He jumped and a look of surprised panic lit his eyes. He turned abruptly and headed the other way.
“Aarno Dering?” Obi-Wan called, quickening his pace. “We’d like to talk to you.”
Dering began to run. Obi-Wan and Anakin leaped forward in a surge of speed.
Dering had a good head start, but he was no athlete. He leaped onto the moving walkway and zigzagged past athletes and workers, pushing some aside roughly. Obi-Wan leaped off the second story and landed lightly on the ground. Anakin followed.
When Dering raced out an exit from the quarters and into the street, Obi-Wan was merely steps away. Suddenly, a fast-moving airspeeder headed straight for Dering. Obi-Wan reached out, ready to grab the waving hem of the man’s tunic, but the speeder struck the slight man first, sending him flying through the air. Aarno Dering landed with a sickening thud.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
“Go to him,” Obi-Wan ordered Anakin tersely.
Obi-Wan jumped after the speeder. Landing on the speeder’s outrigger component, Obi-Wan drew his lightsaber and severed it with one stroke. The speeder veered and crashed into a bright yellow bench, and the pilot leaped out. Obi-Wan recognized him instantly as the pilot of the air taxi. Something about the way he held his body alerted him. His movements were quick and powerful, but loose and graceful as well.
The pilot leaped over the speeder and raced down the street. Without breaking stride, he shot a cable launcher up to the roof of a high building. The cable launcher pulled him up and he disappeared onto the roof.
Obi-Wan activated his own launcher and followed, the wind rushing past his ears. He jumped onto the roof just as the pilot leaped to the next building. Obi-Wan followed.
The pilot never looked back. Obi-Wan noted his coolness. There were not many, being pursued, who did not pause to check on the location of their pursuer. Obi-Wan was gaining and the pilot seemed to know it, for his pace quickened as he leaped to the next roof. It was twenty meters below, but he landed easily and kept on running. Obi-Wan summoned the Force for his jump and landed.
The pilot raced to the edge of the roof that overlooked the street. Obi-Wan could hear the noise of a crowd and as he drew closer he saw that a stadium below was emptying. Air taxis were lined up awaiting passengers. The pilot paused and activated his anti-gray propulsion belt. It allowed him to drop off the roof and land safely on the walkway below.
Obi-Wan leaped down and had to swerve at the last moment to avoid a child who suddenly darted out from between her mother and father. He landed hard. He was just in time to see the pilot get swallowed up by the surging crowd.
Irritation flamed and died away. He would have liked to have caught the pilot. It did not happen. On to the next.
He made his way back to the quarters. Anakin knelt by Aarno Dering, his hand on the man’s shoulder. Obi-Wan knew immediately that he was dead.
He walked to Anakin and put his hand on the boy’s shoulder. They stood for a moment, a linked chain of commemoration. A Jedi always paused to reflect on a life lost, even if they did not know the spirit who had left.
“There was nothing I could do.” Anakin’s face was pale. He had seen death before, but he was still affected by it. Obi-Wan was glad to see this. He hoped Anakin would never lose that particular vulnerability. There had been a time when he had wondered if Anakin failed to connect, a time when he had seen a curious blankness on the boy’s face after he had killed in battle. Since that time, Obi-Wan had watched Anakin carefully. When he saw his Padawan feel the enormity of a life lost, he was reassured.
A security speeder pulled up, its signal lights flashing. Close behind was the sleek black airspeeder of Liviani Sarno. When she jumped out, it was clear she was livid.
“First an air-taxi driver is badly beaten, and now this,” she snapped, standing over the body of Aarno Dering. “How will you explain this to the Council?”
Anakin flushed with anger, and Obi-Wan’s hand tightened on his shoulder. Liviani Sarno’s words had offended Obi-Wan as well. She treated the death of a fellow being as a nasty inconvenience.
“Obviously the Jedi cannot fulfill their promises,” Liviani continued.
“The Jedi promised nothing except our presence,” Obi-Wan said.
Her lips pressed together. “In that case, I am calling for extra security.”
“That is a good idea,” Obi-Wan answered. He was nettled at her tone, but extra security was not a bad idea. He didn’t want to reveal his suspicions to Liviani yet. Officials had a tendency to get in the way. Obi-Wan wanted to make sure of what he was dealing with first.
Liviani turned to confer with a security officer. “I suggest you find an event to attend,” she said over her shoulder to the Jedi. “Just stand around and do nothing. If you can manage that much.”