Kera’s coffee cup needed refilling often as she read the reports coming in throughout the day. She noted the team had the STAD devices installed, and she waited to evaluate how well they worked. Of course, more to the point was if they worked. She had a sense of surety, not just based on intuition as much as the frequency of the communications, that another would come soon. Hopefully today. She drummed her fingers on the desk.
The results of the decoding weren’t great. If she had Meredith Gentry here, she’d probably have them decrypted already, but as she needed to manually hack the message the work wasn’t that simple. Her frustration mounted. She checked the chrono on her desk screen. Barsha! She was supposed to meet with Gustav—no, she reminded herself firmly, not Gustav, the admiral—in ten minutes.
Standing, she brushed down her uniform before clipping on her pistol and communicator. She grabbed the sheaf of prints so she could give the hard copies to him. Kera worked to soothe her ruffled nerves, taking a deep breath before stepping away from her desk.
Her walk was purposeful as she called out to the assistant by her office. “Heading to the admiral’s office, Eve. Not sure how long I’ll be gone. I’m on comm though.” Her words sounded firm and calm, and Kera congratulated herself as she walked away from Eve’s desk, working her way through the maze of privacy cubicles and into the main corridors. She moved through the complex, past the reception desk, flicking a disinterested gaze at the women operating it as she headed up the corridor toward his office.
A flash of her identification across the screening unit opened the door soundlessly. The two female personal assistants sat at the desk beyond, just as they had previously, and the darker- haired assistant raised her head.
“The admiral will be with you soon, Commander. Please take a seat.” The words were quiet, and Kera wondered about the atmosphere between the two women. She noted the blonde glance at her swiftly, and Kera was pretty sure the woman was trying to freeze her with the cold stare.
Sitting in one of the hard chairs against the wall, Kera placed the printed file on her knee as she scanned the room. Last time she’d only filed away impressions. Now she had time to look and explore. The quiet blue walls held images of ships, with the Star of Ishtar featured prominently. She smiled as she realized they were all ships he’d served on.
The door to his office slid open, and Gustav strode out, not noticing her, and Kera followed his movements with her gaze, fascinated by his air of command. “I want those reports, Marina. Today.”
The blonde woman raised her eyes, lips flattened with fine, white lines bracketing them. She nodded. “Yes, Admiral.”
He turned and saw Kera sitting in the seat. “You’re here to see me?”
Kera rose. “I’ve got those reports you requested, Admiral. If you’re ready?”
He nodded and indicated she should go before him, watching while she stood, then followed her into his office. “Kera, I’m aware you’re working on decoding the communication. How’s that going?” He sat down, and Kera laid the prints on the desk.
“Not so well. They’re using a hybrid code, which is causing us some concern. We thought we’d found the key yesterday, but when we moved through the report, we noticed the dates didn’t match.” Kera sighed, venting her frustration. In the three days since she’d seen Gustav, they’d worked like demons, hacking at the code and looking for some way to break it. “If we could get Gentry...” She lifted her eyes to meet his.
“No. She’s working with Duvall and his crew. I can’t recall her at this point.”
“Fine then. This is what we have.” Kera pulled the first page out, laying it on his desk. “Here is the message received three nights ago. We can break sections of the code, but not all of it. This is what has been decoded so far.” She pulled a second sheet from the pile.
Gustav bent over the page, and he grunted before raising his head, his gaze meeting hers. “What do you think?”
“Based on our current intelligence, I’m sure something is going to happen. It’s just the what and when we can’t work out. I am expecting another communication soon.” She pulled yet another sheet from her stack and carefully placed the papers in front of him. “We’re basing our assumptions on this record here.” Kera tapped her finger against the file. “Communications are between three and six day intervals. There is no way they could detect our use of backup servers to work on the problems though, so we do have a tactical advantage. I ordered a number of desk screens, sequestered from the Ultranet system, so there can be no trace of what we’re doing.”
Kera rubbed her hand over her eyebrow, hoping to massage away the tightness that lay beneath. She could feel his cool eyes on her while she waited for his input.
“Do you think your work is being monitored?” His words were gruff, and she shrugged tiredly.
“At this stage? I think it’s fair to assume someone is in a position to keep track of our progress. That’s another reason I have a secondary team working on a bogus aspect of the investigation. If we can keep them off our tail while we work on the decoding and continue to monitor for transmissions, we at least have hope.” Kera sat back in the chair, watching him pore over the papers she had presented. Her fingers itched to move the lock of hair falling over his face and to wipe away the tiredness in his eyes.
He lifted those blue orbs to her. “What time did you start this?” His query startled her as much as the softness in his face.
“What? Oh, sometime around 0400 hours. The team is working all hours at the moment to find the infiltrators.” She shrugged again. She didn’t want the complication of knowing he was concerned about her.
“Tired people miss things. You need a break.” His words were quiet, and she reared back.
She wanted to yell at him, anger rising in her chest, but she spoke with a professional calmness. “Are you saying we aren’t doing our job?”
He waved a hand at her. “No. All I’m saying is that you’re tired. It’s there in your eyes, and you clearly have a headache. You need to rest.” She wanted to argue, but knew he was right. She needed a break.
“I can’t. Not yet.” She swallowed, knowing she needed to warn him. Had to make him understand. “Admiral? I’m concerned. I think they’re planning something big. I need to ensure, at this point, you don’t go anywhere without your security detail.” She knew he often went without them, and a bubble of fear rose in her chest. He had to listen this time.
“Come on, I don’t—”
Kera cut him off mid-sentence. “Yes, you do. Please.”
He looked at her with a calculating expression. “Only if you promise to call me Gustav, like you used to when we were alone, and you have dinner with me once this is over and discuss this mess between us.”
She stared at him. What? That isn’t fair. “Admiral. Please, this isn’t something to joke about.” Her words were thin, and she waited for his reaction.
He smiled! “Agree to those conditions and I promise faithfully.”
Kera gritted her teeth. “Barsha! All right. I don’t want to though. So be clear, it’s only under duress that I’m agreeing.”
Maybe she could find a way out of that agreement down the track, but right now, she had him where she wanted him, and that was all that mattered.
“Fine!” she growled the word, but he didn’t look triumphant, more sad. She wanted to call back her acquiescence before reminding herself of the mess that had come before. “Permission to be excused? Gustav?”
She understood he was troubled by her unwilling acceptance, but he nodded, and she rose. The sooner I’m out of here, the better.