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the clipping on Panfild, but not for the reason you think. I've been doing some inquiries
of my own."
"What sort of inquiries?"
She swallowed visibly as she set the stack of files on the table in front of him.
"Remember when I first came here? You said Panfild didn't even have a uniform
infraction on his record. That bothered me, but I didn't know why, until I came here that
night. I went through all the files on Panfild, and then I found that photo. It was taken
just after the Altura campaign, at the awards ceremony."
"Yeah," Rick agreed, nodding slightly. "But what's...?"
"My point? I was there, at the awards ceremony, too. That photo jogged my
memory. Take a good look, Rick. That's not Panfild's uniform. Look," she continued,
leaning over his shoulder to point at the man in the picture, "his dress coat is about two
sizes too small, and see how it rides up a good inch from his waist? And here, look at his
epaulet. The rank's wrong. It isn't his uniform, though I've no idea whose it really is.
That doesn't really matter, anyway. It doesn't even matter that he showed up at a formal
military function so far outside of regulation that he should have drawn lots of comments
and attention but didn't. What matters is the reason he did it."
Rick glanced at her face, just inches from his own, and held his breath. Here it
came. Here was where she proved she was a spy, and defended Panfild's actions, like she
had at that briefing.
"What reason?" He asked quietly when she didn't say anything.
She turned to look at him, her eyes stormy. "He was trying to goad the Special
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Forces recipients into accusing him, so he could revoke their awards, and drum them out
of the military on the charge of gross insubordination. Those were some of the best, and
bravest, people who ever fought in that damned war, and he was trying to destroy them,
and everything they stood for." Righteous pride flared in her eyes, then. "But those guys
stood right there with their chins up, and silently took that insult. They knew that what
Panfild was doing mocked everyone who'd died, mocked everything that all of us had
bled for, and lost friends for, but they wouldn't let him win. If anything, they deserved
medals for that!"
Those words, and the look in her eyes, hit Rick square in the gut, and he felt the
knot of anxiety disappear. She wasn't a spy! Not only was she not defending Panfild, but
she was also tearing the man, and his ethics, to pieces. Suddenly, Rick wanted to grab
her and kiss her until they were both breathless. But that wasn't what she wanted, he
reminded himself sternly. She only wanted him to trust her. Glancing at the rest of the
paperwork she'd brought, he asked, "So, what's all this?"
"The results of my inquiries. I borrowed that photo from the files so I could track
down the reporter who'd snapped it. His name s Carey Feldar, and he's provided some
very valuable information about Panfild, including all the instances he could find where
Panfild not only went outside the regs, but clean outside the law."
Rick's eyes lit with pride as he looked into her face. She was a wonder! He must
have looked at that photo of Panfild a hundred times, but he'd never thought to look any
closer than the surface. She'd dug right in, and turned up a contact that could prove
invaluable to them later. And she'd done all this at a great risk to herself. His heart
clenched as he remembered the letter he'd found. Whoever had wanted her to play spy
would find out that she'd refused to play their game, sooner or later, and then she'd be in
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mortal danger. He swallowed hard. She'd be in peril, and there wasn't a damned thing he
could do about it.
Looking into Tamia's hopeful eyes, Rick forced a smile to his face. "All right,
Tamia. You wanted dealt into the game, so I think I've got you a hand. You've dug up
some impressive shit on Panfild already. Are you ready for round two?"
"Hoo-yah, Commander, she said, grinning
"Okay, I'm giving you the War Department investigation. I'll set you up with
Walter to get proper ID and passcodes, and Kelly and I will put you through the Arena s
training sims. for the building. But when you go in there, you re going to have to do it
solo. We need some kind of solid proof that Panfild is involved in that missing arms
shipment, and we need to find out what other skeletons he's hiding, too. One person has
a chance of getting in and back out with minimal difficulty. Two people would be taking [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]