Industry & Intrigue Read Free Page B

religion. That didn’t stop entrepreneurial criminals from
obtaining it, which left little chance for it to be cut off at the
source. The Zefey were zealots when it came to their religious
practices.
    The recent drug
refo rmation
under the new legislation had changed the situation. Brenna’s unit
didn’t have to go after the small time drugs anymore, as they had
been decriminalized or even legalized, which at least gave the
watch more resources to focus on the tarcaine trade.
    As she went to leave she suddenly realized
she may have passed Rengalk’s killer. He had only been stabbed a
short time ago and she had passed a woman on the way up. She ran
downstairs and burst out the front door, no longer caring about
attracting attention.
    She looked down both ways of
the street
but she couldn’t see her anywhere. There was no one other than the
usual vagrants. Fortunately her memory was incredibly keen, part of
what made her such a good justice officer. She would get down
everything she could remember about the possible killer once she
returned to the station.
    After finishing with the station’s facial
artist, Brenna took a good look at the picture; it wasn’t much to
go on. Human, light skin, average height and weight, no
distinguishing marks.
    “ So how’d it go?” asked one of
the officers who was under her command, George Thorndor. He typically did
street work, arresting drug dealers and prostitutes and bringing
them in to pressure them into spilling the beans on their
superiors. Despite his age and long service in the watch he had no
problem working under Brenna. Unlike a few of the other older
officers who didn’t appreciate being told what to do by a less
experienced member who had yet to earn their respect, on top of
being a woman in the male-dominated city watch.
    "No good ,” she replied. “One of
Asulius’ people beat me to him. Guess he must have made them
suspicious, said or did the wrong thing.”
    George grimaced. “Damn, that’s
rough, I thought this informant of yours had finally cracked the
armor of Asulius’ operation.” Then he noticed the picture she had
in her hands. “And that’s the killer?”
    She nodded. “Yeah, at least I think it is.
A woman that bumped into me while I was heading up to meet Rengalk.
She was in a hurry, so she’d be my best guess.”
    “ Not much to go on, in this city
there’s hundreds of people that match that picture” said George as
he held up the drawing.
    “ I know, fucking useless.” She
grabbed the
picture from his hands and threw it onto her desk. “I better go and
tell the captain.”
    “ Oh right, that’s why I came
over, he wants to talk to you ab out a case involving Imperial Branch,” he
said, in sudden remembrance. “And before you ask, no I don’t have
the details. He also has a rookie he wants you to try out.” He
snickered as he finished his sentence.
    “ And why in the hells is that
funny?” asked Brenna in an annoyed tone “Something up with the new
meat? Oh fuck. Don’t tell me whoever it is, is a fanatical
Varonite.”
    “ Absolutely
not! ”
exclaimed George, “So soon after the McWilliams Scandal. Do you
think the captain would let a Varonite rookie into our
unit?”
    Varonism was a large, monotheist religion
that was conservative and strict. It had once been the main
religion of Alkos before the empire had secularized, but there was
still a significant amount of the population that were belonged to
its church. They were well known for being vocal about their
beliefs even in fully secularized workplaces where speaking out in
such a way could have legal repercussions.
    A few months ago a watch captain named
Kenneth McWilliams had been fired in scandal. He had delayed an
investigation on a murder case, due to the main suspect being a
high standing priest in his local church. It turned out that the
suspect had been guilty but by the time the watch had enough to
charge him he had already fled the city. Captain McWilliams