about some of those burglaries.”

“Yeah. We were glad to get that taken care of. What’s up, hot stuff?”

“I got a coded message back from Carolina.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. What’s Cally up to right now?”

“She’s out on a forgery case.”

“Good. We need to come up with an innocent-looking means for her and Nick to be able to talk once in a while. I think our ‘son’ may be a bit anxious about her pregnancy, never mind missing his wife. After all, even if he was undercover most of the last couple years, he still got to come home to Cally at night. And now he’s not even in the same star system.”

“Have they ever even been separated overnight since they got married?”

“No. And neither have we.”

“True. Until now... for them, at least.”

“Yeah. Listen, I don’t know from the Imperial network, but I have some ideas about how to go about it, so if you have any folks over there who are good with things like this, have ‘em over for dinner tonight. I’m gonna ping General Daggert and ask if I can talk to any subject matter experts he has, and maybe betwixt the lot of us, we can rig it so Cally and Nick can talk each night without risking Nick’s head being severed from his neck... or worse.”

“I like the sound of it,” Peterson decided. “Okay, lemme see what I can do here.”

“See you tonight, baby. Pop me a shopping list for dinner, and I’ll grab it on my way to pick you up from your office.”

“Consider it done.”

Carter sent back a message.

To: Carolina InfoDumpPlease

From: DirLCarter

Subj: Re: Request

Please pass on message – matter in work. Will notify when it is ready.

~L.C.

 

To: DirLCarter

From: Carolina InfoDumpPlease

Subj: Re: Re: Request

Will comply.

~C.I.D.P.

 

To: RikFielding

From: Carolina InfoDumpPlease

Subj: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Request

Matter in work. Will notify when ready.

~C.I.D.P.

 

To: General Brian Daggert

From: DirLCarter

Subj: Request

Brian, we’ve had a coded communication from our people on Carolina. DXA is in position, and now has backup. However, given the family way situation, he wants to be able to check on things at home once in a while. Preferably while keeping his head attached. Brainstorming session, my place, tonight after dinner, say about 8pm. If you have any subject matter experts, we could use ‘em.

~L.C.

 

To: DirLCarter

From: General Brian Daggert

Subj: Re: Request

We do. Not really in the Guard, but they’re part of the whole Imperial Networking department, and have worked directly for us and for the Emperor at our request. Colonel David Mercer tends to handle that sort of interaction these days. I’ll contact him and see if we can get someone headed your way at that time. I’m not sure they’re all on Sintar, though, much less in Imperial City, so it might be a VR meeting, if that’s okay.

~B.Daggert

 

To: General Brian Daggert

From: DirLCarter

Subj: Re: Re: Request

That sounds even better. Harder to tag.

~L.C.

 

To: DirLCarter

From: General Brian Daggert

Subj: Re: Re: Re: Request

Consider it done, then. I’ll ping Mercer now.

~ B.Daggert

Carter leaned back and folded his arms behind his head in satisfaction.

“Oh, right, I got it,” Sayuri Mori said in a classified VR meeting room later that evening, after Carter had explained the situation. “Well, I can understand his concern, but really, I don’t think he has anything to worry about. We can’t even see communications in the network unless we’re specifically looking for them in the NOC. So all we probably need to do for them is to designate a specific channel for them to use, ensure it’s classified and whatnot, and they should be safe. I mean, if they were using the Annalian network to communicate to someone in that star nation, then yes, the consulate security could probably trace it, but they don’t have access to our network… though they do try, I have it to understand. Our people see to blocking that sort of thing pretty frequently. It might be good information for you to have that we haven’t seen any of that from the Annalian consulate on Carolina since the last group cleared out of the consulate to avoid arrest. I suspect they don’t have their staffing rebuilt sufficient to attempt it yet.”

“Oh, really? So they can... just talk? Like, meet up in VR and talk?” Theresa ‘Terry’ Ross asked. She had been brought into The Team, essentially the investigative division of ICPD, after Alan Compton died some years before while trying to disconnect the package intended to assassinate Carter, Peterson, Ashton, and Ames, during a thunderstorm when lightning ran in on the system and electrocuted him. She had many of the same skillsets that Compton had had, and while Alan was still deeply missed, Terry was an excellent investigator, appreciated in her own right, and filled a needed slot on The Team.

“Pretty much,” Mori confirmed. “I’m pinging my supervisor now, to get a special classified channel assigned for them, as well as a couple extra so that Director Carter, here, can communicate with both men, and I’ll push it to Director Carter and General Peterson as soon as they get back with me with the channel information.”

“That sounds like being a hell of a lot easier than I was afraid it was gonna be,” Peterson said.

“Alla that,” Carter agreed.

“And here we go,” Mori said. “Pushing the channels now.”

“Got ‘em,” Peterson and Carter said simultaneously. “This is good. Cally and Nick are gonna love being able to talk again,” Carter added.

“I gather they’re newlyweds?” Mori asked politely.

“Oh no,” Peterson chuckled. “They’ve got a son who’s around three or four years old by now; I’ve lost track. But they’ve never been separated before, and Cally is expecting their second child...”

“Aha! I totally see, now,” Mori

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