[Legacy Of The Force] - 03(39)

The Neimoidian’s relief flooded the Force. “Of course.”

He extended a finger and reached for the keypad. “If you’d be kind enough to avert your eyes.”

A prickle of danger sense raced down Luke’s spine, and he and Mara cried out in unison, “Don’t!”

Luke used the Force to pull the Neimoidian’s hand away from the panel, then stepped forward. “I think it’s been altered.”

“Altered?” the Neimoidian asked. “That’s impossible. No one but our maintenance personnel can …” He let his explanation trail off when Luke ignited his shoto’s short blade and carefully began to cut the security panel out of the wall.

“Have you gone spacesick?” the Neimoidian cried. “Who’s going to pay for that?”

“I hope you’re not trying to deny us access to the apartment,” Raatu said. “Harboring terrorists results in a total property forfeiture.”

“Who’s harboring terrorists?” The Neimoidian threw up his hands. “Fine. I’ll write it off as tenant damages.”

Luke finished cutting, then deactivated his weapon and carefully pulled the unit out of the wall. Attached to one side was a small thermal detonator, with a thin signaling wire running from the security pad to its trigger.

“Well, at least we know we’re at the right apartment,” Mara said.

She reached over and depressed the detonator’s safety, then broke the signaling wires, detached the casing from the security panel, and slipped it into her pocket for safekeeping.

Luke held the security panel out toward the Neimoidian. “Now you can enter the code.”

The Neimoidian stared at the keypad for a moment, then began to shake and looked toward Luke. “Red seven, blue twelve, green zero zero.”

Luke entered the code, and the doors slid open. Without waiting to be dismissed, the Neimoidian spun around and tried to leave again.

Luke caught his arm. “Wait here,” he ordered. “You’ll be safe in the hail-and I’ll know if you try to leave.”

The Neimoidian’s face paled to ivory. “Of course. I’m happy to assist the Alliance any way I can.”

Raatu patted the fellow’s cheek. “That’s a good citizen. Coruscant needs more like you.”

Luke led the way into the apartment. It was smaller than he had expected and surprisingly cozy, with a sunken seating area in front of the entertainment wall. The rest of the walls were decorated with reproductions of famous artwork from across the galaxy-including a holographic copy of Leia’s own Killik Twilight. But the thing that most surprised Luke were the mirrors. There was at least one on every wall, alt carefully arranged so that it was possible to see any corner of the room by looking into the appropriate combination of mirrors.

Luke motioned to Raatu and Tozr to remain where they were, then he and Mara went into the bedroom and checked the closet and refresher to make certain Lumiya was not hiding anywhere. By the time they returned to the main room, the two detectives were already emerging from the kitchen area.

“Didn’t I ask you to stay by the door?”

“You asked,” Raatu replied. “She’s not in the kitchen.”

“Not in there, either,” Mara said, hooking a thumb toward the bedroom. “Looks like we missed her.”

“She’ll be back.” Tozr pointed to a bouquet of blue, long-stalked puffballs sitting in the middle of the dining table, then smiled and stepped over to smell them. “Nobody puts out fresh flowers unless they’re coming…”

“No!” This time, it was Mara who Force-jerked a potential victim out of danger. She floated him to the opposite side of the room, then said, “I wouldn’t do that.”

Tozr flared his cheek folds in irritation. “Why not?”

“Sith specialize in tricks and traps.” Luke took Raatu’s datapad, then snapped an image of the flowers and requested an identification.

“That’s why we wanted you to stay in the main room,” Mara explained. “Everything in this place is a potential trap.”

The datapad beeped, and Luke looked down to find a name and description of the flower. “Nerf scourge,” he reported. “An overdose of pollen causes nerve damage in most species.”

“Oh.” Raatu glanced around the room a couple of times, then followed Tozr out into the hallway to wait with the building manager. “You can just dictate a record of what you find into the datapad.”

“Good idea.” Mara pointed Luke toward the kitchen. “You take the galley. The last thing I want is you rooting around in an old girlfriend’s bedroom.”