War for Orion: Ghosts from the Past (6 page)

"What do you want?"

He quickly turned around to see who had asked
him the question, but he didn't see anybody in the hallway. Anlon
wasn't sure whether to respond or not, but decided he may as well
since walking the hallways wasn't getting him anywhere.

"I'm looking for Moran Borislav. Do you know
where he is?"

There was no response for a couple of
seconds. "And why are you looking for Moran?"

"I think he was a friend of my father. If he
was, I thought Moran could tell me more about my dad. Some stuff
happened the other day and I'm just confused and need help figuring
some things out."

Anlon couldn't think of anything else to say
at the moment and thought that that sounded like the best answer.
He
was
trying to find some more out about his dad, and a
couple of other things, but that didn't matter to whoever was
talking to him.

"What's your name?" The voice asked.

"Anlon Valens."

Another pause. "Where do you live?"

"903 Oceanic Drive."

There was another moment of silence and then
the fly flew back in front of Anlon's face. He tried to swat it
this time, but it moved out of the way before he could hit it.

"I would appreciate if you didn't try to
break my things," the voice said.

Anlon stood confused for a second and then
understood the voice was referring to the bug. He didn't know how
to respond, so instead of saying anything he just stood there
silently.

"Just hold on a second Anlon. Let me
disengage the illusion and I'll let you in."

In an instant hallway changed as the hallway
flickered and door two forty-seven appeared right in front of him.
The door opened and a very large man emerged from the doorway.
Anlon hadn't seen a shot of the face at the police station, but he
would've never guessed Moran would be this big. He stood 6'5 and
was twice as large as Armino had been. He had very dark tan skin,
dark green eyes, and scars marking his body. The man's head was
bald and had strange markings branded on it.

"Don't be afraid. You can come in Anlon."

Anlon walked up to the doorway and stopped a
second before he made his way into the dim room Moran had
disappeared back into. He shut the door behind him and turned to
see Moran pressing a series of buttons on the wall from across the
room.

"What are you doing?" Anlon asked him.

"I'm putting the illusion back in place so we
can talk without interruptions. As you have probably already
guessed, I like to stay hidden from the prying eyes."

"How does that illusion thing work
exactly?"

"I have transmitters placed around my door.
They're set to make an illusion that my door is completely missing.
If I want, I can set them to create multiple doors for my room or
many other cool things."

"But what about the other people who live on
this floor? Don't they ever get confused?"

Moran smiled. "I bought out the whole floor.
Actually, the whole building, not just the floor. This is just the
floor that I use regularly for living."

Anlon just stared at him. "Why do you own
this whole building, but have no one else living here? And if you
have no one else here and own the whole building, why use the
illusion in the first place?"

Moran walked over to one of his couches and
plopped down on it, kicking up his feet. "You said you wanted to
talk about your dad? Then let's talk about your dad. You don't
really need to worry about why I own the whole building and use the
Illusionaire right now. I may tell you later, but I can't trust you
right now, even if you are Armino's son. Trust is something that
you have to earn."

Anlon sat on one of the chairs in front of
Moran. "My father was killed the other day."

Moran straightened up. "Yes, I know. I was
informed of it the night that it happened and I have been briefed
on the details of the murder. That is one of the reasons the
Illusionaire is in place and why I have the robot stationed on the
ground floor."

"So you have reason to believe that whoever
killed my family would come after you?" Anlon asked without
thinking.

Moran stared at him. "Not particularly, just
taking necessary precautions in case they do."

Anlon bit his lip. "Look, it's true that I
want to find out more about my dad, but there are also some other
things on my mind. I have a feeling that you may be able to help me
with all of them."

He hadn't planned on coming out
straightforward, but he saw no other way. He wouldn't gain Moran's
trust by lying to him, and if he really was friends with his dad,
he should be willing to help him find out more about the murderers.
Even if Moran didn't help him out, he would gain his trust and
maybe a second friend.

Moran raised his eyebrows. "Really? I kind of
guessed that when my robot told me that you had arrived in the
lobby. You definitely didn't waste any time getting here, you even
beat the officers who I'm sure will be by later sometime
today."

"How did you know I'd be coming today?" Anlon
asked.

"Same way I know that you went down to the
database yesterday and found my name and address. And that was
right after you found out your dad was a part of the Queen's
Galactic Special Operations Unit."

Anlon's jaw almost dropped open. "How could
you possibly know that I went to the database? No one knows except
me and the officers that went down with me."

Moran grinned. "You really think I work
closely with the Queen and don't know
anything
that goes on
with my partners and their families? Just remember that it's my job
to know things that other people don't want me to know."

"But the database."

"Don't worry about how I know things Anlon, I
just do," Moran repositioned himself on his couch. "So how much
more do you want to know about your dad? I mean, you found all of
his mission reports and stuff last night, so that had to have
filled you in on a lot of information."

"How," Anlon started.

Moran held up his hand and winked. "I was one
of your father's partners and closest friends in GSOU, but you
should already know that. It's a very dangerous job and your father
knew that at the time that he accepted the job. He told me if
anything ever happened to him that I was to keep an eye on his
family and make sure that they stayed safe," He pointed at Anlon.
"You're all that's left and I'm going to keep good on my promise to
Armino. He left everything you found in his study on purpose, it
wasn't an accident that you found all of those things last night.
He wanted his whole family to find it after his death so they'd
know what he'd died doing."

Anlon let out a deep breath. "I want to find
out more about the races that killed my Dad."

"Why do you want to know more about them? How
will that help you?"

"Well, there were three different races that
just murdered my family and I thought that it was odd. I was hoping
that you may be able to tell me more about them, and maybe, where
exactly I could find them."

Moran leaned forward. "
Find
them? Are
you out of your mind!"

"I just,"

Moran interrupted. "That's not going to
happen. These races are obviously tied to something with the GSOU.
The people your dad and I went after are very dangerous criminals.
We trained for years before we even went out on our first mission!
And you... you have absolutely no training at all of any kind and
would surely be killed within days of going out on your little
mission."

"But," Anlon started.

"No. I'm not helping you get yourself killed.
I promised Armino that I'd keep you safe, not help you go out on
some impossible mission of avenging your family."

Anlon clenched his fists. "These races
executed my whole family in front of me Moran!"

"Executed? What makes you think that?"

Anlon stared at him expressionless. "They had
the whole entire thing planned out before they even came to our
house. They were talking about it while they killed my family one
by one, each one with a different type of weapon. The black Malak,
Donnchadh, said he wanted to make Armino suffer the same way the he
suffered for something that Armino had done do him."

Anlon saw Moran's facial expression flicker.
"Are you sure his name was Donnchadh?"

"Yes! There was also a Darza named
Sanguinarius and an Arachnid name Ulisse."

"They're part of a group called Deimos
Brotherhood. Your dad and I went after them on more than a few
occasions, but that's all I'm telling you about them."

"Who exactly is Donnchadh? He seemed to know
my dad very well."

"Your father and I have been following him
recently, he's one of the newest members of the Deimos Brotherhood.
The past few years he has been the go to guy for Kirill and hasn't
failed an assignment given to him yet."

Anlon couldn't help but feel like Moran was
hiding something from him. He believed that they had been following
Donnchadh, but that still didn't explain why he seemed to have held
so much hatred towards Armino. Anlon figured this wasn't the time
to push for more and held back the urge.

"Is there anything more that you can tell me
about the races?"

Moran shook his head. "There's nothing more
that I can tell you Anlon. I have told you much more than you even
need to know. I promised your Dad I would keep you safe and I'm
going to hold up on that promise until the day that I die."

"I understand Moran. Thank you for everything
that you have told me."

"If you need anything else don't be afraid to
let me know Anlon. I'm always watching you and I'm always ready to
help."

He smiled. "Actually there is one more
question you may be able to answer right now. My father was pushing
me through college before he was killed, but he knew I hated school
and wasn't any good at it. Do you know a reason why he would do
that?"

A big smile crossed Moran's face. "He wanted
you to be in GSOU. He always told his unit and the Queen that you'd
be part of it one day. He was pushing you through college so you'd
be qualified educationally, but he had no doubt that you were
physically and mentally ready to join."

"Thank you. I had a feeling after I went
through his stuff last night, but I couldn't be sure."

"Well you better get out of here before those
officers show up and see you got to me before they did," Moran
turned off the Illusionaire and opened the door for Anlon. "You can
come back anytime you like Anlon."

"Thank you, I will Moran."

Moran watched Anlon walk down the hall,
seeing a younger version of Armino. He had known Armino since they
had joined the GSOU together and couldn't believe how long it had
been since that day. He wanted to avenge his death as much as Anlon
did, but he knew that it wouldn't be the smart thing to do. The
Queen was very unlikely to approve of it.

Moran shut the door behind him and laid down
on the couch, not bothering to turn the Illusionaire on since he
knew that the officers would be arriving anytime now. He wished he
could've told Anlon the truth about Donnchadh, but that's one more
thing that would have to wait until he had some more time to think
things through. He knew that Anlon wasn't ready for it yet and it
would just fuel his rage that much more. Moran shut his eyes and
waited for his next visitors to arrive.

Kanti woke up just in time to head to the
Hassental District Prison. Her first couple of months on the job
had been eerily slow, and according to everyone she had talked to
at the station, that was normal for this District. Her regular
routine was to go in and do paperwork most of the day before
packing for home and repeating the next day. The mysterious tip
that came in alerting them of the events at Anlon's house was the
first case she had picked up since joining the force. Since that
call, her life had been turned upside down and was a hectic
mess.

Giustino had allowed her to work with him on
the case, saying that it would be a good learning experience before
taking on cases completely by herself. Cases like this had been why
she had chosen to be a police officer after running from home.
Helping the unfortunate and unlucky was what she knew she wanted to
do. There was a connection she felt like she could make with the
races from her own experiences, and right now, she was determined
to help Anlon.

She quickly put her uniform on, ignoring the
wrinkles from laying on the floor, and grabbed some fruit to eat
for breakfast before heading out of the door. Ten minutes later she
pulled into the parking garage of the prison and took her reserved
spot up front. She made her way through the circular door and into
the station where it was still as chaotic as the previous day.
Giustino's office was the first place she went, only to find an
empty office.

"That's strange," She peered through the
window. "He hasn't even come in his office for the day yet."

Kanti turned and made her way to her office,
immediately firing up the computer to do a search on Moran
Borislav. She had plans to run by his place today and ask some
questions, but she wanted to see if she could find a little more on
him online before popping up unexpectedly at his place. After
entering his name on the Net, she was surprised to see that not a
single result for his name came up.

Her door popped open and Giustino poked his
head in her office. "Everything going okay Kanti? I saw you go by
my office."

She nodded her head, happy to see Giustino
had finally arrived. "Just wanted to get an early start to the day.
I decided to do a quick search on Moran."

"I was running a little late today. I stayed
up late working on our case."

Kanti exited the Net and shut the computer
down. "I was wondering if we could pay Moran a visit right now to
see if he could give us any more information that would help us out
on the case."