by Gini Koch
“Huh.”
“What’re you thinking?” Martini asked me.
“There’re a lot of security cameras around, but the head of Canaveral Ops was killed while he was talking to us, and no matter what, you’d have thought a security detail would meet us when we docked.”
Alfred looked even more shocked. “You mean there was no checkpoint?”
Martini’s eyes narrowed. “No, nothing and no one. We got into the room at about the same time you did.”
“I didn’t notice,” Alfred admitted.
“Because of the explosion, I’m sure,” Gower said.
“How close was Alfred to the blast?” I asked.
“Close.” Martini’s voice was clipped. “I saw a spark, that’s why I . . . ”
“Ran,” I finished for him. “Yeah. I’m not really impressed with Turco’s team.” The questions I wasn’t voicing yet were whether Security had been infiltrated, and, if so, had said infiltration been from outside or inside forces. Karl Smith’s warning and murder indicated inside, but we didn’t have enough yet to be sure.
Alfred shook his head. “Fred has an impeccable record.” “Not anymore.”
Alfred shrugged. “I suppose not.”
“How long has he been here?”
“Several years. The last five he’s been in charge of Security.”
“How many issues have you had like this under his tenure?”
“None. As I said, his record has been excellent.”
Interesting. And it begged a new question. “What would it take to undo Canaveral Security to the point where we could disembark without checkpoints, and you all could be blown up and almost killed? Especially since Security’s at full and Canaveral Ops, at the least, knew we were coming.”
Alfred considered this for a bit but finally shook his head. “I honestly don’t know. Ops didn’t alert us to anything, but I can’t say if they alerted Security or not. We don’t interact with Security all that much, really. They’re not here to police the employees but to protect them.”
“Supposedly, anyway.” I decided to refrain from making more comments about Turco’s so-called skills, especially since I wasn’t sure yet if he had none or had some really good ones he’d hidden for all the time he’d been here.
Martini jerked. “He’s waking up.” Sure enough, the object of my disdain started to come around.
“So, do you want to question him?” Alfred asked.
“Yes, but I think we should get more up to date on the astronaut situation.”
Alfred looked at Martini, who nodded. He headed out, and we all followed, leaving all our suitcases and paraphernalia behind, other than the medical cases Claudia and Lorraine were carrying. Jerry and Joe untied Turco and dragged him along between them. I was pleased and proud to see that they weren’t nice about it at all.
Reader walked next to me. “What do you think’s going on?”
“Security breach. But who, why, and how is the question. I have no clue at this point. I’ve never been here before.”
“I haven’t been here for this kind of situation. Maybe they had all the Security team focused on the Valiant.” Reader didn’t sound as though he thought this was a legitimate possibility.
“Maybe. Maybe my mom will have a suggestion.”
“Don’t stop to have sex?” he said with a grin.
“Oh, shut up. We were napping. Only.” Martini seemed okay, and Lorraine had given him another A-C physical when we’d returned from the jet, so I wasn’t feeling overly worried.
I felt a hand on my neck. It pulled me back and up against a body. “Mine, thanks.” Martini massaged my neck while Reader chuckled. “So, what were you two whispering about?”
I put my arm around his waist, and I could feel him relax a bit. “Security issues. Mostly. Relax, Jeff. Stress isn’t good for you right now.”
“Huh.” He kept his arm around my shoulders, and I leaned my head against him.
We wandered through the Space Center. It looked very much like what I’d seen in movies, both fictional and documentaries in school. I tried to take it all in, but other than looking for snipers, I couldn’t. We were too rushed and in too much danger for me to pay attention to things that weren’t trying to kill us.
“Are we going to see Paul’s brother?”
“Probably.” Martini sighed. “Yeah, I know what you want. James, tell Paul where we’re headed and see if he wants to join us.”
Reader nodded and closed his cell. “Already taken care of. He’s meeting us at the quarantine area.” He fell back and walked next to us. “We’ve got a handful of people with enough authority to have found your cell number. Kevin’s got some of the P.T.C.U. team running the cross-checks, and Paul has the gang at Home Base doing the same. We should know something soon.”
“Where are our possible suspects?”
“All personnel have been moved to the Mission Control Center. It’s the only place big enough to hold everyone where we don’t have to leave this main building.”
I could get behind that. However, we weren’t headed to Mission Control yet. “Who’s riding herd on them?”
“Kevin and the rest of that group are. Only Paul’s meeting us at quarantine.”
“That means Paul will be alone.”
“According to the men with them, all personnel are in the Control Center, other than those heading there with Kevin and our pal Turco.”
“I don’t like it, but okay.” I didn’t like it. Karl Smith had been very clear right before he died—alone. “Where’s Smith’s body?”
“Dad,” Martini called. “Where’s the corpse?”
Alfred stopped and waited for us to reach him. “Near quarantine, why?”
“I was the last person he spoke to before he died. I’d like to see him.” Not that I relished the idea of looking at a cadaver, but maybe he had a clue to what was going on somewhere on his person.
Alfred gave me a look that said I was an odd girl. “Okay, we can see the body first, if you want.”
“I don’t want Paul alone any longer than necessary.”
“Tell us where he’s at, we’ll trot on ahead,” Jerry offered. “Me, Joe, Turco here, and Lorraine. That should be enough to keep Paul company.”
My humans would have an A-C with them for fast exits, so that sounded like a workable plan. “Okay, be on the phone fast if you run into trouble.”
“We will,” Lorraine said. “I wish I’d brought some walkies.”
“Bringing medical and the boys was more important.”
She laughed. “The boys were haunting me and Claudia in case you called. Not bringing them would have been a delay.”
“As always, I like how you think.”
We continued on down some corridors that started to make me wonder if we’d find a big piece of cheese at the end. Then we hit a T-intersection, and Jerry’s team went left while the rest of us went right.
We came to a heavy door. Alfred unlocked it and ushered us inside. The room was dark and very cold. “We use this for the big mainframes,” he said. “It’s cold enough to keep a human body fresh. We didn’t have time to call for an ambulance.”
“You had an hour or more.”
“We didn’t have an answer for the police,” Alfred explained. “Security said they’d handle it but wanted the body here until they’d done whatever it is they do in this situation.” My impression of Turco went down another notch.
He turned on the lights. I looked around the room. “Lots of big machines, lots of floor space. Strangely enough, no dead body, unless it’s hiding inside the big computer boxes.”
CHAPTER 27
“WE PUT HIM HERE!” Alfred shouted as he pointed to a table devoid of anything corpselike on it. Nice to see that the bellowing ran in the family. Martini was still better, but perhaps his father wasn’t trying all that hard.
“Then either he wasn’t dead or someone took him away.”
“Thanks for stating the obvious.” Christopher’
s snark was fully on.
“Believe me,” Alfred said. “He was dead.”
Martini sighed. “Let’s search the room.”
The four A-Cs moved at hyperspeed. Reader, Randy, and I just stood there. I mean, why bother? We’d get to the table, and they’d have the room done.
Claudia finished, or at least slowed down to human, first. “There are traces of blood on the table, but I think there was more and it was cleaned up.” She was examining the slab and the floor underneath it.
“Nothing else.” Martini sounded frustrated. I could relate. “Why take the body?”
“Are you sure someone didn’t call for an ambulance?”
Reader pulled out his phone and dialed. “Hey Paul, you still alive and unscathed? Great, you know how Kitty worries. No, I’m not calling just because I miss you, get over yourself. I’m actually calling because the Space Center’s lost our favorite dead body, and I’m wondering if you can ask the little Napoleon if he authorized the body to be moved or taken away.”
Significant pause while Reader looked bored. “He’s sure? Uh-huh, yeah, he’s a jerk, I wish Jeff had let her beat the crap out of him. Okay, well, tell him we’re less impressed with his security team than we were before, if such is possible. See you soon.” He hung up. “No one authorized the body being moved. Turco is accusing all the A-Cs of stealing the body and forming a conspiracy to, somehow, blow themselves up.”
“I should have let her kill him, you’re right,” Martini sighed. “Now what?”
“Did you all check the floors?”
“Why?” Christopher sounded annoyed.
“Things drop. In the movies the heroes always find something important when they look under stuff.” This was true, I’d seen it a million times.
“How is it you’re the head of Airborne?” Christopher asked.
“I was made a Commander after one week. It took you, what, like five or more years? Maybe I should be asking you that question.” I loved tossing this one at both Christopher and Martini, it was so fun to see the pretty colors that went across their faces.
“She’s right, all the movies agree, search under stuff.” Reader grinned. “Not me, mind you, but someone should.”
“I’ll do it.” I was in jeans, after all. I dropped to my hands and knees and started hunting around.
“If my father weren’t standing right here, I’d mention that you look really sexy.” I didn’t have to see Martini’s face to know he was grinning.
“You mention these things in front of the Pontifex. I’m sure saying them in front of your dad isn’t going to cramp your style.”
“You talk like that in front of your Uncle Richard?” Alfred sounded shocked.
“My father’s used to it,” Christopher said quickly. “He doesn’t mind.”
“I’ll bet he does and just doesn’t say anything.”
“Yeah, I get written up weekly.” Martini had his sarcasm turned up to full.
I got the impression I probably needed to hurry it up. I risked a quick look over my shoulder and revised my opinion. “Actually, Richard doesn’t mind. And I don’t either. And, if I take the expression on your face where Jeff can’t see it to be accurate, Alfred, you don’t mind all that much, either. Jeff’s thirty years old, and I’m twenty-seven. I think you can stop pretending he’s fifteen.”
Alfred grinned. “But where’s the fun in that?”
I shook my head. “Like father, like son.” I went back to my search.
“You know, it’s not funny,” Martini said quietly.
“You always react, it’s hilarious.” Alfred was chuckling. “It’s so easy to get both you boys going.”
“We have enough stress,” Christopher muttered.
Claudia was suddenly on the ground next to me. “I don’t want to get pulled into the bickering,” she whispered. “What are we looking for?”
“Anything that doesn’t belong here.”
“You know, I think the girls should do a thorough search,” Randy drawled. “Take your time, really.”
“Randy, not funny,” Claudia snapped.
“No, honey, I’ve never considered you on your hands and knees to be funny.” Oh, good, everyone was getting into the act.
“I’m gay and it looks good, so you can’t blame the straight guys for enjoying the show.” Of course Reader was going to add in; he lived to function as comic relief.
I was determined to find something now. Either that or get everyone else out of the room and let Martini have some fun.
“Oh, love that idea,” he called to me. Damn, it was so hard to hide anything from him, particularly lust.
Claudia and I weren’t having any luck, but I didn’t want to give up. One of the mainframe boxes was a little higher up off the floor than the others. I tried to slide my hand under it and ran into a problem. “Uh, Jeff? A little help?”
“What do you need?” I could tell he was standing over me, but I couldn’t look up.
“My arm’s stuck.”
The snickers started immediately. The only saving grace was that Tim wasn’t in the room with us.
Martini managed to lift the thing while laughing. I pulled my arm out. It was covered with blood. Martini stopped laughing immediately. “Don’t move. Claudia!”
“It’s not my blood.”
Christopher grabbed the other side of the computer while Reader helped me up. Claudia washed my arm off. “Kitty’s right, Jeff. She’s not cut anywhere.”
They put the computer back down. “Open it,” Alfred said quietly.
“Where?” Christopher ran his hands over it. “There’s not a door.”
I thought about it, went to the front, and hit it with my fist. It popped open. And a body fell right on me.
I stumbled back, fortunately into Martini. The body was heavy, and it would have taken me to the floor otherwise. The only reason I wasn’t screaming was because I’d expected a body to be in there. It just hadn’t occurred to me that Martini lifting the thing would have shifted the corpse around.
Aliens were strange. When faced with something incredible or horrible, something that would make the average human start shrieking like a howler monkey, they didn’t scream or shout or run around. To a person, they shut up and thought. Randy, Reader, and I, however, were humans. But Reader had been working as an agent for a few years, and Randy was military trained. They were doing what humans who refuse to panic do—making phone calls.
That left me to keep the human side represented. “Jeff? Get this thing off of me!”
“Huh? Oh, sorry, baby.” He reached around and pulled it off me, so I was no longer the middle of a Martini and dead body sandwich.
Christopher grabbed it, and they laid it back onto the table.
“You okay?” Alfred asked me.
“I plan to have hysterics and throw up later, but right now isn’t good for me, so I’m going to hold off.” I checked—no blood on my Aerosmith shirt. Okay, all was well. I took another look at the body. “Is that Karl Smith? Because, somehow, I’d expected him to look different. You know, like he was a man.”
CHAPTER 28
READER WAS ON THE PHONE with Gower. “Yes. Yes, we have a dead body, but not ‘the’ dead body. This one is an older woman who, uh, never went hungry. No, Alfred has no idea of who she is. I think she’s maintenance, most likely Cuban. No, not shot. Throat slashed. Yeah, it’s gross. We found her because Kitty was crawling around on the floor. Because it’s Kitty. Seriously. She was looking for clues. Yes. Right. Yes, clues for where Smith’s body went. No, we have no guess on that still.”
He looked over to me. “Paul wants to know if you want Kevin and the others to meet up at quarantine.”
“No, but make sure they all stay together wherever they’re at. And watch their backs. Make sure no one pushes any Mission Control buttons. Oh, and Paul should keep Lorraine in the center over there.”
Reader rolled his eyes at me but repeated my instructions. “Um, you know, that’s just wrong.
Yes, we’re a little freaked out. Look, people are dropping like flies around here. Don’t let anyone wander alone. Yes, of course I mean you, too. Where the hell would you wander, anyway? You’re at the spot we’re all heading to. No, I think I speak for everyone here when I say we all hate this trip. Yes. See you shortly.”‘
Randy and Christopher had checked all the other mainframes—they were all real computers.
“So, do we lock up and hope the body snatchers don’t come back for her?”
“I don’t want to leave anyone alone in here,” Martini said.
“Is it always this exciting at Kennedy? I mean, murders, bombs, total chaos?”
“Normally, no,” Alfred answered.
A thought tickled. “Um . . . how long have the astronauts been back?”
“A day. I called Jeffrey as soon as we realized we had no idea of what had hit them.”
I looked at Martini. “It could be related.”
He shrugged. “Or not. But, yeah, let’s go find out. We’ll lock the doors and see if our latest corpse is here when we get back.”
We put this plan into action and then followed Alfred to our next destination. We all stayed close together. Martini kept his arm around me, and I noted Randy doing the same with Claudia. Christopher had Reader right next to him, I assumed in case we had to run at hyperspeed.
“Glad we all like each other.”
Martini managed a chuckle. “Yeah. This is getting bizarre.”
“I think we left bizarre hours ago. You think the cleaning woman interrupted them when they were stealing Karl’s body?”
“Possibly. I’m more concerned with why there’s a fake computer down there.”
“Maybe they use it a lot.”
“Dad, why is there a fake computer in that room?”
“No idea, Jeffrey. I don’t spend much time there, ever. Before today, I’d have told you we didn’t have homicidal maniacs running around, so my information’s not worth much. First time I’ve had to deal with two dead bodies in a day for a long time.”