“Let
me do that and we can get out of here,” I said.
I
started for my office door, Martinez behind me. As I opened it, Sara said,
“Oh, and if you see Johnny Brenner, tell him I’ve got those names for
him.”
“Names?”
I asked, turning to her.
She
nodded. “He stopped by early, around nine-thirty. Asked me to get the names
of all the check-ins at the Cunningham on Thursday night. Said you knew
about it.”
The
Cunningham was a hotel on Fifth, a couple of blocks south of Hennessy. Not
as upscale as the midtown hotels, but for downtown, it was okay.
“Give
them to me and I’ll see that he gets it,” I said.
Sara
handed me the piece of paper. A list of names, maybe twenty of them.
Thursday had been a good night for the Cunningham.
I
scanned it, but nothing jumped out at me. It was just names. Kornblatt.
Escalara. Dougal. Ozmankowski. Brenner had definitely not mentioned anything
to me about them, but we’d all been preoccupied when I’d seen him earlier.
It was interesting that he’d gone through Sara to get them when he had the
resources of the Area Governor’s Office at his disposal. But Shuster
undoubtedly had his own people with eyes on the system. It was a good way
for Brenner to keep it off the books if he was looking for something that he
didn’t want Shuster to find out about. And as a trainee, he’d want to grease
the wheels with Sara by saying that he had my approval.
“If
he comes back for them, tell him I’ll send them to Miss Takeda after I get
to the job site in the morning,” I said. “He can get them from her tomorrow
night.”
Sara
nodded. I turned and went into my office. Martinez followed.
“This
is nice,” Martinez said as we came into the room. She walked to the window
and looked down on Expedition Square. “Good view.”
I
sat down behind my desk. “Yeah, I’m usually down there, not up here looking
at it.” I began to flip through the letters on my desk.
“Are
you banging your secretary, sir?” she asked.
I
stopped. “What?”
“You
know, sir,” Martinez said, still staring out the window. “Sexual
intercourse.”
“I
know what banging is, Lita. What makes you think that?"
“Just
the vibes I was getting from her, sir,” she said. “It’s a girl
thing.”
I
sighed. “That’s a very personal question, sergeant.”
“I
thought you wanted me to speak my mind, sir,” she said. “Just thought I’d
ask.”
“And
what if I was?”
She
looked over at me. “That’s your business, sir. Seems kind of...well,
disgusting to me, but whatever works for you.”
“I’ll
make you a deal, Lita. You don’t ask about my sex life and I won’t ask about
yours.”
Martinez
turned back to the window. “Fair enough, sir.”
I
went back to the mail and began initialing the bills.
“Do
you miss it, sir?” she asked.
“What?”
I asked. “Banging Sara?”
“No,
sir,” she said with a small smile. “We’re not going to talk about that
anymore. I mean the uniform. Do you miss wearing it?”
“What
do you mean?”
“You
were army, then you were a cop. Now you’re a civilian. Do you miss
it?”
“Not
really,” I said. “The army was a long time ago for me. As for the police
department...” I shook my head. “If the Vees hadn’t shown up, I’d still be a
cop. Detective. Gold badge.” I shook my head. “But that was the old police
department. I wouldn’t like being a cop with the department the way it is
now.”
She
nodded. “I’d miss it,” she said. “Not the bullshit, but being part of
something bigger than myself, living and working with the other
troopers.”
“Then
you must be happy in the Security Force.”
“I
guess,” she said.
I
finished going through the mail, grabbed the initialed bills out of the
stack and stood. “Okay, let’s get out of here.”
Sara
smiled as we came out of the office. I dropped the bills on her
desk.
“You
want me to work the weekend?” she asked.
I
shook my head. “No, nothing for you to do here except answer the phones and
do your nails. Forward the lines to the service when you leave in the
morning and I’ll check in with them. If Cynthia happens to show up before
you go, send her home.”
“Got
it.” She grinned. “So I guess I’ll see you Monday night.”
“Yeah,”
I said, trying not to sound too friendly. No reason to disgust Martinez
anymore than necessary. “See you then.”
It
was cool out on the sidewalk. Humid, but cool. Martinez and I walked in
silence for a block or so. Then she said, “Sir, I have a favor to
ask.”
“What
would that be?”
“I’d
like you to talk to Commander Takeda about the promotion, sir.”
“What
about it?” I asked.
“I’d
like her to withdraw it.”
I
looked down at her. “Why?”
“Personal
reasons, sir.”
I
sighed. “I think you already made that request to her directly,” I said.
“And she gave you an answer.”
“Yes,
sir, but I thought if it came from you, she might reconsider.” She paused.
“Tell her I don’t deserve it. Tell her I’m a bad trooper, that I’m
insubordinate. Tell her I’m a trouble maker, and would only cause problems
if I was in a position of command.”
“Maybe
I could do that,” I said slowly. “If I knew why I was doing it. Something a
little more specific than personal reasons.”
Martinez
walked on beside me for another half a block before she spoke. “The Security
Force is not the army, sir. The army serves the country. The Security Force
serves the vampires.”
“And
what’s your point?”
“I
don’t like vampires, sir.”
“Nobody
likes vampires,” I said.
“You
don’t seem to have a problem with them.”
“There
are good and bad Vees,” I replied. “They were human once. A lot has changed
for them between then and now. But their personalities seem to have made it
through intact, more or less. So I interact with them based on who they are,
not what they are. It doesn’t mean I’m glad they’re around or that I
wouldn’t like to see them gone.” I paused. “Anyway, you don’t seem to have a
problem being in the Security Force as a trooper. Why the problem with being
a sergeant.”
Command,”
she said. “As a trooper, I just do what they tell me to do. As a sergeant,
I’d be telling other troopers what to do. I don’t want that. I don’t want to
be part of a command structure that starts with me and stretches up to the
Governor General.”
“That’s
an interesting way of looking at it.”
“It’s
the way I see it, sir. In the army, my commander-in-chief was the President
of the United States. Even if I didn’t vote for him, he was elected by the
people of this country. It’s different with the vampires. Nobody elected the
Governor General. Nobody elected General Bain. They just took over.” She
paused. “I don’t want to be a part of that.”
“You
sound like you feel pretty strongly about it.”
Martinez
nodded. “Strong enough to be thinking about resigning from the Security
Force if I can’t get rid of the stripes, sir.”
“They’ll
let you just...resign?”
“Yes,
sir, if General Bain approves it.” She paused. “I think if you endorsed my
resignation, he might go along with it.”
We
continued to walk. Bacon Street was about a block ahead, and I could see a
trooper standing on the corner, watching us approach. Takeda had apparently
decided to leave some security behind in case Shuster returned. I didn’t
think that was very likely, but if they stayed out of the apartment, it
wasn’t worth worrying about.
“I’ll
consider it, Lita,” I said. “I think it’s a mistake. I think you’re exactly
the kind of trooper the Security Force needs, and I think you’d make a fine
sergeant or even officer. But if you feel that strongly, I guess I should do
what I can for you.”
“Thank
you, sir.”
“Good
to see you, Mr. Welles,” the trooper said as we reached him. “We have two
troopers on the street here in front of your apartment, another in the back.
You shouldn’t have any more problems.”
“Thanks,”
I said, walking past him. I could just make out the other trooper at the
corner of First, on the other end of the block. At least they weren’t
standing sentry duty in front of my apartment.
When
we got inside, Martinez headed for the bathroom.
“If
Takeda wants us there at nine, I figure we’ll get up at eight, go grab some
breakfast at a local place I like, then report to the command trailer,” I
said.
“See
you in the morning, sir.” She walked into the bathroom and closed the
door.
I
went into my bedroom and closed the door. There was a big chunk missing from
the wall, thanks to Shuster’s missed shot at Martinez. She was lucky to be
alive. Somebody with Shuster’s Special Collections training probably didn’t
miss too often.
I
crossed the room to the window and looked out. I couldn’t see the trooper in
back, but there were a lot of dark corners to watch from.
The
window was locked. My bed was waiting. Shuster would probably make his move
today.
I
stripped out of my clothes, stuck my pistol under my pillow, and climbed
into bed.
Chapter
Nineteen
Captain
Bristow was behind the desk when I walked into my office in the command
trailer at nine. There were two men in the chairs in front of him. Daryl
Northport and Jimmy Mutz.
Martinez
went to her small desk as Bristow said, “Here’s Mr. Welles now.”
They
both looked over their shoulders and Jimmy said, “Morning, Charlie. I see
you slept in today.”
Bristow
stood and came around the desk. He saluted and said, “Chief Northport and
Captain Mutz have something to discuss with you, sir.”
“Thanks,
captain.”
“Commander
Takeda also left some photographs for you to sign off on before we distribute
them.”
I
nodded. “We’ll get together after I’m done.”
“Very
good, sir,” he said. He closed the door behind him.
I
sat down and smiled across the desk at Jimmy and Daryl. “Sorry
I’m late, but I had to make up for some lost sleep.”
“We
heard,” Jimmy said.
“Sounds
like you’re lucky you’re still breathin’, CW.” Daryl added.
I
glanced over at Martinez. She smiled. “I don’t think luck was involved,
Daryl,” I said. “So what’s up?”
“Call
off Miss Takeda,” Daryl said.
“What does that mean?”
“I
got a call from her at about five o’clock this morning,” he said. “Told me I
was gonna need to get me a new district chief and night shift lieutenant for
Downtown District, cause she was gonna behead the two I already
have.”
I
sighed. “Yeah, she likes punishment to be swift and final,” I said. “Did
she...”
Daryl
shook his head. “No, not yet. Though she wanted to. I voiced my objections,
she listened. I don’t think it got through to her. Said she’d make her
decision tonight.”
“What
do you want me to do?”
“Change
her mind,” he said. “I can’t have that shit, Charlie. This is a real
delicate time for the department. I’m tryin’ to make changes, but it’s a
constant struggle to get humans and vampires to look at things the same way.
She starts choppin' off heads, I’m back to square one.”
“Okay.”
“Understand,
I ain’t defendin’ either of ‘em,” he said. “Muldoon is a fool, almost as
worthless as that fuckin’ idiot Flannery in Central District.” He glanced at
Martinez. “Pardon the language, ma’am.” He looked back at me. “And I got me
some ideas about makin’ changes in that area.”
“Bad
ideas,” Jimmy muttered.
“I’m
speakin’ here, captain,” Daryl said. “And Robinson totally screwed the goddamn
pooch last night, no question. I have no idea what the hell she was thinkin’
when her guys found those bodies and she decided to treat it like a regular
homicide. She’ll lose her badge for that if I have my way, and I usually do.
But I ain’t gonna sit back and let Miss Takeda lop off their
heads.”
“I
agree.” I sighed again. “Getting her to agree may be another thing
entirely.” I paused. “Have you gone up the line with it?”
“I
ain’t gone to the Commissioner yet. Napier is so shit-scared of the area
government, he’ll probably want to make the political decision instead of
the right decision. I need to nip this shit right now, before it gets to
Napier and Bain. And I need you to help me.”
“Okay.
It’s probably been weeks since she last got to use her sword, so what do I
tell her to make her keep it in the sheath a little longer?”