by M B Panichi
“We may need to hear back sooner than that.”
Garren raised a brow, and Shaine thought how much it reminded her of his father. “Well, it’s like this,” she said, and continued to fill him in on the conversation she’d just had with Flower.
* * *
Morgan staffed the security desk with Lukas. She watched the monitors and the com board while Lukas sat at one of the computer stations running background checks on a group of construction workers Garren’s people were considering hiring. Gohste was at ops. Shaine was out on the construction-site, doing rounds with Garren and Allim, assessing damage from the storm. Morgan had dropped Friday off in the workshop with Mojo and Joe Hailey, tinkering with a skimmer. Friday loved learning and getting her hands on anything that needed fixing, and the guys had taken to her like a little sister.
Morgan’s pad buzzed at her, a message from Shaine with a download included. Hey Morg. Can u take a look at the attchd file? Thx. Ly S.
Morgan typed back an acknowledgment and opened the file. It was from Shaine’s friend, Kyle Ellerand. Morgan skimmed the document. It contained a brief bio/background on Flower MacKiern. Flower was a former journalist and had worked for UniNet Media as an entertainment reporter. She had walked away from that successful career a little more than three years previously when she married a young man named Alfred MacKiern and joined the Unified Martian Temple of God.
Prior to that, Flower had been awarded custody and guardianship of her younger sister, Friday Whiteson, when their parents were killed in an air car accident on Earth. At the time, Friday had been twelve years old. Friday was seventeen now.
Morgan sat back and considered the information. Being a former journalist, Flower could be in a position to disseminate misinformation if she still had contacts in the industry. She could cause a lot of trouble for all of them.
Morgan was torn about how she felt about this former relationship of Shaine’s. Her initial reaction had been jealousy and anger when Shaine had told the story of her disastrous relationship with Flower. The jealously quickly dissipated, but it still pissed her off that Flower had been so cold. She didn’t understand how, when dating an ex-EG commando, the woman would be so offended by a little violence—in her defense, no less. Shaine never lifted a finger against Flower. So what if she’d beaten the crap out of a jerk who was harassing Flower in a bar—hell, any decent person would have done the same to defend the honor of her girl. It just seemed extreme to her that Flower could turn on Shaine because of it. Shaine wasn’t a monster, or a vicious, dangerous person. Flower, on the other hand, was a freak.
Morgan shook her head. The past was the past. She pushed the thoughts away. What counted now was that they were able to protect Friday from any more violence and give her a chance at making her life what she wanted it to be.
Morgan had seen the effects of violence, long before she’d experienced it herself. Her friend Jaimie had been beaten unconscious by her father. The shock of seeing her lying in that infirmary bed, her face black and blue and bandaged, ribs and arm broken—Morgan shuddered at the memory. She’d been thirteen. It wasn’t the first time Jaimie had been beaten by her father. It wouldn’t be the last. Morgan had been furious.
She remembered going off half-cocked at Jaimie’s father when he came into the hospital room. She’d screamed at him, hauled off and started pounding on him. Josef Leighman was a very large man and simply held her at arm’s length once he got hold of her, and called for security.
That had been her first incarceration. Fortunately, no charges were filed. It wouldn’t be her last run-in with the authorities, but her self-destructive anger had started about then. With a sigh, Morgan shook off the memories and tried to concentrate on the security screens she was supposed to be monitoring.
When a com call came into the security station, Morgan frowned at the ID, trying to decide if she should take the call from the colony or if she should let it slide through to the main ops console. Finally, she took the call. “Mann-Maru Security.”
She recognized the woman on the screen as Flower, and she didn’t look particularly happy, nor particularly well-rested. Her blond hair wisped haphazardly out from under her black headscarf. Her face was haggard and she had dark circles under her eyes.
“I want to speak with Friday,” she said.
Morgan felt her anger rising. “Friday doesn’t want to speak with you,” she said. All she could see were the bruises and scars on the girl’s back. She wanted to jump through the screen and beat the crap out of this woman who allowed it to happen.
“Who are you to say that? Where is my sister? I demand to talk to her!”
“I’m Friday’s friend. She’s here. She’s safe. And she has nothing to say to you.”
“How dare you!”
“I don’t ‘dare’ anything. I’m just telling you what Fri told me. If you want to talk to Shaine, she’ll be back in a couple of hours.”
Flower glared. “I don’t want to talk to Shaine. I want to talk to my sister. What’s your name?”
“Morgan. Morgan Rahn. R-A-H-N.”
“You’ll hear back from me, Ms. Rahn.”
“Fine. I’ll let Shaine know you called.” She cut off the connection, knowing she hadn’t handled that well, and not giving a shit, either. No way those people were going to get Friday back. No fucking way.
* * *
Morgan was happy that Shaine joined her and Friday in the cafeteria for dinner that night. She studied Shaine as she set down her tray and eased her long frame onto the bench. She looked tired. Her shoulders slumped a little. Morgan asked, “Long day?”
Shaine nodded and shoveled a forkful of vegetables into her mouth. She chewed and swallowed, then said, “I’ve forgotten what it’s like to spend that many damned hours in a vacuum suit. It weighs on you. I have the headache from hell.”
Morgan nodded. “Yeah. Vac suits, even in partial gravity, suck. Those helmets are a bitch. I noticed it right away when I was out on the site.” She dipped a chunk of bread into her stew. “I’ll give you a shoulder rub when we get back to the room.”
Shaine smiled. “Thanks.”
Friday said, “My sister called here today.”
Shaine’s smile faded.
Morgan frowned at Friday. She had planned to tell Shaine, but was going to wait until later. She said, “I took the call. She wanted to talk to Fri. I told her that Fri didn’t want to talk to her. I asked if she wanted to talk to you, and she said no.”
Shaine sighed. She lifted her container of juice and said, “Maybe I should’ve had beer.”
Morgan grinned. “Actually, if you sweet-talk me, I have some in our room.”
Friday’s eyes brightened. Morgan gave her a look. “Not for you, kiddo.”
The blue eyes narrowed, “Like you were such an angel at my age,” she muttered.
Morgan smiled serenely. “I learned from my mistakes so you don’t have to. Besides, there isn’t enough for three.”
Shaine snickered and continued eating.
Chapter Thirty
Tarm Maruchek was pissed. Morgan could tell by the set of his shoulders, the flat line of his mouth and the intensity of his gaze as he faced them over the vid com. “Have either of you seen today’s news?” he asked sharply. His question was aimed at Shaine and Garren, but Morgan felt the bite of it as well.
Shaine sat up in the chair beside Garren’s. She looked as though she’d just woken up, which she had, and was nursing a double-caff. Morgan knew she too looked like she’d barely had time to throw on yesterday’s clothes. Shaine said, “I haven’t had a chance to check the vid feeds yet. We were up most of the night dealing with a power generator issue.”
Maruchek didn’t appear mollified. He said sharply, “The Unified Martian Temple of God is accusing you of kidnapping one of their members. A juvenile.” He glared daggers at them. “I assume you can explain this situation?”
Garren leaned forward against his desk and said, “She ran away from the colo
ny just before the radiation storm. Morgan and Mojo rescued her and she’s staying here until it’s safe to return her.”
“Why do I believe there is more to the story than that?”
Shaine rubbed her temples. “Because there is.”
“Care to enlighten me?”
Shaine managed a twisted smile. “Not really.”
Maruchek didn’t look amused. He simply waited.
Morgan stepped in front of the camera. She said angrily, “They were beating her. They probably raped her, too, but she won’t say. Friday’s got bruises all across her back and sides. No way she’s going back to those bastards.”
“That’s quite a charge, Morgan.”
“It’s the truth.”
Shaine said quietly, “Friday ran from them. She hijacked a personal skimmer and dismantled their regular transports so that they couldn’t follow her. They called us to see if we could find her before the storm broke, which we did, but barely. Doc Lei took a look at her to make sure she was okay. The injuries Friday has are more consistent with beatings over time than any damage from the skimmer crash. She’s even had her ribs broken. We have it all documented. Garren put in a call to legal to see what our options were, and we were keeping her here until we heard back.”
“And now our hand is being forced. If they were hurting her, why would they put themselves out there like this?”
Shaine sipped slowly at her coffee. “Who reported the kidnapping?” she asked. “Did they give a name?”
Maruchek glanced down at his desktop. “Flower MacKiern, the sister of the kidnapped girl. She was also a reporter with UniNet Media.”
Shaine sighed. “Yeah. Great. In this case, I think the accusations are probably aimed at me personally.”
Maruchek gave her an impatient glare. “And why would you think that, Ms. Wendt?”
Shaine ran her hands through her hair. It didn’t help to make it less messy, nor did it hide the flush on her face. “Because I dated her, a long time ago, and it ended rather badly.”
Maruchek shook his head and muttered a string of oaths under his breath.
Morgan protested, “It’s not Shaine’s fault. We’re trying to do the right thing for Friday. If Flower’s being a bitch, it’s because she’s afraid someone will find out they’re a bunch of cold-hearted cultists.”
“You put the company into a difficult position.”
Garren said evenly, “Legally, they can’t fault us on this, Father. Friday’s injuries were well documented when she came to us. Up until yesterday, it wasn’t safe to go out of the radiation shelter, so we can’t be blamed for holding her unduly. We’ve kept her safe. She’d have died out on the surface if we hadn’t found her.”
“That may be true, and certainly we will get our legal people on this issue. In the meanwhile I need the facts so we can put them out there appropriately. I don’t like it when my own publicity people come to me with these kinds of issues. A heads-up would have been a good thing. You, of all people, should have known that, Garren.”
Shaine said, “By the time Garren knew about the situation, our coms were jammed by the sun storm. We got a call in to legal as soon as we had a signal, so it’s not as if we weren’t dealing with the situation.”
Maruchek said, “I want a complete report, with all the sordid details.”
Shaine and Garren nodded. Shaine said, “It’ll be in your hands in an hour.”
“Good.” Maruchek cut the com link.
Garren rolled his head, popping the vertebrae in his neck. “Well, that wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be,” he commented.
Shaine scowled. “I’m gonna go and get that report written.”
“I’ll get you some more coffee,” Morgan offered.
Shaine leaned down and kissed her. “You are the best,” she said, and, patting Morgan’s butt, she slipped out the door.
Morgan flushed and Garren laughed. “You guys are sad,” he accused lightly.
“Asshole. You just wish you had such a good-looking girlfriend. I’ll drop a coffee off for you too.” Morgan grinned and swept out of his small office.
* * *
Morgan joined Shaine in her office the following morning. She leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed over her chest. Shaine leaned back in the desk chair. Morgan could clearly see the vid screen on the desk. Tarm Maruchek frowned slightly as he regarded them from behind his own desk.
The previous day had been a long one. The overindustrious media had run away with the story of Friday being “kidnapped” and held at the Mann-Maru construction-site. They learned that Morgan was on-site, and she was with the Head of Security. Someone made the connection between Shaine and the photos of her and Morgan in the zero-G cube, and then to Shaine having “stopped” the gunmen on Earth. They referred to her as a “security cowboy.” The rumors and innuendos ran rampant, fueled by “sources” from the colony describing how “confused and lost” their young Friday was, and how she would be “ruined” by the barbaric infidels at the construction-site. All those rough construction workers, men and women alike—what would they do to poor, innocent Friday? And what was Mann-Maru going to do about it?
The last straw for Morgan was the message she’d received from her best friend Charri, asking what was really going on. At least Charri didn’t accuse them of kidnapping. But for Charri to ask, the media had to be absolutely rabid.
Morgan had seen some of the coverage. She and Shaine had walked through the rec room to grab an entertainment pad for Friday and she’d barely restrained herself from putting her fist through the screen in reaction to an “Entertainment Universe” story. Her fury felt like a wild thing inside her, wanting to lash out.
Meanwhile, the Mann-Maru legal and PR departments were busy trying to refute the allegations without making specific claims that Friday was being ill-treated by the colony.
Now Tarm Maruchek faced them, serious and concerned. He wanted Morgan and Shaine to talk to Friday and get her to either admit or deny that she was being abused at the colony. Without a statement from Friday, if she didn’t press charges, they had no case and she would have to return to the colony because she was still underage.
Maruchek wanted Friday to press charges against her rapists and torturers. His people would do their best to keep it all under the radar if it were to go to trial. He was convinced if they could bring a legitimate case against the colony, Abraham and his Temple would back down and do everything they could to keep it out of the courts and downplay it in the press. Morgan could see the logic in that, though she hated to put Friday through the trauma.
Shaine said, “We’ll talk to Friday tonight.”
Morgan added, “If she wants to talk. I don’t want to push her.”
Maruchek frowned but nodded. “Do what you can.” He glanced down at his desk. “I have another meeting. Let me know what happens.”
Shaine said, “I’ll call.”
“Thank you. We’ll talk later. Morgan, Shaine.” He cut off the connection.
Shaine ran her long fingers through her hair with a sigh, turning in her chair to face Morgan. “As much as you’d rather not, we’re probably going to have to be pretty blunt with her about this.”
“Yeah. I don’t like it, but I think you’re right.” She straightened and glanced at her wrist chron. “I’d better get going. Joe needed me to help in the equipment warehouse today. Lots of repairs after the storm.”
“I’ve got meetings with Garren and Ahmed most of the morning. Things are ramping up, so we’ve got a lot of preparation to do. The scientists turned in their final maps of the iron veins, so we’re ready to start final plans for the strip mining process. It’s going to get really crowded around here before they get the workers’ quarters finished in the new dome.”
Morgan smiled. “Glad I’m not the one coordinating all that.” She dropped a quick kiss on Shaine’s cheek and slipped out the door.
Shaine smiled. It was good to have Morgan on-site with her. She felt so much
more settled having her around. She loved the connection between them. Some days, though, she worried that she was more focused on her work than Morgan. Not that Morgan seemed to be bothered by it. Besides, Morgan was nearly as busy as she was.
What about the future, though? What would she and Morgan do after this gig? Return to Moon Base? Go back to Earth? She had all but proposed to Morgan back at the farm, and Morgan had accepted. But they hadn’t made it official. And they hadn’t talked about it since. Is that still what Morgan wanted? To be married to her?
It still didn’t answer the question of where they would end up. What did Morgan want? Morgan had skills she could use anywhere. She was a good all-around mechanic. She learned fast. They needed to talk about the future, but they’d been too caught up in the present.
Shaking away the thoughts, Shaine opened the task list on her computer. There were a handful of reports from her security team she needed to read through and sign off on. They were a good group, doing a good job.
Since the incident with the crane and Alec’s death, everyone had been on much higher alert. Following the protocols they’d started in the radiation shelter, they continued with frequent, random patrols of the entire complex. She’d instituted site patrols on foot and on personal skimmers during the day. She’d also set a strict guard on the entrance to the warehouse and the external airlocks. The guards were responsible for logging all incoming and outgoing personnel.
She opened the first of the reports and settled in.
The com beeped, a single beep for an internal call. Absently, and without looking up from her work, she opened the connection. “Wendt.”
“Got a vid call for you on the main switchboard. From the colony. You want to take it?”
“Yeah, send it through. Thanks, Rita.”
The vid screen on her desk flickered to life with the serious faces of Flower and Elder Brother Abraham. Shaine decided to play it pleasant and nonconfrontational, despite the obvious hostility on Flower’s face. “Good morning. What can I do for you?”
