“Okay,” Wilson said, “I want a full review. I want it to go through the entire system. I want those two officers on desk duty while this is settled. It sounds like a righteous action; but I want it to be proved.”
“Yes sir,” The man had sat in on Wilson’s principles of internal affairs course and knew what the Marshal was after. All police involved shootings had to be proved one way or the other, and they have to be one hundred percent open to public scrutiny. “Just the way you taught us sir.”
The thonian with the Marshal waited for the inspector to finish his report and then came up to Wilson, “Typical closer operation. Grab the clone and brutalize the poor victim, and then kill her. She had cut the girl’s face a couple of times and then knowing that she was going to be killed slit the woman’s throat.”
“Mac,” Wilson turned to a tall huskily built, sandy haired man, “You’ll have this in writing before the end of the day; but as of now any closer seen around the palace, the Queen, my family, or that of Mylea’s; you have permission to close their file! You’ll have your hunting license soon.”
“Aye sir,” the huskily built man replied. Mitch wondered what the Marshal had meant by a hunting license.
“Boss,” Mitch watched one of the men in suits poked the husky sandy haired man in the ribs. Mitch thought the man was distracted. She wondered what he was distracted over.
Mac had been deep in thought when his subordinate had elbowed him in his ribs. Unlike his troops, he had been distracted by his charge’s statement. He followed his subordinates pointing finger.
“Shit,” Mac cursed, turned to Wilson, “Sir Mike, it’s time to leave.”
“I see them,” Wilson replied, and got into the limo. Mitch watched the limo pull away wondering what would become of her now that Lottie was dead.
She saw Gaylord his face ashen as he walked with the body of his wife to a vehicle with the words Trenaport Coroner on it. As the body was packed into the vehicle Mitch went to Gaylord and held him. They both walked into the restaurant and soon were crying each other’s arm.
###
Jill Wilson was sitting in her room working through a history lesson about the early days of the Trenan Star Nation with the Holo running in the back ground, when out of the corner of her eye she saw her father on the Holo. He was standing with her Aunt Mylea listening to a man who was dressed in a business suit. Jill guessed he might be a cop. Just the way he stood and his haircut indicated he might have spent a good deal of his life in uniform. She had seen many like that in and around her grandmother’s home and her parents’ home here on Trena. As the camera panned back to the restaurant it briefly came to rest on a young woman with long black hair and a perfect figure.
A voice was saying “About an hour ago. A woman entered this restaurant and killed the owner. Two members of the Companion Military Police unit walked into the restaurant as the woman killed Lottie, the owner. The two Thonian MPs killed the woman. The woman is reputed to be a special security officer from EBio. The owner a woman named Lottie was a bioengineered human.”
Jill watched the news story until they went back to normal programming and then went in search of her step mother.
“Lisa did you hear?” Jill she burst out as she entered the study interrupting Lisa and her housekeeper as they planned the next week.
“Did I hear what,” Lisa snapped. Although she would have preferred that the teenager had not interrupted them; she decided not to chastise the girl. This was the first time the girl had shown any rudeness since she had been in the house.
“There’s been a bioperson killed.” Jill said and Lisa looked to Georgia who simply nodded. Until Jill had burst in on them, she assumed that the agent was just checking up on her. She turned from Georgia to hear what the girl was saying, “Two companions walked in on an assault and tried to stop it but not before she was killed. Dad was on the news with Aunt Mylea. They mentioned something about the woman that the companions killed was a special security officer from EBio.”
“A Closer,” Lisa retorted, “That’s not good!”
Lady Wilson had noticed that Georgia had quietly entered the study a little while before, and took a position by the door. They very rarely saw members of the detail in their home. She didn’t think much of it until Jill told them about the closers. Lisa was furious. She had a right to be told why the security unit had increased its presence in her home and about her family. She felt Georgia should have said something to her as she came into the study. She cooled out a bit as Georgia had simply done what she had been told to do.
As she cooled out she became concerned. Closers were a fact of life on Trena every so often. Every time one of these Closer units showed up on Trena, it caused a panic in the bioengineered community. Often one or two murders and several disappearances would be reported. The Trena Mounted Patrol had a special squad that dealt with the Closers. Usually the Mounties dealt with the Closers as harshly; if not as brutality as the Closers were to her brothers and sisters.
“Aunt Mylea said they were really bad people,” Jill’s voice interrupted her thoughts, “Aren’t they here to capture you and Dad?” “They’ll try,” her step mother responded.
“Are you and Dad that much of a threat to EBio?” Jill asked.
“Jill,” Lisa started; but didn’t know what to tell her step daughter. There was a lot of her past she still hadn’t told her husband about. She felt Michael should hear it first, from her before she shared it with anyone else. She really didn’t want to keep secrets from the girl; but now wasn’t the time to share them with her. Lady Wilson looked at the girl and continued, “Yes. Of all the biopeople that have escaped, none have ever been CDP’s. Then there is some information that I know that the company doesn’t want to see the light of day. There are a few other reasons they want me partly because who I was!” “Who were you,” Jill asked.
“I was a Containment and Alignment officer,” Lisa replied, “They get pretty upset when people like me leave C & A teams. We know too much. They are afraid who I might share what I know with. They assume I have told your father.”
“So these Closers are here to take you and Dad some place you can’t talk.” Jill asked.
“Yes,” Lisa answered, not knowing how far to go with this. Jill needed to know more about the company she was the major stock holder in; but Lisa wasn’t too certain if she should be the one to tell her about it. She was after all highly prejudiced when it came to EBio.
“But why did they kill that biowoman?” Jill asked,
“To try to intimidate and terrorize the biopeople who have sought refuge on Trena.” Lisa answered. “But all Closers aren’t assassins Jill. In the early days they did do some good. When Company officers or managers tried to sell clones without the company knowing about it or some other skullduggery the closers tried to at first to keep things from getting out of hand. But then Closers became assassins as they tried to apprehend the escaped clones.”
“Why haven’t I heard more of this? I know that Grand Mom and Princess Carroll didn’t tell me about my heritage in the company, but I thought I would hear about these closers.”
“You might have heard them referred to as Earth Bioengineering Containment and Alignment Teams.” Lisa said, “We were the company’s special forces.”
“You were part of them?” Jill asked incredulously, she couldn’t believe that her step mother was the type of person to be associated with the woman who had killed the clone.
“For a short period of time,” Lisa said, “I escaped from a containment team.”
There was a lot more than just escaping from the containment team. A lot more but Jill didn’t need to know the details. Yet!
Jill was quiet and Georgia looked at her charge in a new light. There was something about Lisa that Georgia couldn’t quite place, and now it made a little sense. Lisa had a discipline that she herself wished she had.
“They are on Trena,” Jill asked, “For
you and Dad?”
“Yes,” Lisa said, “But for more than what I am. The Company does want me back. Over the years I seemed to be at the right place and the right time to keep the company from doing some things they shouldn’t. A couple of the company security people and a couple of company execs are a little ticked off. There’s more. Jill; I don’t want to keep secrets from you; but there are some things that I will not discuss with you. You have to trust me when I say that today is not the time to discuss it. We’ll sit down and talk about my time on the run and with the company but not today. For now just believe me when I say I never have nor will I harm anyone who isn’t harming me or mine.”
Seeing the intensity on her step mother’s face, Jill knew that Lisa meant every word she had said. Jill decided to let it drop for now. It was obvious that Lisa didn’t want to talk about it. She would honor her step mother’s desire to speak about her past at a different time and place. She thought that it was probably for the best; as she was having some trouble with her mother’s statements. She needed to know more; but she would have to wait for it.
“Lady Wilson,” Maggie intruded onto her thoughts, “I think we’re done here.”
“I think so too,” Lisa agreed with her housekeeper. Seeing the time she turned to
Maggie, “We’re having an early dinner tonight aren’t we`?” “Yes,” Maggie replied.
“Then it’s time for us to prepare it.” Lisa mused, “Jill if you aren’t doing anything right now would you join us in the kitchen?”
“Sure,” Jill said glad to get away from her homework
“Are the Queen, Lord Mercer, General Alphine, and Chief Atomi still joining us?” Maggie asked.
“I haven’t heard anything different.” Lisa turned to Georgia, “Are they on time?”
“Yes ma’am,” the redhead replied. “They are back in the Queen’s office, going over the Marshal’s testimony, and they just about done.”
“Okay then,” Lisa turned to Maggie and Jill, “We need to get busy."
As they trooped out of the study Jill commented, “I listened to Dad’s testimony for a while Mom. I think he did okay. At least Lord Ramsey seemed to back down.”
“Yeah, Michael did do well,” Lisa responded. She had sat through the testimony in the small study she had made her own. It had surprised her. But it gave her a quiet place to work without the kids or people disturbing her. Maggie had later told her that it was the Queen Mums private study. The main study was for the kids and the family but this small place was for the Queen Mum to get away from the family. Lisa had adopted it and it soon became her special quiet place. Even Mike didn’t bother her in the study unless he had to. As she reviewed her husband’s testimony it surprised her that Jill had paid attention to her father’s testimony. She didn’t think watching parliamentary testimony was a normal teenager routinely watched.
“Jill,” Lisa said softly stopping the girl in her tracks, “Don’t take this wrong; but what are you doing watching the news. I mean I would have thought that you would be watching Trena Now, or some other thing geared toward you and your fellow kids?”
“Ever since you and Dad disappeared, I always have had a news account. Trying to find out what happened to you. I was desperate to hear about you. So I thought the news might tell me. If I knew how rich I was I would have hired a PI to find you! As it was I was limited to using an expert system to help me to find you. If I had not seen the Queen announcing the disaster on the Holo I wouldn’t be here now.”
“I see,” Lisa said, up until the evacuation they had tried to live as quiet a life as possible. Avoiding the press as much as possible to keep EBio from finding them was something they had done for years.
“Since I arrived on Trena I wanted to know more than I did about Trena. Watching the news helps, and of course anything about you or Dad I am going to pay attention to.” Jill continued.
“I see,” Lisa said, “I was just curious. All right let’s see what Maggie needs. Jill we’ll talk about things later.”
###
The last couple of days had been hectic for Mitch. She had stayed with Gaylord, Lottie’s husband as he prepared for Lottie’s memorial. Lottie had been cremated, so they didn’t have a traditional viewing as many families had, nor did they have a wake. Gaylord planned to celebrate his wife life, not her death. Gaylord let Mitch look through their albums to find pictures of Lottie; he wanted to display them around the restaurant, which was her life. She found hundreds of pictures. It surprised her as she leafed through the albums to see that Lottie was heavily involved in the community. She found pictures of Lottie volunteering at a local culinary school. Mitch found that over the last ten years that she wasn’t the only person that Lottie had tried to help. There were several, both norms like herself and biopeople. She collected all the photos, much too many to post around the restaurant. Then she idly picked up one of the Trena holo projectors, and wondered if she could add to its library of images. She could. Spending an hour composing the presentation, she then loaded it into a remembrance cube. She added some music and was reviewing it when Gaylord stopped in to check on her. When he saw the presentation she had put together he was speechless. He gripped her shoulder as a tear slowly crept down his face.
“Thank you,” his voice softly obscured by emotion. “You know. A lot of our friends might like a copy of this. Why don’t you make some copies?”
“All right,” Mitch said and began to unbox several of the remembrance cubes. She unlocked them so they could have Lottie’s program loaded onto them. She told the expert system to load Lottie’s program onto them and went to see if there was anything she could do to help Gaylord.
She threw several table clothes over the counter. She did it so the clothes draped over the stools. She finished placing photos of Lottie around the dining room and helped Gaylord set out drinks and snacks. Then it was time for the memorial.
People began arriving. She knew most of the people who came to the service. There was the older couple who took every meal at the restaurant. Then there was the shoe shop owner who ate lunch every day at the counter. Then the guy who drove the Restaurant Supply Service truck came in. She listened to everyone’s remembrance of Lottie. But not everyone shared their remembrances of Lottie. A short balding rail thin man found a corner and seemed to watch the crowd. Gaylord went over and spoke to him for a bit. She went around the group that now numbered fifty seeing if anyone needed anything, getting it if they did. She stepped out of the back door to get some air and found the rail thin man standing there with a couple others.
“Any news on getting the rest of them,” a young woman asked.
“No,” the rail thin man answered.
“Kellogg,” a Mounty asked, “Is there anything I can do to help you find them?” “No Boise,” Kellogg responded, “I’ve got everything I need. I just need some time. She’s gone to ground. She and her team have holed up somewhere. They’ll go underground and bid their time.”
“Kellogg,” A gamma biowoman spoke up. “We both know Hozenbur doesn’t do what other people like her do!”
“I know,” Kellogg responded, “I know.”
The others lapsed into silence and went back in. Feeling a little chilled in the night air, Mitch started back in, but was stopped by Kellogg.
“Miss Mitchum,” The man said, “I know you were one of Lottie’s projects.” Mitch didn’t know what to say.
“If you need anything,” He looked into her eyes, “call me.”
He handed her a business card and walked into the restaurant with her. She stopped long enough to put the card with her things in Gaylord’s office. As she was walking into dining room she saw the two Thonian military police officers pay their respects to Gaylord, then leave.
Shortly the memorial service broke up. A couple of people stayed behind to help them tidy up. There wasn’t a remembrance holo projector left.
The morning after the memorial, Gaylord came up t
o her as she finished cleaning up from the memorial service.
“Mitch,” Gaylord said to her, “I am not going to reopen the restaurant. If we were not going to close it anyways because of the evacuation I might make a go of it. That’s what Lottie would want me to do.”
Mitch nodded understanding. “So what are you going to do?”
“My brother lives on McKay,” Gaylord answered, “He thinks he can get me a job working with him. Mitch, I asked if there was a job for your there. There isn’t. Too many refugees from Trena are already living on the moon. I wouldn’t be able to go there if there wasn’t a guaranteed job waiting for me on McKay.”
“I see,” Mitch said wondering what was going to become of her. She missed the boat. The Adventure had been the one place she felt she belonged. Now she didn’t belong anywhere.
“I’m sorry Mitch,” Gaylord said sincerely. “It’ll take a couple of weeks to close up the restaurant. I’ll need some help closing up. Until I turn the keys over to my land lord you have a job.”
Mitch nodded asking, “Where do we start?”
Gaylord looked around. He obviously didn’t know where to start.
“Do we have boxes?” Mitch asked.
“Not enough,” Gaylord replied, “Let me get some boxes in here. In the meantime why don’t you look around and see where we should start.”
A few days later Mitch and Gaylord were packing up the remaining food so they could donate it to a food pantry, when a woman entered the kitchen. “Mr. Nambi?” “Yes,” Gaylord answered.
“I’m Nicole Johansson,” she introduced herself, “I’m with the Crown’s Crime
Victims Comprehension Service.”
“Oh,” Gaylord took the card the woman handed him.
“I’m here to discuss your wife’s murder and help you recover from her murder,”
The woman said, “Do you have some time to meet with me?”