Me: Okay, this will be a simple short story. Probably about five - no, not making that mistake again - eight, possibly ten pages, but I can do this as a single update.
Me, after realizing I might not even be halfway done and I'm at eleven pages: well, shit.
In other news, the 'author's choice' update will be posted in two, possible three smaller chapters as a Patreon exclusive for my wonderful supporters. The first installment will scheduled for Christmas Eve with the conclusion* posted before Jan 10th. I'd put it up in December too, but the second poll voted for more TLA, and The Serpent's Garden was the chosen update, so that will be coming before the end of the month.
Stay tuned for some festive goodness, and hope your holidays are going well. Catch a sneak peek below:
~
“Joachim Vincent,” the woman aid as she approached, holstering her sidearm. He realized that she’d been the ones “We have some questions for you.” She paused, listening to radio chatter. Her face darkened, and her eyes, a strangely vivid blue, narrowed. They’d probably found the downstairs interrogation chamber and the remains of the police informant.
“Do you know who I am?” Joachim demanded, rage and indignation starting to take hold. “Do you know who my family is? You come in here, breaking down doors, injuring my employees? These are clear violations of the citizens’ charter! You’re in big trouble, officer!”
The woman wasn’t fazed by his threats. “I know exactly who you are, but I don’t think you know who I am,” she told him. She pulled out her ID. “Leading Special Agent Harper Catros, Compact Intelligence Services... and as I said, we have questions.”
The blood drained from Joachim’s face. His family’s business had connections within KPPD and a number of high-ranking citizens on Rally, including some among the non-human population. They’d been able to handle police investigations and probes, but CIS was something entirely different. They didn’t play by the same rules. They were meticulous and once you were on their radar, they didn’t let you go until they had you.
“What is this about?” he snapped, anger overwhelming the resurgent rush of fear. “You can’t just-”
“We can, Mr. Vincent,” Catros interrupted him. “Your business is under suspicion of sedition. We have enough evidence to conduct this raid, and you’re going to give us a lot more.”
“You’ll get nothing from me,” Joachim spat. “Nothing, you get that?”
Catros wasn’t any more impressed by his defiance than by his anger. “Everyone says that,” she told him. “but we always get what we need.” The woman waved the troopers holding him to take him away. “Make sure Mr. Vincent gets personal transport for his trip back to the agency, will you? We wouldn’t want to treat him with anything less than he deserves.”
“You think this is over?” Joachim shouted as he was pulled away. “It’s not! You’re messing with something you don’t understand, agent! You crossed a line! You hear me?! You crossed a line! You’re dead! You’re dead, you hear me! You’re dead!”
Harper watched as her troops carried Vincent off. She listened to the reports coming in from the rest of the strike team. The building was secure. No casualties among her people, several dead on the other side. Most of the people here were completely unaware of the goings-on of the Vincent family, or their connections. They’d be questioned, processed and released, but a lot more of the captives were on her list of secondary targets. They were key players in the crime family, with knowledge of their operations.
Normally, CIS wouldn’t bother with local criminal syndicates, but the Vincent family had made connections off-world, and some of those connections led to troubling places. Harper had been following Joachim from Rally here to Peka, one of the handful of colonies where humans could be found outside the Rally system. The Vincents had spent a generation sinking their roots in deep here, buying police and governmental protection, but if what she believed to be the case was true, none of that would save them from CIS.