| |
“Here you go, one salad with crunchy blobs for Isfahan Vertex and lasagna with extra cheese for my Lotus Knight.”
Osman placed the dishes on the table with his usual flourish, entirely unintimidated by having two of the most powerful psions in the Empire in his small restaurant.
The aroma of fresh lasagna straight from the oven made Yaden's mouth water. He had stayed home most of the day, keeping vigil over his family, but by afternoon, Colin had kicked him out, citing that Ivan could protect him and that Yaden's nervous energy was driving him insane. To get rid of some of that energy, he had extended his powers far down and moved large chunks of bedrock around. It was the equivalent of hard labour for him as there was no room to manoeuvre and he had to force the rocks to obey with brute force of will.
He had been on his way home from training when Master Ulysses appeared next to him. Going back to the crowded apartment and discussing whatever he had discovered in front of Myriam had seemed like a bad idea, so Yaden had instead invited the other psion to share a meal with him at the Island's food court. Besides, there was little point in talking when Yaden was as hungry as now; he wouldn't have been able to pay attention anyway. Like almost any time he wasn't eating what Colin or Darios had cooked, 'Pasta Pasta' had been his first choice.
Ulysses had been doubtful about the sudden change in welcome, but he had adapted quickly enough and after giving the menu a cursory glance settled on the salad after one was carried past him. Blob-on-a-stick was the signature food of Agami and could be bought on every corner. Osman's version had a few bits of green so as to have an excuse to call it a salad, a decent-sized pile of fried molluscs on top, and a side plate with three different dips. Now the Vertex of Isfahan eyed his food with the same enthusiasm Yaden felt, which made him look a whole lot less suspicious in Yaden's eyes.
“Thank you,” Yaden told Osman, who beamed back.
“You're welcome. Enjoy!”
Osman bustled off to take care of his other customers while Yaden and Ulysses picked up their forks and dug in. That Ulysses made a happy sigh when he bit into his first blob raised him another tiny bit in Yaden's estimation. They ate in silence.
“So, what have you found?” Yaden asked when he had finished his plate, while Ulysses was only halfway through his significantly smaller salad.
Ulysses popped another tiny mollusc into his mouth and chewed while obviously sorting his thoughts – to present them either in a concise manner or one that would reveal as little as possible about the inner workings of the Psions Guild.
“Doctor Lachlain does work for the Guild,” he started with an admission Yaden had not expected. “Or, more precisely, he did. He was the therapist assigned to Mrs Tambô and worked with her for the entire duration of her treatment. After her death, he kept working with the family, doing grief counselling. He was the one who ordered the girl removed from Mr Tambô's care when he showed signs of acute paranoia. When Mr Tambô took his daughter and ran, Doctor Lachlain was tasked with finding them and to bring them back since he was most familiar with the father's thought process. The Guild was worried Mr Tambô might hurt himself or others in his paranoid state of mind. He managed to track Mr Tambô to Espen's capital, but the attempted arrest was a failure. After that, he was pulled off the case. He requested administrative leave, citing personal reasons, which was granted. The Guild doesn't have any further records of what he did afterwards. Why he would show up here and try to take the girl, no one has any idea.”
Those were pretty much the same things Myriam had already told Yaden, with the added info that Lachlain himself had been the one who had discovered them after her father had escaped with her the first time.
“Regardless of the mishap with Doctor Lachlain, it is the Guild's position that we are best equipped to deal with a newly awakened psion of Myriam's power levels and that in the long run, it would be best if the Guild took her into its care.”
“Noted. But you're absolutely not.” Yaden glared at Ulysses and found him curling his lip in distaste.
“I actually agree with you,” he said. “What that girl needs right now is not a therapist, but a family. And honestly, I can't think of a psion better prepared to deal with her unique situation than you. After all, you had to deal with your chrysalis at a young age as well, you have a family, and you have the power to keep her in check. As you have demonstrated twice already.”
Now that was a genuinely unexpected concession from the Psions Guild's speaker. Yaden took a piece of bread from the small basket between them and chewed thoughtfully. So maybe Ulysses wasn't an enemy. At least, not in every regard. For a moment, he watched the other man carefully, his glossy black hair, his embroidered outfit, the perfectly manicured fingernails. Yaden couldn't decide if he looked vain or simply well-groomed.
“What is the word on how Myriam's mother died?”
“Suicide.”
It took Ulysses a moment to notice that Yaden was watching him expectantly, waiting for him to elaborate. He had asked the Psions Guild for the complete reports on the case and he certainly wasn't going to settle for a one-word answer.
“The Guild keeps it quiet, but paranoia is not uncommon among telepaths. Especially the fear that they or others are being manipulated by other telepaths. They are simply too aware of how easy it would be for themselves to do it. That is why all telepaths and empaths are carefully monitored by Guild therapists and encouraged to get married and have children. It helps ground them.”
That sounded sensible and yet, also like carefully-phrased Guild propaganda to Yaden. The words of Florin, the rogue Vertex of his home planet Erys, were prominent in Yaden's mind. That he had taken his family on the run because the Guild was keeping their members in line with a constant, gentle dose of mental manipulation. But Florin wasn't a telepath, just a smart and perceptive teleporter.
“Of course, all of those telepaths' suspicions are entirely baseless,” Yaden commented sarcastically, “because the Psions Guild would never manipulate anyone. That's why they use a suggessor as a therapist.”
“A suggessor, or any other telepath, is highly qualified for the job. After all, they do know best how the mind works. You'd want your therapist to actually be someone who could see the problem, and not fuddle in the dark by implications, don't you?”
The words were true, but Ulysses seemed aware that they didn't exactly contradict the original argument. He poked at his last two molluscs before he grimly speared one with his fork to pop it in his mouth.
“So, you trust them?”
Ulysses considered the question for a moment then nodded. “I do. I mean, my yearly evaluation is done by Morrigan and he is a suggessor as well as the vertex of Yaiciz and, while he may be a bit of an arrogant bastard, he does very well at pointing out my hidden illusions of grandeur and manages to get my feet back on the ground.” He smiled ruefully. “Contrary to common opinion, I am not a demigod in human guise.”
That was kind of reassuring.
“I am still waiting for more detailed information on what exactly happened to Myriam's mother,” Yaden prompted.
“I have skimmed the reports written by Doctor Lachlain,” Ulysses answered, frowning and chewing at the same time. “There are a lot of medical terms, describing her descent into deeper paranoia and how he tried to combat it with various mixes and dosages of drugs as well as extensive therapy. She killed herself by taking an overdose.”
“Did anyone else crosscheck his reports? Someone not from the Psions Guild? Did anyone talk to the father? Was an autopsy performed?”
Ulysses’ frown deepened with each of Yaden's questions. “As far as I could see, 'no' to all of that.”
“And that doesn't strike you as strange? That the whole situation was handled by a single suggessor who has now gone rogue? From my point of view, he could easily have manipulated Myriam's mother into close to anything and gotten away with it. He may have hunted down Myriam and her father simply to tie up the loose ends of whatever it was he was up to. And he obviously considers Myriam an important loose end if he tries to kidnap her right from under my nose.”
Thoughtfully, Ulysses chewed his last blob and nodded with obvious frustration.
“Yes, that is strange. And in that light, it's even more suspicious that they sent me a stack of reports with no additional commentary. Not even an 'Oh, I'm sorry for the mess' from Espen Vertex.” Ulysses glared at his empty plate. “And that incident on Shiraz. The Guild on Espen was looking for Myriam's father, but no public authorities were ever involved. So why did the guards in a remote town on Shiraz have a mugshot of Myriam's father?”
That was a fact Yaden hadn't considered yet, and his growing unease was matched by the darkening expression on Isfahan Vertex's face.
“None of this makes sense, and I hate it,” Ulysses summed up Yaden's thoughts. “I agreed to come here and clean this up as quietly and efficiently as possible, but someone in this game isn't playing above board.”
He seemed positively angry at the fact at not having been properly briefed. It was maybe not as good as being angry at something genuinely sinister going on in his guild, but Yaden didn't feel in the mood to complain. At least, he was dealing with someone smart and powerful who wanted to do a good job, even if maybe they were of different opinions on what that meant in this case. And maybe there was a good reason they hadn't filled in Ulysses with all the details – he might not have agreed with whatever the Guild was trying to cover up.
“So, how do you feel about joining me for a quick hop over to Espen to ask some questions in person?” Ulysses asked grimly. “I'm sure they will be a lot more forthcoming with information when faced with the two of us.”
Now that was another unexpected turn of events. But of course, for Ulysses, another planet was about as far away as the next room and both of them appearing there in person without any further delay definitely would get them some answers.
It did make sense in a lot of ways. Colin and Myriam would be safe enough with Ivan at home and the whole Lotus Compound on alert for intruders. Ivan would likely complain loudly about not wanting to let Yaden go on his own, but with him being unable to use psionics, he wouldn't be much help. And they were just going to ask some questions – at least, that was the plan. Granted, Lotus Knight missions always veered sharply into the unexpected, but with a teleporter as powerful and skilled as Ulysses with him, escaping a combat situation unscathed shouldn't be hard.
Unless Ulysses was part of the trouble. Inwardly frowning at the niggle of doubt, Yaden forced himself to make a decision. No, he didn't particularly trust the Guild – maybe Ulysses a bit more than the rest. But if they wanted to get their hands on Yaden, they could have done so a hundred times over in far less suspicious circumstances. And going to Espen with Ulysses in tow would make things so much simpler there. He just had to make sure he wouldn't disappear without a trace...
“Sounds excellent. I need to let my fiancé know and then we can go.”
If Ulysses was surprised by that, he didn't show it in his reaction. Instead, he nodded with obvious relief that he could finally do something and was on his feet in an instant. Yaden quickly thanked Osman before turning to leave the restaurant and the food court.
“Uh ... is it important for you to walk there?” Ulysses asked.
Of course a teleporter wouldn't bother with crossing distances on foot. Though he didn't strike Yaden as someone who disliked physical exertion, with his sinewy built and light-footed movements like those of a dancer. Neither had Ulysses complained about walking to the food court, so he was probably burning to get going.
“Go on, port us already,” Yaden conceded with a grin.
He didn't have time to close his mouth before he felt Ulysses' mind reach out to him and then they were standing in front of the dormitory. The usual sense of something tilting, of being stretched from one place to the other was completely absent from Ulysses' port. Maybe it was a sign of his skill, or maybe it was because they had only covered a laughable distance.
“I'll be just a moment,” he told Ulysses and went inside.
By now, it was late afternoon. Ivan and Myriam had moved to the living room and were watching Saint Cornelius cartoons. Myriam looked almost relaxed. From the kitchen, he heard Colin and Darios talking, which suited Yaden fine. This way he would be able to talk to Colin without Ivan overhearing.
When he walked into the kitchen, he found Colin and Darios both surveying the fridge's contents with matching serious expressions, apparently planning the meals for the next couple of days.
“Hey,” he greeted both of them, “Ulysses has returned with some info on Myriam's parents and Doctor Lachlain. We're going to Espen to ask the people at the Psions Guild office there some more detailed questions. I'm not sure whether I'll be back for dinner, but I wanted to let you know where we are going.”
Colin frowned. “You're not taking Ivan?”
“Not this time. And it should be safe enough. The Psions Guild can ill afford to piss off the Order of the Lotus more than they already have. And I want Ivan here to keep an eye on all of you.”
“Hm. Not happy, but okay.” Colin moved over to Yaden and kissed him. “You have my blessing to go.”
“Did you at least eat something after your training?” Darios asked his usual question and Yaden nodded dutifully.
“Yes, Osman has fed me.”
That earned him Darios' permission to go, his guardian nodding his approval. They were both adorable in the way they cared about him. He quickly considered sending a note to the Commander as well. But the most important people in his life were already informed, and should anything happen to him, Colin would make sure to inform virtually everyone about what they had to do.
When he passed through the living room, Ivan cast a suspicious glance his way, but Myriam asked him something about the demon army Saint Cornelius was currently demolishing on the screen, so Yaden made a smooth escape.
He found Ulysses waiting where he had left him.
“Ready?” Ulysses asked with barely contained, grim excitement.
Yaden nodded and instantly sensed Ulysses' mind taking hold of his body. As before, he didn't get any other sensation from their port, apart from the fact that they were suddenly standing inside the porting circle in a stuffy reception hall. Weak sunlight slanted through high, narrow windows, the walls were decorated with a strange mix of old oil paintings of low-tech factories and cityscapes, and equally old tapestries of monumental, high-tech towers and temples. This had to be the Psions Guild headquarters in Bakubane, the capital of Espen. So, crossing half the Empire in a single jump didn't change the fact that Ulysses' ports were barely noticeable.
Behind the reception desk, a tall black woman got to her feet, looking genuinely startled at their sudden arrival. So Ulysses hadn't warned his own people of their visit. Interesting.
“This is Sir Yaden of the Order of the Lotus,” Ulysses introduced bluntly, “and I am Vertex Ulysses of Isfahan. Where is Vertex P'tau? We have urgent business to discuss.”
The receptionist looked understandably flustered. Not the way he would have approached her, but this was Ulysses' turf.
“I ... uh ... okay ... I will let her know? You can wait...” the receptionist tried to get back into her regular script, but Ulysses cut her short.
“No, girl. Where is your Vertex?” He pronounced every word as if he was talking to someone too stupid to understand him.
“I ... I don't know...?”
Apparently, Ulysses' anger was enough to have a grown woman reduced to a nervous wreck in an instant. Yaden had only seen the Vertex of Isfahan as another powerful psion, but to normal people, even normal psions, this seemed to make a significant difference. That would also explain why Ulysses had been rattled by Yaden not backing down during their first meeting.
“Is this how the Psions Guild on Espen reacts to an emergency?” Ulysses questioned coldly, “Someone could come running in here on a matter of life and death, and you would be standing there wringing your hands with no clue what to do but offer them refreshments?”
“I'm sorry?” She had started wringing her hands and was now clenching them hard to stop herself.
Maybe Ulysses was right, maybe she should have been better prepared. But having such high-ranking people waltz in demanding instant results wasn't an everyday occurrence and there probably was a good reason why she was just the receptionist.
He was about to open his mouth to stop Ulysses from tormenting her when a door at the back of the room banged open and a short N'Ptalini woman barged in. With her pale, orange skin with dark brown striation and thick, short quills, she had the typical muted colours of a female of her race. And equally fitting, she had a stormy expression that made her look ready to wrestle a bear into submission.
“What the...?” she bellowed, but spotted Ulysses and instantly stopped herself. Apparently, he had a reputation even among other Vertexes. She grimaced and forced herself into a more composed state. “Vertex Ulysses,” she pressed out. “Welcome to Espen.”
“Thank you, Vertex P'tau, so nice of you to meet us,” Ulysses replied with flat politeness. “I have questions about the case you sent me those files on. Many questions.”
Why was he threatening her as well? Usually, that wasn't the best way to get people to cooperate.
“I have sent you all the files we had on Doctor Lachlain and his work with the Tambô family...”
“Yes, and they were frighteningly slim. Sir Yaden here was not satisfied with the information’s lack of depth at all. Hence why we’ve had to come out here to ask questions in person.”
For the first time, Vertex P'tau's attention shifted to Yaden. He didn't expect to be recognised, but he didn't expect her confused frown, either. “Uh... what? Sir Yaden, as in Sir Yaden, the Lotus Knight? That's not Sir Yaden.”
Now it was Ulysses' turn to look confused. “Of course he is.”
“Listen, there are posters of 'Sir Yaden and the Demon of Hagermarsh' plastered all over the city. It comes out in cinemas next week and he looks nothing like Sir Yaden.”
Yaden couldn't help but chuckle at her righteous indignation. “My apologies, Vertex. I'm afraid the actor who plays me was deliberately cast to preserve my anonymity as much as possible.” His friendlier tone seemed to relax her a fraction. “I also apologise for dropping in on you unannounced like this, but the matter is genuinely urgent. Doctor Lachlain has attacked my fiancé. I want to find out why and make sure he is stopped.”
“Willard did what? He would never... Your fiancé, as in the other guy on the movie poster?” Vertex P'tau seemed genuinely horrified.
“I assume Willard is Doctor Lachlain's first name?”
Vertex P'tau nodded. “Yes, he is ... was a valued member of our team here. He did outstanding work helping newly discovered psions grow into their powers, especially those with a traumatic chrysalis. His failure to save Mrs Tambô left him devastated...”
“He used his talents on my fiancé, trying to force him to hand over Myriam Tambô to him.”
“Oh my god, is he alright? Your fiancé I mean. And the girl? We were so worried about her when Mr Tambô took her. But Willard assured me he had the situation well in hand and that he would handle it, and that there was nothing at all I needed to worry about ... and...” She stopped herself, her eyes narrowing suddenly. “He wouldn't... oh that fucking squet, he did, didn't he?” Before Yaden could ask what she was talking about, she had turned to Ulysses. “Vertex Ulysses, I formally request to be scanned for mental tampering and manipulation by authorised personnel. I can not consider myself a reliable witness in this investigation.”
“Of course. I will bring in a telepath from my team on Isfahan, if you don't mind?”
“Yes, please. Immediately.”
Ulysses sounded perfectly polite, but Yaden didn't miss the tiny, inordinately pleased smile that Isfahan Vertex gave him – as though this was what he had been planning all along. He probably had, to the point of playing the bad guy to sufficiently rattle Vertex P'tau, for the charming Lotus Knight. Smart bastard. So Doctor Lachlain had used his powers on his own team to keep whatever he had been doing secret? Not a wide leap, actually, but the idea that the Psions Guild may have been struggling with aberrant members just as any other organisation had been a step too far off for Yaden. Though now, the thought was oddly comforting. Having Ulysses along was proving more useful than he had expected.
Which might have been Ulysses' plan, too. After all, he was working for the same Guild which had employed Doctor Lachlain. Maybe Lachlain was an isolated case, maybe not.
Vertex P'tau took another deep breath and squared her shoulders. “I am not sure how, but is there any way I can help in the meantime?”
“There are some questions you can answer which were not addressed in the reports at all,” Yaden put himself back into the conversation. “I would like to know whether there was an investigation into Mrs Tambô's suicide by law enforcement here on Espen.”
P'tau shook her head. “No, because there were only guild members involved, we only looked at it internally. Thomas – Mr Tambô – tried to get the local police involved, and they referred him right back to me.” She gritted her teeth. “And I told him to trust Willard. Doctor Lachlain. Because at the time, it seemed perfectly right to me that he should look into the suicide of his own patient.” Her fists were clenched at her sides, she was fuming from anger and embarrassment at having been manipulated by one of her own employees.
“Do you know what actions Doctor Lachlain took to locate Mr Tambô after he fled?”
“Well,” she replied with a grim scoff, “as far as I can remember, Willard came to Bakubane to discuss the case with me. As we have offices in all big cities on Espen, all personnel was instructed to keep a lookout for them turning up somewhere. It was a smart move for Thomas to hide right here in the capital. It's easy to blend in among so many people. And our main objective has always been to make sure Myriam is safe – is she okay now?”
P'tau's concern seemed genuine to Yaden, so he answered accordingly.
“She will be. She watched her father die in her arms and went through a very violent chrysalis.”
P'tau's eyes went wide with shock.
“She is an extremely talented psion, easily Vertex-level pyrokinetic,” Yaden continued. “What she needs now is a stable environment and someone who can understand her unique situation. Considering that she doesn't trust the Psions Guild at all, she will be staying with me for the time being.”
Espen Vertex blinked, digesting the information, and bowed deeply. “That is very generous of you, sir. Thank you.”
It didn't feel generous to Yaden. It felt like the obvious solution to him. But now that he thought about it, considering the kind of nobles P'tau had to be dealing with on a daily basis, his attitude was far off the average. He gave her a tiny, acknowledging nod in return before he continued with his questions.
“Do you know if Doctor Lachlain extended his search to other planets after he failed to capture Mr Tambô on Espen?”
She shook her head. “Not to my knowledge. He wasn't officially on the case anymore. He requested administrative leave to come to terms with his failures, which I granted. As far as I am aware, he sought therapy of his own, off-planet. We had informed the Psions Guild central office on Floor that Thomas was at large because we figured that he would flee the planet, but we considered the case closed after that.” She grimaced again. “It is entirely possible that Willard continued looking on his own. While he is originally native to Espen, he travelled the Empire extensively during his training. He has contacts all over the place.”
“Do you have records of all the planets he has studied on?” That might give them a clue where he had fled to from Emperor's Island.
“It should be listed in the personnel file I sent to Vertex Ulysses.”
Yaden looked over to Ulysses, who had been suspiciously silent. But Isfahan Vertex’s attention seemed entirely elsewhere.
“Master Ulysses?” Yaden snapped his fingers at him.
Ulysses blinked rapidly several times, refocusing on Yaden. It was an oddly familiar expression, probably very similar to the time Yaden needed to come back into his body after casting out his senses deep into the earth.
“I'm sorry,” Ulysses said. “There was a bit of an emergency which required my immediate attention. But I have also arranged for a telepath to check on P'tau and our team here. She's packing a few things since she expects she will be here a day or two.” He looked back to Yaden. “Did you ask me something?”
Yaden wasn't sure whether he should be annoyed that Ulysses was working while he should be helping, or whether he was impressed that he did both simultaneously. He settled on impressed. He'd have done the same, after all. “Was there a list of planets Doctor Lachlain has studied on in his personnel file?” he repeated.
Ulysses nodded. “Yes, he has been around a bit.” A heartbeat later, a slim folder appeared in his hands and he quickly thumbed through the pages. “Here it is. Started out here on Espen. When it was discovered he wasn't a regular telepath but a suggessor, he was transferred to Floor for special training. He had several field postings after that to familiarise himself with different cultural mindsets. Kismet, Shang Zhou, Yseio, Lorelei and Yaiciz. A pretty standard tour of duty for his kind of work. Then he returned here to Espen.”
“I was thinking that he may have fled to one of those planets. He may have friends there or at least knows the place.”
“Oh, good thinking.” Ulysses seemed genuinely intrigued and looked back into the folder.
“On that note, why is it taking so long to figure out where that emergency teleport went to? I mean, someone has to have teleported him.”
Ulysses looked up again and grimaced. “Lachlain knows how we work, and he took precautions. The emergency teleport wasn't initiated by the operator on duty on Lagoona that day. Initially, I thought the doctor had just erased another memory, but all checks came back negative. Our current guess is that he had someone on another planet on stand by to get him out.” He tapped the folder. “This will give me a starting point to look into. Even if the doctor has erased that memory from our teleporter by now, the energy needed for an interplanetary teleport is significant and should be traceable in our books. He wouldn't be the first criminal brought down by a bit of decent forensic bookkeeping.”
He frowned and, for a heartbeat, his eyes gained that far-away look that signalled he was communicating with someone telepathically. Another heartbeat later, a young woman appeared next to him. Wearing flowing, wide pants in light green, and a matching long, embroidered shirt, she looked like a typical girl from Isfahan. Only her blonde hair, falling in a long braid over her shoulder, and her lightly-tanned skin didn't match that image, as Isfahani tended to darker hair and skin tones.
“Miss Athena Ardenberg,” Ulysses introduced with a hint of pride in his voice. “My personal assistant, and a highly-skilled telepath.”
“Sir Yaden,” she greeted the noble in the room first. She had flawless manners and a surprisingly genuine and warm smile. Next, she turned to Espen Vertex. “Vertex P'tau, you have requested a formal scanning for suspected tampering with your mind and memories?”
Straight to the point, too. Yaden liked her already.
P'tau nodded. “Yes. Me and my team here in Bakubane, and possibly also at other Guild offices here on Espen.” She turned to Yaden. “If you don't have any more questions, we could...?”
“Please, do,” Yaden gave his permission. “If I have more questions, I can ask them once you are sure you are answering them truthfully.”
Espen Vertex led Miss Ardenberg from the room, gesturing at the receptionist to follow.
Ulysses watched his telepath go with a fond smile, and, even though Yaden couldn't make much sense of it, he tried to file away that information for future use. As soon as they were alone, though, Ulysses' expression became grim and he turned back towards Yaden.
“It would have been due process to call in an expert from Floor. So, if the Guild complains to you about that, could you please tell them that you specifically requested Athena? I wanted someone on the job I can trust implicitly. Not some Guild flunky who will spin this to minimise Guild culpability.”
Once again, a rather unexpected detail. Maybe Ulysses genuinely wanted this sorted out as much as Yaden did. Or maybe he wanted one of his own people on the front lines to minimise loose ends. Although, this would have been an awfully complicated way of doing so. So far, Ulysses had done nothing to deserve Yaden's misgivings.
“Won't they ask why I wanted her?”
Ulysses answering smirk was unabashedly insolent. “You don't question why a noble does what he does.”
“Fair enough.” He glanced around the vacant reception hall. “I don't think we will get any more useful answers here, do you? I would like to have a look at Doctor Lachlain’s home, here on Espen. Maybe we can find some clue as to why he did whatever it is that he wants so desperately hidden. Is his home address in his file?”
Ulysses quickly thumbed through the folder. “Yeah, he owns a small house on the outskirts of Bocklewitz. That is where the Tambô family lived, too. Give me a second to find where exactly we need to go.” Again, his eyes became unfocused as he talked to someone with his mind. “Got it,” he said after barely two heartbeats, and just, as smoothly as the previous two times, they reappeared in another place.