“Any idea who the accomplice might be?” Tozr asked.
Mara’s voice suddenly rose behind Luke, sharp and angry. He turned to see that she had stepped away from the group and was not quite shouting into her comlink.
“I’m a lot more than Ben’s mother, Corporal Lekauf,” she was saying. “I’m Master Mara Jade Skywalker of the Jedi order.”
The corporal’s reply was not quite audible to Luke.
“If you know who I am, then you also know that you’d better tell me why my son’s comlink is being jammed-or spend the next six weeks in a bacta tank trying to regrow all the parts I’m going to cut off.” Mara looked across the plaza toward the giant silver cylinder of the Galactic Justice Center. “I can be there in three minutes.”
There was a short pause.
“Of course this comlink is scrambled,” Mara said.
The corporal spoke again.
“He’s what?”
The corporal repeated whatever he had told her, then Mara’s anger began to fade from the Force.
“I see. Well, have him get in touch with me the moment he returns.” Mara paused, then added, “The moment, Corporal Lekauf. Do I make myself clear?”
Mara closed her comlink, then seemed surprised to find Luke and the others watching her. She frowned. “I just want to be sure that Lumiya isn’t delivering the rest of her message.”
“And you’re sure she isn’t?” Luke asked,
“Corporal Lekauf was very convincing,” she said. “Apparently, Jacen took Ben up to Crix Base.”
“Crix Base?” Raatu echoed. “What for?”
Mara shot the Rodian a don’t-be-stupid look. “He wouldn’t say.”
More properly known as the General Crix Madine Military Reserve, Crix Base had been constructed during the first wave of fleet reorganizations undertaken in the wake of the war with the Yuuzhan Vong. It was a huge complex of orbital hangars currently serving as home port to the Third, Eighth, and the mysterious Ninth Fleets. It also housed the headquarters of two elite fighting units, the Space Rangers and Gamma Corps, and-as Chief Omas had revealed during their meeting last night-a brand-new Imperial-class Star Destroyer secretly assigned to GAG, the Anakin Solo.
“Maybe that’s a good thing,” Luke said, guessing that Jacen had taken Ben to the base to go on the Anakin’s shakedown cruise. “At least we know Lumiya won’t get him there.”
“Do we?” Mara asked, “Base security wouldn’t stop me.”
“No, but it would take time for you to defeat it,” Luke pointed out. He didn’t mention the possibility of a shakedown cruise because Raatu and Tozr lacked the necessary security clearance to even hear of a vessel named the Anakin Solo. “And it would entail risks you wouldn’t need to run elsewhere.”
Mara thought about this a moment, then nodded. Okay. Your point?”
“That now is our chance,” Luke said. “Until Ben gets back, it’s just her and us.”
“And us,” Raatu reminded Luke. “This Lumiya woman is our suspect.”
“Do you think you can identify your old girlfriend?” Tozr produced a large datapad from a pocket of his wrinkled tabard and began to enter codes. “There was a lot of fog last night, but the security cams have pretty good imaging filters. We’re in a blind spot here, but we might be able to catch her on the way in.”
“I’d recognize her if I saw her.” Luke went to the Bith’s side and saw that he was calling up last night’s video feed from the anti-terrorist cams that had been installed to protect Fellowship Plaza. “But she won’t be visible.”
“She won’t?”
“No. She’s too skilled for that.” Mara joined them and held her hand out for the datapad. “May I?”
Tozr ruffled his cheek flaps, then reluctantly passed over the datapad. Mara began to punch keys, bringing up the feed from the entrance closest to the Jedi Temple. It didn’t take long to spot Ben entering the park and Master Lobi trailing him, following a discreet distance behind and taking care to remain in the shadows. But they spotted no hint of Lumiya-or of the second killer-even when Mara brought up the feeds from the next two cams.
Luke checked the time stamp at the bottom of the screen, then said, “It’s too early. Tresina’s message didn’t come in until nineteen twenty-two.”
“What message?” Raatu asked.
“She clicked in with a partial message saying she had spotted Lumiya,” Luke replied.
“What else?” Raatu demanded.
“That’s it,” Luke said. “Just that I was right, Lumiya was watching Ben. Then she cut it short.”