Industry & Intrigue by Ryan McCall Page A

now,”
said Brenna. “We don’t want to attract too much attention. I need
you to watch the entrance from across the street. If you see anyone
that doesn’t look like a martial arts student, I want you to
memorize their face.”
    Snar nodded . “As you command sergeant, I
will do my best to keep track of any visitors.” He walked off the
road and into an alley opposite the academy.
    Brenna walked up to the doors of the
academy and narrowly avoided being bowled over by two teenagers.
They were still full of energy from their class and dressed in blue
training uniforms. She watched them run towards an extravagant
carriage and climb inside.
    She then turned back to the doors and
pushed her way in. A pretty receptionist was seated at a small
desk. She looked up at Brenna and smiled. To the right of the desk,
the room opened up into a large area where dozens of students were
training with wooden daggers. There was a circular raised platform
with a roped ring around it where two students were hand-to-hand
sparring.
    “ Can I help you?” asked
the girl.
    Brenna looked at her and in a flat
and serious voice said, “I need to speak to the owner,
Mikono.”
    “ Do you ha ve an appointment?”
    “ No I don’t ,” said Brenna. “Sergeant
Brenna Moreland, Justice Branch,” and she showed her badge to the
girl, who now stared at her with wide and fearful eyes. “You can
tell her that I’d like to speak to her.”
    The girl nodded, stood up and walked
around the side of the training area, past the sparring ring and
into a separate office. She came out a few minutes later and walked
back to the desk. “She’ll see you in her office,” she
said.
    Brenna walked past the training area and
admired the fighting discipline of the students. She had never
trained in the Minakayan martial arts. She had studied Yarali and
Wei techniques alongside her basic watch physical training. She
knocked on the already open door of the office and peered
inside.
    “ Enter ,” said a high-pitched voice from
inside. Mikono was sitting in comfort chair, her desk to the side
of her and a set of drawers behind it. “Please sit,” said Mikono
and gestured at the other chair in the room. Brenna sat down and
took a measure of the kitsune.
    She had the distinctive pale-white skin
shade of her kind and a black serpent tattoo on her right cheek.
She was dressed in the same blue outfit as the students of her
academy, although hers had a black sash running across it,
indicating her mastery of the tojitsu.
    ‘ What can I do for the
city watch?” asked Mikono.
    “ I’m Sergeant Brenna Moreland,
Justice Branch ,” replied Brenna “Do the names Connor Wallace and Barus
Asulius mean anything to you?”
    The kitsune shrugged. “Barus is a friend
and one of my tojitsu instructors, the other name doesn’t mean
anything to me at all.”
    “ I see ,” said Brenna. She had expected an
answer like this. “And you wouldn’t know anything about the
tarcaine business that they are involved in together?”
    “ No I wouldn’t,” replied Mikono.
“I run a martial arts school for youngsters, that’s the only
business I’m involved in. It takes up a great deal of my time, I
have many students. What makes you think I have anything to do with
illicit substances?”
    “ Well Mr. Asulius is your
employee; I would think that such a well-organized woman such as
yourself would be aware of her employee’s background and actions,”
replied Brenna. Now she was purposely goading the kitsune. She
wanted to see how she reacted.
    “ Barus has a checkered
past , but
whatever you think he is involved in, I don’t believe it.” She was
good, Brenna had to admit. If she didn’t know better, she would
have said the kitsune was innocent of any crime and was exactly
what she appeared to be. “He has proven himself to me and is not
involved in anything I am unaware of.”
    “ I see ,” replied Brenna. This was quickly
going nowhere. “Well, when you next see him,