The soldier who went UA from Sidon mere hours before it was attacked. The woman we’re looking at as a traitor to the Alliance.”
Grissom’s scowl became a grimace of pure hatred. “Shut up and get your ass in here,” he muttered, stepping aside.
Once inside, Anderson followed his reluctant host into the small living room. Grissom settled into one of the three padded chairs, but the lieutenant remained standing, waiting for an invitation to do the same. After several seconds he realized the invitation wasn’t forthcoming, and he took a seat on his own.
“How’d you find out about Kahlee?” Grissom finally asked, speaking as casually as if they were discussing the weather.
“There are no secrets in this day and age,” Anderson replied. “We know she was last seen here on
Elysium. I need to know if she came to talk to you.”
“I haven’t spoken to my daughter since before she was a teenager,” Grissom replied. “Her mother didn’t think much of me as a husband or a father, and I couldn’t really argue with her. I figured the best thing was to just get out of their lives.
“Hey,” Grissom suddenly recalled, “last time we met you said you were engaged. A girl waiting for you back on Earth, right? You must be married by now. Congratulations.”
He was trying to throw Anderson off balance. Grissom knew damn well how hard it was for an Alliance soldier to make a marriage work; his innocent question was meant to rattle his guest. He may have looked like a harmless, burned-out old man, but there was still plenty of fight left in him.
Anderson wasn’t about to rise to the bait. “Sir, I need your help. Your daughter is suspected of being a traitor to the Alliance. Doesn’t that mean anything to you?”
“Why should it?” he shot back. “I barely know her.”
“I found out you two were related. Eventually somebody else is going to make that connection, too.” “What? You think I’m worried about my reputation?” he scoffed. “You think I’m going to help you
because I don’t want people to know the great Admiral Grissom had an illegitimate daughter who’s accused of treason? Ha! You’re the ones who care about crap like that. I really couldn’t give a damn.”
“That’s not what I meant, sir,” Anderson replied, refusing to be provoked. “I tracked Kahlee here. To you. That means someone else can track her here, too. I came to you because I want to help your daughter. But the next person who comes after her — and we both know there will be others — might be looking to harm her.”
Grissom leaned forward slowly and placed his head in his hands, considering Anderson’s words. Several long moments went by before he sat up straight again. His eyes were moist with tears.
“She’s not a traitor,” he whispered. “She didn’t have anything to do with this.”
“I believe you, sir,” Anderson said, his voice sincere and sympathetic. “But not many others will. That’s why I need to find her. Before something happens to her.”
Grissom didn’t say anything, but simply sat there chewing on his lower lip.
“I won’t let anything bad happen to her,” Anderson reassured him. “I give you my word on it.”
“She came here,” Grissom finally admitted, taking a deep breath. “She said she was in trouble. Something to do with Sidon. I didn’t ask her any of the details. I guess… I guess I was afraid of what she might tell me.”
He leaned forward and clasped his head in his hands again. “I was never there for her when she was growing up,” he mumbled, sounding as if he was on the verge of tears. “I couldn’t turn her away now. I owed her.”
“I understand, Admiral,” Anderson said, reaching forward to place a comforting hand on Grissom’s shoulder. “But you have to tell me where she went.”
Grissom looked up at him, his expression naked and vulnerable. “I gave her the name of a freighter captain down at the ports. Errhing. Captain of the Gossamer. He helps people who want to disappear. She left last night.”
“Where was she going?”
“I didn’t ask. Errhing takes care of all the details. You need to talk to him.” “Where is he?”
“The Gossamer left this morning on a trade run out near the Terminus Systems. He won’t be back for weeks.”
“We don’t have weeks, sir.”
Grissom stood up, his posture a little straighter than it had been when Anderson first arrived, as if his muscles were trying to remember what it was like to stand proudly at attention. “Then I guess you’ll just have to get your patrols out there and find him, soldier. He’s the only one who can lead you to my daughter.”
Anderson jumped crisply to his feet. “Don’t worry, Admiral. I won’t let anything happen to her.” He started to salute, but Grissom turned his head away.
“Don’t,” he muttered, ashamed. “I don’t deserve that. Not anymore.”
Anderson extended his hand instead. The older man hesitated a moment, then reached out and clasped it in a surprisingly firm grip.
“You’re a better man than I ever was, Anderson. The Alliance is lucky to have you.”
The lieutenant didn’t know what to say, so he only nodded. Grissom took him firmly by the elbow and led him out of the living room to the front door.
“Remember your promise,” he said as his parting words. “Don’t let anything happen to my daughter.”
Grissom watched the lieutenant leaving his home on the vid-screen for the security camera over his door, only turning away when the young man got into his vehicle and sped off. Then he made his way slowly to the back of the house and knocked once on the closed door of his bedroom.
A second later Kahlee opened it and asked, “Who was it?”
“Some Alliance snoop who figured out we were related. I sent him on a wild-goose chase. He’ll spend the next two weeks out near the Terminus Systems chasing down an old friend of mine.”
“Are you sure he bought it?” Kahlee asked.
“I gave him exactly what he wanted,” Grissom said with a cynical smile, “the chance to help an old, broken- down hero remember something of who he used to be.
“But he’s not the one we have to worry about,” Grissom continued. “Things won’t get tough until we run into someone involved in the attack on Sidon.”
Kahlee reached out and grabbed his hand, pressing it firmly between her own palms. “Thank you,” she said, staring up into her father’s eyes. “I mean it.”
He nodded, and shifted uncomfortably until she released her grip. “We’ll wait a few more days,” he said, turning away and leaving her to the privacy of her room, “then we’ll figure out some way to get you off this planet.”
A large, dark shadow crept quickly and quietly across the moonlit grounds of Grissom’s estate, making its way toward the home.
Skarr could move silently when he had to, even in full body armor. It slowed him down, but he usually relied on strength rather than speed anyway.
There were no lights on inside the small house of the man Skarr now knew to be the father of his target. He’d been surprised when his batarian information broker had come up with the name of an Alliance hero, but it didn’t really change the job. It just meant there’d be more fallout when he was done.
The krogan didn’t know if Kahlee Sanders was inside, but even if she wasn’t her father probably knew how to find her. Skarr was confident he could make the human talk… as long as he didn’t accidentally kill him first. That’s why he was traveling light, armed only with a pistol and his favorite knife.
He paused outside the only door, listening for signs of life. From his belt he pulled out his omnitool, using it to hack in and disable the security system and override the electronic lock. He slid the omnitool back into his belt, exchanging it for his pistol, and pushed the door open.
His eyes still adjusting to the darkness, he put one foot across the threshold. The shotgun blast took him square in the chest.
There was a blue flash as the reflexive system of kinetic barrier fields reacted to the impact, deflecting most of the rounds harmlessly away. A few tore through the kinetic barriers only to ricochet off the ablative plates of his body armor, or bury themselves into the thick padding underlay. A handful penetrated every layer of protection and tore into the flesh beneath.
The force of the blast lifted the krogan off his feet, knocking the pistol from his grip and hurling him back out
