Not With A Whimper: Preservers

by D. A. Boulter

  “That’s wonderful,” she said, putting a full dose of admiration in her voice.

  “And I owe it to you," he said, face becoming serious. "If you hadn’t taught me that move—"

  "You’d have found another way."

  He considered that, not so sure.

  "Maybe." His face cleared, and the smile returned. "But it worked out so well that I could kiss you."

  He suddenly went tense. He hadn’t meant to say that, she knew, but he’d been thinking it.

  "And why not?" she asked. "I probably deserve it. How about now? You don’t want to have a debt like that on your conscience. I hear that the Yrden family motto is ‘We pay our debts’."

  Owen searched her eyes, her face, for any indication that she might be teasing him, which would crush him. She remembered all too well, her first kiss from a boy who did it only to taunt her later.

  "I’m waiting."

  She very slowly drew him closer, as they floated in the centre of the room. She parted her lips slightly, and tilted her head slightly. Fear warred with determination in Owen’s expression. Determination won. He tilted his head slightly the other way, moved in, and gave her a slight kiss on the lips.

  She waited a moment, and then pushed him away, releasing his hands.

  "And now you need to keep your promise to teach me how to stop myself from spinning," she called out to him as they floated to opposite walls.

  She held on to a grab-hold with her foot when she reached her wall, bent her knees and then pushed off. Owen did likewise, and they met again in the middle, and began the tumble. The look in his eyes as their gazes met, caused her heart to beat a little faster. She had him! And now what?

  * * *

  London, England

  Kiera answered the comm. Sydney, no doubt, wanting her to get ready for him when he arrived home. Pierre’s face appeared on the screen, and her fake smile turned real.

  “Pierre. Good to see you.” She sighed. He would want to speak to Sidney. “I’m sorry, but Sidney isn’t here. I expect him in three hours.”

  He would probably disconnect and try again late.

  Pierre smiled. “Ah, Kiera, I prefer to speak to you.”

  And that made her feel good.

  “Then speak.”

  “You will remember the fork in the road that I told you about?”

  She felt her stomach clench. “I remember.”

  “It seems that circumstances dictate that I travel down the right-hand branch. I regret if this causes you dismay.”

  Which meant that he wanted her to remain with Sidney. It did cause her dismay. On the other hand, doing nothing always seemed easier than doing something. Easier to stay than to find new quarters, a new job, a new life.

  “I understand.”

  Pierre smiled again.

  “That is good, cheri. You say that Sidney is not to home?”

  “In three hours, Pierre.”

  “Ah. Then I shall call back later, or contact him at work. Stay strong, little one.”

  He disconnected.

  Stay strong.

  How much easier to stay strong if she did not have to put up with Sidney, if Pierre had asked her to come to him, instead. She took a deep breath, held it for a while, and then let it out slowly. Stay strong.

  She opened a screen, and checked train timetables.

  * * *

  FTL-1

  Thursday 29 July

  Now what?

  Connie had called Helen, almost in hysterics. Helen had called him, and he had beat feet for Ops. Connie hadn’t calmed, and Helen had to keep on reassuring her. Now, Johannes kept reassuring Helen. No one knew what really went on in Malaysia, but everyone had to remain awake and ready to answer any call.

  The hell of it, Johannes thought, lay in the fact that the Malaysian day occurred in the middle of FTL-1s night.

  "We have people standing by in Singapore," Johannes said.

  "Bribes have a way of growing," Jill warned. "I don’t like this at all."

  "Just be thankful you’re not in their place. Prisons down there swallow people up whole," Helen told her.

  "Jill, you’re tired. Take an hour or two. We’ll call you if we need you."

  They had set up a bed in the next room over. One could catch a few minutes sleep every now and again. With the operation getting into its sticky parts, dealing with researchers in countries where they worried about their freedom, not to mention their very lives, required hands-on. No time to wait for authorized people to get called from their quarters. On one occasion, a delay of five minutes might have cost a life.

  One of them dozing next door could get back and authorize action within a minute. Jill nodded wearily.

  "I just need a few minutes."

  "She needs a few hours,” Helen said, not unsympathetically. “I do, too. But with Connie nearing breakdown, I can’t afford it.”

  Johannes rubbed at his eyes. All, for the moment, remained quiet. “I think I’ll just close my eyes.”

  “Tell me again that we’ll get them all out,” Helen said.

  “We’ll get them all out.” He bent his lips in a closed-mouth smile. “We haven’t failed so far, have we?”

  “No, we haven’t.” She let a minute go by, and his head started to droop just a little. “Thanks to you.”

  He leaned back, head now against the wall. “Thanks to us all. We’re a team. You, me, Jill, and support. Yes, and Connie – who has it worse than any of us, so don’t blame her. She’s basically alone down there.”

  “You’re a good man, Johannes Yrden.”

  “Tell that to my family,” he said, and immediately regretted letting the words past his lips.

  “I will.”

  “Only if you want to make it worse.”

  He heard a sigh.

  “Owen still believes we’re having an affair?”

  Johannes scrunched up his face. “Yes. And he’s using that to justify his seeing Major Temple – against my wishes.”

  “They’re sleeping together?”

  “How should I know?” That thought unsettled. “I hope not. Otherwise he’s in for a lot of pain.”

  After a minute’s blessed silence, Helen spoke again. Why couldn’t she just let it be? But he knew. She needed something to keep her mind off events in Malaysia.

  “She’s not that much older than him.”

  “That’s not it. I think Matt and Ellen were about the same ages when they met, though Matt was the older one. No, I don’t care about the difference in age. It’s who she is, or, rather, who she represents.”

  “Space Force?” Helen’s voice told him that she didn’t understand. “I thought you were basically allies. Both of you want to end the piracy problem. I do understand that it strains the coffers somewhat.”

  Johannes snorted. “The Families can afford that. Look, let’s change the subject.”

  “Why?”

  “Because we’re getting close to something that I can’t tell you for the same reason that I can’t tell Owen what I’m doing with you. Family secrets that I can’t tell anyone.”

  She thought about that for a while, then asked a question about Manila.

  “Why do you want to know about Manila?”

  “You went there for vacation, I understand. Is it nice?”

  “Very nice – better if you have a partner to enjoy it with.” And again he regretted the words. He must be more tired than he thought.

  Silence reigned for some time. No new radio messages came in.

  “Two hours,” Jill said, coming back in. “You let me sleep for two hours.”

  “Nothing happening,” Johannes said. “You needed it.”

  “As do you. Go.”

  “Your wish; my command.” He stood up, swaying with fatigue.

  The bed looked so inviting. He took off his shoes, and lay down, not bothering with any covering. The world went black.

  “Push over,” Helen’s voice brought him half awake, and he squeezed back towards the
wall.

  He felt a weight on the mattress, couldn’t be bothered to open his eyes.

  “Jill has it under control, she says. Still nothing from Earth.”

  The weight fell back on the bed, and he felt the warmth beside him, the fine touch of hair against his ear. And then the world went black again.

  The light flicked on, and Jill’s voice woke him. “Need you.” Then a half-laugh.

  Johannes woke to find that he and Helen were spooning, his arm over her, hand cupping a breast. He’d have pulled it away, but her hand held it there.

  “What is it?” Helen woke, too. “Oh!” her hand released his, and he recovered his errant limb.

  “Next door,” Johannes said, wondering how he might explain this, wondering if Jill would send word of this into the rumour mill that already had him and Jaswinder at odds. That would help no end – especially if Jaswinder heard of it.

  They both rose quickly, straightening their clothes on the way next door.

  Jill grinned at them as they came in, and Johannes felt his face flushing. But she – for a wonder – waved it off.

  “I didn’t see anything – and you both needed the rest.”

  “What’s up?”

  “Negotiations. This is going to get expensive – unless you want to bluff.”

  “And if they call the bluff?” Helen asked.

  “Then we lose your people.”

  “No bluff,” Johannes said. “We pay what they ask for. We can try bartering, but we pay.”

  “Agreed,” Jill said. A second wonder. “It’s only money, and if things go as they seem to be going, it soon won’t be worth the paper it’s printed on – or rather the ones and zeros that represent it.”

  Helen gave forth with a sigh. “Thank you, Jill.”

  She opened her mouth to say something, but a light flashed on the comm board. “Connie’s back.”

  “They agree to twenty thousand.”

  The three exchanged glances. They had figured the extortionists would hold out for twenty-five. Nods all around.

  “Done,” Jill said. “They should have confirmation that the money is in their account in about five seconds.”

  “I’ll let them know,” came the voice from the speaker.

  Having to go through Connie proved a bit of a pain, but it removed the Families from the chain. If the extortionists – or any one else they had to pay bribes to – knew that the Families had an interest, the price would climb rapidly and dramatically.

  “They’ve got the money,” Connie reported.

  “Let us know when your representatives pick up the subjects,” Jill said.

  They waited long minutes. When Connie came back on, all could hear the despair in her voice. “They haven’t released them. They say there are complications – expensive complications.”

  “Stand by,” Jill said, seeing Johannes make the cut motion. “What is it?”

  “They have no intention of letting our people go. They’ll just milk us until we give up,” he said. “Trust me on this.”

  Helen’s eyes went wide. “We can’t give up so easily. Surely there must be a better way.”

  But Johannes could see that she had nothing to offer, that she had already given up. He squeezed her shoulder, motioned Jill away from the comm board, and took over.

  “Connie, it’s Johannes. Link me in; I’ll talk to them.”

  “Okay. My contact goes by the name ‘Sam’.”

  Jill rolled her eyes at that. “Good Asian name.”

  “Hello, Sam,” Johannes said upon getting the green light. “I’m the paymaster. I suggest that all difficulties can be overcome if you release the subjects immediately.”

  “To overcome difficulties, that expensive, Mr Paymaster.”

  “I have my own difficulties, Sam,” Johannes said. “Would you like to hear them? I think that you’ll want to.”

  “I hear, but without money, I fear.”

  “I fear, too. My boss tells me that if subjects not released immediately, he will go to your superiors with a full transcript of our conversations, and details of the banking arrangements.”

  Laughter came from the other end. “You tell Boss to do this. You never see ‘subjects’.”

  Johannes killed the audio-out. “Their superiors are in on it, taking a cut.”

  Helen collapsed. “What can we do?”

  Johannes only smiled. “Use that fact.” He turned the audio-out back up.

  “Sam, you disappoint me. My boss says that in five minutes he will send to your superiors copies of the two payments we made.”

  “What two payments? You make one payment.”

  “Ah, but that’s not what the record will show. Twenty thousand to the one account, and then forty thousand to the other account you gave us.”

  “I give only one account.”

  “That’s not what the record will show. Forty thousand in, and forty thousand withdrawn in cash, ten minutes later. You explain to your superiors where that money went. I’m sure they’ll want their cut.”

  “There is no second account. You make no second payment!”

  “I know, I know,” Johannes soothed the man. “I’m sure you can explain it all, make them believe that you did not try to cut them out of their fair share.”

  Silence came from the other end.

  “If he’s lucky, he’ll escape with his life,” Johannes commented. “Ah, well, let’s sweeten the pot slightly.

  “Sam, you still there?”

  “I here.”

  “Tell you what. You release the subjects immediately, and when they leave the country, we add two thousand to the account. Two thousand to overcome your difficulties – but only after they leave.”

  Another silence.

  “Saves him face,” Johannes explained.

  “How I can trust you?”

  “There are others,” Johannes lied. “We want to be able to do business with you again.”

  Another silence. Johannes could see Helen shaking. These people were Family to her. She had worked with them – though never seeing them – for years. And she had placed them in danger.

  “Subjects released,” Sam said.

  Johannes nodded to Jill, who spoke quietly on her second line to Connie. She waited. “Connie confirms.”

  “Excellent,” Johannes said. “Within the hour, they will be gone and you will have your two thousand. I’ll call back to confirm.” He closed the connection.

  Helen looked at him. “Will you really pay the extra two thousand?”

  “Of course. We agreed to it.”

  Jill confirmed that. “Keeps them happy, and may save someone else in the future – if there remains a future. Also, the intermediaries that Connie hired might suffer if we don’t.”

  They sat around, watching the chrono. Thirty minutes took forever.

  “They’re off,” Connie reported, and at the same time, a light went off on the console.

  “That was our shuttle. There’re away.”

  They re-established connection with ‘Sam’.

  “Thank you, Sam. Good doing business with you.”

  “Our money?”

  “On its way even as we speak. Should be available in five seconds. Please confirm.”

  “We have it. You drive hard deal, Paymaster.”

  “You drive hard deal, Sam. But we each have what we want. Good deal. Perhaps we talk again soon.”

  “Perhaps.”

  The connection broke. Connie thanked them, voice shaking. Helen signed off with her, and then sat back, relief on her face as evident as that in Connie’s voice. Finally, she stood.

  “I’m going back to my quarters. I need sleep. You?” She indicated Johannes.

  “Yes, me, too. Nothing else going on at the moment, is there?”

  “Nothing else,” Jill agreed.

  Johannes stood, and Helen hugged him, then went and hugged Jill. “Thank you both so much.”

  They had just reached the door, when Jill stopped them. “
Yrden, something we have to discuss.”

  “You go to bed,” Johannes said to Helen. He turned back. After the door slid closed behind Helen he asked, “What is it, Paxton?”

  “Helen uses the comm for personal calls.”

  “Oh, for the love of Mike, Jill, so what?” Surely, she couldn’t be that cheap.

  “She calls her sister,” Jill said, eyes on his face. “Did you know she had a sister?”

  Johannes shook his head. “No, I didn’t. Is she on the list?” he picked up the reader, and scrolled through the North America names.

  “No. I checked. And after every call to Carol – filled with light, airy, pleasantries – she goes next door and cries.”

  “You heard her?”

  Jill gave him a look of disgust. “A woman can tell when another woman has been crying.”

  Johannes kept looking at the list. “No Carol listed.”

  “No. Your Helen, I’ve noticed, doesn’t ask for anything for herself – ever. She’ll fight like a wildcat for the others, but never anything for herself.”

  “She’s not ‘my’ Helen. But I agree with you. So, why tell me this?”

  “I think we could add a name,” Jill suggested, surprising him to the point of speechlessness. “You Yrdens could, say, have Carol win a lottery? One more wouldn’t cause undo difficulty, and we did agree to bring up researchers and their families. Hell, Carol needn’t even come up on one of our shuttles.”

  Johannes regarded her, wondering at this change, but he had a concern.

  “One more? Or is there a Mr Carol, and seven little Carols, not to mention Mr Carol’s parents, and a cousin or two that Carol wouldn’t dream of leaving?”

  Jill pursed her lips. “Good point. Let’s find out, shall we.” She reached for the comm board again. “Connie...”

  CHAPTER 18

  FTL-1

  Tuesday 03 August

  Johannes couldn’t afford the time, nor did he have the energy to cope with this at the moment. However, he’d had enough of Jill and Helen’s little war – which varied in intensity from simmer to boil depending on the day and time – and could use a new conflict to dull the pain of the other one. That was how it worked, right? Can’t feel two major pains at the same time? And now, short of shuttles, Pierre Fontaine had come to him with his outrageous plan, which would require more. The loss to them of Pierre’s personal shuttle only added to the stress.