Theodore

by Marcus LaGrone

  “Is it Spring here?” asked Theodore.

  Anna nodded and laughed, “Yep!”

  “So you missed most of your winter term then?”

  “There are four academic terms. You get to pick which three.”

  “That's kind of convenient.”

  “Yeah,” frowned Anna. “But you have to be careful or you get out of sync with the rest of your friends.”

  Theodore nodded but was mildly curious how many truly good friends she had. She had spent so much time previously volunteering for so many things. She had made friends very quickly back at his town at least... Suddenly his brain clicked, “Um, so when is your academic year over?”

  “Right at Mid-Winters for you,” she grinned.

  “So, what are you doing after that is over?” His brain was in a twirl, it was only by luck that his normal schedule was aligned with the university, there was no reason he should have expected that Anna's would line up as well.

  Anna pouted, “And now we have to let the secret out early!” With a quick laugh and kiss to Theodore, she continued, “Mom and I are renting out the upper floor of Deidre's place for your Spring semester. Fiona and Emily's suggestion in fact!”

  Theodore laughed and hugged Anna warmly before turning to Janice, “Um, you will be gone from the University entirely?”

  “I am a tenured professor in both departments and have never taken sabbatical. Heck, my leave time keeps rolling over at the maximum, too! Don't worry about it, we've already taken care of things!”

  “Dare I ask what lady Deidre is charging for rent?” laughed Theodore.

  “I think we are cooking her meals,” grinned Anna. “Mom and I are going to be spending most of our time with the Firemeadows'.”

  “Big surprise on the last part,” grinned Theodore. He paused and took a big breath as he realized they were now standing at the front door of the Westmore's residence. What of Thomas?

  Anna took his hand and they entered the house and moved upstairs leaving Tim outside. Thomas Westmore was up there, sitting in a chair. To his credit he politely shook Theodore's hand before hugging his daughter and wife. “I'm not much of a cook,” he offered as a feeble joke, “so I had things ordered out. They should be here in half an hour.”

  “Dad does a mean BBQ though,” offered Anna with a broad grin. “Maybe on a different trip.”

  A small smile flashed across Thomas’ face. That was going to have to do.

  Janice smiled as she pointed at Theodore's room and he ditched his small backpack. Megan's room was going to be down the hall, just next to Anna's. All nice and tidy.

  The evening wasn't nearly as tense as any of them had feared; Thomas, for the most part, kept to himself reading a book.

  46

  Theodore soon found himself back at the spaceport with Anna and Janice smiling at his side. Bill had joined them again and was looking worse for wear.

  “Not sleep well?” asked Theodore.

  Bill shook his head, “Slept fine. Just dealing with the local police is unpleasant. They are all high and mighty about how wonderful and secure their district is. You casually point out that Anna was grabbed off the street last year and it becomes excuse city... Idiots... If you have a problem, you own up to it and fix it.”

  “You've been around Theodore a lot,” kidded Anna. “His flaming optimism is wearing off on you. There is no way they are going to admit there was ever a problem with their tidy little world.”

  “I fear the truth of your statement, ma'am.”

  “Oh, don't you dare start 'ma'am-ing' me,” grinned Anna.

  “Oh, you bet I am! Don't want to make Theodore grumpy!” Bill teased back.

  There were already a parade of mixed looks from the local security and customs officials as the small group approached.

  “Sir, you can't have your weapon in this area,” barked the security guard.

  “Actually, yes, yes I can. Before you risk violating interstellar treaty, I highly recommend you contact the Home Office and the Foreign Office both,” replied Bill with remarkable evenness.

  “You don't understand, these things have to go through procedures...”

  “The paperwork was filed fifteen days ago. A lead time of forty-eight hours is all that is required by treaty. Procedure has been met. I suggest you return to your station and continue with your regular duties, or call the aforementioned Home Office. Good day, sir!” Bill's grin was quite sinister.

  The security agent carefully retreated to his station near the customs office.

  “Jerks,” muttered Bill under his breath. “We went through all of this yesterday...”

  “Bureaucracy at its finest... that and petty fiefdoms,” apologized Janice. “Sorry about that, Bill.”

  Bill shrugged, “It's part of the game. Ah! It looks like the shuttle is disembarking.”

  That was welcome news for all of them and they quickly turned their attention to the new arrivals. Anna hugged Theodore in giddy anticipation as they watched the other passengers make their way through the customs checkpoint. It was quick at least, most aspects were automated, such checkpoints were more out of inertia than real need. Finally, the glowing form of Meagan Rose and the towering form of her brother Ross made it through the line. Ross processed the paperwork for himself and his extremely bouncy younger sister. With the final stamp, Meagan came bounding over to Anna and Theodore.

  Theodore's grin was once again a sight to behold as he spun Meagan around before passing her off to Anna. Theodore just beamed as Anna and Meagan hugged and instantly started blubbering. Bill would have rolled his eyes, but he was busy.

  “I didn't think we had any plainclothes in this area,” he nervously barked over his comlink. The chatter on the comlink was soon made superfluous...

  Practiced form radiated from Bill as he instantly brought his carbine to bear and interjected himself between the giddy trio and the four people in the lobby as they suddenly sprouted submachine guns. Theodore's response... it was quite different.

  Theodore's eyes went wide and his breathing and his heart suddenly both slowed as a level of calm he had never felt before washed over him. His armor... his Live Steel armor exploded around them, floor to ceiling in a flaming blue wall just like his father had done those eight long months ago. He had no fear for himself or the girls, his only objective was to make sure Janice was safe. He felt the wall expand almost another three meters out to encompass her and she quickly moved in tight with the group.

  Bill, for his first part, had already dropped the first two with his precision shooting as he stepped back and found that he too was now behind the blue wall of flame. The sudden relaxation he felt from Theodore's armor was short lived. With a spin that said wonders for the fear crawling in the back of his mind, he turned to face the security officer that had given him grief before and found the man had drawn down on them!

  Ross, however, was not standing by idly while his sister and her friends were in danger. His own Live Steel armor had quickly engulfed him and it was he who brutally dispatched the turncoat security guard.

  Bill made a mock curtsey at the two remaining gunmen as their rounds were harmlessly absorbed by Theodore's own wall of armor. “This thing works one way!” growled Bill as he pointed his carbine at the two befuddled attackers. “Drop your weapons if you want to live!” The pair started to raise their weapons again and Tim, appearing from the corner, instantly cut them both down. “Look alive people! We are still missing something!” barked Bill.

  Theodore didn't argue the point with Bill, he knew something was amiss and Bill had been spot on about everything else...

  “You were late, Tim.”

  “Someone deactivated my key lock; had to open a door the hard way.”

  “One of the locals was in on it, assume all security is compromised!”

  Tim nodded as they looked around and he suddenly yelled and pointed out the window.

  The window shattered under the onslaught of a 30mm pulse rifle. The sinister
twin of Peter's toy all but bowled the two man team firing it off their landing. But the story was about the bullet, not the launch. A half kilo of tungsten carbide separated from its sabot and bore down on Theodore and his wall. His soon to be father-in-law had stood down multiple rounds from its slightly smaller brother, but Theodore only had to worry about one round... One round with slightly more than a megajoule of energy square into the side of his armor. It hurt, it hurt in a style of pain he had never felt before, but he held fast. His armor held fast. He snarled as he looked up, almost baiting them to do it again.

  A second shot wasn't going to happen, Bill and Tim made certain of that. Their response was quick and thorough: the two people outside the window would only be inconveniencing the janitors...

  47

  Janice's heart was weak: all of her training her entire life had been to save people yet the only people around her were people that had tried to kill her and her daughter, much less poor Meagan and Theodore. She wanted to do something but there was nothing to do. Bill, Tim and Ross had been quite thorough. Instead she just crashed to the floor crying, cradling her daughter and future in-laws. Theodore held her tight and tried to apologize, but Janice would have nothing of it. They all just sat there while Bill stood watch and the rest of Tim's team arranged to evacuate them from the building. The local security was irate at the level of devastation. Tim was irate that one of the locals had sold out... So much for relying on local help. Everything was going to go through the Foreign Office or not at all. The locals were trapped behind their own failures and the despicable behavior of one of their own.

  Only Ross seemed unfazed. He grinned as he shook Theodore's hand before departing, “Meagan's safe with you!”

  Theodore's tail twitched, “His voice... it's familiar...”

  Meagan tried to make light of things even though she was still quite obviously stressed, “You've met him before. I should image his voice is familiar.”

  Theodore noticed Eric and Lori, two others from Tim's DSS team, were now up close and personal with the group. Normally, they loitered in the distance. Changes were being made...

  “Make a hole!” barked Tim with eye blazing. “We are leaving now!”

  The four of them, Theodore, Meagan, Anna and Janice, were soon being shepherded through the building by the very irate DSS team. Eric was brandishing a rapid fire grenade launcher while Lori was leading the way with a squad automatic rifle in plain view. Theodore was briefly curious about the practicality of Eric's grenade gun, his own experience had demonstrated what could happen if fired at too close of a range. Theodore’s curiosity faded to mild horror as he caught a glimpse of the writing on the side of Eric's spare ammunition: spray incendiary and flechette. It wasn't a grenade launcher, it was a fire hose of death!

  Saundra nodded to Tim as they left the building and moved into the open courtyard. Theodore blinked twice, he'd only ever met Saundra once before, that first day at the canteen. Apparently they were blowing a lot of their cover in order to have a more open and brazen display of force. Blowing cover... and flag poles. With a flip of a switch, Saundra set off a series of charges that cut three massive flagpoles at their bases. Any etiquette associated with lowering of the colors was instantly out the door. Theodore briefly was curious about the wanton destruction, but only briefly. Two heartbeats later, a light repulsar gunship landed in the narrow courtyard.

  The team walked through the twisted metal of the flagpoles and entered the gunship as if it were an everyday experience. The loading ramp started to close with them still on it: people were in a rush. Just as the door closed tight, the engines flared and they lurched into the sky. Theodore could feel periodic shaking as if they were firing some low power weapon as they lifted straight into the morning sky.

  Bill must have read Theodore's confused expression: “Tear gas and smoke. Here in another thirty seconds they'll shift to chaff...”

  “Blackout, blackout, blackout!” barked the intercom.

  Bill started swatting his own equipment as he nodded to the Westmores, “Any electronics, kill power or pop the battery!”

  Janice and Anna both quickly disconnected the batteries from their phones. “Where are they taking us?”

  “Safehouse. Not sure where. Things are a mess,” offered Tim.

  “Is this your gunship?” asked Theodore more than a little shocked.

  “No, it's on loan from the Foreign Office. Right now, the FO's internal security are the only people we are trusting on this rock. The Transportation Ministry and the Home Office are going to have a lot of explaining to do...”

  The four tried to relax as they sat in the penthouse of some nameless building. Things were comfortable enough, the frosted white windows being the only overt difference between their current setting and a posh hotel. They were all shaken but it was Janice that spoke first.

  “You raised a wall to protect the girls, just like your father did,” smiled Janice. “You are a strong strong man, Theodore!”

  Theodore tried to smile at the complement, “I'm starting to understand a lot of what my father has been trying to teach me as well as others...” If you wish to protect them, you must learn to not fear for them. Theodore shuddered as those words from the woods washed over him. He had been calm, not a hint of fear for the girls... it had never entered his mind... Had that been his father in the woods playing with his mind?

  “Are we going to have to cancel the trip?” asked Meagan.

  Theodore sighed, “We'll have to wait and see.”

  “If things turn into a complete tizzy, we'll just head to Afon,” remarked Janice evenly. “All else fails, we'll move in a few months early and I'll home school Anna for her last quarter.”

  Meagan's eyes lit up, “So does that mean Deidre is going to rent you her house there in Marionsford?”

  Theodore laughed, “So everyone knew about that but me!”

  Anna sported a fake pout, “Well. Well yes! Had to let the cat out of the bag...” Anna just doubled over laughing turning bright bright red. “Um, okay. That expression was horrible!”

  Meagan and Theodore both just laughed at Anna and hugged her warmly.

  Tim soon joined the group, and after a round of apologies for not speaking the Highland Old Tongue, he filled them in: “The Home Office finally relented and is letting the Foreign Office provide additional assets.”

  “Didn't they just do that with the gunship?” asked Theodore.

  Tim grinned, “We kinda did that without going through channels.”

  “Are there going to be negative repercussions for that?” asked Janice.

  “Undoubtedly, but if the Home Office and Foreign Office want to go tit-for-tat, they are going to have to cover for the breakdowns at the port. The Transportation Ministry is going to instantly be in hot water for the turncoat as well as the lapses in security. The Home Office is ultimately responsible for day to day police work and the fact that we had a perfect repeat from eight months ago over at VerDemire as well as Anna's earlier kidnapping with no arrests... No. I think they will grump and politely have to deal with us getting a lift from a gunship.”

  Janice let out a long sigh, “Every day we hear about organized crime, but everyone always assumes it happens someplace else... never here. Someone just needs to take those bastards down!”

  Theodore hadn't seen Janice growl much, but peace loving, volunteer doctor on the go was also a mother. And someone had threatened her child.

  Anna just hugged her mother and smiled, “Hey, we'll be fine.”

  “We may be fine, but only because of Theodore's excellent skills and the dedication of these few people. The rank and file citizen on the street has no protection from these animals!”

  Tim smiled, “Maybe all the negative publicity and finger pointing is going to convince the government to get off high-center and actually do something about organized crime. Once Agent Tamilton was able to get her foot in the door with judges and prosecutors she could trust, she made real progress.
The Bella-Shoana are pretty much used to being able to buy their way out of trouble. It just takes motivated and brave people to break the cycle.”

  “Oh, no you don't!” barked Anna to her mother. “I can read your mind from here! You are not going into politics or anything crazy like that! No rallies or anything!”

  Janice finally managed a laugh as she hugged her daughter, “Yes, dear. May I rev up my students?”

  “No... Maybe twenty years from now...”

  Janice laughed and hugged Anna. “Not a day sooner.”

  48

  “Do you still want to go to the art museum today?” grinned Bill to the group.

  They had been in the penthouse for almost four hours and had made a pleasant time of it, but welcomed serious offers to get back onto their schedule...

  “If it's safe,” offered Theodore, glad for the change.

  “I thought we were going to do the art museum on Friday,” interjected Anna.

  “Well, we are definitely rearranging your schedule...”

  Anna quickly caught the wisdom of changing around their plans. “I guess we'll need to buy new tickets for everything!”

  “Nah, the Home Office is going to cover for it,” grinned Bill. “So, shall we? It won't be subtle, but it should still be a good day out.”

  Anna quickly explained things to Meagan and the parade of smiling faces said it all: salvage the day!

  Incognito was just not going to happen. Two fur covered Taiks walking hand in hand with a pair of humans, not common at all. Same group with a second quartet of grouchy humans loaded with enough firepower to level a building, they were certain to make the news. Add twenty plainclothes agents who all took smiling lessons from a brick, the evening news. Landing on the roof of the museum in a heavy gunship? Um, wow...

  Bill tried to smile at the other patrons at the museum but that just seemed to make them more nervous.

  “Stop that,” teased Janice. “You are scaring the children.”