Senescence (Jezebel's Ladder Book 5) (8 page)

Stu
bit his lip. “I can give you a hint, but I want to ask a favor in return.”

Her
eyes sparkled in anticipation. “Anything.”

“Mira
Hollis is leading a team of experts to visit
Sanctuary
when I return.
I’d like you and your husband to consider volunteering. I think we could teach
each other a lot.”

“Oh,
my! This is the biggest compliment and opportunity I’ve been given in years.
Yes,” she said placing a hand over her heart.

“Then,
I can let you know that the anti-rejection process for male embryos has three
phases. First, the mother’s talents must be suppressed with medication. This
step alone can double the child’s chances.”

An
orderly knocked on the door to deliver Stu’s new suit and his personal
possessions from the prison. The article he verified first from the evidence
bag was a military flight-school ring, which he immediately attached to the
chain with his dog tags and looped over his head for safekeeping.

Lena
begged to keep discussing
Sanctuary
medicine, but he shook his head.
“Sorry. Once we’re recognized as a nation, we can talk more.”

At quarter till ten Monday morning, Laura met Stu with the
rest of the defense team in the marble atrium of the courthouse. He was so cute
when he was excited. “Today they let me ride in the front of the lorry.” His
British accent made the remark even more adorable.

“See anything interesting, Ambassador
Llewellyn?” Laura asked, bathing in his innocence after the morass of the
judicial system.

His eyes swept over her exposed
legs, but he quickly focused on her face.

“Call me Stu like everyone else.
You earned it by rescuing me. Some of the cars didn’t have drivers, but they
had big, smiling faces on their grills. Are they friendly?” he asked.

She smiled, wanting to ruffle his
hair. He looked good enough to eat in the dark-gray suit with pleated pants.
“They’re useful. Mostly, we use them as taxis and for deliveries. They can
communicate with each other and keep traffic flowing more efficiently than
humans. They’re also more patient.”

He nodded. “Yeah. We use Snowflake
for the long hauls once we lock in a course. He does tricks for me, but he’s
really Mom’s interface.”

Laura filed that tidbit away as she
tried to refocus him on the trial. She placed a hand on his arm. “Do you know
what a grand jury is?”

“Why don’t you tell me? You have a
specific reason for asking, and I like the sound of your voice.”

Smooth
. “They’re convened
for any capital or infamous crime. A prosecutor with ridiculous subpoena powers
will attempt to prove to a jury of twenty citizens that the US government has
enough evidence to try you for the possession and conspiracy to use banned weapons
of mass destruction. Any questions?”

“Did you have your hair tinted?”
Stu asked. “The brown highlights match your eyes.”

Or I adjusted my smart-glass contacts
to match my outfit
. The comment flustered her. He noticed details and
complimented persistently. “I meant, questions about today’s hearing?”

“What’s so great about a subpoena?”

“He can demand information from
anyone about anything remotely relevant as long as he keeps it secret. The
process was d
esigned to filter out
incompetent or malicious prosecution from local authorities. This apparatus has
successfully investigated organized crime and terrorism, but it has also been
used to perpetrate some of the worst witch hunts in history.”

“So
I plead the Fifth.”

“If
someone refuses to answer, they can be jailed for the duration of the grand
jury, which could be as long as eighteen months.”

Stu
shrugged. “I have nothing to hide and nothing but time.”

“Everybody
has secrets, Mr. Llewellyn. Guard yours well. Short, vague answers are best. If
you even appear to contradict yourself, they’ll stick you with perjury.”

“If
I get lost, you can whisper in my ear.” His voice was low and suggestive.

She
liked it. “Um … since you haven’t been charged yet, you don’t have the right to
an attorney. Due to the secrecy rules, we’re not allowed in, and you can’t talk
to people about the proceedings. In order to ask us something, you have to get
permission to come out into the hall and talk to us.”

“That
seems wrong. What’s our strategy?”

Laura
smiled. She led him into the secured and soundproofed waiting area where they
could be alone. “We have to bait them into doing our work. First we force them
to acknowledge you’re an ambassador from space.”

“Why
would they bother?” Stu asked, sitting in a chair with his feet propped up.

“To
raise the stakes on a weak hand.” She paced in her high heels as she counted
off possibilities. “Without concrete citizenship, they only have jurisdiction
over US crimes, and most of the alleged offenses happened over international
waters. If you’re a corporate construct, they can fine the company responsible
for fraud. If they show you’re a citizen of a country who signed the charter,
you’ll be charged with treason in that country. If you represent an opposing
country, they can claim you’re an enemy combatant, it’s an act of war, and they
get to hold you at a black site indefinitely. If you committed any crime using
Magi talents, you could face a tribunal of US talents. If they find evidence of
intent to commit genocide or crimes against humanity, you’ll never see the
light of day again, but the UN will have to try you.”

“Sounds
like a tightrope.”

“The
key for you is modesty. Deflect everything to a friendly witness. If they ask
about your talents, defer to the expertise of Dr. Maurier. If they ask about
your training, refer them to a military historian. Stress that you’re the
youngest member of the crew that no one confides in. Here’s a list of experts
we want them to interview. Can you memorize it?”

Stu
shrugged. “Shucks. I’m just a farmer who flies part time. You’d have to ask Dr.
Lena about my memory. I have no one my age to compare against.”

“Excellent,”
she replied.
He’s a quick study.

“Seems
too easy,” he said.

“A
lot of military and scientific organizations want to question you, so they will
likely bring in several independent experts to confirm everything you say. Then
they’ll pull you back in after every testimony for more questions. That’s why
you have your own waiting room. Together, we’ll lead them by the nose.”

“Right. What time is lunch?”

She cocked her head. “You don’t
seem to be taking this seriously.”

Stu recited the six expert names
and fields, Onesemo among them, without looking at the list. “But I don’t know
why a plague expert from the US Army would be useful.”

“Mira Hollis found him. He started
at Fortune Enterprises but works finding cures for genetically altered
diseases. He’s one of the few men with clearance to examine your DNA.”

“Why is my DNA so classified?
Even my mouth swab was handled like uranium.
”

“The decontamination pods on your
ship performed unsanctioned human modifications.”

“To save lives.”

“For which I am grateful, but there
are strict i
nternational rules against
spreading untested genetically modified plants, animals, and diseases. I have a
two-year safety process to implement any splice I propose.”

“So
until Toby’s notes and processes are carefully examined, you’re going to treat
me like mutant Ebola capable of wiping out all life on this planet,” Stu
summarized.

She smiled. “If you use the
keywords on this paper, the search will narrow to the expert we want. The art
is to direct them without their being aware that the choice is rigged. It’s
kind of like search-engine optimization.”

He gazed at her with disconcerting
admiration. “I bet you never lose.”

“It’s rare, but it happens.”
Sometimes
just having me on the team can induce the opposition to settle out of court.
“If you get stuck, remind the jury that this whole exercise is about finding
the truth.”

A clerk knocked on the door.
“They’re ready for Mr. Llewellyn.”

“Could we have pizza for lunch?
I’ve never had it before, and it’s the one thing my mom missed most on
Sanctuary
,
aside from her family.”

“Sure. For what we’re charging an
hour for defense, we can afford to give the condemned man a decent meal.”

“You’re the best!” he replied,
gripping her in a brief hug.

That one compliment made her feel
better than any teacher’s praise had. At the same time, her gut twisted when
she realized she would use that trust to betray him.

****

At three in the afternoon, the jury recessed. Laura scanned
the jurors through the open doors. Several of the women wanted to take Stu home
with them. The last one was in full-blown lust. No one was overtly adversarial
except the frustrated prosecutor. Even the bailiff waved good-bye jovially.
Way
to work the room, Llewellyn.

“How did it go?” she asked.

“I’ll tell you over dinner. We’re
done for the day.”

Laura raised her eyebrows.
“Already?”

“They have to fly in witnesses for
tomorrow. Let’s go. I want to see more of the city.”

She shook her head. “Too dangerous.
We have the waiting room until five. Why don’t we eat in there?” He seemed
reluctant, so she added, “I ordered three types of pizza from three different
restaurants so you could sample to your heart’s content.”

“You silver-tongued vixen,” Stu
said with a grin. “You win.”

Laura sent the rest of the team
home except for a few guards and Onesemo. No sense costing the company too much
in billable hours. Once they were nestled into the bug-proof room, Stu fetched
a plate and began filling it like a kid in a candy story.

“What’s this yellow triangle?” Stu
asked.

“Pineapple—from Hawaii. It’s
sweet.”

He popped a chunk into his mouth
and made a show of moaning with pleasure. “Tongue-gasm.”

“What?” she asked, puzzled by the
coarse humor.

“Dunno. It’s something my dad
always said when something tasted really good.” He eased the slice into his
mouth, point first, and chewed slowly. “Oh yes.”

She sat down, crossed her legs to
give him a nice view, and picked at her own leftover cheese bread. “Stop teasing
me and talk.”

His head swiveled, and he stopped
chewing when he saw how high her slitted skirt rode up. Nervous, he grabbed a
cloth napkin and handed it to her. “Here. You don’t want to spill anything on
your nice … clothes.”

A gentleman?
She tucked the
napkin into the top of her silk shirt, managing to lower the neckline a little
more. “The proceedings?”

He cleared his throat and slid his
chair to the side of the table opposite her. “Sure. We convinced them beyond a
doubt that I was a male multi-talent, not a surgically-altered woman or
something. I helped seal the deal with a demonstration.”

“What sort of demonstration?” she
asked uneasily.
Did he strip for them?

“I juggled for them blindfolded.”

Laura giggled. “You’re joking.”

“Nah. It shows my mastery of curved
geometry and extra senses.” He picked up three rolls from one of the baskets
and held out his own napkin. “Go ahead. Blindfold me, and I’ll show you how
good I am with my hands.”

Her body tingled, probably because
of his Page talent. It had that effect on women, in order to convince them that
what this man had to say was vital for species survival.
This explains why
his father had over a hundred known conquests, but Stu doesn’t seem to realize
he’s doing it.
“I believe you. Wh-what’s on the agenda for tomorrow?”

“They’re bringing in the people to
determine if I’m the biological child of my parents. A waste of time,” he said,
shoveling in a meat-laden slice.

Because I hinted you might not be.

Stu continued when his mouth was
empty. “I actually had to testify that my mother was a virgin before the
shuttle test. The UN flight surgeon’s report had to confirm the claim. I told
them she waited till she got married.”

“Actually, her early pregnancy
caused quite a stir among her fans in Brazil.”

“Fans?”

“She started a charity to help
educate women and raise them out of poverty. She’s a national hero. Even I
donated to the STEM Foundation.”
Or will by the end of the day. Not that
they need my contribution with their billions.

“Oh. I knew you were one of the good
guys. The prosecutor tried to paint Mom as some kind of harlot, but I explained
that she pair-bonded with Dad to save the ship, his sight, and his life. He was
suicidal about being unable to pilot anymore.”

Laura squashed a dozen snide
retorts, stood, and kissed him on the forehead. “She sounds brave.”

“She just loved him enough to take
the risk. I want that someday.” Through her Empathy talent, she could feel his
sincerity. More importantly, she could feel his heat as he stared at
her
.
Within minutes, she could have sex with him right there on the table. “That
kind of marriage, I mean.” He guzzled a glass of ice water. “Sorry, spicy.
Whew! Thank you for broadening my food horizons. You’ve been a wonderful
hostess and guide. I’ll always remember you for this dinner.”

The hormonal feedback made her
flush. “You should get to the corporate apartments. We have one hermetically
sealed and germfree.”

“Are you coming? We could ride in
the same car. I’d even let you have the window seat.”

“I’d better not.”
If we spend
much longer together, I’ll have your sample, and Mori will hand you over to the
feds tomorrow. Worse, I’ll never find out about Antarctic Tern.
But the
offer was tempting. “I … need to pin down an expert. I could be up till all
hours.”

“I hope he gives you what you
need,” he said genuinely.

In parting, he kissed her hand with
such intimacy that she imagined him kissing her thighs the same way.