Free Hathor Legacy: Burn by Deborah A Bailey Page B

turned his gaze back to the desktop. "By the way, Lt. Lin contacted me yesterday evening. She said security believes the fire detection system had a malfunction. That's why it didn't put out the fire."
    "The people at the house were purposely locked in. I felt it and so did you. Whatever happened there wasn't a malfunction," she insisted. "And it doesn't explain what started the fire in the first place."
     
    "There has not been a case of arson in the city, much less the central part of the city, in decades. No one would purposely d estroy company property."
    "Whoever set it wanted to destroy the people in it, not the house," she said.
    His bushy eyebrows rose like half moons over his heavy-lidded eyes. "Nadira, the Guardians have more important concerns right now. Nothing we do will change what happened to the people who died there."
    BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.
    Brant tapped his desktop to silence the alert. "What is it?" he asked.
    "Sentry Leader, this is Lt. Lin."
    "Yes, what is it Lieutenant?"
    Nadira went over to stand behind Brant's chair so that she could see the desktop display. Lin's face was reflected through the grey-tinted glass.
    "There's been another Service House fire." Lin said, her words tumbling out as though she were afraid to take a breath. "It was in the same district as the other one, but this time there's a survivor. She's been rushed to the medi-evac."
    Brant glanced up at Nadira, his brow furrowed. "Give me the location."
    "One moment, there's another call coming in," Lt. Lin replied.
    "Nadira, I want you to go talk to the survivor," Brant said. "I'll meet the Lieutenant."
    "I thought you said there wasn't anything we could do," Nadira said.
    He sighed. "A moment ago I believed the first fire was an acc ident. Now I know it's not."
     
    *****
     
    "Jonathan, how did your meeting with Lani Zakry go?" Karin asked. "I hear she made you a very generous offer."
    He hadn't expected to find Karin Luke waiting for him outside the Novacorp Entertainments office tower. Jon joined Karin at the curb where she was leaning against her bright blue ground tran sport. "The word is out already, huh? Is that why you stopped by?"
    "I knew you'd be here to meet with her today." She smiled, r evealing her very perfect teeth. "I'm about to go over to the new complex. Would you like to see how things are coming along?"
    "Sure." He also wanted to get a ride in her shiny, new transport.
    She entered first, and slid over to leave room for Jon. He climbed in and settled himself on the plush seat as Karin gave instructions to the autodriver. Every surface was either padded in soft leather, or encrusted in sparkling crystals. When the transport headed into the traffic lanes, he barely felt any movement. That alone was a big improvement over the company vehicles.
    "Were you the one who recommended me to Lani?" he asked. "She also mentioned Matt's name."
    "Matt Bento is not a personal friend of mine." Karin flicked her long hair off her shoulders. "Knowing him doesn't hurt your standing, but my family has been here almost as long as the First Families. We don't associate with people like him."
     
    There was a time when Jon would've defended his father's former friend, but now he agreed with her. "You know about the First Families? I thought it was just a Guardian thing."
    She laughed. "Don't let your partner, Nadira hear you say that. 'Guardian thing?' It's more than that to them. Our family came here from Earth before the Novacorp takeover."
    "You didn't answer my question. Did you put in a good word for me with Lani?"
    Karin patted his knee. "What does it matter? Even though you're on Lani's team, we'll still get to work together. The most important thing is you have the contract. Don't be concerned about how it happened."
    "And you don't care that I'm not investing with you and your brother?"
    "Of course not. You took the better deal. By the way, what are you doing tomorrow evening? I'm having a reception. Why don't you bring