Claustrophobia

Chapter Four - Genesis - 2

'I came in here after dinner to get some things, and I didn't notice it at first,' Kassre said, stepping out of the way to let Z9 come in. The agent's eyes quickly did a 360 of the room, glancing at everything with rapid precision and taking a quick, mental inventory of anything that was out. A box of jewellery sat on the main desk, glitzy and full of sparkle but conservative. A red dress, pleated, sat out on the bed ready to be worn. Z9 saw a bottle of perfume near it, hardly any of it used, proof if it was needed, of Kassre's statement of not being used to the riches that would be needed to afford that particular brand.

The bathroom door stood slightly ajar. Z9 tensed ever so slightly, back leg ready to spring. She didn't have anything on Kassre just yet, but she doubted it would be long before something presented itself.

And the staircase that Ser-Serad slipped down is just outside her cabin, Z9 thought to herself. It could be just coincidence, but coincidences are rarely so nicely presented to you. I wouldn't put it past this one to have opened the door and called me on purpose to stop me tailing Ser-Serad. A hypothesis, yes, but a working hypothesis?

'When you said you had had a break-in,' Z9 said, 'I expected to see drawers scattered everywhere and pillows ruffled and feathers floating down from the ceiling. But it doesn't look like your room has been touched.'

Kassre gave her a disapproving look. 'You expect a possible thief to be so obvious, Z9?' She rubbed her middle finger on her right hand. 'It's over here in the bathroom.'

Kassre walked over to the door and Z9 got ready to run. Could there be someone behind there? She couldn't have been found out already, could she? No, it wasn't possible, unless there was a mole in C.A.T. Or maybe Kassre had recognised her from somewhere? She was a grandchild of a Black Member after all. Were the Z agents all that well-known to anyone with a vague relation to Jason Zarrow? That would be ridiculous, surely, as anyone who had ever lived in the same street as him in his younger years, over a hundred years ago, would know Z9's face.

Nonetheless the idea was there, and Z9 moved ever so slightly to the right to get ever so slightly further away from the immediate fire of someone lurking behind the door that was opened just a little too much.

I must be ready, she thought, to hightail it in seconds. But I haven't even seen the flicker of an eyelash from Kassre, not the slightest tell of nerves. Is she that highly trained? There's nothing. There's her hand on the door, the door inching open, bring your foot back Z9, slowly, prepare to crouch and spin...

'I thought it was just my imagination,' Kassre continued as she opened wide the door to reveal the empty bathroom, 'but what with the ship being brand new, I don't think I can be.'

Z9 walked closer, edging into the bathroom and taking a quick glance behind her. Nothing. Nobody waiting with gun in hand to take her out with a single shot, no trap laid ready for her to fall into. It was just an empty bathroom.

Don't let that convince you of her innocence, Z9, she told herself. She's guilty until proven innocent, and not the other way around.

'What seems to be the issue, Kassre?' Z9 asked.

'Here. Just by the mirror. Can you see it?'

The mirror over the sink held no clues. Nothing about it seemed to be strange in any way, no chip or crack in the glass, or blemish in its three-tiered edging with Celestrian-Blue lighting framing it with a soft halo.

'I can't see what I'm looking for.'

Kassre nodded. 'That's exactly what I thought. It's almost impossible to notice. But look closer, just here, can you see? Not on the mirror itself, but the wall.'

She pointed a few centimetres across from the right hand side of the mirror, and Z9 saw it also. A small, almost undetectable gash had been made in the wall; much like an incision had been made into flesh. It was virtually impossible to see because someone had been and re-painted back over it again, almost matching the rest of the wall perfectly, unless you knew what you were looking for.

'I see it,' Z9 said.

'Strange, isn't it? I'm fairly sure it wasn't there when I left for dinner.'

'You're sure? How could you have known?'

'It smells new compared to the rest of the room. I came in here to have a shower and was just about to get in when it caught my nose. I searched for a good five minutes before I found it. I've always had a good sense of smell, you know, very fond of my perfumes.'

Not used to the expensive ones yet though, Z9 noted.

'I'm sure it's nothing important. Probably one of the maintenance crews detected something in here and came in to fix it while you were at dinner, chipped it a bit and had it painted over again.'

'But Z9, you're forgetting that we're the only ones that can enter our rooms. I'm fairly sure there isn't even a master-key.'

'There must be,' Z9 said, frowning. 'What if someone faints in their room and nobody can open it? They'd have to get it open somehow.'

Kassre looked at Z9 with a frown, but slowly nodded after a moment's think. 'Maybe you're right. I'm sure it's nothing, as you said.'

Z9 smiled, turning to leave with her head moving in such a way as to ensure her hair splayed out as much as possible, catching every sliver of light there was to be had. She hoped it would catch Kassre's attention. In a mirror on the opposite side of the room to the bathroom door as they walked back into the main sleeping quarters, Z9 saw Kassre blush ever so slightly. Z9 had to repress the urge to grin. Strike number one.

'Thanks so much for looking, Z9,' Kassre said, closing the door behind her. She closed it so quietly that Z9 wasn't sure she even heard it shut. Z9 filed her silence in her head, telling herself to take extra precautions now she knew that Kassre would have the ability to sneak up on her from almost anywhere, if she had the ability to carry out all of her actions with the amount of finesse and poise as simply closing a door.

'Don't worry about it, Miss DyGleyre,' Z9 said.

'Please, call me Kassre.'

Z9 smiled. 'Kassre then. Such a pretty name, if I can say so.'

Kassre blushed a little again. 'You're the first one to think so. Everyone else thinks it's a man's name.'

'Nothing wrong with a woman being a bit masculine when she wants to be,' Z9 replied, 'or a man being a bit feminine every now and then. Best place to find out if there's a bit of the opposite sex in someone is over there.' Z9 pointed to the bed and before Kassre could reply, began to head towards the door.

On the right side of the door, Z9 noted a small touchpad. 'Oh, of course, how silly of me.' She turned back to Kassre. 'If you need me again, my cabin number is 304. If I'm not there, take a wander and I'm sure you'll find me. By a bar most likely.'

'Thank you. It's been a bit of a whirlwind this, going on this cruise. I only came into this money about a month ago, and it was an impulse thing to come along. I'm glad I've made a friend on board.'

Z9 returned Kassre's smile, wondering if the sparkling teeth the young lady, no more than a girl, showed her, were actually razor sharp, hiding a forked, serpentine tongue.

'Take it easy, Miss DyGl... I'm sorry, Kassre.'

Z9 trailed her hand casually over the touchpad on the wall, sticking an almost microscopic recording device behind it, and left the room.