The Alliance (28 page)

The dozen drinkers in the forecourt ignored them out of politeness, but a general sense of approval warmed Jack. They thought he and Rachael deserved whatever pleasure they could find, particularly in each other. He wished Rachael could share it.

“We seem to be very popular.”

Her words caught him off-guard and he scanned her mind, receiving a general impression of the group approval, without specifics. She’d sensed it without knowing how. He fought down a surge of hope, afraid to read anything into it other than coincidence.

Anneke’s commoner husband, Jesse, had been receptive to deliberately sent thoughts but had never developed beyond this level. Gabrielle, Jack’s mother, on the other hand had become a fully functional telepath, even to the level of translocation.

Could Rachael have natural abilities the Family could help her develop
? Dael had hinted there was more to Rachael than appeared on the surface. “She’ll be more of a handful than you expect,” she’d warned.
This could be her meaning
.

Something in Jack quailed. He’d grown used to controlling relationships with his greater abilities. A fully functional telepath would be his equal in everything, a reality he’d never experienced and wasn’t sure he could handle.

“What’s up?” They’d reached his bedroom and Rachael felt impatient.

“Sorry. I was thinking about our future.” A convenient half-truth.

“It’s more than that.” Rachael’s tone sounded positive. “You’re having doubts.”

“Not about loving you.” He put his doubts aside and took her in his arms, trusting in his ability to distract her. She came willingly and thought became superfluous.

* * * *

Peter felt satisfied. Dael had returned to the settlement and everything else was going well. Jenni would report the gathering at the pavilion and the pragmatists at Federation head office had reason to look at the balance sheet and accept the status quo, writing off further attempts to destabilize Feodar’s World as unprofitable. It was the best way to deal with them.

He must monitor Jenni. A Federation zealot, her loyalty to Internal Security had a reptilian feel and Internal Security personnel were the Jesuits of the Federation, maintaining its purity and punishing backsliders. Pragmatism was not in their lexicon and they had many old scores to settle with the Alliance. Rachael could seem a tempting target
pour encourager les autres.

Peter’s lips quirked at one corner. French quotations often had a bitter twist.

He sensed what Jenni was doing and shifted to the portal tied to her.

* * * *

Jenni sat in the communications room waiting for a response. Anneke was a known criminal, escaping from custody the least of her crimes. While, not strictly the business of Internal Security, she’d reported her presence as part of her surveillance of the ambassador and hoped there’d be a reaction. Anneke’s contempt had bitten deep.

“Jenni, something coming through for you in the secure cubicle,” the duty comms operator pointed at the rarely used cubicle. This station received few ultra-secure comms. The last one, over a year ago, had sent the former ambassador into the temple with an ultimatum for the Pontiff.

Jenni spoke the access code, submitted to a retinal scan, entered the cubicle, and seated herself at the camera’s optimal spot. “Agent Samuels reporting.”

The whir was probably her imagination as the cubicle sealed itself around her, setting up barriers to every known form of snooping and making an electronic handshake with the scrambler in Federation headquarters.

“Samuels,” the Head of Internal Security appeared on the screen. “Did you get any vision of the meeting?”

“No, sir. They must have some barrier set up. The digital signal was corrupted, both from the fixed cameras and my button lens.”

“Typical.” His face gave no indication whether the source of his dissatisfaction was the Alliance or her performance. “Did the ambassador expect the meeting?”

“She seemed surprised.” Jenni wouldn’t venture beyond that. Rachael was an ex-field agent, experienced in deep cover operations.

“I asked for your opinion, not your observation. Did she expect the meeting?” His tone left her no place to hide.

“No. It was a surprise.” Jenni crossed her fingers out of the camera’s range.

“My opinion too. These people are weaving a net to draw her in. Give her time. She may resist.”

“If she doesn’t?” Jenni didn’t want to ask.

“We’ll make her a double. Her family’s a good lever. There are enough of them. We’ll make an example of two to show what we can do—reward one and destroy the other.”

“How will she know it’s us?” Jenni knew what was coming.

“You’ll tell her. We’ll provide vision of both events.”

It was a standard Internal Security approach. Jenni had carried out similar operations in the past, but this one compromised her primary mission to discover the secret of the undetectable portals.

“Questions?” He’d noted her hesitation.

“This is the Alliance.” She must not break security with this man and reveal her real mission. His ruthlessness was legendary.

“Are you afraid?”

“Yes,” she said truthfully.

“Good. It will make you cautious. This is no ordinary operation.” He nodded approvingly. It had been a test.

Emboldened by the apparent vote of confidence, Jenni followed the thread supplied by the security man, Dick Smith. “The President?” she made it a question.

“…was not born on Trygon. He is either a family member or a close associate,” the head of security confirmed.

“He is known to be fond of the ambassador.” Jenni tried to make the implied criticism gentle.

“She is in his room. They are lovers in the physical sense, but make no assumptions from that. The Alliance is ruthless when it comes to normal humans. They use them without compunction,” he warned.

Jenni nodded. No other response was acceptable. “Proof he is not what he claims could be useful. He may have lied to her.”

“A courier will deliver it.”

“Thank you.”

“No other questions?” He paused long enough for Jenni to shake her head. “These are your instructions….”

Jenni listened in silence until he finished, asked three questions, and nodded her understanding when he expanded the points. “Making an example of her is our last option,” she confirmed. “Only if all else fails.”

He nodded and broke the comms link, the screen going dark.

Jenni sat in the darkness for a while, her mind following the plan from beginning to end, searching for flaws. Internal Security rarely confronted external enemies and this was her only brush with the Alliance. It would have to be perfect if she were not to share the fate of Prometheus when he tried to steal fire from the gods.

A touch of a button deactivated the cubicle’s shielding and the door opened automatically.

“Finished?” The comms operator was waiting when she emerged.

She nodded. “This never happened.”

“What?” The comms operator understood. Internal Security had a long arm, as he was in a position to know.

“Keep it that way.” She didn’t need to reinforce the message, but her doubts were troubling and this made her feel a small fraction better.

* * * *

Peter stepped back from the portal. Jenni clarified the puzzle of the Federation’s lack of reaction to the escape of the Pontiff. Internal Security had kept the secrets of Rachael’s debriefing to themselves. They lusted after the power revealed by the existence of undetectable portals. Once the secret was theirs, they could penetrate any security screen and they had the manpower to do what the Alliance couldn’t.

It meant Rachael was safe for the moment, one less ball to keep in the air. He’d already checked the response of the Federation’s governing council. Feodar’s world was off their immediate acquisition list. Jack and Rachael would have their time together. He’d brief Jack and let him get on with it.

Peter was tempted to set aside time to watch his interment in Arlington. He had a soft spot for the ritual, having seen so many of his comrades go before him. The military did these things so well.
Were there any others like him? Did they watch their funerals from a place like this? Listen to the orations? Flinch at the crack of rifles firing the volley
?

He shrugged. It didn’t matter one way or the other. This was his reality and its people depended on him managing it in their best interest.

The people of Internal Security weren’t the only parasites in the monolithic structure of the Federation. There were others and he fostered them all whenever he could. They formed his fifth column, limiting the Federation’s effectiveness. Keeping them below the point where they’d trigger the Federation’s self-protective response was hard. The organization could not have survived this long without an internal means of limiting the growth of power factions, but setting it in motion caused such a violent upheaval the response became unpredictable. To protect Rachael’s family, he could push Internal Security into over-reaching its purpose and triggering its own destruction, but it would be his last resort. One he must avoid if he could.

He had to choose his battlefields with care, his lack of resources limited the actions he could take against the Federation. The deal done to transfer Gabrielle across time had forced Feodar’s world on him, but it had stretched his organization to the limit and had taken preparation and cunning to win. Rachael would be a valuable addition, once integrated into the family. It was time to give Jack a nudge in the right direction.

* * * *

“Wake up, sleepy head. It’s time to go home.”

Rachael tried to ignore the voice, snuggling closer to Jack. She didn’t want to wake, nor go to her bed in the compound.

“Come on.” He was unmoved. “Wake up.”

She gave in and opened her eyes. “You’re a cruel man.”

“I know.”

“If Anneke is right, Jenni will have reported the meeting in the pavilion. They’ll assume I’m compromised already.” She looked for any weakening of his resolve.

“Let’s not rub their noses in it.”

“A kiss first.”
Time to change tack
.

“You think you’re going to get around me, don’t you?” He laughed at her.

Time for another change of tack
. “You don’t love me?”

She was shameless. He was right. She did have to go, but making it easy for him wasn’t any part of the deal. Rachael was bubbly with a strange intoxication. She’d spent the evening with a unique group of people, been welcomed by them as an equal, shared their laughter, and felt the warmth of their regard. Then a remarkable man had loved her well. She felt free, cut loose of cares and responsibilities, years of suspicious watchfulness forgotten. Jack would hold her safe, no matter what. Yet, this was no surrender. She stood at his side, both outside the pale of the ordinary.

Jack laughed, surprising her. “You’re a vixen, my love.”

“Am I?” She knew what she was asking, but would he?

“You’re both.” He’d guessed.

“I’ll forgive you then.”

His hand traced a familiar path down her spine, pausing to delight her in spots extraordinarily sensitive, while his lips divided her attention; touching hers so gently it was like a phantom kiss and slipping away when she tried to engage them. They brushed her closed eyelids, tantalized the lobe of her left ear and caressed the column of her throat, the tip of his tongue touching the hollow at its base. A pause, then he explored the upper slope of her breast and, finally, the nipple. A thought crystallized, diverting Rachael from the physical sensations Jack was causing long enough to emerge full-blown.

I want his child!

Motherhood had never appealed to her, the monthly reminder a mere inconvenience effectively softened by modern medicine, but the combination of the Alliance’s warmth and his exploitation of her nipple was a witches’ brew triggering a new reality. She wanted to share their warmth completely and there was only one route.

* * * *

Jenni watched the hologram form in mid-air and recognized the beach pavilion. The disk had arrived unannounced by courier and there was no accompanying message. The angle of the projection suggested a satellite camera, but the Federation had officially withdrawn all spy satellites from Feodar’s World. Her guess was an illicit camera in one of the weather satellites maintained under the Treaty. It was a gross breach which, taken to the courts, would mean challenge the Federation’s trading concession to this sector, affecting thirty planets. Her superiors were playing a high stakes game to get the undetectable portals. The risks of showing this to Rachael were enormous.

The only sound accompanying the hologram was a commentary identifying the participants and Jenni’s fear grew as she was informed Rachael’s companions were the Alliance leaders themselves. It was logical, she supposed. They’d rescued Rachael twice, once from the debacle on Thanatos and the second time from the Pontiff, and their manner toward her in the pavilion suggested she was one of them, or soon would be.

She studied each individual.