Part 33 (1/2)
”Where?”
”The National Gallery of the Arts. Lovely place. Modeled after some Earth place, the Versailles Palace I think.”
Captain DeVar messed with his battle board. A map appeared on the wall. A huge building surrounded by gardens and lush trees appeared. He zoomed out, and Kris saw it was several miles from the emba.s.sy, along a riverfront.
”Yes,” Kris said, ”you may tell the amba.s.sador that I will be glad to represent Wardhaven at the reception.”
”Good. He expects to be your escort. I'll tell him you'll be ready early. Say seven o'clock.”
”I'll talk to my maid about that,” Kris said.
Kris waited until the commlink clicked off. ”Is the line broken, Nelly?”
”As broken as I can make it.”
”Everyone will be there,” Kris said slowly.
Abby nodded. ”Bronc says they're going to kill them all.”
”And I wondered what I was going to be doing with that huge limo tomorrow night,” Kris said, letting a tight smile free to play on her lips. ”Captain DeVar, shall we look at the security problems that huge, drafty place must have.”
Instead, the wall screens' map was replaced by...a sailing schedule from High Eden.
Captain DeVar stood, and cleared his throat. ”Before we do our best to do something well, may we first consider if we should do it at all.”
”Thank you,” Jack said.
”What do you mean, Captain?” Kris said, not sure whether to scowl or just sigh at this turn of events.
”Your Highness,” DeVar started off respectfully. ”My responsibilities are to a.s.sure the safety of the emba.s.sy and its personnel. The lieutenant, here, is supposed to specifically see that you keep on breathing, right?”
”I'm supposed to try,” Jack said, grinning from ear to ear.
”Therefore, I must ask,” the Marine captain went on, ”if it wouldn't be best if we got you out of Dodge? Fast! The Great Panda Maru seals locks in four hours, twenty, ah, two minutes. I may just be a dumb Marine, but it seems to me that the best way for us to a.s.sure you stay not dead would be to have you on that s.h.i.+p. Quarters ain't luxurious, but it is headed for Yamato and you could catch a liner for Wardhaven.”
He paused. ”I am merely offering this for discussion.” And he sat down.
Sometime during that spiel, Penny had come in. She took her spot at the table. Police Lieutenant Martinez took a chair along the wall.
Kris found herself standing alone in a terrible silence. A quick glance around the table showed a clear majority. No, a vast majority for the captain's proposal.
Kris would have to avoid putting it to a vote.
She chose to break the tension with a laugh. All she managed was a tiny one, but it was a laugh, and it drew quizzical looks from her audience.
”Sorry, but you see every time I get into one of these deadly messes, everybody wants me to go away. Get out of the line of fire. Captain, you planning on coming along with me?”
”No ma'am.”
”You going to load the whole Marine company on the Panda with me?”
”Definitely not.”
”So, dangerous as it may be, you're going to do your job?”
”Yes, ma'am.”
No surprise to Kris, none of the Marine techs or support staff in the Tac Center seemed at all bothered by that. A couple of them sported wolfish grins at the prospects.
”So, what is my job?” Kris asked.
”Buy paper clips and other odds and ends,” Abby drawled.
”Yeah, right,” Kris drawled right back.
Kris paused for a moment to let that work its way through thick skulls, like Jack's and DeVar's. ”King Ray sent me here for a reason. That reason had nothing to do with paper clips. But as is Ray Longknife's bad habit, he didn't tell me what the real reason was, did he, Penny?”
”He never does,” the intel officer said.
”He never does,” Kris reinforced for the slow thinkers at the table. ”He has a Longknife-size problem so he sends a Longknife out to solve it, but old Ray never does bother to let me know anything.”
”One revolution, one Longknife,” Gramma Ruth said dryly. ”Even odds.”
”That, my friends, is one of the bad things I'm discovering about being a Longknife. Doesn't make it into the history books, but it's a fact, big as any in the books. Any of you doubt it?”
No one said a word.
”Okay, so let's see. Anyone here really think King Ray sent me here to grab the first s.h.i.+p out at the first peep of trouble?”
The people around the table glanced at one another. Kris locked eyes with Captain DeVar. The Marine blinked first.
”I felt obliged to offer that out, Your Highness.”
”Understandable,” Kris said. ”Gramma Ruth, you want to be on that boat?”
”Oh, my, no. I'm not quite as spry as I used to be, but I think the old girl has a few more good days in her.”
”Have you kept your reserve commission on the shelf?”
”No way, honey. It's active,” the old gal said with a proud grin. ”At my age, they don't seem to think it matters whether it's active or inactive. You'd think that my dear Terrence would have shown them the error of their ways.”
”Commander?” Kris asked.
”At your service,” the Iteeche vet said with a slight bow.
”So that's settled,” Kris said, eyeing DeVar.