she’s right,” Alex said.
There was no response. They didn’t seem to understand his words. He continued. “Look at her record. She’s difficult, she blows things up, but she has a 100 percent average of being right. In fact, I already assume Francis didn’t kill Diane Lasher. And I’ll back her on that.”
A long pause followed as they absorbed his words. Alex turned to Regina. “Even if you don’t believe it, we have to assure her safety in an unresolved murder investigation. You’ve already had one Teacher killed.”
Susan whispered something to Talek and he laughed uncomfortably.
Alex whipped around to them. “Please share,” he said. “I could use a laugh.”
“Oh, Alex,” Susan said. “Stop being so portentous. I just said maybe we could kill two birds with one stone, so to speak. Gotta love a happy ending.”
“Susan,” Karis said, over the general response of shock.
“I was joking,” Susan said. “I mean, it’s a joke, what Alex says. If Durero didn’t do it, that means—well, it’s ridiculous. Jaguar—Dr. Addams—is just being contrary. Give her some time with Durero and she’ll see that.”
“Don’t give her too much time,” Alex suggested mildly. Everyone turned to him, and he smiled. “It took her about ten days to shred the VR site. How long do you think it’ll take her to deconstruct a bubble dome?”
“I hope that isn’t a threat,” Susan said.
“Not at all. But if there’s anything at all to find, Jaguar will find it.”
To his surprise, her face blanched. She turned decidedly away from Alex and to Regina. “I won’t waste any more breath on this. Are we done?”
“We are,” Regina said. “This meeting is dismissed, and I thank you for your time.”
Alex sat in a state of smoldering anger as the others packed up to leave. Regina leaned over and patted the back of his hand. “You’ll tell her, won’t you? It’ll be better coming from you.”
“Sure,” he said. “Throw me to the big cats.”
Regina laughed, looked around. The only person still lingering was Paul Dinardo. She cast him a smile. “Could we have the room for a minute, Paul?” she asked.
He shrugged, got up and left. Regina turned back to Alex. “Alex, just so you know, I hoped this would happen. I want Jaguar on One.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Why, Regina?”
She looked around, as if suspicious of listeners. “There’s been a big push for this execution, but people don’t realize how bad it makes us look. The media’s always right on top of this kind of thing. I’m hoping she’ll find some way to get us out of it. If anyone can . . . ”
She left the sentence unfinished, but Alex knew how it ended. If anyone can, it’s Jaguar. Any impossible task, any difficult, dangerous or unpleasant job went to Jaguar, who would see it done. That was, unfortunately, pretty damn accurate. She’d earned a reputation for taking on the worst of the worst with success. Sometimes he felt pride in her ability to do so. Other times it bugged the hell out of him.
“That’s not exactly fair to her, is it?” he asked. “Make her go back to a place that can only hurt like hell, on a highly vexed job, with as much resistance as possible?”
“But that’s where she’s in her element, Alex. We both know that. And don’t worry about what Susan said. I’m sure she’ll be perfectly safe with us.”
“Will you provide the bodyguard?”
“Would she trust any bodyguard on One?”
He shook his head. Of course she wouldn’t. Rightly so.
“I’ll keep an eye on her,” Regina said, “And if she establishes a presence for a while, they’ll all be satisfied. Frankly, I think they just need some time to get over themselves and do the right thing. Tell her that, will you? It’s just a little tedium, then she’ll be back to you.”
“Back to work, you mean,” Alex amended.
“Yes. Of course,” she agreed, but her smile said something else. She also assumed they were lovers, though she seemed pleased about it.
That was the best he could hope for, he supposed. He continued to sit, collecting his thoughts while she made her exit. He rested his face in his hands, considering his own next moves, until he felt another presence at his back. He knew who it was.
“You gonna stay here all night?” Paul asked.
Alex lowered his hands. “Consider the alternative,” he said. “I have to tell her.”
“Yeah,” Paul said. He took a seat next to Alex. “Look, I didn’t want this to happen. You know that, right?”
“I saw your face. I’d like to know why, though. You never bothered about her before.”
Paul glanced around as if someone might be listening. “What Richard said about you and her—there’s a lot of that talk going around.”
“Always has been.”
“From what I can tell, now it’s true. That makes a difference.”
“It sure does,” Alex agreed. “At least, we like it better this way.”
Paul grimaced. “Jesus, Alex. What the hell are you thinking? There’s rules.”
“I’m familiar with the protocols. There’s also loopholes.”
“They get used or not, depending. And with her….” He blew air out through his lips, sounding like a horse. “You two better keep a low profile.”
“Not our strong point,” he mentioned.
“Don’t I know it. Listen, personally, I don’t care what you do after hours. You’re one of the best supervisors we got and I’ll back you.”
“What about Jaguar?”
Paul waved a hand in the air. “She’s like hornet spray. Nasty stuff, but you’re glad it’s there when you need it. And between you and me, she’s got a few senators in her pocket after that whole moon mining thing, so she’s probably safe until the next election. ’Course, if she changed her vote, she’d be off the hook on this one.”
Alex made a derisive noise.
“That’s what I thought,” Paul agreed. “But maybe it’s a good thing. There’s something I want to know about One, and she’d be doing me a big favor if she found out while she was there. She does kinda owe me about now. Come to think of it, so do you.”
Just a few months ago he and Jaguar had both resigned so they could go after a Greenkeeper on the home planet. Paul had deliberately failed to hand in their letters, so they’d been able to return to their jobs with nothing on their records. Of course he’d cash in
