Chapter 39
Bombshells
Ezra woke the next morning feeling great. Well, he felt terrible, but one look at the message his inebriated mind had managed to put together and send the night before set him smiling bigger than he thought he could. He actually whistled as he grabbed his gym equipment and headed out. Kirsten gave him a calculating look, to which he replied with a wink. “Check the news today,” he called back to her as he jogged out the door.
Gal was missing from their morning training session, probably off on another mission. Ezra felt a brief pang of jealousy as he joined Liza on the mat, but that was washed away by the big woman's sudden grin. “A formal apology? What did you do, Ezra Hawkins?”
Ezra found himself mirroring her expression. “Just my civic duty, Miss Crawford,” he said piously. “Helping DOLT in any little way I'm able.”
“Lieutenant Jeffries demoted and brought up on charges of reckless endangerment and fraud.” Liza shook her head, eyes gleaming. “We write the news, and DOLT isn't telling us anything else. So, off the record...”
“Well...” Ezra began stretching to limber up. “Theoretically, a conscientious citizen may have realized that the composition of matter around a wormhole is very important. Said citizen might have then used the quantum tunneling capabilities of the wormhole algorithm generators in the Sanctuary Center to map the fermions around the power conduit that caused the portal network crash from a few weeks ago. Being an industrious little worker, it's possible that he also reverse engineered several key minutes of data into a video. And there's a chance that a certain, unnamed DOLT detective was seen tripping over the conduit in question, kicking it a few times, then storming off.”
“And I imagine this citizen felt obligated to share this potentially embarrassing information with DOLT at his earliest convenience?”
“Conscientious citizen, remember? I've also heard that some enterprising troublemaker managed to get his hands on the footage and released it on the neural net...” Ezra pulled up his net interface and posted a copy of the incriminating video in response to the most recent 'Jeffries for commissioner' campaign ad, “...now.” He smiled smugly as Liza's eyes went wide and she made a hurried call to her father.
Several breathless minutes later, Liza shook her head and said, “You can't just drop something huge on my head like that, Ezra. News is what we Crawfords do. It's... it's like if I suddenly discovered a wormhole... thingy... and told you about it. You just wouldn't be able to help yourself.”
“My sincere apologies, Miss Crawford,” Ezra bared his teeth in a wicked smile. “Now, you were teaching me to defend myself?”
==
The two friends were on their way back to the Legacy section of Sanctuary when a pair of shadows fell over their path. “Stop right there,” a strident voice called out.
Ezra groaned. “Lieutenant Jeffries. Oh, I'm sorry. I guess it's just officer now, isn't it.” He gave Jeffries a cocky grin. “Trip over anything good lately?”
“Ezra, I don't think you should–”
Jeffries cut Liza off with a snort. “Funny. You think you've got me kid? You have no idea.” The man was practically trembling with anger. He took a deep breath, then smiled unpleasantly at Ezra. “Wilson,” he called to the brick of a man standing next to him, also in DOLT uniform. “How would you characterize the good Mr. Hawkins' behavior?”
“Belligerent and confrontational, sir,” the other man growled, pig-like eyes gleaming. “Looks like he's going for a weapon.”
“Is that so?” Jeffries turned to look at the other officer with deliberate casualness and, without warning, whirled and punched Ezra in the gut. “You think you've won, you Legacy piece of trash?” he spat as Ezra fell to the ground clutching his stomach. Jeffries lashed out with a savage kick, clipping Ezra's shoulder. “You're nothing, you hear me!”
Liza stood with her hands to her mouth in horror. “Officer, please, this is–”
The other DOLT, Wilson, imposed himself between her and Jeffries. “Careful there, ma'am.” He leered at her, evil little eyes dancing. “You're acting a little belligerent and confrontational yourself.” One meaty hand grabbed Liza's wrist.
Her eyes narrowed, and she whirled into action. She pulled Wilson into a throw, sweeping his legs out from under him and leaping to follow the movement. Her full weight came down, focused onto her elbow, driving into his sternum just as his back slammed to the ground. Liza bounded up from the fallen man, arms whirling. Ezra wasn't sure if it was the pain or if he was just seeing things, but he could have sworn she blurred across the ground without ever touching it.
Jeffries never saw her coming. A hand locked in at his shoulder, another by his knee, and suddenly the former detective was airborne, twirling through a brief flight that terminated in a vicious landing.
“Oh my,” Liza whispered quietly, staring down at the two officers of the law she had felled in horror.
“Blighted hell,” Ezra wheezed, forgetting to check his language. He staggered to his feet and grabbed Liza's hand. “We have to move, come on.” They left the two men groaning on the ground, fleeing to the safety of the Legacy estates.
==
“Ezra, need to practice a little early today.” Mat's voice was rushed over their net connection. He was obviously running. “Various and sundry things to do. Get there ASAP.”
“Mat, I really don't have time for–”
“No time, official business, explain later.” Mat cut the connection.
Not now, Ezra thought, looking over at the traumatized Liza Crawford sitting on his bed, staring bleakly out the window. Okay Ezra, think, you just have to get Liza home, then you can go find out what's going on with the Guild.
“Liza,” he said carefully. “Are you all right?”
“I just threw them,” she murmured, “just like in practice. B-but there were no mats, and they didn't fall right. Oh, they didn't fall right at all.” Her eyes remained fixed on some point outside. Ezra groaned internally. He wasn't going to get her anywhere like this. He looked around, trying to think of something, anything. Nothing came to him. Frustrated, Ezra kicked his desk. The workspace containment field shifted out of place. Ezra scowled at it. It wouldn't even have been in place to begin with if Kirsten hadn't tried to straighten things up...
That was it. He glanced back at Liza, who was still mumbling about how she hadn't meant to hurt anyone. With a heart-felt sigh, Ezra opened his net connection and did something he had never imagined doing before. He called his secretary.