“Good,” Armbrand said. “That actually timed out right, for a change. Now, is that,” he gestured at the kluged charger, “gonna be a pain in the ass to fix once we get our crooked cops in custody? I mean, do we need to go get yet another one?”
“Nah, it won’t be a problem, once this is all over,” Carter determined. “Not with that idea Nick had for hooking it up. I’ll just yank everything, including the package timer on the old charger, close the covers, and plug the new charger back in, the usual modular way.”
“Wow,” Smith said. “You really know what you’re doing with that shit, Director.”
“Comes of being my age, with lots and lots of experience sneaking around the old Headquarters,” Carter said with a grin. “When you’re used to hacking and rewiring security systems to get around being watched, you learn a whole lotta shit. Like tricks for wiring only certain parts of things… while making it look like the whole thing is hooked up.”
“Any word on Alan?” Ashton asked then.
“Not from Maia,” Carter said. “Anybody else?”
Mott, Smith, and Armbrand all shook their heads. Faces fell all around.
“Well, maybe that’s good news,” Ashton tried.
“Hopefully,” Carter agreed. “Okay, now let’s get everybody outta here with nobody else the wiser. Mott, you drove, right?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Which means,” Armbrand said, “I need to help Johnny get into the back of the van, then climb up with him, and we’ll go ahead and leave.”
“I can manage,” Smith protested.
“No, buddy, you’re still a little weak and wobbly,” Armbrand noted. “We can all see it. And it was all you could do to get in and out of the van earlier, when the paramedics were here.”
“Rog, that was over an hour ago,” Smith protested. “I’m better now.”
“Yeah, you are, but I’d still rather help you than have you fall and klonk your head or something. We already got one of our number in the hospital; we don’t need another pal in bad shape.”
“Never mind explaining another,” Mott added.
“Okay,” Smith sighed, capitulating.
“And I want you to go see the staff physician as soon as you get back to the precinct, young man,” Carter said, stern. “You hear me? We don’t need the effects of getting sideswiped by lightning sneaking up on you. And I’m speaking for Maia on this, as well as myself. ‘Cause she just messaged me on it.”
“Yes, sir,” Smith agreed. “To be honest, I was already thinking about doing that very thing, anyway.”
“Good,” Ashton averred. “We’ll help you get Johnny into the van, Rog. Then I can walk you out, Lee, about five minutes after they leave, and ‘reassure’ you that it was all just a bad accident, just loud enough for our spy to hear. Then meet you back at ‘Temporary New Headquarters.’ With the second pip back in my collar.”
“This works,” Carter decreed, moving to Smith’s side. “Let’s get moving, guys.”
Nobody else left the Carter residence for over an hour, and Brandt began to tense with worry. Finally Brandt saw the garage door open, and the Harcourt Plumbing van backed out. It turned on its own axis, then headed down the drive and out the front gate.
“One gone,” Brandt murmured to himself, in some mild relief. “But the cops are still inside.”
Between five and ten minutes later, however, both police officers emerged from the front door. Brandt listened carefully, and could hear just enough of the conversation to determine what was being discussed.
“...And I promise you, Director Carter, sir, I looked over the scene very carefully before you got here,” the beat cop noted. “It was just a terrible accident, caused by the powerful storms we’ve been having. You saw yourself, there was no sign of foul play. And the rest of the house looks fine.”
“True,” Carter agreed. “Our basic telemetry agrees with you, by the way. And I can’t imagine who would want to do such a thing anyhow. Thank you for your prompt response, and thank you for notifying me of the incident. How sad. I hope the man survives.”
“Me too, sir.”
And the two police officers climbed into their respective vehicles and departed, the automatic gate closing and locking audibly behind them.
Brandt let out a long – and very intensely relieved – sigh.
Planning
“Thank you for meeting with me, Your Majesty,” Carter said in the simulacrum of the Emperor’s office in VR channel 22. “I know you’re very busy.”
“The whole point of the restructure is to enable you to report directly to me, and avoid any intervening layers that might corrupt the relationship, Director Carter,” Dunham said with a smile. “I’m happy to meet with you. What can I do for you today?”
“First, may I congratulate you, Sire? I’ve heard reports that you are about to remarry.”
“Yes, and thank you,” Dunham said with a smile. “I’m very pleased to have found someone willing to share this… situation in which I find myself… with me.” He glanced at a calendar on the desk. “We plan to wed in a couple of months, around the time of the one-year anniversary of… of m-my ascending to the throne.”
The two men paused, and Dunham’s gaze grew distant with bitter memory; Carter well understood the reason for the slight stumble in the Emperor’s statement, and deeply empathized with him. So he gave him plenty of time to regain his composure before returning to the point of the meeting. Dunham glanced at the older man, then nodded with a look of gratitude on his face, and Carter realized his liege understood what he was doing and appreciated it. Carter returned the nod, briefly putting his hand over his heart as a nonverbal
