Schism

'— I really want to give you the benefit of the doubt on this, but it's tough with all the coincidences. How you were in the right place at the exact time Trevor needed medical attention. How you declared the body off-limits until after it was prepared for the memorial service. How the only staff allowed in the operating room while you tried to 'save' Trevor were people with I.S. clearance, none of the hospital's regular staff.'

'There were security considerations that-'

'But the real question that the Captain here has been asking is… why?'

Doctor Maple stopped babbling but his face grew red and his hands shook.

'Yes,' Gordon went on. 'That is a good question. You were with Trevor that first year. You helped Reverend Johnny put together a new health care system. Trevor appointed you to the council. You delivered his son and cared for Ashley during her pregnancy. You were their family doctor for years. Trevor trusted you, completely.'

'I…I had nothing to do with it.'

'And I look around this place of yours,' Gordon cast his eyes around the room. 'Nothing pretentious. You could have had a big house filled with all sorts of luxuries. Instead, a small, old townhome. I see a simple desk, your diplomas and accreditations hanging on the wall in boring frames; nothing fancy. You never married, you drive a boring sedan, and you don't seem to go on many vacations. So you didn't do it for personal gain, did you?'

'I did not do anything!'

Gordon's eyes narrowed to daggers. His hands reached out and grabbed Maple's collar. His words became a growl but not merely from anger; Nina heard a shade of disappointment or disgust there, too.

'I know why, Doctor. Evan Godfrey black mailed you. He found out something I found out years ago. He found out that you were going to lose your medical license, that you were facing charges of inappropriate contact with a patient. I believe she was seventeen years old when you put her under anesthesia.'

Maple struggled in Gordon's grasp and defended, 'No, that's not true!'

'Do you want to know how I know that, Doctor? I know it because it was my job to know these things. Years ago, after I started working for Trevor, I found your legal records. I found that you had been a few weeks away from losing your license before Armageddon came.'

'I didn't do it!'

'I told Trevor about it. Do you know what he said? Do you?' Gordon pushed Maple against the desk. 'He said the slate is clean. That's what Trevor said. He said whatever you did in the old world didn't matter. The same thing he told me when I let him know that his Chief of Security, Ray Roos, served time for theft and assault or his Director of Industry Brett Stanton had been an alcoholic.'

Nina saw something in Gordon's eyes. Anger, yes, but also sadness. He might rip Maple's head off, or he might start crying. She did not know which.

'That's what I hate about people like you and Evan! You can't get it through your heads that our lives are on the line here, can you? He had faith in your better nature and you sold out Trevor Stone to a snake like Godfrey because you were worried about your reputation. The old world is gone, Doctor. And with it your sins got washed away. But that wasn't good enough. You still put your vanity above the good of us all! You helped kill the man who gave you a second chance. The only man who really understood how different this world is!'

'No! No! I didn't do anything! I just…I just, um, tried to save…'

Gordon's voice grew a notch softer but he still held the doctor in his grasp.

'You just did what they told you to do, didn't you? It seemed so simple. Why, you weren't doing anything wrong at all. You weren't a part of their plan, just someone stuck in the middle. You made it look like an energy rifle blast-'

'It was an energy rifle blast,' the man insisted. 'I saw it! I had a hell of a time stitching him up to look good for the viewings.'

Gordon's eyes grew a hair wider.

'But they did not want an autopsy, did they? Maybe you would have found a bullet under that blast, or some other cause of death. The real cause of death. No, they wanted you to confirm that Trevor had died, and to say it could be nothing other than the official story they painted. Then you patched him up so he could be put on display for all The Empire to see.'

Nina, who had watched the interrogation silently, asked, 'Why was that so important?'

Knox said, 'Because we had to see him dead. Last time, when Trevor disappeared, there was uncertainty. Not this time.' He then commanded, 'You're going to help us, Doctor. You're going to atone, or I'll kill you right here.'

Maple stammered, 'I, um, I didn't do anything. I didn't think-'

'You're going to come with us and do what you should have done in the first place. Evan went to a lot of trouble and risk to make the doctor here cooperate. He did it so that Trevor's body could be on display, but he didn't want the body getting a good look-over. That tells us there are answers with the body.' Maple stuttered, 'W-what do you want me to do?' 'You're going to do that autopsy you never did. It's time for the dead to speak.' — A trio of children ranging from six to twelve waded into the water with their hands locked together. Behind them, on a beach blanket, mom and dad encouraged the kids as gentle breakers rolled to shore. The youngest one-a little boy-tried to retreat as his bare feet met water that, no matter how warm, would feel cold on a ninety degree day. The oldest sister, however, would not let him give up and coaxed her brother further out.

Nina watched the family drama from the shade of a park bench on the far side of the concrete walkway running along Highland Beach on its way toward the Southern Command building. She wore a white halter top in deference to the heat but refused to exchange her green BDU pants for cooler apparel. As much as she perspired, General Shepherd had it worse in his black dress uniform. 'We kidnapped Dr. Maple,' Nina told him. No sense lying or even trying to sugar coat it. Not to Shep. 'Well I'll be. Quite a bold little step.' 'Knox figures that Evan is just as likely to figure Maple flew the coop on his own as he is to figure out we got him.' Shep scratched his head and asked, 'Tell me again, what did Knox have on Maple that made him give up the ghost?' Nina smiled; a little.

'Nothing. Nothing at all. Just the lack of an autopsy and circumstantial evidence about him being in the right place at the right time to cover things up. But, look, the guy pretty much gave himself up. I asked Gordon about that afterwards. I told him he hadn't had anything on Maple; nothing concrete, just guesses. But I got to give it to Knox. You know what he said? He said Maple knew he was guilty, and his own conscience did him in. The Doc's mind, Knox said, filled in the blanks. It was all psychological warfare, I suppose. Kind of scary how Knox has a feel for all this. Makes me wonder what he used to do in his old job.'

Shep chuckled.

'Listen, there is something going on,' Nina had already told the story of the data tapes and air space violations and Ray Roos' attempt to kill them. 'There are a bunch of things being covered up, starting with the tripping of the Tambourine Line and also the body. That's next. But look, we're starting to have trouble moving around. More I.S. showing up at train stations and hotels. I saw a couple hanging around my building so I didn’t go to see Denise today, I came here and I saw a suspicious car by the HQ.'

Shepherd said, 'They might not have been here for you. A few weeks ago the buildings down here were almost empty. Now I've been recalled and so have a bunch of others. We got meetings and meetings. Nina, they're smothering us. Lots of busy work, but you can tell it's all about keeping us close to home. Hell, I told Dante that I've got people in the field trying to track down those Red Hands, but he still said he wanted me back here. It's like they're keeping a real close eye on us and showin' us who's boss. They're making us tap dance for them.'

'Maple said something about a military conspiracy to take over the government.'

The General spat, 'Now I reckon that to be the biggest bit of bunk to come out of Washington in ten years. Yeah, it's been in the newspapers and we keep getting speeches about teamwork and whatever. But these new guys, they're the ones that don't know about teamwork. They're so busy trying to be in charge of the whole shootin' match that they're stepping on a lot of toes. Makin' noise about the idea of a coup d'etat is real insulting to the military.'

'Gordon figures our new President is looking for an excuse to purge all his enemies. Shep, you're out on a limb here.'

'Oh, now don't you worry 'bout that. You just get done what Ashley asked you to do. If Evan did set this up, then something is gunna have to give. As much as I can't stand the little weasel, I sure hope he ain't behind this. That could tear everything apart.'

'Well, yeah. But like I was saying, I.S. is crawling all over looking for us. Getting around is becoming an issue. Is there any way you can help?'