a silent look around; the technicians turned away for a moment. “…the colonel to show.You’ll be fine in a few hours. Do your best to try and retain everything that happened.”
“That’s usually what I do all too well.” A hint of a smile passed over her lips. Realization washed over him.
“That’s why you got blitzed.”
“Bingo, you win the jackpot….”
“How much have you gotten back?”
“It keeps coming in bits and pieces.” Her brows knitted, from pain, or unhappiness. “I hate it.”
“Never mind. Go get put back together.” He leaned down to kiss her, softly, trying to let her feel how much he wished he’d been there early, instead of just a bit too late. They took her to the clinic. Now it was just him and a dead girl, waiting together for time to catch back up.
۞
“Dmitry?” The voice was an anchor back to reality. It seemed as though hours had slipped away. Tark was staring around in disbelief. “What in six hells happened here?”
“Somebody was waiting for her.”
“You weren’t here.” It wasn’t an accusation. Dmitry had to fight down the instinct to defend himself anyway.
“No. I was on my way.”
“Is she okay?” Tark pointed out the front entry. “I saw them taking her. But I also saw a bag out there. Was she questionable for a while?” Dmitry sighed.
“No. The bag is for…someone else.” The weight dropped from Tark’s chest through his gut, into his knees. He rested on the arm of the sofa for a moment.
“Who? Where?” He followed the direction that Dmitry’s arm swung out, as it came to rest pointing at the bedroom door. It was closed. “The perp?”
“I wish. If I’d….” Dmitry breathed in and out, willing the rage to fade away. “Never mind. It’s a female. Maeve says the light was off in there when she first came in, but by the time I got here, it was on. Our guy wanted us to see everything he’d done all at once, I guess.”
“That assumes he thought he’d left both of them dead.” Tark was staring at the closed door, trying to talk himself into going over there.
“One might imagine, yes.” Dmitry noticed a peculiar look on his friend’s face. “Are you okay?”
“Did you ID the woman?” Tark was barely breathing. “Is that why the door is shut?
“What do you mean?”
“Sa’andy, she’s been out of the loop for a few hours. They said in the lab that she’d gone to talk to somebody.” So that was it.
Dmitry reached out and put a comforting hand on Tark’s shoulder.
“It’s not Sa’andy. Jeez, you don’t think I’d call you down here like that if something that bad had happened, do you?”
Tark slumped for a moment, obvious relief coursing through his body. The realization that there was still a dead woman in the other room sobered him again, however.
“Well, then, who is it?”
“You’re not going to like it.”
۞
“Okay, so Jules and Jemi have run off together for a spa day.” Antonio was only trying to steer conversation away from delicate topics. He was surprised by Grace’s reaction to what he figured was a joke.
“What have you heard?” She had her finger practically in…side his nose.
“Whoa, ease up. Just kidding.”
“You wouldn’t have said something like that for no reason.”
“I was trying to lighten the mood?”
“Idiot.” She stalked away. He reflected that Grace had suddenly gotten pretty strange in the past day or so. Well, they were all temperamental lately. There was just a little extra topping on some of their dispositions. Maybe Grace was having hormones…he looked over at her. She was furiously muddling some leaves in a tall glass. What was up with her? Women.
Grace didn’t want to be pissed, but she was, so there. After all this time, she would have hoped that Jemi would get it. Don’t go putting oars into other people’s boats. Or lakes. Something. Why would she go off alone with Jules? It was not cool. Then again, why would she have?
Why would Jules, for that matter? Hadn’t she just told Grace how hard it had been, for two whole years, knowing that she had to keep waiting? She thumped the muddler down into the glass once last time, noticing that she’d turned the mint leaves into goo. So much for that idea.
“We probably ought to go check and see if everything is okay down there.” Josh looked to Mrs. Han.
“Well, you cannot do much here unless we have Miss Ramirez. I do not like the sounds of what I am listening to, either. Whatever has happened, they are taking it very seriously.”
“Alright, we’ll roll down there, check on things, and see if we can locate our little lost sheepies. Sound good?” Josh tried to sound as cheerful as he did not feel.
They all shrugged apathetically, but dragged themselves out the door regardless.
۞
They were walking into the grand foyer when Colonel Tarkington walked in with Major Petrovich and a detachment of PMO personnel. The two senior men looked a step past grim. Everyone came to a halt and stood staring at one another. Josh had a bad feeling.
“Colonel?”
Nobody moved. Petrovich was glowering at them all. Josh could hear Leif breathing, and the sound of fists tightening up. Oh, not now. Of all the moments he wanted to act like a jealous lover….
“Gentlemen,” Tark nodded to Grace, “Miss Poole. We’ve had a little problem.”
“Could you be more specific?” Josh tried to sound nonchalant while stepping on Leif’s foot as hard as he could. Leif had his eyes locked on Petrovich.
“Not here. We need to head to security battalion offices.” He paused, only for a moment. “Now.” Tarkington did not look like a man to be argued with. He crossed the polished marble floor over to Wallace. “We’ve not yet been introduced, Mister Wallace. You come too.”
Wallace blanched. They’d come in using false names. Nobody was supposed to know his real name, unless…. He scowled over at the others. Somebody must have talked. The whole mission was compromised now. Probably that’s what this was all about, actually. He imagined that Jules was already in lockup, as he would soon be, all because someone didn’t want to have to go back and get into original orders. Shit.
Nonetheless, they went without argument. Tark left behind two corporals, ordering them to stay in direct sight of Mrs. Han until he said otherwise. The old woman cursed inwardly. This was not part of their planning. And she would be unable to let her brother know anything for now. Very bad indeed.
۞
They walked at a brisk pace, all too aware of curious stares from onlookers. It was not every day that they saw their commander at the head of a procession like this. Tark knew he had to move quickly. By his count, there was still someone unaccounted for, and it was only a matter of time before rumor started running wild. There was no avoiding it.
“Colonel, I….”
“Not yet, Mr. Yi. Double time it.” Taken aback by the terse tone, they instinctively fell into pace. They were in the boundaries of the base by then; no more civilians to gawk at them, they broke into a stride that had them at a light jog.
“This is a little wacky,” Antonio muttered to Josh.
“You’re telling me. You suppose they want us to reenlist?”
They were all thinking the obvious. Tarkington might have finally gotten orders of disposition for them.
“God, I hope not. I’m too old for this crowd.” Josh looked around at all the bright shining faces moving about their duties.
“You’re twenty-five, dude.” They slowed down and stopped outside a large freight elevator.
“We’re going down. Get in.” Petrovich was downright surly.
“Take it easy, we’re moving.” Antonio found himself nose to nose with the XO. The guy acted like he was trying to read his mind, boring into him with those unsettlingly pale blue eyes.
“Major.” Dmitry was unyielding. “I may not ha
ve authority over you, but you will respect my office.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Stand down, Major.” Tarkington walked over, somewhat in awe of his friend’s ability to suddenly seem like the most terrifying man alive. Petrovich backed away, still observing them carefully. Josh began to notice that he was only watching the men. As to Grace, be barely spared a glance. The elevator jerked, stopped, and groaned open its doors. Cold air gusted in from a glossy hallway.
“Uh, I’m sorry, this isn’t the security battalion…is it?” Josh didn’t like the direction things were headed. Tarkington did not respond. Petrovich, who had not taken his eyes off them, answered.
“It’s the morgue.”
۞
Maeve drifted back into the warm fantasy of swimming in bright blue water. She couldn’t remember how old she had been. Where was Niall? Was he there, in the water, right beside her? Deeper in, she could hear his infant laughter. She sighed with relief. She must have been about seven or eight if he’d only been a babe in arms. The laughter continued. What had he been so happy about?
A seagull. There had been one of them squabbling with a pelican over a mackerel. Niall couldn’t get enough of watching the smaller bird hop around the large, awkward one. They both squawked and carried on as they fought. She’d lost sight of him, her baby brother; he had been a good baby. Never cried. Trusted everyone to come to him if he but peeped. Good little baby.
Baby.
She was back in the ocean, but it had turned red. Everywhere red. She hadn’t seen it coming. But come, it had. There and gone before she’d had a chance to think it through. Out with the bath water, and down the drain. Gone into neverland.
Pain tugged her back, as always. She put her hands down over her belly, expecting to see the illusion that was usually there. Her hands were clean. She blinked and shook her head vigorously.
“I wouldn’t do too much of that. You’re going to be sore enough for a day or so.” A young doctor leaned on the doorway. Maeve noticed she was in a bright, clean room, with all manner of tubes and thingies stuck to her.
“How did I get here?” She still hated hospitals. The doctor came over, frowning. Lt. Cdr. Bahur was printed on his nametape. He wore blue scrubs and smelled of aftershave and antiseptic.
“You don’t recall?”
“It’s fuzzy. Last thing going on…I had a knife lodged in my chest.” Dr. Bahur clucked his tongue in amusement.
“There, you see. You do recall. Of course you’re fuzzy, you lost several litres of blood.” He walked around the bed to check things over. Maeve let him fuss over taking her pulse, checking her for post-concussion symptoms, and more. He was looking over the chart when she saw a thin red line running along his ear.
“Did you hurt yourself?” Bahur looked at her quizzically. She tapped her own ear.
“Ah, yes. Rugby. Sometimes you get more than you bargain for in the scrum. Nearly came clean off. You should have seen the look on the face of the one who did it.” He smiled innocuously at her.
۞
“The morgue? Like where dead people are kept?” Grace felt a wave of dizzy fear break over them.
“Colonel, please tell us what’s happened.” Josh seemed to be the only one who was able to speak calmly. He held up his hand to shush Leif and Wallace.
“Right after I get some answers.” Tark took a deep breath, and then wished he hadn’t. “We have one person in here. And we have another who nearly ended up here. And we have, or rather don’t have, someone who is responsible.”
“Not that I understood a word of that, but, I’ll bite. What do you want us to tell you?” Josh spoke as he kept Leif in his peripheral view.
“You’re going to start with where you’ve all been for the past few hours. And then, you can tell me why you’re suddenly palling around with Mrs. Han.” Dmitry had an instinctive feel that none of them knew yet, but he was running high off adrenaline and fury.
“Sorry. Not playing your game. Not inclined to tell you shit unless I know