April (16 page)

"Respectfully, no"

"Would you mind showing me one of them then? I'm just curious."

Jeff slid the generator type unit out of its tube and handed it to Jon. It surprised him a little with its weight, they could tell, because his hand dipped for a moment when he first took it.

"I know you're not telling me everything, which is OK. It's smart even. It just looks like a big old fuse to me. So, why isn't it back on earth being x-rayed and cut apart by our spy?"

"Because my dad is the nanoelectronics expert and as far as anyone knows on Earth. I'm just a teenage kid. And while the guy was ripping my dad's room apart, they were sitting on the floor beside my desk, in plain sight, except for a pile of dirty socks on top of them."

Jon just shook his head in wonder. "So, if I'm to believe you, the whole spy thing might not be directed at the Rock and your parents, but at a crazy project that nobody knew about but you and your dad? If that's the case, then you lucked out even more than you can appreciate. What I have to consider now, is how to protect you and this property from something as powerful as the USNA. It's my obligation as long as their desire for them remains unofficial. I really don't need another pain in the butt problem, as big as the Rock." He looked at Jeff funny..."Your dad does
know
about these doesn't he?"

"Oh, yes. When we got that letter I had to reveal them. But we didn't have time to discuss much before he left for the conference. And I don't want to call him and get him all upset about the break in, when anybody could be listening in."

"No, I wouldn't call him about that either. They may have an agent assigned to watch him there. If you communicate it could precipitate them taking some action."

Heather and April looked at each other. They had both expected Jon urge Jeff to contact his dad right away.

"I'll have to figure out how to contact him securely, or even send somebody to make sure he gets back Okay. I have more resources. Leave it to me," Jon insisted.

April spoke up about the units. "I have an interest in these also now Jon. Jeff and Heather asked me to take these two units in my custody and keep them where we will all be able to recover them, but they will be safe from theft. What would you suggest we do with them?"

"I could put them in my armory for you. It would be within my authority. But frankly,  I've been worried about the armory being a big target itself, so I'm not sure what to do. I would not put them in a safe deposit box." he decided. "I do have one idea I can check," he said and pulled out his pad and folded it open.

April couldn't see the address he punched in, but the fellow who answered was standing behind a large gilded and green logo sign for Holiday Inns. He was dressed Earth style for business, with white shirt, tie and a conservative blue suit.

"Good Evening, Holiday Inn, Mitsubishi 3. May I help you?" he offered. Then he recognized Jon and said "Mr. Davis! I hope there is nothing unresolved about the room from last evening?"

"Not at all Mr. Harris. I thank you again for your cooperation with my people. This is another matter. We have people we need to relocate, while we are doing an investigation and we have some security concerns about them and their possessions. Didn't I see a safe in your rooms?"

"Yes sir, we have individual fireproof vaults in each room, which operate from a single key card the guest may remove."

"Does the Hotel guarantee the safety of items left in the room vault?" Jon asked.

"No, I'm sorry," he said and actually looked sad, "but they are just a convenience for the guests. For the Hotel to assume risk for the items and insure them, the items must be checked in and stored in our main safe in the manager's office. It's a basic limitation imposed by our parent company."

Jon looked a question at April and got an affirmative nod.

"Is there a limit on value of what you will accept?" Jon asked.

"Not at all sir. We have had entertainers and Royalty as guests. People deposit jewelry and cash. If there is room for it we have even stored musical instruments. We just have to see what it is. We can't accept any sealed up mysterious packages, which could be illegal or dangerous.

"Mr. Harris, I would like you to have your concierge courier four key cards for a room, to the address I am keying in for you. I expect to have at least one guest in the room tonight and we will be using your main safe. When you pick the room be aware I may be using it for some time and there may be days it is empty, or there may be four guests. Your discretion in maintaining our privacy is part of what we are purchasing for station security. I am transmitting a credit line also and would appreciate it if you would bill me weekly in advance.  I will let you know when it is no longer needed."

"Thank you Mr. Davis. It is always a pleasure to serve you. Since you voiced some concerns about your guests and their property I'll have our security fellow deliver the key cards and if you wish, he will escort any guests who wish his company back to the hotel."

"Thank you, I'll speak with him about it," he said noncommittal, "and a good evening to you," and closed the pad. He sat back in his chair a bit and relaxed. "I didn't even know he had any security people for the hotel. It will be interesting to see if I remember this fellow."

"I've been thinking Jon. I have a suggestion for you, if I may?" asked April.

"Why not?  I could use a good idea. Fire away," he invited.

"Offer your best people to take the weapons in your armory home. They will be dispersed all over and your people will already have them at hand if you need to call them up. It's the same as what the Swiss have done for a long time."

"I've thought about the possibility," admitted Jon, "but I hate to ask. Some of them have kids at home and may not want guns there and it feels like I am saying there might be trouble soon and it has a way of making itself come true."

"You can always offer the opportunity, with the right to refuse without prejudice. But they have seen what's happened with the spy and this other problem you touched on lightly and now the mess with this room. I would say your best people are already figured out trouble may be coming."

"I may. I'll think on it."

"What do you think the chances are of something like this happening again?" April asked, waving her hand in the general direction of the trashed room.

"The fellow who did this had to be brought up special on a shuttle. I'm pretty sure they didn't already have somebody on station who could be trusted with this sort of job. The other fellow we still don't know what he was after, but I'd put him in the same class too because of how he operated. Why one man couldn't do both jobs I still don't know. It's so strange one of my people suggested they are from different agencies, that don't know what each other are doing. Since they didn't have someone here to do this job, now that he is gone, we may be safe from this kind of problem until the next shuttle comes up three days from now.
Some
agency could have
some
personnel here, but no point in losing any sleep over far out hypotheticals."

"You can bet we'll be looking very closely at everyone who gets off every shuttle from now on. We're not going to trust their ID when the government itself might be spoofing the data base for them. I don't care if it is someone's old grandma in a babushka. I want them scanned so hard I know what they had for breakfast. I would very much appreciate if you could give me some idea of when you were running these things Jeff.  I want to develop an idea what the time line was for them to respond and send someone up for a look see."

"OK,  I have a log of when I tested them in all the documentation. There is a memory chip with these two and there will be others which will allow Heather or April to show a nanoelectronics technician how they are made, in case I'm, uh. In case I can't."

"Dead is the word you are looking for," Jon said. "Something we'll try to avoid. Are you able to run these now and not be detected? Did you figure out what signal you were giving off and stop it or shield it?"

Jeff looked stricken. He looked at April for help.

"You don't want to go there Jon. Trust me," April assured him.

Jon picked the unit back up. "Heavy little sucker," he commented. "If it gave off any ionizing radiation Margaret would have found it when she scanned the room. Being a cop nowadays can be pretty complicated.  I have to read a lot, know a little bit of everything. I'm not stupid you know. Only one kind of  particle I can think of, for which there is basically no way to shield, but I thought it was just as hard to detect. Guess I'm wrong." He didn't press any further than that, to Jeff's relief.

The lady tech came over to Jon with a printout. "It's definitely our same boy," she assured him. "We found a whole hair and a scrape of skin on the corner of the computer case. Whatever was on the computer memory he doesn't have," she  said, giving Jeff an accusing look. "The protection was crude, but effective. I am pretty sure the memory is just trace elements in the blob of steel melted into the deck. I don't think anyone would be nuts enough to remove the memory and then set off the incendiary off anyway to fool us. It looks like he was in a mad scramble to keep it from burning through into the next level, so it was not planned."

"Thanks Margaret. I really appreciate you coming in off shift. April here," he nodded at her, "is the civilian who put us on to this fellow."

Margaret looked at her looked at her with renewed interest and offered her hand over the table. She prolonged the touch in an awkward manner.

"Jon still hasn't told us how you made the fellow," she told April. "Sometime I would love to sit and hear you relate the story."

"Excuse Margaret," said Jon. "She's a detective and she just can't stop detecting. If I were to disperse the weapons in our armory Margaret, so they are not in one central location and easy to seize, would you consider taking something home?"

Margaret got this predatory grin. "Sure. Save the heavy machine gun for me and not just frangible slugs. You have several cans of those belts with alternating armor piercing and depleted uranium slugs. I want them."

Jon was visibly taken aback by her reaction. "Keep it under your hat tonight, but in the morning I am talking with the shift leaders and may just do it. I'll admit I was running it past you, because I thought you were the least likely to take me up on it."

"Are you kidding? If I miss jumping right in, by lunch time your crew will have it stripped out and all the good stuff will be gone," she assured him.

"Exactly what
use
do you foresee for the heavy machine gun?" Jon inquired.

"Jon, I don't have a cent tied up in the Rock. I wish I did. But I am following the news and everybody I know with an I.Q. bigger than their shoe size, thinks there is going to be trouble over it. I know something of tactics from the Marine Corps. There is no way a commander is going to commit a force to the Rock, without securing this big can nearby. It's the tactical equivalent of a city, from which opposing forces could sally." "However, the can is my home. I feel really possessive about it and my neighbors. I live right next to the life support plant on our corridor. If a squad comes to take that plant, even in combat armor, I can drop the emergency pressure partition at the plant, put my back to it with the heavy MG and riddle their cherry little asses before they can stand a chance of retreating around the curve. They'd never expect it."

"Jon," April asked, "why in the world do we have such heavy weapons here?"

"It wasn't my idea," he assured her. "A space habitat is classed the same as an airport by the government and if they have their own dedicated police force they are encouraged to buy all sorts of counter-terrorist equipment. The Security Chief before me got what amounted to a big free catalog on disk, from which he could order equipment for just about any environment or threat. The government would pick up almost all the cost for us. He just couldn't say no to all the free toys. I'm surprised he didn't order the snow skis and scuba equipment, just because they were nearly free. I think they may come to regret the policy," he predicted.

"But solid slugs? If somebody starts shooting with those we'll have pressure emergencies all over the habitat. I'm not sure there are enough patching kits to seal the place up if there is a real battle," Jeff objected.

"Yes, you are right. But the fact is, if an external force like the Chinese invaded, which is what this equipment was procured to counter, they will almost certainly have battle armor. Frangible rounds are fine for law enforcement, but they are simply going to shatter on armor like nothing."

The entry chime was sounding again.

"Margaret, why don't you go straight home and Frank and I will take your crime scene roll back to the office with us?" Jon offered.

"If you see a need to disperse the weapons, why don't you do the same with the other vital equipment? I have room to take the testing roll home with me if you'd like."

"An excellent idea. Just tell Theo in the morning, to start a list of where everything is dispersed and keep updates sent to everyone's pad," Jon instructed. Margaret took it for her dismissal and went back for the roll.

With a start, Jeff realized Jon was deferring to him to answer the door, since it was his home. He wasn't used to being treated like the man of the house at his age.

"Come on in," he called out, wondering suddenly if he should have locked it back up, after Jon and his crew came in.

The gentleman who came in immediately focused on Jon and came forward with an envelope. He was trim, with salt and pepper hair and dressed in a white shirt with a colorful bow tie and a dark blue cardigan sweater.

"If you would sign the flap sir, these are the key cards you requested."

"Thank you. You know, I recognize you from last night. I remember you got my crew coffee and sandwiches and I don't think I ever thanked you. Could you remind me of your name?"  Jon asked, scribbling a signature on the envelope.

"I don't believe Mr. Harris ever got around to introducing me, but everything seemed quite in control without my input. I'm Neil McAlpine, Mr. Davis."