Karma Patrol (37 page)

“He said I’m destined to become one of the Powers. Is that true?”

She expected a flat denial. Barring that, she would have accepted concern about her own mental status for even considering that the prophet’s ranting might be true. What she got was a long pause. The Bookkeeper took a sip of his drink before finally replying.

“It’s true.”

Jade stared at him, unable to make sense of the words.

“It’s true?” she repeated hesitantly. “I—are you joking?”

A faint smile appeared on his face. “Contrary to popular opinion, I do have a sense of humor, but I wouldn’t consider this to be a laughing matter. It’s true, Jade. You’re on the Slate.”

“What’s ‘the Slate’?”

“It’s a list of all the current Fate Divisions employees who meet the criteria to join the ranks of the Powers That Be.”

“The criteria,” she repeated slowly. She was aware she would sound like an idiot if all she did was repeat things the Bookkeeper had already said, but she found herself unable to come up with any insights of her own. She was too busy trying to accept that the prophet’s nonsense wasn’t nonsense at all. “What are they?”

“Now
that
, I cannot tell you.”

“Because you don’t know? Or because I’m not allowed to know?”

“You give me too much credit.” He raised his glass, toasting her ironically before taking another sip of his drink. “I’m not one of the Powers, and you of all people should realize how little they share with their underlings unless it’s absolutely necessary.”

The idea of the Bookkeeper, whose aura was so strong that it was almost palpable, as someone else’s underling was enough to rattle Jade all over again.

“I don’t like power,” she said, her voice plaintive. “Not that kind. I mean, I like being an enforcer, and I think I’d like being a specialist, but I don’t get involved with Grand Plans or capital-D Destinies. If I meet the criteria for becoming one of the Powers, they’re either bad criteria or the Powers are desperate.”

“There are a hundred karmic account enforcers who would be elated to find out they’d been selected for such an honor,” he observed conversationally. “You realize that, do you not?”

She nodded, biting her lip to keep from protesting, and he smiled.

“I suspect that has a great deal to do with why you were selected,” he continued, setting his glass down on the end table again. “Think, Jade. Stop automatically reacting to the events going on around you and use your brain for a moment. If you were one of the Powers and you were trying to find the best person to step into a position where they could, if unscrupulous, actually destroy human civilization as we know it, would you pick someone who wanted the job? Or would you pick someone who was appropriately concerned about having that sort of power?”

Her jaw worked, but no sound came out. She hated to admit it, but he had a point.

“Is that why I was given a soulmate? Because I met the criteria to be put on the Slate?”

He looked surprised. “I don’t pretend to be involved in the inner workings of the Interpersonal Relations Division, but I’ve never heard anything to that effect. If anything, I would think it would be the other way around.”

“I don’t understand.”

“While I don’t know the exact criteria against which the candidates for the Slate are measured, I do know that people who are in the running to become Powers have to have a certain amount of…well, let’s call it emotional stability. The ability to do their jobs and conduct themselves in a reasonable manner regardless of the stressors they encounter.”

She hadn’t exactly made an impressive showing in that department over the past week. Although, now that she thought about it, the stresses of the past week and the gaping wound caused by the loss of her best friend hadn’t kept her from doing what needed to be done. Even watching the prophet nearly kill Luke hadn’t stopped her from doing everything she could to prevent any more injury to her soulmate or the innocent bystanders.

“What does that have to do with having a soulmate?”

“In most pairings, there is one partner who is emotionally needy. Typically, this is someone who has an important destiny but who might not survive the stress of it on their own. The other partner acts as a source of support for them.”

Jade nodded; she’d already known that. It took her a long moment to realize what he was implying.

“You think
I’m
the stable one?”

He laughed, and she couldn’t blame him for it. She knew how incredulous she sounded.

“I’ve read your file, Jade. It included some details about your soulmate, and while he sounds like a good person, he has many of the characteristics of someone with serious emotional difficulties.”

“You’re wrong.”

“Am I? He’s a man in his late thirties who has never had a significant emotional connection with any other human being.”

“I—” Her voice caught. “I haven’t either.”

“Of course you have,” he replied, his tone soothing. “I’m certain that you care deeply for your family, and I know you cared for Shannon Carter. Her loss wouldn’t have affected you so strongly if you hadn’t. Emotional connections aren’t limited just to lovers. Besides, how old were you when you found out you had a soulmate?”

“Sixteen.”

“And ever since then, you’ve been in love with him, haven’t you? You just didn’t know who he was until this week.” He hesitated for a moment, thoughtful. “I don’t have much to do with the Destiny Division, but my Karma Division records access is far more extensive than yours, and sometimes the files overlap.” He reached into the pocket of his suit jacket, coming up with a sleek phone and tapping at the screen. “Ah. My Karma Division app tells me that without you in his life, Luke Jackson will never reach his intended destiny.”

“What do you mean? What does his file say?”

“It says—” He paused again, looking back down at the phone to scroll through Luke’s file. Her fingers itched to take it from him and read it herself, but if Karma Division had wanted her to have access to it, they would have given it to her on her own phone. “Over the next several years, Luke Jackson is supposed to make two very significant arrests, details redacted, resulting in his promotion to police captain, and then his contribution to several more important cases, details redacted, will lead to additional promotions until he eventually retires from the NYPD at the age of sixty-seven as the Chief of the Detective Bureau.”

Jade bit her lip, trying desperately to keep from crying in front of the Bookkeeper. “He deserves it,” she said finally, once she was confident she could speak without tearing up at the confirmation that Luke would have the life he deserved. Destiny wasn’t nearly as concerned about fairness as Karma was, and too many people’s destinies gave them short shrift, rewarding the lazy and incompetent and leaving the hard-working and intelligent to languish in unhappy lives. She could actually see the prophet’s point there, but she shied away from acknowledging it. It was enough just to know that Luke’s dedication would be rewarded.

“There’s an asterisk noting that this is related to his status as your soulmate, and it links to an alternate destiny that would occur without you.” The Bookkeeper glanced at her, gauging her response before continuing to read. “In the absence of the stabilizing influence of his assigned soulmate, Luke Jackson will become progressively more disillusioned with his career, will become an alcoholic, and will commit suicide by firearm at the age of forty-three.”

She stared at him in disbelief. It wasn’t until he reached into his jacket pocket and offered her his handkerchief that she realized she’d lost the battle against her tears, and she blotted mechanically at the wetness on her cheeks, her mind reeling with shock.

“He wouldn’t do that,” she whispered, the words wrenched from her. Even as she said it, though, she was remembering the look on his face when he’d told her that he’d never loved anyone, the bleak hopelessness that reflected world-weary heartbreak. “He wouldn’t.”

“He wouldn’t do it now,” the Bookkeeper agreed, gentle but firm. “We’re talking about the future, Jade. He isn’t there yet. He never will be, as long as he has you. He wasn’t given to you as some sort of advance payment for your future services. You were given to him. You’re the only one who can ensure that he fulfills the destiny he’s supposed to have.”

With that, her well-intentioned plans shattered, and she sat helplessly in the Bookkeeper’s cozy study as she finally realized the truth. It didn’t matter if the prophet was right, if the Powers intended to use Luke as a pawn to keep her in line. If she left him, he would die anyway.

“You came here to ask me undo all of this, didn’t you.” It wasn’t a question, although he’d phrased it as one, but she nodded anyway. “As I said before, Ms. Bailey, you give me far too much credit. You know as well as I do that Destinies—real, important, capital-D Destinies—are crafted at the highest level. Finding out you have one isn’t a pleasant experience, but it doesn’t change anything.” He reached out to rest a supportive hand on her shoulder. “You can’t stop it, Jade. You can’t leave him in order to protect him. He’ll die without you.”

“How do I get off of the Slate?” Her voice was rough. “I’ll do whatever it takes. I can’t—I don’t even know if I can work with the Powers, if I can make myself do the things they do. The prophet said—”

“The prophet,” he interrupted, “was a criminally insane mastermind who murdered over a dozen people and then committed suicide. I think you would be wise to take anything he told you with a large grain of salt.”

“He told me I was destined to become one of the Powers, and that turned out to be true. No one from Destiny Division ever bothered to tell me that.
You
never bothered to tell me that.”

“We don’t tell people their destinies, Jade. You know that.”

She made a rude noise. “Were you afraid I would screw it up if you told me?”

“You’re not listening. Destinies are plotted far more intricately than you realize. You couldn’t have screwed it up even if you’d tried.”

“Why didn’t you tell me, then? You could have at least warned me!”

“Because people crumble under that weight, Jade.” He leaned back in his chair, looking tired. “There are times when the knowledge of their own Destiny destroys the bastions of a Grand Plan where nothing else in the universe could have.” He gave her an assessing glance. “I think you’re strong enough to hold up, but time will tell.”

“The prophet said my Destiny was interrupted by what he did. He said it didn’t matter what Destiny Division did to fix it, that I would never fit quite right into that Destiny again. If he’s right, if I’m corrupted somehow by the things he told me, then you have to get them to take me off of the Slate. If he’s right and they choose me as one of the Powers, I could end up destroying the Fate Divisions completely.”

“In order for you to be removed from the Slate, I suspect you’d have to lose your karmic abilities. Would you really be willing to turn Normal on the word of a madman?”

She shrugged, helpless. “How can I do anything else? I can’t endanger the fate of the whole world just because I like the perks of my job.”

The Bookkeeper studied her, an approving smile hovering at the edges of his lips.

“No, you couldn’t, could you?”

He rose abruptly, going over to the bookcase on the far wall. She stayed where she was, expecting that he would rejoin her, but after a few minutes of watching him peruse the titles, she got to her feet.

“Bookkeeper?”

“Hmm?” He glanced up from the leather-bound novel he’d selected. “Ah. You’re still here.”

“I—of course I am,” she replied, baffled. “You never answered me.”

“Did you ask me something?”

She took a deep breath. “Will you take my karmic ability away? It might be the only way to protect the Fate Divisions from whatever the prophet did to me.”

He gave her a considering look, then shook his head. “No.”

“No? No it isn’t, or no you won’t?”

“Yes.” He smiled at her, his eyes kind as he met her gaze. “I don’t believe he’s corrupted you, Jade. I think he may have inadvertently made you a better candidate by opening your eyes to your own vulnerabilities.”

“Then you won’t take my ability?”

“I won’t take your ability, nor will I take your soulmate, nor will I implore the Powers to reconsider your position on the Slate. And while this has been an enlightening chat, I do have other tasks to complete today, so I’m afraid I will have to bid you
adieu
.”

Jade was nonplussed. “What am I supposed to do now?”

He reached into his jacket pocket, tossing her a slim object that she realized was a high-tech smartphone, a twin to the one he’d used earlier. It was several generations newer than the one in her purse, and she looked it over for a moment before glancing back at the Bookkeeper for an explanation.

“You take that and you get back to work.”

Jade touched the screen, startled when the little light at the top of the phone flickered red and then the phone unlocked.

“Was that a retinal scan?” she asked, disbelieving.

“They’re serious about security in Account Specialization. If you don’t like it, you can take it up with your new supervisor.”

“I… what?”

“Congratulations. You got the job.” He paused. “That’s what you wanted, isn’t it? To be an account specialist?”

She floundered, her jaw working uselessly as she tried to figure out what she was supposed to say to that.

“But my catchment area…The balance was completely destroyed. It’ll take weeks to fix what I ruined when I failed to stop the prophet. I don’t deserve this.”

“Stopping the prophet wasn’t your job. It was Destiny Division’s. You’ve proven your worth to this division, Jade. You proved it all of last year, working fourteen-hour days to ensure the tightest overall karmic balance that Midtown West has seen in decades. You proved it this week, doing your damnedest to keep on working despite the madman trying to kill you. And you proved it a thousand times over today when you came to me,
voluntarily
, to ask me to take away the only things you’ve ever cared about in order to protect them.” He smiled, a genuine expression of approval. “You deserve this promotion as much as anyone ever has. Take a long weekend and spend some quality time with your soulmate. Report to the main office of Account Specialization on Tuesday morning.”