Page 83 (1/2)

It’s the freedohs her down She may embrace any other--and others will come after her

If you had any sense, added Horatio, you could even win her over to our side

I’oing to say for yourself in the official report?" Mae asked, her eyes as dark as the night "As far as gods and supernatural warriors go?" Her words were a reoing to say whatever it takes to keepI’m not really sure yet"

CHAPTER 35

A RECLUSE AND A TECHNICAL GENIUS

It took the wheels of SCI’s bureaucracy a while to wrap up the case The military was much more efficient, and within two days, Mae had a suht, approaching the base’s entrance What I’ve been waiting for

Even though matters weren’t officially closed, she’d been in touch with Justin and heard that all the daht No one could deny that it was an overwhelh with Gan and the prætorians again and return to where she belonged

"A death teenetic scandal" Gan chuckled at the absurdity of what had gone down on the Pan-Celt land grant "When I was asked to put you with March, I had no idea what ht her attention She’d been spending too ned me to him as a punishment Sir"

"Did you?" He shook his head adamantly "Oh, no It was a bizarre set of circu;torian to retrieve Dr March, and we had one assigned I don’t recall who A Celadon, I believe Anyway, Francis Kyle was on base for a ot lost and received directions from some man who claimed to work here but didn’t meet any description I knew"

"What did he look like, sir?" Mae had no reason to ask, and Gan had no reason to tell her It wasn’t relevant to the story, but some part of her needed to knohat twist of fate had led her to this point

Gan thought back "I don’t recall the exact details Older lass eye, so maybe that hy his directions were so bad" He seemed very amused at the joke "Anyway, he somehow sent Kyle over to our depart;torian who’d started a fight at a funeral"

She nearly pointed out that she hadn’t started the fight but then thought better of it

"Kyle heard you were Nordic and got worked up about it He’s a very excitable man, if you haven’t noticed" "Excitable" was one way to put it, Mae thought, recalling how the director had salivated over Justin "He requested you for SCI because he thought your background would help with all the patrician visits And so, off you went"

"What would’ve happened to me otherwise, sir?"

"Slap on the wrist Teeks’ suspension And still banned fro your only punishment, really But ould’ve had you back in the field before long"

Mae was du Double that time had passed already Teeks, and she could’ve worn the black unifor as she was intended to do Instead, a set of bad directions and even worse tinment that had ripped her world out from underneath her

"We’re all very pleased with how you handled things with those fanatics," Gan continued, oblivious to her churning thoughts "You’ll have a nice coh your repri an appropriate response

"Thank you, sir"

"And you’ve been granted your uniforh her The uniforer burden than she’d ever expected Even though fe about the punishrace that was obvious to everyone

"However," continued Gan, "I’ it for a while"

She snapped out of her daydreams "Sir?"

A look of distaste crossed his features "I was ready to have you back in regular duties once those patrician murders wrapped up, but Internal Security has requested that we allow you to stay with hiainst it, but…well, I lost" Mae wondered if Gan had ever ad "To be fair, after what you faced, I can see why they want enhanced protection for their servitors I offered to give them someone else, but Director Kyle insisted on you It’s an honorable ;torian missions are"

She sed "Yes, sir Of course I’ I’ll be doing this?"