Chapter 25

What the Hell is Going On?

As the investigation into the destruction of the Cylon lab run by Dr. Gaius Baltar progressed without the identification of any suspects, unconfirmed rumors began to circulate that a fourth Cylon model was in some way involved in the lab's destruction. When confronted with the rumor by the reporter D'Anna Biers, Cavil flatly denied that there were more than three Cylon models on Caprica thus eventually disproving the long-held axiom that machines are incapable of lying.

-Bartell, History of the Second Cylon War

.

Lieutenant Lee Adama and Sergeant Ackerman stood at attention in front of Major Parker's desk. All things considered, Lee was surprisingly calm. Ackerman, on the other hand, was visibly seething. Parker looked like he couldn't quite grasp the story Ackerman had just told.

"Let me make sure I understand, Lieutenant Adama. A subject that Sergeant Ackerman was questioning pulled a knife on him, grabbed the front of his shirt, threatened him and you let her go."

"There's more to it than that, sir."

"I'm listening. Enlighten me."

"According to the subject, Sergeant Ackerman turned off the recording device before he became physically abusive in his interview tactics. He subsequently slammed her head into the table opening a bad cut above her eye. She was afraid for her life. She grabbed the front of his shirt because she was afraid he was going to continue his assault on her."

Major Parker looked skeptically at Ackerman. "Is any of that true?"

"No, sir. It's my opinion she was on drugs, something Lieutenant Adama would have recognized if he was a more experienced interrogator. During the interview she passed out and hit her head. I was trying to help her. When she came to, she pulled the knife on me and grabbed my shirt."

"Sir, I talked to her while I bandaged the cut. She was not on drugs. I'd like to suggest we look at the recording of the interview. If what the sergeant says is true, it will be on the recording."

Ackerman quickly said, "I've been having problems with the machine in that room. It keeps cutting off on me."

For the first time since Lee had entered Parker's office, he saw a flicker of doubt about Ackerman's story in the major's eyes.

Parker finally said wearily, "I'm going to table this until I've had a chance to look at the interview. I'll do that before I go home tonight. Sergeant Ackerman, a subject you were interviewing was injured in the process of that interview. Whatever the reason, that bothers me very much. I'll get back to you tomorrow or the next day. Dismissed."

"Sir…"

"That will be all right now, Ackerman." Lee started to follow Ackerman out the door. "I haven't dismissed you yet, Lieutenant Adama."

Lee turned around and waited until Ackerman was gone.

"Close the door." As soon as Lee complied, Parker said. "What the hell is going on? Haven't I got enough problems without having to deal with something like this?"

"Sir, I apologize, but in my opinion Ackerman is the one on drugs. I think he's taking stims."

"I don't doubt that at all. Half my interrogators are on stims. There have been times lately that I've thought about taking them myself. Now tell me about this subject. What's your gut feeling? Is Ackerman telling the truth or is she?"

"I believe her, sir. I bandaged the cut on her forehead. I saw the blood on the table. I saw the fear in her eyes when she came out of the door to room twelve. Something bad had just happened in there. I believe that he slammed her head into the table so hard he knocked her out. I believe she was confused and afraid for her life. She's only nineteen years old. She was in a refugee camp for three years. She alluded to a bad experience she had there. She's very attractive. She probably had to learn to fight to protect herself."

Parker leaned his head back against his chair, took a deep breath and shut his eyes. When he opened them a moment later he gestured to one of the chairs in front of his desk.

"Have a seat. I'll look at the interview. I have to follow up on this or Ackerman will probably go over my head. I don't need that right now. What's her name?"

"Carrie Warner."

Parker made a notation in a notebook on his desk. "Check her out. Find out as much as you can about her. Talk to her employer. See what kind of work history she has. See if she has any behavior patterns that would indicate drug use. Run her through all the database checks, see if she's has so much as a speeding ticket. Verify that she was in a refugee camp. If she comes up clean, I'll tell Ackerman I'm putting a reprimand in your folder for failing to notify me of what was going on before you let her go. I'm so stressed and overworked right now I'm sure I'll forget to do it."

"He's the one who should be charged with assault, sir."

"If her version of the incident is correct, then I agree with you, but I can't afford to lose a seasoned interrogator right now. Since we got nothing on that recording, in the end it will come down to her word against his."

"You're right, sir. How far should I carry the investigation of Miss Warner…a phone call to her employer or a visit?"

"Visit him. We're going to cover all the bases. If something doesn't ring true, we'll check him out as well. Ackerman might have overstepped on this one, but his instincts are good. I can't totally discount everything he said. Something pushed him to do what he did. See if you can find out what it was."

"Do you want me to interview her again?"

"You obviously established a rapport with her. Look at her interview and ask her the same questions. See if she gives you the same answers she gave Ackerman, but don't bring her in here. Do it privately at her place of employment if possible. What happened to the knife?"

Lee felt the knife in his pocket. "I returned it to her, sir, after I cleaned and bandaged the cut. There was no indication she had used it except in self-defense."

Lee could hardly believe he had just lied to Parker about the knife. First he'd lied to protect John and Laura, and now he'd lied in order to keep the knife and return it to a girl he'd just met. To use one of Major Parker's favorite phrases…what the hell was going on with him?

Parker looked at him and again Lee saw the fatigue on his face. "The sooner we put this one to bed, the better. I'll tell Captain Hadrian to keep an eye on Ackerman. I agree with you. I think he's over-stressed. Maybe a couple of days off will calm him down. I can't afford to take an experienced interrogator out of the loop right now, but I can't afford another incident like this one, either. I'll ask Agent Darren if he can loan me one of his men for a couple of days. Get back to me as soon as you can on Carrie Warner. That will be all, lieutenant. You're dismissed."

"Yes, sir."

Lee was at the door when Parker said, "One other thing." Lee turned. "The advice you gave me about not letting Hadrian interview your friend Gallagher. I should have taken it."

"Sir?"

"Look at the interview. You were right. He was in that room for nearly twenty minutes, and she still got nothing useful. Of course I doubt Ackerman would have either. But Darren and I got lucky with Ms. Roslin. It's definitely a love affair. She'd just gotten roses from him. She even stopped while we were chatting with her and took a call from him. She was very discreet and they talked for less than a minute, but she blushed as red as those roses while she was thanking him for them. She's in love. Even that little weasel Doral left her office convinced."

"John and Lissa have split up. He moved into another apartment this week. Lissa has something going on with Dr. Baltar."

Lee realized from Parker's look that he had finally managed to surprise his CO with something.

"Isn't love wonderful? I'm glad some people still have time for it. I'm lucky I have an understanding wife."

"Yes, sir."

Parker smiled his thin, humorless smile. "Well it sure looks like Roslin and Gallagher have found it. I'll bet Cavil is crying in his beer over losing the opportunity to charge her with treason. Now, get back to work and find out about Carrie Warner for me."

As Lee went back to his desk in the large room he shared with the other interrogators, he once again thought that he must be doing something right. Parker had just given him official permission to find out more about the green-eyed girl in his dream.

He brought up the standard background check program on his computer, entered Carrie's Colonial ID number, and clicked Search All. He knew that searching all the databases would take longer, but it was the only way to get everything Parker had asked for.

While that was running he opened the software that let him access the recorded interviews. Carrie's would not be indexed by her name yet. Someone in the operations center would do that tonight, but Hadrian had shown him how to access the interviews before they were indexed by the subject's name. All he needed to know was the room number and time of the interview.

He watched Carrie's interview four times trying to get a feel for her. From the beginning it was clear that she didn't like Ackerman and he didn't like her. She had a smart mouth just like she'd said. Bingo on Thursday nights? Lee seriously doubted Carrie Warner played Bingo every Thursday night. She was making fun of Ackerman. But why? Was it personal or did the key to her whole attitude lie in her last answer before the recording stopped. Was her dislike confined to Ackerman or did she feel that way about the military in general?

Okay, here's how I really feel. The Cylons were built to serve us. Not the other way around. Just like the military is supposed to serve us.

She'd put a lot of emphasis on the word supposed. The questions now in Lee's mind were not only what had transpired after the recording had stopped, but also exactly what Carrie Warner had meant. Did she think the military was serving the Cylons? Had she said it? Is that what had caused Ackerman to slam her head into the table? Or had something else transpired before he did that.

The database searches were still running. To pass the time until they were finished he pulled up John's interview. It had taken place two days after Lissa's interview, almost a week before John had caught her with Baltar. Hadrian had conducted the interview without Ackerman being present. Lee wondered if she had done that on purpose. He zoned out during the standard questions that he had come to think of as name, rank and serial number. It took John about five seconds after that before he turned his charm on Jill Hadrian.

"I don't know why, but I feel like I've been called to the principal's office."

"We're just here to establish some basic facts. How long have you known Lissa Colson?"

"Let's see. I met her three, more like three and a half years ago, but we lost touch. We didn't start seeing each other until about two years ago."

"At which time you started living together?"

John smiled. "About that time. Speaking of the principal's office, when I was in the seventh grade I had to go to the principal's office because I got caught behind the gym kissing a girl. You remind me a lot of her. Her name was Rebecca. She was the prettiest girl in the seventh grade. I had the biggest crush on her."

Lee rolled his eyes. Surely Hadrian wouldn't fall for that one. Apparently she didn't. Maybe he had sold her short.

"We're not here to discuss events that far in the past, Captain Gallagher."

"Call me John. It'll make it easier for me to answer these personal questions."

"How did you get the injury over your eye, Captain?"

Hadrian didn't call him by his first name, either. Lee had really misjudged her. John was having no luck at all charming her. He knew John had no interest in Jill Hadrian. The whole interview was like a game to him and Hadrian was part of the challenge.

"How is that pertinent to Lissa? She didn't do it."

"Answer the question, please."

"It'll make you think I don't have enough sense to walk and think at the same time. It would really embarrass me to talk about it."

"Give it a shot. How did you get injured?"

"Do you know what happens when you're not paying attention to where you're going and walk into an engine cowling?"

"Tell me how it would look, Captain Gallagher."

"I think it would look very similar to the injury over my eye."

"How often do you and Miss Colson talk about her work?"

"We don't talk about her work."

"You've lived together for two years and you expect me to believe that the two of you have never talked about what she does."

"I know she works in a lab. I know she works for Dr. Baltar. I know she thinks he's a genius. I know their work has something to do with artificial intelligence, and that's all I know. Besides the fact that she signed some kind of confidentiality agreement, Lissa never talks about her work with me because I wouldn't understand it. That stuff is way over my head. You see I never even finished high school. Not many people know that about me. I'm not real proud of it."

Lee was shocked. John had never told him that. He wondered if his father knew. John was clearly very intelligent. He understood exactly what was going on in that lab and it wasn't research into artificial intelligence, either.

Hadrian continued. "Your military record indicates that you were a Viper pilot, which means you went through Flight School and Officer Candidate School at the very least. I'm not aware that they take high-school drop outs into either one of those programs so why do you expect me to believe that?"

"It's probably in my record somewhere, but I'll just tell you and save you the trouble of looking it up. It means going back into the past so I hope you'll bear with me. By the time I was fifteen I'd lost my entire family so I got sent to a foster home. That didn't work out too well. I ran away when I was sixteen, signed onto a fishing trawler, and spent what would have been my last two years of high school learning how to survive on the North Sea of Virgon. And because I was a tall, skinny kid and got picked on a lot, I learned how to use my fists. That was the sum of my education for two years."

"Captain…John, you don't have to go into anything that personal."

For the first time Lee heard Hadrian's tone of voice soften. It wasn't John's good looks and charm that had gotten to her, it was the rough years he'd spent after he'd lost his family.

"No, you asked. I don't mind telling you. Just past my eighteenth birthday I was in port while our ship was undergoing some repairs. I happened to walk by the window of a recruiter and saw a poster with pilots on it. The First Cylon War had been going on for almost nine years by then and we weren't doing too well. I thought, hell, why not? I'd rather die fighting Cylons than go down on a trawler like my daddy and my brothers, so I signed my name and a couple of days later I was on a military transport to Picon. I took a couple of tests and next thing you know, somebody put me in a Viper simulator, and I knew what I'd been born to do. At that point they needed pilots so bad nobody cared that I didn't have a piece of paper showing I knew how to conjugate verbs or use pi to figure the circumference of a circle and whatever else it is they teach you in high school. I could fly a Viper and that's all anybody cared about.

"I went through OCS and then Flight School and six months later I was sitting in a real Viper, getting launched off the Solaria, fighting real Cylons. So yeah, I was a Viper pilot. I never did finish high school, though, never learned anything about whatever kind of research it is Lissa was doing in that lab." John smiled. "I guess you could say she's not really interested in me for my mind."

There were a few long moments of silence during which Hadrian apparently decided he was being truthful and moved on.

"What kind of relationship do you have with Laura Roslin?"

"She's an incredibly beautiful and compassionate woman…determined and courageous, too. A lot of people who were in the refugee camps owe their lives to her. I'm a big admirer of hers."

"You didn't answer my question, John."

He smiled. "No offense, Captain, but you just got the only answer you're going to get from me regarding my relationship with Laura."

"So you're not going to admit that you're having an affair with Ms. Roslin?"

"I'm not."

"You're not going to admit it or you're denying having an affair with her?"

"What does my relationship with Laura Roslin have to do with why I'm here? I thought this was about Lissa."

"We're just covering all the bases. So you never discussed Miss Colson's work with Laura Roslin while you were having dinner with her?"

"I was never able to discuss Lissa's work with anyone during dinner or anywhere else because I don't know what it is she does. You can keep me here all day asking me the same questions as many times and as many ways as you want, and I'll be happy to sit here talking to you. But I'll keep giving you the same answers because they're the only ones I've got. Of course after a point I'm going to start thinking you're keeping me here for another reason…Captain. I'm going to start thinking that you just enjoy talking to me. And judging by the way you keep looking at me, I'd be right, wouldn't I?"

Lee saw John smile again, that easy-going, charming smile. He'd decided to finish the game. It had been over for five minutes anyway. He knew John had realized the minute he'd gotten to her. Lee would have given anything to have been able to see the look on Hadrian's face at that moment. He clearly heard the change in her voice, though as she finished the interview and tried to regain the control she had obviously lost.

"You can go, Captain Gallagher. Understand we can and will call you to come back in if we have any more questions."

The recording ended. Lee knew exactly what Parker had meant. They'd learned something about John, but nothing useful for the current situation. And nothing of importance that wasn't already in his military record if anyone had done a thorough check. He'd done exactly like Lee had predicted, too. John hadn't admitted to any kind of intimate relationship with Laura. Yet he hadn't denied it either. He'd played it perfectly. Anyone watching that interview would come to the conclusion that John and Laura were intimately involved.

Lee checked his database search. It had finished. Carrie Warner's birth certificate was on file at Central Registry. On March 23 of this year she would be twenty years old. She had a valid Caprican driver's license that would need to be renewed the following year. No criminal record. No traffic violations, moving or otherwise. No utilities in her name which meant they were probably in a roommate's name or a boyfriend's. It was probably the young guy she'd been with that night at Zeno's. No mobile phone registered to her, either. She had a credit card with a small balance from the department store Maximillian's. Her credit history was good so she must make her payments on time.

He found the record of where she had been in the largest of the refugee camps near Antioch. Her parents and a brother and sister were listed as deceased in the bombing. She'd told the truth about that. Then came a big surprise, the only real surprise. Carrie Warner had a gun permit for her job. He didn't understand why a motorcycle rider would need a gun permit.

Lee accessed his on-line phone directory, got the number for MediFirst and called. After a series of automated transfers he finally reached a dispatcher. When he asked to speak to the person who supervised the motorcycle riders, he was told that Mr. Fisk had already gone home for the day. He looked at his watch. It was almost seven o'clock in the evening. No wonder Fisk was already gone. Lee made an appointment to see him at 10:00 the next morning. He remembered from the interview that Carrie said she worked three days on and three days off. He wondered if she would be working the next day. He hoped so. For the first time in weeks Lee knew he wouldn't mind getting up in the morning.

...

If Jack Fisk was upset about the cut over her eye, Jared was furious. So was Karl. Kara tried to tell first Jack and then later Karl and Jared that she had been partly responsible, but none of them would listen to her. Fisk told her that no amount of smart-mouthing could ever excuse what the interrogator had done to her. Jared demanded a name. Kara wouldn't tell him. She was afraid he would pass the information along to Frogman and someone would do something to Ackerman. She knew that would just call more attention to something that she shouldn't have started in the first place. If she'd just answered Ackerman's questions respectfully, none of this would have happened. She just wanted the whole incident forgotten. It was in all of their best interest. She didn't understand why Jared couldn't see that.

She finally had to take the icepack she was holding on her eye and go into her bedroom to get away from him. She lay in the dark on her mattress and thought of Lee Adama…Olliver. She thought of his gentle touch, of the way he worried about hurting her. What would he do if he knew about her? What would he do if he knew what she had done three weeks ago? Would he turn her in? Of course he would. He was in the military, the military that was hunting the resistance.

There was a knock on the door. "Can I come in?" Karl asked.

"Not if you're going to keep fussing at me."

"I'm not."

"Okay."

He opened the door. "Can I turn on the light?"

"No. The light will make my head hurt worse."

He left the door open so he could see in the dim light from the hall. He came over and sat on the foot of the mattress.

"I'm worried about you, Kara."

"You said you weren't going to fuss."

"I'm not. Maggie and I both heard from the Academy today. We take the test in March, a little over a month."

"Good for you."

"You really sound happy for us."

"How do you expect me to sound? My best friend since I was eight years old is moving on and leaving me behind."

"What do you want me to do, Kara, bag groceries for the rest of my life? You know we'll still see each other. Besides, I might not even pass the test. I might not even get in."

"If that's what you want to do, then I hope it happens. Really, Karl, I do."

"Why don't you think about it, too?"

"I can't right now. I'm not old enough. If I ever apply to the Academy, I'll do it as Kara Thrace, not as Carrie Warner. I'll learn to fly a Viper and I'll take my dad's call sign. Starbuck."

"You can apply next year. You'll be old enough then."

"I met him, Karl. I met Prince Olliver. He has blue eyes like the sky at twilight. And he's a Viper pilot. He has the wings over his heart, the golden wings."

"He's not the one who did that to your eye, is he?"

"No! Gods, no! He's the one who cleaned and bandaged it. But he's in the military."

"So?"

"Don't you understand? He's hunting me…us…the resistance. If I try to get to know him better, then sooner or later he'll figure out what I did. Besides, I can just imagine what would happen if Frogman found out that I was fraternizing with the enemy."

"Who?"

"Mine and Jared's contact, Frogman. Of course he might want me to do it to find out how much the military knows. Then I'd have to make a choice. I'm really mixed up right now. There's something else bugging me, too. That second guy I shot out at the lab, he was another Cylon."

"Are you telling me you think there's four different Cylons? No way."

"The one I shot is the same guy who was in the refugee camp, Leoben. There's another one who runs a bookstore near the University. I went there last week. The one at the bookstore didn't recognize me. He said he'd run the bookstore for six years. He thinks he was raised in an orphanage on Caprica. He said he'd never been to Antioch. He thinks he's a human. If you don't believe me, go by there someday and check him out. I know you'll recognize him."

"Have you told Jared any of this?"

"No! And you can't either. He'll tell Frogman and somebody will go kill him. Promise me."

"I promise. I'm not getting mixed up in your resistance stuff. That's between you and Jared."

"I wrote a letter, though. I sent it to Laura Roslin."

"A letter saying what?"

"That there was a fourth Cylon. A guy."

"You didn't tell them his name or where to find him?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because I didn't want anybody to do anything to him. He doesn't know what he is. He thinks he's human. He seems nice."

"I don't know, Kara. A Cylon is a Cylon. You should probably have told them who he is."

"I want to talk to him again."

"Why would you want to talk to a Cylon?"

"He seems to know a lot about destiny. I want to talk to him about destiny, that's all."

Maggie walked in. "What are you doing in here with the lights off?"

"Talking," Karl said.

"About what?"

"None of your business," Kara answered.

"You know something Kara, I've had just about enough of your attitude."

Kara sat up. "Would that be my frak-you attitude?"

Karl stood. "That's enough, both of you."

"Whose side are you on?" Maggie asked him.

"I'm not on anybody's side. Why can't you two just get along?"

"Who can get along with her?" Maggie asked him. "She's about an A-1 bitch most of the time. She thinks she's hot stuff because she rides a motorcycle. The only ones she cares about are you and Jared."

"Come on, Maggs, leave it alone. She's been hurt."

"No wonder somebody smacked her head into a table. I'm sure she deserved it."

Karl put his arm around Maggie's waist "Let's go. Leave Kara alone."

"Take your hands off me," she snarled. "Take your frakking hands off me."

Karl backed away. "Okay, okay. Take it easy."

"You've always had a thing for her, haven't you? You and Jared both. Eating your hearts out over her and she doesn't care about either one of you. She thinks she's going to meet a prince."

"Hey, Maggs," Kara said. "I thought you just said I didn't care about anybody but them. You can't have it both ways."

"Oh, shut up," Maggie said.

"No, I'm not going to shut up. You'll never understand what's between me and Karl because you don't want to understand it. We've been best friends since I was eight years old. That will never change no matter how many times he fraks you."

"Is that right, Karl? Is she your best friend?"

"She always will be."

"Okay, let's see how you like rooming with her. I'm moving in with Jared."

Maggie grabbed the pillow off her mattress and stomped out.

"Oh, holy Hera!" Kara said. "This has gone far enough. Go get her. I'll apologize to her just to keep the peace."

"No," Karl said. "No, let her go. I'm tired of walking on eggshells around her all the time where you're concerned. I'm not sure we're going to be a couple much longer. I'm getting really tired of her moods and always having to apologize when something isn't my fault."

Kara lay back down on her mattress. "Won't this seem like old times? Like back in the camp?"

Karl sat down on the edge of the mattress again. "It won't last. She'll be back. Jared snores like a chainsaw."

Kara started laughing. "So do you."

"Do not," Karl said.

"Do too."

"Too bad I don't have a pillow. I'd smack you."

Kara grabbed hers and smacked him. They were on their knees on her mattress, laughing and tugging at her pillow when Jared walked in and turned on the light.

"Maggie's in the bedroom crying. She said she's moving in with me. What the hell is going on?"

Kara and Karl stopped tugging at the pillow and blinked in the brightness.

"Nothing," they both said at the same time and started laughing again.

"I'm living with three nut cases," Jared said as he left the room, "three frakking nut cases."

"And he thinks he's not one?" Kara asked. "We survived the camp. We're all a little crazy."

They laughed again and resumed tugging at the pillow.

Karl was right. When Kara's alarm went off the next morning, Karl was no longer in Maggie's bed. Maggie was back, her face turned toward the wall, a handful of crumpled tissues on the floor beside her.

She guessed that meant that Maggie and Karl hadn't kissed and made up.

...

Laura's private office line rang. She recognized John's mobile number on the caller ID. She picked it up. "Hi."

"Hi to you. Did I catch you at a bad time?"

"No, now is fine. How are you?"

"I'm good. Look, I've got something to tell you and I don't know how to tell you except to say it. Lissa and I aren't together anymore. I've moved out. I'd actually signed a lease a couple of weeks ago, but after the lab burned I stayed because…because I didn't think it would be the right thing to do to leave her then, but it's been over between me and her for a long time, even before I met you, not before I met you, but before we had dinner together the first time so I don't want you to think this was your fault. Damn, I'm babbling like an idiot, but you get the picture. So do we…can we…maybe give this thing with us a chance?"

Laura realized that she had been holding her breath. "Then you and I could actually…really…date…for real?"

"I know this might seem like I'm rushing you, but I'd like to take you to dinner Saturday night. Not to Channing's either. Somewhere really nice, not that Channing's isn't nice, but I mean really nice like Bonnie Patrice and I know you have to make reservations…not you have to make them…I have to make them. Sorry, I'm babbling again."

"Oh, John I'd love to have dinner with you Saturday, but I'm going to be in Antioch over the weekend for a symposium. I'm leaving tomorrow. I won't be back until next Thursday. I have a compromise, though, if you're willing. I'd like to invite you to a birthday party next Saturday night."

"A birthday party?"

"Yes. But it's only fair to tell you before you decide that it's black tie."

"Black tie as in a tuxedo?"

"Yes. But please don't let that put you off. There's a nice tailor named Giovanni who has a shop on Third. He used to take care of my father's formal wear. I can call him. I'm sure he'll be glad to…oh, now I feel like I'm babbling."

"Just whose birthday party is this?"

"The President's."

"President Adar?"

"Yes."

"You're asking me to go to the President's birthday party with you?"

"Yes. I'm expected to attend. If you turn me down I'll have to ask Chuck Winters."

"You really do know how to play hard ball, don't you?"

"Is that a yes or a no?"

"What do you think?"

"One word, John." They both laughed.

"Yes, of course I'll go with you. And I can arrange the tuxedo, too. Is this a sit down dinner? Am I going to have to get on the internet and brush up on my etiquette so I'll know which fork to use?"

"No, just drinks and hors d'oeuvres. There will be a band and dancing. I'm sure at some point the chefs will roll out a big cake and we'll sing Happy Birthday to Richard. It's at the Libran Embassy. Eight o'clock. Just come to my apartment about seven forty-five. I'll have a car and driver."

"How many people are going to be there?"

"It's small. About two hundred."

"Two hundred people is small?"

"For a presidental party it is."

"You'll know everybody there and I won't know anybody."

"Yes, you will. Bill and Carolanne will be there. Gaius Baltar will probably be there, too."

"That ought to make things interesting. I should mention that the last time I saw Lissa she was in bed with Baltar. I doubt he'd bring her to the President's birthday party, but you never can tell."

"My gods. What happened?"

"My flight was cancelled. I walked in on them in bed at the apartment."

"And that's why you broke up?"

"No, I'd leased the other place weeks before it happened. It was just a bad way to end things. I'd planned to sit down with her and tell her later in the week, but the other thing happened first. I thought you should know since you mentioned Baltar."

"I can assure you that avoiding Dr. Baltar all evening will not cramp my style."

"I'll feel better staying in the background anyway. Drinking a couple of beers with Lee at McGee's is more my comfort zone."

"John, you'll do fine. We won't stay but a few hours. Then we'll go back to my apartment and I'll let you mix us some of your famous Siren's Kiss."

"I'll be more than happy to do that. Well, I've wasted enough of your time this morning. I'll let you get back to work."

"I'll call you next Thursday night after I get back from Antioch."

"I'll look forward to that call all week. Goodbye, Laura."

"Goodbye, John."

A minute later Adele walked in with the morning mail. Laura was still smiling.

"Would I be right if I guessed that wasn't the colonel?"

"You would."

"The one who sent the roses?"

"Yes. I'm taking him to President Adar's birthday party next Saturday night."

"Do I know this person?"

"No, but I have a feeling you will get to know him."

"I can't wait to meet a man who can make you smile like that."

"Am I smiling?"

"Like a schoolgirl with a crush," Adele said before she left.

Laura absently picked up the mail. On the top was a plain white envelope marked Personal in block letters. Her name and address were printed in a similar fashion. Curious, she slit it with her letter opener. Inside was one sheet of white paper folded in thirds. There were only seven words on the page, also printed in childish block letters, but they sent a chill down her spine.

There is a 4th Cylon. A man.

Her hand began to shake. She carried the letter and the envelope to the outer office and asked Adele. "Did this come in the regular mail?"

"Everything came in the regular mail this morning. Nothing came by courier. Why?"

She showed the sheet of paper to Adele and Billy. They both looked as stunned as she must have when she opened the letter.

"Do you think this is a joke?" Adele asked.

"We need to call someone," Billy said. "Don't handle it. Put it down on my desk." He got a transparent page protector from his drawer and carefully slid it over the letter.

"Who should we call?" Adele asked.

Laura picked up Billy's phone and punched in Bill Adama's number. When he answered, she said without preamble, "Can you come to my office right now?"

"Nice to hear from you, Laura. What's so urgent?"

"I've got something I think you should see."

Half an hour later Bill stood at Billy's desk looking at the page.

"Whoever sent this didn't give us much, did they?"

"What do you think we should we do with it?" Laura asked him.

"Call Agent Darren. I have his number back at my office."

"I have his business card. He left it when he and Major Parker and Mr. Doral were here last week." She hurried into her office and retrieved the card from her card file.

Bill picked up the phone and punched it in as she read it to him. "Agent Darren, Bill Adama. Can you come over to Laura Roslin's office as soon as possible? We've got something you should see."

"You don't think this a joke, do you?" Laura asked him after he hung up.

"No, I don't."

"Why me? Why do you think someone sent this to me?"

"That I don't know."

Billy said, "A lot of people know your name because of what you did for the refugee camps. You just got the Ketterov Humanitarian Award a couple of weeks ago. Your name and picture have been in the newspapers and on the internet again."

Bill nodded. "He's got a point. It may simply have been an attempt to bring this to someone's attention and your name was picked because it was known."

"Are you going to tell the President?" Billy asked her.

"Absolutely."

"Cavil?"

"Absolutely not."

Bill said, "For now, let's keep this to as few people as possible. I think we should turn the letter and envelope over to Agent Darren. Let him see what his forensic team can come up with and go from there."

"How could someone recognize another Cylon? There are no tests to identify them," Laura said.

"I can think of a reasonably sure test," Bill answered her. "When you kill one, another copy shows up to take its place."

The impact of what he had just said was like a small grenade detonating in the room.

"Connect the dots for us, Bill," Laura finally said. "There's a piece of information you have that we're missing."

"This is being kept away from the press and the public at the moment," he said. "I don't need to tell any of you to keep it quiet. The night that lab was destroyed, there were also two men shot and killed, the Cylon doctor Simon and another unidentified male. A new copy of Simon was brought down from their basestar before the end of the next day."

Laura's eyes met Bill's. "Oh, dear gods. You think the other man might have been a Cylon as well, don't you?"

"Think about it. Our mystery man was at a Cylon lab with a Cylon doctor. No one knows how he got in. All personnel, including the guards, were accounted for. Cavil had his centurions take both bodies before any of Darren's men could take a look at them. It makes perfect sense now to think he was another Cylon."

Billy grasped what the commander was saying before either Laura or Adele. "You think someone saw the second guy after he was shot that night and then saw him somewhere later and he was alive again."

"Either saw him after he was shot," Bill said, "or shot him. The terrorist or terrorists who blew up that lab weren't alone. There was a sniper on the hill above the lab with a high-powered rifle, an expert marksman."

Laura looked at the letter. "Then why not tell us who this other Cylon is?"

"Maybe he doesn't know a name," Adele said. "Maybe he was just an anonymous face in a crowd, on a subway car or on the street."

"Or maybe," Billy said, "maybe he knows him and has a reason to protect him."

"Then why tell us at all?" Laura asked.

"There are some people who say that the terrorists, or resistance as some call them, are the biggest patriots on the planet. There are some who think we're the traitors for working with the Cylons…even though we're doing it to keep the planet from being destroyed."

"Well, whoever sent that letter has given us a riddle to solve, hasn't he?" Laura asked.

"Indeed he has. Who would shoot and kill one copy of a Cylon and then protect another copy?" Bill mused. "A riddle it is."

"You know," Billy said, "this is going to sound sexist, but that just doesn't sound like something a guy would do, kill one and protect another."

In the silence that followed his remark, Laura had a fleeting memory of a girl with a slingshot in one of the refugee camps and an aim so deadly it had impressed even her Marine guards. Another memory briefly surfaced as well. The girl had John Gallagher's green eyes. That's where she had seen his eyes before, the girl in the camp. She would have to think about that later. Right now there were more important issues to deal with. The young girl in the camp was certainly not the marksman on the hill, but that led her to another thought.

She voiced it as a question. "Is it possible, then, that your shooter was a woman?"

"Anything is possible," Bill said. "I seriously doubt that the resistance is a boy's only club."

The door to the outer office opened and Agent Darren walked in. "Hello, everyone. This looks serious."

"About as serious as you can get," Bill said. "Come take a look." He picked up the letter in its plastic sleeve and handed it to Darren.

Darren read it. "Holy Hera," he said. "Wait until Parker sees this. I can hear him now."

What the hell is going on?