“He’s secured. Did you call in our window?” But it was obvious that Ratkins already knew the answer to his question. Was he even offended that Mike didn’t trust him? Probably not, since Mike didn’t expect Ratkins to trust him, either. Mike sat down in the pilot seat and called the tower to have their window of departure opened. He then called Spec Edit twelve and got their headings to where they would be picked up.
Ratkins stood in the common area checking his weapons when Mike came out from the cockpit. “Come on, Kiddo, let me see you.” Ratkins turned Mike’s face toward the light to inspect his injuries.
“Maybe I should get out of the disguise first.”
“Good idea. And take a bath, while you’re at it.” Ratkins let go. Mike snorted and walked toward his room. “Did you call Spec Edit twelve, too?”
“Yeah, we cross their path in three days.”
“Good.” Ratkins sized Mike up. Not discreetly enough for Mike to miss it, though.
“What?”
“Oh, I was just thinking whether our prisoner would be safe from you in the meantime, or if I should recall your voice command to the holding bay for the next three days.”
Mike thought while fingering some cracks in the wall paint.
“Recall it,” he finally said with a small voice and left, but he did notice Ratkins’ surprised expression.
“I’m putting him in a cryo-coffin then,” Ratkins muttered and left his to his endeavor.
Over the next three days, Mike was happy that Ratkins had put Cecil in cryo and not brought up the subject since. Even Mike knew he was unstable as the three days had gone by with what felt like withdrawal symptoms. Ratkins definitely noticed, because he kept a close eye on Mike, but he never commented that Mike paced the ship frustrated. Mike felt relief as Spec Edit twelve called them and told them to get ready for interception.
Mike and Ratkins stepped out onto the dock of Spec Edit twelve and guided a dazed Cecil through quarantine, where they all had to stay for a while depending on what their blood tests said. They’d be disinfected and stuffed with all kinds of disease preventing medicine.
Heckman and Harrison stepped into view in the window at the end of the quarantine room. They both smiled, but Mike had known Harrison long enough to think he could read worry behind the smile. Their sidelong glances toward Cecil confirmed it.
“Matthews. In ten minutes, you’ll be moved to a separate quarantine unit,” Heckman said.
“Yes, sir.” Mike glanced at Ratkins. He looked knowingly, and Mike no longer doubted that he and Heckman had spoken about Ratkins having to recall Mike’s access to the prisoner.
Mike was transferred to the neighboring unit, and he sat down heavily on the bed. The trip with Cecil on board had demanded at lot from Mike, who’d been plagued by nightmares from Delta Zeich. He’d dreamed of the sexual abuse, but in his dreams, Cecil had been one of the men holding him down or doing the actual abuse. Mike shuddered from the memories. But he still hoped that the capture and turning over Cecil would bring him enough peace of mind to earn him a whole night’s sleep without nightmares.
Lewis appeared behind the window, and Mike got up to activate the com.
“How are you?” Lewis asked.
“Fine.”
“Ratkins called ahead. But you probably knew that, since you’re not in the same quarantine unit as Cecil,” Lewis said. Mike nodded. “How was the trip in? Rough?”
“Yeah, I just need time to get things into perspective.” Mike pointed to his own forehead.
Lewis nodded, thoughtfully. “When you’ve been cleared here, you should go have a talk with the physician.”
“The physician as in the one I know, or a physician who actually knows how to smile and stuff?”
Lewis chuckled. “The physician you know. He’ll be leading half of the interrogation and... we see an advantage of having you as the other interrogator.”
“What?” Mike’s heart dropped. How could that be? Hadn’t he shown himself to be more than unstable around Cecil? That was why they’d put him in a separate quarantine unit, after all.
“You have a choice here, but we’d like you there.”
“Can’t I just assist him?”
“The physician will do his part,” Lewis said. Mike leaned his head against the cool window and enjoyed it for a second. “Think about it. Come see me when you’re out of here. We’ll have a chat before we go talk to the physician.”
We? He’s gonna be there for me then, too?
Lewis smiled encouraging and left him. Mike disconnected the com and went to lie down. He sighed deeply and thought about how that interrogation could go, why they thought he would be a suitable addition to the interrogation team. But he didn’t think the thoughts to an end, as an overwhelming tiredness took over and stopped all thought.
Mike sat up, breathing heavily as he looked around. Then he remembered where he was... and that he was alone.
“Time?”
“Zero six fifteen earth time,” said a pleasant female voice from a speaker somewhere.
“At what time was this quarantine unit taken into use?” he asked, to figure out how long he’d slept.
“Nineteen forty-two yesterday.”
Mike shook his head, smiling.
No dreams.
Chapter Thirteen
Lewis stood outside the window to the quarantine unit when Mike came out from the shower only wearing a towel around his waist. It startled Mike to see him. Behind Lewis, Cecil was being taken away by two soldiers, and Ratkins came to stand next to Lewis.
“Are you coming, Kiddo?” he read Ratkins’ lips.
Mike activated the com. “I am, just let me get dressed first.”
Lewis and Ratkins waited as Mike took his clothes into the shower room and changed. He was then released from quarantine.
“Lieutenant, may I suggest something?” Mike asked as he joined them in the hall.
“Yes?”
“Food!”
“Have they starved you?” Lewis laughed.
“No, but it’s no fun eating alone. And breakfast was skipped today.”
Lewis nodded, and they headed for the mess hall on level one. They sat at the officer’s table, and Harrison came in shortly after and sat next to Lewis. He half-turned in his seat and slapped Lewis’ back with such force that the food fell off Lewis’ fork. Lewis sent him a blank stare, and Harrison smiled hugely.
Heckman came in and walked directly to the table with a somber expression. Everybody at the table kept quiet and looked at him expectantly. His eyes were on Lewis until he stopped at the table. Then he looked at Mike and Ratkins. “Good work, gentlemen. Welcome aboard.”
“Thank you, sir,” Mike and Ratkins said in sync.
“Lewis, Harrison, report to my office when you have finished your meal.”
“Yes, sir,” they answered, and Heckman let a smile tuck at the corner of his mouth before he left. Lewis and Harrison stared after him until he’d left the mess hall. Then at each other.
“It can’t be a reprimand when he smiles, right?” Harrison asked.
“Don’t know. Don’t you remember the reprimand a couple of months back?” Lewis asked.
Harrison sniggered. “Yeah, but that was a good joke.”
“It was. But next time, don’t drag me down with you.”
Harrison laughed. “Argh, like you haven’t done the same.”
“You two always get it easy because it’s never only one of you who has dirty hands,” another officer said. Lewis and Harrison exchanged glances and then nodded.
“Hence the point in dragging you down with me,” Harrison said, smiling at Lewis.
Ratkins sent Mike a questioning glance, but Mike could only shrug. He’d never seen this side of the two officers, but he’d heard them get a bellowing from Heckman where neither of them looked proud. None of them had ever acted in a way that made Mike lose respect for them, though.
“Lewis, what about the meeting with the physician later
?” Mike asked.
“I’ll find you once I’ve spoken to Heckman.”
Mike nodded, relieved. Lewis and Harrison hurried through their lunch and left the table. Mike and Ratkins lingered and found a common room not far from the mess hall once they’d finished. They relaxed and watched the news and some exposé on the Glacier System.
“There you are!” Lewis said as he entered the room. “You need a flexor-pad when you’re on the ship. Luckily, someone saw you go in here or I’d still be looking for you. Shall we?” Lewis radiated like a newborn sun.
Mike looked at Ratkins, who arched a brow at him. “Oh, it’s Cecil. I’m one of the interrogators,” Mike said.
Ratkins expression changed to utter disbelief, but he didn’t ask, he merely looked at Lewis.
“Does this mean you’ve made up your mind?” Lewis asked.
“Absolutely not!” Mike stood and followed Lewis. “Why do you look so happy?” Mike asked on their way to sector seven.
Lewis took a deep breath and then stopped to face Mike. “Tribunal called me back to headquarters. I’m being given the command over a ship.”
All nervousness left Mike as he was instead engulfed by happiness on Lewis’ behalf. But he had no idea what to say. “You deserve it!” he finally said.
“Thank you.”
“What ship? A Destroyer, a—”
“A Spec Edit,” Lewis said, smiling even more proudly.
Mike gaped. “That’s an impressive promotion, sir.” Mike began walking again.
“It is,” Lewis said in a small voice.
Mike glanced at him and thought he could already see the concern about a responsibility that big. “Does a ship that size come with a higher rank?”
Lewis nodded. “But don’t tell anyone... you’re not cleared for this, but you once were.”
“You still have my word.” Mike turned to face him.
Lewis nodded. “I’m put on a special project. My class four clearing’s just been registered.”
“Four?” Mike asked, impressed, as that was as high as it came. “I’m clearing one, or I was.”
“Yes, Mike, you were, but I still trust you. Not a word.” Lewis put a finger to his lips.
“Not a word,” Mike whispered, honored to be one of the first to be let in on such a huge event. “When are you going?”
“When Cecil’s been interrogated. I’m to escort him back to the Tribunal headquarters. And we even have to be put in cryo. But not a word about Cecil being transferred to the Tribunal either. You can’t let that drop during the interrogation. If you’ve decided, that is?”
“No matter what, I won’t let it slip.”
They made it to sector seven and the physician’s office. They found him lying on the examination table, reading a shabby looking book.
“Gentlemen.” The physician got up, closed the book, and put it in his drawer. The physician stared at Mike in a way that made Mike want to wince, but he was happy to find that he no longer found a reason to. So instead he smiled, and the physician cocked his head before nodding, apparently satisfied.
The physician walked with them to a room where they could speak in private about the upcoming interrogation.
“Cecil Hallett. It’s been a long time since I’ve met him,” the physician said.
“How do you know him?” Mike asked.
“Panata. He collects with a guy named Pierre and an erikilien named Nezex.”
“Another species who works a lot with slaves. How long have you known Cecil?”
“Long enough to hate him.”
“So it’s just me who’s slow,” Mike mumbled, bitterly.
“What information don’t I have?” the physician asked, looking from Mike to Lewis.
“Cecil killed the three mercs we flew with and set me up for the crime I was sent to Delta for.”
“Ah. In which case, you’d be a perfect interrogator.” The physician sat back comfortably with a cup of coffee.
“Why am I the only one who doesn’t see that? You know, objectivity and all that.” Mike looked at Lewis.
“Cecil is—” Lewis began, but the physician cut him off.
“Mike, when we interrogated Jack Ripper what did we use to minimize the time we had to spend on him?”
“Me.”
“Exactly. You became the key to his mind. The part of Cecil’s interrogation that you and I do is not part of the official interrogation. We’re warming him up like I used you in warming up Jack Ripper. Your hatred and thirst for revenge will work to our advantage, but you may not seem insecure. Cecil’s knowledge of me will do the rest. You could drop the hint that you found me... Spec Edit twelve’s new interrogator, in prison.”
Mike stared at the physician. “What information don’t I have?”
A fleeting smile crossed the physician’s expression. “That the same guy had both you and me thrown in jail. Cecil sold me a bunch of unbroken slaves, and one was missed enough to have mercs on her tail. The girl was found in my possession. By Cecil... Bill, Jack, and Brad.” The physician stared Mike in the eye as he mentioned the names. “But I only hated Cecil for it. We all have our roles to play in life, but I fell into Cecil’s trap. He even took all the unbroken slaves he’d just sold me, and once he’d sent me with Bill, Jack, and Brad, he resold the rest of the slaves.”
“So he got paid twice and collected the bounty on a slave trader who only broke the law because Cecil himself sold him wanted slaves,” Mike said.
The physician nodded and sipped carefully at his coffee.
“I actually know of your case, then.”
“Yes. He and Pierre sold them to Karlson. Have you noticed that Pierre drags a leg?”
“Yeah, the left,” Mike said, looking expectantly at the physician, who smiled sardonically at him. “You injured him?”
The physician nodded. “But that was before this incident. Another disagreement where Pierre thought he could push me around.”
“Okay,” Lewis said. “You two have a talk with him before the interrogation. Soften him up a bit before the official interrogation, which I will conduct. He has to know that the two of you get him if he doesn’t tell us what we want to know.”
“My, my, Lewis, I think you would have made a great trainer,” the physician said drily.
“As if the Tribunal is any better,” Lewis mumbled.
“We start out showing half a hand. Cecil will only meet me. When he becomes uncooperative, you come in,” Mike said, pointing to the physician.
Lewis stood. “You two sort out the details and report back to me. The unofficial interrogation begins tonight at nineteen-hundred hours.” With those words, Lewis left them. Mike didn’t mind. In a way, it helped to know that Cecil had stabbed both him and the physician in the back, and it gave him the courage to do his part.
Mike stood by the door inside the interrogation room and waited. The doors finally opened, and two soldiers dragged Cecil in and planted him on a hard chair which was bolted to the floor. His arms were strapped to the armrests and his legs to the frame under the chair. Cecil shouted what sounded like his entire repertoire of foul language. When the soldiers finally let go, he fought the restraints but gave up within minutes, panting. He had a black hood over his head at Mike’s request.
The soldiers left the room, and Mike let Cecil wait while he reevaluated his planned method of approach in his head. He also knew that it was only an outline of a plan, as the interaction with the interrogated would change the outcome again and again.
“Hello! Am I supposed to sit here and rot?” Cecil yelled.
“That’s entirely up to you,” Mike said.
Cecil froze. “Mike,” he sneered. Mike pulled off the black hood and met Cecil’s hateful glare. Cecil took in the sight of him. “You haven’t enlisted again, I see. So how the hell did you end up here?”
“It’s called loyalty. Look it up sometime,” Mike said and glared back. Cecil rolled his eyes at him. “I had so hoped to find you with Pierre. Did
you betray him, too?”
“We might as well end this now, because I don’t associate with—”
“How about Karlson then. Did you sell him to the highest bidder?”
“Don’t associate him! You know my trade, I—”
“Didn’t know turncoat had become a recognized trade title.”
“You’re actually pretty pathetic, you know that?” Cecil smiled mockingly.
Mike wanted to let go of his admittedly flimsy grasp of self-control and just beat Cecil. The fight in him was difficult.
“Hmm.” Mike scratched his scalp—the signal for the physician to join them because Mike had either given up or was losing control of himself.
A door behind Cecil slammed open with so much power that the sound left Mike’s ears ringing for a few seconds. Cecil tried to twist in the chair as much as the restraints allowed, but he couldn’t peer past the broad backrest.
“I would think you know and associate with Pierre quite often,” said the physician, who stayed behind the chair. Cecil seemed to focus on the voice, but he obviously had trouble putting a face to it. “Your partnership is quite lucrative, isn’t it?”
Mike smiled at the physician, who’d moved to stand right behind Cecil, still taking care to stay in his blind spot.
Cecil’s confusion clearly showed that he still didn’t recognize the voice. “Guesswork, you have no proof!”
“Proof,” Mike scoffed. “Do you even know how a military ship as this conducts interrogations?”
“I’m learning,” Cecil scoffed. Mike laughed loudly.
“Doesn’t it strike you as strange that there are no soldiers here?” the physician asked.
“And that the window over there isn’t occupied by officers or overseers?” Mike pointed to the observation room.
“And that no soldiers are here to stop Mike from taking his revenge for you setting him up for a prison sentence?”
“Believe me, that is not his job!” Mike pointed in the direction of the physician.
“Just like it isn’t Mike’s job to stop me in taking my revenge,” the physician said.
Learning the Hard Way 1 Page 14
