Chapter 48: In Search of Body [2]

"Good evening, sir."

The words came out naturally enough that even Eldrin was almost surprised by how steady he sounded.

The man standing in the doorway regarded him for a moment, his eyes moving over the borrowed uniform before settling on his face.

"You’re assigned to this section?"

"Yes, sir. I’m on watch for Restricted Storage."

Eldrin kept his posture straight. He had spent enough time observing the guards to understand the general manner in which they carried themselves.

The officer’s gaze lingered.

"Which section?"

"J7 storage, sir."

That earned him a slightly longer look.

Eldrin felt his pulse rise but gave no indication of it.

The officer glanced back into the building. "We received a report of movement around the storage area."

"There was movement inside earlier," Eldrin replied. "I checked the section, but I didn’t find anyone when I arrived."

The answer had been deliberately vague. It gave the officer something plausible without offering a detail that could easily be contradicted.

Another soldier stepped forward.

"You were alone?"

"For most of the watch, yes, sir. The other guard was outside when I took over."

The officer frowned slightly.

"When did you take over?"

"Not long ago."

It wasn’t exactly a lie.

The officer studied him again, evidently trying to decide whether there was anything worth questioning further.

Eldrin resisted the urge to look toward the storage room.

After a moment, the officer’s expression eased.

"Very well. We searched the adjoining corridor and found nothing unusual. Stay on your post and keep the area secured."

"Yes, sir."

The officer turned away, but after taking two steps he stopped.

"And don’t wander around the interior unless you’re ordered to. We don’t need guards wandering into restricted sections and creating another report for us to deal with."

Eldrin lowered his head slightly.

"Understood, sir."

The soldiers moved away, their footsteps gradually fading down the corridor.

Eldrin remained where he was until they were safely out of sight.

Only then did he allow himself a quiet breath.

That had been far too close.

He stepped outside.

Eldrin’s eyes moved toward the main road.

Something was wrong.

A cart lay overturned several metres from the entrance.

One of the wheels had torn loose, and a scattering of wooden crates had spilled across the road. Two workers were shouting at each other while another soldier hurried toward them.

Eldrin stared at the scene.

Then realization struck.

His expression hardened.

"That bastard..."

It clicked into place almost immediately.

The stranger had known someone would eventually discover the unconscious guards. He had also known that a commotion would draw soldiers away from the storage building.

And now there was an overturned cart sitting conveniently close to the entrance.

Eldrin’s jaw tightened.

He did that on purpose.

The man hadn’t simply broken into J7.

He had created a distraction, removed the guards, stolen one of their identities, and then left Eldrin standing inside the building wearing the uniform of one of the men he’d knocked unconscious.

The whole thing had been arranged so that Eldrin would be the one caught when the guards came looking.

Eldrin almost laughed.

You wanted them to catch me so you could keep moving while they dealt with the disturbance.

The bastard hadn’t needed to fight the military.

He’d simply redirected their attention.

And Eldrin had nearly walked straight into it.

His eyes followed the road beyond the overturned cart.

Eldrin’s expression slowly changed.

The man wasn’t merely strong.

He was careful.

And that made him considerably more dangerous.

Eldrin looked once toward the storage building, then toward the direction the stranger had disappeared.

He had two problems now.

The first was the empty J7 container.

The second was the fact that someone else was already several steps ahead of him.

And Eldrin had no intention of letting that person reach....

By morning, this entire section of the military district would be crawling with guards. The men who had been knocked unconscious would be questioned, the officers would begin checking every permit, and anyone found wandering where they did not belong would have to explain themselves. Even if Eldrin somehow managed to reach the outer gate again, the same trick would be far harder to repeat with the district already on alert.

He looked toward the eastern horizon through the gaps between the buildings.

The night was already thinning.

Perhaps four hours remained before sunrise.

Four hours to find his father.

After that, his chances of moving through this place unnoticed would collapse.

Eldrin pulled the borrowed uniform tighter around himself and stepped into the main road.

The first thing he noticed was that the stranger had not gone far.

He was moving through the district several buildings ahead, changing direction whenever a patrol passed. To an ordinary observer, he would have been almost impossible to follow. Eldrin, however, had Shade. The darkness around the streets seemed to outline the man’s movements more clearly, separating him from the scattered groups of soldiers and workers moving through the district.

Then Eldrin saw what he was doing.

The man stopped beside a building, crouched near its foundation, and placed something beneath a section of stonework. He moved on before anyone noticed. Several minutes later, he repeated the same act near another building farther down the road.

Eldrin’s brows drew together.

What the hell is he doing?

It wasn’t the behavior of someone simply trying to escape.

He was preparing something.

Eldrin followed from a distance, careful not to approach close enough to attract the man’s attention. The stranger moved with the confidence of someone who had already studied the district, and every action seemed purposeful. There were no wasted movements.

At one point, a patrol came around the corner.

The stranger stepped behind a stack of crates and waited until the soldiers passed.

Eldrin almost smiled despite himself.

So you can hide too.

For the first time, Eldrin understood how easily ordinary security could be manipulated.

Maybe second time.

But then the thought of his father returned.

He had no time to figure out what the stranger was preparing.