Free Canvas Skies (Reliance on Citizens Makes Us Great!) by S. L. Wallace Page A

taking a big
risk. Now that she'd begun to open up, I didn't want her to shut
down, but I just couldn't help myself. “He's pretty high in the
chain of command, I'd wager. You both are.”
    “Um...I need to make a call.” She pulled out
her transceiver. “I'm here. The place has been cleared. It's
secure.” She paused. “I'd like to tell him everything. Is that
alright with you?” She closed the connection and looked at me.
    “I thought he wasn't your boss?”
    “He's not. It's just...he should know that
you know.”
    I waited.
    “His name is Richard Burke III, but he
prefers Guy Bensen. Guy and my older brother formed the Resistance
12 years ago.”
    “You've known about this for 12 years? You
must have been a child!”
    She shook her head. “No. Of course, I'd
heard of the Resistance, but I only learned the specifics a year
ago when I almost killed Guy in a routine job.”
    “You were going to kill him?”
    She nodded.
    “And now you're engaged.”
    “Yes.”
    “Why didn't you? Kill him, I mean.”
    “Because my employer messed up.”
    “Wow.” That explained everything: her
hesitancy, her fear and also her shame when I'd pointed out her
lies. She'd been on the receiving end for a long time. She
understood how it felt not to be trusted. It must have been
Richard. No, I corrected myself. It must have been Guy Bensen who
had first told her the truth. Why hadn't her brother told her? I
smiled at Keira, a genuine smile filled with warmth and gratitude.
“Thank you for trusting me.”
    We savored our tea in silence, but my
thoughts raged. S and G, Keira's brother and her fiance, heads of
the Resistance. I should tell her. But in my line of work, some
things needed to remain confidential.
    A slight noise from outside the apartment
caught my attention. I sat up straight and listened. Keira reached
for a small black bag she'd brought along and drew out a dagger in
a sheath. I'm not sure what I expected, but it wasn't a dagger. A
door closed with an audible click, just a neighbor returning home
for the night.
    I looked at Keira. “Well, at least it isn't
a butter knife. What else have you got in there?”

 
     
     
-Keira-
Assassin in the Night

    “Thank you for trusting me,” Brody had said.
He'd looked so sad all evening, and now I understood why. That look
had finally dissipated. I'd had so few chances in my life to help
people by just being a friend. But was that really because of
chance or by choice? This is why I joined the Resistance, I
reminded myself, to help make life better for people, all people,
and there are lots of ways to help. But then, after his neighbor
returned home for the night, Brody pushed it too far.
    “What's Eberhardt's story? Where'd he get
the scar?”
    “That's not for me to share.”
    “Well, what about your roommate?” he asked
again.
    Why is he interested in her? It's one thing
to ask me personal questions but to ask about my friends...
    “What time do you normally go to bed,
Brody?”
    He refused to take the hint. “If you don't
want her left alone, then shouldn't you be protecting her instead
of taking this job?”
    Is he worried about her? But that doesn't
make sense. He just met her!
    “What time?” I asked again.
    He glanced at a clock on an end table.
“About now, I guess.”
    “Make it look like you're sticking to your
normal routine. Wash up, turn lights on and off, do whatever you
normally do, but then come sleep on the couch. It will be easier
for me to protect you in here.”
    That night, nothing happened. A few
automobiles passed by outside, but otherwise, all was quiet. I had
plenty of time to think. The second night passed much the same as
the first. As did the third.
    Responding to the feeling that something
just isn't right is prudent, but it doesn't mean something bad will
happen right away, only that it is likely to happen, given enough
time. What did happen over the course of the next few evenings was
that our friendship grew, more so than after a