Chapter 9
Pavel watched the approaching recognizer and smirked to himself at having the good fortune of arriving before Paige. The pitiful program had confirmed the location of the female program suspected of harboring the Renegade and now the prize of his capture was waiting for him to claim. He watched the guards pouring into the building as he crossed over to the entrance. A dour-faced female was busy flustering at the guards, reciting her encounter with "Tron", wagging her finger importantly at them. He gave her a wide berth.
Up ahead a guard leaned over the roof wall and shouted down to the other guards. One turned and quickly marched up to Pavel.
"The Renegade escaped the building, sir," he announced.
Pavel shot out a hand and grabbed the guard by his collar, pulling him in close.
"Then find him!" he screamed into the guard's face before shoving him aside. The guard scurried away and quickly mounted his bike, waving at the other guards to follow. Pavel screwed up his nose in irritation. So many guards and what was supposed to be a badly injured program and yet, somehow, the Renegade had still gotten away. He roughly pushed a sentry out of his way as he made his way up the stairs of the building.
He found two sentries guarding the entrance to a tiny unit. Pavel scanned the apartment, looking for any clues about the resident who inhabited it. The place was spartan with no personal artifacts and furnished meagerly with the most basic items. He surmised that whoever lived here was either very poor or very careful not to leave traces of themselves. He decided the latter when he found the code repairer in a small locker next to the cot. He slyly placed it in his pocket.
"Hiding evidence?" a velvety voice chimed out behind him.
He sneered to himself, clenching his fist in recognition. Oh, the things he would do to that program if she wasn't one of Tesler's pets. He did his best to force his face into a beseeching expression before turning to face her, leaning against the doorframe.
"Oh, how could you think such a thing? I merely wanted to make sure none of the other guards disturbed anything."
Paige looked unconvinced. "And there was me thinking you just wanted to make sure you'd be first to identify our Renegade's little friend." She pushed off against the door frame with her shoulder and slinked into the room, glancing around at the cot and the window. "Anyways, there's no need," she continued. "The vile program downstairs is her very informative neighbor. Apparently we're looking for a medical program named Ce." She crouched down to pick up a discarded energy vial and paused.
"...she was quite convinced that she saw her with... Tron."
Pavel shot a look back at her at the mention of his name. "And her disk?"
"Unfortunately our informant ran off right away, and the light was behind them, but…" she paused again as she recalled the blurry image on Ruby's disk "... the likeness is undeniable."
Pavel stroked his chin thoughtfully as he digested Paige's words. So it would appear that perhaps Clu is holding something back from Tesler, he thought.
"Hmmm….how interesting," he purred.
And smiled.