Qui-Gon did not reply as Lena turned and made her way down a narrow alley to a back entrance. Luckily this one was not guarded. Lena punched a code into a small panel and the door slid open. But there was no turbolift on this side of the building. They had to walk up thirty-seven flights of stairs.
By the time they reached the top floor, all of them were out of breath. But Lena did not pause to rest. Instead she led them around a corner to what looked like a duracrete wall. It wasn’t until he got up close that Obi-Wan realized it was actually a concealed door. Lena pressed a small button concealed inside a panel, and the door slid open.
Before Obi-Wan could even get a look inside, Lena gasped and put a hand to her mouth. They were standing in what had once been a beautiful parlor. But the apartment had been ransacked, and piles of debris littered the floor. Everything was ruined.
The rich fabrics that had covered the furniture were torn to shreds and strewn across the rooms. Tables and bureaus were smashed. Drawers were overturned and shelves cleared, their ripped and broken contents randomly spread across every surface.
The apartment had been lavishly decorated, but now it looked like the inside of a garbage scow. Whoever was responsible for the ransacking had done a thorough job. Even the carpets had been pulled up and hacked to pieces.
Beside him, Lena leaned heavily on Obi-Wan’s arm. “I should have guessed that they would search,” she said, forlorn. She leaned down and picked up the pieces of a small stone carving. She turned them over in her hand, and her eyes welled with tears.
Obi-Wan wanted to comfort her, but wasn’t sure what to say. He squeezed her arm gently.
“I suppose you should be glad you weren’t at home,” Qui-Gon replied dryly. He obviously hadn’t noticed Lena’s expression, and Obi-Wan felt a flash of annoyance. How could his Master be so insensitive?
Lena drew a deep breath and let go of Obi-Wan before picking her way carefully through the mess toward the back of the apartment. Qui-Gon stayed near the lift doors. Obi-Wan followed close behind Lena, in case she needed his support again. The apartment did not look like it had been searched so much as destroyed.
Her face full of sadness, Lena surveyed the damage. She paused once to pick up a trinket that was not entirely shattered, then placed it on a shelf still barely attached to the wall. Obi-Wan wondered how long it would stay there before sliding off.
“How strange!” Lena exclaimed as she walked into her bedroom, at the end of a long hall. Nothing in this room had been touched. The furnishings stood upright. The bed was made. Even the portrait on the wall was straight.
Obi-Wan stepped closer to the portrait. It was a picture of Lena and Rutin. They stood together in front of a waterfall, their eyes locked on each other. Something about the portrait disturbed Obi-Wan, but before he could place the feeling, the portrait and the wall it was on swung aside to reveal a small office.
“It’s where Rutin worked in the evenings,” Lena explained, walking through the secret door. “All of his family files are stored here. I just can’t believe that whoever searched the house didn’t—” Lena trailed off as she activated the computer screen.
Blue light and horror shone on Lena’s face as a message flashed on the screen:
YOU CANNOT STOP US. YOU CAN ONLY DIE TRYING.
4
Qui-Gon entered the back room just in time to see the message flash a final time. Then the computer went dead.
Lena sank into a chair. “They’ve erased the evidence,” she said. “They’ve erased everything.”
For a moment Lena’s determination was replaced by desperation. Qui-Gon was surprised to feel a similar desperation coming from Obi-Wan. He gazed at him thoughtfully. This was unusual behavior for his Padawan.
Qui-Gon turned his attention to the matter at hand. “Was the computer connected to a network of some kind?” he asked.
“I don’t think so,” Lena said. Then she shook her head firmly. “No. Rutin would not have kept the information here if it was.”
“And no one else had access to the information?” Qui-Gon questioned.
“Well, the information was no secret within the family. They all know what’s going on, but they are careful not to leave a trail. Solan makes sure of that.” Lena stood up and walked back into her bedroom, talking more to herself than the Jedi. “Still, Rutin managed to construct a trail. Any of them could, but Solan…”
Qui-Gon could see that Lena was already recovering from the setback.
She was formulating a new plan. Qui-Gon could not help but admire her resolve. And yet, if she loved her husband as she claimed, she was remarkably strong in the aftermath of his death. He thought perhaps she was deceiving them.
“They all know,” Lena said again, louder. “And one of them might just help.” Lena turned and began picking her way back toward the lift.
“Come on,” she beckoned the Jedi. “I may need your protection even more now. We’re going to the Cobral Estate.”
“Really?” Qui-Gon asked. “Are you sure that’s the best plan of action?”
“Only my mother-in-law lives there now. She’s not part of the family business. Taking the risk will be worth it. It has to be.”
In the basement of the building, Lena and the Jedi climbed into a large landspeeder. Within moments they were zipping outside the city, toward the home of Lena’s mother-in-law, Zanita Cobral.
“We’ve always gotten along,” Lena explained as they skimmed the surface of the planet. “Rutin was her favorite son. He was the youngest. Losing him was devastating for her, for all of us.”
Qui-Gon had trouble focusing his attention on Lena from his seat in the rear. As he forced himself to stay present, in the back of his mind he wondered if coming on this mission had been a bad idea. It called for subtle judgments he wasn’t certain he was equipped to make. He felt as if he was moving through a fog of unclear emotions.
“Zanita may be the only person on the planet who is not under Solan’s thumb,” Lena said to Obi-Wan. “She’s the only one who can help. I just hope she wants to.”
The Cobral Estate sat on a high ridge overlooking Rian. When the large home was within sight Lena activated a transparisteel roof, which quickly covered the travelers. Then she pushed another button and the transparisteel turned a dark shade of gray.
“When we reach the gate you’ll have to duck down,” Lena said. “The Cobrals don’t like strangers.”
Qui-Gon wondered how much the Cobrals would like seeing Lena. Even though she’d said that she and her mother-in-law were on good terms, her presence might stir things up rather than settle them.
At least they had someone to remind them of Rutin. But who did Qui-Gon have to remind him of Tahl? No one had known her as he had. Fresh memories came to him every day. There was no one to share them with.
Crouched in the back and covered by his own robe, Qui-Gon felt Lena tense. He could tell it was not just apprehension about the meeting with Zanita. Something else was happening.
“That’s Solan’s speeder,” she whispered to the Jedi. “And his brother Bard’s. The whole family is here.”
Qui-Gon raised his head enough to see a number of luxury vehicles parked in the bay outside the mansion. There was no doubt that the Cobrals possessed extraordinary wealth.
“Maybe we should come back later,” Obi-Wan suggested gently from the front seat.
“No. I don’t have time,” Lena said with her familiar resolve. “We’ll sneak in, and I’ll find a way to get Zanita alone. Or maybe I’ll find what I need on my own and we won’t need her help after all. We might be able to get additional information. Having several of the Cobrals present could turn out to be a good thing. “
Or a deadly one, Qui-Gon thought.
Lena parked her speeder at the far end of the row, next to a metal statue.