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Guardian Program Ch. 32
A novel by R.C.PeterGabriel, all rights reserved.
I explained to Sam my lack of discoveries, and that I was about to move on to her meeting. She leaned over and put her hand on my knee. "You don't need to watch it. It was three hours long and will only upset you. But I did enjoy being bitchy at the end."
I raised an eyebrow. "You were 'bitchy' with your bosses?"
She looked embarrassed and started playing with her fingers. "I'm sorry Sir, but I'm your submissive, not theirs," she reminded me, then looked coy and added, "You could spank me for acting out if you wish."
I had to chuckle. "Maybe I should see exactly how 'bitchy' you were?" I pulled up the meeting and asked Hal whether any of the prior search words except for 'Smith', or 'Poison' were used during the meeting. He stated that none had been, so I fast-forwarded to the last ten minutes.
The first five minutes I watched were enough to be feeling angry at almost the entire group and very protective of Sam. I could tell she was upset at the tactless way they were talking to her. Finally, the moment came when she had had enough and boldly took Brennen down a dozen notches or so.
"Well played," I observed, and watched as her image left the room. "Now let's see how they felt about your little outburst."
I smiled as Henderson laid into all of them the moment the door closed. "I really like this guy," I noted and glanced at Sam, who was sitting up a little straighter after having provoked so strong a response.
"Pause," Sam ordered, right after General Anderton called her handler 'Jack'. I looked back at her and waited to find out what she had noticed. Her eyes were flicking back and forth between the monitor and my face, and I could see the wheels turning.
"You knew. Didn't you?"
"Knew what, Baby?" I asked, trying to look inquisitive.
"Robert, you knew my handler's name wasn't Jim, didn't you?"
I sighed. I knew the time would come when some situation would make it too dangerous for her to return to work. The situation with Jessie and Toni was critically close to that point, but her discovery had pushed her over the line.
"Yes," I stated simply, then paused for a moment to decide how to proceed. "Your handler's name is Jack Henderson, not Jim Iverhouse. I'm sure you can also recall when I discovered it. We were in the Underdark, and you deduced who I needed to check up on. I did a comprehensive check of his activities and contacts. I found that with the one exception, he seemed to be an honest person.
"However, I think it's time you went to work for me instead of the NSA. I don't want you going back to Washington, just so you can get grilled again, or worse, kidnapped. I want you by my side, twenty-four seven until we're all safe again.
"Okay," Sam agreed with a smile. "Consider my talents exclusively yours. Although my former job of finding all of you, is something I know in my soul, is not something I can give up. Even though you've told me to quit, I'll technically have to refuse. I'm sorry to disobey you, Sir."
"Wow, married one day, and you're already breaking your vow. I guess I'll have to devise a suitable punishment for your contemptuous behavior. Perhaps forcing you into sub-space for an indeterminate number of hours."
She looked frightened and reverted to English with an exaggerated southern drawl. "Oh, please Sir, not that! The briar patch would simply be too cruel!"
I was forced to laugh, even with the serious task at hand. "We should get back to work. I look forward to your punishment, but it has to wait." I turned back to the monitor. "Play."
Deckard with McKinney in tow left next without a word. James left several moments later, with the implication that he was going back to work. Varrientos pushed for convincing Lieber to move on me but didn't seem to have an agenda. Even so, I put him on my list of suspects. He left ignoring Anderton's invitation to eat. Anderton left by himself, just shy of ten minutes after Sam had.
"It looks like we have six suspects," I surmised.
"No," disagreed Sam. "We have far more than that. You only looked at four, and only alibied them for the time between the last two meetings. You haven't alibied them for the remainder of the time. This could have been planned before Jessie's concert, contingent on the results of your actions. And like you pointed out on the yacht, it may not even be the government that set this up.
"Robert, the Guardian Program is fantastic for looking at a crime scene and rewinding until you have the guilty party red-handed. It isn't going to provide quick results trying to use it the way we are now. We either get lucky or we have to rely on genuine detective work."
"So ... what, we stop looking? I can't, just not do anything! ... I have to find them!" The last was whispered due to the lump in my throat.
"No, but look at yourself. You're laughing one moment and on the verge of tears the next. You have to stop reacting."
"I..." I started to tell her that I couldn't, but I realized that it would be defeatist and counterproductive, so I closed my eyes and did some deep breathing. I offered up a short prayer, requesting strength. When I opened my eyes, Sam was patiently watching me. Her smile told me she knew I had managed to calm myself.
"Am I that expressive, or can you read my mind?"
Sam's smile and eyes both brightened. "You'll have to order me to confess that little secret, Dear Husband," she replied teasingly. After a few moments, she continued.
"I'm joking, of course. I can't read your mind, but I don't think your face is overly expressive either. I just seem to know what you're feeling. Some would call it empathy. I just think it's because I know you."
"In that case, what am I feeling?" I asked.
Her smile slid a little sideways. "That your calm is slipping and you feel a need to get back to work. You're allowing your anxiety to control you."
"I'm sorry Sam, I can't help it. Come sit on my lap, maybe if we can touch ..."
She slid off the couch and into my lap. It felt good but it wasn't enough. I told her to lean forward and raise her arms, then pulled her shirt off over her head. She stayed in that position while I pulled my own shirt off, and then I slid my left arm around her waist and pulled her back against my bare chest. As our skin came together, I felt a large portion of my anxiety simply drain away.
"That helps. You can lower your arms." She did and hugged my arm against her stomach while I suggested she name someone to start with.
"I have no idea. It's a crap shoot, just go in order of when they left."
Since I didn't have a better idea, I rewound until Henderson walked out of the meeting. "Hal, mark the location and timestamp as point 'A'. Center the file on Henderson and follow." We watched as he turned in the direction of the exit, and walked with what seemed to be 'angry' steps. "Hal, fast forward until the subject uses any technology, or speaks."
Reaching the parking lot, he retrieved his phone without breaking stride and called his wife. He explained that he was headed home and that his boss be damned if he tried to call him again the rest of the weekend. I smiled to myself, and had Hal fast forward again, using the same parameters to return to play mode. Henderson continued to his car, passed security without ceremony, and spoke only once the rest of the journey home.
The word 'Moron' was used in reference to a guy that was head-banging to his radio that was up so loud it could be heard with both cars' windows up. He also felt it necessary to pass using the emergency lane. A smirk briefly crossed Henderson's lips when two blocks later the guy was pulled over.
Upon arriving home, he was greeted at the door by his wife, who kissed him and said dinner would be ready in fifteen minutes. He turned left into his home office, opened the center drawer to his desk, plugged in his phone, and locked it and his ID inside. He went upstairs, changed into sweats, and came back down. "What can I do to help," he asked. At which time I told Hal to mark the file as 'Henderson-one', and had him reorient on location 'A'.
"I don't think he's our man. Play." Brennen and McKinney were next out the door. "Center file on Brennen and follow."
Sam shifted slightly then turned and raised her head so that she could see me over her shoulder. I glanced down and lost myself in her eyes. A few minutes later, I pulled back from the kiss I didn't remember starting. I slowly pulled my hand from her breast and slid it back down to her stomach.
"I'm sorry, Sir. I couldn't help it." I just closed my eyes and savored the memory of her lips on mine.
When I opened my eyes, I realized that Brennen and McKinney had split up.
"Hal, restart at location 'A'." We watched as the two men walked down the busy corridor. Neither one seemed at all interested in anyone around them. They walked past two dozen individuals and twice as many groups of people until they reached a break in the traffic.
Both men instinctively checked their surroundings for listeners, stopped, and turned to face each other. Sam and I both sat up a bit straighter, sensing something of interest about to happen.
"This is getting ridiculous," stated Brennen. "We need to act I'm not waiting for Lieber. Do you remember the action taken in India, two years ago?"
McKinney nodded. "You're referring to Hengora's son?"
"Don't say another word McKinney, I want action taken and that operation seemed to make just the kind of statement we need. You might look into it for me." With that, Brennen turned and continued on his way, leaving McKinney staring after him.
