And she wanted that future. Her bodywas still reeling from pure need for that future. Not that she wasready to go any further with him than they’d gone, at least notunder these circumstances. But someday, if things kept going thisway, she wanted the option of full-on sacking and wild declarationsof undying love.
Aengus Stone admitted that he stole thecodes, but not that he killed the guard. The vid shows him stealingthe codes and killing the guard. So the vid is fake. Right?
There were only two problems with thattheory: Elena Quito had witnessed the masked man kill the guard.Had seen it with her own two eyes. That was the first problem.
And Aengus Stone had identifiedhimself as the masked man. That was the real problem—aseemingly insurmountable one.
Locating Aengus’s testimony on the trial vid,Zia watched and listened as the prosecutor said loudly, “Mr. Stone,did you have occasion to check your watch during the break-in?”
“Yes,” Aengus replied.
“What time did it say?”
“Eleven forty-six.”
“Your Honor, if I may?” The prosecutoractivated the security vid, which showed the masked man pauseinside the command center, roll back his sleeve, and check hiswatch. The prosecutor zoomed in on the man’s wrist, and the dialclearly read: 11:46.
“Do you recognize that watch, Mr. Stone?” theprosecutor asked with a smirk.
Aengus exploded. “I already told you,that part of the vid is legitimate! Yes, that’s me.Yes, that’s my watch. Yes, I took the codes. But Idid not shoot the guard. And I am not a God dammedtraitor.”
Wow . . .
Zia switched off the equipment, more confusedthan ever. She was starting to really like Aengus Stone. Hereminded her so much of his son. But the poor man had been in suchextreme denial over shooting that guard, he had sealed his owndoom, making it impossible for President Elena Quito to pardon himfor his well-intentioned crime.
“But you and Rem don’t have to be doomed,”she told herself. “You just need to agree that neither one of them,Aengus or Mom, was bad. Things went wrong, but there was noframing. And no betraying. Aengus Stone couldn’t betray his countryany more than Rem could. It was a horrible tragedy, and when Rembecomes president, he can pardon his father posthumously. And youcan give OmniVid an interview saying you support that pardon, andyou believe your mom would have done it herself if Aengus hadlived.”
She nodded slowly. It was a good plan. A fairand decent one that would give Rem peace of mind, and give themboth a chance to fall madly in love with each other.
And all she had to do was convince Rem toaccept it.
* * * *
When Zia woke up the next morning, she knewin an instant something was wrong. The sun was too bright, tellingher it was way past dawn, which made no sense. The second challengewas four days away. Every moment of practice counted, so why wasn’tRem hounding her to get dressed?
The door to the living room was ajar, whichbothered her too. He had probably snuck in to check on her, butthen why not wake her up?
And were those voices she heard? Was hewatching a vid? That made no sense either.
Walking over to the door, she listenedintently. Rem was speaking, his tone strident. And the other voicesounded like Ambassador Humber’s.
“What now?” she whispered to herself inbleary-eyed frustration. “What else could possibly gowrong?”
Chapter15
“Hey, you two. What’s going on out here?”
When Rem turned to look at Zia, the fury inhis eyes made her take a full step backward—and made hervery glad she had taken a moment to change into her uniform.“Oh, no! What’s wrong?”
“You won’t believe it,” he promised.
“It is disturbing news from Earth,” Humberexplained. He paused to cough into a cloth, then continued warily.“But no one is hurt or dead, so do not worry about that.”
“No one’s dead yet, you mean,” Remmuttered. “Because when I get back there, I’m going to strangle himwith my bare hands.”
Zia stared. “Strangle who? Tell me what’swrong.”
Humber stepped between her and Rem beforeanswering. “On occasion, my assistant sends me important news vidsvia capsule. This one arrived last night.” He paused for a secondfit of coughing. “I have been up all night with worry.”
“And you’re sick too. You need to take bettercare of yourself, Ambassador. We all need you to stay healthy.” Shewalked over to the vid screen. “So? Let’s see it.”
Rem activated the control, and an image of apresidential news conference came into view. Her uncle’s presssecretary began the briefing with his usual caution to holdquestions until the end. Then he announced, “We’ve just receivedword that there was an attempted assassination of Zia Quito onMalara.” He raised his hand to quell the alarm among the reporters,assuring them quickly, “She is unharmed, thanks to the quick actionof our Malaran allies and the three members of her honor guard. Weregret to announce that one of them, Ensign Pao, was killed inaction. Ensign Jackson and Lieutenant Harada were injured, but willrecover. All three men will receive presidential commendations forexceptional bravery.”
Zia watched intently as the reporters askedthe obvious questions about the Vekzori, the security measures, andthe possibility that Zia might now return home before anotherattempt was made.
She couldn’t begin to guess what had gottenRem so angry. Then an OmniVid reporter asked, “What about CaptainStone? Was he injured?”
The press secretary started to respond, butJared Quito stepped to the microphone, his expression somber.“Fortunately, Captain Stone was not with my niece at the time ofthe attack, and so he was perfectly safe. And no, she will not bereturning home. Not until her mission is complete. She is a braveyoung woman, and Earth is lucky to have her as our emissary.”
The Omnivid reporter persisted. “Where wasCaptain Stone? I thought he was supposed to watch out for her.”
“Well,” Jared murmured. “He cannot be withher every second, can he? My understanding is that he was at arecreational center playing vid games when the attackoccurred.”
Zia gasped. “Oh, no . . . Rem
