“As long as you wish.”
“And there won’t be problems with our relationship and the usual rules for chain of command?”
“Honestly, there may be. The last officer who objected to such a thing was executed on Grissom Station shortly before the revolt. He was stripped bare, given a maneuver pack and returned to Earth. BuPers officers are much more careful these days.
“Three times, married couples have served on the same ship and the same chain of command. The first couple, the captain turned down the Federation Star and he and his wife accepted the Legion of Valor. The second such couple served together on Corinth, and were killed there. The third such couple were also awarded the Legion of Valor, as was every other member of their crew. The Exec of that ship was awarded the Star in a subsequent action.
“No intelligent officer, particularly a Rim Runner, will bother you. Miss Ruiz doesn’t look her age, or that might be more of a problem.”
“We’ll agree,” Steve said and Yolanda nodded and said, “Yes!”
“In a moment, my yeoman will be here to start you on the paperwork. Armies may travel on their stomachs, but Fleets run on a sea of paper, even in this day and age. Then, when my yeoman says you are ready, report to Detective Inspector Mary Ann Brown, at the New Scotland Yard in London, tell her I sent you and she will catch you up.”
“What can we tell people?” Steve asked.
“Absolutely nothing. You are authorized a delay en route to the Fleet Academy to deal with Miss Ruiz’s affairs. Report as soon as possible to the Fleet Academy, where you will tell people you are part of the Corps of Cadets. At the Academy you will be assigned to a tactical officer who is aware of only your special status. If anyone questions you, refer the questioner to your tactical officer.
“Don’t tell Detective Inspector Brown any details of your flight. In a word, lie -- you escaped out a tunnel and laid low for a few weeks. Don’t tell her anything about how you have spent your time since you left. The fact that you hijacked a Fleet ship has the highest security code in the Fleet; if you talk about it with anyone not authorized, we will shoot you -- and them. Your enhancements, Steve’s abilities and your special project are in the same class. Do not discuss them, even among yourselves except in a secure location.
“The Fleet is going to go to great lengths to do right by you, Miss Ruiz. I can say that the Federation Council has rescinded the death sentences passed against your people long ago. As for you, Lieutenant Yardley, in your own way you represent a knottier problem. Two years ago, senior officers were clamoring for a computer link; we were well on our way to wiring everyone. A year later, they were lining up to have them removed.
“In essence, the link was an internal, thought-activated smart phone. Further research is underway to duplicate the effect without using self-aware computers. Communication has always proved an effective force multiplier. You, Lieutenant, have something that resembles that, but is different as well.
“We have no idea how prevalent the gene is. Please report any telepaths to me, or one of the other senior officers authorized. You will have a communications priority in that regard.”
The admiral stood and held out her hand for them to shake. “My best wishes, you two.”
“Thank you, Admiral,” Steve replied.
“One last thing, Lieutenant. My yeoman is Port Commander Reginald Burke. He knows nothing about either of you; like nearly everyone on the planet. He is adequate in his job; I’d hate to shoot him -- which is the penalty he’d suffer if you told him anything. You wouldn’t care -- you’d be shot first.”
“After a while, Admiral, the bloodthirsty warnings lose their impact,” Steve told her.
The admiral nodded. “Agreed. But there are a measureable number of people who can’t learn to keep their mouths shut. The reason why people like me keep harping on the warnings is because we think we’ve failed if we have to shoot someone. You seem like nice young people, Lieutenant Yardley and Miss Ruiz. I would really dislike terminating that happiness.”
Commander Burke was a little on the pompous side. But they successfully negotiated the paperwork. At the end, the commander shook their hands as well. “Lieutenant Yardley, you are to escort Miss Ruiz to her interview with Scotland Yard. Afterwards, you will both report to the Academy in Hawaii for your classes. At the Academy, Miss Ruiz will be read into the Fleet.”
He handed each of them a card, “This is the emergency contact number for this office. Use it to keep us up to date on events.” Then he handed them each a small plastic card. “This is a shuttle key. I understand that you both have piloting credentials. The shuttle is at your disposal until you reach the Fleet Academy, where you will turn it in.
“Last, but not least,” he produced a wrapped package. “This is a present for you, Lieutenant, from Admiral Cloud. One of the amazing things about serving with the admiral is the expression: ‘You ain’t seen nothing yet!’ No matter what you’ve seen today, there is always something tomorrow that invokes that statement. This is a printed book, a rather voluminous one, from the Twenty-first Century, the admiral says it is about a hobby of yours.”
Steve and Yolanda found their shuttle. Yolanda worked the preflight checklist while Steve opened his present.
Yolanda got them into the air and turned to Steve. “What is it?”
“It’s a book on micro expressions and body language. Combined, they give cues to whether or not someone is telling the truth.”
“Ah! Plausible deniability! Auntie’s favorite phrase!”
“Exactly! If I learn the jargon -- there is always some kind of jargon -- I will have a good excuse for knowing if someone is lying.”
They landed in London and traveled to a decent hotel. “Before, you thought I was older than you. Now you know I’m too young,” Yolanda told Steve after they were up in their room.
“And I told you I’d never, ever, read you.” He chuckled. “It’s all hearsay evidence.”
“I don’t remember the first time we moved; I remember the second. That was when my mom told me about the Union and the death sentence. She had me look it up in the library, and there it was. It’s a hard thing knowing you have a death sentence from before your great grandmother was born.
“Still, Mom was clear about one thing. I could recall nearly everything I’d heard or read since I learned to talk. Normal people forget something like ninety percent of what happens to them. I might be just fifteen calendar years old, but experience-wise I’m closer a hundred.”
Steve grinned. “Come to bed, granny! We need to get some sleep tonight to be ready for tomorrow.”
In the morning the two presented themselves at New Scotland Yard and were promptly led to a small office and Detective Inspector Brown.
“Miss Ruiz, Admiral Cloud said you were coming, and that I was to update you on the investigation into your mother’s death -- and that the Federation had interviewed you and determined you were blameless in your escape from the same fate.
“Nonetheless, I’m afraid I have some questions for you. That was a whacking huge hole you blew in the English countryside.”
Steve had been introduced as Yolanda’s escort and he spoke now. “You said blew -- as in explosives?”
“That’s our best guess.”
“And an explosion large enough to leave a significant crater would leave some residue, would it not? Which explosive was used?”
“We found no traces of explosives,” the detective inspector said baldly.
“That large of an explosion would have been heard for miles. Was it?”
“No one heard anything, young man. That’s a mystery I’m trying to resolve.”
“Then I submit that Miss Ruiz effected an escape from a murder plot -- and I assure you that the Federation Fleet has accepted her story and that story is now a closed book. If you don’t proceed with updating Miss Ruiz, I’m afraid I’ll have to call Admiral Cloud and tell her you aren’t cooperating, and that perhaps Scotland Yard needs a fr
esh set of eyes.”
“You look like a secondary student -- according to your public records forty-five days ago you were a secondary student. Then you enlisted to be a fighter pilot -- and the very same day you were promoted lieutenant by Admiral Merriweather. A fighting admiral, who has the Federation Star. Not someone who promotes on an idle whim.
“Admiral Cloud said you were confident, but not cocky and punch light years above the weight class that you appear.
“Miss Ruiz, please let me express my sympathies for your loss.”
“I understand that you have made absolutely no progress in your investigation,” Steve said.
“Honestly,” the inspector said, “I’ve never had a case in central London where we don’t even have a cause of death. Bluntly, Miss Ruiz, your mother was dead when she entered the river. In spite of what we think is solid coverage of the river, we don’t know the exact spot. When the Federation became interested in the case, a far more thorough autopsy was performed.
“There were a number of unusual things that appeared in the very thorough tox screen the Federation used. Rohypnol and something similar to Bute -- a horse analgesic. But nothing that would have killed her.
“We have exhausted every known lead, and I was going to question the only witness we have in a bit.”
“Who would that be, Detective Brown?”
“Miss Ruiz.”
Steve turned to Yolanda. “Yolie, Admiral Cloud told me that we can tell the inspector about your connection to the Union and what you and your mother were doing. The public announcement is going to be Friday afternoon, the preferred time of politicians to drop political bombshells on the unsuspecting public.”
“We won’t get in trouble?”
“In three days, the flight of the Odyssey will be made public. We won’t get in trouble. In fact, let me brief the detective inspector on those events.”
Steve turned to Inspector Brown. “At the dawn of interstellar flight, shortly after the Iranian Plague, the Federation uncovered a group of researchers who had discovered, it was believed, the secrets of the human genome. They left a number of infants of some familiar species and some not so familiar behind when they left.
“Those people hijacked a passenger ship, one designed to transport thousands of colonists to a new world. They went far outside the boundaries of the Federation. Have you heard of ‘Koopianers,’ Detective Inspector?”
“I learned my trade as a Fleet Marine -- as an officer I had to take certification exams just as Fleet or Port officers have to. Yes.”
“Miss Ruiz and her mother were deep cover agents of the Union -- what the Koopianers call themselves these days. The Koopianers said their agents were only targeted on universities, for knowledge transfer.
“The details of the contact aren’t germane to this line of questioning.
“What is germane is that the former Union government was as wicked as we were -- they recently sentenced all of their agents to death in absentia. It is the Federation’s belief that agents of the former government were responsible for Juanita Ruiz’s death. Inspector Brown, the Union has requested that since these crimes took place in Federation space, our laws would be the ones they would be tried under.”
“Former government?”
“The former government resigned when it came out what they intended for their agents and some Federation refugees. You see, from when the Koopianers left until that government took power, the Union had no death penalty. When the Union as a whole learned what was contemplated in their name, they replaced the government wholesale. People who might have given the orders died under mysterious circumstances; the Union wasn’t sure if the order had been passed.
“It might be coincidence that Miss Ruiz’s mother was killed, but the Federation wants to be a hundred percent sure. The lack of evidence speaks volumes of tradecraft.”
He turned to Yolanda, “Tell Detective Inspector Brown how you spent that afternoon, until you got home. Nothing past that.”
Yolanda sat still for a moment. “I had two classes that morning; there was nothing unusual that I remember. The same with my afternoon lab. We got out a few minutes early and I met my friend, Jaime Carruthers, for tea. We were nearly done when my mother called me with a warning. It was basically an order to go home and wait. Either I’d get the all clear, or I was to flee. I thought it was a drill.
“I called a cab, told my friend I had to go, and then left for home. I was cautious, but again, nothing unusual happened. When the warning period expired, per instructions, I fled.”
“Inspector Brown, Admiral Cloud told me that she would be very sorry to have to shoot you, but she would if you ask any further questions along this timeline. Of course, she promised we’d be shot, too.”
“She’s my aunt,” the detective said absently. “I’d hate it if she shot me as well. Nonetheless, up the timeline... do you know any reason why Miss Carruthers wouldn’t have come forward? In the news reports, your mother was identified as murdered and you were identified as missing and presumed killed in the explosion.”
“No, ma’am. She was my best friend; she was practically my only friend,” Yolanda told the detective.
“When did you meet her, Yolanda?” Steve asked.
“When I started at the university, she was a sophomore and took me under her wing.”
Steve nodded. “Why don’t you call her, tell her you are okay and ask to meet?”
“It couldn’t have been Jaime!”
“If nothing else, we’ll clear up the matter of her lack of curiosity.
Steve turned to the detective. “Can you whistle up some backup?”
“You think she might be dangerous?”
“I have no idea. But if she is, I don’t want Yolanda in there by herself.”
“She’s not a threat, Steve.”
Steve smiled at Yolanda, “It’s my job to worry. Call her up, tell her you’re engaged and you want her to meet your fiancé.”
Yolanda darted a glance at the detective and Steve laughed. “You know how I am with micro expressions, dear.”
The detective sharpened. “I’m familiar with the term.”
“And I’m a dabbler,” Steve said. “But I’ve promised Yolanda that I won’t use it on her.”
“Probably a good thing,” the detective said. “Miss Ruiz, we have no current leads. This is probably nothing, and while I can’t read micro expressions like I assume Lieutenant Yardley can, I’m not dim either. At the worst, it’s something we can check off.”
“It couldn’t be Jaime!” Yolanda said weakly, but then she started to cry.
Steve looked at Inspector Brown. “I haven’t been with Yolanda every second of every day. But I think this is the first time she has cried since her mother died.”
“Only in the quiet watches of the night. When it wouldn’t be obvious that I blubber like a school girl,” Yolanda said.
She sat up straight and dried her tears on her sleeve and dialed her phone. “Jaime! It’s Yolie! I’m back!
“I’ve been traveling and I met a really nice guy. He wants to marry me! I’ll have to introduce him to my mother first, though! If you have time, I’d like you to meet him!”
“Sure, four o’clock at our favorite tea shop! See you then.”
Yolanda sat still for a moment, and then looked at Detective Inspector Brown. “You probably need to double the number of people. My mother’s death has been on the news?”
“Yes, Miss Ruiz.”
“Jaime didn’t say anything when I told her I was expecting to talk to my mother.”
“I can still think of an innocent explanation for that, Yolie,” Steve told her.
The look she gave Steve liked to have torn his heart out.
A few hours later they were at a restaurant. Steve greeted the woman with thick brown hair, brown eyes and a peaches and cream complexion with a smile.
Yolie started to say something, when Jaime reached into her purse. Without warning Steve grabbed her han
d with both of his as she was pulling her hand out of the purse. He twisted her wrist, forcing Jaime to drop the knife she had pulled from the purse. Steve kicked it away, and two plainclothes officers grabbed Jaime and pulled her further away from the blade.
“Oh Jaime! What did I ever do to you?” Yolanda asked.
“Damned bing!” the young woman said under her breath.
Yolanda reacted as if slapped.
Steve turned to the detective inspector. “Every head in this restaurant is turned towards us -- except one. He is behind you, studiously avoiding looking at the commotion. I want to talk to him.”
“We need a reason...” the inspector said.
Steve cut her off. “The reason is that I wish to talk to him.”
She was good, Steve thought. The inspector never looked behind her. She lifted her radio and spoke into it for a few seconds. In a minute, the man was marched to them.
He was virtually identical to Jaime Carruthers, except he had a short cast on his right hand and forearm.
“Why are you arresting my sister?” he said without anything in preamble.
“Complicity in a murder,” Steve said. He turned to the detective inspector. “Immobilize his right arm. His cast is poisoned.”
“What?” the inspector asked, startled.
“He is wearing a glove under the cast. Everyone I know who has had a cast complains of how much it itches. No one would wear a plastic glove under a cast.”
“I have eczema. Since when is that a crime?”
“Since when is treating eczema in a glove standard practice?” Steve came right back.
The man swiped his right arm towards Steve. A detective grabbed the arm and hauled on it. The path the cast followed ended short of Steve.
The plainclothes detective got a better grip on the man’s arm and held it now firmly.
“There’s a needle now, poking out of the cast,” Steve said mildly. “I wouldn’t want to get stuck with it. Some lab work will identify the compounds, but failing any other explanation, I believe we’ve found Juanita Ruiz’s killer.”
Afterwards the detective inspector fumed because the Federation had claimed both prisoners. Steve and Yolanda were in her office when her last request to keep them was denied.
The Odyssey and the Iliad (Kinsella Universe Book 7) Page 23
