Why are we having these problems with Internal Security? Get your people in line. Stonewall nearly got killed out there yesterday! This isn’t the first incident!
Dante's responses?
It’s not just I.S., everyone is confused. I can’t control every last station commander. This won’t be the last incident, either, unless you start telling people who is in charge around here because it sure as Hell isn't Trevor Stone!
In truth, Dante was not sure what he could do, or even what he should do. After all, could he blame the people for wanting answers? Did Brewer and Knox actually believe the whole 'secret mission' story would work indefinitely?
With Trevor gone, Dante felt his loyalties pulled in several directions. Yes, he felt obligated to maintain the cover story due to his membership on the military council. Yet he felt a responsibility to the Senate, the body to whom Trevor himself had given oversight of I.S.
He placed a hand over his eyes and sighed.
'You okay, boss?'
The voice startled Dante.
'Oh, man, Ray, shit you scared me.'
Ray Roos-Chief of the I.S. detachment for the estate grounds-joined his superior officer in the conference room.
'Sorry ‘bout that. You a little jumpy? Sure you are. Heck, we all are these days.'
Ray stood alongside the table and waited for an invitation. Dante motioned to one of the empty chairs. Roos placed his Mp5 machine gun on the table top and relaxed.
Dante said, 'We had another security unit abandon a post yesterday. They walked away from a supply depot in Tennessee. Some people got killed because of it.'
Roos said, 'Well, if I can speak my mind, I don’t like the idea of our boys holding sway over some of them depots that are further out. That’s the army’s job don’t you think? I think so.'
'You know the drill, Ray. Internal Security gets whatever shit jobs the military doesn’t want. But we never had guys walk away from posts like this before. You know what I mean.'
Roos nodded. 'I know. But a lot of our guys haven’t been doing policing for a long time. You know that. Of course you do. With the big fella…' Roos hesitated as he tried to pick the right words. 'With the big fella…off somewhere, well, you probably noticed that things are slipping up real good like. Yessir. You have noticed that.'
'Hard not to notice, Ray. Trevor went running off and now we got to clean up the mess.'
Roos cocked a finger toward Dante but in a friendly, casual way.
'Say, weren’t you and Trevor buddies before ‘all this’? You were, right?'
Jones answered ‘yes’ with the nod of his head.
'What was he like before the whole shootin' match got turned downside-up?'
Jones grew a hint of a smile. 'Trevor? He was a good guy. He always treated people pretty much the same. He was the type of guy you could count on to keep his word and all.'
'So, you could see this whole thing coming with him being the big leader and all? Sort of natural-born?'
Dante laughed. 'Are you kidding? He was a care salesman, man. Look, he was definitely not mister take- charge. I mean, when we were in high school I had to lead him around or the guy was like socially, lost. See, couldn’t really even talk to girls. Didn’t know what he was going to do with his life. I mean, he was a good guy but he was lost half the time.'
Jones snickered as he remembered. Ray joined in with a polite chuckle of his own.
'Seems like you were taking care of him back then, huh?'
'Yeah, well then he met Ashley. Then the two of us took care of him, I guess.'
Roos said, 'Must’ve been strange reversing roles and all. Yeah, that had to be strange.'
'What’s that mean?'
'I mean, in the old days you were leading the way. Then all of a sudden the world goes topsy-turvy and he’s the one leading the way, and you’re following.'
Jones scratched his head and admitted, 'Yeah. That was kind of weird. I guess I got used to it. I figure we all had to get use to a lot of different stuff.'
Dante drifted into memories. Roos remained quiet for a few moments but opened a new line of thinking, one that brought Jones to the edge of his chair.
'You got to know, sure you know, that all of us in I.S., we follow you, Mr. Jones. No doubt about it. You’re a good guy and you always do right by us. You’ve got our loyalty. I think I can say that matter-a-fact on behalf of most of the guys.'
Dante's eyes narrowed, a little. 'Oh, well, so what does that mean to me?'
'Well, it means a lot of people out there trust your judgment. Maybe you don’t realize that. Maybe you’re too humble to let yourself see it. But I.S., folk, we trust you. After that stuff went down at New Winnabow, we all saw how you helped smooth things out. None of us wanted to be firing water cannons on protestors, you know that. Sure you do. That’s why you worked so hard to find a solution. You and that guy, that Senator guy.'
'Evan Godfrey.'
Roos waved a hand. 'Yep. That’s right. Evan Godfrey. Why the two of you did right by everyone. If you ask me-and I know you haven’t but I’ll tell you anyway-if you ask me you pulled Trevor Stone’s bacon out of the barbecue. Now that’s what I call leadership.'
Jones closed his eyes as he remembered those scary times after New Winnabow.
'Can I say something, Mr. Jones, without getting my own bacon in the barbecue? I can understand if you’d rather I just went about my business and kept my mouth shut.'
Dante nodded an approval for Roos to speak freely.
'I know Trevor is your friend, but allow me to set that aside for one moment. Let’s forget who he is and see him for what he is. Just for a moment. I don’t want you taking offense at this.'
'Go ahead, Ray.'
'I have to figure you know more about what’s going on with Trevor being disappeared than little old me. But the story is that he’s off on some mission. Hey, I ain’t asking for the skinny, that’s not my department. But my point is that maybe it’s a good thing this is happening right now. Now hold off now, I’m not saying it’s good that he’s gone. I’m saying it’s good it’s happening now when things are kind of quiet. You see? You see my point?'
Dante listened.
'If he comes back, fine and dandy. Or maybe not. I mean, sooner or later Trevor Stone ain’t going to be steering the ship. He’s not immortal. At least, I expect not. So maybe we need to find this stuff out now. I mean the stuff about how things could fall apart without him.'
Dante said, 'I think I see your point. It’s pretty bad now. Just think of how bad it would be if we were in the middle of the full-scale Hivvan war or something.'
'We’re getting taught a lesson, yes we are. A lesson that maybe we’re too dependent on Trevor Stone. Even with the Senate, he's still the guy in charge of just about everything.'
Dante said, 'Yes. He is. But I get your point. Let's just hope he gets back, soon.'
'Oh yeah, that's what we're all hoping, Mr. Jones.'
The conversation paused.
After a second of reflection, Roos chuckled and said, 'Man, that must be funny from your point of view. A real gasser. I mean, here you are watching all of us be so dependent on Trevor Stone but in the old days you had to lead him around by the nose to keep him going in the right direction. I got to hand it to you, Mr. Jones. Sure I do. There are guys out there who I just know that type of thing wouldn’t sit well in their belly. But you, you've done one heck of a job putting that aside and working for Trevor nowadays. Still, that’s got to be kind of, oh, kind of ironic. Funny, like I said. A real gasser.'
24. Shattered
