26: Prediction, Inconsistency, Meeting, Observation, Confrontation
.Lee jumped out of her chair and ran for the stairs. She was sure the man exiting the Governor’s office was Truder Redmane.
He didn’t look much like Truder, and his identification claimed he was “Lars Bryant”, an independent trader of some wealth. Someone who could legitimately remonstrate with the Governor about ore tariff proposals.
But Lee had gone into his history in depth, as she had with all the Governor’s appointments this week. The cover didn’t withstand that level of scrutiny. Buried in his past there were hints, small anomalies, in the areas where the fiction met real records. It was a good cover, one of the best she’d encountered. She just knew where to look for the rough spots.
She realized that her immediate impulse, to apprehend Truder on the street, wasn’t wise. She would be too close to the Governor’s security, and they might screw the whole thing up. It would have to be elsewhere.
She was sure he’d head right to the spaceport. He’d looked pleased when emerging from the Governor’s building, so she guessed their business was done. And it would be a risk to stay longer than necessary. She went straight for the spaceport, using her enforcer status to ignore speed limits.
Once there, she got maintenance gear from the Redmane section, and then loitered around “Bryant’s” ship. When Truder appeared, she was able to get behind him as he walked towards his vessel.
She stuck her gun in his back, saying “Truder Redmane.”
(250 words)