Right away, when we’d descended the stairs to Division 42, Q-Kee marched up to Sarge.
“Jujack’s holding out on us,” she said. “He knows something about this Commander Ga case he’s not telling us.”
A grave look crossed Sarge’s face. He studied Q-Kee. Then he studied Jujack.
“That’s a big accusation,” Sarge said to her. “You have any proof?”
Q-Kee pointed to her heart. “I can feel it,” she said.
Sarge considered this, then nodded. “Okay,” he said. “Let’s get the truth out of him.”
A couple of Pubyok moved to grab Jujack.
“Whoa,” I said, stepping in. “Let’s slow down. A ‘feeling’ isn’t proof.”
I put my hand on Jujack’s shoulder. “Tell the truth, son,” I said. “Just say what you know, and I’ll stand by you.”
Jujack looked at our feet. “I don’t know anything, I swear.”
We all turned to Q-Kee. “Don’t take my word for it,” she said. “Look in his eyes. It’s right there for everyone to see.”
Sarge bent and looked in the boy’s eyes. For the longest time, Sarge just stared. Then he nodded and said, “Take him away.”
A couple of the Pubyok put their hands on Jujack. A look of terror filled his eyes.
“Wait,” I told them, but there was no stopping the floating wall. Soon Jujack was kicking as they dragged him toward the shop.
Jujack screamed, “I’m the son of a minister.”
“Save it for your biography,” Sarge called after him, laughing.
I said, “There’s got to be some kind of mistake.”
Sarge seemed not to hear me. “Fucking disloyalty,” he said, shaking his head. Then he turned to Q-Kee. “Good work,” he said to her. “Get your smock on. You’ll be the one to get the truth out of him.”