Open Secrets

“You look almost human, mate,” Pe

“How’re they hangin’, newsboy?”he said, breaking into one of his trademark leering grins. “I know this probably comes off lookin’ a bit like a Dear John letter, but rest assured, I haven’t dumped you for a younger reporter.”

“As if I had reason to worry,” Pe

On the viewer, Qui

He smiled again, gesturing toward himself with his right hand. “I clean up pretty good, don’t I? Too bad you’re not here to smell the fancy cologne I bought. It’s curling the paint right off the walls of the ship. But taking a bath more than once every other time I get kicked out of a bar is just the start. I’ve got some places I need to go, some people I need to see, and some things I need to work out. I guess it’s what you call a midlife crisis of conscience or something.”

Realization was begi

“By the time you get this message, I’ll be gone,”Qui

“Anyway, I’m not one to wax philosophic or get all choked up about this kind of thing, but I want you to know, Tim, that you’ve been a good friend…a better friend than I deserved, to be honest, and one of these days, I promise I’ll tell you exactly what that means. Once I get some of this other baggage behind me, I’ll be back, so tell Tom and Allie not to let you drink all the good stuff while I’m gone.”He paused before reaching up and tapping his fingertips to his head in mock salute. “Stay out of trouble, and keep doin’ what you’re doin’. It makes for entertaining readin’ on these long trips.”

The image went dark a second or two later, leaving Pe

Their friendship had been an interesting one from the start, coming as it had while Pe

Despite his initial regret at not being able to offer farewells to Qui

You’ve got a demon or two of your own, mate,Pe

The very thought of her name caused his gut to tighten. Though he had not forgiven her for the sabotage she had wrought on his career—damage he was really just begi

So, maybe—just maybe—you should cut her some slack?

Perhaps, Pe

11

Diego Reyes sat at the table in the center of the drab gray meeting room, saying nothing. He was content to stare into his coffee cup, watching the dark brown liquid swirl as he stirred it with a swizzle stick. As far as he was concerned, it was likely to be the most productive task he accomplished all day.

It was as depressing a room as any he had ever seen. Even his cell was warm and welcoming by comparison. One of three such rooms in the station’s security section, it was designed for interviews or interrogations of criminal suspects and private conversations between detainees and their legal counsel. Unlike the food slot in his cell, however, the unit installed in these rooms provided food and drink at any time of day, not just at mealtimes.

The coffee tasted the same.

“Commodore?” a voice asked for the third time, preceded by a soft, polite clearing of the speaker’s throat.

Resigning himself to the fact that he would not be allowed to sit and enjoy his coffee in silence, Reyes looked up from the cup and into the wide, questioning eyes of the room’s only other occupant, Commander Nathan Spires.

“What?”

Taken aback by the gruff response, the young officer shifted position in his chair and made a show of reviewing whatever it was he had displayed on his data slate. Clearing his throat again, he leaned forward until his elbows rested on the metal table’s polished surface. “I thought we might begin to work on your defense, sir.”

“Seems to me we did that already,” Reyes replied, returning his attention to his coffee, which—he was finally forced to admit—looked only slightly more appealing than it tasted.

Spires nodded. “As you may recall, sir, we made no progress during my first visit. Perhaps it slipped your mind, but—”

“That’s twice in two sentences that you’ve questioned my mental faculties, Mr. Spires,” Reyes said, locking eyes with the lawyer. “I hope that’s not a precursor to you suggesting that my defense should be based on my being insane or simply a moron.”

He watched as Spires’s jaw clenched in reaction to the verbal jab, but to his credit, the lawyer did not rise to the bait. Still, Reyes could see this was a man who was used to controlling the situation around him.