When the rains may come (Science Fiction)

36. Stomping a ladybug

"Thank you, officer Dale."

"Your methods for going about capturing the Nevilles showed sound judgment and quick thinking," she nodded in approval. "But the special grade truck robbery is where the story starts to get murky."

Luce wanted to swallow the lump in his throat but resisted the urge at her last statement. He didn't want to give off any hints to Dale. "The truck robbery was a last minute disaster that came out of nowhere and it hadn't even been my initial mission. I was handed the duty to acquire the truck while I was already busy trying–"

Dale held up her hand. "But it became your mission anyway. The operatives whom you'd assigned on acquiring the truck have stated loud and clear that Lisa Neville was in the special grade truck," she said. Luce noticed that her nails were painted teal. "I've been astounded in Command and your stubbornness to make this whole fiasco look like you were taking juggling two completely different missions at the same time. It was just that a new objective was added to your mission. It was still the same mission. And you failed it."

Luce clenched his jaw, trying very hard to not glare at her. It was getting harder and harder since the look on Dale's face remained neutral the entire time.

The woman in the power suit shrugged her shoulders after a moment. "Speaking of murky stories, the name Greg Marllowe keeps popping up repeatedly."

Now Luce struck with a slap of nervousness. He didn't say anything. Dale kept going.

"The airport operatives have stated that they found Marllowe's corpse in the airport bathroom," she said. "Marllowe was also put in charge of the security of the freight carrier that was carrying all the special grade trucks. In your report, you have stated that Marllowe must've been threatened by the one who robbed the truck."

"So? What about it? It is what I guess must've been the case." Luce said.

Dale shrugged again. "It's a very interesting guess in my opinion," she said. "Because when I questioned Marllowe's fellow operatives they described him as rather brash and headstrong. Sometimes also a bit suspicious. Some even teased an idea of him being associated with a rebel group."

Luce felt his palms turning cold. "He may be Or he may not. Mind you, officer Dale, I was in a hospital bed when I wrote my report. I was drugged to the high heavens to keep me from going unconscious from the constant pains. It was hard to keep a track of everything then."

Dale was smirking at him. "So it's possible that your guess may be wrong?"

Luce really just wanted to get away from that woman right then. He really didn't want to answer any of her questions.

Gabriella Dale leaned back on the bench and shrugged again. "I think we are done here," she said rather suddenly.

He was ready to collapse with relief. Instead he just nodded curtly and rose up to leave. He almost expected her to stop him from going back into the building, expected her to throw another heavy question at him. She didn't.

His heart was thundering in his chest when he arrived back at his desk. He was still reeling from his conversation with Dale when he noticed a file on his desk that hadn't been there before.

Inside the file were just a bunch of blank papers, but one of these had a small note scribbled in pencil: "Aegis theater @ 7:15 tonight. Don't be a second late."

The message was from Command. He could tell by the handwriting. He sighed.

A Logistics Analyst shouldn't be juggling these many responsibilities.

#

Aegis Theater was one of the few cinema houses in Kingsville that still used a noisy film projector and not a digital one. Luce wasn't sure how the place was even still running.