Winston\u2019s lips thinned.\u00a0 E-557 and the Foundation really are the major target, aren\u2019t they?\u00a0 It\u2019s the same as it\u2019s always been.\u00a0 Someone wants to get rid of the people who want to change the rules to benefit the whole of humanity.<\/i>\u00a0 His gaze drifted back to the water.\u00a0 Is this why you sent me, Inspector Damerian?\u00a0 So someone else would see what you already knew?<\/i><\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s another base on the other side of the ocean,\u201d Brendan said.\u00a0 \u201cAbout two hundred thousand people out there, too.\u201d\u00a0 He crossed his arms.\u00a0 \u201cThere are a lot of people depending on a very small military force to protect them.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHigh stakes,\u201d Winston murmured, suddenly feeling out of his depth.\u00a0 Inspector, where did you send me?\u00a0 Why the hell am I here?\u00a0 Why me?<\/i><\/p>\n
Because she couldn\u2019t come herself.\u00a0 That\u2019s why.<\/i><\/p>\n
\u201cThey always have been,\u201d Brendan said.\u00a0 \u201cThey always are when it\u2019s the fate of worlds and species at stake.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course,\u201d Winston murmured.\u00a0 \u201cOf course.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u2022<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cSomething tells me that I\u2019m not supposed to be in here,\u201d Padraig hissed as he followed Sephora down the narrow access corridor.\u00a0 \u201cThough that might have been the passcode and the authorized personnel only sign giving me that impression.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m the Inspector General,\u201d Sephora said.\u00a0 \u201cI can bring anyone I want down here and right now, you need to see what I\u2019ve found.\u201d<\/p>\n
Padraig frowned slightly, but kept close to Sephora as she shouldered open one of the doors that lined the narrow hall.\u00a0 \u201cWhat is this, anyway?\u00a0 Some kind of archive?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSomething like that,\u201d Sephora said.\u00a0 \u201cThis is where the Inspector General\u2019s office buries our dead.\u201d<\/p>\n
Padraig looked at her sharply and she gave a weak little laugh.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot literally, but this is where we file away things\u2014files and evidence from investigations that are closed, files that may never be fully concluded, evidence that\u2019s too dangerous to leave in another storage area, personal effects that have never been claimed, that kind of thing.\u201d\u00a0 She sobered.\u00a0 \u201cThe contents of Frederick\u2019s desk and locker are down here, among other things of his.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cResearch?\u201d Padraig guessed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat too.\u201d\u00a0 Sephora snapped on the light and led him back through a warren of shelving units.\u00a0 \u201cAlmost no one comes down here.\u00a0 I can tell who the great ones will be by paying attention to who does.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWinston came down here, then?\u201d
\n\u201cAll the time,\u201d Sephora said.\u00a0 \u201cHe reminds me of Frederick in some ways.\u00a0 I hope he doesn\u2019t suffer the same fate, but I\u2019m afraid that I\u2019ve sent him to just that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Padraig squeezed her shoulder briefly and she shot him a weak, wry smile.<\/p>\n
\u201cThanks, Padraig.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnytime,\u201d he said softly.\u00a0 \u201cHow have your staff been faring?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTia and Leon booked passage off-world.\u00a0 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\u2019m hoping they\u2019ll be all right.\u201d\u00a0 Sephora shook her head slightly, leading him into a quiet rear corner of the storage area where the boxes from Frederick\u2019s desk and locker were secreted away, along with the green suitcase that he\u2019d inexplicably left behind on his last trip off-world.\u00a0 \u201cWhat about yours?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMiriam has been doing a bang-up job of getting everything pulled together,\u201d Padraig said.\u00a0 \u201cShe volunteered for the job.\u00a0 I want her to go with them, but I don\u2019t think she\u2019ll do it.\u00a0 I might have to find a way to trick her into going.\u201d\u00a0 He smiled wryly.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019d hate to lose her, but I\u2019d also feel better if she was off-world and safe.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAs if anywhere is going to be safe, my friend.\u201d\u00a0 Sephora forced a smile and squeezed his arm.\u00a0 \u201cNot with you getting ready to rock the boat.\u00a0 When do you appear before the committee?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI blow the whistle in three days,\u201d Padraig said.\u00a0 \u201cAll hell breaks loose after that.\u201d<\/p>\n
She nodded.\u00a0 \u201cMore than likely.\u201d\u00a0 She knelt down amidst the boxes, next to the suitcase.\u00a0 \u201cI found something you need to see before you go before that committee.\u201d<\/p>\n
Padraig frowned, nodding slightly and sinking down to his knees nearby.\u00a0 \u201cWhat is it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat got Frederick killed,\u201d she said, her throat suddenly tight.\u00a0 \u201cAnd the breadcrumbs that lead toward who had him killed.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve figured it out?\u201d<\/p>\n
She felt sick.\u00a0 \u201cI have my suspicions, anyway.\u00a0 I\u2019m not quite at the point where I\u2019m ready to start making accusations, but that moment is coming and coming fast.\u201d\u00a0 The minute I come out regarding what I\u2019ve learned, it puts everyone I\u2019ve ever cared about at risk\u2014regardless of the distance they\u2019ve put between themselves and I over the years.<\/i>\u00a0 She cracked open the suitcase, where she\u2019d secreted away the most important pieces of evidence she\u2019d uncovered.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ve been spending a lot of time down here, working on unraveling the clues he left me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFrederick?\u201d<\/p>\n
She nodded.\u00a0 \u201cYeah.\u00a0 I found a holovid that he left for me a few weeks ago.\u00a0 That\u2019s why I sent Tim Winston out there.\u00a0 It\u2019s why I\u2019m worried now.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did he\u2026\u201d\u00a0 Padraig\u2019s voice trailed away and then he started again.\u00a0 \u201cSeph, what did he have to tell you?\u201d<\/p>\n
She choked back a laugh.\u00a0 \u201cHe gave me the warning that you reiterated.\u00a0 Something\u2019s rotten in the Commonwealth and I\u2019m starting to see exactly where all the worst places are.\u201d<\/p>\n
She lifted a palmtop computer out of the suitcase and balanced it on a corner of it, tapping a few keys.\u00a0 \u201cHave a look at that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat am I looking at?\u201d\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe truth,\u201d Sephora whispered.\u00a0 \u201cGod help me, god help us all, you\u2019re looking at the truth<\/i>.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis looks like a lot of who was trying to buy who back in\u2014wait a second.\u201d\u00a0 Padraig\u2019s brows knit and he leaned a little closer.\u00a0 \u201cSenator Milligan.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sephora closed her eyes and nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s still in the legislature,\u201d Padraig said.\u00a0 \u201cI voted<\/i> for him once.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of people did,\u201d Sephora said quietly.\u00a0 \u201cBut he\u2019s done a lot of things that aren\u2019t necessarily on the level.\u00a0 Look at how many people he\u2019s tried to buy.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMore than some of the congloms, based on this,\u201d Padraig murmured, the glow of the palmtop lighting his face.\u00a0 His gaze flicked toward her.\u00a0 \u201cSeph, how long have you known?\u201d
\n\u201cOnly since I found the suitcase,\u201d she said.\u00a0 \u201cEver since I found Frederick\u2019s message to me and I realized that I\u2019d fucking abandoned my promise to him to figure out what happened to him and why.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSeph\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t try to tell me I couldn\u2019t pursue it, Padraig.\u201d\u00a0 She shook her head, staring blankly at the shelves that sheltered them from the rest of the world.\u00a0 \u201cI should have.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t.\u00a0 That was a choice<\/i> that I made and it\u2019s a choice I regret.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s one I never should have made and now humanity\u2019s going to pay the price.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Winston\u2019s lips thinned.\u00a0 E-557 and the Foundation really are the major target, aren\u2019t they?\u00a0 It\u2019s the same as it\u2019s always been.\u00a0 Someone wants to get rid of the people who want to change the rules to benefit the whole of … Continue reading