Chapter Two
When I tapped on Jonel's door, a buzzer sounded and I opened the door to find Anna at her usual desk in the outer office. I smiled at her and said, "Am I glad to see you, ma'am. They've changed this place for the worse since the last time I was here. Would you believe there was no coffee in the security office?"
"Sure I would," she replied dourly, "We can't keep coffeepots in our offices anymore. How've you been, Ed?"
"Fine. You?"
With a finesse that almost caused me to miss her action, she gave me the old signal for 'watchers' as she replied, "Same as ever. Have a seat and tell me how Tiger's getting along with Annabelle." As I did so, she confirmed the signal and silently tapped an index finger twice on her desk.
Uh, huh. In other words, don't talk about anything else? Anna wasn't much of a pet person; although she'd been happy to see Tiger when he'd visited, she'd never asked about him between visits.
Wondering how and why she'd come to know some relatively ancient spook signals, I shrugged and said, "They're still together and show no signs of getting tired of each other."
Glancing at the clock on the wall, I asked, "If I'm gonna have to wait more than fifteen or so, I could zip down to the mess hall and be there when it opens." With an elaborate questioning look, I asked, "By the way, ma'am, why is it closed? It was never closed before except for cleaning."
With a shrug of her own, Anna replied, "New rulers, new rules."
From her desk intercom came Jonel's voice saying, "Anna, I've finished with Senator Hainey. Send Ed in, please."
Hm. Anna hadn't yet let her know I'd arrived. I got to my feet and gave Anna a thoughtful look as I passed her desk. She returned a 'yup, that's how things are' expression and buzzed me into Jonel's inner office.
Jonel sat at her desk making notes as I walked in. She glanced up and indicated the chair by her desk, then returned to scribbling. I looked around and noted various differences about the office; new furniture, two new paintings, none of the old paintings, and no coffee urn in the recessed wall space near the door.
Well, damn. I checked my mug; not much left. Thumbing at the bathroom, I said, "Take your time, ma'am. I'll rinse out my mug and make a fresh cup."
Looking up to fix me with a direct gaze, Jonel said, "It's customary to ask to use someone's bathroom."
"It's also customary to at least say 'hello' to visitors. Are you saying I can't use your bathroom to make a coffee?"
After a moment, she said, "No, of course not. And hello."
I nodded, said, "Thanks and hello yourself," and sipped the last of my coffee as I entered the bathroom. Once I had a fresh mug of coffee, I took a seat by her desk and watched her as she penned yet another note before she put the pen down and looked at me.
Her eyes studied my shirt for a moment, then went to my coffee mug before they returned to my face.
"Well," she said, "Some things never change, do they?"
"Nope. But some do, it seems. No coffee in offices? The mess hall closed in the middle of the afternoon?"
"The 'dining hall'," Jonel corrected me, "Yes, Ed, some things have changed around here." She sat back in her chair and added, "And for the better, I think."
I chuckled, "Since I was nearly out of coffee, I think I'll disagree. How about telling me why you called me?"
Jonel regarded me silently for a moment, then said, "We aren't to that point in the conversation yet. First we need to talk about the way you're dressed."
"No we don't. You said you had an assignment for me, Denise. Let's have it so I can get to it."
She stiffened and her eyes hardened as they had before at my use of her first name. I'd suddenly had more than enough of whatever she was trying to dish out. Meeting her gaze, I said quietly, "Or, if you intend to try to drop some kind of dress code on me, you can just give me my retirement papers now."
Rolling her eyes, she responded sarcastically, "Oh, now how could I have possibly known you'd try to play your retirement card the minute I suggested something you didn't particularly like? That won't work, Ed. Not this time. The next time you appear in this office, you'll be wearing appropriate..."
In a conversational tone, I cut her off with, "Can the crap, Denise."
Her eyes got big. She blurted, "What did you just say to me?!"
"I said, 'can-the-crap-Denise'. And give me my retirement papers. I'll drop them at personnel on my way out."
"That tired old 'retirement' threat won't work anymore, Ed! You just don't know when to quit pushing, do you?!"
"And you don't seem to know when someone's being dead serious. Hand over my papers."
"Forget the damned papers! Where the hell do you get off, thinking you can talk to me like that?!"
"Where the hell do you get off, thinking you can forget everything we agreed on back before Linda left?" Getting up, I sighed, "Never mind, I'll get new ones at personnel," and walked to the door. It was locked and the knob wouldn't move.
Jonel got to her feet and said in a cold, hard tone, "I'll let you know when this interview's finished, Ed. Get back over here."
I sent a tendril into the lock and found the circuit board, located the motor wires, and fed them current. The lock snapped back and the door opened. Jonel had come around her desk and was heading toward me as I let myself out, closed the door, and sent a bit too much current into the lock's circuit board.
Looking at wide-eyed Anna, I asked, "You heard?"
She nodded and nearly whispered, "Oh, hell, yes. Ed..."
"Right. It's been nice knowing you, ma'am. I'm heading down to personnel to retire again."
"Uh... Oh. Okay." Sniffing the air as she glanced around, Anna asked, "Is something burning?"
"Not now, it isn't."
The connecting door buzzed, but the lock didn't snap. It buzzed again, then again. I gave Anna a little two-finger salute and headed for the outside door. She buzzed the latch for me. Before I reached the first intersecting corridor, two AP guards came running around the corner and one of them hollered, "Sir! Stop where you are!"
I keyed on my five suit and kept walking toward them. The guy repeated the command. I said, "I'm on my way to personnel, guys. If it'll make you happy, you can come with me."
"No, sir! You will stop where you are! That's an order, sir!"
Okay, I stopped. "Now what?"
"We have orders to escort you back to Ms. Jonel's office, sir."
"Nope. I've had enough of this place. It's my retirement day, guys. I'm going to personnel."
He quickly moved to my right as the other guy moved to my left and said, "No, sir! You're going where Ms. Jonel wants you to go."
Grabbing my arms was a mistake. Our protective fields merged. When their uniformed arms touched my bare forearms, I sent light stun tendrils into both guys. They dropped and I called up my board, then zipped on to personnel thinking that zapping guards probably wasn't quite what Stephanie'd had in mind when she'd reprogrammed PFMs to allow certain types of contact by others wearing PFMs.
When I'd asked why she'd thought it necessary, she'd asked, "Ed, how many times have you reacted to a situation far too slowly?"
"You mean like ducking when it's already too damned late? Oh, a few times, I guess. We could count my scars if it really matters."
"What if someone turned on a p-field after being injured? How would that person be treated?"
"Ah. Yes'm. Good point, milady."
I didn't ask why nobody'd thought of that before, even though field suits had been around for quite a while. That afternoon she'd sent reprogramming to all PFMs.
At Carrington's personnel office I was pleasantly surprised to find the door unlocked and went in. The woman at the reception desk seemed somewhat wide-eyed and tense.
I ventured, "Jonel's already called you, hasn't she?"
The woman nodded slightly.
"Look, I just want to retire, ma'am. Give me the papers and I'll fill them out."
She shook her head. "I... Uh... I can't. Ms. Jonel said..."
Calling up a field screen and instructing the flitter to connect me to Wallace's datapad, I said, "Stand by one, ma'am."
Wallace answered and pretended vast surprise. "Well, well! What brings you to our neck of the woods?"
"You gonna pretend Jonel didn't tell you I was coming?"
He shrugged. "I guess not. What's up, Ed?"
"Not 'up', Cap. 'Down'. Jonel locked the door to keep me in her office. I fried the lock and left anyway, then two of your guys grabbed me on the way, which means Jonel called out the guard when I wouldn't stick around and take her crap. Now I'm trying to get some woman to cough up retirement papers so I can sign out for good."
"Turn the screen, Ed. Let her see me."
I did so and he said, "Ms. Mitchell, give him the papers."
"I... uh... Ms. Jonel said... said I shouldn't..." She let her sentence trail off and looked rather pleadingly at Wallace.
"Cap," I said, "I'd rather not get her in trouble, so why don't I just leave? Maybe you can talk Jonel into being sensible later."
"Who says she's the one who isn't being sensible? She's trying to retain an asset, isn't she?"
I sighed, "Look, I'm gonna split. It doesn't matter to me whether she says I quit, got fired, or retired, 'cuz you and a dozen others know the real story. If I have to, I'll get a lawyer."
For a moment he just looked at me, then he said, "Maybe Linda could help."
"Nah, don't bother her with it. All I need are some witnesses for later, and I've got those. If Mitchell won't give me the papers, I'll just hit the road for now and do 'em later."
Looking a bit to his left, Wallace said, "Just a minute, Ed. Jonel's calling. Stay put while I talk to her, okay?"
Any reason not to? No. I replied, "Yeah. Okay."
I opened a link through the flitter to monitor his datapad. Jonel was in the middle of a tirade when I tuned in. Wallace let her rant for a time, then said, "No. I know him, Denise. He's not bluffing."
She ranted, "Then he can by-God get the hell off my base! The bastard locked me in my own office, Emory!"
"He said you locked the door. He also said you wouldn't give him his retirement papers and that you told Mitchell not to give him the forms in personnel."
"Retirement, hell! He's fired, Emory!"
"Not a good idea, Denise. Too many people know what happened and his flitter probably recorded everything, as usual. He'd sue and I've no damned doubt at all he'd find a way to win. 3rd World wouldn't be too happy with you about that."
Jonel looked shocked and incensed. "Are you siding with him?!"
"I'm just stating the facts, damn it! If you really want him gone instantly with as little fuss as possible, just give him his damned retirement papers!"
Looking as if she might explode, Jonel seethed silently as the two APs I'd stunned came bursting into the office with their stun wands at the ready. One yelled, "Freeze!" and the other circled behind me.
Holding up a hand to point at the field screen, I said, "Just hang on a minute, guys. I have your Cap'n Wallace on the horn."
The guy behind me snapped, "That screen's blank!"
"I'm on hold. He's having a chat with Jonel." Thumbing at Mitchell, I said, "Ask her."
They didn't have to ask. The shaken woman nodded vigorously and yelped, "Yes! It's true! He was talking to Captain Wallace when Ms. Jonel called him!" Shaking her head slightly, she amended, "I mean, she called Captain Wallace!"
The APs glanced at each other and seemed uncertain about how to proceed for a moment, then the one by the door asked, "How did you stun us back in the hall? We had our p-fields on."
Rather than tell him about field tendrils, I said, "I helped invent PFMs. Some things they can do aren't in the manuals."
"What things? Why not?"
I shrugged. "Damned if I know. I didn't write the manuals. Haven't read 'em, either. Now hush up and let's wait for Wallace to get back to me."
In my flitter-view of Wallace's datapad, I saw Jonel draw a deep, focusing breath. Some of the red faded from her face and she said in an icy voice, "Have him come back to my office. If he can get my goddamned door open, I'll hand him his goddamned papers."
Wallace replied, "Okay, Denise. I'll tell him."
She poked her 'off' icon and Wallace reopened our link with, "Ed? You still there?"
Watching myself on Wallace's datapad, I canceled the flitter link and replied, "Yeah, Cap."
"Jonel says you can have your papers if you can get her door open." He chuckled, "She didn't say what would happen if you can't."
"Roger that. Okay, Cap. On my way."
"Let me know how things turn out, okay? I'll want your version."
"You'll get a recording. Thanks, Cap."
When I called up my board, the AP between me and the door hopped sideways like a startled cat. I headed back to Jonel's office and knocked. Anna let me in and stood to one side as I sent another tendril to locate and energize the lock motor's power wires. The lock snapped back and I opened the door to find Jonel standing near the door with my papers.
She held them up and I reached for them, but she snatched them back and said, "Not so fast. I want a word with you first."
"We already had some words, ma'am. I didn't like any of 'em, so I'm gonna re-retire and maybe take a long bike trip to the Grand Canyon."
The last two words made her stop and stare, just as I'd expected. I grabbed the papers out of her hand and checked them over to give her a moment to think, then nodded.
As I stepped backward through the doorway, Jonel quickly followed, peering at me as she asked, "Why the Grand Canyon?"
"To get away from Florida for a while. Bye."
"Hold it! I never told you about the assignment."
Holding up the papers, I said, "Can't see how that matters now."
"But it does! That's where I was going to send you!"
I shrugged. "Still doesn't matter. Bye," and turned to leave.
Jonel stepped forward quickly and grabbed my elbow as she sharply gestured for Anna to leave the room. Anna gave me a stark, raised-eyebrow glance, then left, pulling the door shut.
I kept a firm grip on my papers as I turned to face Jonel and clearly enunciated each word of, "How do I get through to you, lady? I'm outta here."
Jonel hissed, "Just wait a minute, damn it! Maybe we can work something out! Don't you even want to know why I want to send you there?"
Meeting her gaze, I asked, "Was it something you could have told me without dragging me all the way out here to New Fort Tightass?" Gesturing around, I said, "I used to like visiting this place, but now it's full of new people and it's all about badge checks, locked doors, and a serious lack of such simple amenities as office coffee. And my soon-to-be-ex boss apparently wants to institute a damned dress code. Not my idea of a pleasant place at all, ma'am. Others may have to put up with that kind of bullshit, but I don't."
As I again headed for the front door, Jonel stated firmly, "But you do still need someone between you and the government."
"It doesn't have to be you. I'll figure something out."
"Damn it, can't you be reasonable, Ed?! Maybe I overplayed my hand earlier."
"You actually thought you had a hand to play, Denise. For that matter, you thought there was a damned game, even though I made all that clear long before Linda left. I came here for an assignment, but you tried to shove a dress code at me. Bye."
Looking rather exasperated, she said, "Forget all that! Just forget I said anything! I do have an assignment for you, Ed. At the Grand Canyon; I wasn't kidding about that. Why not take it and we'll both back off a while and talk about things again later? How could that hurt?"
Hm. She had a point of sorts. How could it hurt? I'd made my point, too. I had my papers now and I could always file them later if she continued being difficult.
Apparently sensing my thoughts, Jonel said, "You have your papers. File them later if you still want to. But why not at least have a look at the job?"
Shrugging, I said, "Okay. Sure. What is it?"
She seemed suspicious. "That was entirely too damned easy, Ed. Are you going to let me waste my time telling you, then walk out of here and go straight to personnel anyway?"
I chuckled, "Not if you'll quit screwing around and get to it. What's the big deal at the canyon?"
Jonel said, "Put up a screen and I'll show you." I did so and what she displayed was essentially the same as Serena's info. I kept my observations to myself. After she summarized, Jonel said, "Our probes have had no luck at all for over two months. I want you to find out what's making those field blips."
Shrugging again, I folded my papers and stuck them in a back pocket. "What the hell. Okay. I was going out there anyway."
Her face morphed from somber to moderately exuberant in an instant, but her eyes didn't quite match her expression as she said, "Excellent! We'll talk again tomorrow."
"About what? Unless something new turns up, that is? Denise, if you really want me aboard this boat, it'll be better if you just tell me what needs done and stand by."
Her eyes hardened a bit. "If things end up having to be that way, maybe we can work something out. How soon do you think you can get to the canyon?"
I added up travel times between stops and said, "Saturday to prep for the trip. Leave Sunday. Stops to visit my sisters. I could probably be at the canyon by next Sunday."
That answer didn't please her at all. "Can't you just load your bike on the flitter and get there tomorrow?"
"Nope. I got that bike to ride it and I told my sisters I'd be visiting them. Besides, if I buzz in with a fresh High Plains sunburn and a wad of gas receipts on a bike with Florida tags, I'll look like a tourist, not some kind of cop. Whoever's making those field blips seems to know how to avoid being spotted, and I'd bet that person would be just as quick to spot someone watching the parking lots."
"You think it's definitely a person?"
"Ever heard of a natural phenomenon that caused a field blip?"
Jonel shook her head. "No. I asked Wallace's TAC officer the same question and got the same answer."
After a bit more chat, I left with my paperwork and stashed it in my flitter's console as I headed back to Florida.
More? On to Chapter 3!
or
Get the rest of the book!
Purchase page:
LIT - Rocket/REB
PDB/Palm - PDF - KML
(Must be 18)
|
|
|
|
