Dek pressed her lips tight to avoid the angry outburst brewing in her lungs. She pinned Sno with a wild-eyed glower, clenching her fists. Garr was setting her up!
“You know who you are,” Sno’s voice came calm and quiet inside her ear. “Let this play out.”
“She’ll jeopardize the entire operation,” Garr pressed on. “Hell, she’ll endanger the entire planet. The Alliance won’t stand for it when they learn what we dug up. They’ll invade. They’ll occupy LaGuardia and bury this site, along with anyone connected to it.”
“You have my attention,” Tapp growled. “Where’s your evidence, Sergeant?”
“I know what she was doing down here the night she was supposedly attacked. I confiscated her vid with the feed.” Garr took a step closer to the commander, reaching into a pocket of his field gear.
Dek tensed.
Sno adjusted his vid to zoom in on what Garr held.
A vid with a video cube. Garr flicked on the feed, and Tapp stood motionless as he watched. “I found it hidden in her quarters when she was otherwise engaged in questioning our detainee. She spent a lot of time with him while he was in detention. Maybe he’s part of this plot, too.”
“He’s not,” Tapp snapped. The commander went rigid, his hands clenched, until the feed had played out. “She filmed the fossils,” he muttered incredulously. “The dig. Everything.”
“That’s why she was in Lower Cave the night of her so-called attack. She staged the entire event to cover up what she was really doing here that night. There was no invisible intruder. You can check the digital signature yourself, sir. This is the vid-unit that was issued to her.”
Dek closed her eyes. “Hey, loan me your vid, cuz. I left mine in my quarters.” Garr had planned this in advance, fully intending to frame her.
“Let’s just hope I exposed her plans before she beamed this feed to the Alliance. But since she’s now off-site and has that capability, I guess we’ll know soon enough.”
Dek grabbed a fistful of sand. You lying bastard!
“Give me that evidence,” Tapp snapped. “Take a team. Bring her back from Sarcassius for interrogation.”
Dek stood, shaking off Sno’s grip and breaking through the refraction bubble to show herself. “Not necessary,” she barked.
Both men jolted and blanched when she seemed to materialize a few steps away. Just behind her, Sno remained hidden…and silent.
“Commander, this man is lying through his teeth. He’s the one who recorded the site after he borrowed my vid unit. And I suspect he intends to transmit a copy of the feed to the Alliance at his first opportunity to leave the site—which you just provided.” She turned her fury on Garr. “Now that he’s set me up to take the blame.”
The commander looked at her, looked at Garr, and took two steps back, putting distance between himself and both his subordinates.
“It was Garr who attacked me the night I followed an intruder into Lower Cave. He was the intruder. No one could see him because he was wearing shadowskins.”
“Trying to fabricate your cover story?” Garr snarled, sweating profusely. “I arrived after you that night. It’s obvious who the bad player is here.”
“You’re gigadam right it is,” Dek growled. “Commander, you’ll find Major Remm laid out behind those boulders. Garr attacked him just before you arrived.”
“She’s a liar!” Garr shouted. “She has to be the one who attacked the major.”
The commander fixed him with a steely glare.
Dek changed position, skirting the two men to check on Major Remm. He was breathing, but blood streamed off his temple to stain the sand below. “He needs the medic!” Dek called.
Tapp sounded the alert on his wristcom. “I’m calling in security. We’ll get to the bottom of this, right here and right now.” The commander then leveled a look at Dek. “How is it you’re even here? How did you gain access to the site?”
“That was my doing,” Sno said. He materialized in place.
Commander Tapp’s eyes bugged. “How the Hades did you just…”
“You’ll be briefed later, sir, if my superior feels it’s appropriate. Meanwhile, it appears we’ve caught an Alliance spy in the act. I just captured footage of his attack on Major Remm. I also believe our enemy doesn’t know what’s been found here only because Garr hasn’t had the opportunity to leave the site. Unlike the Lieutenant Commander. If she was an Alliance agent, she would have transmitted the images while she was in Sarcassius. If the Alliance had received that vid, they’d already be here.”
Tapp gave Garr a sour look.
Dek caught Sergeant Garr’s slight bob to the right. Was the man really stupid enough to attempt to run now?
Sno leveled a stunpulse on the sergeant.
Garr froze and his eyes went round, cutting to the left before darting back to Sno’s weapon.
“Choose wisely,” Dek advised.
14
The vid feed had been seized. Sergeant Garr was in detention.
And apparently General X was on his way to Site D.
Dek had been confined to quarters pending the general’s arrival and her subsequent questioning by the Network leader. She’d already made her statement. Already laid out her evidence, her findings, and her speculations. Already disclosed how Sergeant Garr had taken control of her vid, and when. Now she had nothing to do but await the outcome.
She hadn’t seen Commander Tapp since the incident. He was steering well clear of her.
She didn’t know Sno’s whereabouts. They’d been separated since the confrontation in Lower Cave three days ago. She wasn’t sure how she’d feel when she did see him again.
If she did.
It was possible he was already on a transport back to wherever StarDog Central was located. After their clash in Lower Cave, she wouldn’t be surprised if he’d departed—under orders or otherwise—without saying goodbye. And that left her with an empty feeling she wasn’t too keen on examining.
They’d made a good team—right up until their plan had gone awry. But with their partnership ending in meltdown—and Sno being forced to show his hand—their liaison had concluded with a definite crash and burn. Their professional one, anyway.
She didn’t even want to dwell on their personal ties. And she could bet he didn’t either.
A knock came on the door to her quarters, followed by the electronic release of the confinement locks. She rose from the table where she’d been sipping a lukewarm cup of kinna and checked the peephole. One of her security team—Sergeant Varen—stood outside.
“You’re needed in Lower Cave,” he said without preface once she’d opened the door.
“Any idea why?”
“I wasn’t given any info, but the commander did say ‘immediately.’”
Well, it was vastly better than being locked in her cubby with too many questions floating through her mind. If she was about to face a tribunal over her actions, best get on with it. No sense delaying the inevitable.
She’d already dressed in her field gear—as she did every morning—so she nodded to the sergeant and stepped outside, closing the door behind her. She walked with him as he started down the path that led to the hidden lifts.