Eternal Service (29 page)

“A member of the team, yes. One of them? … Not exactly.” Alex purposefully sidestepped any details of any differences that existed – the obvious one being human vs. vampire. “I wanted to talk to you about the man I work with.” Alex paused, thinking what would be the best way to discuss her situation. “His name is … ‘Michael’.” She felt that she shouldn’t use Raymond’s real name for security reasons, even though Micki had assured her several times over the years that everything shared would be confidential. “He’s wonderful. He’s tall and muscular, good–looking. He has a sweet nature about him too and I love spending time with him.” She bit her lip. “I want to date him, Micki.”

Micki narrowed her eyes to study her client. “Whether you have a relationship or not, you’ll be working closely with this man. Long hours. Evenings, weekends.” Micki leaned in toward her patient. “How do you feel about that?”

Alex took a deep breath. “I’m okay with that. He’s … well, he’s different. Honorable. Trustworthy – and I’m not just saying that because I have access to his private files and know a lot about him.”

Micki nodded, obviously taking it in. “The problem is that you work with him.”

“Oh, yeah.” When Micki just stared at her, Alex continued, “It is a conflict of interest. If I date him I could lose the promotion.” She inwardly groaned. It was more than that and she knew it. Relationships usually only ended bitterly or happily ever after. A break up would probably lead to her being dismissed eventually as the Director, and her memory zapped. Happily ever after sounded great, unless she became a vampire and could no longer be the human liaison for the team. Dating Raymond led down just one road – and it would be a bad career move.

“I want to see him romantically, but it's a bad career choice,” she admitted.

“There are often several risks when it comes to love — if we are talking about love and not a fleeting encounter.”

Shaking her head, Alex confessed, “It would not be fleeting.”

“It is your career, and your choice, but just last session you made the observation … ,” she flipped back a page in the notebook, “that you always put your career first. ‘It’s what I do’, you said.”

A slight smile crossed Alex’s lips. “That does sound like me.”

“Love is a leap of faith, Alex. There are no guarantees when it comes to the heart.”

Alex realized she did want a guarantee. Even a crystal ball of some sort that could see into the future would be welcomed. She leaned forward and rubbed her temple with her fingertips. “Michael is perfect … Simply perfect in every way. But … ,” Alex sighed. “ … I don’t know how to say this.”

When she noticed Micki slyly glace at her watch, Alex began. “Let’s say I did start seeing him, and it works out. Michael is … a different religion than I am.”

“Oh?” Micki opened her notebook and started taking notes again. “Tell me about him and what his religion is. You’re Catholic, right?” Alex nodded. “Is his religion a denomination of Christianity?”

“Let’s just say that his religion is different from mine. … Overall I don’t mind his religion. I find it quite sexy. … I can see myself with him for a very long, long time. The thing is, what if he asks me to convert?”

Micki set her pen down. “When you say that you see yourself with him a ‘very long, long time’ are you thinking possibly of marriage to him?”

“Sure, if the relationship works out,” Alex said, sitting more pensive on the couch.

Micki set the notepad in her lap. “Alex, you just met the man. I think you need to examine what you’re feeling and understand that this relationship is really only in its infancy.”

“I know. I know.” Alex wrung her hands. She hadn’t realized she had been sweating. The office was normally a cool temperature, and yet she felt the need to wipe her hands on her pant leg. “In the best scenario, let’s just say that he is the one I marry.”

“Would that be the best scenario?”

“For the sake of argument, let’s say it is. I don’t know how I feel about converting. Another team member told me that he converted and lost his family in the process.”

Micki sighed. “OK. So if this man, who you currently are not dating, were to ask you to marry him, he may never ask you to convert.”

“Oh, I think it is important to him,” Alex said.

“OK. What else is important? Does he want children? You always told me you want children one day.”

“He has a child already. I think he’d be open to having more children.”

Micki’s eyebrow rose under her bleached bangs. “Is he divorced?”

“Widowed.”

“I see.” Micki said in a hushed tone. “Is his child young?”

The question took Alex a bit by surprise. She didn’t want to focus on any elaborate lies. “He’s older. Out of the house. Really a non–issue.”

“Children are not so easily dismissed, Alex. I assume his son is very important to him.”

“Yes.”

Micki simply nodded. “If you and Michael had children, what religion would you raise them as, Alex?”

Alex thought back to the conversation she had with Sterling the first time she had met him. “Oh, they’d definitely be his religion. No question about that.”

“They’d be your kids too. They don’t have to be his religion. This would have to be negotiated by the two of you before any marriage and definitely before any planned pregnancy.”

“I wouldn’t mind them being his religion. Actually, it’d be great if they did have his religion and lived such long happy lives.”

“So your husband would be this religion, your children would be this religion, your household would embrace this religion. I’m curious. What issues exactly would prevent you from converting to this religion as well?”

Alex bit her lip and sat deep in thought. Finally, she said, “That is an excellent question, Micki.”

“But I want you to understand something. You’re putting the cart before the horse. You said you were not dating him at the moment. And are you willing to risk this promotion over him?”

Alex focused on that and took a deep breath. “I don’t know. Maybe.”

Dixon walked Matt and Brandon down to his office. “I’m so glad you boys were using your head and keeping your eyes open. This is a good find. Could be a security leak.”

Brandon and Matt shared a triumphant look with each other as Dixon led them down the hallway. They had found an abandoned janitor uniform at the State Dinner’s new place, and thought the outfit could be part of a plan to harm the President.

The uniform contained no embroidered name tag, but that was standard issue at the hall and not alarming. Being stuffed in a cabinet in one of the first floor’s mens rooms was what made it suspicious. Another worry for Dixon was the size of the uniform. It fit a large man, one over six feet in height, and a very lean one at that. The accompanying shoes were size fifteen mens.

A database search had already been conducted to find out how many custodians in the employ of the hall would fit the suit. Surprisingly, three men had the correct build – and they were all human. None of them could account for the lost, or perhaps stolen uniform. Raymond had already questioned the three men, but found them to be hard–working men with no qualms about the President or his administration.

Forensics inspected the items. Any prints, hair, or DNA they retrieved were dead–ends in the system. The items were now in Dixon’s office, lying in a box on top of his desk. Any story they may have would have to be told by Sterling’s special ability.

The three entered the office where Raymond and Sterling waited. Sterling was already touching the article of clothing, carefully reading the fabric, the buttons, and zipper. His eyes were closed in concentration, but opened when the doorknob turned and the men entered.

“Smith. Jones,” Dixon said to Raymond and Sterling, “These are the men that found the uniform. I told them you wanted to talk with them.”

Even before Dixon closed the office door, Raymond recognized the two men.

“Oh, hell no!” Sterling furrowed his brow and shook his head. Raymond knew that Sterling had wiped the shorter man’s mind so many times over the last several years he wasn’t sure if the man’s mind could handle much more. Hell, Sterling had wiped the man’s mind just yesterday morning.

“Hey, Detective Smith! Nice to see you again!” Brandon, the shorter human, said.

Raymond’s eyebrow rose as he looked from the human to his son. “Interesting,” he said. “You remember working with Detective Smith before?” he asked Brandon.

Brandon glanced over to Raymond, then back to Sterling. “Um, yes. I guess,” he stammered. He studied Sterling. “We worked together on … well, the case was a while back on … something.” He shook his head, not remembering any specifics. He looked over to Matt for help.

Matt held out his hand to Raymond. “It's a pleasure to meet both of you. I believe this is the first time we’ve met.”

Raymond shook Matt’s hand. Matt stood taller than Raymond at a height of six foot five. For a human, he was quite tall. The mental patterns from Matt were even and calm, like a glacial lake. There was no recognition from him as to the vampires’ true identities. The two shook hands, “I’m Agent Jones. Nice to meet you.”

Focusing now on Brandon, Raymond read his thought patterns. They were confusing to say the least. The man’s thoughts were clear, but his patterns were choppy like a record that had been scratched too many times – which was a sign of having been compelled too often. Raymond sighed. Brandon’s mental record was not broken, but he was nearing the point of not being able to be compelled anymore.

Sterling continued inspecting the clothes. His bare hands ran up and down the sleeves, and around the back and collar. In the high–pitched vampire speak, he talked with his father. “The little one is a problem. His mind is nearly Swiss cheese.” When his father merely nodded a reply, Sterling added, “Either we should offer full disclosure or transfer him to another department.” He reached for the boots in the box, “I don’t like the man, so you can guess which choice I prefer.”

Raymond put his hand to his mouth to hide his moving lips, “Sterling, full disclosure is not an option. Not until we can’t compel him anymore. His security clearance is not high enough.” The protocol was clear, and his son should know it. Only the President, the Vice President, the Speaker of the House, Colony Director, and now the Director of Homeland Security were privileged with the knowledge of the vampires. A few others knew, but only because it had been a last resort due to their mind's inability to handle a vampire’s touch.

Matt and Brandon watched intensely as Sterling reviewed the boots. Sterling’s fingers worked down the laces, swiped over the tongue, and felt the sole and heel of each boot.

Brandon lacked expertise in evidence preservation, but obviously guessed that this was not a standard technique to preserve evidence in a case. “Excuse me. Smith? Shouldn’t you be putting on gloves to touch evidence?”

“And shouldn’t the gloves be rubber?” Matt added, noticing the cloth ones on the desk. He and Brandon exchanged knowing head nods at each other like they had both seen the same episode of CSI.

Sterling ignored all the questions from the humans.

“What are you hoping to do with those boots?” Brandon asked.

Sterling’s jaw tightened. he took a deep breath and now bothered to look at the humans. “I’m going to scour the kingdom looking for the foot that it fits. … Dad, wipe them!”

Raymond’s face flushed red. The look from the two humans questioned as to why he was being called “Dad” by a man clearly older than he was.

Before the two could ask any questions, Raymond said, “Fellas, I’m going to need you to look at me for a moment.” As they did, their faces paled and their eyes grew dim. “You two found nothing unusual at the hotel for the State Dinner.”

“We found nothing,” they said in unison.

“And as always, you can trust that Dixon will get to the bottom of everything. So, please contact him if you notice anything out of the ordinary. Now get back to work.” Both Brandon and Matt looked around the room. “We should be heading back to work.” Matt said.

“Ya, think!?!” Sterling snarled without even looking at them.

Dixon opened the door and let the two men out. “I’ll be here in my office if you need me. Thanks for coming by.”

Now with the privacy of Dixon’s office restored, Sterling set the boots back in the box, sat in Dixon’s chair and placed his hands on the armrests. His hands tightened and his knuckles whitened. His breath grew even as he took slow and methodical breaths.

“Are you in pain?” his father asked.

“Not more than usual.” Sterling raised his hand and pointed towards the box. “There’s nothing on these clothes. They’re old, at least a couple of years.” He stood and grabbed his gloves from the desk. “This isn’t evidence. All I’m getting is a headache from touching them.”

As he and his father left Dixon’s office, Sterling looked back at Dixon. “Keep an eye out for ‘Bert and Ernie’ there Dixon. We don’t need them turning up any vamps on their own.”

The next morning Fang Manor was quiet. Too quiet for Raymond’s tastes. Sulie and her team left early for the trip to Austin, Texas with the President for his energy speech to the University. Raymond remained in D.C. to take care of security at home because of the upcoming dinner, but he’d rather be seated next to Alex aboard Air Force One. Being separated from her pained him, even for a day. It was hard for him to even comprehend that it had only been a week since he first met her.