I look up your world?” Leo asked it carefully.
“Of course. Bahi in the third sector.”
Dev went to the in house com and spoke to Yalio. “Miss Rasco requires a new door to her room or some intermittent repairs for the existing one.”
“What happened?”
“I made a point, and it was rather destructive.”
“I can’t get a repair team here tonight. She will have to use one of the other rooms.”
“Please give me a list of the rooms that are empty, and I will select one.”
A small grid flashed on the screen. Dev looked and nodded. “Thank you. Please have a repair crew here tomorrow.”
“Yes, Agent Jarix.”
She disconnected the call. Leo was staring at the screen as she flicked through data on Bahi reproduction. “Is it interesting?”
“It is bizarre, no offense.”
“None taken. To a proper daughter of Bahi, the idea of carrying a child to term is repugnant. My mother was too far along to have me transferred when she realized I was on the way. She suffered through a pregnancy, and I am sure she tried to put it out of her mind the moment I was handed to the crèche.”
Dev sat nearby while Leo examined Bahi via the console. She zoned out and came too when Leo asked, “Dev, is this you?”
Ah, the infamous news reports. All four were arranged and stacked, as well as the notice of her being recruited by the Citadel. “Yes, that’s me.”
“You moved a mass transport?”
“Apparently.”
“And stopped projectile weapons with your body?”
“That was the end effect, it ruined my blouse though.”
“And you lifted this vehicle and threw it at those who were robbing the financial centre?”
“Yeah, two survived.” She shrugged.
“So, you did all of that while you were a normal person with no training?” Leo turned to look at her with questions in her eyes.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because it needed to be done. Not the bullet catching, that was an accident on my part. I merely stood up when the robbers entered, and they trained their guns on me.”
“But the other stuff?”
Dev leaned forward and rested her elbows on her knees. “Sometimes you are in the right place at the right time to help those in need. You have a choice to either walk away or to stand and accept that you may or may not make it out alive. I could not have lived with myself if I walked away from those who needed it. If the thieves had been successful in taking hostages before I could stop them, I would have carried that all my life. As it is, I lost my friends but I kept my self-respect. I can always gain more friends, friends who treasure me for my character, but I can’t regain self-respect once it is lost.”
Leo sat and twisted her hands together. “What if you have already lost it and want to get it back?”
There was suddenly something brittle in Leo’s expression.
Dev spoke carefully. “You take the steps that you can to undo what you have done and try and make better decisions in the future. You can’t undo the past, but you can reshape your future.”
Leo leaned forward. “Will you help me?”
Dev extended her hand, palm up. “I will do what I can. Now, tell me what happened.”
Chapter Seven
A noise in the middle of the night woke Dev from her place on the small pallet in the nanny’s room. She looked through the window and saw the blaze of fire approaching the house.
The drills with Kennan kicked in. She grabbed Leo out of bed, pulled her to the ground and yanked the mattress over them both.
“What is it?” Leo was wide awake and trembling next to Dev.
The impact struck the house with a huge shudder that cracked bits of the ceiling into dropping on the mattress. “Missile. It struck your bedroom.”
When the small impacts on her back ceased, Dev got up, flipping the mattress to the side, and she got Leo up as well. Leo grabbed her robe and slipped on shoes while Dev’s nightclothes transformed into her nanny uniform.
“That is a handy thing.”