by Chloe Garner
“I’ll be waiting for you just inside the first security check,” Malcolm said. “Don’t bring any weapons. They don’t like that.”
“Got it,” Troy said, sitting in the passenger seat as Conrad started the car. “We’ll be there as soon as we can.”
“Gotta say,” Malcolm told him. “I’m interested to see the show.”
Troy shook his head.
“Yeah.”
They hung up and Troy leaned back in his seat, trying to figure out exactly what it was he was going to tell the Senator.
He needed her protection, but it was more than that. Someone had to do something to stop what was going on at the base, and he couldn’t do it, from where he was. He could only hope that she knew better ways to get leverage on the people Troy reported through.
He still hadn’t come up with a plan by the time Conrad parked the car where Malcolm had indicated they should, nor as they entered the front doors of the building, where security guards took the contents of their pockets and watched them walk through a metal detector. A heavyset black man was waiting on the other side. Troy shook his hand.
“Malcolm?” he asked. “I’m Troy and this is my friend Conrad.”
“This way please,” Malcolm said. “The Senator just got back to her office. She’s expecting you.”
He signed them through an additional checkpoint where they checked Troy’s and Conrad’s drivers’ licenses, and then led them into a bustling office, through to a much quieter one where a woman in her mid-sixties was reading a stack of papers. She looked up, taking off her reading glasses and setting them on her chest. Malcolm settled into a chair in the corner and Troy looked at Conrad, then took one of the two chairs in front of Senator Greene’s desk.
“Well, you asked for an audience, and you have one,” Senator Greene said. “What’s on your mind?”
Troy had hoped for more of a lead-in than that, but he tried.
“For the last couple of years, the existing officers on the base have been systematically replaced with naval officers and retired officers who have no experience with the portal program. They’ve been letting staff go from in the labs and the other technical areas and replacing them with college kids who have no experience, either.”
“Like this one,” Senator Greene said of Conrad.
“He’s one of the good guys, but yeah,” Troy said. “Like him. He’s actually running my lab.”
“You vacated your position, I was informed,” Senator Greene said.
“I wasn’t given much choice,” Troy said. “They’re expanding the staffs, filling them up with people who don’t know the history of the program or what it’s supposed to be doing, and then they put them on secret assignments that they aren’t allowed to talk about. No one is supposed to talk about anything. Me even being here is probably some kind of treason.”
“No, you’re good,” Conrad said. Troy looked at him and frowned.
“Your contract,” Conrad said. “It makes it so that you can do just about anything without being held legally accountable for it. I did a paper on that section of Jesse’s original contract. Cassie’s is even more iron clad.”
It shouldn’t have comforted him as much as it did, that Conrad had done a paper on it, but there it was.
“Okay,” Troy said. “At any rate, no one is supposed to talk about anything they’re doing, and they have big sections of the base cordoned off so that no one can get there but the people General Donovan picks. I think they’re expanding the base operations into something that they don’t want anyone from the outside knowing about. Something that only General Donovan’s inner circle know about.”
“Any guesses what that would be?” Senator Greene asked.
“None, ma’am. I do believe that they are trying to get the Jalnians off of the base so that they don’t find out what’s going on and leak the secret. They’re known for doing that.”
Greene folded her fingers under her chin.
“I would love to talk to you about them all day, but I’m afraid I haven’t time. You think that they know what’s going on?”
Truth? Lie? Something in the middle?
“I think they always know a lot more than they let on,” Troy said. “But they don’t want to get wrapped up in politics. This isn’t their mess.”
“I see,” Senator Greene said. “And how, exactly, do you think that Donovan and his ilk are going to get rid of Jesse and Cassie?”
“Haven’t the foggiest, ma’am. I just know that I think they’re going to try.”
“You think they can?”
Troy let himself think about it.
“No. But I think that they can do a lot of damage in the process of trying.”
Senator Greene nodded.
“I see. And what is it that you are hoping I’ll do about it?”
There it was. The question he really didn’t have an answer to.
“I don’t know,” he said honestly. “But I know that I can’t do anything about it. Nor can Conrad. We need someone who is outside of our chain of command who has a vested interest in fixing it.”
“And you thought of me,” she said.
“Colonel Peterson was the one who suggested you,” Troy said, “though he didn’t know he was doing it at the time.”
She smiled.
“I see. General Thompson was replaced, what, about two years ago?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“So that would be about when you would say all of this started.”
“When Jesse turned up, yes, ma’am,” Troy said. She shook her head.
“No, General Thompson was on a hit list long before your Jalnian friend hit the planet. That’s when Knobby was confirmed as the Secretary of the Air Force, wasn’t he, Malcolm?”
“Yes, ma’am,” the man said from his corner. Troy looked back at him.
“Knobby? What?”
“Her nickname for Kenneth Young,” Malcolm said with a polite grimace. “It goes back a long way.”
“I’ve been waiting for an excuse to nail his ass for a while,” Senator Greene said, her tone not changing. “Let’s just see what he has to say for himself, shall we?”
Troy turned back, feeling his mouth hanging open. She gave him a quick, polite little smile and picked up the phone, holding the receiver out toward Malcolm.
“If you don’t mind.”
The man stood and took the phone, holding it with his shoulder to his ear as he dialed. Seconds later, he spoke.
“Yes, this is Malcolm Cunning with Senator Greene’s office. She would like an impromptu meeting with the secretary at his very, very earliest convenience.”
He paused.
“Yes, Shirley. I understand. But this really isn’t something that he wants to discuss in a panel.”
He paused again. Senator Greene leaned back in her chair, resting her index fingers against each other under her lips.
“This afternoon? Yes, I can find a place in her schedule,” Malcolm checked his watch, “in twenty minutes.”
There was a smile, one that Troy recognized as the kind you wanted to be on your side, not the other guy’s, and Malcolm nodded.
“Yes, that will work fine. Please be aware that we have two air force officers with us…”
Troy made a signal with his hands to indicate that that wasn’t true, and Malcolm frowned.
“One air force officer and one…”
“Lab rat,” Conrad suggested.
“Civilian,” Troy said.
“Base supervisor,” Senator Greene murmured.
“One base supervisor with us.” Pause. “Yes. Thank you.”
He set down the phone.
“I’ll go arrange a car. Does anyone need something to drink?”
Senator Greene smiled.
“I swear, I’d die of dehydration before the week was out without him.”
*********
Malcolm met them out front with a car and driver.
“We’ll come back for yours after the meeti
ng,” he said to Troy as they got in. Troy glanced at Conrad.
“You sure you want to come?”
Conrad raised an eyebrow at him.
“I drove all the way to DC overnight, and you’re asking if I want to bail now? At the most exciting part?”
“There’s every chance he’s going to know who you are,” Troy said.
“Why would that be?” Senator Greene asked as she settled into her seat and pulled out her phone.
“Because I’ve been spying for someone, and it’s probably him,” Conrad said. She put her phone down.
“Spying? My, what exciting lives you lead.”
Conrad nodded.
“Before I took the job on base, someone approached me about gathering information, just to be sure that everyone was doing the job they were supposed to be doing.”
“And you took them up on their offer,” she said.
“After I found the bug in my phone, it kind of made me angry, so I talked to Troy and…”
“A double agent,” she said with a marvelous smile. Troy couldn’t tell for certain what she was taking seriously and what she wasn’t. It had to be maddening for people who had to work with her every day, but he was enjoying it.
“If you like,” Conrad said. “They ask a lot of questions about stuff they should know, if they were talking to Donovan consistently.”
“I see,” she said, settling her glasses back down on her nose and peering at her phone.
“Malcolm, will you contact Senator Donald and tell him that I will not be able to make it to my engagement with him this evening?”
“Of course,” Malcolm said. “Should I tell your husband that you’re on for dinner, then?”
“Please do.”
And with that, they were done talking about Conrad being a spy. Senator Greene made a few additional changes to her upcoming schedule as they drove, and then the car stopped and Malcolm got the door.
“It’s the door on the right,” he said to Troy as they went up the stairs into another short office building. Troy went through another security scanner, then approached the first door on the right off of the entry way, waiting for Malcolm and the Senator.
“After you,” Senator Greene said, still looking at her phone. Troy opened the door, and a young woman stood at her desk.
“Officer,” she said, tipping her head as Conrad came in. “Tourist?”
“Supervisor,” Conrad supplied, “believe it or not.”
She gave him a small, curious frown, and then nodded.
“And there’s Malcolm and his mistress.”
“Good to see you too,” Malcolm said. “I assume you aren’t going to keep us waiting today.”
“The Secretary is very busy,” she said.
“As is the Senator,” Malcolm answered. “We don’t have time for this dance, today.”
The woman sighed.
“Fine. Can I at least tell him what this is concerning, before I let you in?” she asked.
“Fort Greene,” Malcolm said, “and a certain amount of misappropriation going on there.”
She hesitated, then disappeared through a door.
“The professional aides all get hired up by the professional politicians,” Senator Greene said. “The nominated roles end up bringing in people from outside. It’s very sad, really.”
She never looked up. Troy thought Malcolm might have looked a little smug. Moments later, the door opened again.
“Senator Greene,” the young woman said, standing to the side to allow the four of them into the Secretary of the Air Force’s office.
Kenneth Young was a civilian. It just rolled off of him in his posture, his clothing, the way he looked up as Troy and the others entered the room. He was a man used to power, certainly, but he didn’t have any of the professional demeanor of an officer.
“Senator,” he said, standing. “How I wish we could have these conversations on reasonable timetables.”
“Secretary,” Senator Greene said, sitting down in a chair and finally putting away her phone. She stretched her nose and took her glasses back down to her chest with articulate fingers. “How I wish we didn’t have to continue to have these conversations at all.”
Young sat again, leaving Troy and Conrad to scramble for chairs. Malcolm took a seat in a corner, as did the young woman that Troy presumed was Shirley.
“Who should I look at for introductions?” the Secretary asked.
“This is Conrad Leal, one of the leads in a technical role on Fort Greene, and this is Lieutenant Colonel Troy Rutger. I assume you know of him independently.”
Secretary Young peered at Troy, casting one quick look at Conrad, but trying not to look directly at the big man.
Conrad is an unusual name, Troy thought. The kind of name that sticks with you. The kind that you tend to recognize pretty quickly.
“You’re the one with the Jalnian connection,” he said to Troy.
“That’s me, sir,” Troy answered.
“You have more important work to be doing than sitting on that side of the table with a Senator who considers me to be the obstacle to her wildest dreams,” he said.
“If I didn’t have to be, I wouldn’t,” Troy said, “but there’s this niggling suspicion I have that someone was going to try to kidnap me if I stuck around and just plugged away at my day job.”
The Secretary’s face froze, just for an instant, then he turned his attention to Senator Greene.
“Your allegations are highly irregular,” he said. “Exactly what misappropriations do you think I’ve been involved with?”
“Are there more than one I should know about?” Senator Greene asked. “This young man has come to me with some very troubling evidence that you’re in the process of redesigning the portal program and its objectives. Not that this is the first evidence I’ve had cross my desk of such a thing.”
The Secretary might have gone a shade paler.
“Shirley, can you…” He shook his head. “Never mind.”
“What do you have to say for yourself, Knobby?” Senator Greene asked. It was only through the strictest act of discipline that Troy didn’t turn to stare at the Senator. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see that Conrad had turned to look at her.
“I have executed the duty of my office exactly as expected and as ordered,” Young started, then dropped his head.
“That man is out of control,” he said a moment later. “It wouldn’t be so bad if I could still give him orders, but he adds his own objectives to the top of every list I give him.”
“That would be General Donovan,” Senator Greene said.
“He insulated himself with an officer corps that won’t let me replace him. The man is untouchable, and then he started making side deals, things I don’t even know about.”
“Sir,” Shirley said. He looked up.
“No,” he said.
“Sir,” Shirley said again, more emphatically.
“If this is where it ends, this is where it ends,” Young said. “My one source of reliable information is sitting right there.”
“Me?” Conrad asked.
“Donovan only tells me what he wants me to know. No one else on that base tells me anything unless Donovan signs off on it. You were supposed to help me keep him in check, help me keep the Jalnians from putting him in power, and there you sit with… her.”
“No one has explained Jalnians to you, have they?” Troy asked.
“Super intelligent, super political, playing for their own interests,” Young said. “I’ve met enough like them to know.”
“Well,” Troy said. “That may be true, but they don’t let anyone use them. Ever. Especially not…” He stopped. That was a superior officer he was talking to, and a superior officer he was talking about. Even with the Senator next to him, he couldn’t justify that kind of behavior.
“You need to tell me exactly what you’ve done,” Senator Greene said, “so I can put it back.”
Young shook his head.
<
br /> “It started as a way to get more value out of the installation,” he said. “And then that young woman came in here offering me a deal, an opportunity no one had ever had before.”
“Young woman?” Greene asked.
“Blond. Short. Never got a name,” Young said.
“And you didn’t throw her out immediately because…?”
“It’s not every day that someone walks into your office and offers to introduce you to a foreign terrestrial who wants to negotiate an arrangement with you.”
“Jesse was here?” Troy asked. Young looked vaguely at him.
“No. Kalthar.”
His attention went back to Greene.
“You negotiated with a foreign entity in secret, then conspired to use federal resources to fulfill the terms of that agreement, also in secret?” Greene asked. “Knobby, that’s overreaching, even for you.”
“It had to be a secret,” Young said. “We would be taking in refugees, people who needed a safe place to exist. After all the effort we’ve put into keeping the portal program as sterile is possible, I agreed to bring in actual foreign terrestrials. The President agreed to it.”
“What’s that got to do with shutting down the jumper program?” Troy asked. Young shook his head.
“That wasn’t my idea. That’s a Jalnian objective.”
“No,” Troy said. No one was that concerned with his opinion, in that moment.
“The President is going to have his own battles,” Senator Greene said. “You’ve got to deal with me. The purpose of the portal program is not to create some foreign terrestrial reservation in the middle of Kansas. We went through that with the natives a century and a half ago, and no one has yet finished living it down.”
“What did they offer you in exchange?” Conrad asked. Good man. Eye on the ball.
Young glanced at him.
“Resources. Technology. Access to the most brilliant minds in the universe.”
“So no harm done, shutting down our own research,” Conrad observed.
“It was never supposed to be like this,” Young said. “We were going to take on a few refugees, learn from them, learn from Kalthar and his people, the portal program was supposed to continue on like it wasn’t happening. And then Donovan…”