Star Law: A Marshal Cole Series

Chapter 29 (c)

Adisa and Adjani brought visual proof to Gaulle as soon as they saw it. The psi message on the wall near Central Plaza had caught them by surprise. They knew that only one of their kind could have put up such sign but they had no idea who or what it meant. They immediately suspected Orion Ruskovich but couldn't fathom what she might be trying to communicate to.

They needed Gaulle to see it but it wasn't like they could take a picture of it. Instead Adisa had torn a piece of the wall off where they saw the message. They handed it over as soon as they entered his cabin. As soon as Gaulle saw it, he sat down and studied it. The torn section of wall was just a composite piece of wall paper but it was enough to get a psychometry reading from.

 As he rolled the object in his hand, the images of writing appeared. It was psi most certainly but in a code he was not familiar with."It's Ruskovich's work. But there is something more..."

Adisa and Adjani looked unsettled but said nothing. They just watched as Gaulle looked up as if seeing the message in thin air. His eyes skimmed up and down and then he nodded to himself. 

"The bulk of the message is indeed Ruskovich," he began. "But there is an acknowledgement mark in the corner from someone else."

"What does the message say?" asked Adisa.

"It is in no code that I know of but the style of the message is something we taught young Orion back on earth," said Gaulle. 

"Who is the message for?" questioned Adjani.

"Who indeed?" answered Gaulle. "Not for me most certainly."

Adjani and Adisa looked at each other. "Not for us either," they said in unison.

Gaulle nodded gravely. "Your assurances on this I can accept based on one fact."

"And what is that?" a blinking Adjani asked. His brother equally looked bewildered.

"That neither of you can answer a psi message in the manner that was placed on that wall in Central Plaza," stated Gaulle. "In fact, aside from myself, I only know of one person know of could respond."

"Goroshenko?" asked Adisa, just guessing.

"Yes, Goroshenko," replied Gaulle. "He obviously can read her message and respond but how and why? He never particularly seemed attached to her in training and. And in pursuit after never faltered in tracking her down. Why would she be reaching out to him?"

"Do we know for certain she is?" questioned Adisa.

"Could Goroshenko be trying to lure her out?" Adjani asked.

Gaulle raised an eyebrow and mused that over. "Perhaps. He should have left a message on the ship's messaging system. We need to speak to him"

"He has left a message every 8 hours as they all have," said Adjani."Last one was that he had new quarters and switched identities with details to follow. That was four hours ago. Is it possible to know when the original and response messages were put up?"

"No, there is not," answered Gaulle with a grunt. "So we won't know if it is included in his update until four hours from now."

The death of Alexander Singh and his psi powers that kept them linked for communications at any time was sorely missed. Protocol since his death was communications were encoded and uploaded every 8 hours on the ship's message boards. 

Aubrey Chase Chen would have also been handy for her ability to locate people. She too was gone. He stared at well meaning Adjani and Adisa, loyal and deadly trackers who so far had been stymied in locating Orion Ruskovich.

Gaulle smiled to himself as a plan formulated. Perhaps they didn't need to find her. What they needed to do was find Goroshenko which would lead to Ruskovich.

"I want you to track Goroshenko," said Gaulle. "It won't be easy. He maybe laying low or he may be in disguise but no matter. Find him, stay hidden, report and wait."

"Sir?" Adjani looked very confused.

"We are going to let Goroshenko lead us to Orion Ruskovich," said Gaulle. "And then we strike.