Honor Among Enemies

Chapter TWENTY

'My God, Aubrey! What happened to you?'

Aubrey opened his eyes and peered up at Ginger Lewis. His first wandering thought was to wonder what she was doing in the cabin he shared with three other junior petty officers. His second was to wonder what she seemed so worried about. It was only when he got to number three that he realized he was still in sickbay under observation because of a concussion.

'I fell,' he said. The words came out a bit slurred and breathy thanks to his puffy lips and a nose which still refused to admit much air, and he closed his eyes again against a fresh wave of pain. Surgeon Lieutenant Holmes promised quick heal would take care of his more spectacular bruises and contusions within the next couple of days. Unfortunately, it hadn't taken hold just yet, and even when it did, his broken nose and cracked ribs were going to take a bit longer.

'The hell you say,' Ginger said flatly, and he opened his eyes once more. 'Don't bullshit me, Wonder Boy. Somebody beat the crap out of you.'

Aubrey blinked at her murderous expression. He felt oddly detached, and he wondered why Ginger was so pissed. She wasn't the one who'd been beaten up, after all.

'I fell,' he said again. Even in his disoriented condition, he knew he had to stick to his story. It was important, though he had moments when he couldn't remember precisely why. Then he did remember, and his eyes darkened. 'I fell,' he repeated a third time. 'Just tripped over my own feet. Landed on my face, and...' He shrugged, and winced as the movement sent a fresh, hot stab through him.

'No way,' Ginger contradicted in that same flat, tight voice. 'You've got two cracked ribs, and Lieutenant Holmes says your head hit something at least three times, Wonder Boy. Now tell me who did it. I want his ass.'

Aubrey blinked again. How strange. Ginger was angry because of what had happened to him. He'd always liked her, and even through the icy fear which flowed through him every time he thought of Steilman, he felt warmed by her concern. But he couldn't tell her. If he did, she'd do something about it. That would get her into the middle of it, and he couldn't do that to a friend.

'Forget it, Ginger.' He tried, without much success, to make his voice come out stronger and more confident. 'It's not your problem.'

'Oh, yes it is,' she said through gritted teeth. 'First, you're a friend. Second, according to Tatsumi, it happened in Engineering, and that's my bailiwick. Third, bastards who go around pounding on people need their assholes reamed out. And, fourth, I'm a senior chief now, and I feel like doing a little reaming. So tell me who did this to you!'

'No.' He shook his head weakly. 'I can't. Stay out of it, Ginger.'

'Goddamn it, I am ordering you to tell me!' she snapped, but he only shook his head again. She glared at him, eyes crackling, and started to speak again when Lieutenant Holmes turned up.

'That's enough, Senior Chief,' the physician said firmly. 'He needs to rest. Come back in ten or twelve hours, and you'll probably be able to get more sense out of him.'

Ginger looked at the surgeon for a moment, then drew a deep breath and nodded.

'All right, Sir,' she said grudgingly, and gave Aubrey another searing glare. 'As for you, Wonder Boy, you get your head straightened out. Whether you tell me or not, I'm going to find whoever did this, and when I do, he can kiss his ass good-bye.'

She turned and stalked out of the sickbay, and Holmes shook his head as he watched her go. Then the doctor looked down at Aubrey and quirked an eyebrow.

'I've seen some ticked-off people in my time,' he said mildly, 'but I don't believe I can recall anyone recently who was quite that ticked. I'd advise you to remember the name of whoever you fell over, because I imagine the Senior Chiefs going to make your life pure hell until you do.' Aubrey looked up without speaking, and Holmes smiled. 'Suit yourself, Wanderman... but don't say I didn't warn you.'

Ginger stalked down the passage from sickbay, then stopped. She stood for a moment, rubbing one eyebrow, then nodded sharply, turned around, and went back the way she'd come. She found the man she wanted in the dispensary. His back was to her as he ran an inventory, but he turned quickly when she cleared her throat. A worried expression chased itself across his face, and then he put his hand comp on hold and cocked his head at her.

'Can I help you, Senior Chief?'

'I believe you can,' she told him. 'You're the one who found Wanderman, right?'

'Yes, Senior Chief,' he said a bit too carefully, and she gave him a thin smile.

'Good. Then maybe you can tell me what I want to know, Tatsumi.'

'What would that be, Senior Chief?' he asked warily.

'You know damned well what it is,' she said in a voice of steel. 'He won't tell me who it was, but you know, don't you?'

'I...' Tatsumi hesitated. 'I'm not sure what you're getting at, Senior Chief.'

'Then let me spell it out,' Ginger said softly, stepping closer to him. 'He says he fell, you say you think he fell and all three of us know that's bullshit. I want a name, Tatsumi. I want to know who did that to him, and I want to know now.'

Her blue-gray eyes bored into his, and he swallowed. Tension crackled in the dispensary, twisting his nerves, and it took all his strength to wrench his gaze away from hers.

'Look,' he said finally, the edges of his voice hoarse, 'he says he fell, right? Well, I can't tell you any different. I already did all I can do.'

'No, you haven't,' she said flatly.

'Yes, I have!' He turned back to her, his expression tight. 'I came along in time to save his butt, Senior Chief, and I stuck my own neck out to do it, but I'll be damned if I stick my head straight into a meat grinder! I like the kid, but I've got problems of my own. You want to know who did it, you get him to tell you.'

'I can have you in front of the Bosun or the Exec in five minutes, Tatsumi,' she said in that same, flat tone. 'With your record, I don't think that's a place you want to be. Especially not when silence could be viewed as complicity.'

The SBA glared at her, then squared his shoulders.

'You do whatever you want, Senior Chief,' he said, 'but as far as I'm concerned, this conversation never happened. You get him to tell you, and maybe, maybe, I can back him up, but there is no way I'm gonna start naming any names on my own. I try that, and I'm just likely to turn up dead, you understand? You want to send me back to the stockade, fine. Good. You do that. You do anything you think you have to do. But I am not naming names on my own, not to you, not to the Bosun or the Exec, or even to the Captain.' His eyes flitted away from hers again, and he shrugged. 'I'm sorry,' he said in a lower voice. 'I really am. But that's the way it is.'

Ginger rocked back on her heels. Her initial suspicion that Tatsumi been part of Aubrey’s beating had been blown out the lock by the depth of the SBAs obvious fear, and that same fear sent an icy wind through her bones. Something even uglier than she'd first guessed must be going on here, and she bit her lip. Aubrey didn't want her involved, and Tatsumi seemed genuinely frightened for his very life. Somehow she felt certain the SBA would have told her if only one person was involved. After all, if Tatsumi and Aubrey both testified against him, Navy discipline would come down on whoever it was like a hammer. They wouldn't have to worry about him again... which meant they were worrying about someone else. And that suggested...

'All right,' she said very softly. 'You keep your secrets, for now. But I'm going to get to the bottom of this, and don't think I'm going to be the only one looking. You and Aubrey can say whatever you like, but Lieutenant Holmes knows he didn't fall, and you can bet he's going to write up a full report. That's going to get the Bosun and the Master-at-Arms involved, at the very least, and somehow I don't think the Exec's just going to sit this one out, either. With all that weight looking into it from above, someone's going to figure it out, and if you were involved, you better pray someone else finds out about it before I do. Is that clear?'