The Army Of Light (Kestrel Saga) (35 page)

    
Melissa held her wrists aloft for his inspection. “Well, as you can see, I
wasn’t arrested.”

    
“Still, I’m sure he wasn’t happy.”

    
“No,” she replied in a hushed tone. “The Director was definitely not that.”

    
“So, you 
did
 disobey direct orders?”

    
She blinked once and then nodded slowly.
“In a manner of
speaking.”

 
   
“How so?”
He’d been there, done that
himself on more than one occasion. So, who was he to judge? In fact, something
about her having a rebellious streak endeared him to her even more. 

    
“I was a senior supervisor with the OSI
That
means I
was a command level agent.”

    
The plot thickens. A typical field agent was something to fear by themselves,
but a commanding agent was downright fear-provoking. Shawn knew full well that
their abilities and procedures were almost above the law. “That’s pretty high
up on the chain of command.”

    
“Not high enough, it seemed. The files on my father’s disappearance had been
sealed and not even I could read them. So, I tried to gain access to them by
other means.”

    
Shawn was beginning to see the picture. “I’ll bet they didn’t like that very
much.”

    
She shook her head. “When I was… denied, I began an investigation of my own.
When the OSI got wind of my snooping, I was told to back off. Any other agent
would have been terminated on the spot”

    
Shawn was quite sure by her tone that the word ‘terminated’ didn’t just mean
being fired. Melissa must have had some serious clout in the department. It
wouldn’t have been a fate easily sidestepped. “And, of course, you couldn’t do
that, could you?” Shawn offered matter-of-factly.

    
Done with pretenses of being a simple ‘lady in distress’, she held her hands
out to appeal instead to his common sense. “Damn it, Shawn! It was my father.
You know him, probably just as well as I do. You should know I couldn’t. So,
that’s when I left.”

    
“And you came looking for me?”

    
“Actually, you weren’t my first choice… or my second. Even though my father
requested I find you before I did anything else, I had others in the OSI that I
trusted… others I thought would help.” She turned from his gaze and inspected a
spot of dirt on the bulkhead.

    
“And, based on the fact you eventually ended up in my hangar and then on my
ship, can I infer that they didn’t give you the kind of help you were looking
for?”

    
“A few did, but most didn’t,” she stepped to the side of the room, running her
hand thoughtfully over the smooth vinyl surface of one of the couches in the
lounge. “It’s a curious thing how many would-be friends fall by the wayside
when you hit a rough patch.”

    
“Well, becoming a fugitive is a little more complicated than just a rough
patch.”

    
She turned her attention back to him fully. “I was provided some credits, an
alias, and passage on a high speed shuttle to Minos. You’re the only person my
father mentioned with such high regards, and, well, you just happen to be the
only one—”

    
“The only one not still in the service,” he completed, remembering it from one
of the first conversations they’d had.

    
“I was going to say the only one not under the jurisdiction of the Unified
government, but essentially, yes.”

    
“And what if I didn’t want to help you? What would you have done then?”

    
“I would have gone out on my own. I can handle myself, Captain, if you hadn’t
noticed. The only reason I got caught when I did was because I was on your
ship.”

    
He smiled faintly, remembering both how well she’d handled
herself
at Jack’s place and of how she’d danced when held in his arms on Persephone. If
that was just a taste of her skills, then she was quite the talented agent.
“So, you must know all about me then, what with your clearance and
everything. I’ll bet you scoured my record and found every little sordid detail
that intelligence has on me, didn’t you? After all, that is the best way to
manipulate people into getting them to do what you want, isn’t it?

    
Melissa lifted her hands in a defensive posture. “No, no. You don’t understand.
Your records are… were sealed as well.”

    
“Why?”

    
She shook her head slowly. “At the time, I didn’t know why.”

    
“But you do now?” Shawn was more than a bit curious. His mind raced with
everything he’d done during his tenure with Sector Command, wondering what he’d
seen or overheard that would have caused his file to be sealed with such a high
classification that even a top OSI agent couldn’t access it.

    
“I’m afraid I’m not at liberty to discuss that with you right now.”

    
Shawn felt the wall of secrecy descend again like a steel curtain. He had to
remind himself that he was still on the outside looking in. “So, they didn’t
fire you, but you still can’t talk about it? I don’t get it.”

    
“No,” she cast her eyes to the deck in embarrassment. “They didn’t fire me.”

    
“Well, what exactly did they do to you?”

    
She looked into Shawn’s eyes, searching for a hint of compassion. “Come on,
Shawn. After what I did to you… what I put you through and all of the lies…
don’t tell me you are at all concerned about my wellbeing.”

    
Shawn didn’t remember when she’d started calling him by his first name. He only
knew that he approved. “Call it morbid curiosity.”

    
She seemed to gather her thoughts as she took a deep breath. “They’ve offered
me… a promotion.”

    
The look of amazement on Shawn’s face was unmistakable.
“Seriously?
A promotion?
To what, head troublemaker?”

   
 She understood his frustrations, and she didn’t blame him for them. It
was, after all, her fault for getting him into this situation in the first
place. The best she could do now was to remain calm and not let her feelings
run her mouth. “My clearance has been reinstated.”

    
“And that means what, exactly? And at what cost does it come?” Shawn guessed
that the Director would never have offered her this deal if there wasn’t
something in it for the government or the agency itself. Something else was
going on here, and he knew he’d never be able to trust her until it was
resolved.

    
“The cost is my obedience,” she replied. “My objective, however, is
unchanged.”

    
Obedience
.
She said it in a way that made Shawn
recognize she probably hated the term as much as he did. He simply nodded as he
processed the information. “By ‘objective’, you mean the search for your
father?”

    
“I do.”

    
“And you’ll risk putting yourself in this same situation all over again? I
doubt the OSI is this lenient twice.”

    
“They’re not. I’ll be operating within the guidelines of the agency on this
matter from now on.”

    
“In what capacity?”

    
“As… as the lead investigator.”
She stammered,
although she had no idea why.

    
“I see. So, as long as you acquiesce to his whims, you’ll have your clearance
back, all the personnel you’ll ever need, and enough resources to make finding
your father a hundred times easier than with just me?”

    
Melissa pursed her lips and nodded. “It would seem so.”

    
“But why?
I don’t get it. Maybe you can explain—”

    
“Stop it, Shawn!” She seemed on the verge of either breaking down emotionally
or striking out against him. “I… I can’t talk about it with you!”

    
“Then it looks like you’ve got all the cards in your hand. Since this is a game
you clearly don’t want me to play, you’ll have to excuse me. I need to finish
prepping my ship.” Shawn brushed passed Melissa and exited the passenger
lounge. He heard the heels of her boots rushing to catch up to him as he strode
through the berthing area corridor on his way to the cargo deck.

    
Once in the hold, she’d managed to quickly bypass him, and as he reached up to
press the control that would lower the new cargo door, Melissa quickly
sidestepped him and placed her hand over the control. Shawn, already in the process
of activating the door, pressed his finger gently into the palm of her hand. It
took him a moment to realize that he was touching her, and it took Melissa and
even longer moment to realize she was being touched. She was standing close at
his side, close enough to feel the heat radiating through his clothes. Her eyes
fell on his finger,
then
followed up his arm, until
she was staring intently into his eyes.

    
“No, Captain. I don’t have them all,” She gently pushed back against his
finger. “Not yet, anyway.”

    
Her eyes were sparkling and wide. She was so close, so dangerously close, that
he could see the infinitely fine hairs on the periphery of her cheeks. The
gloss of her lips caught the overhead light in just such a way as to make them
look undeniably kissable. She was stunning, of that there was no question, but
she was also devious and unpredictable. Shawn wasn’t sure if this was the last
person he should ever get involved with—or if she should have been the first.

    
“Tell me why,” he said in a near whisper, their closeness requiring nothing
more. “Give me one good reason why I don’t throw you back out there amongst the
wolves. You can’t possibly need my help anymore, so what is it?”

    
She swallowed hard. “This maybe one of those times that you tell me that I’m acting
foolish or irrational—”

    
“You mean crazy?”

    
She smiled softly. “Yes, that too… but I don’t care. I… you should consider
staying.”

    
“Do you have any idea what that would mean for me?” he whispered with
conviction. 

    
She shook her head solemnly. “I only know what it means if you don’t.”

    
Forgetting his anger, he turned and placed his hands on her shoulders.
Instinctively, she placed her hands around his wrists, neither pushing him away
nor drawing him closer. “Don’t get me wrong,” he whispered, “I care deeply
about your father, but if what Toyo said was true—and I’ve got good reason to
believe it is—then things could get crazy around here real fast and this
isn’t—”

    
“This isn’t your fight?”

    
The same bitter taste he’d experienced when he spoke to
Krif
earlier returned to his mouth. “Something
like
that.”

    
She gently released his hands and stepped back, just out of arms reach. “I
understand you’ve been offered a commission back to your old rank. That sounds
like quite a noble thing, Captain.”

    
Shawn closed the gap between them once more, pleasantly surprised when she
didn’t retreat. If anything, she seemed to welcome it. “It’s not for me, not
anymore,” he said as he gently shook his head.

    
Suddenly Melissa was fighting back tears, wanting to scream and cry all at the
same time. “So, you’ll go back home then… to Minos? Life goes on and all of
that, right?” The question was rhetorical. She understood full well that once
he left the 
Rhea
, the chances of him making it back to Minos
decreased with each passing light-year, and that this moment would likely be
her only chance to do something about it.

    
“All things considered, yes. I suppose it will.”

    
Melissa nodded solemnly. If she’d had the ability to voice her thoughts, she
would have told Shawn about her mistrust of the Director and of his promises.
The simple fact remained that there was simply no telling whether 
Sylvia’s
Delight
 was
bugged,
and whether their entire
conversation was currently being recorded or not. For her safety, as well as
for Shawn’s, she knew she couldn’t chance it.

    
“And I’m sure you’ll be happy there,” she continued, “tending to your business
and your clients, flying your ship to the edge of space and back and living in
relative peace and tranquility with little to no rules to guide you.” She
didn’t wait for his acknowledgement before she continued. “That is, until the
Kafaran’s come back to power. And don’t try to deny it, Shawn.” She moved
closer, and Shawn leaned his head down to stare in her eyes once more.
Only inches of empty space separating their faces.
“It’s
going to happen; sooner or later… we both know that it will. Then Minos will be
just another target for their destruction. You, your friends, everyone you
know… you’ll be corralled and turned into slaves for their war machine… or
worse.”

    
“I’ll be fine.” He mustered his most convincing smile, although he had his own
trepidations about the statement he’d just made.

    
She swallowed hard again as a single tear rolled down her cheek. Before it
reached her jaw line, Shawn reached up and gently brushed it away. This
isn’t the way it was supposed to happen, she thought regretfully.
She reached a trembling hand up to cover Shawn’s and shook her head
slowly. “No, Shawn. No you won’t.” She slid her free hand behind his head and
pulled him slowly down into a brief but gentle kiss. When their lips had
parted, she wrapped her arms around his neck, and guided his ear closer to her
mouth. “I can protect you if you stay, but if you go… and please make no
mistake about this, Shawn: they will kill you.” Her words were barely
above a whisper.

    
“De Lorme?” Shawn whispered back.

    
Her breath tickled his ear as she spoke as softly as she could, her whispers
tinged with distress.
“The agency.
The
Director.”

    
All it once it dawned on Shawn: they were being watched. Somehow, someway, the
OSI had tapped 
Sylvia’s Delight
, and Melissa knew it. He pulled
back slightly from her embrace and stroked her cheek once more. This time it
was he that initiated the kiss, which took Melissa completely by surprise. She
should have somehow put a stop to it, but somewhere in that kiss she forgot
entirely where she was and what she was supposed to be doing there. As the kiss
became more passionate, Melissa didn’t realize she’d begun stroking the back of
his neck until he pulled his lips away and moved towards her ear. And it wasn’t
until after he’d moved away that she realized she hadn’t wanted him too.