"Yes, Master." Anakin frowned as Obi-Wan cut the communication. His Master had not been very forthcoming with information. And he did not seem interested in the secret squad. Anakin had the feeling that Obi-Wan didn't think they were involved in Gillam's disappearance.
But Anakin felt differently. And here, he could follow his own rules.
All his life, he had known only two ways to live: as a slave, or as a Jedi. As a young boy on Tatooine he had looked to the Jedi as the most free beings in the galaxy. Even before he knew much about them, he had dreamed of being a Jedi.
But was being a Jedi being free? Or had he traded one form of slavery for another?
The thought was so shocking that Anakin couldn't face it once he dredged it up. He tucked it away in the place in his mind that he did not visit. It was a place where fear ruled. He never went there, not even in the middle of the night when he woke, his head full of dreams, and did not know where he was or why his mother was not near.
Anakin put his comlink back into his tunic. For the first time since entering the school, returning to comm silence did not make him feel cut off. He was glad not to answer to anyone, even for twenty-four hours. He headed out to find Marit and the squad, where there were no Masters to chide him.
Chapter Ten
None of these experts had come up with anything. And Obi-Wan was plagued by the feeling that he was missing something. Something obvious.
He retreated to his private quarters to think. He felt more in need of a Master than Anakin. He wished someone could give him the direction he was looking for.
In his reports from the Leadership School, Anakin had sounded self- sufficient, completely in charge of the situation. Obi-Wan didn't know if the secret squad was involved in Gillam's disappearance, but he was proud of his Padawan for infiltrating it so quickly. He just wished he hadn't heard something in Anakin's voice that reminded him of his own past. When he had been a Padawan, he had briefly left the Jedi after meeting a rebel group on Melida/Daan called The Young. To him, The Young had passion and commitment and an important cause. When Qui-Gon
had forbidden him to stay and help them, he had turned his back on the Jedi. It had made complete sense to him then. He had felt so right and he had been so wrong.
Inner balance. It took experience to know when the wrong instinct had made it careen off-kilter.
But Anakin was not the same. Being a Jedi meant everything to Anakin.
Obi-Wan returned to his more pressing problem. He stared down at the security report once again. What was he missing? He had a feeling that Qui- Gon would know. His Master was always able to combine emotion with logic to reach the correct conclusion. Find the emotion behind the logic or the illogic, Qui-Gon would say. If you can't see the solution, try to see the emotion. But if something seemed logical to Obi-Wan, it was difficult to see the illogical heart of it.
He heard Qui-Gon's voice clearly in his head If something is not possible, then it did not happen.
Obi-Wan stood up so suddenly that the report slid off his lap.
Security wasn't breached. Gillam never left the academy campus!
He was still there. But was he alive or dead? And who took him?
Ferus had reported that Reymet had hinted that he knew how to visit places he wasn't supposed to go within the school campus. What if Reymet wasn't just trying to impress Ferus? What if Reymet had seen something that night?
Obi-Wan shook his head. It didn't seem logical that. Reymet would keep silent when the life of a fellow student was at stake. Reymet might be a sneak, but he had no reason to suppose he would support a kidnapper.
Obi-Wan had never attended a regular school, but the Temple was like one in many ways. He thought back to his own training. Why would Reymet keep silent?
The answer roared into his brain.
Because adults didn't take Gillam. Students did. A boy Reymet's age wouldn't turn in fellow students. What had Anakin told him students called someone who snitched?
If Reymet told, he'd be a womp fink.
His comlink signaled. Hoping it was Anakin, he snatched it and activated it.
He felt the thud of disappointment when he heard Jocasta Nu's voice.
Unless Anakin contacted him on the emergency channel, he would have to wait until their next scheduled communication the following day.
"I have traced the payment for you, even though you were perfectly capable of doing so yourself, if you had paid attention to my instructions, " Jocasta Nu's crisp voice said. "There was a credit payment from Rana Halion to an account on Andara. The account is anonymous, but through a series of traces I've discovered that it is used by that secret renegade squad the Council is so concerned about. A boy named Rolai Frac set it up.
An impressive use of cloaking maneuvers hid his identity. I've rarely seen better."
"Thank you, Madame Nu," Obi-Wan said fervently.
"Next time, you will do your own research, Master Kenobi. I do not have time to indulge your many requests, and I "