The Sixth Line of Defense

by Shiva Winters

  * * *

  "We are heading that way now." Devin murmured back across the phone line, trying hard to keep his voice low. The sun had long since fallen and the city was far behind them, Shiva had been asleep for hours as if to prove that she wasn't as immune to stress as she might want them to believe. Gregor was as tireless as ever watching silently as the roads stretched out into the far distance across the mostly empty rural landscape between the small towns they had been passing by for sometime as a light steady rain fell across the fields and forests.

  "Sir, that is classified material.." Ceasa reminded him softly and unnecessarily, making Hornton wish he could reach across the void now separating them to smack the younger man.

  "Just send it, Private." He reprimanded sharply and increasingly annoyed with Ceasa's lack of faith in his leadership. "The Dean is doing me a big favor, and I'd rather her know what she is dealing with. Just send it and keep your mouth shut, 50 years ago she would have been authorized to see it and so much more, so you let me worry about what is classified and what isn't." Hornton growled back at him, wondering if there was some way to break the Private of these bad habits. Gregor glanced back at him as if his sergeant was thinking the very same thing at that moment.

  "Yes, sir." Ceasa agreed quickly and left the matter at that for the moment. Gregor's eyes turned back to the road with a nod as Devin ended the call and slipped the device out of sight. As the phone was put into his pocket he found himself looking down at a sight he would have been certain he would never see on any other day, the image of Shiva curled up in his lap and sleeping peacefully. He had been all but convinced that it would have taken something extreme for her to ever show him the least little bit of trust so he had been very much surprised that she had chosen to lean against him back on the elevator. And he had been hard pressed not to give away that surprise or to overreact out of the fear he might soon have broken bones in the near future. After their rest stop some distance back down the road, Hornton had decided that they had a long trip ahead of them and had climbed into the back to try and get some sleep. He could not have been more surprised to have her come crawling out of her nest to settle into his lap not long after. Moving as cautiously as he could, he shifted trying to find a more comfortable position without disturbing his unexpected passenger, but it seemed that his efforts weren't quite enough. Even though there was no dramatic signs of anything being different, there was a slight tensing from Shiva that was a pretty clear sign that something had changed.

  "Easy there, Shiva.." Hornton whispered down to her. "You crawled over into my lap." He added before her mind could jump to the worst possible of conclusion and would feel encouraged to wound him as his arms rested around her slim form.

  "Did I?" She whispered back to him sounding quite sleepy in those first moments as she shifted just a little against him. "Please.. let me go.." She added in the next moment sounding uncertain and a little uncomfortable. Hornton pulled his arms away and watched as she shifted out of his lap and retreated across the small space to lower herself back into the fortress of luggage that was formed in the other seat. There almost an uncertain innocence in those sharp silver eyes as they watched him across the back seat as he shifted in the seat to find just the right spot and kicked off his shoes. "I'm sorry.." She whispered a moment later as she looked away from his gaze.

  "Nothing you would need to apologize for.." He murmured back to her as he decided to go a step further and push his luck to breaking point, he reached across the short distance to spread a blanket over her. "Here.. there's only enough in the travel budget for food and fuel."

  "I have some money if you need it.." She whispered back to him sounding very much unlike the person he had thought he knew all that time. He smiled at her as she failed to break his arm and watched her settle in under the folds of the blanket. "Why.. are you being so nice to me?" She asked watching him closely as if he would give her answer she might not like.

  "I suppose.. because you are letting me." He murmured back after some thought.

  "Liar.." She accused promptly without pause or preamble.

  "Well.. that is part of it.." He corrected smiling over at her. "We were watching the security tapes.. any other time, I would have been busy trying to convince the Principle to look the other way. But it seemed obvious that he was going to kick you out no matter what we might have said, so I let Gregor do the talking. Maybe that's the reason I actually watched it.. the reason I thought about what I was seeing.. and I found myself asking what you were thinking when that guard put that stun rifle right in your face." He whispered over to her and there was a small smile on her lips at his not quite question, but he knew there wasn't really an answer coming his way. "He wasn't a threat to you.. you could have killed him without even lifting a finger, took out the rest of them and would have been out of the city long before we got our first call." She made a noise of agreement and looked almost as if she was ignoring him. "It made me wonder if I had missed something like that all the times before this one, that I might have seen something important back then if I had looked just a little deeper."

  "What if you had?" She whispered back to him now just a little curious.

  "Than maybe I would owe you more than a little." He whispered back to her, this seemed to make her attention focus on him more than just a little. "In the months after you were released, 3 of the Series 6 individuals sent to Earth committed horrible crimes. Two of them basically mentally unzipped and another was a crime of passion. The only time you ever showed remorse was with Jaclyn.."

  "That was an accident." Her voice rose up to interrupt him, staunch in her defense since the very beginning as she looked away from him hurriedly. And for just a moment he let himself believe that she might actually be on the edge of tears.

  "She said you were having a nightmare.." He commented to her, he had only learned this from the retired army officer herself, first hand and months after the inquiry had taken place. Far too late for him to have done anything to help either of them.

  "She.. grabbed me.. I.. didn't mean to hurt her.." Shiva's choked voice made it all too clear she was about to start crying.

  "Well, it came at the worst time it was right after the third incident and when the paranoia among the generals and admirals was at it's highest. And it wasn't my call I didn't take over the department until months after that, if I had known you a little better I would have fought a little harder." Hornton whispered back to her, wishing once again that he could turn back time and correct the mistakes of the past. "Do you still have nightmares?"

  "Sometimes." She admitted reluctantly.

  "Well I have been put in charge of placing you this time, so it will be my hide on the line if something goes wrong. Now I know I haven't done anything to earn any warm feelings from you.." He whispered to her softly.

  "That's not true.." She sounded almost as surprised to speak those words as he was to hear them. ".. n.. not many men.. will let me hurt them.. without pressing charges." She whispered to him, refusing to meet his watching eyes. Taken a bit by surprise, he chuckled back to her drawing a sideways glance his way.

  "And not many girls are strong enough to able to test my limits when dealing with a pretty face." He agreed with a smile and was intensely pleased to see her trying hard to hide a blush in the darkness. "Considering your past history, some might think I am going pretty far out on a thin little branch.." She gave him an intense look as her curiosity was given a target. "In Ciato province there is a private academy, Lady Felini's school for girls." He paused almost expecting her to object, but if anything she looked even more interested. "It is very expensive, very exclusive, and holds its' students to a high academic standard. All of your problems have been with boys.." She nodded and seemed to have not found any reason to object to anything he had yet said. "Don't screw this up Shiva, this place is high security for a reason.."

  "High security?
" She asked suspiciously.

  "To protect those inside, not the other way around." He told her chuckling down to her as she relaxed just a little bit more. "This is an exclusive academy built for the elite of society, most of the students are either from rich families or were simply too skilled to go to a public schools. So the price tag for a single semester is more than the annual budget of my department."

  "Then how?" She whispered back to him suspicious once more.

  "A favor from a friend, and if you are good enough, a scholarship. If I had been given a choice this is the one I would have made from the beginning, and this is the school where I would have brought you." He told her softly, she was watching him closely now, still not quite ready to trust him or possibly not quite ready to trust that good luck might still exist for her. "But.. if something happens this time.. I'll be court-martialed.. and you'll.."

  "I understand." She whispered back to him for once shying away from the outright statements of reality so often heard from her.

  "I want you to promise me, that you will try very hard not cause trouble." He ordered softly.

  "I'll try.." She promised softly in return and actually meant it.

  "Good, now try to get some more sleep, we have a long drive ahead of us." He whispered as he once again risked pain by reaching over to tuck the blanket around her feet as she settled in. After a short time her soft breaths became steady and she slipped easily into sleep, and with a small prayer that this had a chance of working he settled back and closed his eyes and tried hard to settle into sleep.