Ouch.
I gripped Conrad’s hand, partly to restrain him, partly to channel my anger at this pompous little jerk.
‘One month’s community service, level four, subject to school hours. And tagged.’
I thought Conrad was going to leap off the bench and kill him. Level four meant the worst jobs and only potential runaways got tagged. What an asshole. After formally accepting the verdict – what choice did we have? – we filed out. My arm around Allegra’s waist, and our heads raised, we were both prepared to die before we showed any emotion or reaction to the flashbulbs or dumb questions from the newsies sniping from behind the caged barrier.
Lurio met us in the back lobby where convicted defendants were processed. Windowless and painted in grey, it contained hard benches and bored custodes. Lurio waved away the two waiting to take Allegra for tagging.
‘I’m so sorry, Bruna, I couldn’t do anything. Usually they’ll take the DJ’s recommendation.’
‘I know. Thanks for trying.’
Conrad, never comfortable around Lurio, was incandescent. ‘Jupiter’s balls! What right has that little prick got to dish out that kind of punishment to a child?’
‘Conrad, you’re frightening her,’ I warned him.
Allegra’s composure had melted away, she looked fearful, her eyes running from one to the other of us. ‘What… what do you mean?’
‘Well, young lady,’ said Lurio, ‘you have to come with me and get fitted with a new kind of bracelet. Your mother and father can come with us, if they want, as they’re law officers.’ He looked at us like we were idiots. I fumbled with my gold eagle badge and clipped it on to get through the security barriers. Conrad laid his arm protectively across Allegra’s shoulders and nodded abruptly to Lurio to proceed.
Down in the cell block under the court, Allegra stood silently as the tag was locked on to her left wrist. Lurio stopped them fitting it to her ankle as was usual.
‘Pointless really,’ he snorted, ‘since she’s implanted with a tracker anyway. He just wanted to humiliate you through her. Stupid bastard.’ He turned to me. ‘If he so much as goes through a red light or overstays his parking meter, I’ll throw the whole bloody Lex Custodum at him.’
VII
The evening of Allegra’s court appearance, I checked in briefly with Flavius.
‘No show, Bruna. Sorry. We’ll see if we get anything tomorrow. I had a word with the DJ case officer. They’re not going to do much more. Court conviction, so case over as far as they’re concerned. No objection to us nosing around a bit more so I’ve sent Atria over to interview Maia Quirinia to put together an e-fit picture of this Zenia.’ He hesitated. ‘Would you let Atria talk to Allegra as well?’
‘Gods, of course, Flav. She starts her work detail tomorrow at half five and finishes around half eight.’ I sighed. She’d be so tired. ‘Atria could come over at, say, four thirty.’
‘She’ll be there.’
Helena took Allegra to school herself the next morning and let the principal know the situation.
‘Juno, Carina, I felt as if I was under lock-down. I got that “gravely disappointed” talk.’ She rolled her eyes. As a teacher, she must have given that talk herself many times. I sympathised; I was finding it equally uncomfortable being on the consumer end of the justice system.
‘How’s Conradus doing?’
‘Not taking it well. He thought the magistrate was over-harsh. He went into work ready to kill elephants.’
‘You’re not going to like this, but maybe it’ll give her some first-hand experience of life at the other end.’ She held her hand up. ‘Don’t look at me like that, Carina. You both had a difficult upbringing, so you’re naturally over-protective, especially since that business with Superbus and his brutal goons all those years ago. Going out to school has been excellent for Allegra and toughened her up.’
‘Finished?’ I got up, pushing my chair back under the breakfast table.
‘Take that poker out of your backside and think about what I’ve said.’
‘I’m going to work now, Helena. Julia Atria will be here at four thirty. Please ensure Allegra is ready for her.’
‘Carina—’
I was gone.
*
Still smarting at Helena’s words and reluctant to admit there might be some truth in them, I grumped my way to my office. Sergius came in, protecting himself with a cup of coffee for me.
‘Your Captain Browning’s scheduled to go out with you to the training ground lunchtime to watch tactics exercises. Do you want me to re-assign it to somebody else, ma’am?’
‘No, he’s my guest, I’ll take him. Besides, I’d like to get out in the fresh air.’
I smiled at him. He was being incredibly tactful.
‘Okay, Sergius, what else is on the menu today?’
We finalised budgets and I signed them off which released the funds to get the new framework up and running. I’d have a whole branch meeting in a week’s time to review how it was shaking down.
A knock on my doorframe let me lift my head from the bunch of files Sergius had left me.
‘Colonel? Not interrupting, I hope?’
Michael. His attractive smile was like an instant tonic.
‘Hi. Come in. I’ll just be a minute. Grab a coffee.’ I waved my hand towards the machine.
Around ten kilometres away from the city, the training ground consisted mainly of mixed woodland and ground scrub, with a couple of open field areas and an urban mock-up for house-to-house training. We stopped off at the admin building where Lieutenant Lucilla Mitela greeted us.
‘Hello, Lucy. How’s it all going?’
She drew herself up and saluted with a grave look on her face.
‘Very well, ma’am. Only one broken arm and a few bruises.’
I smiled to myself at the deadpan way she described painful training accidents. I presented Michael and we made our way in for sandwiches in the staff cell where Lucy went through today’s programme. Her English was excellent, but with a funny international accent. Maybe she could do a training period with Michael’s people. Hopefully not with similar repercussions as Conrad’s time in England. I batted that unpleasant thought away. At least we’d know in nine months and not twenty-five years later.
Michael was fascinated by the way we drew on over two thousand years of warfighting and bombarded Lucy with questions. She took him out to the mock-up street where they were practising hostage recovery. Halfway along, she got called in to adjudicate some point, so I seized my opportunity.
‘Okay, Michael, we’ve got a few minutes in a nice noisy place where we can’t be overheard. What’s this news of yours you couldn’t tell me on the most secure comms system in the world?’ I didn’t mean to sound sarcastic, but I couldn’t understand his reticence.
‘You remember meeting Andrew Brudgland in London after our joint exercise? I understand you’re aware the contents of his report to the legate about Nicola Hargreve.’
I nodded. It was all I could do.
‘Well, he asked me to delve deeper. He likes to be fully informed about his opposite numbers, and I think he genuinely wanted to help your husband.’
‘Why you? I mean I’m not dissing you, Michael, but he has a team of specialist investigators to follow this up.’
‘He knows I know you and your culture and I speak a little of the language. Also, I’m not on his budget.’ He grinned. ‘As it turned out, I was the perfect person for the job.’
‘How was that?’
Before he could answer, a ball of fire erupted out of the window of the nearby building. We clapped hands over our ears and ran.
’Bugger me, that was loud.’ He shouted. ‘What the hell do you use?’
‘Trade secret.’ I grinned at him, as we reached a rise ten metres away. I shook my head to try to get rid of the blast effect.
‘Anyway, your Nicola—’ he continued.
‘Not my Nicola. In any sense. Ever.’ I heard the ice in my own
voice; it mirrored the ice in my gut.
‘Very well. Nicola Hargreve turns out to be a deceitful young woman. She was born in an Army town and like a lot of youngsters there, went into the armed forces herself. She applied herself and was promoted sergeant and because of her excellent record was accepted into the special forces. She had a talent for single-mindedness and was tough enough to stand the endurance training. Her OC commended her for her tradecraft and outstanding performance in two operations where she worked with the security services. The only problem was that she called herself Sandbrook and had been very clever in establishing that identity. It was only after she left and I started investigating that this all came to light.’
Gods. This was getting better all the time.
‘In fact, you met her.’
I stared at him. ‘No, how could that be?’
‘She was acting as admin staff for your exercise.’
Click.
‘Not the one with the plaited blonde hair on the check-in table at the end of the exercise?’
*
Lucy came back at that moment and we toured the rest of the training area. Michael took the opportunity to ask questions wherever he could, and try a few things. In a borrowed helmet, carrying a standard service weapon, he melded with the rest of them. Every step he took was purposeful and controlled; the slightly hesitant academic had completely vanished. Impressive. And dangerously deceptive.
As soon as my mind was freed up from concentrating on observing him and the others running through a rescue drill, Nicola resurfaced. Ignoring my instincts never did me any favours and they’d been right off the scale when I’d come across her in England.
What exactly did Michael’s information mean? For one, she’d become a much more serious threat. She was trained in deception, had patience and endurance and fighting skills. And probably that damned Tella pride. Fabulous.
I absolutely had to know more so I tackled Michael on the way back.
‘So, Michael, has your buddy told my buddy?’
‘No, he thought I might run it past you first.’
‘And why was that?’
‘He thought you might be more objective,’ he said, glancing at me. ‘I’m not so sure now.’
‘No, I don’t think I can be objective. Like it or not, I’d like to beat the crap out of her.’
‘Hm. Perhaps I was wrong, then.’
‘Whatever,’ I shrugged. ‘I suggest you go and see the legate yourself and tell him your news. I’ll arrange to collect your body after you come out of his office.’
‘I see.’
We rode back in silence after that.
*
By the time I parked my car in the courtyard at home, it was a little after ten. I found Conrad in his study. I had to talk with him about the Nicola threat. Somehow we hadn’t coincided during duty hours, not even at mealtimes. I was starting to think it was intentional. Or maybe he was just distracted.
‘Hi.’ He looked up as soon as I walked into the room. He half sat, half lay on the dark green leather couch, his ankles crossed on the second cushion with his feet hanging over the edge. He discarded his book on to a side table and looked at me intently.
I scanned his face for any signs of stress; I could see only a gleam in his eyes. A slow smile built on his lips and I felt twenty-five again. How simple it had been then, despite the danger. Warmth spread through me; I just wanted him. All my questions faded away, irrelevant. I bent down and kissed his cheek, a little up from that mouth. I laid my hand on his shoulder, knelt on his thigh and kissed his lips. Oh, the pleasure of it. His mouth was warm, soft, tender. I was intoxicated as his tongue sought mine. His arms pulled me to him and I fell in.
Later that evening in our bed, he was equally passionate, taking care to ensure my pleasure reached the maximum. As we climaxed, I was overwhelmed. My every nerve was singing. The rhythm of waves eventually slowed and I landed in a pool of exhaustion, warmth and deep content.
The early morning light was peeking through the drapes as we lay face to face, smiling, touching, hands teasing and tickling, but in a languid, contented going-nowhere way. I stroked the side of his face, paused at the tiny dip at his temple, then continued down over the curved edge of his cheekbone. His eyes closed at my touch and he almost purred. I leaned over and kissed the tiny line at the side of his mouth, his hand came up behind my waist and he pulled me on top. His eyes were wide open and glinting now.
Then his commset beeped.
‘Mitelus. What?’
His mouth was an irritated straight line. As I watched, his frown became tighter. Whoever was on the other end had better have her asbestos suit on. He listened intently, his eyes wandering at first, then coming back to concentrate on the back of his hand. He grunted, then listened some more.
‘Very well. I’ll be there at seven. Out.’
He rolled his eyes, his mouth still peevish, but he started to move. He nudged me off gently , then sat on the edge of the bed, stretched over and ran the back of his hand down my cheek.
‘Sorry, love. I wanted to have breakfast with you, but I have to go in.’
I was far too relaxed to do anything but smile back at him.
‘Catch you later. Lunchtime?’
‘Yes, I’ll have sorted this out by then.’
I was on late shift so I went back to sleep.
It was only in the shower that I realised we hadn’t discussed the Nicola thing at all. How could I have forgotten? Hades, I was slowing up. No, I’d gotten completely sidetracked. Mmm, but what a way to go. A mean thought wormed its way into my head. Surely, he hadn’t used last night to divert me? He was perfectly capable of it, but he hadn’t, had he? I didn’t know whether to be furious at him or guilty at myself for thinking such a thing. I gave myself a mental shake. Juno, I’d start suspecting my toenails next. But still…
I’d hardly knocked on his office door at 12.30, when he came out, beckoned me in and told Rusonia he was taking personal time: no calls, no interruptions until 14.00. Her eyebrows shot up at least a millimetre.
‘Look, sorry I had to go so quickly this morning. An emergency concerning the palace guard.’
The regular Praetorian Guard which he was also now responsible for acted as day-to-day security for the imperatrix and her palace, or wherever she was. One summer, while he was still junior legate heading the PGSF only, Silvia and all three children had come to stay with us for a few days at our farm near Castra Lucilla. Despite its remoteness, the guards turned it into Fort Knox. The children weren’t even allowed to go for a swim in the lake without an armed escort. Until Conrad put his foot down. He banned the guards from the villa and garden and told them to stick to the perimeter. The commander looked as black as Hades at him, but couldn’t argue. Conrad outranked him by several steps and was after all the children’s registered father. No official report of the clash ended up on anybody’s desk, but relations cooled considerably between the two branches. Conrad’s appointment to commanding both branches as senior legate had meant dealing with some uncooperative egos.
I rolled my eyes in sympathy. ‘So, obviously, a major incident?’
‘Not really, just some tactless handling by a tired detail. A couple of grunts were a bit robust with some tourists who kept trying to get inside the palace perimeter last night. The guards moved them along. One tourist apologised, so they sent her on her way, but the other one wouldn’t let it go, so they chucked her in a cell in the guardroom for the night. Unfortunately, she turned out to be a foreign investigative journalist and was screaming police brutality. They tried to explain they weren’t custodes, but according to the guard commander that wound her up more and she started on about military dictatorships.’ He shrugged. ‘In the end, I rousted Silvia’s protocol chief out to smooth it over.’ He sighed. ‘You’ll never guess who the new one is.’
I shook my head. I’d dropped so far behind on reading routine appointments circulars.
‘You remember Favonius Cotta?’
>
‘You’re kidding me?’
‘He was as deeply thrilled to see me as I him, but he can do the job, I have to admit. He used just the right balance of serious attention and condescension. Very slick.’
And just as oily, would be my guess. Conrad looked like he had a bad smell under his nose. Favonius Cotta had been the senior diplomat we’d had a run-in with fifteen years ago when I’d sought asylum in the legation in Washington.
‘Well, never mind that. I have to talk to you about something much more important. Nicola.’
I jumped at the name, and at his raising the subject. He’d told me so firmly to butt out before.
‘I’ve been in two minds about her.’ He set his elbows on his desk and tapped the fingertips of each hand against their opposite numbers. ‘I can ignore her and hope she’ll go away. Rarely a good option. These kinds of problems always come back, usually well-fermented. The other option is to see if we can’t negotiate some kind of arrangement with her.’
He was discussing her like a theoretical case or an exercise scenario. His voice was dispassionate, disinterested even. Had he gotten over the emotional crisis Nonna referred to? He’d been so much happier yesterday, like he’d come to some conclusion. Obviously, her letter had caused a huge upset, but now he’d be able to resolve it, thank the gods.
I nodded and was about to suggest making an appointment with Sertorius to draw up an opening offer. Sertorius was so tough and slippery he could negotiate the palm off Victory, and she was a gold statue. We’d be rid of Nicola within a few weeks.
Conrad said nothing. After a few moments, he smiled to himself. ‘She seems to have done well in the military, though. Something to be said for the genes.’
Oh, Juno, he actually admired her. He bubbled with pride in his children and this visceral emotion was stretching to include Nicola. Not good. Not at all good.
He glanced toward me from across his desk. ‘I know this may come as a bit of a shock, but I’m going to invite her over here.’
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