Different Senses (71 page)

“You can’t afford that kind of
mistake,” he snapped, eyes flashing. “Pay attention.” He opened the
auto’s doors. “He’s devout. He’ll notice if you slip up.”

“Okay.”

Sanjeev opened the door as we
walked up to it. I’d only seen still images of the man. In person,
he looked ordinary, normal—not like a supplier of terrorists at
all. A middle-class man in a middle-class area, completely Kelon in
appearance except for the high cheekbones which only hinted at
possible mixed-race origins. “Blessing of the spirit, Shardul.” He
bowed to me. “And to you, Gafur.”

“Blessings on us all,” I
replied formally, bowing back. I sensed his approval. First test
passed.

“Come in. Thank you for coming
over at this time. I don’t sleep much these days.” He led us into a
living room that bore plentiful signs of his unseen wife and
children—photoscreens, amateur art, ornaments too ugly to display
except for sentimental reasons. The occasional table bore a tray of
samosas and chai. “Please, sit. Shardul, I’ll let you serve Gafur.
I hope I didn’t drag you out of bed much earlier than normal.”

“He keeps me awake,” I said
with a small leer at Shardul.

“I’m sure he does,” Sanjeev
said, grinning at us. “Shardul has told me a lot about you.” He
said something in Nihani which I couldn’t make out.

I held up my hands in apology.
“Sorry. I’m not fluent, though I’m learning. If I’d been allowed to
be brought up here, instead of on Kelon....” I made a disgusted
face. “I’d rather I was mute than be forced to speak their
tongue.”

“I know the feeling. Still, it
helps you pass. That and your looks.”

I bent over, and removed the
brown-coloured lens from my right eye, revealing the green
intraocular implant. “With a little help. My work colleagues have
no idea I’m Nihan.”

He laughed. “Brilliant. But
your family history must be on their records?”

“
My mother’s race wasn’t
recorded, and my father was, for obvious reasons, not keen to
reveal it. If the
chuma
are too ignorant to see the
truth, who am I to educate them?”

“Very true. Useful to be able
to move between the two groups.”

“They exploit us. Why shouldn’t
I exploit them?”

“Exactly, eh, Shardul?”

Shardul smiled tightly. “Yes, I
agree. Besides, Gafur only has the ability to deceive them because
of their racism. You can imagine how they would squeal if one of
their women’s children was taken by one of our men to raise as
Nihan. I despise the Kelon race, I truly do.”

Sanjeev poured himself some
chai and sat back, cradling the cup. “Forgive me, Shardul, but I do
have to ask you about something I recently learned. Apparently you
used to be very close to the governor’s son, Javen.”

Shardul sneered a bit too
convincingly. “‘Used to be’, indeed.”

“But—”

“The man deceived me. The
family on the governor’s side are actually mixed-race, though
they’ll never admit it. Javen pretended to be interested in, even
proud of that heritage, and persuaded me that he wanted to promote
our welfare and work with us. He had me completely fooled.” He
laughed bitterly, and had I not sensed his emotions before, would
have been completely convinced how much he hated ‘Javen’. “But it
was all a ruse. Despite the fact he knew how much I loathe the
Kelons and would never take one as a lover, he pressed his unwanted
attentions on me at a point when I was in distress and desperate,
and....” He pursed his lips. “I don’t want to describe it.”

Sanjeev was properly horrified.
“He...raped you?”

“Not for want of trying. I
threw him out and threatened him with revealing all to his father.
I knew the police would never take action.”

My hands were clenched on my
thighs from shock at how Shardul could mine such a painful episode
to build my cover. I hoped Sanjeev took it for outrage on behalf of
my lover. “I’m sorry to bring this up,” Sanjeev said. He was
genuinely regretful, my empathy confirmed.

Shardul shrugged. “It’s in the
past, and the man has gone back to Kelon. Good riddance. If we
could just send the rest of them back, Medele would once again be
the paradise the Seeker promised.”

“Maybe it’ll happen. Gafur, the
information you gave Shardul saved a lot of innocent people from
ending up in Kelon jail cells.”

“Good. That’s what I
wanted.”

“Would you pass on more
information, for the same reason?”

“I would. I don’t trust them to
dispense the justice they’re so proud of. Not after Denge got away
with murder.”

“I feel the same. But you don’t
have much loyalty to your former police colleagues, I have to
say.”

I curled my lip in
feigned disgust. “The colleagues who let me be run over by one of
their own vehicles, and then took away my badge because of the
injuries they caused? The colleagues who make tasteless jokes about
the
banis
and expect me to join in? They taught me to hate, Sanjeev.
I wasn’t born like this. I know the Seeker teaches we should not
hold hate in our hearts, but he didn’t have to deal with the Kelon.
He had no experience with racism, blessed though he is
forever.”

“This is sadly true,” Shardul
murmured. I almost jumped when he spoke. “His teachings have
nothing to say in guidance for our situation here in Medele, but
how could he have anticipated invaders of this kind, destroying
what we have achieved?”

“So we must find our own path
in the Spirit, don’t you think?” Sanjeev said. “Rid this land of
the intruders, or at least remove their influence.”

“I pray every day for that,” I
said. “Let’s be blunt, Sanjeev. You’re trying to make that happen,
and I want to help.”

“
I’m
doing nothing,” he retorted. “Be careful what
you say and to whom you say it, Gafur. These are dangerous times
for our kind.”

“I’m sorry. My anger made me
careless. I’d be out there throwing firebombs myself, but that
doesn’t change enough things fast enough.”

“
Not on its own, no.” He
was more cautious of me now.
Bugger
. “But there are those who
believe they can make things change, really change.”

“I want to help. When Denge
walked free, I vowed to do whatever I could, didn’t I, Shardul? I
swore to you I would.”

“Yes, you did.” I gave him a
fake tender smile, and hoped he’d forgive me for it.

“Very worthy,” Sanjeev said. I
waited for him to tell me more of what he wanted, but he only
poured himself a second cup of chai and offered us the pot. “I
presume you need to leave for work soon.”

“In a bit, yes.”

“If you hear of anything which
can help our people, I can also presume you’ll pass that to
Shardul?”

“We don’t have secrets from
each other. I trust him to do what he judges best with what I tell
him.”

“Good. Well, eat up, both of
you. My wife made these specially for you.”

So far, other than
admitting he’d passed on the ‘tip-off’, he’d said nothing that
could have him brought in for questioning, let alone be charged for
aiding treason. That admission was pretty incriminating, sure, but
would be struck out as entrapment, and drag Shardul down too. But
catching
him
out wasn’t the point. Had he heard enough to
make those behind him interested?

We left a few minutes later,
the conversation turned to harmless topics like children and the
weather. Shardul relaxed as he climbed into his auto. “Think he
took the bait?” I asked.

“Hard to tell. You sounded like
the most rabid Kelon hater I’ve ever encountered.”

“Too much?”

“Perhaps not. Especially not
now.” His emotions clouded with sadness. “There is so much hate
around now, nothing seems extreme any more.”

“Unfortunately true.”

“So that will appeal, most
likely. On the other hand, you did establish a propensity for
betrayal.”

“Unavoidable, given my
script.”

He wrinkled his nose in
disgust. “I know. Perhaps I should have thought about that, but
then I wasn’t exactly consulted about the finer details, like us
being lovers.”

“Yeah, I know. Um,
listen...about that night—”

“I made that all up, yes. Don’t
worry about that.”

His eyes were fixed on my jaw,
where the transmitter had been fitted. Obviously he thought Captain
Largosen might take him seriously.

“That’s not what I’m worried
about.”

“There’s nothing else to talk
about.” He turned away, gunned the engine and made the auto buck as
it tore off.

“Be careful.”

“Then stop distracting me while
I’m driving.”

“Shardul—”

“Are my wishes of so little
importance?”

“No. Sorry.”

He drove towards the bridge.
There was so much I wanted to say to him, to talk about, but it all
fell under ‘too sensitive’ or ‘too painful’. So all I asked was,
“What happens now?”

His eyes remained fixed on the
road ahead. “I’ll keep contact with him, encourage his interest. If
the captain wants further information passed on, he’ll have to
provide it.”

“Is Sanjeev connected to this
killing last night?”

“I doubt it. That’s my next
call—the parents of the accused.”

“You’d work for a cop
killer.”

“
Alleged
cop killer, Javen, and
yes. It’s my job. Always has been. I serve my people, not yours,
and the law for both. I might have sold my soul for
this...business...but
I
haven’t forgotten my
ideals.”

“Neither have I. I need to talk
to you about this, Shardul.”

“I can’t. Please...just
don’t.”

I wished I could shake him,
make him listen. Once we were so close, such good friends. Now it
was like we stood on opposite sides of this bridge we were crossing
now, able to see but unable to hear, or touch.

But what divided us wasn’t a
river, but genetics, religion and history. And nothing could bridge
that without both of us wanting it. He didn’t now, even though he
might have once.

He dropped me off in town
without saying another word to me and I caught a taxi to the
station house. I’d barely left the taxi when an auto slipped into
position in front of me. Captain Largosen leaned out of the open
door and beckoned me in.

“I think that went well,” he
said, sitting back as the auto drove on. “You think so?”

“You heard us talking. Shardul
has some reservations. I can’t tell, since I don’t know the
man.”

“Fair enough. I thought you two
sounded convincing. But there’s clearly an unresolved issue between
you. I’m concerned it might force Sri Shardul to stop
cooperating.”

“It won’t, I promise.”

“
It better not, sergeant.
This is a hell of a lot more important than your dalliances
with
banis
affairs. Keep it in your pants and stop provoking the man.
We need him, at least for now.”

“And when you don’t?”

He narrowed his hawkish eyes.
“What does that mean?”

“What will happen to him when
this is over?”

“Nothing, of course. We have no
interest in him.”

“Of course, sir. I was just
concerned...that he’s carrying out acts which could be considered
treason, even if under direction.”

“The recordings we’re making
are his protection. I don’t appreciate the accusation,
sergeant.”

“I apologise, sir. What will I
be doing now?”

“Waiting, of course. Coming out
in public if we need you. We baited the hook, now let’s see if it’s
swallowed. Keep out of sight.”

“Yes, sir.”

He spoke to the driver and
ordered him to pull over. “I have a meeting here. You go back to
the safe house and lie low. Don’t argue with Sri Shardul. That’s an
order.”

“Sir.”

No, not done with the
humiliations yet. For a spoon of flour I’d take a knife and cut
this bloody transmitter out of my jaw. Proof that the captain’s
worry about what I could do to this mission with my stupid
obsessions was completely justified.
Grow up, Javen.

~~~~~~~~

A suitable punishment for my
stupidity was a week’s isolation to contemplate it, and that was
what I had—no contact from anyone except two food deliveries. I
wasn’t needed to lay more bait, not yet, though I burned with
curiosity to know what Captain Largosen was giving Shardul to feed
to Sanjeev. All I had for company was the media feeds, and they
made depressing viewing. I saw Shardul, videoed as he left the
courthouse after his client was committed for trial for murder. He
offered no comment despite the outrageous taunting by the
reporters, the watching cops taking no action over the pushing and
shoving he endured.

The news analysis now
made no pretense at balanced reporting. Dad was taking a lot of
hits for not being hard-line enough, while his political opponents
rampaged all over the debate, advocating little short of organised
genocide as reprisal for the assault on ‘national pride’. The
council of governors had approved a series of emergency measures,
and night-time curfews were now in place for all Nihan and
registered mixed-race individuals. Random ID checks, increased stop
and searches, raids reported every night—as a cop, I knew how
useless these things were in catching real criminals, and how much
extra work and resentment they caused. Putting on my concerned
citizen’s mask, I could see how they might offer a frightened Kelon
population some hope that the unrest and violence would end. It
wouldn’t work. Dad would know it wouldn’t work. But politicians had
to be seen to be doing
something
, and so they did what
they could. The damage might never be repaired, if this
continued.