The agent sighed. “Very well. I suppose we’d better get this over with.” She could see and hear a host of other vehicles arriving, and could guarantee at least some of those were journalists from Outremer media outlets. As much as she wanted to play for more time, she also did not want to make matters worse by being plastered all over the news. She let the Rothian peacekeepers gently guide her into the back of the dropship, sending one last message via implant. “Five Nine Five, going dark. I delayed them as long as I could.” Then she stepped inside the dropship and it’s signal dampeners cut her link to the outside world.

[hr]

The veteran police sergeant in charge of securing the VIP’s residence did not know exactly what was going on. Not even close. But he did know this had black ops skulduggery stamped all over it. So far, he’d been given orders by an individual his HUD had identified as a ‘Tier 2 Specialist Consultant - Obey All Commands’. The redacted name, the vague role description and high authority combination was not something you saw every day. The woman was practically a ghost in the machine.

As if that wasn’t enough, he had Rothians running all around the place as well. He shared an opinion with many in Outremer’s law enforcement agencies that an advanced and quite unnerving alien race shouldn’t have been given any say in keeping the peace. The Rothians had introduced a lot of red tape, which had made a lot of his colleagues afraid to stand up to them, for fear of making mistakes that could ‘damage species relations’. The sergeant though, knew which side he would be taking in this particular matter. And that was the ‘Specialist Consultant who had ordered the other half the team up to guard the VIP and his half to guard the perimeter. The fact that she had seemingly been coerced into the Rothian drop ship right in front of him was neither here nor there. The orders were ‘No one one, no one out.’

So when the two Rothians approached him, one with seemingly catastrophic injuries, the officer drew himself up to his full height and fixed his jaw. “That may well be, but i’m gonna need to ask you to stay put for the moment, gentlemen. We’re under strict orders not to let anyone in or out at this time.

The entire park and the roads next to it were awash with red and blue police lights now, and at least a dozen search lights combed the greenery from above. The sergeant had got the heads up a few seconds ago that two more Skinners had been apprehended leaving the park, and were being taken to the station. Now the main thing was controlling the media and rolling up this crime scene. This became even more evident when a camera drone flew in close behind the Rothians, its lens taking in their conversation. “This is a no-fly zone! Take that drone out of the air!” The sergeant yelled over the Rothians’ shoulder at a collection of officers directing police forces from consoles laid out across the bonnet of a police truck.