Neutral Space(47)

“How long did that last?”

“On and off for six years. I last saw her before I left for leave on Micea. It was there I met Kheda.” He didn’t recognize the name “Sorry, that’s her pet name. I mean Artemis.”

He nodded. “I heard part of what you said to Jeannie about her not being herself around me. Why did you push her?”

“Because if I didn’t, she would have grown sick of this life. She would have dropped you faster than you knew what hit you. Jeannie, well, she’s exactly what you saw today. She doesn’t take crap from anyone, not even me. She laid me out flat yesterday and tried to do the same again today. You have to take the good with the bad with Jeannie, but she’s worth every bit of bad.”

“What does Jeannie do for the army?”

I shook my head. “That’s for Jeannie to say. It’s her career and her life on the line should she decide to tell you. But I will say this: if you love her at all, you won’t tell anyone we were here or that she helped us. You could unwittingly get her killed.”

“Why would you come here?” He was getting angry, and my respect for him went up a notch.

“I had no choice, and that’s precisely why she’s helping me.”

“You could turn yourself in.”

“That would gain nothing. What I’m trying to do could save millions.”

“What is it you’re trying to do?”

“I’m married to a Kelsairan. What do you think?” I went inside, not really wanting to talk to him anymore. He followed me indoors. I grabbed a beer and went into the other room to sit down. Kheda sat down on my lap and asked what the matter was. She saw Stephen coming and said nothing else. She knew I didn’t like him and she knew it was for Jeannie’s sake, not my own.

Stephen sat down across from us. I could tell he wanted to ask me more questions. I could see the wheels in his head turning. He wouldn’t say anything as long as Kheda was there. “So, uh, are you two staying in the guest room tonight?” he asked finally.

“Trust me, if you want to sleep they will stay elsewhere tonight,” Jeannie said as she came out of her workroom. She shut the door and locked it. “Besides, if they slept there, then you’d be on the couch.” I grinned at Jeannie. I could tell she was joking but he couldn’t. “What do you think Kheda make him earn his way back or just use him to the end?” Jeannie asked in Kelsairan. She already knew what I’d say.

“That’s entirely up to you. The question is does Stephen measure up to Jackson.” She replied.

“I really don’t like being treated like a pet of some sort. I should have listened to my mother.” Stephen looked at us, lost. Kheda whispered what type of panties she had on that day, and all I wanted to do was leave.

Jeannie knew what I was thinking. “Is dinner ready?” Stephen got up and went to check on it. It was a quiet meal despite Stephen’s effort to make conversation. Kheda and I merely wanted to be alone. We left as soon as we ate and I slept very well that night, and so did Kheda.





Chapter 19





W



e went back the next morning, and Jeannie came to the door in her robe. She let us in before going to the kitchen for coffee. “Where’s Stephen?” Kheda asked.

“Still in bed. He called into work sick said he had the flu. I’m afraid I have a touch of it myself. I found plenty last night to keep you busy when I’m not around today Jackson. I restored your voice command.” She said, leaving us alone again.

“She’s not sick,” Kheda observed.

“No, she’s Jeannie. Obviously, the two of them have made their peace. She stayed up most of the night combing through files while he took a nap. She’ll go wake him up when she gets bored. She’ll do it all day today watch.”

“How do you know?”

“She did it to me on more than one occasion,”I admitted.

Kheda gave me a dirty look. For once she was jealous of Jeannie and me. “You never had the flu for me.”

“Kheda, as soon as we aren’t running for our lives, you can lock me in the bedroom.” She smiled,. Stephen wandered into the kitchen and poured a cup of coffee. He wandered out again without realizing we were there.

We worked the entire day with Jeannie flitting in and out. She always did her best work when she was happy. She even kicked us out of her workroom for a while. Kheda insisted we take the opportunity to follow Jeannie’s lead. We locked ourselves in the guest room just to be sure no one walked in on us.

“Jackson,” Jeannie called through the door and woke me up. I pulled on my boxers and went to the door. “I found something you’ll want to see.” I glanced back at Kheda, who rolled over and went back to sleep. I closed the door behind me and followed Jeannie.

She sat down in her chair. “I was digging through records from the start of the war. And found this.” She pulled up the original trade agreement that signed the Sirus System over to the humans. I read it three times to be sure there was no lease agreement or tenancy clause like the Kelsairans claimed. There was none.

“Jeannie, you’re brilliant.”

“More documents stem from here, but I have to decrypt them. This was easy enough because it proves nothing bad about our government. The others are going to take time, though; I already ran three programs on them and no luck.” She pulled up another screen. “Although, I did solve another problem. A safe place for you to work, there on the edge of human territory. A safe house built for MI. I’ve already started moving the files there.”