Cameron nodded. He wanted this guy to go away already. Geiger’s entire campaign had been a show, and this was the proof.
The stage manager continued. “Walk out, stand still for a moment. Two seconds top. As if you’re overwhelmed by the massive audience. Then, walk up onto the stage. Shake Geiger’s hand. Geiger will take a seat behind you. Do not begin your speech until he’s sat down. Is that clear? That is imperative.”
Cameron swatted the stage manager away like a fly. “I got it. Leave me alone to… I need to go over my speech. So just, leave me alone.”
Once the stage manager disappeared, Cameron needed to find somewhere safe to make an important call. Unfortunately, there was security at every corner. Cameron had never seen so many posted guards, not even at functions including the current prime minister.
A large crowd of protestors had formed a human chain around the entrance to the arena, fluctuating through chants about Jayne and justice.
The authorities Cameron had no control over, the DSF, arrived and busted a few skulls. It was broken up quickly and with little effort. The protesters dispersed, and the throngs of Geiger’s supporters were easily able to flood into the arena.
Cameron checked his comm. Geiger would walk out onto the stage in five minutes. That give him fifteen minutes to make sure everything was in place.
“Excuse me,” Cameron said to the nearest guard, “where’s the closest restroom? I’ve got a nervous bladder.”
+++
The Catwalk Above the Ultra-Optic Standard Company Arena
Merry, Fred, and Jayne removed their black ballcaps. Now that Jayne was assumed dead, sneaking into places had become much easier. They looked down at the stage below them. Fifteen minutes to showtime.
The event was so understaffed, the stage manager had been thrilled to find three extra stagehands arriving through the back-entrance hours before the doors opened.
Merry, who looked the best in black and therefore the most like a stagehand, had done all the talking. “Yeah, we were told to hoist the banners for Geiger? So access to the catwalk would be great.”
The stage manager, running himself ragged, happily handed over his access card, along with quickly explaining how to work the pulley system fixed to the banners.
Jayne barely heard her comm ring over the cultish roar of the crowd below, but finally felt it vibrate just in time to answer it. “Cameron?”
Jayne heard flushing on the other end, which Cameron repeated to cover his voice. “How’s things on your end?”
Jayne looked to Fred and Merry on either side of her. “We’re all good. We’re ready. We’re terrified, but we’re ready.”
Cameron flushed the toilet again. “Me too. Where’s Vlad?”
Jayne looked below her, trying to find his face in the crowd, but it was pointless. “He’s somewhere out there in the crowd. If we all get killed, someone’s got to be left to spread the truth.”
Cameron turned the faucet on. “Do you remember your cue?”
Jayne responded automatically. The signal was so deeply ingrained in her head, her reaction would be instant. “Jayne Austin stood for something. And that can never die.”
Cameron hung up. They understood each other.
+++
Now it was time for Cameron to initiate his most dangerous task.
He left the bathroom and quickly walked through the long halls of backstage to the entrance on the other end of the stage. He found Dean Geiger behind a wall of security. The massive guards physically stopped Cameron.
Cameron didn’t relent. “I’m sorry, but this is incredibly important.”
“Let him through!” Geiger barked from behind the fortress of muscles.
The guards parted and Cameron saw Geiger. Geiger smiled. “Yes, Detective Stafford? Think of something you’d like me to add to your introduction.”
Instead, Cameron walked close to Geiger and pulled in his ear. “Our forensics expert just called me. The body? It’s not Jayne.”
Cameron could sense Geiger’s skin go cold. Geiger pulled away in shock and disgust. “Are you fucking kidding me?”
Cameron held out empty hands. There was nothing he could do. “You scheduled the rally too soon. I knew we wouldn’t have verified results for at least three days. It looks like… we were all tricked.”
“Fuck.” Geiger muttered. His face glowed red. Massive quantities of sweat bubbled up at the edge of his disappearing hair. “FUCK!”
He punched the wall. The guards ignored him. It was not their job to react or judge, only to protect.
Geiger turned to Cameron with an accusatory finger. He looked up from a furious brow. “Are you trying to fuck me over, Cameron?”
“No, sir, I’m trying to save you embarrassment.”
“Fuck you, detective. We’re going up on that stage. As far as we’re concerned, Jayne Austin is dead. And as soon as you walk off that motherfucking stage, you’re going to make that a fact. Or you’ll be brain dead in a VR dreamscape so fast you’ll wish it was your corpse that had burned alive in that goddamn travesty of police work. Get the fuck out of my sight.”
“Yes, sir.” Cameron left the circle of guards, which closed behind him around Geiger.
Cameron smiled. That went much better than expected.
+++
Jayne, Merry, and Fred could feel the energy shift from up in the catwalk. The crowd eerily quieted. For a moment, the arena air hung heavy with body heat and fervor. Then, Dean Geiger walked up onto the stage and the arena exploded. Jayne thought the Lightball tournament had been loud, but it was a lullaby compared to the crazed audience before her.
Holy shit, Jayne realized. They very well might eat her alive.
She looked down at Dean Geiger. She could see the sweat forming on the top of his bald head from fifty feet up. “Uh oh,” she snickered to Fred and Merry. “Looks like someone just learned the truth.”
The gang shared high-fives all around.
Geiger stood behind the podium, waiting for the crowd to die down, but they didn’t relent. Their unrelenting roar put the supports of the arena at risk of buckling under the decibel level.
Geiger wished so badly he could be enjoying it, but it only amplified the risk he was taking with the lie he’d soon be telling.
Then, again, he’d been lying all along. Who cared?
“My good friends!” He shouted into the microphone. His voice was lost over the massive sound system. He spoke again, louder. “MY GOOD FRIENDS! Thank you!”
The crowd’s murmurs, the whistles and the hollers of support didn’t stop, but the onslaught of cheers died down enough for Geiger to launch into his speech.
“Anyone been watching the news lately?"
And the crowd roared back with a unanimous “YEAH!” Geiger tempered their energy with a wave of his hand. Power was already his.
“Based on that reaction, I’m going to guess all of you saw the news about a certain friend of ours who we’ve been talking about quite a lot lately!”
A steady, rolling thunder of feet stamping on the ground shook the arena.
Geiger straightened his back when he noticed his slouching posture on one of the massive screens hanging from above. “It was my honor to lead this initiative of protection as a representative of the Espionage Academy and the Data Security Branch. And it will continue to be my honor to carry out that responsibility as your prime minister!”
Cameron regretted, for a moment, that he had long ago given up smoking. He could have really gone for a cigarette in this moment.
“It is my sincere hope that the fate of Jayne Austin will send a message to all other enemies of the Federation, both foreign and domestic! If you collaborate with enemies of the state, like James Burrett, if you operate outside of the law for your own purposes, and if you create chaos, if you make our citizens feel unsafe, then there is only one fate you deserve! And my good friends, Jayne Austin discovered what that fate was!”
Merry placed a comforting arm aroun
d Jayne. “Jayne, do you still think this is safe?”
Jayne didn’t know how to answer at first. Did she still think it was safe? No. Absolutely not. If she had any sense, she’d get the hell out of there right now, stay in hiding, change her identity, fight for justice as a shadow.
She could be like Nova. Perhaps Nova had the right idea, she was just on the wrong side of the coin.
But Jayne’s safety was nothing compared to the danger Geiger was about to subject the citizens to.
She knew what she had to do. She reached up and grabbed Merry’s hand draped over her shoulder. “Come on, Merry. When has safety ever stopped me before?”
Jayne’s onstage debut was fast approaching.
Down below, Geiger worked his way to introducing his special guest. “As promised, I’d like to honor the hero behind stopping Jayne. It comes as no surprise to me that this man is a brave member of Theron Techcropolis’ police force. Let’s hear it for our boys in blue, folks!”
A new rise of bedlam from the crowd. Cameron couldn’t help but laugh. He’d been sticking to his own convictions the past several weeks, but he had not exactly been operating by the orders of his superiors.
If only Geiger knew that.
If only the crowd knew that.
Geiger looked off to the wings at Cameron. Cameron could feel that he was supposed to smile, give Geiger some sort of small signal that he was ready to come on stage, but the last minute news of Jayne being alive had soiled that aspect of the pageantry.
Geiger turned back to the crowd. “Ladies and gentlemen, my good friends, the good people of Theron Techcropolis, please welcome out a true hero, Detective Cameron Stafford!”
Cameron had never seen anyone as happy to see him as the crowd was that day. Not even his childhood dog showed as much excitement the day Cameron came home from basic training almost fifteen years ago.
Cameron did just as the stage manager had directed. He counted to five, then stepped out of the wings. He took a couple steps and stopped for just a moment to take in the crowd. Then, he crossed the stage to Dean Geiger. Cameron took Geiger’s hand in a hearty shake.
Then, in total defiance to the stage manager’s instructions, Geiger yanked Cameron in close. Cameron could feel Geiger’s warm breath on his ear. Had he been drinking?
“Do not fuck me, Cameron,” he snarled.
Then, the two returned to an appropriate distance and smiled at each other. In a fit of outright ballsiness, Cameron winked at Geiger.
The wink would come to haunt him for the rest of his life.
Cameron took a stance behind the podium. He counted out until he was certain enough time had passed for Geiger to take a seat behind him.
With a deep breath, and a tiny “this better work” muttered to himself, he began his speech. “I had originally planned to open up with a joke. I was going to ask for some understanding if my speech was not as exciting as Geiger’s. You see, I’ve devoted my life to policework, and not public speaking. But I realized the problem with this joke is that my public speaking is poor, it doesn’t exactly give much credit to my policework.”
The crowd laughed. Cameron gave himself a mental pep talk. He loosened up. Let’s do this. “But in seriousness, policework is something I take very seriously. I believe that, first and foremost, it is the responsibility of a government to keep its citizens safe. And I hope that what I have done… has contributed to the safety of you, the citizens. And I hope that what I will do in the future… “ Yeah, in about two minutes, Cameron laughed to himself, “will continue to keep all of you safe!”
The crowd erupted in a reverent, respectful applause. They were witnessing a real hero. Cameron’s sweaty palms gripped the podium. “But the road of safety, and of justice, is not easy. And, unfortunately, it has no end.”
Above the stage, Fred removed a harness he had smuggled in under his black sweatshirt. He quickly helped Jayne strap it on around her chest. They fixed a rope to the harness and attached it to the catwalk itself.
Merry tugged on the rope with all her might. “Okay, let’s hope that holds.”
Jayne laughed defeatedly. “If it doesn’t, Dean Geiger will get his way after all.” She climbed over the railing to sit on the edge.
She looked down below at Cameron, waiting for her cue.
Cameron looked at the tablet in front of him, scrolling through his speech. He had been required to turn it in ahead of time. As a result, he had to be very careful with his words and determining Jayne’s cues. He knew it was approaching at any moment. His palms were so sweaty, his left hand slipped off the podium.
“For better or for worse, Jayne Austin, recently, came to represent the kinds of threats the Federation faces. In truth, what truly threatens the Federation will always lie beneath the surface… waiting… lying… What it is important for all of us to understand, as citizens, is that… Jayne Austin stood for something. And that can never die… But… Most importantly…”
Cameron looked down at his speech scrolling up the tablet. The next line, the line he had written, read “But the fight for justice will live forever.”
That’s what he was supposed to say. Instead, he took a huge gulp to clear the lump in his throat. He mustered all he could to keep his voice from cracking. Cameron glanced up to see Jayne leap over the side of the catwalk. She began to rappel down the face of Dean Geiger’s banner.
Cameron leaned into the microphone. “Jayne Austin lives!”
No one reacted. Geiger had zoned out. He was too busy thinking about how to quickly kill Jayne before anyone learned the truth.
The audience, for the first time, was silent.
The only sound was the unceremonious thud of Jayne Austin landing on the stage.
Jayne waited, but only silence persisted. She stood up from the crouch she landed in. She had landed directly in front of Dean Geiger. Since becoming a spy, she had seen anguish and despair and terror across many faces.
But she had never seen anyone as terrified as Dean Geiger was in that moment.
Cameron stepped aside as Jayne took her place behind the podium. She could only imagine how quickly security was moving, how quickly they’d swarm the stage. She had no time to waste.
“I am Jayne Austin. I am very much alive, and I am innocent!”
The sound of confusion, murmurs and questions bubbling up in the audience, finally began.
Jayne continued. “I was a pawn in Dean Geiger’s game. I did not commit murder, it was one of Geiger’s hired assassins. Hired to frame me. I was used merely as an incentive for his support. Information is power. Geiger isn’t protecting information, he’s using it and controlling it. He controlled the information of my very death. Information that turned into a lie. And here I am, your proof that Geiger has lied to you. Geiger is promising the opposite of safety and freedom! He is only interested in control! And here I am, defying that control! And you, the people, must do the same!”
And then two security guards almost seven feet in height leapt upon Jayne Austin, while a third security guard shot Cameron with a Taser into the back of his neck.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Dean Geiger’s Former Office, Espionage Academy, Avalon Space Station
“You can put that couch there, that’s perfect.” Levitsky pointed to the empty spot under the window. Two labor droids hovered over and dropped the couch.
Dean Levitsky always preferred lying down, preferably flat on her back and tied up if possible. But even if that wasn’t an option, and it despairingly was a harder commodity to track down in her waning years, a couch under the window would be an excellent place to brainstorm a new direction for Espionage Academy.
Alfonso, her new assistant, walked through the door. One of the labor droids had just completed removing ‘Ronald Geiger, Dean’ from the frosted glass with a laser. After Alfonso walked in, the labor droid shut the door and continued to thermically engrave “Ana Levitsky, Dean.”
Alfonso coughed to get Dean Levitsky’s attention
. Their past allowed their working relationship to be casual and collaborative.
Levitsky plopped down onto her couch while the labor droids continued to unpack her furniture and things. “Yes, Alfonso?”
Alfonso took out his comm. “Merry Winterbourne and Cameron Stafford, two of Jayne’s associates—”
Levitsky laughed. “Yes, Alfonso, I know who they are. The entire fucking Federation does at this point. I’m guessing they want to meet with me?”
Alfonso continued fiddling with his comm. “They sure do. I’m linking up a holocall with them now.”
Levitsky moaned. “I hope they’re not expecting me to get up off this couch. Transitions of power make me so tired.”
Alfonso initiated the call, and Merry and Cameron appeared below the built in hologram projector in the ceiling.
Levitsky glanced up from the couch. “Hello, my dear friends! How are you?”
Cameron and Merry adjusted their line of sight awkwardly to view Levitsky, who was awkwardly situated, horizontally, at the base of their hologram. “Hello!” Merry responded.
“Congratulations on the new gig!” Cameron added.
Levitsky smiled. She enjoyed the praise she’d been receiving. It was an honor long overdue. “Thank you, detective. Congrats on your pardons, your commendations, and narrowly avoiding prison. You deserve it.”
Cameron smiled. “Thank you, Dean.” He was referencing the full pardon he’d been given once it was revealed that his police work helped bring down Geiger.
Unfortunately, Jayne was less well connected and had the issue of the Deep Wen incident, plus the nature of her business in general, as marks against her. Merry and Cameron were small potatoes to the Federation. Jayne, however, had spent the two months since Geiger’s rally in a high-security holding cell.
Exposed (Interplanetary Spy for Hire Book 2) Page 28