Winston’s lips thinned.  E-557 and the Foundation really are the major target, aren’t they?  It’s the same as it’s always been.  Someone wants to get rid of the people who want to change the rules to benefit the whole of humanity.  His gaze drifted back to the water.  Is this why you sent me, Inspector Damerian?  So someone else would see what you already knew?

“There’s another base on the other side of the ocean,” Brendan said.  “About two hundred thousand people out there, too.”  He crossed his arms.  “There are a lot of people depending on a very small military force to protect them.”

“High stakes,” Winston murmured, suddenly feeling out of his depth.  Inspector, where did you send me?  Why the hell am I here?  Why me?

Because she couldn’t come herself.  That’s why.

“They always have been,” Brendan said.  “They always are when it’s the fate of worlds and species at stake.”

“Of course,” Winston murmured.  “Of course.”

 

•           •           •

 

“Something tells me that I’m not supposed to be in here,” Padraig hissed as he followed Sephora down the narrow access corridor.  “Though that might have been the passcode and the authorized personnel only sign giving me that impression.”

“I’m the Inspector General,” Sephora said.  “I can bring anyone I want down here and right now, you need to see what I’ve found.”

Padraig frowned slightly, but kept close to Sephora as she shouldered open one of the doors that lined the narrow hall.  “What is this, anyway?  Some kind of archive?”

“Something like that,” Sephora said.  “This is where the Inspector General’s office buries our dead.”

Padraig looked at her sharply and she gave a weak little laugh.

“Not literally, but this is where we file away things—files and evidence from investigations that are closed, files that may never be fully concluded, evidence that’s too dangerous to leave in another storage area, personal effects that have never been claimed, that kind of thing.”  She sobered.  “The contents of Frederick’s desk and locker are down here, among other things of his.”

“Research?” Padraig guessed.

“That too.”  Sephora snapped on the light and led him back through a warren of shelving units.  “Almost no one comes down here.  I can tell who the great ones will be by paying attention to who does.”

“Winston came down here, then?”
“All the time,” Sephora said.  “He reminds me of Frederick in some ways.  I hope he doesn’t suffer the same fate, but I’m afraid that I’ve sent him to just that.”

Padraig squeezed her shoulder briefly and she shot him a weak, wry smile.

“Thanks, Padraig.”

“Anytime,” he said softly.  “How have your staff been faring?”

“Tia and Leon booked passage off-world.  Karen is hoping to stick it out a little bit longer and I was able to get Victor and Zeke reassigned to postings off-world, closer to the fringes where I’m hoping they’ll be all right.”  Sephora shook her head slightly, leading him into a quiet rear corner of the storage area where the boxes from Frederick’s desk and locker were secreted away, along with the green suitcase that he’d inexplicably left behind on his last trip off-world.  “What about yours?”

“Miriam has been doing a bang-up job of getting everything pulled together,” Padraig said.  “She volunteered for the job.  I want her to go with them, but I don’t think she’ll do it.  I might have to find a way to trick her into going.”  He smiled wryly.  “I’d hate to lose her, but I’d also feel better if she was off-world and safe.”

“As if anywhere is going to be safe, my friend.”  Sephora forced a smile and squeezed his arm.  “Not with you getting ready to rock the boat.  When do you appear before the committee?”

“I blow the whistle in three days,” Padraig said.  “All hell breaks loose after that.”

She nodded.  “More than likely.”  She knelt down amidst the boxes, next to the suitcase.  “I found something you need to see before you go before that committee.”

Padraig frowned, nodding slightly and sinking down to his knees nearby.  “What is it?”

“What got Frederick killed,” she said, her throat suddenly tight.  “And the breadcrumbs that lead toward who had him killed.”

“You’ve figured it out?”

She felt sick.  “I have my suspicions, anyway.  I’m not quite at the point where I’m ready to start making accusations, but that moment is coming and coming fast.”  The minute I come out regarding what I’ve learned, it puts everyone I’ve ever cared about at risk—regardless of the distance they’ve put between themselves and I over the years.  She cracked open the suitcase, where she’d secreted away the most important pieces of evidence she’d uncovered.  “I’ve been spending a lot of time down here, working on unraveling the clues he left me.”

“Frederick?”

She nodded.  “Yeah.  I found a holovid that he left for me a few weeks ago.  That’s why I sent Tim Winston out there.  It’s why I’m worried now.”

“What did he…”  Padraig’s voice trailed away and then he started again.  “Seph, what did he have to tell you?”

She choked back a laugh.  “He gave me the warning that you reiterated.  Something’s rotten in the Commonwealth and I’m starting to see exactly where all the worst places are.”

She lifted a palmtop computer out of the suitcase and balanced it on a corner of it, tapping a few keys.  “Have a look at that.”

“What am I looking at?”  Padraig asked quietly as he peered at the palmtop, starting to slowly scroll through the data that had consumed her for the past few weeks.

“The truth,” Sephora whispered.  “God help me, god help us all, you’re looking at the truth.”

“This looks like a lot of who was trying to buy who back in—wait a second.”  Padraig’s brows knit and he leaned a little closer.  “Senator Milligan.”

Sephora closed her eyes and nodded.

“He’s still in the legislature,” Padraig said.  “I voted for him once.”

“A lot of people did,” Sephora said quietly.  “But he’s done a lot of things that aren’t necessarily on the level.  Look at how many people he’s tried to buy.”

“More than some of the congloms, based on this,” Padraig murmured, the glow of the palmtop lighting his face.  His gaze flicked toward her.  “Seph, how long have you known?”
“Only since I found the suitcase,” she said.  “Ever since I found Frederick’s message to me and I realized that I’d fucking abandoned my promise to him to figure out what happened to him and why.”

“Seph—”

“Don’t try to tell me I couldn’t pursue it, Padraig.”  She shook her head, staring blankly at the shelves that sheltered them from the rest of the world.  “I should have.  I didn’t.  That was a choice that I made and it’s a choice I regret.

“It’s one I never should have made and now humanity’s going to pay the price.”