Chapter 7

“Chief, you wanted to see us?” Sal shoved Molly in front of him as they entered the office. Molly glared at her partner as she stumbled in and snapped to attention.

“Close the door.” Chief Odeb Chisula already sounded tense. Postured behind his desk, with steepled fingers resting on the surface as if he had been waiting for them with a cool, casual anticipation of a school principal, he appeared to be the icon of patience. Molly knew differently. His dark, oily complexion revealed none of his agitations, but the red-framed, brown, and cream-mottled eyes, with dilated black pupils, lost in a dark-brown iris, exposed all she needed to know. She was in big trouble. Light reflected off his dome-smooth head, accentuating every tell-tale tendon bulging from his long, razor-rash, adult acned neck to the unique coning apex of his scalp.

Sal pushed the door closed and snapped back to attention. Molly swallowed hard. The chief made her nervous even when he wasn’t angry, although she couldn’t think of a time she had been in his office and he wasn’t angry.

The chief touched a screen only he could see. “Let’s look at what we have, shall we, ‘Illegal and Unauthorized use of Transportation Lift,’ ‘Misuse of LEP badge for access through a security station,’ ‘Bribing security personnel at said security station.’ Shall I continue, Officer Jacobsen?”

“Sir, I was trying to get to my sister, and I did not bribe anybody. I merely asked if there was any way to speed things along.”

“Uh huh,” Chief said without looking at her. “Says here you offered fifty credits.”

“I was placing my credits chip in my pocket—they make you empty everything out, ya know. And I did not use my LEP badge. I was just trying to be sure they did not misplace it. They misconstrued—”

“Jacobsen!” The chief’s veins bulged farther from his neck. Molly snapped to attention. She stared at the pulsing vein near his collar and chewed on the inside of her cheek.

“What gives you the right to misuse LEP privileges to transport yourself when you are not in the line of duty?”

“But, sir, my sister—”

“I know why you were there, Jacobsen. I’m the one who authorized you to have the leave, remember?”

“Yes sir, and I appreciate it, sir. But—”

“The Mayor has called my office twice today. The Legal Enforcer Board has called three times. They want to make an example of you and your shenanigans.”

“My shenanigans! Sir, my sister was transported without me! The Mass Transit System was offline—”

“Shut up! Jacobsen, just—shut up!” He rubbed a large, dark, knobby-knuckled hand down the front of his face. “Do you have any idea how much trouble you are in this time?”

Molly closed her mouth. Blood oozed from the raw spot on her cheek.

“Sir,” Sal offered.

“And don’t think you can explain her way out of this either, Salazar!” The chief’s face turned darker and oilier-- the pigment of an angry man with skin too opaque to reveal the flooded blood vessels.

“No sir.” Sal wisely remained at attention. “But, sir, we have found anomalies in Molly’s sister’s records that merit ... some attention.”

The chief glared at the two officers. His eyes darted from Molly to Sal. “They want you suspended for misusing your credentials!”

“Sir, please. You can suspend me, whatever, but first, hear what I have to say!” Molly spoke without breaking her posture of attention.

The muscles in the chief’s jaw bulged and released. Oversized lips pressed into a tight, flat oval. Molly and Sal stood perfectly still, the less movement, the better. The chief closed his eyes, released an exasperated sigh, as he leaned his lanky frame back into his overused chair, and rocked thoughtfully back and forth. His fingers steepled above his chest, elbows at the armrests. He stared at the triangle formed by his fingertips. At last, he looked up. “What do you have?”

Molly told the chief what the healers had said and her own observations, leaving out the twin connection details. Then Sal told him about the findings with the medical records, without revealing the source. Molly concluded, “Chief Chisulo if nothing else, my sister was robbed of any hope for future children.”

The chief looked up sharply. This piece of information might be the dagger that penetrated his armor. His face contorted. “What do you mean?”

“Kita’s doctor said the physical assessment scan indicated she is now sterile. She certainly was not sterile when she left, that was part of the qualifications to be accepted. They only want female candidates who can help by donating to the fertility cause. Chief! Now, she’s sterile! Somebody or something made her that way and it happened on that planet. This Abraham Project is crooked and—and they need to be stopped.”