Captain to her office in Beverly Hills, walking without talking as she tried to consider the Pope’s formal objection to Landfall while trying to shake off the cold grip on her heart.
Someone tried to kill us!
They eyed each other in the speeding pod as Charles shook his head, touching his ear. She nodded, getting the message. Her order to increase virtual surveillance meant cameras were active throughout the Back. More significantly, microphones were passively listening for keywords in conversations and unusual noises in machinery in bays and cabins. If someone said the wrong combination of words in a pod, the Badges would meet them at the next station.
This shield of protection, as the Chief Badge euphemistically called it when Joro met with her before the conference, cut both ways. Good people were not exempt from public monitoring, including the Engineer and the Captain, although she thought her office and home were not monitored. She hoped. She didn’t dare ask Moira.
The pod stopped in Beverly Hills, and she led him to her office. Once inside, she locked the door. “I think we can talk.”
Charles looked at the panels on her desk. “Nothing red. No channels open.” He turned and opened his arms.
Joro almost ran into his embrace. “Shit. I am worried.”
“Do you think the bomber was after us?”
“Your skiff is in that hangar, and we canceled our retreat at the last minute,” Joro said. “I don’t believe in coincidences.”
“Me neither.” He stepped away and leaned against the edge of her desk, looking at the floor. “Fifteen people are dead because of us. Maybe.”
“I know. Maybe.” Joro hugged herself. “I haven’t been honest with you, Charles.”
“That’s common in relationships, I hear. Are we in a relationship? A personal one?”
“I want one, but I’ve lied. Lied a lot, by omission. Maybe you better sit down.”
“Joro, just talk.” The steel was back in his voice.
He’s expecting the worst. “Fine.” She put her hand on her mouth to stop it quivering. “The Badge that was murdered a few weeks ago was named Tank. We’ve known each other our entire lives. He was one of my best friends, one of my first lovers, and he was working for me when he was killed.”
“In what way?”
“He infiltrated a spy network implanted in the Back by the Pope. He calls it the Walsingham Channel, and it’s an information pipeline to His Holiness. He’s hungry for facts and gossip. I dropped all sorts of things into the pipeline through Tank. He was happy to do it because he was also one of the most religious people on the ship. He was able to serve two masters in hopes he could bring us together. The Pope and me.”
“Sounds good, but it’s not that simple, is it? I can see it in your eyes.”
“You know me. Yes, there’s more.” Joro took a deep breath. “I asked Tank to work with one of my partners, Enrique. Closely. I fed Enrique, and he fed Tank so Tank could have plausible deniability if there was ever a question or a problem. Tank turned Enrique’s information over to the Pope. The system worked great, up until the day Enrique told me that he and Tank had fallen in love.”
“Ah. I see.” Charles shook his head. “On the surface, it appears you’re a suspect in Tank’s murder because of this supposed love triangle that wasn’t a triangle at all. It was a spy operation. Wow, this is a hell of a mess.”
“Yes, on the surface. But here’s the hard part, Charles.” The words fell rapidly from her mouth. “I was never in love with Enrique. We lived together, and we did things, but it was all physical. There was no emotional investment. Zero. The moment he moved out… The moment our contract ended, I stopped caring for him. It wasn’t the way I care for you.”
“You care for me?” He seemed unperturbed by the admission.
“Yes. More than I’m ready to admit.” Joro laughed ruefully. “My daughter said I’m glowing.”
“She’s right. It makes you more beautiful, but that’s the problem, isn’t it?”
“Yes. I know what we have to do, and it breaks my heart.”
Charles cupped her cheek with his hand. His palm was warm. “Say it out loud, Joro.”
“We can’t be together, Charles. Not now. Not when we’re being targeted like this. People are getting hurt, getting killed. We can’t let this happen.”
He smiled sadly. “We have a Plan B, you know.”
“What?”
“Go public. No secrets. Everything out in the open.”
She kissed his palm and leaned away from his hand. “We can’t do that, and you know why.”
Charles dropped his arm to his side. “We’re bound to disagree over something significant before Landfall. We’ll both be right, and we’ll need to have that public debate to work things out, but I will have to make the final decision. We can’t do that as a public couple. Plus, I’m sorry to say, Tank’s murderer will be caught, and they will have to appear before the Triumvirate. I will need to be objective.”
“Do you think I had anything to do with it?”
He shook his head. “Personally, no. Not a chance in hell. But we’re not talking about that here and now, are we?”
“No, but I wish you trusted me.” His evasion hurt her more than she thought it would.
He nodded. “I do trust you, but this is beyond our control, Joro. Any other things on your mind?”
“No. Yes.”
“What?”
“I’m going to miss you, Charles. A lot.”
“Oh, Joro, I’m not going anywhere. When this is all said and done, you and I are setting up a home somewhere, locking the door, and ignoring the world for a month. Maybe two.”
Against her wishes, Joro’s heart soared. “That sounds suspiciously like a proposal, sir.”
“Maybe. We’ll talk more when we get there. Until then…” He reached over and took her hand. “Come here.”
Their lips met, and their forms melded together. She let her body fall to him, but the thought couldn’t escape her.
Last time.
A minute or an hour later, she stepped back. “This sucks.”
He stood and straightened his blue tunic. “It does. I wish… oh, Joro, I wish I could say a thousand things.”
“Me too.”
Charles brushed her cheek with one finger. “Dammit.” He walked to the door.
Don’t go! Joro couldn’t bring herself to say it aloud.
Charles stopped “Engineer,” he said without turning.
“Captain.”
“Please call me on a secure channel later to discuss the Pope’s concerns and include your Landfall prep crew on the call. The First Officer will be present on my end.”
“Of course, Captain.”
“Cancel all in-person meetings between us for the duration. Make it known that we’re too busy to meet.” He sighed. “And no night calls.”
“Captain, the bomber may try something else in another direction.”
“Even so.”
“Understood.”
“Please instruct your criminal investigators to look into the explosion from at least two angles, one as a standalone terrorist act designed to force us to reconsider Landfall.”
“And the other?”
He turned and looked at her with hard eyes. “That the bomber knew you might be in the hangar and was trying to kill you.”
“Do you think that’s even possible?” Joro couldn’t keep the shock out of her voice.
“Possible and probable. The idea cannot be eliminated. Do it.” The steel was back in his voice.
“I agree, Captain.”
“Last thing. Get a bodyguard. Do that first.”
Joro was nonplussed. “Charles, I don’t think—”
He cut her off. “Engineer, that wasn’t a request. In certain circumstances, I can give orders that will be obeyed. Do I need to cite Section Three of the charter?”
She pushed down the wave of anger and stood straight. “No, sir. You are technically correct.”
He smiled grimly. “‘The Captain may be wrong, but he is still the Captain.’ Something my father said at least once a month. Anything else?”
“No, sir, except one thing.”
“Yes?”
“Get the hell out of my office.” Joro wasn’t sure if she was joking or not.
“I hear the Engineer.” Charles smiled, and this time, it reached his eyes. “Be careful, my love.”
He opened the door and left before she could respond.