by M. Lorrox
Minnie sighs with contempt. “But the question is dumb, he should just sell grapes.”
Eddy laughs.
Skip scratches his head. “Minnie, he doesn’t have any grapes.”
“Not yet, but he could trade the apples for some.”
Skip chuckles. “Okay, but to be sure he can make more by selling grapes, we have to figure out how much he can make from the apples.”
Minnie squints her eyes. “Good point.”
Captain Korina Sarkis leads Charlie to a conference room. She knocks on the door and then enters. Three vampires stand at attention in the middle of the room, and she falls into line with them. Charlie closes the door behind him and walks up to stand in front of the group. He snaps his feet and hands to his side, then steps out and folds his hands at his waist. “At ease.”
The four vampires step out in unison.
“I’m Lieu—uh, Colonel Costanza.” That sounds so silly. “Your new commanding officer. Have you been briefed on my military record?”
They nod.
“Good. I understand that you are the senior officers of the Guard, but I have not been briefed on who any of you are, so please, introduce yourselves along with your knight’s rank and tenure on the Guard.” He motions to the woman that lead him in. “Captain, please go first.”
“Korina Sarkis, sir, Captain. I’ve been a guardsman for twenty-two years.”
“Oh, and if you have a knight’s-name that you would prefer I use, please tell me.”
“Please call me Korina, sir.”
Charlie nods and turns to the vampire on her left. He is medium height with jet black hair, light skin, and piercing eyes. He wears a tight-fitting, long-sleeved shirt that is tucked into crisp, black pants.
“Miyamoto Tatsu, sir, rank of First Lieutenant. Serving the Council Guard for eighteen years. Please call me Tatsu.”
Charlie tilts his head. “I believe I may have met you, in Japan, a long time ago.”
“Hai. Komaki.”
“Komaki... Hai.” Charlie bows to Tatsu, who in turn bows lower. Charlie turns to the next vampire in line, a blonde woman with a strong jaw and solid shoulders, who wears digital camouflage patterned fatigues.
“Sir. My name is Elian Schermer. Rank of Major. I have been a guardsman for thirty-eight years.”
Charlie lifts his brow and nods. “That is an impressive tenure, Major. What would you prefer I call you?”
She lets out a pained sigh. “Whatever you prefer.”
Charlie steps diagonally in front of her. “Major, I will gladly use whatever name you like.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
Charlie swallows. “Why doesn’t it matter, Major?”
She looks Charlie up and down and takes a deep breath. She exhales and chooses not to speak.
Charlie folds his arms across his chest. “Speak freely, Major.”
She blinks. “It is clear to me that the High Council no longer values the tenure and service the Guard provides. If they did, we wouldn’t be reporting to you, sir. No offense intended.”
“Oh?”
“No. In fact, I must remind myself that it is not an insult to us that you have been placed in command of the Guard. You have an impressive record, sir, but you are not qualified for this commission.”
“I’m not? Are you sure?”
“I am sure that you are not. You have been out of service for two lifetimes, your past experience is completely out of date, and you have never even served on the Guard, let alone been an officer of it. We, on the other hand, have served in the capacity of guardsmen for many decades. It will be a chore just to bring you up to speed with modern security procedures and technology. I can only assume that your commission is politically motivated and your command of the Guard will be at the Guard’s senior officer’s—” She gestures to herself and the others next to her. “—at our frustration and expense...sir.”
Charlie pauses as he takes a long, deep breath, and then he clears his throat and nods. “Yup.”
She scowls. “Are you amused?”
Korina steps forward and snaps to the attention position. Charlie turns to her. “Permission to speak freely to the major, sir.”
He grins and nods.
Korina walks over to her and punches her in the shoulder.
“Hey! What is wrong with you?”
“Before you say anything else that you’ll regret, you should know that Colonel Costanza made them modify the commission before he would accept it.”
Major Elian Schermer’s eyes grow wide, then she steals a glance at Charlie. “Oh?”
Charlie places his palm on Korina’s shoulder. “Thank you, Captain.”
She steps back into her place in line.
“I told the War and Defense Cabinet that I would accept the commission on the condition that I would be able to promote another in my place.” He glances at each of the senior officers, then he smiles at the major. “I have a short list that I’m considering. The major is right on all counts—I shouldn’t be here, but I am, so that’s that.”
Major Elian Schermer closes her eyes and groans. Godverdegodver!
“Major—”
“Sir, I apologize, I—”
“Major, what would you like me to call you?”
“...Schermer. Thank you, sir.”
“You’re welcome.”
Charlie turns to face the last vampire in line who tries to subdue a joker’s smile. He has orange-red hair and a red goatee. His gray t-shirt hides below a tactical chest rig, and his tan cargos have sewn in MOLLE and hook-and-loop attachment points.
“Sir, I’m First Lieutenant Tiger, sir. I’m pleased to serve under you, sir.”
“Tiger?”
“Aye sir.”
“That’s your name?”
“Aye.”
“Do you have a surname?”
“Naa sir. Just Tiger.”
Charlie shrugs. “Okay, Tiger, how long have you served with the Guard?”
“Oh, sorry sir. More than ten, but less than twenty years, I think, sir.”
Charlie looks at him sideways. “I bet it’s written down somewhere.”
Schermer clears her throat. “Colonel, Tiger has been a guardsman for fourteen and a half years.”
“Thank you, Schermer.” Charlie looks at Tiger again, and Tiger smiles at him. “Not the best memory, Tiger?”
“It’s photographic sir, but every time I memorize my tenure, it ends up changing on me!” He starts to laugh. “Get it? You do, right?”
Charlie grins and stares at him through a long exhale. “Alright.” He walks back to his initial place and stands with his hands folded in front. “Attention!”
They snap to attention in unison.
“I am your commanding officer, and you will obey my commands. I need to get up to speed. First, I need a briefing on current security procedures. Korina, that’ll be you.”
“Yes, sir.”
“I need relevant, recent Guard history and a strategic analysis for the meetings going on here at the hotel. That’s you, Tatsu.”
“Hai.”
“I need personnel information on the junior guardsmen. Tiger.”
“Aye, sir.”
“Lastly, Schermer?”
“Sir?”
“Whatever I’m missing that is most vital, please prepare...whatever that might be.”
“Yes, sir.”
“I want these reports as soon as possible. Unless you have other, more pressing duties I’m unaware of, get started immediately. I’ll expect these to be waiting for me first thing in the morning. Any questions?”
They remain still.
“Dismissed.”
They break their formation, and all but Schermer move to some tables that they’re using as desks on the side of the room. Charlie looks at her and waits.
“Sir?”
“Schermer?”
“I would like to formally apologize for—”
“Formal apology accepted. Oh, and I was wondering, who
should I see about gear? I’ll need a formal uniform for attending High Council meetings and a weapon, I suppose.
“That’d be me sir, I’m Master at Arms as well.”
Charlie glances around quickly just to make sure he didn’t miss any storage cabinets. He spots some tall, gym-style lockers against a wall and motions to them. “The supplies wouldn’t be in there, would they?”
“No. I’ll show you to the equipment storage room and get you set up. Would you like to go now?”
“I’ll meet you back here in a couple minutes, I need to pee first.”
“Sir?”
“What? Don’t you do that sometimes?”
“Oh, yes, sorry sir. Of course.”
“Check!” June slides her queen into an opening on the board.
“Oh, June.” Beatrice frowns. “That was not the right move.”
June’s exuberance crashes. “It wasn’t?” She looks at the board. “That seems like the best option, I mean, that puts your king in danger, brings my queen in and opens up for my bishop to move in and attack on this diagonal.” She points to an empty space on the board.
“But, that’s assuming I move my king to get out of this check. Instead, I’ll block it by bringing my rook over.” She slides her rook across the board, setting it immediately in front of her own king, and in line with June’s queen.
June inspects the new options available to her. If I take her rook with my queen, she can just take my queen back with the king, so that’s a waste. Nobody is protecting my queen, so she can take it for free with her rook if I don’t move it. “Alright. Umm, queen to b5.”
“Uh-uh-uh, you can’t do that.”
“What?” Why not, what am I missing? Oh no! “Because you moved your rook, my queen is now blocking an attack from your bishop to my king. So, I can’t move the queen away, because that would be moving into check.”
“That’s correct.”
If I slide my queen back toward my king, she can just take it with the bishop. If I take her bishop with my queen, she’ll take my queen with her knight... Either way, the rook she moved can then slide all the way to my back row and really threaten my king. She sighs. “Crap. What should I do?”
“Learn from your mistake.”
June rolls her eyes and smiles. “Well yeah, but what move?”
“You don’t understand, my dear. See, the next move isn’t important, so there’s not much use in considering it. You will lose this game without your queen. I already have taken both your rooks, a knight, and a bishop. You have one of my knights, one rook, and one bishop. I’d have to play very poorly for you to win.”
“So, the game’s just over then?”
“June, no, what I’m saying is that I want you to understand what you did wrong. Then we can keep playing, if you want.” Beatrice points to where her rook was before she moved it to protect the king. “When my rook was here, it blocked the bishop’s line of attack on your queen and king. By moving it, I created what’s called a discovered attack.”
“That’s when a moved piece reveals an attack from a different piece?”
“Yes. And look here—” She places her finger on top of June’s queen. “—your queen is now pinned by my bishop. That means, if you move the pinned piece, you allow an attack on a more valuable piece. In this case, your king.”
“Hmm. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that chess is more complicated than I thought.” She smiles across the board to Beatrice. “I guess that’s why they have Grandmasters and competitions and stuff.”
“I may have once earned the title of Grandmaster, but I’ll tell you a secret: there’s always somebody out there that’s better, and they’re just dying for the opportunity to prove it.
Schermer leads Charlie into the basement of the hotel, to a series of rooms bordering the underground parking garage. “We’ve been keeping everything down here for security.” She opens a door marked “Storage B” with a keycard. “I’ll grant you access later today. Would you like to use your hotel card or would you like a new card just for this?”
“Better give me a new card. I share a suite with others, and I’d be concerned that if someone lost a room key, that this room would become compromised… But make two copies please.”
Inside the room, locked metal cabinets line the walls. A metal utility table sits in the middle, with a work lamp and electronics tools on top.
Schermer points to a pair of cabinets. “Tactical gear is here, and official uniforms are there.” Each cabinet has a padlock securing them. She reaches into her pocket and pulls out a set of color-coded keys. “I’ll open these up so you can collect what you need, just lock them when you’re done.”
“Thanks.” Charlie looks around and sees a red duffel bag sitting on top of a different cabinet. He moves over to it. “Can I borrow this bag to get the gear back to my room?”
“No, not that one.” She pulls a blue bag out of the uniform closet and hands it to Charlie. “Use this. The red one there is for emergency surgery.” She pulls out a bin from the bottom of the cabinet and removes a red-sling bag. She hands it to Charlie. “Here’s an emergency med kit for your vehicle. Every guard should have one.”
“Alright.” Charlie slips it into the blue bag. Sadie has one in the Jeep, but maybe Skip will want it.
Schermer moves to a cabinet with tamper-proof hinges and reinforcement bars across the front. “Weapons are here. What kind of sidearm would you prefer?”
Ugh.
“Sir?”
“What do you think would be most appropriate?”
She opens the cabinet doors. Inside are racks of pistols, batons, and sub-machine guns. Along the very top is a row of tricked-out assault rifles; they have gear attached to their front rails and scopes attached to the rear rails. She slides the batons aside and grabs something from behind them that Charlie can’t see. “I believe you would be most comfortable with this.” She turns around and hands a fabric bag to Charlie.
He opens the bag and slides out a sword. It’s straight, and it has a large, basket-shaped hilt to protect the hand. “This is an interesting sword. It’s cavalry, right?”
“Yes. Designed by Patton himself.”
Charlie slides the sword from its scabbard and inspects it. The blade’s cross section reminds him of a fencing sword. “General Patton?”
“He was a master swordsman. He designed these swords for the military and taught the cavalry to use stabbing motions instead of the customary slash.”
Charlie slides the blade back into the scabbard, then back into the bag. “Thank you, I appreciate the thought. This is perfect.”
Schermer smiles. “Try not to lose it. It’s the original.”
“Okay.” His smile fades to a frown. “Do I need a firearm as well? I mean, do the senior officers carry them? I probably should follow suit.”
“It is not necessary to carry a firearm. I remember how you disdain them.” She pauses. “I did not mention in front of the others, but we have met before.”
Charlie studies the woman’s face. “I can’t place you. Where was this?”
“I was only a girl at the time, still a squire. Helene’s Squire.”
Helene. “From the Russian Ascension?”
“Indeed.”
Charlie nods. “I remember Helene. She was a great knight. I heard she died at sea. I’m sorry.”
“I achieved my knighthood before we lost her, but it was still a shock. Anyway, thank you.”
“Of course.”
Schermer shakes her head. “No, I mean thank you, for saving her back in Russia.”
Charlie nods. “Of course, I just did my job.”
“Sir, I know what was recorded from your debriefings, but Helene told me what actually happened.”
Charlie nods. “You’re welcome.”
Schermer leans on the table in the center of the room. “I was wondering, would you like us to use your knight’s name?”
Charlie inhales through open lips and closed teeth. I h
aven’t been called that name in over a hundred years. “I don’t think that’ll be necessary.”
“May I ask why, sir? Has it laid fallow too long?”
Charlie sees that Schermer is being genuine. “Partially, yes, but also because I’m not ready for it yet. I’ll need some time.”
Schermer shrugs. “I think I understand.” She walks over to another cabinet and starts to open it. “Here we have the electronics. Cells, radios, GPS, and surveillance equipment.”
Charlie smiles. “Spy stuff huh? That’s cool.”
Schermer laughs and mimics an American surfer-dude accent. “Totally cool, man.”
Charlie laughs with her. “Not bad at all!”
Schermer chuckles and pulls out a cell phone. “You’re getting number 7299.” She sets it on the table and returns to the cabinet.
“Can’t I just use my current phone?”
“No. Is there any spy stuff you need?”
“Oh. I didn’t really consider that. You’ve got bugs and stuff?”
“Of course.”
“Do you have the things that scan for bugs? I don’t know what they’re called.”
“Counter-surveillance devices or bug detectors, and yes, we have them. The Council Guard scanned every inch of the hotel for bugs before the location was announced publicly, and it was clean.”
“That’s reassuring, but I’d still like to scan my room.”
She turns and starts digging through cases in the locker. “Just so you know, the detector won’t find wired microphones, but it’ll find anything that’s wireless.”
Charlie frowns. “Can you be more specific about what it can’t find?”
She turns and hands a small case to Charlie. “If somebody drills a hole through the wall and sticks a wired mic in, they’ve got you. Anything that might be hidden and using a wireless signal to transmit data—” She points to the case. “—this will find. And don’t worry about laser mics eavesdropping through the windows; they’re double-paned and have military grade anti-UV, anti-surveillance films on them.”
Eavesdrop through windows with lasers? I guess I have been out of the game too long...
“Sir?”
“Thank you, Schermer, that helps. I was also wondering; do you have any GPS stuff? Transponders, and uh, trackers? You know what I mean.”
