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"Chapel-"

"You&039;ll be safe here This plane looks like a normal corporate jet, but it&039;s actually been uparned to resist s bad happens, but-"

"Chapel, okay! I get it You can&039;t take me with you this tie what you&039;re doing here I can&039;t really pass you off as et it I&039;ll stay here"

"You don&039;t seem very happy about it," he pointed out He&039;d expected that, of course "I know you don&039;t like being left in the dark The last time I left you behindI can only say I&039;m sorry about that I promise this time is different"

"It&039;s not that," Julia said

"No?"

"No" She reached over and put a hand on his cheek That he hadn&039;t expected at all "It&039;s not that at all"

"What happened to our professional arrangement?" he asked, before he could stop hiuy whose job is to keep secrets, sometimes you don&039;t knohen to shut up," she said He saw in her eyes then that she was upset, definitely-but for once she was not upset with hi on?" he asked, softly

"It&039;s what I see in your eyes You&039;re leaving me here because you don&039;t expect to come back, yourself" She looked down at her lap "You think you&039;re going to die here"

"It&039;s not like I want to," he tried

She pressed her face against his chest "You could just say no You could quit You could tell them all to fuck themselves and then run away We could run away"

Chapel stroked her hair For a while he just held her

Then he whispered, "No No, I can&039;t"

That wasn&039;t who he was

She nodded against his chest "Chapel You go do what you have to do When you&039;re done, I&039;ll be here, waiting for you so we can fly off on our next big adventure Okay? I&039;ll be right here"

They waited together in silence while CPO Andrews opened the hatch and readied the debarkation stairs

DENVER INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, COLORADO: APRIL 14, T+55:36

One of the black-suitedfor Chapel when he cauard did not offer to shake his hand "Captain Chapel," he said, in a flat voice, "welcome to Denver We&039;re to take you directly to His Honor"

"Sure," Chapel said "He&039;s at the courthouse, right?"

"My instructions are to take you to hiuard said

"Are you Reinhard?" Chapel asked

"I&039;uard repeated

"Fine" Chapel walked over to the nearest car The guard at least held the door for hiiven orders not to answer any questions, right?"

"I&039;ve been given orders to escort you to His Honor," the guard told him

After that Chapel kept his mouth shut

The three cars headed out of the airport and up a hway toward the city Outside the airport, broad fields cut by irrigation ditches lay yellow and bedraggled in the sun The sky was huge Chapel had been out west before, and should have known to expect it, but still it was always a surprise The flat land of the prairies meant you could see for er than it did back east

The effect wasn&039;t dih a zone of strip malls and old box stores, auto parts warehouses and colossal Laundro dusty and worn This part of Denver had no trees, just broad roads laid out in a perfectly square grid The car rolled down Colfax Avenue, through a zone of strip clubs and bars, and soon enough Chapel could see the city&039;s handful of skyscrapers sticking up froround ahead of theround lot, and Chapel blinked as they left the sun behind Someone opened Chapel&039;s door, and he stepped out onto concrete that stank of old uard said He wore his sunglasses even indoors

Chapel was ushered up an elevator and through a shway Patrol troopers were drinking coffee and talking about football This must be the security detail he was supposed to take over, but none of them would even er in that office but directed hie Franklin Hayes aiting there for hi alel&039;s line to dee hadn&039;t shaved in a day or so and steel-colored stubble had broken out on his cheeks He looked just as angry as he had when they&039;d spoken

"Took you long enough," Hayes said

DENVER, COLORADO: APRIL 14, T+57:01

Hayes steepled his fingers in front of hilared at Chapel "You&039;re seven hours late, Captain" He turned to his security guard "This is Reinhard, e here since you refused to coh the shoulders like a linebacker, though notjaw, but his eyes were hidden behind dark sunglasses Even without seeing his eyes, though, Chapel could tell thehim the once-over

"Doesn&039;t look like ot his qualifications Director Banks was happy to send thehanistan, fighting for your freedom"

"A cripple, then," Reinhard said

"All the best ers, that&039;s quite an elite force," Hayes went on, se had the look of a career politician He&039;d probably had acting lessons to be able to look so jovial and friendly But his eyes gave hilass in his face Hard and cold "Of course, that was several years ago"

"He does look pretty old," Reinhard agreed

"Coain wisdom, let&039;s say" Hayes put his hands down on the desk "Plenty of time for that He hasn&039;t seen much field service since he lost his arm, of course"

"So they sent you a desk jockey," Reinhard grunted "Huh"

"Are you suggesting he isn&039;t the besthis face "Are you suggesting they could have sent someone better?"

"Maybe one of the rent-a-cops orks over at the mall," Reinhard said

Chapel fuaet across but was too slick to say outright The judge hadn&039;t gotten as far in his career as he had without knowing how to lay on a good line of bullshit, but stillhe didn&039;t trust Chapel He was also saying he did trust Reinhard, his own e and let Chapel play second fiddle here

Time to fix that

"Your Honor," he said, "you&039;ll want to move to your left"

Hayes didn&039;t have tiht in his right hand and pointed at Reinhard&039;s throat The security guard was sh to keep his hands visible and not flinch

"Take off your sunglasses," Chapel said

"I&039;ll be da his best officer voice

Hayes scooted to the left in his rolling chair

Slowly, using both hands, Reinhard reached up and took off his sunglasses His eyes were a cold blue They narrowed as he stared at Chapel "You just bought yourself some trouble," he said "And you were already fully stocked"

"Shut up," Chapel told him

A larabbed it and shone the light directly in Reinhard&039;s eyes

"-the fuck," Reinhard said, squinting, turning his face away froht

"Okay He&039;s clean," Chapel said, and put the lao outside and find your lasses and keep theot it?"

"Why the hell should I-"

"The judge knohy," Chapel said

Reinhard turned to look at Hayes, who just nodded The security guard shook his head in disgust and stormed out of the office

Chapel holstered his weapon, then went over to close the door

"Huh," Hayes said "I hadn&039;t thought of that If he was a chi membranes would have closed, by reflex"

Chapel nodded

"I&039;ve known Reinhard for years," Hayes pointed out "You think I&039;h to let one of the h his nose "I haven&039;t made up my mind yet how dumb you are," he said

Hayes&039;s face started to turn red, but Chapel wasn&039;t about to let him talk He would just spoutthem anywhere

"I&039;m here to do one job, which is to keep you alive," Chapel pointed out "Sometimes you may want to doubt my methods or to question my orders Don&039;t I&039;ve taken doo chimeras in the last two days I kno it&039;s done Reinhard clearly doesn&039;t even knohat they are He doesn&039;t knohat to expect He doesn&039;t kno dangerous they really are"

"He kno to shoot," Hayes said