Special Forces 01 (29 page)

Rys shook his head, and laughed. "Not Gremlin. He enjoys talking about computers more than he does tinkering with them, and he would rather tinker than eat. Your people would probably have to fight just to get away from him, once he was in the zone!"

Dorian nodded slowly. "Then I’ll certainly pass that along! I am sure there are a lot of our techs who would kill for the opportunity to spend some quality one on one time with him.”

Anne shook her head. “I can’t even picture that. Gremlin doesn’t come off like a super brain trust.”

“You believe that because you have only observed him in a playful atmosphere,” Rys pointed out. Gremlin had emerged from the pool, reborn as a genuine water baby, after he’d gotten past his initial fear. “Believe me, when he gets his mission face on, he’s like a force of nature. He cannot be stopped, deflected, or distracted, until he has achieved his objective. His single minded focus to a mission is unholy. I feel sorry for anyone who has something that he needs to complete a mission. Now, what is the prescribed attire for this reception?”

Anne thought a moment. “Do you have a dress uniform?”

“It is probably somewhere in my long term storage, I don’t have a lot of call to wear that rig.”

“Just find it, and get it to the cleaners,” she advised.

That sounded simple enough to him. “Affirmative.”

Candace danced back into the room, humming a victory tune, with her right fist raised high over her head. “He said yes! No, actually he said it would be ‘his privilege and pleasure to escort me.’ I have a date! Rys, he asked me to have you give him a call; I think he had some questions.”

Rys nodded, as if he hadn’t expected anything differently.
“Hey, Captain?”

“Speak of the devil,” Rys muttered under his breath. He held up his index finger, indicating that he was communicating mentally with the man of the hour himself.
Yes, Gremlin?

“I assume that you know about my escorting Candace Dorian to this party of the General’s?”

Yes, as luck would have it, I do. I supplied her with your phone number first.

“Thanks! I owe you one! Just what the devil am I supposed to wear to this gun fight? And do I need to take some quick dance lessons?”

In ascending order of importance, you will wear your freshly cleaned and pressed dress uniform, and yes, you do.

“Roger. Where do I procure said dance lessons?”

Well, Anne is teaching me. I bet Candace would probably teach you. Would you like me to make a request on your behalf?

“Please?”

Stand by one.
Rys looked up at Candice. “Skittles, Gremlin is urgently requesting dance lessons; his skills are even more meager than my own.”

“I have free time today, if he would like to come over,” Candace assured him with a winning smile.

He nodded, showing he understood.
She said she could teach you today.

“Excellent. I’ll come over in about an hour, then.”

I’ll pass that along.

“Just one last question, sir.”

Shoot.

“I have never been on a date before, have you?”

Negative.

“Do you think they have a manual on dating?”

Rys certainly hoped so. The military issued a manual on everything
else
; surely they would cover this weighty topic, as well.
Gremlin, if it’s out there, I expect you to find it.

“Yes, sir. And if it doesn’t exist?”

Then we go with Plan B.

“We have a Plan B?”

We always have a Plan B, Lieutenant, which is why we are members of Special Forces 01. We will buck this right to the top, and ask Sara for some pointers.

“Not a bad idea. I’ll go scour the data planes for Plan A, right now. Gremillion, out.”

Rys cut the connection and realized that Dorian was staring at him and making strangling noises. “Sir?”

“Savar, what — why — you’re not supposed to let civilians know about your enhancements!”

“They have a Secret clearance,” Rys pointed out patiently. “They are permitted to know my capabilities exist, they just can’t know how those capabilities are accomplished.”

“Er…are you sure?”

“Very sure, sir. I double checked personally, before disclosing any intel.”

"Oh." Dorian gulped more coffee, still frazzled and sinking fast. Rys felt a twinge of sympathy for the man — trying to think quickly and effectively, while operating in sleep deficit mode was difficult. "Captain Savar, have you heard anything from Admiral Bloch since you left last night?"

"No sir," Rys admitted. "I was going to call right after breakfast, and get an update."

"If they're still dealing with Brandon, you're staying put," Anne informed him firmly.

Rys didn't have to look at Dorian to know how this paragon of fatherhood would react to that. "I doubt that will be necessary. The Admiral is not a man to drag his feet, once he makes a decision. I wouldn't be surprised if Brandon is being dealt with in a very appropriate manner as we speak."

“I think you better call him,” Dorian advised.

“Wait, what did I miss?” Candace demanded. “Someone fill me in.”

Rys gestured for Anne to do the honors, before heading into the hallway to make his call. For Dorian’s sake, Rys picked up an actual phone. It rang three times before being picked up. “Hello?”

“Arystair, I was just going to call you. How are you?”
Jeremy sounded exhausted, as if he had been up all night.

“I’m fine,” Rys assured him. “I’m just calling for an update.”

“Brandon is being dispatched to a military academy. I called in a favor with the Dean, and he’s going to pick up Brandon late this afternoon. I already supplied him with a copy of your video, so he would understand the kind of issues he will be dealing with. If you could stay at Anne’s house for the rest of the day, I think that would be best.”

“Understood.” Even though none of this was Rys’s doing, he still felt guilty. “I am very sorry, sir.”

“Don’t be sorry, Arystair. I think this was inevitable; it just took a while to reach the boiling point. Could you hold on a minute?”
There was a murmur in the background and a distinct sigh.
“Ashley and Dylan are both pretty upset about this. Do you think Anne would mind if they visited you for a while? I think they’re half-convinced Brandon did something to you last night, and we are trying to keep it from them. Only seeing you in person will put their minds at ease, neither one of them trusts Brandon.”

“I think that would be alright,” Rys replied, “but let me check.” He put his hand over the mouth piece of the phone and stuck his head around the doorway so that he could look at Anne. “Would you mind if Ashley and Dylan come over? They’re parents are very anxious to prove that Brandon didn’t injure me last night. They won’t believe them, until they see me for themselves.”

“I don’t mind,” Anne assured him. “Dad, would that be alright with you?”

“I assume Ashley and Dylan are Admiral Bloch’s children?”

“Yes, sir.”

Dorian gave a weary nod. “That’s fine. I’ll be in a coma anyway.”

Rys lifted his hand off the phone. “That’s fine, Jeremy.”

“Good, good. Expect them shortly.”

***

Shortly was an understatement. It was a bare ten minutes later when Sara showed up with Dylan and Ashley. She must have hit every traffic light green on the way over. Rys was scarcely able to get the door open before Ashley grabbed him around the waist, as if her life depended on it. Dylan, shorter than his sister, settled for wrapping his arms tightly around Rys’s thigh.

Rys was rocked back by their eager assault. He was slightly off balance, but instinctively put his arms around both of them in return. “Whoa, what is this? Ashley, Dylan, at ease!”

“We s-saw B-brandon take D-dad’s p-p-pistol last night,” Dylan choked out against his leg. “But we d-didn’t know he’d u-use it on y-you!”

Uh-oh. Things are becoming clearer.
Rys bent his head so that he could speak closer to their ears. “Listen to me, both of you. Brandon didn’t actually fire that pistol last night.” They both went still, faces lifting gratefully to his. “Do you understand me? I’m not hurt.”

“Really?” Dylan sniffed, with a glimmer of hope spreading over his small face.

I am detecting a pattern with this.
“Really,” Rys assured him, gently rubbing his back. “Do you really believe that Anne would let me walk around if I’d been shot?”

Ashley gave Anne a grave appraising stare. “No, probably not.”

“Definitely not,” Anne assured her firmly.

Rys gave them one last squeeze, holding them close for reassurance, and then let go.

“But
why
did he want to shoot you?” Ashley was silently pleading with her eyes for an answer, something to make sense of all of this.

Rys hesitated, looking at her, not knowing how to respond to that. His eyes went to Sara, wondering how much she had told the children already.

“I only told them the basics about last night,” Sara responded quietly to his unvoiced question. “They know what happened, but not the reasons behind it.”

That left the explanation squarely in Rys’s court.
Nuts! Just exactly how do I respond to that? Do I dare paint their brother as a monster? Do I try to gloss this over?

“It’s because Brandon was jealous,” Anne answered. Her eyes were locked with Ashley’s, jaw set firmly. “You know your brother better than I do, Ashley. You know that he couldn’t measure up to Rys — that he wouldn’t even try. Being constantly compared to Rys drove him half-mad with jealousy. That’s why he tried to hurt him.”

Ashley nodded, not surprised, just acknowledging the truth of Anne’s words. “I thought so.”

“Well, I am glad he’s leaving,” Dylan announced, with true malice in his voice.

Sara made a choking sound in the back of her throat, as if she had just preempted a protest to her son’s words. All things considered, she couldn’t deny that Dylan’s attitude wasn’t well deserved.

“But why did you have to leave us?” Dylan was frowning now, as if this thought had just occurred to him.

Well, your father was afraid that after he was done with Brandon, I might actually get shot
was not the answer Rys intended to pass along to these two. Fortunately, Anne rode to his rescue again.

“That was my doing,” she admitted without a qualm. “After what almost happened, I didn’t want Rys anywhere near Brandon.”

“Good thinking,” Ashley seconded fiercely.

In Rys’s opinion, it was well past time to change the subject. “So, while you two are here, do you want to go swimming? The Dorian’s have a pool in their backyard.”

They perked up instantly. “Mom, can we?” Dylan pleaded.

“You can run home and get our swimsuits,” Ashley added. Her patented pleading gaze would put any dog to shame.

“Apparently I can,” their mother sighed with a wry smile. You could tell Sara was exhausted, but glad that her two youngest children were getting some much needed time with their new big brother. “Well, I guess I’ll be right back. Rys, they’re pretty good swimmers, just don’t let Dylan dive off the deep end without keeping an eye on him.”

“Okay,” Rys agreed easily.

***

Maybe I shouldn’t have suggested this…

Sara had brought Rys’s swimming trunks as well, and handed them over with a pointed look. This was not the wetsuit he had worn previously, but the typical swimming trunks that any male would wear.

Rys knew what she meant by it — stop hiding.

That was easier said than done.

He had to take a few moments and screw up his courage before changing into them. As soon as he was changed, he caught a glimpse in the bathroom mirror of his chest…and winced.
Guardians. I never pay attention to what I really look like! No wonder Sara and Anne reacted so badly. Maybe it would be best for everyone if I didn’t go swimming today…

The thought had no sooner crossed his mind then there came an ominous knock on the bathroom door. “Rys, you ready?”

How was it that Anne always seemed to appear just as he was vacillating in indecision? “Perhaps…”

“Stop stalling!” she ordered, the solid wood barely muting her voice.

Even though he couldn’t see her, he still glanced uneasily at the door. “How did you know?” he demanded in astonishment.

“I know that tone,” she answered dryly. “Now get out here. The kids are waiting on you.”

I’ve faced enemy soldiers, battleships under short interval salvos, and sergeants on the warpath looking for a pound of my flesh. Surely I can face two kids. On second thought, hiding in the bathroom was proving to be an attractive an option.

“Rys,” his name was barked out in a clipped warning tone. “Don’t make me break this door down.”

He snorted in laughter at the mental image of her taking a fire axe to the door. “Somehow, I doubt you can do that.”

“I can call Gremlin, Erksome, and Snails just as well as you can. I am fairly certain they would be happy to do me a favor!”

Nuts! She had him there. Rather than face the embarrassment of being physically extracted from a locked bathroom by his Lieutenants, Rys unlocked the door. It was with soul wrenching reluctance that his hand obeyed his brain, and actually released the lock on the knob, and opened the door.

Anne had her arms crossed over her chest, an expression of rapidly dissipating patience etched into every line of her face. “I was right. You are body shy.”

There was a towel on the counter behind him. Why hadn’t he thought to put that towel around his neck, at least, before he opened the door? “Anne, consider your first reaction when you saw me bare-chested. Surely you can see why I am more than a little reluctant to expose my skin, especially with the younger kids looking on.”

“You have nothing to be ashamed of,” she replied firmly. “Now, march! We’re swimming. You need to relax.”