Page 55 (2/2)

"The woo I didn’t see her myself, but others did You know about the Massacre of the Field?"

Peter frowned "You were there?"

"I was just a kid, sixteen It’s not so I talk about None of us do I lost my parents and ht, but I never knehat happened to her I suppose she was taken up To this day, I still have nightar had never told Peter anything so personal; he’d never told hi personal at all "I’m sorry, Colonel"

The pain of thisit: these were plainly written on the o Condolences noted, but that’s not why I’ you any of this If Fleet found out, he’d have my commission Or send ar paused, then began again: "Twenty-eight souls were lost that day Of those, sixteen, like my sister, were never accounted for Everybody knows about the eclipse What they don’t know is that the virals were hiding in the hardboxes, like they knew about it in advance Just before the attack began, a young DS officer in the tower reported seeing a large truck like the one you described waiting just beyond the tree line You see where I’ it was the saar nodded "Two men saw the woman The first was the DS officer I mentioned The other was a field hand, the fore those lost that day His name was Curtis Vorhees"

Another surprise "General Vorhees?"

"I expected you would find this interesting, especially given his friendship with Greer Vorhees signed on right after the massacre Half the leadership of the Second Exped came from that day Nate Crukshank was the other DS in the tower I’nize the name Did you knoas Vorhees’s brother-in-law?"

Crukshank had been the conether Peter recalled his days with Greer and Vorhees at the Colorado garrison-the two men’s warm, easy friendship, and the stack of charcoal sketches Greer had shown hieneral had been killed Vorhees had drawn the sairls

"What about the first DS? Who was he?"

"Well, that’s a name everybody knows Tifty Lamont"

This made no sense "Tifty Lamont was DS?"

"Oh, Tifty was more than that I owe that man my life many tined on with the Exped too, a scout sniper, maybe the best there ever was Made captain before he busted out Vorhees, Crukshank, and Tifty ay back I don’t know the story, but there was one"

Tifty La Peter had heard about the ruous "So what happened to him?"

"Tifty?"

"The ar’s face "I don’t know, Lieutenant You’d have to ask him That is, if you could find him If, say, you knew soar was looking at him expectantly Then:

"How many people did you say were in this colony of yours in California?"

"Ninety-two"

"Ninety-two souls, gone without a trace Pretty puzzling, if you ask me Doesn’t exactly fit the typical MO of a viral attack Put the sixty-seven at Roswell into the ot close to two hundred people pretty much vanished into thin air And now Amy takes off, just when this woman reappears and effectively severs our oil supply I could see why the brass would be concerned Evensoul who’s seen this woman isas the terrata A politically touchy situation, to say the least On the one hand, you have theto do with the man On the other, you have the Civilian Authority, which can’t, at least not officially Are you with me here, Lieutenant?"

"I’m not much for politics, sir"

"Thattheir asses Which is e find ourselves where we are Just the sort of circumstances that would benefit from a third party Somebody with a history of, let’s say, personal initiative, who can think around the corners I’m not alone in this opinion, either Certain confidential discussions have been had in high places Civilian, notyour CO makes me an expert on your character Yours and Donadio’s"

Peter frowned "What does Alicia have to do with this?"

"That I don’t know But I can tell you two things, and the math is up to you The first is that nobody’s heard from Fort Kearney in three months The second is that Donadio had two sets of orders I was only privy to the first, which came from Division and were just as I told you The second came in a sealed pouch from Sanchez’s office, eyes only"

"I don’t understand Why wouldn’t they want you to knohat her orders were?"

"An excellent question Just who knohat seems to be the crux of the matter There seems to be a certain interest in questions of confidentiality, and it doesn’t only apply to you So Fleet wants you out of the picture, I’ you don’t already know But just between us, Fleet and Sanchez haven’t always seen eye to eye, and the chain of coht think The Declaration leaves a lot of rooet pretty murky This business of the woeneral consensus a military and civilian authorities Nor is Martinez, who, as you succinctly put it, wasn’t where he was supposed to be, just when Amy somehow breaks Greer out of the stockade and takes off All very interesting"

"So you think Martinez is part of this"

Apgar shrugged "I’ht call a true believer As far as he’s concerned, Amy is a distraction and the Twelve are a ue with-she’s obviously different-but in his book, that doesn’t prove a thing He tolerated the hunt only because Sanchez ht, and what happened in Carlsbad is his opportunity to finally shut it down There are those who believe different"

Peter took abehind Fleet’s back"

Apgar frowned ironically "I wasn’t aware I’d said anything of the kind Talk like that would be above my rank Be that as it may, I would consider it a personal favor if you could assistthe appropriately resourceful individual to connect a few dots here Know anybody who fits the bill, Lieutenant?"

The ar paused before continuing: "Funny thing about that transport The damnedest coincidence, actually It sees are Should take about forty-eight hours to sort out, seventy-two at the outside"

"That’s good to know, sir"

"I thought you ht share that opinion" The colonel slapped his knees "Well, it seened to a presidential task force to deal with thisunfortunate developo where I’ot your rest, Lieutenant Busy days ahead"