Theodore (20 page)

Theodore soon found himself back at the spaceport with
Anna and Janice smiling at his side.  Bill had joined them again and was
looking worse for wear.

“Not sleep well?” asked Theodore.

Bill shook his head, “Slept fine.  Just dealing with the
local police is unpleasant.  They are all high and mighty about how wonderful
and secure their district is.  You casually point out that Anna was grabbed off
the street last year and it becomes excuse city...  Idiots...  If you have a
problem, you own up to it and fix it.”

“You've been around Theodore a lot,” kidded Anna.  “His
flaming optimism is wearing off on you.  There is no
way
they are going
to admit there was ever a problem with their tidy little world.”

“I fear the truth of your statement, ma'am.”

“Oh, don't you dare start 'ma'am-ing' me,” grinned Anna.

“Oh, you bet I am!  Don't want to make Theodore grumpy!”
Bill teased back.

There were already a parade of mixed looks from the local
security and customs officials as the small group approached.

“Sir, you can't have your weapon in this area,” barked the
security guard.

“Actually, yes, yes I can.  Before you risk violating
interstellar treaty, I highly recommend you contact the Home Office and the
Foreign Office both,” replied Bill with remarkable evenness.

“You don't understand, these things have to go through
procedures...”

“The paperwork was filed fifteen days ago.  A lead time of
forty-eight hours is all that is required by treaty.  Procedure has been met. 
I suggest you return to your station and continue with your regular duties, or
call the aforementioned Home Office.  Good day, sir!”  Bill's grin was quite
sinister.

The security agent carefully retreated to his station near
the customs office.

“Jerks,” muttered Bill under his breath.  “We went through
all of this yesterday...”

“Bureaucracy at its finest... that and petty fiefdoms,”
apologized Janice.  “Sorry about that, Bill.”

Bill shrugged, “It's part of the game.  Ah!  It looks like
the shuttle is disembarking.”

That was welcome news for all of them and they quickly
turned their attention to the new arrivals.  Anna hugged Theodore in giddy
anticipation as they watched the other passengers make their way through the
customs checkpoint.  It was quick at least, most aspects were automated, such
checkpoints were more out of inertia than real need.  Finally, the glowing form
of Meagan Rose and the towering form of her brother Ross made it through the
line.  Ross processed the paperwork for himself and his extremely bouncy
younger sister.  With the final stamp, Meagan came bounding over to Anna and
Theodore.

Theodore's grin was once again a sight to behold as he
spun Meagan around before passing her off to Anna.  Theodore just beamed as
Anna and Meagan hugged and instantly started blubbering.  Bill would have
rolled his eyes, but he was busy.

“I didn't think we had any plainclothes in this area,” he
nervously barked over his comlink.  The chatter on the comlink was soon made
superfluous...

Practiced form radiated from Bill as he instantly brought
his carbine to bear and interjected himself between the giddy trio and the four
people in the lobby as they suddenly sprouted submachine guns.  Theodore's
response... it was quite different.

Theodore's eyes went wide and his breathing and his heart
suddenly both slowed as a level of calm he had never felt before washed over
him.  His armor... his Live Steel armor exploded around them, floor to ceiling
in a flaming blue wall just like his father had done those eight long months
ago.  He had no fear for himself or the girls, his only objective was to make
sure Janice was safe.  He felt the wall expand almost another three meters out
to encompass her and she quickly moved in tight with the group.

Bill, for his first part, had already dropped the first
two with his precision shooting as he stepped back and found that he too was
now behind the blue wall of flame.  The sudden relaxation he felt from
Theodore's armor was short lived.  With a spin that said wonders for the fear
crawling in the back of his mind, he turned to face the security officer that
had given him grief before and found the man had drawn down on them!

Ross, however, was not standing by idly while his sister
and her friends were in danger.  His own Live Steel armor had quickly engulfed
him and it was he who brutally dispatched the turncoat security guard.

Bill made a mock curtsey at the two remaining gunmen as
their rounds were harmlessly absorbed by Theodore's own wall of armor.  “This
thing works one way!” growled Bill as he pointed his carbine at the two
befuddled attackers.  “Drop your weapons if you want to live!”  The pair
started to raise their weapons again and Tim, appearing from the corner,
instantly cut them both down.  “Look alive people!  We are still missing
something!”  barked Bill.

Theodore didn't argue the point with Bill, he knew something
was amiss and Bill had been spot on about everything else...

“You were late, Tim.”

“Someone deactivated my key lock; had to open a door the
hard way.”

“One of the locals was in on it, assume all security is
compromised!”

Tim nodded as they looked around and he suddenly yelled
and pointed out the window.

The window shattered under the onslaught of a 30mm pulse
rifle.  The sinister twin of Peter's toy all but bowled the two man team firing
it off their landing.  But the story was about the bullet, not the launch.   A
half kilo of tungsten carbide separated from its sabot and bore down on
Theodore and his wall.  His soon to be father-in-law had stood down multiple
rounds from its slightly smaller brother, but Theodore only had to worry about
one round... One round with slightly more than a megajoule of energy square
into the side of his armor.  It hurt, it hurt in a style of pain he had never
felt before, but he held fast.  His armor held fast.  He snarled as he looked
up, almost baiting them to do it again.

A second shot wasn't going to happen, Bill and Tim made
certain of that.  Their response was quick and thorough: the two people outside
the window would only be inconveniencing the janitors...

Janice's heart was weak: all of her training her entire life
had been to save people yet the only people around her were people that had
tried to kill her and her daughter, much less poor Meagan and Theodore.  She
wanted to do
something
but there was nothing to do.  Bill, Tim and Ross
had been quite thorough.  Instead she just crashed to the floor crying,
cradling her daughter and future in-laws.  Theodore held her tight and tried to
apologize, but Janice would have nothing of it.  They all just sat there while
Bill stood watch and the rest of Tim's team arranged to evacuate them from the
building.  The local security was irate at the level of devastation.  Tim was
irate that one of the locals had sold out...  So much for relying on local
help.  Everything was going to go through the Foreign Office or not at all. 
The locals were trapped behind their own failures and the despicable behavior
of one of their own.

Only Ross seemed unfazed.  He grinned as he shook
Theodore's hand before departing, “Meagan's safe with you!”

Theodore's tail twitched, “His voice... it's familiar...”

Meagan tried to make light of things even though she was
still quite obviously stressed, “You've met him before.  I should image his
voice is familiar.”

Theodore noticed Eric and Lori, two others from Tim's DSS
team, were now up close and personal with the group.  Normally, they loitered
in the distance.  Changes were being made... 

“Make a hole!” barked Tim with eye blazing.  “We are
leaving
now!
”

The four of them, Theodore, Meagan, Anna and Janice, were
soon being shepherded through the building by the very irate DSS team.  Eric
was brandishing a rapid fire grenade launcher while Lori was leading the way
with a squad automatic rifle in plain view.  Theodore was briefly curious about
the practicality of Eric's grenade gun, his own experience had demonstrated
what could happen if fired at too close of a range.  Theodore’s curiosity faded
to mild horror as he caught a glimpse of the writing on the side of Eric's
spare ammunition: spray incendiary and flechette.  It wasn't a grenade
launcher, it was a fire hose of death! 

Saundra nodded to Tim as they left the building and moved
into the open courtyard.  Theodore blinked twice, he'd only ever met Saundra
once before, that first day at the canteen.  Apparently they were blowing a lot
of their cover in order to have a more open and brazen display of force. 
Blowing cover... and flag poles.  With a flip of a switch, Saundra set off a
series of charges that cut three massive flagpoles at their bases.  Any
etiquette associated with lowering of the colors was instantly out the door. 
Theodore briefly was curious about the wanton destruction, but only briefly. 
Two heartbeats later, a light repulsar gunship landed in the narrow courtyard. 

The team walked through the twisted metal of the flagpoles
and entered the gunship as if it were an everyday experience.  The loading ramp
started to close with them still on it: people were in a rush.  Just as the
door closed tight, the engines flared and they lurched into the sky.  Theodore
could feel periodic shaking as if they were firing some low power weapon as
they lifted straight into the morning sky.

Bill must have read Theodore's confused expression:  “Tear
gas and smoke.  Here in another thirty seconds they'll shift to chaff...”

“Blackout, blackout, blackout!” barked the intercom.

Bill started swatting his own equipment as he nodded to
the Westmores, “Any electronics, kill power or pop the battery!”

Janice and Anna both quickly disconnected the batteries
from their phones.  “Where are they taking us?”

“Safehouse.  Not sure where.  Things are a mess,” offered
Tim.

“Is this
your
gunship?” asked Theodore more than a
little shocked.

“No, it's on loan from the Foreign Office.  Right now, the
FO's internal security are the only people we are trusting on this rock.  The
Transportation Ministry and the Home Office are going to have a lot of
explaining to do...”

The four tried to relax as they sat in the penthouse of
some nameless building.  Things were comfortable enough, the frosted white
windows being the only overt difference between their current setting and a
posh hotel.  They were all shaken but it was Janice that spoke first.

“You raised a wall to protect the girls, just like your
father did,” smiled Janice.  “You are a strong
strong
man, Theodore!”

Theodore tried to smile at the complement, “I'm starting
to understand a lot of what my father has been trying to teach me as well as
others...” 
If you wish to protect them, you must learn to not fear for
them.
Theodore shuddered as those words from the woods washed over him.  He
had
been calm, not a hint of fear for the girls... it had never entered
his mind...  Had that been his father in the woods playing with his mind?

“Are we going to have to cancel the trip?” asked Meagan.

Theodore sighed, “We'll have to wait and see.”

“If things turn into a complete tizzy, we'll just head to
Afon,” remarked Janice evenly.  “All else fails, we'll move in a few months
early and I'll home school Anna for her last quarter.”

Meagan's eyes lit up, “So does that mean Deidre is going
to rent you her house there in Marionsford?”

Theodore laughed, “So everyone knew about that but me!”

Anna sported a fake pout, “Well.  Well yes!  Had to let
the cat out of the bag...”  Anna just doubled over laughing turning bright
bright
red.  “Um, okay.  That expression was
horrible!
”

Meagan and Theodore both just laughed at Anna and hugged
her warmly. 

Tim soon joined the group, and after a round of apologies
for not speaking the Highland Old Tongue, he filled them in:  “The Home Office
finally relented and is letting the Foreign Office provide additional assets.”

“Didn't they just do that with the gunship?” asked
Theodore.

Tim grinned, “We kinda did that without going through
channels.”

“Are there going to be negative repercussions for that?”
asked Janice.

“Undoubtedly, but if the Home Office and Foreign Office
want to go tit-for-tat, they are going to have to cover for the breakdowns at
the port.  The Transportation Ministry is going to instantly be in hot water
for the turncoat as well as the lapses in security.  The Home Office is
ultimately responsible for day to day police work and the fact that we had a
perfect repeat from eight months ago over at VerDemire as well as Anna's
earlier kidnapping with
no arrests
... No.  I think they will grump and
politely have to deal with us getting a lift from a gunship.”

Janice let out a long sigh, “Every day we hear about
organized crime, but everyone always assumes it happens someplace else... never
here.  Someone just needs to take those bastards down!”

Theodore hadn't seen Janice growl much, but peace loving,
volunteer doctor on the go was also a mother.  And someone had threatened her
child. 

Anna just hugged her mother and smiled, “Hey, we'll be
fine.”

“We may be fine,  but only because of Theodore's excellent
skills and the dedication of these few people.  The rank and file citizen on
the street has no protection from these animals!”

Tim smiled, “Maybe all the negative publicity and finger
pointing is going to convince the government to get off high-center and actually
do something about organized crime.  Once Agent Tamilton was able to get her
foot in the door with judges and prosecutors she could trust, she made
real
progress.  The Bella-Shoana are pretty much used to being able to buy their way
out of trouble.  It just takes motivated and brave people to break the cycle.”

“Oh, no you don't!” barked Anna to her mother.  “I can
read your mind from here!  You are
not
going into politics or anything
crazy like that!  No rallies or anything!”

Janice finally managed a laugh as she hugged her daughter,
“Yes, dear.  May I rev up my students?”

“No...  Maybe twenty years from now...”

Janice laughed and hugged Anna.  “Not a day sooner.”