Hindsight (23 page)

‘That’s another question, begging for answers.’

‘I knew it,’ Mira muttered sideways to Ben. ‘I’d recognise his scary laugh a nautical mile away.’

‘Actually, police surveillance suggests he’s prone to chortling to himself whenever he’s stressed.’

Ben laid his hand lightly over hers and stroked it. ‘I’m sorry I doubted you. It just seemed too much that he could be such a key culprit for both of us. I only met him twice at Christmas parties when I was younger, but he and the rest of his family had never shown anything less than kindness to me.’

‘Corporal Lockman reported your suspicion to me, however, which gave me the opportunity to verify one way or the other from security surveillance footage at the Sandy Creek Laboratories, where you were held. So I can confirm that Gregan Greppia was indeed smuggled in to see you that day as an army colonel, which also explains how he slipped out so quietly, while we were busy bagging Kitching.’

‘Oh, please, don’t remind me!’ Mira tightened her grip on the chair to stop her hands from trembling. ‘Kitching wanted me fresh or pickled, but he’s in gaol now. Can’t we put all mention of him well behind me?’

‘I wish that were possible,’ Garland said. ‘But until this issue is fully resolved his name is one that’s going to keep cropping up.’

‘Exactly how long are you planning on keeping close ties on us?’ Ben asked.

‘Whether we like it or not,’ Mira added.

‘With luck, not too long. A few weeks perhaps. Less if you’re willing to assist in identifying the agent. If you backtrack Greppia’s activities we’ll find a point and place in time where they made contact, and be able to follow that trail until we locate him — or her. Either way, your security remains a prime issue. Gregan Greppia did pay a considerable deposit to Kitching for your services, which also explains why he sent Shelly Grey and Josh Markovic after you. Why pay full price if he can get to you first?’

‘About them,’ Ben said. ‘I’ve been thinking about Shelley and Josh since Mira recognised them. Who’s to say they weren’t just in the area waiting for me, when something went wrong? They wouldn’t be the first friends who’ve tried to reconnect with me since my time in gaol.’

Mira chewed on her lip, feeling increasingly uncomfortable to think of Ben having any more friends out in the world who might be wanting to reconnect and spend time with him. How did he cope, when she found it so difficult with only one, and how would she cope, if he accumulated so many he could no longer spare time for her?

‘Phone surveillance,’ Garland replied. ‘The feds intercepted Grappia’s call giving the order. Sorry to be the one to break the news, but if they hadn’t managed to kill each other along the way, I would have been forced to send in an extraction team for you, Miss Chambers, before you’d had a chance to taste your first day of freedom.’

‘It doesn’t help to know my freedom is only as long as the leash you allow me.’

‘Please try to appreciate the bigger perspective,’ Garland replied. ‘How much freedom can society and justice afford for you, when there are people out there who don’t play by any boundaries or laws? Remember, I could have taken you any time it suited me, but I didn’t, even as his people made their first moves for you. I’ve respected your space as best I can afford; and how glad I am now, for your sake, that I did. Imagine how poorly we’d be getting along now if circumstances had forced me to deny you the freedom of the past fortnight?’

‘
Freedom
?’ Mira nearly choked at the idea. ‘I’ve been on your leash the whole time, even when I couldn’t feel it!’

‘We all have our leashes,’ Garland persisted calmly.

‘Easy to say that when you’re holding them!’

‘You misunderstand. We’re
all
leashed to our families and friends, our employers, countries and religions. The freedom is in being able to choose which friends, countries and so on. Unfortunately for you, your choice of friends virtually boils down to us or them. There’s not much room for safety in between.’

‘Oh, great. Now I’m just a bone between two rabid dogs.’

‘Savage or tough in my case, as required, but hardly rabid. Please notice I’m not trying to bully you into a decision. If you choose to continue as a fence-sitter, I’ll respect your decision as much as national security will allow. I’d much rather strive for an arrangement that’s mutually rewarding, however. In addition to payment, I’m willing to offer the position of team leader in R & D with your two favourite medical scientists, along with security enough to keep you safe from every mobster on the planet, and a roomy, air-conditioned home away from Serenity. Isn’t that more than just a win-win situation for you? Seems more like a win-win-win to me.’

‘Oh, perhaps if your idea of a roomy air-conditioned home wasn’t deep underground in a military facility way out in the central desert?’ Mira shuddered. ‘Under a gibber desert, no less, with nothing but red rocks in every direction above ground, including backwards until time began.’ She drew in a long breath and sighed. ‘Until you can sit there with your eyes closed, feel the breeze and imagine living most of your life without the shifting scents of a garden or forest, you’ll never understand. Personally, I’ve already served ten years in air-conditioning — the worst of it in a straitjacket and a room without so much luxury as a window.’

A long silence followed, and Mira wondered if the general was trying to imagine just how important her surroundings could be — or if Garland could guess how important it was for Ben to stay part of her life; but that was a weakness that Mira didn’t dare to confess to anyone.

Behind her, she heard the sounds of Lockman’s tent coming down, which suggested he’d be ready to leave in barely a few more minutes, and now she wished more than ever that she could be leaving soon too, if only with Ben.

‘Okay, so I admit that situation is far from ideal,’ Garland said, ‘but how different might your choice be now if your friend’s life depended on it?’

‘Is that a threat?’ Ben asked, shifting his weight uncomfortably.

‘Against you, yes, but not from me. You’re an ex-con who befriended a handicapped client from Serenity. Who do you think is being set up for her disappearance?’

Mira cringed at the thought and Ben fidgeted again at her side.

‘At the risk of sounding repetitive,’ Garland said, ‘I suggest we cooperate.’

Twenty minutes later, Mira was pacing nervously in circles around the invisible chair, wishing she could hide her feelings better. Her legs told her to run, her hands clenched from claws into fists and back again, ready to fight anything, but her heart told her that she had to stay and finish working out the terms of her cooperation, for Ben’s sake now that she could see how his life and career were under threat again because of her. She only hoped he didn’t think she resented him for it.

‘You can’t appreciate how important freedom is to her,’ he said, pacing his own circles nearby. ‘I’ve spent six of the past seven years behind bars, but every day was a sunny shade of blue by comparison.’

‘Then name your terms,’ Garland said, having shifted to the sidelines. ‘I have extensive resources and she’s obscenely wealthy, so surely we must be able to come to some agreement between us?’

‘If I must have security,’ Mira said, coming to an abrupt halt, ‘it’ll be for Ben’s sake — and if it must involve more than one guard at a time, I want them all within physical reach of me. No more tasers. No more skulking around or spying on me from a distance. I also reserve the right to tell them to back off occasionally and give me space — and they have to work
with
me, take orders from me, and they have to call me ma’am or miss, or Miss Chambers.’

‘You’ll need at least six to maintain around-the-clock surveillance,’ Garland agreed. ‘I’ll round up my best dozen or so and you can pick your own team from them.’

‘Top of the list is
him
.’ Mira pointed blindly over her shoulder through the invisible marquee to the ghost of the invisible now version of Lockman’s truck, which revved to life, ready to leave. ‘I want him in charge of the others, so you’d better stop him.’

‘His rank isn’t high enough to command the others,’ Garland argued. ‘Nor is he qualified to be responsible for such a critical assignment.’

‘I hesitate to agree,’ Ben said. ‘I doubt he’s up to it physically. He didn’t sleep much last night, and I’ve seen him hugging his chest sometimes when he bends or sits in one place for too long.’

‘Top of my list,’ Mira repeated, folding her arms. ‘Do I need to hold my breath and stamp my feet? He’s already bested his betters. You said so yourself, General. And I’ve worked with him already. That’s as close to trust as you’re likely to get from me.’

‘Base grade officer then.’ Garland gave the order, causing heavy boots to bolt after Lockman. ‘Do you want them to stay too; the MPs who took the initiative to whisk you to safety this morning?’

Mira shook her head determinedly. ‘No way!’

‘May I ask why? They’re far more familiar with your little ways of doing things than Lockman has had the time or opportunity …’

‘Duh! Because they’ve been stalking me! It’s too creepy! They know
too much
about me.’

‘I’d argue the opposite. Remember, they’re as much in the dark about your special little secret as Lockman — despite all they’ve witnessed and overheard, which is patchy at best anyway because we couldn’t keep line-of-sight on you the whole time with the long-range eavesdroppers, especially at the beach house. You also have to admit, it took a lot to convince you of your own talent, even though you’ve lived with it every day for a decade. How easy do you think it’s been for them to guess what’s really been going on with their limited education and colourless imaginations? They’re trained for far less fanciful situations.’

‘Either way,’ Ben said, ‘if anyone is going to work closer to Mira, they’re probably going to figure it out eventually. Maybe it’s best to keep up and reinforce the pretence that she’s only psychic.’

‘No need to tell any of them anything,’ Mira agreed. Especially those two MPs. Just ditch them.’

Ben strode closer to Mira and leaned until his lips brushed her ear. ‘I feel that way too,’ he whispered, ‘but you have to admit they whisked you to safety efficiently enough — at least until Lockman interrupted.’

Mira gaped at him, momentarily dumbfounded. ‘Do you really want them?’

‘Better the devil you know.’

‘If you say so.’ She huffed and folded her arms. ‘But they’ll have to take orders from our boy scout, regardless of rank or experience, and I can’t imagine that contributing very well to a pleasant working relationship — the young buck and the old farts.’

‘Ordinarily,’ Garland said, ‘I prefer to engage teams who already work well together, or assign team leaders with the task of hand-picking their own people.’

‘Then let Lockman have the final say on them,’ Ben suggested. ‘If nothing else, that should be entertaining.’

‘Entertaining isn’t the word I’d use,’ Mira said. ‘Ambushed is more like it, but okay.’ Secretly, she did relish the idea of punishing them for their cruelty to Ben by stinging them a few times with their own taser — and being in charge of them, if only for a day, might serve her with the perfect opportunity. She’d be able to order Lockman to look the other way.

‘So we’ve reached agreement on security,’ Garland said. ‘Now let’s discuss levels of cooperation. For my part, I’m willing to dance the whole jig and provide you with whatever background information, police reports, tech support and other resources you may need in exchange for your full cooperation in backtracking Greppia’s activities. Can we agree on that, or must we negotiate on anything?’

Mira shrugged. ‘That depends on the end-date to this arrangement. I say that when we get the goods on Greppia for you, that’s our pay day too. If he hasn’t ever made direct contact with Mr Mystery that’s your problem. We’ll never need to see each other again.’

‘I have to be honest,’ Garland confessed. ‘It’s my hope you won’t feel the same way when you achieve success that far. Life is a drug, Miss Chambers, and the more exciting it gets, the harder it can be to give up.’

‘I’m done with drugs,’ Mira said, turning her back. ‘I can’t be rid of you soon enough.’