Charles Gannon - Fire With Fire

Trevor nodded. “Yeah. Okay. And given your-uh, situation-with Major Patrone, I don’t envy you your lady problems right now.”

“Me neither,” sighed Caine. “But I’m thinking that maybe Elena got over me long ago. She didn’t seem bothered by Opal-and she sure didn’t seem interested in my company.”

Now Trevor smiled. “Oh, brother-and I guess that’s almost literally true, now-you don’t know how to read my sister just yet. Yeah, she was dodging you, but probably because seeing the two of you post-corpsicle lovebirds together was making her crazy.”

Downing took a very deep breath. “Which brings up a touchy subject. About Major Patrone, Caine. Your relationship with her is not exactly a chance event. She works for me.”

“I know that.”

“Caine, I mean she has always worked for me-every second of your time together.”

Caine glared at Downing, felt his open hands becoming fists, and didn’t really care what happened next. “So tell me, Richard: is there any part of my life that you didn’t fuck with?”

MENTOR

Downing was beginning to worry that he might have to physically defend himself when Trevor intervened. “Hold on, Caine. Much as I hate saying so, this scheme with Opal sounds like it came from my dad. Am I right, Uncle Richard?”

Downing’s first impulse-to defend Nolan, to take the heat as he always had-faded. What is the use, here, in this moment, with these people? He swallowed, nodded: “It was Nolan’s plan. I didn’t like it.”

Trevor frowned. “I hate saying so, but Dad knew what he was doing recruiting a woman to be your guard, Caine. That would be the only way to control Elena once she learned you were back.”

“Huh?” said Caine.

Downing nodded. “Yes, I see what you mean. Knowing Elena, if Caine had shown up again unattached, I suspect she would have read your father the riot act and become thoroughly-and quite vocally-unmanageable.”

“Hell, she’d have called a press conference just to flip him a bird,” drawled Trevor.

“Er…yes, probably so. But if she saw Caine already in the company of another lady, then-”

“Yeah,” interrupted Trevor, “that’s my point: Elena’s a class act. She wouldn’t go barging in under those circumstances. I’ll bet that’s just how Dad set it up.” Trevor’s certitude sounded suspiciously like a lament: these were hard-very hard-things to learn and hear about an idolized father.

Downing suppressed a sigh: he had known this side of Nolan for over twenty years, and even that didn’t make today’s revelations any easier to hear. But it all made sense now, particularly Nolan’s understated pessimism about Caine and Opal’s long-term prospects as a couple. He’d never wanted a permanent connection between them, because then Caine and Elena could not be reunited. Meaning he had used Opal miserably.

Trevor was apparently reflecting on the uneven ethics of his father, as well. “Given all the family secrets Dad kept from us, and all the shady crap he pulled, I guess I’m no longer so surprised that he had you sneak his body onto that government clipper for out-shift to another system.”

Oh Christ; how did Trevor learn that? “Trevor, I-”

But Trevor wasn’t listening. “I get the charade of the cremation and the memorial: an empty casket would have prompted a lot of questions. But why didn’t Dad tell us he had found a way to be buried outsystem, Richard?”

Downing closed his eyes and hated each of the four words separately, ferociously, before he uttered them: “I cannot tell you.”

Trevor frowned. “You mean, you don’t know?”

“I mean I cannot tell you anything about it.”

Trevor sat open-mouthed for three very long seconds. “Damn it, Uncle Richard, you are going to tell me where my own father’s body is, and why it’s there, or so help me, I’ll-”

“Trev. Please. I can’t tell you about how your father’s body was ultimately handled because I don’t know.”

Trevor, who was half out of his seat, stopped. “You don’t-?”

Downing looked away. “It was all arranged after his death. It wasn’t his-or my-idea.”

“Then whose idea was it?”

Might as well tell him. “The Dornaani.”

“The-?” Trevor fell back in his seat. “What the-what the fuck do they want with Dad’s body? And why the hell did you give it to them?”

“Trevor, I don’t know what they want. But they-well, they seem to revere your father. And he wanted to be buried among the stars. And they made it clear that they would both see to that request, and also be-indebted-to us if we granted them the honor of doing so.”

“So you traded away Dad’s body for some alien goodwill? What are you, Richard, a fucking monster ? He was your friend -your closest friend!”

Downing felt his eyes start to burn. “Yes, he was, Trevor. And this is what he’d have wanted. And you know it.” Trevor’s stare had gone from cold to arctic, and was dropping toward absolute zero. “Trev, please understand: I wanted to tell you about your father, but the President ordered it kept quiet.”

Trevor’s eyes did not change. His voice was emotionless. “Is there more on the day’s agenda, sir, or are we done? Caine and I are due to report for our own debrief and then training.”

Downing sighed. “Yes, we’re done.”

Trevor rose quickly; Caine took a moment longer. Downing made his way to the door, shook hands with Caine-who seemed, if not sympathetic, at least accepting-and then extended the same hand tentatively to Trevor. Who took it, but with even less warmth than Caine had.

“I’ll miss you, Trev,” Downing said lamely.

“Have a safe trip, sir.”

Downing turned and tried to put Trevor’s stony expression out of his mind.

And kept trying all the way to his ship.

Unsuccessfully.

ODYSSEUS

Caine and Trevor did not follow Downing back up into the subterranean hangar, but they had to pass through it on the way to their own debriefing. As they navigated the black-and-yellow-dashed safeways, they saw a familiar object amidst all the esoteric military hardware: a secure canister from the module they had inhabited during their time at the Convocation Station.

“What the hell is that doing here?” Trevor wondered aloud.

Caine considered its size, hermetic seals, and profuse marking labels: it was the container for the biological samples they had gathered at the party. It was also just large enough to be- “Maybe Alnduul is using it as his own personal Trojan Horse?”

Trevor turned to stare at the gray shipping module as it was loaded onto the same shuttle that Downing would soon board. “You mean, you think Alnduul’s breaking the rules and going to Earth anyhow?”

“Somehow, I wouldn’t be surprised.”

As they watched the secure canister disappear into the shuttle’s hold, Downing’s spare, slump-shouldered silhouette appeared, moving steadily through the pre-boarding checkpoints.

Trevor became very quiet. “I guess I was pretty hard on Uncle Richard.”

Caine knew to tread carefully. “Well, if you were, it’s understandable. He dropped some pretty big family bombs back there.”

“Yeah. Dropped a few on you, too.”

Caine shrugged. “It’s been a busy day.”

Trevor’s answering smile was a bit quizzical. “You know, Richard and I thought you’d make a fuss.”

“About what?”

“About being impressed into service. He said you haven’t exactly been an eager foot soldier for IRIS.”

Caine shrugged. “When I’m hijacked or hoodwinked into service, I tend not to be happy about it. And it wasn’t always clear that Richard’s missions were, in fact, service to my country. More often, it seemed like they were serving his agenda. And although your uncle may have noble intentions, I don’t equate his agenda with my country’s needs.”