have full support from the council." Miexon closed the holo that had been running in the background.
"Very well Sir, I will need to go to Dau myself and debrief this Hortan. I will need the support of the INTEL department, and of course nothing like this is ever cheap." NP's experience with undercover work told him that he would need a crapload of money actually.
"You have the guild's purse, and my authority. I cannot let you go to Dau, as we temporarily have no docking permission. You have councillor Chi on station. I cannot overstate the importance of clearing the PA name. Solve it please." Surbius waved his hand, and NP was dismissed.
As chief of the covert intelligence agency of PA, NP had long experience in finding out exactly what truths were hidden behind the information that he received on his desk. He knew for certain that it couldn't be PA. Nothing in PA escaped the spy-master, especially not a stunt as big as this one. Whoever did this, was good. He smiled as he walked to the most secure part of PA HQ. A worthy adversary maybe. His brain was already making lists of what to do.
Chi shook her head in disbelief and closed the secure message from NP. How was she going to interview Hortan? He was kept sedated in his room, with a TGFT guard outside. What did they think she were, some kind of ninja/agent? Sighing, she took a broad spectrum anti toxin and some quick action MAO inhibiters. You never knew what state he would be in when she awoke him.
She dressed in a nurses outfit and a blonde wig, and went down to the corridor where Hortan lived. She peered down the corridor. A lone guard was standing outside, looking very young and very bored. Maybe this would work after all she mused. She dripped her eyes with an eyebalm to make her eyes become moist in a minute, walked up to the door and motioned for the guard to open the door.
"Sorry Ms, but I am not allowed to let anyone in. Orders from Surbius himself." He looked unsecure, and so Chi decided to turn up the charm. She looked up at his face.
"But I have been told that the patient need to get his medicine, and he said that it was important, and he trusted me, and I forgot the papers, and what shall I do, and how can I explain.." Chi let her mouth run with halfway coherent sentences, while looking like she was about to cry.
"Hey now, ok Ms, I guess if he needs his medication and all. Don't cry is all, ok?" The guard wiped a tear away from her left eye and opened the door.
Men, they are so easy Chi thought as she closed the door behind her. She looked around in Hortans room. Nothing much had changed since she was here last. The framed picture of The Huntress was still on the wall, and the John Eldritch Action figure was placed standing with a foot in the face of a some kind of monstrous creature. Hortan himself was lying on his bed. Chi was startled by the discolouration on his forehead, the transparent bandage showing the centimetre wide hole through the skin and flesh all the way to the bone beneath. Shuddering slightly, she took the anti toxin and injected it into Hortans arm. Nothing to do but wait now.
Hortan awoke to the sight of a pretty blonde nurse sitting next to him. His head and hands felt like they were on fire, and when he lifted his arms, he could see both hands covered in transparent bandages. They were all black. He looked in panic at the nurse.
Chi realised that Hortan didn't recognise her, and so took the wig off.
"Ms. Chi" he smiled, "You look better without the wig. Do you know why my hands look like this?"
Chi smiled back. Polite, always polite even when in obvious pain.
"Hortan, you were attacked in a convoy, can you tell me about it?"
The full onslaught of remembering hit Hortan, and he started to fade away again in denial, the memory too hard on his fragile mind. He started to turn towards the wall. Chi intercepted him and pressed the inhalator into Hortans mouth while triggering the MAO inhibitor. It worked almost instantly.
"Why did PA attack us? And why did they want to kill me? And..." Chi interrupted him with a soft finger on his lips.
"Shh, start at the beginning, and I'll find out."
Hortan looked at Chi. He had trusted her before, and she had helped him then. He started talking. Fifteen minutes later, he had told the unbelievable story. If it had been another person, she would have been inclined to disbelieve, but she knew that Hortan never lied. Ever. She tugged him in, gave him some sedative to make him go to sleep, and watched as he closed his eyes again before going to the door. Cursing herself for almost blowing it, she went back to get her wig, and went outside again. The guard had been replaced. Leaning against the wall was John Eldritch. He looked at her.
"Care to explain Chi?"
Surbius's PDA chimed just as he was bout to take another bite of his NiceSoy™ stir-fry meal. No rest for the wicked he thought, wiped his mouth in the napkin and answered with a curt "Yes!"
"I have some information you might want to have Surb. Bring a secure SSCU. My cubicle." Johns voice sounded decidedly cheerful.
NP was humming tunelessly as he reviewed the classified TPG Police Force file. So the homicide case that turned out to be the missing TPG pilot, had received a transfer of 1 million credits three days ago. From a Corvus credstick, untraceable. Ha, to someone else perhaps. He smiled and opened the other file he had received some minutes ago. Interesting, the credstick was bought using an UIT government account. He wondered what else had been bought from that account.
