Jack Campbell - Perilous Shield

“And then you were to notify me.”

“The source is right here, General. Notification and arrest would have to be simultaneous.”

Iceni had recovered enough from shock that she reddened in rage. “Is this officer implying that I am—”

But before she had finished speaking Morgan had stepped to one side, walking no longer straight at Iceni but toward one of the operator consoles close by her. Togo, his eyes never leaving Morgan, moved sideways to remain between her and Iceni.

Morgan stopped beside a specialist hunched forward over her console as if intently focused on nothing but the information her instruments were reporting. But Drakon spotted the sheen of sweat on the back of the operator’s neck as Morgan’s sidearm rose again, the barrel coming to rest against the head of the worker. “Don’t worry,” Morgan said to the operator in soothing tones of mock-reassurance. “I won’t splatter your brains all over that equipment unless you try to hurt someone. No bombs nearby? No bombs on you? No bombs in you?” The specialist made vague sounds of denial. “That’s good. Maybe you’ll live. But I think some people want to talk to you before they make up their minds about that.”

“P-please,” the operator stuttered, visibly shaking with fear now. “I had to. M-my family—”

As two security guards ran up to stand by the unfortunate worker, Iceni gazed at the operator with an expression that could not have been harder had it been carved from granite. “Togo. Accompany the guards and this prisoner to a full-spectrum security cell. I want everything she knows, especially her contacts.” As Togo began to move, Iceni added one more directive. “I want the facts, whatever they are. Nothing more.”

The other workers nearby were gradually recovering from their own frozen shock, staring at their unfortunate former companion with faces in which growing anger and hate could be easily seen. “Snake.” The word could barely be heard as it was murmured first by those closest to the caught agent, then repeated by those farther off, until the entire command center was filled with a low hiss of recognition and rage.

Drakon could see the despair on the face of the snake agent as she heard that, as the single, repeated word made it clear that she might still breathe and think but was effectively already dead to those who had once been her friends.

Morgan saluted Drakon with a self-satisfied expression. “You wanted the snake. You got the snake.”

“Could you tell if she was working alone?”

“No, sir. I couldn’t get past the cutouts her contacts were using, but there are all kinds of footprints.”

“We couldn’t have expected to clean out the snakes,” Malin said, “just by getting the overt agents. If the snake files hadn’t been partially destroyed, we might have tracked every mole and hidden asset the snakes had in this star system.”

“Are you blaming me for that, Colonel ?” Morgan asked.

“Of course not, Colonel .”

Drakon gestured to break up the argument. “You both did well. Colonel Malin localized the signal, and Colonel Morgan found the one who sent it. However, I want less drama next time, Colonel Morgan. A lot less drama. You should have known the President’s bodyguard would have seen you as a threat.”

She smiled, baring her canines. “I am a threat.”

“Not unless I tell you to engage someone, understood?”

“Yes, sir, yes, sir.” Morgan slid a sly glance at Malin. “You must be getting old. I could have nailed half the command center while you hesitated.”

Malin smiled back. “I may be a year older biologically, but in terms of maturity, I freely admit to being much older than you.”

“Knock it off,” Drakon ordered. “Morgan, don’t do anything like that again. Now, get on that operator’s console and see what you can find. Malin, scan systems planetwide for any indications that something might have been triggered from this console.”

As they went to work, Drakon walked over to Iceni, who did not seem to be in a very good mood despite finding the source of the message to the Syndicate flotilla.

“If,” Iceni said in the subzero tone of a CEO pronouncing a sentence on a subordinate, “that woman ever makes such a move in my presence again, I will treat her as an immediate and direct threat to me.”

Drakon paused, knowing exactly what that meant. Loyalty to Morgan warred within him against his developing relationship with Iceni and the grudging admission that Iceni had every right to be angry. “I thought we had an agreement. No more executions or assassinations unless we both sign off on it.”

“That agreement does not bind bodyguards, General Drakon. Don’t try to split hairs on this. She will be dead if she does anything like that again.”

He felt anger and stubbornness building, fighting to keep both emotions under control. “It won’t happen again. But if your assistant goes after Morgan, you might end up losing him instead of me losing her.”

Was that disappointment briefly apparent in Iceni’s eyes, swiftly covered by imperial wrath? “You’re threatening me? Threatening my closest associates? Now?”

“No.” His own antagonism was rising and made his next words less well-thought-out. “The matter was handled clumsily, but there was no intent to target you. You must be aware of that.”

“Do not use the word must to me, General. I am not required to act or think in ways that someone else finds appropriate.”

She was getting angrier. So was he. Break it off, you idiot. Keep pounding against this wall, and all you’ll accomplish is cracking your skull. “Perhaps we should discuss this later.”

“Perhaps we should.” Iceni’s glare swept the command center. “I will be in my private office monitoring everything from there.”

She stormed off, leaving Drakon fuming and feeling like he had lost even though she had been the one to leave this tiny field of battle. He cast a dark look across the command center, seeking anything to focus his ire upon, but everyone was at least pretending to be totally immersed in their duties. Dammit, Morgan. Can’t you use a little sense every once in a while? And why the hell didn’t Iceni accept that it was just a mistake?

Morgan must have known that acting like that would make Iceni mad as hell at her and at me—

She did know. Damn. You and I are going to have a long and clear talk, Colonel Morgan.

It took a strong effort of will to keep from slamming the door behind her as Iceni went back into the office. She managed to seal the door firmly but without the sort of force that would have drawn comments.

That stupid man! He must realize how that looked! That woman threatened me. If it had been anyone else, they would be dead.

I thought she was smart. Malin told me she was smart. Why would anyone who was smart do something so incredibly…

Because they meant to?

Iceni forced herself to calm down, carefully seating herself and staring at nothing as she tried to order her thoughts. Above the desk, the display showed the enigmas and Black Jack’s fleet slowly converging for an encounter that would not happen for some time yet. With that time to spare, Iceni focused on nearer events.

What if the whole thing was deliberate? The snake agent offered a cover for Morgan’s actions. Those actions could have been fully intended to provoke me into attacking her.

Morgan knows Drakon. He’s loyal to a fault. He got exiled to Midway because, when the snakes suspected one of his subordinates, he helped her get away. The snakes couldn’t prove it, but they could still retaliate against him.