Storm (Swipe Series)

case.”
    For a moment, Head Agent Tate only stared. “Charles, you have to know that’s a horrible idea. How could I possibly expect you to act impartially on this?”
    “Because you know me, ma’am. You’ve asked me to jump and I’ve jumped. You sent me out west to find Peck and his Markless threat in Spokie, and I went. You called me back here, and I came. I’m as loyal to this department as any agent’s ever been.” He stood straighter as he said it. “At the end of the day, if my daughter’s broken laws, then I expect her to pay the price for that just as much as anybody else. It’s my job to protect the Marked against the Markless. That’s what I came here to do.”
    Tate nodded slowly. “Then I admire your intentions,” she said. “Even if it wouldn’t be professional of me to trust them.” She shrugged. “I’m sorry, Charles. But whatever happens once we have Erin in custody, I want you as far away from it as possible. My answer is no.”
    Agent Tate sat back in her chair, clasping her hands behind her head and leaning into them. She ran her tongue around her teeth, waiting for Charles to speak.
    “Understood, ma’am,” Mr. Arbitor said. “I apologize for wasting your time.” But he couldn’t bring himself to look at her as he went to let himself out.
    “Charles,” the head agent called as Mr. Arbitor opened her office door.
    He stopped but didn’t turn. “Yes, ma’am?”
    “I will see to it that Erin’s treated fairly. You have my word on that.”
    Mr. Arbitor stood for a moment, his back still to his boss.
    He said nothing.
    He closed the office door softly behind him.
    5
    Lily was late. Teeth clenched and eyes narrowed, she walked fast through Acheron’s winding bowels as though leaning headfirst into some stormy wind. Disciplining Eddie had put her behind schedule, and she resented him for that. An assembly among the Controlling Ranks was not something to which one was tardy. For any reason. Ever.
    She exhaled sharply and picked up the pace, and red lasers in the walls flashed and scanned her Head Mark as she approached the auditorium. Its entrance opened automatically. She stepped inside and quickly found her seat.
    “Down to the wire, Advocate. Presider’s just about to begin.”
    It was that smug Champion who’d said it. Seating order never changed at these Roll Rank Assemblies, and Lily had been expecting an earful. Even if she hadn’t been late, this guy surely would have found something to reproach. He always did—it was a matter of what, not if. But Lily hated giving him a reason, all the same.
    “I had a Moderator needing Revision,” Lily said simply. “It couldn’t wait.”
    “Acknowledged,” the Champion said, as though he had any real power over her.
    He didn’t, in fact. Their squads’ chains of command hadnothing to do with each other’s, and on some level, the Controlling Ranks were supposed to be peers anyway. But the Champion sure did enjoy his title.
    No matter, Lily thought. And she told herself she’d remember this when the day came that her own rank leapfrogged his.
    “So anyone here have any idea what this Roll Rank’s all about? It’s hardly the first of the month.”
    Around her, the auditorium buzzed with the speculation of over a thousand eager Controllers. Roll Rank meetings—IMP jargon for the assemblies among the Controlling Ranks—had always been monthly; Lily couldn’t even remember the last time a special session had been called.
    “Must have something to do with the merger,” the Champion said. “I’m sure Council is anxious to address the rumors.”
    Lily raised an eyebrow. What rumors?
    “All right, Controllers, call to order!” the Presider boomed from the stage as the Council streamed in behind him. “Simulcasts, are you with us? New Chicago out west? Gulf Bay down south? We all together?”
    On the walls of the auditorium were one-to-one scale projections of the lecture halls at Acheron’s mirror sites across America, giving the impression from where Lily sat that all three audiences were assembled together in the same gigantic space. There was a general assent among the ranks in the projections. Everyone was here.
    “Good,” said the Presider, although this was just a formality. Lily was quite certain that Council knew full well before walking out on stage that every assigned seat in all three assembly halls was filled. The active Markscans on each seat back confirmed it. One simply did not miss Roll