As Ashton approached the desk, he studied Dunham, and realized that, while he was some years older than Ashton had last seen him, and had a more serious mein, he was not so much changed. A bit of gray peeped out at the temples, and perhaps the lines around the eyes were more pronounced, but little else.
Dunham, aware of the other man’s scrutiny and what it meant, smiled.
“You haven’t changed that much either, Inspector Ashton,” he said, almost grinning. “And yes, I remember you, too.”
“Your Majesty,” Ashton said, bowing again as he reached the desk. Trajan nodded acknowledgement.
“Please be seated, Inspector Ashton.”
“Yes, Sire.” Ashton eased into the visitor’s chair and gave his attention to the Emperor. But before he could speak, Dunham raised his hand, and Ashton subsided. Dunham turned to the Imperial Guards in the corner.
“Leave us,” he commanded.
They nodded and left without a word. Once they were gone, Dunham addressed the ceiling.
“Guard.”
“Yes, Your Majesty,” the response came back.
“Suspend audio monitoring for one hour.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
A soft ‘bong’ came from the ceiling. Ashton watched as Dunham’s eyes fixed on something behind him, and he glanced over his shoulder just in time to see a small red light begin to flash beside the door. He raised an eyebrow and turned back to face the Emperor, who now sat watching him.
“Now, Inspector Ashton,” Dunham said, “we can talk. You were about to say…?”
“Ah. Yes, Sire. Is everything all right?” Ashton wondered then. “Has an investigation arisen? Something you need our detectives for?”
“No, Inspector Ashton… and yes. I am looking at the possibility of inaugurating a new organization, and I am looking for someone to head that organization.”
“Do you need me to recommend someone, or are you rather looking to have me perform a background check, Sire?” Ashton wondered. “I think I can likely oblige with the former, and I would be honored and pleased to perform the latter for you.”
Dunham smiled.
“Neither, Inspector Ashton. You have a reputation as a very moral man, incapable – or at least, completely unwilling – of corruption. Your gut reaction in any situation tends to the Right of things, the honorable, just way of matters. You are honest, you obey the law, yet according to all reports, you are tempered with compassion. Still, you hold no compunction over executing the law against those who break it.”
“Thank you, Sire. I do try very hard at all of those things.” Ashton paused. “I don’t know that ‘incorruptible’ is necessarily true; I’m human, just like everybody else, and I make mistakes. Still, ‘completely unwilling of corruption’ is probably a true statement. Having seen it firsthand, having had such corruption directed against me and mine, I find it only reinforced my decision that I want no part of it.”
“Good, good. Then let me show you something, Inspector. Something that you must keep in strict secrecy. I know your wife is a skilled and trustworthy inspector for the Imperial City Police Department, and as she will likely be involved in some fashion, she may also know – provided she is told in as secretive a manner as possible. That is the sole relaxation of the secrecy I will allow, and I will ensure that you have any appropriate… mm, let us call them authorizations… to do so. The authority and security of the Throne itself could be at stake, otherwise.”
Dunham pushed a file in VR to a deeply-sobered Ashton. Ashton accepted it, and at a confirming gesture from his liege, he opened it in the lower part of his vision, scanning through it briefly before settling in to peruse it in more depth.
After some moments, he looked up.
“This is a considerable endeavor, Sire,” Ashton noted, indicating the virtual folder with a wave of his hand. “It will take a great deal of effort for someone to set it up, let alone maintain and execute it.”
“I have it to understand, Inspector, that you personally are responsible for the reconstruction of the Investigations division, and a substantial portion of the Field branch as a whole, of the Imperial Police headquarters, after I found it necessary to destroy an earlier incarnation of that entity…”
“Well, I did, Your Majesty,” Ashton admitted, modest, “but I had a great deal of help, from Director Carter, then-Colonel Peterson, and then-Detective Gorski, most notably. Not to mention then-Investigator Peabody, Pete Stone, my wife…” He shook his head. “It was a team effort, I think I’d call it.”
“Understood. But are you not currently the head of the Investigations division for, in essence, all of the Imperial Police, by now? Essentially the entire Field group? Are you not also Director Carter’s deputy, and the Imperial City Section Director?”
“I am, Sire, to all of that, at least once General Quan retired two years ago – largely because we are still a bit short-handed. But again, I delegate a good bit…”
“As do I. But all that means, Inspector, is that you have the experience I need.”
“I… I’m afraid I don’t understand, Sire.”
Dunham smiled, looking satisfied.
“Too modest and unassuming to recognize the request I’m making. That’s a good sign. I am asking you to construct, then lead, Section Six, Inspector Ashton.”
Ashton gaped at the Emperor.
“He WHAT?!” Callista Ames nearly shrieked in shock when her husband told her about the day’s events, under strictest secrecy in their own private VR channel for classified case conversations – the same channel they had used together when he was undercover in Carolina, years before. “What did you tell him?”
“I haven’t, yet,” Nick admitted. “It’s going to mean a number of things go
