“In the meantime, act as if nothing has been revealed. In fact, I want it put out that the DNA results were unclear, but that it was discernible that the perpetrator was male. That should clear your bride from any further unwarranted accusations. The security detail will continue though as it’s part of the agreement we made with the human authorities. Enjoy your honeymoon.”
Kranow nodded. He knew that the cover story would be enough to lift most of the cloud from his bride’s shoulders. The rest would come in short order. Now was the time for celebration. He turned and watched the evening sun play upon her face and hair. He smiled as she held one of Melissa’s twin son’s hands, Jack he thought it was, while Melissa held the other. The child shrieked with laughter as they swung him in and out of the surf. Darla sat upon the sand, helping Maisie build a sandcastle while Lapresh napped in a shaded baby seat. One day, we shall play with our own young like that.
Kranow took another sip of his beverage, only now fully tasting it. He glanced at the can. Dr. Pepper. Was this a medicinal drink? He did not know, but knew that if it was in the cooler, then it had been thoroughly approved as safe for both humans and Mylos. He took another sip. “Do we have this available onboard?” he asked, indicating the beverage.
“We do, though you have to synthesize it. The AI has the formula stored in the patterns index as we’ve licensed it. Darla had me arrange to license yet another variety of cola as well, along with something called a Moon Pie. She claimed it was ‘practically illegal’ to eat a Moon Pie without drinking RC Cola with it.”
“Moon Pie?” asked Sachuu.
“A type of giant cookie covered in chocolate or that yellow tropical fruit, ah, nanana or some such thing, with marshmallow in the middle.”
“Ah, yes, the brides seem most enamored with the marshmallow things, I believe,” Sachuu nodded.
“I must admit, they are nice in the heated chocolate beverage, especially with the whipped fatty milk component added as part of the dressing,” Gundar said.
Kranow nodded. “That is indeed most pleasant. My mate has prepared it for us before.”
Sachuu nodded. “I will take note of this, should I ever be matched with a human bride, I can please her with this as an offering.”
“They also love to receive cut flowers,” Gundar supplied.
“And foot and back rubs,” Kranow added. Sachuu duly noted these down in his kunnarskyn.
“Hey, you guys want to help me start packing up? Since my other half is on duty helping with critical repairs and all, it’s just me and the girls, and they are on kid duty right now,” Steven called out, approaching the three males.
“Certainly,” Sachuu said and his two companions muttered in agreement.
“It is a pity he was needed for such a reason,” Gundar commented as he emptied the now cold ashes from the barbecue into a trash can.
“It is, but once the repairs are done, he’s getting a week off. We’re planning on another little family vacay to Disneyland Paris. Three days doing Disney and another two or three visiting museums and sightseeing, plus one just chilling at the resort, enjoying the pool.”
“That sounds nice,” Darla said, placing Lapresh’s seat on a nearby picnic table. The infant watched the cleaning activities wide-eyed. “Maisie, honey, can you pick up the paper plates and napkins and things and put them in the trash?”
“Yes! I can be a big help!” the child chirped and scampered off excitedly to begin.
Darla reached for a plastic bag and began crushing empty drink cans and placing them inside. “Melissa said there was a recycling drop off point not far from here. We can take these there when we leave.”
“That is a sound plan. I am surprised they do not have separate facilities here at the beach for persons to leave reclaimable waste. Surely the canned and bottled beverages are usual picnic items? I was under that impression.”
“You’re not mistaken,” Darla grinned. “It’s a local thing, where you have to have people from the city, and county an all that all decide to do it and then how they wanna go about it. Ends up a bit higgledy piggledy.”
The three males blinked at her, taking the time to parse what she’d said and deduce the meaning. Steven snorted in amusement, watching them. Soon, everything was cleared up, sand had been rinsed from skin and beach toys, and tired but happy children were strapped into the cars that were to ferry them back to the shuttle point.
Darla, Melissa, and Steven took turns giving Marley a hug. “Have a great time! See you soon!” Darla said.
“Make sure to take pictures and send them! The island in Scotland sounds fantastic!” Melissa gushed.
“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” Steven said, waggling his eyebrows.
Marley laughed at their antics. “See you all soon,” she said, and got into the back of the SUV with Kranow, ready to go to their B and B with their security escort. “Home, James!” she called out gaily as she fastened her seatbelt. The security officer acting as their driver met her gaze through the rearview mirror.
“Surely you wish to go to your honeymoon lodgings, and not to the ship?” he asked in surprise.
“Uh, yeah, that’s what I meant,” she said, giggling at his consternation. “That was an expression, kind of a joke.”
“Oh,” the male replied. “Well, my name is Yartle, not James. Thank you for inviting us to your barbecue. The food was excellent.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Yartle,” she answered, lips twitching as she tried to contain her laughter. Kranow glanced at her knowingly.
“We are pleased to have been able to share our celebration with you and to make your acquaintance,” he supplied.
With that, Marley was lost to her laughter. Looking at each other perplexed, the two security officers in the front shrugged at each other before Yartle started the car and drove off.
Chapter Thirty-One
Marley looked out the window of their small plane as it flew out over the Atlantic. She thought back to what Kranow had told her just days before. She’d been agog to hear that the device held evidence that Jerome Shaw, O’Hannigan’s personal assistant, had planted the incendiary device. He’d been injured when the fire from the initial explosion triggered a second explosion from the kitchen area. Serves his ass right. But why did he do it? She rubbed a hand across her forehead. Whatever the reasoning, she had faith that the Mylos would uncover it. In the meantime, she had the rest of her honeymoon to enjoy and she’d be damned if she let anyone get in the way of that.
She glanced over at her mate, taking in his rigid posture. She reached over, clasping his hand in hers. He flicked his eyes towards her, his mouth grim as he tried to reign in his deep misgivings about the human aircraft with its glass windows. She resolved to ask if they could experience the ferry ride to Oban and have a shuttle craft pick them up from there instead of taking a flight back when it was time to return. She found the flight thrilling but it was apparently very much an Achilles’ heel moment for her otherwise brave warrior.
She squeezed his hand reassuringly as the pilot informed them they were coming in to land and a quick glance out the window showed them flying over small islands. Then they were approaching the beach and before she knew it, her hand was being crushed as the small craft’s wheels gave a series of small bounces as it landed upon the sand.
“We’re here,” she said in a strangled voice as he released her hand.
“Yes, it appears we have made it without incident,” Kranow concurred. “He glanced at her hand as she flexed her fingers and grimaced. “I apologize. I had not realized that my grip was quite so firm. I merely meant to reassure that we were going to be fine.”
She gave him a wry smile. “We’re fine, apart for my hand which I’m sure will be right as rain in a few minutes. But, I think for the trip back to the fleet, it might be nice to ride the ferry to Oban and have a shuttle pick us up?”
He nodded. “It would give us yet another memory, of sailing upon the sea. Perhaps it will also be le
ss fraught with anxiety for you.”
“Less anxiety would be good,” she agreed.
“I would certainly prefer to try a different conveyance,” Yartle said, unbuckling himself from his seat and standing up to face them.
“I found it quite fascinating. These are actual glass viewing ports and they have no anti-grav boosters,” the other agent, Krilit, said. “The pilot has been well trained and the vehicle is well maintained. We were in no actual danger.”
“I think I still would prefer the ferry,” Marley said. “Even if it’s just so I can say I’ve done the sailing and the flight. Who knows when I might ever get the chance again?”
“True,” Krilit agreed. “It would be yet another experience to have had.”
The group fetched their carry-on bags and made their way carefully down the steps onto the beach. Marley clapped her hands when she saw the baggage claim area. “Look, Kranow! The claim area is at a bus stop!” They followed the crew as they carried baggage to a bus shelter edifice which was marked as baggage claim. In place of seating, it held a rack for holding luggage.
“I’ll go pick up our vehicle rental,” Krilit said, disappearing into the small building. He reappeared moments later, keys in hand, and pointed to an electric Renault in the parking lot. “That one’s ours, the clerk said.” Moments later, the luggage was in the trunk and they were driving away from Barra Airport.
Several minutes later, the Sat Nav led them to a large circular road. “Hey, look,” Marley said. “Doesn’t matter if we go left or right, the road ends up in Castlebay.”
“The road goes around the island in a circle and runs through the middle of Castlebay,” Krilit said. “It was the first thing that caught our attention when we looked at the map to familiarize ourselves with the island.”
Of course it was.
“Would you like to visit the castle out in the bay tomorrow?” Kranow asked her.
“Oh, yes, can we?”
“We can,” he affirmed.
Marley bounced excitedly in her seat. “I’ve always wanted to see a real castle! Even if it was just a ruin. This one isn’t though, right? It’s intact and we can walk around inside.”
“Yes, though we must catch a boat to visit it.”
The car entered the outskirts of Castlebay, Kisimul Caste in the bay easily spotted much to Marley’s delight. The car continued through the village and along a rise before turning down a side road. Marley was surprised to see a croft acting as a campground with several cars and campers parked. “Wow, they must have brought those campers across on the ferry! I bet that was expensive,” she said musingly. A loch came into view and the car slowed before turning into a graveled drive, pulling up alongside a traditional Highland dormer cottage. A newer, smaller traditionally styled cottage was behind it, a short distance further down the drive.
The car came to a stop and Marley looked about expectantly. “This is it? Do we have the keys?”
“I was told a Mrs. Roberts would be meeting us. It appears she may be late,” Kranow replied, getting out of the car and turning his head to look about.
“There’s a woman from the house at the bend waving at us,” Yartle said. It soon became apparent that this must be Mrs. Roberts as she was clutching two sets of keys in her hand.
“Sorry 'bout that,” she panted, her face rosy from exertion. “I thought I had time to get me washing out on the line before ye came. I’m Jane Roberts, if you need anything at all, just come knock on me door.” She held the sets of keys out straight in front of her. Kranow relieved her of them. “That set there is for the big cottage,” she said, her hand darting forward and touching a set of the keys. They’ve got the yellow tag, see? T’other is for the small one. Not that we bother all that much with locks here, but visitors always want the keys. I’ve put some basic things in, but you’ll need to go get most of yer shopping done yerself. There’s a Co-Op in Castlebay.”
“I’m sure we’ll find it,” Marley reassured her before surprising herself with a large yawn.
“I’ll just let you settle in then. You’ll be ready for a nap, I expect. There’s fresh sheets on the bed,” Jane sad before turning swiftly and hurrying back to her own cottage.
“Mmm, bed sounds nice,” Marley said sleepily. She was all too happy to follow Kranow into the first cottage ad burrow her face into the fluffy softness of the master bedroom’s bed pillows. She never even noticed when Kranow brought in their luggage before climbing into bed behind her.
Chapter Thirty-Two
“And before we left Florida, we stopped by Eglin and used the reciprocal base shopping privileges. Kranow picked up a GoPro so we could catch footage of our snorkel with the seals and stuff. I gotta edit it first but after I do, I’ll share it with you guys,” Marley gushed to her friends. She and Kranow had returned from their honeymoon the evening before and she was enjoying having a catch up with her three closest friends over lunch at Steven’s. The older children were eating at their own table while enjoying an animated adventure featuring a lonely kitten who saves the world by teaching a wannabe evil scientist about love and compassion.
“Well, let me tell you, while you were gone, some stuff went down,” Darla said. “O’Hannigan really went off the rails when her PA died. Her production assistant quit and went home, but not until after telling Gundar that O’Hannigan had asked her to lie and say she saw you pull something out of your handbag and stick it under the top of an empty table near the bathrooms.”
“Say what? You have got to be kidding me! Of all the dirty, low down, bullshit!” Marley fumed.
“Yes, well, Gundar spoke to Sachuu about it and he went back down Earth side and spoke to a few people quietly, one on one, off the record-like.” Steven, Marley, and Melissa all leaned in as Darla lowered her voice. “It turns out that she has been known to engineer some of the more dramatic episodes of her show. In fact, the very day before her network got the offer to film your matching, they had informed her they were cancelling her show.” She took a sip of her coffee. “It seems that she paid someone at a DNA lab to falsify a report as to who a child’s father was. Or rather, wasn’t. The mother insisted to a court that the guy was the father, and they ordered a new test, this time through a state lab. And bingo, she hadn’t been lying. The man was beside himself, as he’d only taken the DNA test to start with as part of a show about how his home state made unmarried fathers do so before allowing them to be added to a birth certificate. He’d been wrecked emotionally as he’d trusted his girlfriend and thought he’d been played a fool. She cost him his relationship with the mom and five years of his kid’s life, plus now he owes back child support with five years’ interest. The network settled with the couple, paid the man’s arrears, and was going to give her the sack quietly.”
“So, I saved her from losing it all and her disgrace maybe coming out. Then, she had the special she filmed right after about the brides on the Mylos home worlds,” Marley said, putting it all together.
“And after that, she had bupkis to keep them off her back, as more people like that dad started to come forward. So, she decided to do the Fleet special,” Melissa added.
“Yes, and the production assistant said that was when she and the PA overheard Gundar tell me that Florida had confirmed permission for the wedding and the B and B there for the honeymoon suite and that he’d passed the information on to Kranow for me, so he wouldn’t worry about having no place to go. She reckons they sussed out that you guys were tying the knot and she wasn’t going to get to film it or make a show about it,” Darla said.
Steven curled his lip in disdain. “So, she, what? Had this guy blow up Rosa’s so she could try to pin it on Marley and make a show about how she was hiding in plain sight? That she was organizing a terror cell right here and taking innocent Mylos, their mates, and kids out?”
“Yeah. He’s just waiting to get some hard proof that tie the explosives to her somehow, as well as the thing with the bathroom AI being blinded.”
Marley lost her appetite. “And if they can’t?”
Darla looked at her sympathetically. “If they can’t, then they will have to come up with some way to get her to admit it all. Either that, or let the dead PA take the entire fall for it.”
Well, that would just suck. The bitch will have gotten away with murder.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Ironically, it was Melissa’s twins that gave Junrig the idea that he shared with Gundar a few days later as they both rode the elevator to begin their shifts. Gundar had been reluctant, but nearly ten days later, when Sachuu’s team had still come up with nothing, he decided that he would see if Marley would agree to it. She had, much to Kranow’s dismay. Despite the initial suggestion having come from himself, Junrig was dismayed when the plan became a reality. He’d been somewhat mollified when Melissa’s and Steven’s parts in the plan were reduced to merely dropping a tidbit where Jackie O’Hannigan would hear it, before taking off with their young to Disney Paris accompanied by himself, Steven, Hathor, and their collective young.
Kranow (Mate the Stars Book 4) Page 13
