April 6: And What Goes Around (20 page)

"Well,
you were right," Jeff told April. "This was too important to ignore.
But I resented the intrusion. I was looking forward to making dinner and
relaxing with you. I can't come tomorrow."

"I still have dessert in the refrigerator. Come back
with me and we'll take up where we left off," April suggested.

April
slept in the next morning. It was past 1000 by the time she got up and had a
bite to eat at home, Gunny and Jeff were both gone and she had the place to
herself. The com lit up with an incoming call. It was a yellow flash so it was
somebody she knew but not urgent.

"Miss
Lewis, I have a couple sketches when you have time to look at them,"
Lindsey Paddington offered. Her head was so full of the rush of events the last
couple days she had to switch gears. President Wiggen... OK, she'd told Lindsey
she wanted a gift for their marriage.

"Are
you at
Cindy and Frank's tailor shop today?" April asked Lindsey.

"No, this is
an off day and I don't have school either."

"Why don't
you come by my apartment?" April asked. "I'm working on com but I'll
break and look at whatever you have prepared for me."

"That isn't
any imposition?" Her voice said she really was uncertain. Another time it
might have just irritated April, but she really did like Lindsey and wanted to
help her out of her shell.

"Not at
all," April assured her. Normally she wouldn't play the make me ask three
times game with people. "In fact I'll order lunch for us and have it
couriered over from the cafeteria."

"Oh no! I'm
coming anyway. I'll stop and bring it with me. It'll be fun!" Lindsey
said.

"OK. Do you
have a taste for anything special?" April offered.

"No, I'm not
a picky eater. Whatever you get I'm sure will be fine," Lindsey said.

"Give them a
half hour or so to pack it and then come on over anytime you want," April
told her. It felt odd. April was definitely a fan of Lindsey's art, but Lindsey
acted like she was April's fangurl. It didn't make any sense. What had she ever
done to merit that ? And yet how could she object at all if the girl just
liked
her? Why did it make her uncomfortable instead of just accepting it?

She sent a text to the cafeteria number. Whatever they didn't eat at
lunch could go in the frig and Gunny was always poking around in there trying
to find a snack. Extra wouldn't go to waste. So she got two each of six kinds
of cold sandwiches. She had some crudités, pickles and potato salad already.

* * *

Lindsey didn't have
a subtle bone in her body. When April opened the door for her she took two
steps inside and froze, her mouth falling open. "This is like an Earth apartment!"
she said, amazed.

"Perhaps a
little
more efficient," April insisted. "But I realize it's bigger than...
usual, and I'm very fortunate to have it. My body guard Gunny lives on site
too." April was self conscious about her cubic and usually managed to
avoid any discussion of it, but there was no avoiding it with Lindsey. If she
lacked any subtlety she seemed to lack any jealousy either. April didn't have
to invite her to make herself at home, she sat lunch down, marched over and
plopped herself down and started spreading her portfolio on the table between
the couches like she was April's roomie.

Everything laid
out, Lindsey sat up and twisted around taking it all in and saw her large
drawing dominating the living area.

"Oh good! You
have such a good setting to display this. It's a perfect viewing distance with
the couch facing it, and it isn't all cramped in on a wall barely bigger than
it is long. Did you pick that bamboo print wall covering after you got the
drawing? It carries the green and yellow tones in the drawings so well without
dominating.
Much
more effective than a plain solid color bulkhead. And
the mat is effective too. The flecks of gold, and the pattern is blended at
this distance." She was happy.

"No, it was
here when I got the place," April admitted. "Working with the drawing
was just a happy accident."

"I
really
need to learn to do more botanicals like that!" Lindsey said sternly. "
Everybody
has spider plants or ferns or something. I'll be honest, I avoid including them
because they are just so hard to get right. Especially if they are out of the
main focus of the drawing and you can't render them realistically."

"I liked the
bamboo the first time I saw the place empty," April remembered. "I
had other stuff going on and didn't have a bunch of money to do everything all
at once so it was easy to let it be since it wasn't dirty or damaged anywhere. Would
you like some coffee?"

"I'm not much
of a coffee drinker. Might you have tea? If not water is fine," Lindsey
said.

"Tea is no
trouble. I haven't had any in awhile. I'll join you for a change." April
retreated to the kitchenette and made up a tray for tea. When she glanced back
she could see Lindsey was laying more things out on the table.

"Oh my
goodness, I just expected a tea bag in a mug," Lindsey said when April
returned with a pot and cups more delicate than those she used for coffee.

April was careful
to set it safely away from the drawings. Lindsey seemed conscious of that too
and scooted over closer to take her cup. April remembered seeing Cindy put out
honey with tea at the tailor shop and was glad she did too because Lindsey used
it.

"Do you have
any idea what sort of apartment President Wiggen and Ben have? Most people
can't display something like that," Lindsey said, waving at April's large
drawing.

"I've never
been to their place. Perhaps I gave the wrong impression. We're not really
close friends. I've had occasion to speak with her a few times. It's odd,"
April admitted. "She hinted I'd done her a good turn sometime, but I'm not
at all sure what that could have been. She did me a bigger favor sending Gunny
to me, although it wasn't her intent I
keep
him at the time. She sent him
as a bodyguard when I was visiting Earth. She certainly had no idea how
complicated that would become. I'd have thought of us more as honorable
enemies, but she has been friendly. In the end I very much approve of her. She
did her best for North America and yet didn't go with the mob when she could
have made political points with them by condemning us. In fact she might have
stayed in power, at least for a little while longer, if she'd taken a much
harder line with us."

"You know, we
were living in North America then,"  Lindsey remembered, fussing with her
tea. "I remember there was stuff about Home on the news, but I never paid
much attention. I had no idea my dad would bring us all up here. Pretty much
all I cared about then was what was happening at school. And I don't mean my
lessons so much as my friends and," she made a fluttering hand wave. "Social
stuff. Who wears what and who are friends that won't be the same or matter next
week. But it all seemed important then." She sipped her tea and looked embarrassed.
"It just seems stupid now."

"Huh, some of
the things I cared about before the war seem silly now too," April said.
"I had arguments with my brother over who would do what parts when we did
business, and the
exact
percentages of ownership. Most of it didn't end
up mattering any more than what your friends wore to school."

"I have some
bits and pieces of what happened," Lindsey said. "But that was all before
the first Assembly. I've been reading the transcripts of all the Assemblies,
but nobody has written down what happened before that. Would you take time
sometime to sit and tell me what you did? I know you went to ISSII in the
Happy
Lewis
with Ruby's husband Easy, and brought Jeff's dad and step-mom and
Eddie back. I've talked to Jon Davis although he's hard to get to say anything.
He did tell me about sending Eddie Persico ahead to ISSII, but I want to interview
Eddie about when he got to ISSII and how he found Mr. Singh and got him to the
dock. And your grandfather too, but I've been shy to ask him. I wondered if
perhaps you'd put in a word with your grandfather for me?"

"Is this for
school?" April asked. It didn't sound like a casual interest.

"I'll present
it at school I'm sure. Your mom is interested in it and encouraging me,"
Lindsey said. But what I really want to do is write a good,
accurate,
professional
quality history of Home."

"Really? You
need to talk to Mr. Muños and Dave who built the
Happy Lewis
to the
specs from Jeff and my grandpa. And Easy, I mean Mr. Dixon, who was the command
pilot, and my father. They'll
all
have lots to tell you," April
said, hoping to deflect her.

"I intend to,"
Lindsey agreed. "But you were in the thick of things. Don't tell me you
weren't. If you don't want to talk to me then fine, but then I'll just have to
go by what everybody else tells me about your part. Not everybody will think
the same things important that you do."

April started to
object again and just shut her mouth. She vividly remembered that Jelly, Dr.
Ames that is, said there seemed to be a history of expensive damage, death and
destruction, strewn closely behind her when she got rolling. He hadn't been
entirely joking. She didn't want that to be her legacy in what might be the
seminal history of their nation. She should try to get a fair report of at
least some positive things she did instead of letting others set the record.

"We can do
that," April said reluctantly, and against her every instinct. "I
actually have some suit recordings from that trip, but it's hours and hours. I
doubt you will want to sit through it all." She should have suit recordings
after that too, April remembered. From when they got back to Home, well it
wasn't Home yet... Back to M3 and she and Easy fought the USNA invaders in the north
corridors leading to the Holiday Inn. She wasn't ready to offer that yet. It
had some ugly moments she hesitated to show Lindsey. Worse than when the
James
Kelly
exploded in a zillion fragments from Eddie putting an anti-tank
missile in her. But at least a spaceship doesn't leave wet bits dribbling down
the bulkhead...

"I'm sure the
boring parts can be fast-forwarded," Lindsey said. April was looking so
stressed that Lindsey did something unusually mature. She changed the subject.

"Can I show
you some of these rough sketches? Or are you ready for a bite yet?"

"I'd love to
see some sketches," April agreed. She lacked her usual appetite at the
moment. Soon they were lost in the details of composition and color. They
stopped about a half hour in and talked about their families and station gossip
over the meal instead of art.

When they were done April walked Lindsey to the door April was relaxed
again. She was completely caught off guard and when Lindsey turned and hugged
her hard around the neck on tip toe. The girl was
strong
. She hugged her
back and gave her a little pat on the back when she didn't let go right away,
but it was probably good the girl didn't see the brief flash of surprise on her
face. "Thank you so much," she said softly in April's ear. Then she
pecked April in front of her ear and let go. It seemed entirely sincere but
April was left wondering exactly what she'd done for her? Nothing special
jumped to mind. It seemed to April that Lindsey had done much more for her...

* * *

"Gunny we'd
like to hire you and another of your other security associates to go down to
Tonga for us. We know we want Chen already and he has agreed to go. He deferred
to you on picking the third. Do you have a preference who goes with Chen and
you?"

"First, who
is we?" Gunny asked Robert Lewis, April's father. "I assume you are
hiring me on behalf of Mitsubishi?"

"Yes, I have
an OK to do so, both for supply and for security. So I'll hand this off and Jon
will be the primary boss for it. But you'll have to work without much direction.
Also Mitsubishi promises me two Japanese employees on Tonga you can coordinate
with. We want Chen because you may have to travel off Tonga and he is the only
one of you who we feel can safely enter North American territory. Doctrine
should be that at least one of you remain on Tonga however. I'm splitting
expenses with Jeff Singh, or technically his company, but he is personally
aware and directing Chen to accomplish a few errands himself. Mitsubishi is not
going to be aware Chen is associated with you. At least not from me. That is
both to simplify explaining the realities of Home politics to my company and a
protection since nobody knows you have a backup."

Gunny cocked his
head and gave Bob the old fish eye. "What
aren't
you telling me?
It's hanging in the air so thick I can
smell
it."

"Are you sure
you want to know? You have plausible deniability and all that still. They can't
read your responses to key words and get anything from you right now."

"If there is
more to the mission for either of my partners I want to know. If they need to
disappear for a few hours or days I don't want them to have to invent a stupid
excuse, I'll know they may need to be away. Otherwise I'd be worrying they were
snatched, and I can get pretty aggressive if I think somebody grabbed one of my
work mates. I might
question
the last people I knew they were with so
vigorously it would forever ruin your relationship with them." Gunny made
a powerful grasping, twisting motion in the air with one beefy hand that Robert
wasn't sure about at all. Then he decided maybe that was something
he
didn't want to know more about.

"Chen will
deploy some spy bots for Jeff as he has opportunity. Also he is assigned to get
an actual sample of this new flu variety so we can type it. We're getting no
information on it and our Dr. Lee has made inquiries to agencies in several
counties and got stonewalled or the run-around. I was given opportunity to
distance  my people from his if I wanted, but honestly it serves our interests.
If Jeff didn't do it we'd have to. Just be aware that there is risk. We don't
know how severe this variety is for people like you who haven't had LET,"
Robert warned.