Part 1
Cascade General (Jim's POV)
It didn't take Sandburg and I long to reach the hospital. We were both quiet on the way. We weren't sure what we'd do if she was Resistance. I have never liked the Taelons. A vision shortly after their landing convinced Sandburg and I that they were a threat. I sympathized with the Resistance. The official Liberation seemed fairly safe to me, they were mostly concerned about raising public awareness of the Taelons actions. However, the events of the last couple of years had proven that many of the fringe groups were quite dangerous to the public. They didn't care if someone else got hurt while they were attacking the Taelons. No one was starting a street war in my city.
We went right up to her room to talk to her. The uniform guarding the door let us in. She was sitting up in bed, bruised and bandaged but alert. "Miss Martinez I'm Detective Jim Ellison this is my partner Detective Blair Sandburg we'd like to ask you a few questions about the assault."
"Certainly Detective"
"Could you describe how you were attacked," as she answered the questions I focused my senses on her so I could know if she was telling the truth, over the years my skills had sharpened enough that I could usually even identify a half-truth.
"I was walking down the street, as I passed an alley I heard a noise and stopped. As I turned around I was grabbed from behind and after that everything is rather vague."
Some of that was true but some of it was a lie but I'll let it pass for now.
"Do you remember anything at all about your attackers?" asked Sandburg.
"I think there were three of them. All men. I don't think I can describe them well." Again a mix of truth and lie.
"Could this have any connection to your arrest by Companion Agents in DC?"
"That was a case of mistaken identity. Major Kincaid came to speak with me on site and he cleared up the matter." That was true enough but I she didn't exactly answer the question now did she.
"So you were never arrested?"
"No, I was in South America the whole time." I could hear her heart rate accelerate. This was a lie. I had no idea how the earlier statement could be true and this one false. I planned to ask a few more questions, but some instinct just took over at that moment and I said it.
"Would you like to answer that question again, with the truth this time?" Her reaction startled me. Her heart rate went through the roof her eyes widened. I know Sandburg could also see her shock. This went far behind being caught in a lie. What is this woman's story?
Part 2
Maiya's POV
I looked up as the two men who had been the focus of my dreaming last night. No, I have to keep reminding myself that people are different in this dimension. They are no more Enquiri and the Hadi, Tal than Sandoval was Jason. In this "civilized" world it is unlikely one born a Watchman would ever develop his talents.
Enquiri spoke first, "Miss Martinez I'm Detective Jim Ellison, this is my partner Detective Blair Sandburg we'd like to ask you a few questions about the assault."
I let the part of me that was Isabel take the lead as I answered, "Certainly Detective."
"Could you describe how you were attacked?" Enquiri...No Detective Ellison asked.
I could do this, I had already decided how to explain it using a little of the truth and a lot of misdirection. "I was walking down the street, as I passed an alley I heard a noise and stopped. As I turned around I was grabbed from behind and after that everything is rather vague." Believe that I'm just an ordinary victim of a mugging I thought at him. From his body language I don't think he completely believed me.
"Do you remember anything at all about your attackers?" asked Detective Sandburg.
"I think there were three of them. All men. I don't think I can describe them well." That was partially true. I had seen the face of the spy and the leader when they attacked, but I don't intend to have the police arrest him before I can expose him to the Liberation. I still have a duty to protect Liam only my death or his will end that particular obligation.
"Could this have any connection to your arrest by Companion agents in DC?" Very clever detectives.
"That was a case of mistaken identity. Major Kincaid came to speak with me on site and he cleared up the matter." I make it sound so simple, one half of me mistaken for the other, the solution our minds merge and a body dies, but life is never simple. Even with the merge making Maiya dominant, I have all of Isabel's memories. Sometimes I don't know where she ends and I begin.
"So you were never arrested?"
"No, I was in South America the whole time." Almost immediately he responded.
"Would you like to answer that question again, with the truth this time?" I flashed back to the memory I dreamed last night of my tribes Watchman. The only way he could know with certainty I lied is if he had a Watchman's abilities. I know my shock showed plain on my face. Yet, as I met his eyes I could see it. The experiences might be different but in this case the core of this man was the same as in my dimension. I looked at his partner and saw the wisdom I once saw in the Hadi's eyes there.
I took a deep breath and a leap of faith. My accent was clearly audible as I said, "You want the truth, very well Watchman, I will tell you though you may not believe me."
Part 3
Blair's POV
I was surprised by her response to Jim's challenging statement. First she displayed extreme shock far beyond what I would expect of someone caught in a lie. Then she looked each of us in the eye for a moment before taking a deep breath. When she spoke again her voice was very different. "You want the truth, very well Watchman, I will tell you though you may not believe me."
"Several months ago a radical in the resistance tried to kill and individual who advocated less violent methods the attempt involved sabotage and interdimensional travel. The result was that this man found himself in another dimension where only a few tribes of humans had escaped being enslaved by the Taelons. My home."
"He saved my tribe from complete destruction at the hands of the Taelons. A debt I tried to repay by returning with him to protect him here. My arrest by Taelon operatives was simply a matter of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. I was working as a waitress in a bar that was a known resistance hang out. The Taelon's needed victims for an experiment so they walked in and arrested everyone present. The same man saved my life again, further increasing my debt. I decided to lay low for a while.
"Unfortunately we did not count on the fact that since I had a double here and only one of us could survive. Meanwhile we were chased by my husband's double who works for the Taelons in this reality. Isabel and I merged. I, Maiya remained dominant although Isabel is within me. The Taelons are convinced that the dead body that they have on the mothership is Maiya and that Isabel knew nothing of what happened. To maintain that illusion I had to take up Isabel's lifestyle."
"I can tell you believe this is true." Jim said. This was mostly for my benefit. I knew he was using his senses and could detect no lie from her manner.
"But you don't believe it. Perhaps I should share one other piece of information. The two of you also had doubles on my world. Yours" she looked significantly at me with this, "was Tal, the Hadi of our tribe. He was a spiritual leader who directed both our tribe and you," here she addressed Jim, "Enquiri who was the Watchman who protected our tribe with senses more acute than those of other men. When I was a child my sister Kayla and I snuck out to go to an area that had been forbidden to us. When your doubles tracked us through the forest Kayla tried to lie to Enquiri but he listened to her heartbeat and knew the lie. He asked her what you just asked me a few moments ago, 'Would you like to answer that question again, with the truth this time?' This made me wonder. She clearly knew a great deal about Jim's abilities and the nature of our relationship. Part of me wanted to believe she really was crazy but something told me this was just the most recent in the long line of bizarre situations in which Jim and I always seem to find ourselves.
Part 4"Excuse us for a minute." Jim and Blair moved of and spoke in hushed voices. "Do you buy any of this Chief? She has got to be delusional."
"I don't know I've read some articles that would suggest it's possible. And she accurately described your abilities and our relationship without using the terms Sentinel and Guide, or Shaman for that matter. If she'd learned about your abilities here she would most likely have used one of them. It's probably still possible to track down news footage from the events leading up to my press conference and Sentinel was the term used there. Do your senses tell you she is delusional or is it just that her story is so odd?"
"Her story." Jim sighed.
"Then I think the real question is what we do. True or not if she is questioned by Taelon agents she might give them enough information that they'll be able to find out the truth of your abilities. At the very least I think we need to suspend disbelief long enough to find out what is really going on here."
"You're right, Chief. But, I still don't like it." As they returned to Maiya's bedside Jim addressed her. "Supposing for the moment that we believe you. What are you planning on doing?"
Maiya hesitated for only a moment. She was already committed to trusting these men. She told them what she had overheard. We need to identify the traitor and if possible learn just how they intend to 'deal with Doors'' so that we can warn the D.C. cell.
Identifying the traitor probably isn't the hard part. I have the ability to contact the local Resistance leaders and the means to identify myself as trustworthy. But, I'd like to have proof first. If we can identify the man who seemed to be in charge and know what was being planned we might be able to get the information we need."
"With an accurate description we might be able to pull a small enough number of records that you could look through them and identify the correct man. But that might tip off the Companions that we are snooping into the actions of their operative." Jim said.
"We might be able to take advantage of that new computer you and the guys were giving me a hard time for buying. A sketchy description will pull the records on hundreds of thousands of people. A search that broad shouldn't set off any red flags. Most people get a few dozen hits from these every day. Then, since my computer has the capacity to store the entire search, we can narrow the search from the data already on my computer. If we disconnect my computer from any kind of network first there would be no way for the Taelon's to know we have narrowed the search to their agent." Blair interjected.
"O.K. you give us an accurate description of the man we're looking for. Then we'll do what Blair suggested while you start contacting the people you need to talk to in the Resistance." Jim told Maiya after a moment's thought. "Here is our global codes if you need to contact us. If not we'll contact you with the ID's you need to examine tomorrow."
"Agreed."
End Chapter 2
