Crisis Management Read online

  “Neither. My folk are raised by the state. I have never met either of my parents.”

  Leo sat in shock. “You are a clone?”

  Dev chuckled. “No. I was born of my mother, but she gave me up at birth. If you look into the social structure of the races of the Alliance, you will see many different ways of raising children. Some let the children come to education on their own, other species begin education the moment that the eyes are open. It is an interesting topic for research.”

  “I don’t understand. Why would she give you up?”

  “My people are raised by the crèche system. Not one of us has been instructed in what makes a good parent beyond choosing the proper match for our own genes. It is the only decision we make.”

  “May I look up your world?” Leo asked it carefully.

  “Of course. Bahi in the third sector.”

  Dev went to the in house com and spoke to Yalio. “Miss Rasco requires a new door to her room or some intermittent repairs for the existing one.”

  “What happened?”

  “I made a point, and it was rather destructive.”

  “I can’t get a repair team here tonight. She will have to use one of the other rooms.”

  “Please give me a list of the rooms that are empty, and I will select one.”

  A small grid flashed on the screen. Dev looked and nodded. “Thank you. Please have a repair crew here tomorrow.”

  “Yes, Agent Jarix.”

  She disconnected the call. Leo was staring at the screen as she flicked through data on Bahi reproduction. “Is it interesting?”

  “It is bizarre, no offense.”

  “None taken. To a proper daughter of Bahi, the idea of carrying a child to term is repugnant. My mother was too far along to have me transferred when she realized I was on the way. She suffered through a pregnancy, and I am sure she tried to put it out of her mind the moment I was handed to the crèche.”

  Dev sat nearby while Leo examined Bahi via the console. She zoned out and came too when Leo asked, “Dev, is this you?”

  Ah, the infamous news reports. All four were arranged and stacked, as well as the notice of her being recruited by the Citadel. “Yes, that’s me.”

  “You moved a mass transport?”

  “Apparently.”

  “And stopped projectile weapons with your body?”

  “That was the end effect, it ruined my blouse though.”

  “And you lifted this vehicle and threw it at those who were robbing the financial centre?”

  “Yeah, two survived.” She shrugged.

  “So, you did all of that while you were a normal person with no training?” Leo turned to look at her with questions in her eyes.

  “Yes.”

  “Why?”

  “Because it needed to be done. Not the bullet catching, that was an accident on my part. I merely stood up when the robbers entered, and they trained their guns on me.”

  “But the other stuff?”

  Dev leaned forward and rested her elbows on her knees. “Sometimes you are in the right place at the right time to help those in need. You have a choice to either walk away or to stand and accept that you may or may not make it out alive. I could not have lived with myself if I walked away from those who needed it. If the thieves had been successful in taking hostages before I could stop them, I would have carried that all my life. As it is, I lost my friends but I kept my self-respect. I can always gain more friends, friends who treasure me for my character, but I can’t regain self-respect once it is lost.”

  Leo sat and twisted her hands together. “What if you have already lost it and want to get it back?”

  There was suddenly something brittle in Leo’s expression.

  Dev spoke carefully. “You take the steps that you can to undo what you have done and try and make better decisions in the future. You can’t undo the past, but you can reshape your future.”

  Leo leaned forward. “Will you help me?”

  Dev extended her hand, palm up. “I will do what I can. Now, tell me what happened.”

  Chapter Seven

  A noise in the middle of the night woke Dev from her place on the small pallet in the nanny’s room. She looked through the window and saw the blaze of fire approaching the house.

  The drills with Kennan kicked in. She grabbed Leo out of bed, pulled her to the ground and yanked the mattress over them both.

  “What is it?” Leo was wide awake and trembling next to Dev.

  The impact struck the house with a huge shudder that cracked bits of the ceiling into dropping on the mattress. “Missile. It struck your bedroom.”

  When the small impacts on her back ceased, Dev got up, flipping the mattress to the side, and she got Leo up as well. Leo grabbed her robe and slipped on shoes while Dev’s nightclothes transformed into her nanny uniform.

  “That is a handy thing.” Leo’s voice trembled as she tried to maintain her calm.

  “Yes, it is.” She thickened the Masuo into armour and went to the door, pressing her palm to the strike plate. It was warm but not hot, so she opened it and watched a dozen men with fire suppressants converging on Leo’s room.

  High Prefect Rasco was waiting and his expression was agonized.

  Dev whispered to Leo, “Go to your father.”

  Leo did not need to be told twice. She ran forward and her father hugged her, relieved beyond words that his daughter was safe. After a few minutes, he looked up with tears tracking down his cheeks. “How is it that she survived?”

  Dev inclined her head. “I broke the lock on her room, so it was necessary to be somewhere else for the night. She was nowhere near the strike zone.”

  Leo explained waking under the mattress, and Rasco smiled slightly while wiping his cheek. “It seems you are good in a crisis.”

  “I have nothing else to live for, sir.”

  Leo looked out of her father’s embrace and swallowed. “Now?”

  “He is glad you are alive, Leo. Now is best before he changes his mind.”

  “Father, I need to speak to you in private, but Dev has to be there.”

  The high prefect raised his brows but walked with his daughter to his study. Devani walked behind them, quiet and as unobtrusive as she could be. She slipped into the room and closed the door, standing in the shadows while Leo explained matters to her father.

  Dev didn’t say a word as Leo confessed to giving information to the Yagoth resistance. Her mother’s sister, Heesha, convinced her that it was best for Yagoth to remain as it was, the perpetual victim of the Plenai. She had read points of the treaty as her father drafted it and passed that information to her aunt.

  “It is my fault that Miss Nekkik and Mr. Haldorf are dead. If I hadn’t given them notice, they would never have been able to hire the assassins that got my guardians instead.” Leo sat quietly while tears rolled down her cheeks.

  Rasco didn’t speak, but he reached out and took his daughter’s hand. “Why have you told me this?”

  She sniffled. “Because I cannot change the past but I can try making a better future and to make me worthy of the lives lost in my service.”

  Rasco looked to the shadows where Dev was standing. “That is a very mature attitude.”

  “It is something I should have thought of before I made the mistake of trusting Aunt Heesha.” Leo swallowed and waited.

  “Your aunt died yesterday. I was given the missive right before Agent Jarix arrived. Given your explanation, I am now aware of why they are trying to kill you. You are their only witness to corruption within the high prefect’s household.” He ran a hand through the golden hair that his daughter shared.

  Devani could see that he was working out a plan, but he was stumbling over his daughter’s betrayal. “High Prefect, may I speak?”

  He waved her out of the shadows. “Come closer, Agent.”

  “Tell no one of Leo’s slip of confidence. She is a child by Yagoth standards and cannot be held to the responsibilities of an adult. He
r aunt lured her into leaking the information, but it is information that was made public only a few days ago. The intent was always to have the treaty public, was it not?”

  Rasco tilted his head. “So, I should ignore the betrayal?”

  “No. Nor can you ignore the lives lost in your daughter’s service. Their families should be honoured for their sacrifice in whatever manner your people honour the dead during an attack. Their deaths may have been spurred from within, but they were an act of war. I know your people pride themselves on being pacifists, but it is truly hypocritical to expect others to lay down their lives for those who will not risk them.” Dev winced. She said far more than she intended but the Yagoth system of manipulating others to their will frustrated the hell out of her.

  Rasco nodded. “I understand your frustration, Agent. Will you remain with my daughter for the remainder of the time before the treaty is ratified?”

  “Of course. My ride doesn’t arrive until then.” She quirked her lips.

  “If you weren’t smaller than my daughter, I would think you were flirting with me.”

  “Not flirting, merely joking.” She thought of Helsin.

  He raised his brow. “You have a mate?”

  “No. But I think I have a friend and companion. It is more than I ever expected.” She sighed. “Now, where shall I take Leo for the day? Is there regular school or perhaps a holiday house where we can be out of the way?”

  Rasco shook his head. “No, she must remain here and go about her life as if they hadn’t just blasted a hole in our home.”

  Dev nodded. “Very well. May we use one of the main-floor offices, oh, and we will need some clothing for her. Unless she has some in storage, I am fairly sure her wardrobe was just blasted to hell.”

  A slight bit of hope welled in Leo’s eyes. “She is right. I am stuck with the clothing on my back.”

  Rasco nodded and got to his feet, coming around his desk. “When this is all over, we will discuss this again, but I am just glad you are safe. Go. Shop. I am confident that Agent Jarix will watch you more closely than I could.”

  “She will be as safe with me as is possible.” Dev bowed shortly.

  Leo got to her feet and hugged her father again. He reciprocated and Dev exhaled in relief. He still loved her even though she had engaged in espionage against his cause.

  Dev took charge of her and hustled her up the stairs back to the nanny’s quarters. There was yesterday’s clothing there, and Leo was going to wear something appropriate before they left the house. Rasco’s pride was at stake.

  Chapter Eight

  Their skimmer driver was a sombre-faced young man of Tival heritage. Uxal moved them through the sparsely populated streets with ease.

  “Will we run into your friends, Leo?”

  Leo shook her head. “No. No one fashionable is around at this time of day.”

  Dev grinned. “Good. We will get in, find enough clothing for the coming two weeks and get out. I am sure that once you leave this world, you will have no trouble finding places to shop.”

  Leo chuckled delicately. “You have a point. Fine. Lawkis shopping centre and then home. I will find what I need there.”

  Six hours, nine outfits, countless sets of underwear and shoes later, Dev was shocked at the energy for shopping that Leo was still exhibiting.

  “I need one formal dress for the ratification, and then, we can go.”

  Dev was relieved, and she winced at the poor driver who made endless rounds from the shops to the skimmer. She watched the growing crowds, and while a few folks seemed to recognize Leo, no faces appeared again and again.

  The tech shop showed the burnt-out hole of Leo’s room over and over again as the news reported it.

  Dev noted the folk who were looking at the husk and then back to Leo as they walked to the dress shop. It was a tense walk for Dev as she began to feel the sensation of being watched.

  “Leothanak! Oh, we just heard. I am so relieved!” A girl Leo’s age rushed up to her and gave her a hug. Dev watched carefully and the girl gave the back of Leo’s shirt a peculiar pinch.

  When Leo pushed the girl aside, Dev took a closer look at the small spot on the collar that now had a blinking mark on it.

  The girl tried to move away, waving airily but there was an intensity to her sudden retreat.

  Dev grabbed her wrist and held it. “You will wait.”

  The girl started to struggle. “No, you don’t understand! I have to go!”

  With a calm move, Dev reached out, ripped the collar off Leo’s shirt and dropped the dot to the floor. With deliberation, she ground the dot under her heel.

  “Leo, we find your dress and get the hell out of here. Your friend just put a pinpoint targeting beacon on you.”

  “Twiss?” Leo was confused, but she walked and stood next to Dev. “We can go now. I will have the dress sent or just wear something that we have picked today.”

  “Good. Let’s go.” Dev gave the young girl a shove and wrapped an arm around Leo as they moved swiftly through the shopping centre toward the entrance nearest the skimmer.

  They were within sight of the exit when a male pulled a weapon and fired it. Dev stepped between Leo and the blast then jumped forward to break the arm of the man firing at them.

  Leo was in shock as they ran for the skimmer, but Dev was still on alert. The driver waved them over, but there was something wrong with him. He was too eager and did not bother opening the door as he had on their previous trip.

  Dev pressed a finger to her lips and moved quietly to the skimmer, shifting around it until she could see the man crouched behind the pilot. She leaned down and slammed her hand through the metal, grabbed the man’s collar and pulled him backward until his head thudded on the skimmer interior. The pilot disarmed him.

  Leo came running when Dev held her hand up, and once Dev was in the open-topped conveyance, she dumped the unconscious and broken body out onto the pavement.

  “Get us home, Uxal.”

  The pilot keyed the skimmer to a higher altitude than street level and set a straight-line course for the high prefect’s manor.

  Leo was shaking. “Twiss was part of this. I can’t believe it.”

  “As I said, for a people who claim to be pacifists, your folk are very violent. Hold onto my hand. I will get you home safely.”

  Leo gripped her hand with all the strength she had.

  The skimmer was wobbling badly by the time they arrived at the high prefect’s home, but Uxal got them down in one piece.

  Dev escorted Leo out. “Uxal, I think I broke your skimmer.”

  “Agent Jarix, I am sure you did, and I couldn’t be happier about it.” He gave her a jaunty salute and called over some of the other guards to help him moved the damaged skimmer to a covered work area.

  Dev hustled Leo into the residence and breathed a sigh of relief as they passed through the scanners with no alarm.

  Yalio greeted them with the direct, “What did you do, Agent Jarix?”

  Dev shrugged. “Can we get some tea and something for lunch? I am afraid that we did not get much time to rest. I will explain everything to the high prefect.”

  Yalio frowned. “He is in conference.”

  “We will wait. With tea and sandwiches, please.” Dev and Leo walked to the dining hall and sat heavily in the chairs.

  Leo looked at her and burst into tears.

  Dev reached out and held her hand. “We made it home safe. You are fine and no innocents were hurt. Even Uxal is fine. We could not have asked for a better result than that. Can you wait here a moment, I forgot something in my room?”

  Leo regretfully unclenched her hand, letting Dev run swiftly up the steps to grab her communication pad. She returned to the dining room, and Leo’s eyes lit with relief when she sat down.

  Dev started to enter her data. “I forgot I have to make incident reports. Helsin is going to kill me.” She worked absently, her office skills taking over.

  “You are afraid of
him?”

  “Oh, no, but he has put so much effort into me that I don’t want to disappoint him.” Dev recorded the missile, the tracker and the gunfire. When she remembered the man in the skimmer, she smiled.

  “What are you smiling at?”

  “I forgot about the guy in the skimmer. He’s going to need a lot of medical care, as are the other two.” She smiled happily.

  “You are happy about that?”

  Dev sent her report and looked at Leo. “I am happy that I didn’t kill anyone today.”

  “Oh.”

  The housekeeper bustled in with a tray of tea and sandwiches.

  Leo’s hands were shaking when she started to eat, but by the time they had taken out half the sandwiches, she was looking tired.

  “I just want this to be over, but there is still so much time left.” Leo was depressed.

  “I don’t care what your father says…you need to get away from this house or you need to stay inside it. It is his choice.”

  They sat back and sipped at the tea, enjoying silence.

  When Rasco came in, Dev explained what was going on and the options that she was giving him.

  “She will stay here, and she will study. You will direct her studies and my daughter will remain with me.”

  Dev nodded. “Fine. Tonight we work on math, tomorrow compatible races.”

  He scowled. “What?”

  “If she is going to live away from Yagoth, she needs to know what her dating options are. It’s important. Trust me.” Dev nodded.

  He looked uncomfortable and stared at his daughter for a moment. She smiled beatifically.

  “Fine. Teach her what you like, but keep her here.”

  Devani chuckled. “As you wish, High Prefect.”

  Chapter Nine

  Leo and Dev spent two days working with the console and finding races that were suitable for dates when Leo’s father finally let her out of the house.

  Helsin was due to arrive that afternoon, and he was coming to give Leo and her father a full check up.

  “Okay, Leo. Time to take a break. Show me the great hall. We have gone around it dozens of times, and I am curious as to the contents.”