In Praetor

Chapter 4

Rise was in his side-office, revising his lecture for the next class. He glanced up to see Zulu in the classroom, balancing precariously on a stool she had found. 

"What are you doing!?" he yelled, dashing towards her. 

"Installing hidden cameras," she mumbled around the screws between her teeth. He understood from her attitude that this was probably one of the safest things she'd done in her career. 

"At least use a ladder or something," he sighed in exasperation. 

"That would require going off to find one, which would defeat the point of being your bodyguard," she stated blatantly after getting down. He slumped against the wall, unable to argue with her. 

"Plan on setting anything else up?" 

"This was the last camera for in here and I already finished setting up the recording system. I'll do the security system next." 

"Aren't you diligent..." 

"Of course, since I'm working for someone I don't trust and up against people I don't know." 

"You have a point there." 

"Precisely." 

By the end of the day Zulu had managed to attract the attention of most of the school and there were rumors that she was actually Rise's secret lover, rather than a relative. Rise was pondering over how anyone interpreted their interactions as secret lovers while Zulu really didn't care, but felt annoyed by the prospect of being paired together with a doctor/scientist of all things. 

"I'll have to find out who started the rumors," Rise decided as they walked across the parking garage. It was almost completely empty, since all but a few staff had left. 

"When you do, please let me know, so I can beat some sense into them," Zulu said calmly, yet clearly irritated. 

"We'll see," he told her, more than a bit worried that she might actually kill the student. He almost fell over when she suddenly pulled him backward. 

"Stay still and be quiet," she growled, her eyes scanning their surroundings. Pushing him behind her, she took a shot to the shoulder before pulling out her plasma pistol and firing back. With Rise now ducked behind a car, Zulu stealthily made her way towards the attacker's position. She found the body and took anything useful, including the dog tags from around the guy's neck. Dragging the body behind a nearby wall, she pulled a bottle of lighter fluid out of her backpack and poured some over the body before striking a match and tossing it on it. Putting the bottle away and making sure she didn't leave anything, Zulu headed back to Rise. On the way, she had another bout of vision loss, but she kept going by feeling her way until her vision returned. 

"Are you okay?" Rise asked when he saw her, her shoulder bleeding heavily. 

"Huh?" Zulu followed his eyes and looked at her shoulder, not registering that her wound would be considered critical by a normal person. "Ah, yeah, I'm fine. It's just a scratch." 

"That's not just a scratch." He pulled her over to his Jeep and got out a first-aid kit. He tore her shirt so the fabric wouldn't get in his way and started cleaning the wound. "So, what happened with the gunman?" 

"Dead." She stood there, her eyes blank. "Burned the body and took the valuables." 

He stared at her, shuddering as he realized that taking a life and cleaning up the evidence had no effect on her. Zulu Gemini, she really is detached from emotions... She's called In Praetor, but I doubt the justice system has anything to do with her working for civilians. 

"The gunman was a military dog," she growled, startling him out of his thoughts. He looked up to see her eyes cold and filled with rage. The look of pure hatred alone was enough to make him fear for his life. "Now, explain to me, Doctor, why the military would be after a lowly professor such as yourself." 

"I thought you didn't care about the details," he managed to get out, his throat tight. 

"I'll tell you this: there is only one thing I hate more than doctors and scientists combined, and that's the military. I loathe the military from my very core. That means that anything about you involving them is my business." She was clearly pissed off and he knew that if looks could kill he'd be dead. 

"Alright, I'll tell you on the way home," he gave in, not wanting to be brutally murdered in his sleep. When she gave a nod, he let out his breath he hadn't realized he was holding in a sigh of relief. Finishing up quickly, he didn't notice the numbers tattooed onto her upper arm.