Chapter 159: Terms of Engagement

Marek went back to practicing Spatial Parallax the following morning.

He had gotten used to using the stone posts and different parts of Goldwake House as stationary references, so Rhovan told him that continuing with the same exercise would only make him comfortable with something he already knew. Marek needed movement next, and Dario, who happened to be walking around the rear garden while eating whatever he had bought earlier, became the easiest target available.

Dario was not even walking fast, but the exercise was much harder than Marek expected. Every time the Taurus changed direction, the distance and angle between him and the stone post shifted as well. Marek had to keep both references properly defined without allowing his attention to fall back toward his own position, which was easier to explain than actually do.

He managed to keep it for several seconds until Dario suddenly stopped.

Marek frowned. “Why did you stop?”

Dario looked toward him while chewing. “I’m done eating.”

“What does that have to do with walking?”

“I was walking because I was eating.”

Marek stared at him for a while before deciding that asking another question would probably give him an answer he did not want to understand. “Just keep walking.”

Dario shrugged and started moving again.

Rhovan was nearby, lying on another golden recliner he had created for the garden because he refused to carry the one inside the sitting room. According to him, creating another one required less effort than bringing the existing recliner outside.

Marek was trying to establish Dario as a reference again when his communication device vibrated inside his pocket. The interruption ruined the exercise, though this time Rhovan did not tell him to continue after seeing him go silent.

It came from the Civic Measure Service.

For a moment, Marek thought there had been some development regarding the men who attacked Irial Venipra several days ago. He had not expected much from that case after the driver escaped, while the others had been taken away for questioning, but the notice had nothing to do with an arrest or another statement.

Someone involved in the case wanted to contact him.

Irial Venipra.

Marek read the name once more before opening the full message.

The Civic Measure Service had forwarded a request from Irial asking whether Newton Machiavelli and the people who helped her would agree to meet. She had left several available periods over the next two days and had not included any reason other than saying that she needed to discuss something related to what happened.

Rhovan stood from his recliner and walked over after Marek had been staring at the device for some time. “Who is it?”

Marek handed it to him.

Rhovan read the message and gave the device back. “You don’t have to answer that message.”

And Marek knew exactly why Rhovan told him that.

Irial had spent most of their last meeting avoiding questions. Even when the Civic Measure Service asked why several men had tried to force her into a vehicle, she gave them little to work with and refused to explain what was inside the bag the kidnappers wanted so badly. Marek himself had chosen not to ask because, at the time, he thought whatever problem she had was hers.

He had already helped save her, but that did not mean he had to inherit whatever came with her afterward.

Still, Irial was now looking for them herself, which meant something had changed.

Marek returned inside with Rhovan and told everyone about the request. Kellan was the first to think that Irial might finally explain what was inside her bag, while Nadia wondered whether the kidnappers had people still looking for her. Silas did not say much and only asked if the message had been sent through the same case reference used during their statements, which it had.

Eren read the forwarded notice twice before returning the communication device to Marek.

“What do you think?” he asked.

“I think I don’t know why she’s contacting us.”

“That’s usually what meetings are for,” Kellan said from the other side of the room.

Marek turned toward him. “Thank you. I would’ve never figured that out.”

Kellan smiled proudly. “You’re welcome.”

Nadia threw a cushion at him.

Rhovan sat down and rested one arm over the back of the couch. “Before all of you start imagining yourselves solving whatever happened to her, remember what I told you before. You stopped a kidnapping because it happened in front of you. Whatever caused that kidnapping is a completely different matter.”

Marek agreed with him more than the others probably expected.

Back in Lantern Plaza, there had been no reason to think much about whether they should intervene. Irial was being dragged toward an open vehicle while several men tried to stop anyone from helping her. Marek did not need to understand the circumstances before deciding that allowing them to take her would have been wrong.

This request was different.

If he met Irial now, listened to what she had to say and chose to help afterward, he would be entering the problem himself.

He had already dealt with enough powerful people back on Earth to know how badly that could end.

“We can meet her without agreeing to anything,” Nadia said after the room became quieter. “If something happened after she left us, I at least want to know.” ⅇ

Marek sat down across from her. “And if whatever happened involves the same people who tried taking her?”

“Then we know.”

“Knowing could also become a problem.”

Kellan frowned. “How?”

Marek looked at him. “We don’t know who those men worked for. We don’t know how many people are involved, what Irial did before we met her, or whether she was even telling the truth when she gave her statement. We came here several weeks ago and barely know the city. If she managed to piss off people with money or influence, I don’t want all of us joining her before we even understand what she did.”

Kellan did not answer after hearing that.

Rhovan gave Marek a small nod.

There was another thing Marek did not bother saying out loud.

Newton Machiavelli had only recently become a real person in Metrava Prime. His legal record had no connection to Tomas Vale, Amara, Mara, Project Meridian, or anything else that could lead someone back toward Marek Vale unless they already knew what they were looking for.

He had gone through enough trouble to keep it that way.

Throwing himself into a controversy involving people he did not know sounded like a terrible method of remaining unnoticed.

“I’ll answer her,” Marek said after thinking about it for some time. “But we’re only going there to hear what she wants. We don’t promise anything.”

Rhovan nodded.

Marek used the same Civic Measure Service channel to accept one of the available periods that afternoon. He also refused to give Irial the address of Goldwake House and requested somewhere else for the meeting, which resulted in the CMS arranging one of their public consultation rooms in another district.

He did not know Irial well enough to invite her home. Rhovan and the others also agreed with his arrangement.

The others came with him later that day, although Dario somehow found time to buy food before they arrived.

Marek had stopped asking where he got it.

The CMS facility was much smaller than the Civil Standing Center they had visited before. Most of the building consisted of open counters and consultation rooms where officers handled statement follow-ups, minor complaints, document requests, and other relevant matters.

Marek liked that.

There were people everywhere.

If Irial’s request turned out to be some kind of trap, whoever planned it had chosen a terrible location.