Under My Skin

Under My Skin - Part 72

"Get enough sleep?" asked Cetz.

"Yes. Though I'll admit waking up and finding myself restrained to the bed with Velcro straps was a bit of a shock." Zachs rubbed his bandaged neck, his voice composed and polite, as if this all was a misunderstanding. "You got Watch One to move quickly. I didn't realize they had a sniper on hand."

"They didn't," said Cetz. "That was me."

Zachs' eyebrows moved a fraction of an inch; surprise. "You?"

"When I said I practiced at the firing range from time to time, I meant five hours every week."

"Diligent."

"It keeps me from shooting the occasional idiot I'm working with," said Cetz. "Or the occasional traitor."

Zachs nodded. "A traitor to the integrity of the Watch organization, yes. But not a traitor to humanity. I do not regret what I did though I am sorry that innocent lives were caught up in it."

"Not all of them innocent. We checked out your other little helpers." Cetz pulled a file from the folder in front of him. "Sandra Pearl, a former employee of the Watch, retired and started working for a small construction company. The very one your sister used to help flip houses."

"I helped the woman find work," said Zachs. "And my sister needed a person good with finances."

"So good that she helped you launder cash to Retten for his continued communications. You helped fund his mad experiments and the terrorist organizations he was with. As well as telling him about the inner workings of the Watch; telling him when we would commence raids, like on the Freewill compound."

"I was feeding him as little information about the Watch as I could," said Zachs. "In exchange I was able to keep tabs on him, and insight to the organizations he was with. It was because of that information that the Watch was given the heads up on Freewill's predecessor years ago."

Cetz flipped to the next page in his file. "Another connection, all of the houses Retten hid in were all leased or owned by your sister's company for renovations. Legally that would make her an accomplice for hiding a fugitive."

"Patricia had no knowledge of what I was doing," Zachs insisted.

"I dearly hope not."

"My actions were the means to make a good end."

"Ah, yes, one of them being the Proto-BT."

"Palmer's designs and theories showed much promise. Even in the slow moving hands of the Watch I'm sure the machine will do some good."

Cetz nodded slowly. "Yes, I'm sure something like that would be a great help to people, if it wasn't gone."

Zachs hesitated. "Watch One confiscated it?"

"No." Cetz's voice was more brittle, sharper. "I mean it's gone. Missing. Not in Watch possession."

Cracks formed in Zachs' façade, his eyes blinking rapidly, his mouth tightening for a second. "I-impossible."

"No. When Retten is involved it's very possible." Cetz leaned forward with his elbows on the table. "He used you, Martin. Used you and manipulated you like he does everyone he meets. He got you to introduce Palmer and his still-in-work virus to Kole and his stolen BT-Prototype. They each had something the other wanted and it seemed an even exchange. Except Kore didn't want to give up the BT, he had an idea of how dangerous it could be, so he put of paying Palmer with money instead of the machine. That's when you had Palmer take the BT and run to the Luvor."