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Testo

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Richard's voice was level, nonconfrontational. "Commodore Beall, I am unable to answer your question due to matters of national security."
"Oh, fer Chrissakes-look: I'd have been happy to help. And I can keep a lid on things. We could have worked together-under the radar, out of sight of the high...
"I know, and I appreciate your willingness to help. But, Commodore, do you realize that that same kind of willingness has now landed Lieutenant Winfield, Chie...
"Okay, I'll let 'em off-as Trev always knew I would."
Downing shook his head. "Commodore, I wasn't trying to get them released, nor call attention to the rather striking inconsistency in your own insistence upon ...
Beall flushed. "Now, listen-"
"What I was trying to indicate is that we had to keep Ms. Corcoran's name completely out of all reports, and out of all media. As far as anyone knows, she was...
Beall turned round to look at Elena, looked back at Richard. "Yes, I do. Sir."
"Very well. I have one last directive for you to expedite."
"Very well."
"I would like the three SEALs you have in the brig released and issued immediate medical furloughs, with transport passes for Earth."
"What? Why? My men-"
"Commodore. Those men are no longer 'your' men. We can't have them talking to their teams."
"And I can't spare them, Mr. Downing. I'm pretty shorthanded up here; I've only got two teams in the shack and these three are my most experienced-"
"Commodore, I'm sorry, but this cannot be a matter of debate. And I would also appreciate your writing them sterling letters of recommendation should it becom...
Beall went back in his seat as if he had been hit in the chest. "Discharge them from-? Downing, this can't be necessary. These are good men-the best. They can...
"Commodore. Your appreciation of them is duly noted. And I assure you, this will not in any way damage their careers. Now, if you would kindly begin the neces...
Beall frowned. "Not as though I have much choice, anyway."
"I'm sorry, but no, you don't."
Beall looked over at Trevor and jerked his head toward the door. "We're through. And Trev-"
Trevor heard the shift in tone, stopped.
"Sorry about your father. You too, Ms. Corcoran."
* * *
"Thank you, Uncle Richard," Trevor said. "Those were some inspired lies."
Downing shrugged, smiled as they entered the transit car.
"But how did you find out that Beall had detained me? Hell, I didn't even know you were on-planet yet-"
The car's doors closed with a rough sigh. "No, but evidently Elena did."
Trevor slid into the seat next to his sister, smiled at her. "Nice work, sis." The car started its pneumatic journey down into the residential levels of Syrti...
"One good rescue deserves another, I always say."
Richard leaned back as he looked at her. "You do seem remarkably well-collected after your ordeal."
"Which only goes to prove that you were right about my having missed a career in the theater," she said. "I'm just looking forward to getting into a hot bath....
Trevor resisted the impulse to nod in empathy. "I'm sorry, El, but I've got to ask: have you remembered anything else about the bastards?"
"No, just what I told you in the VTOL. They were careful not to talk around me and wouldn't answer questions. But they seemed impatient-as though they were wa...
Richard nodded. "Cat's-paws. Pawns in someone else's game."
"Whose?"
"Don't know. Maybe the megacorporations-but kidnapping the daughter of a recently deceased hero is daft. Frankly, I can't see how it would benefit any of the ...
"Because you've been fussing about Dad's memorial for two months, making sure we'd all be here on time, were not traveling together-and making sure it was tim...
Trevor was suddenly aware that his mouth was open: What was this all about?
Richard's response only made his confusion worse. "No fooling you, eh, El?"
Trevor felt the car buck sideways and then drop: they were in a descent tube, now. "If it's not too much trouble, would one of you please tell me what the hel...
Elena nodded toward Downing. "Dad's memorial is a cover for something else. Richard and Dad used to do this sort of thing all the time. They created social ev...
Richard shook his head. "That's not entirely accurate either, Elena. Your father's become quite a provocative figure in the last three months, particularly in...
Trevor frowned. "But you didn't deny that his memorial is, at least in part, a cover for something else."
In the uncomfortable two seconds of silence that followed, Trevor felt as though the Uncle Richard he had always known was undergoing some swift and horrible ...
Downing looked at his hands. "I couldn't. Things have been changing dramatically since Parthenon. And they're about to change even more dramatically."
Elena's eyes had never left Richard's face. "You're bringing us inside, aren't you?"
Inside: the word that Trevor and Elena had adopted as the shorthand label for whatever it was that Dad and Uncle Richard did together-and could never talk abo...
Richard had been nodding. "Yes, you're being brought inside. At the request of others."
"Others? What others?"
"That's part of what we'll be talking about after the memorial."