“Exactly. And Mom and Dad won’t have to split time between little Leya Elaine and Paul. And Paul thinks it sounds like a grand adventure.”
“Yeah. That’ll be good. Alla that.”
“You are gonna be back before she’s born, right, Nick?”
“That’s the plan, Cal, but you know how this stuff goes sometimes. Will you be mad if I can’t?”
“I’ll try not to be. I understand, and I want you home in one piece. But you know what the hormones did to me last time.”
“So if you are angry or irritated or grumpy, I should chalk it up to the hormones?”
“Probably. I’d rather have you home after she’s born than not at all, so I’ll deal. But I might get bitchy from time to time, at least for a little while.”
“Gotcha.”
“Yeah, you do.”
They kissed again.
Things Start to Move
Once he’d ended a somewhat prolonged visit with Cally, Ashton pinged the other classified channel that he’d been given. Within a couple of moments, Lee Carter entered it.
“Hey, son,” he said. “I wasn’t expecting to hear from you quite yet. I figured you’d be on the horn all night to Cally.”
“I was, for a good while,” he said, grinning sheepishly. “Listen, thanks – to you and whoever else all helped with that. I’m not a network expert, so I wasn’t sure what I could use, didn’t think to ask before I left, and I didn’t want to screw things up…”
“Maia and I understand, and so did the people who helped us,” Carter said. “We’re police, not intelligence operatives, but you’re having to function as an intelligence operative, so there are things you and I wouldn’t think to ask about first. Now, I’m thinking you didn’t jump in here just to thank me.”
“No, I didn’t,” Ashton said. “I got in good with the consul himself. I’ve been his go-fer for a few weeks now, and today he made me his personal assistant. General Daggert gave me some special tools before I left Sintar, and I’ve made good use of ‘em. Only I’ve been trying to figure out how to get this shit to you guys, and now I can. Here.” He passed a large folder of files to Carter, which the VR represented as simply handing him one huge folder filled with papers. “This has a really big list of spies from around the other star nations, and their dossiers, and almost all of ‘em are in Imperial City.”
“Oh shit hellfire,” Carter expostulated, opening the first file and beginning to read it. “Damn, Nick, you done good, son. I need to get this to General Daggert as soon as possible, and have a planning session on how to handle this.”
“Well, don’t bring ‘em down yet, unless you don’t want me and Rick to make it home,” Ashton pointed out. “Spoof ‘em, keep up with ‘em, feed ‘em fake stuff, whatever you need to do to keep ‘em away from what we don’t want ‘em to have, but don’t take ‘em into custody, or we’re probably dead men.”
“Understood,” Carter said, sobering. “Anything else?”
“They’re looking for the plans for that little… whadda they call it… a pickle ship? No, that’s not right,” Ashton said, raking a weary hand through his hair. “Picket ship. Damn, I’m tired. I don’t think they ever take a day off in Annalia.”
“They do, but this consul might not, not for his purposes,” Carter noted, still scanning through the files. “If I’m interpreting this correctly, they’re trying to reconstruct – even expand – on a spy network here in Imp City, by linking up their network with some of the other star polities’ networks. Not everybody has someone here, though, and that lot is trying to piggyback on the others.”
“That’s my interpretation, too,” Ashton agreed. “Is there any sign of some sort of an alliance developing on your end of things?”
“Yes, there’s already been one, of sorts,” Carter said. “I don’t know the details, but Daggert told me to keep a watch out for implanted moles working together. Which this pretty much demonstrates is already happening, or is in process of happening.”
“Who-all is in it?”
“About everybody except the DP and Sintar, from what I understood,” Carter said. “Everybody’s pissed at those picket ships of ours, ‘cause they’re head and shoulders and torso and legs above theirs, I think. From what I’ve heard, at least. I’ve been watching the international news feeds and trying to cobble together a big picture around what Daggert has passed on, see…”
“Oh, I get it,” Ashton said. “I think maybe, with this new job I got as the consul’s personal assistant, I might want to negotiate some days off, though. I can’t keep going like this. Plus I need to be able to watch some of that shit myself, so I can maybe start piecing together a few things.”
“Sounds like a plan to me. You don’t need to get so tired you slip up and get yourself killed for it.”
“No shit. Well, I can also tell him Rikky wants a honeymoon of sorts, I guess…”
“What the hell?! Oh wait,” Carter said, smearing a hand down his face. “That’s the cover you two put together? Rick Honda’s alter ego is your significant other?”
“Exactly. He showed up, tired and hot and hungry, just as I was leaving the consulate… I was walking with the consul, no less… and called my name. My first name, fortunately. So I thought fast, grabbed him, dipped him, and planted a wet one on him while messaging him in VR in the tightest, most secure channel I could find, telling him to go along. And he did.”
“So you’re sharing the apartment?”
“Yeah. And I told the consul he wanted to play house husband – so this way he can get in and out and pass on things for me.” He chuckled. “The consul thinks we’re
