Chapter 32
A Blue Dog or a White Dove
Because the city of Sovana was located near the northeastern mountainous region of Caprica, it became a hotbed of resistance activity. Smugglers based in the cavernous area west of the city operated with near impunity, running everything from whiskey to arms for distribution to other areas of the continent. The explosives and rifle used to destroy Dr. Gaius Baltar's lab in Caprica City were eventually traced to a resistance group in Sovana.
-Bartell, History of the Second Cylon War
.
Lee saw the folded note taped to his locker the minute he got back from his weekly Viper flight on Monday. Call your CO. ASAP. He took his mobile phone from his locker and punched in Major Parker's number.
When Parker answered he said, "Adama here, sir."
"Go home and pack a bag. Prepare to be out of town for several days, maybe a week. I'm putting together a team to fly up to Sovana and question a group of suspects who were arrested last night. We've got a transport ship scheduled to leave at 15:00 this afternoon."
"What's up, sir?"
"We may finally have caught a break. I'll brief you on the ship."
On his way home, Lee wondered what group of suspects had been arrested the previous night in Sovana. He knew that northern city was quickly gaining a reputation as one of the hottest areas for the resistance. At the same time the previous week that Agent Darren's men were moving in on the terrorist suspect who had eluded them in Caprica City, a car bomb had been detonated in Sovana in front of the home of a government employee who was thought to be a Cylon collaborator. The man was not at home but his wife and young son were killed in the blast. The two events were not thought related until comparisons were made of the detonators found in the suspect's apartment. They were of identical manufacture.
They already knew that detonators of the same make had been used to blow up Gaius Baltar's lab. Darren's agents were working under the assumption now that a terrorist cell in Sovana and one in Caprica City had a common supplier, possibly even some of the same members.
Lee went home, showered, packed and returned to the base by 14:00. Sergeant Ackerman was the only other one on their end of the big room shared by the interrogators.
"So Doc Adama gets to go to Sovana. I'm glad I don't have to go up there and freeze my ass off. Weather channel said the wind chill was ten below this morning."
Ever since Lee had bandaged the cut over Carrie Warner's eye, Ackerman had referred to him as Doc Adama when no one else was around.
Lee ignored him.
"What's Carrie Warner have to say these days?"
"What makes you think I know?" Lee shot back.
"I hear you did a fine job of checking her out. Major Parker talked about what a good job you'd done on the follow-up until I thought I would puke. But you mark my words. Not everything about that girl is on the up and up. There's something off about her, something you missed and that something is going to come back to bite you."
"I don't think so."
"I've been an interrogator for over twelve years and you haven't even been at it twelve weeks. You really think you've got the same feel for it that I have?"
"Then why isn't Parker taking you to Sovana? Why is he taking me instead?"
Ackerman laughed. "Captain Hadrian asked him to include you. She told him you needed the experience. She knows I don't."
"Doesn't Major Parker want only his best along on this mission?"
Parker stuck his head in the door. "Ready to go, lieutenant?"
"Coming, sir," Lee said. He picked up his bag.
Ackerman laughed. "Have, fun up there in the cold."
Lee wouldn't dare admit to Ackerman that something had bothered him about Carrie Warner as well, even before he'd known about her ties to the resistance or that she was protecting a Cylon. But now was not the time to dwell on it. Lee kept his thoughts to himself and followed Parker down the hall.
...
"Hey, Karl," Kara said when he answered the phone. "How's it going?"
"Same old, same old," Karl answered. "Maggie and I took the Academy entrance test yesterday. That's about all that's going to make this week different from last week."
"How was it?"
"Hard. Even Maggie doesn't think she did so good. I guessed on a lot of the questions."
"You probably did better than you think you did. Do you want to come over?"
"To your secret hideout? Sure."
"I miss you."
"It took you two whole weeks to figure that out?"
"I talked to you a couple of times last week. I've been busy. I went to the pyramid championship Saturday night."
"You should have called me. I would have gone with you. I told you Maggie and I broke up."
"I went as the guest of Sam Anders."
"Sure you did."
"I've got an autographed program and an autographed eight by ten glossy photo. Not that I asked for them. He just gave them to me. He took me to dinner one night last week, too."
"Sure he did. So where is your secret hideout?"
Kara gave him the directions.
"Isn't that where your boss lives? Are you staying with him?"
"No, I'm at the apartment of a friend of his wife's."
When Karl got there she could tell that he was impressed. He made a low whistling noise. "Nice."
"Would you like some wine?"
"Since when did you start drinking wine?"
"Since Anders left a bottle here last week."
"Okay, wine it is," Karl said. He walked out onto the small balcony while she went into the kitchen and poured two glasses of wine. When she joined him, he said, "Too bad you can't see King's Bay from this side of the building."
"Jack said these apartments are cheaper than the ones on the other side with the good view. I'd still like to have one."
"So what does Tory Foster do?"
"Works for a law firm."
"A lawyer?"
"I think she's a legal assistant."
"They must rake in the cubits."
Kara shrugged. "I guess so if she can afford this place."
"So tell me about Anders. How did you meet him?"
"He knows Tory. He came by to see her last Monday night."
"And you let him in?"
"It's not like he's a serial killer or something."
"I wasn't thinking about him killing you."
"He's not a rapist, either."
"Do you like him?"
"He's okay."
"The captain and star player of the Caprica Buccaneers is just okay?"
"I don't want to complicate my life. Besides he doesn't think there's anything wrong with the Cylons. He said as long as they leave him alone he doesn't care what they do. All he wants to do is play ball. He doesn't even think making a half-human, half-Cylon baby is wrong."
"You talked about that?"
"I got mad and told him about being in the camp. At least I think he understands where I'm coming from now."
"I can see why a big sports star like that wouldn't care what the Cylons are doing."
"How is Jared?"
"He's going to work every day now, but he's still moping around and not eating. He's lost weight. Maggie is fussing over him like he was a sick puppy or something."
"I guess I'm not very popular with them right now."
"We haven't talked about it. Since we decided to quit being boyfriend and girlfriend, she hasn't talked to me much at all. So are you dating Anders now?"
"We went out after the game to a party only it wasn't much of a party since they lost. He was in pain from where that Domino player elbowed him in the ribs. Somebody gave him something for it and he fell asleep on the couch. I got a transport and came back here. I don't really fit in with those players and their groupies. All they want to do is party. I don't care if I hear from him again or not. He's nice, but…" she let her voice trail off and sighed.
"But what?"
"He's not Lee. I saw him Saturday night after the game. I was waiting for Anders to get through with the awards ceremony. Lee and his brother saw me and came over and spoke. Zak, that's Lee's brother, asked me to go out with them to get a beer, and I wanted to go, but Sam had given me the floor-side ticket and I felt like I needed to wait on him. I did something really stupid, though. I ran after them when they were leaving and told them I'd rather go with them."
Karl rolled his eyes toward the ceiling. "Really playing hard-to-get with Lee, aren't you?"
"I told you it was a stupid thing to do. I told them I'd meet them at Zeno's tonight."
"You're meeting your military lover-boy at Zeno's. Not smart, Kara."
"I know. I'm probably going to stay here and stand him up. I'm stupid to think I can see him. It makes me want to be with him, and I start to forget that he's in the military and I'm in the resistance. I wish I could take the test to go to the Academy this fall, but I'll only be seventeen. I couldn't get in."
"You could as Carrie Warner."
"Are they giving the test again?"
"There's one in mid-April and another one in early May. As soon as the May test is scored, they'll take the top two hundred from all the tests. If you're serious, you need to go on-line and fill out a test application."
"I might do that. Jack will let me use his computer. Frogman gave me a mobile phone. I'm going to give you the number, but I don't want you to use it unless it's an emergency. The, uh, group pays the bill. I'm sure they also look at all the calls."
"That makes me feel better knowing I could get in touch with you if I had to."
"I went to see that Oracle down on the waterfront."
Karl looked at the ceiling and blew out his breath. "That's another thing that wasn't smart. Nobody can predict the future. All she wants is your cubits."
"She knew I was living a lie. She called me Posiden's green-eyed daughter. She's blind. Tell me how she knew either one of those things."
"Almost everybody has something in their life that involves some kind of deception. Everybody's got secrets, Kara."
"Then how did she know I have green eyes?"
He shrugged.
"She told me something else, too. She told me there were six important men in my life. I know who four of them are…you, Jared, Leoben, and Lee."
"And the other two?"
"She said one was in my past and also in my future and that one was seeking me. Any ideas?"
"You're really into this crap, aren't you?"
"Humor me."
"I don't have a clue. Who do you think it is?"
"I think she's talking about Tom Zarek. He's in my past and Frogman is going to arrange a meeting in a week or two when Zarek gets out of prison so he's in my future, too. Zarek fits. The Oracle also told me to come back when I'm not living a lie."
"I knew it. She just wants your cubits."
"She's not like that. I think she knows something and is waiting for me to leave Carrie Warner behind so she can tell me what it is. I think I'm going to play a part in getting rid of the Cylons. I think she's going to help me figure out what it is."
"I really hate to see you get taken in like this."
She shrugged. "What's a few cubits? It's not like she's getting rich."
They sat on the balcony and talked most of the rest of the afternoon.
Finally Karl said, "I'd better get back to the apartment. It took me forty-five minutes to get here. If I'm late, Jared or Maggie will figure out where I've been and then Jared will start bugging me for your address."
At the door of the apartment Kara hugged him.
"I don't go back into work until Sunday. You want to get together on Saturday and maybe go to a movie or something?"
"Let's do that. Call me tomorrow afternoon. We'll make plans."
After he left, Kara poured another glass of wine and went back out onto the balcony. She sat down on one of the small chairs and sipped the wine. She wanted to meet Lee and Zak that evening, but knew she shouldn't.
As it turned out she didn't have to make the decision. For the first time since Frogman had given her the mobile phone, it buzzed.
"Sassy?"
"It's me."
"We've got something we need you to do tonight. Go to a restaurant in East Caprica City called Rigby's. You need to be there by 7:00. Can you make that?"
"Yeah, I'm off today."
"When you go in ask the hostess for Mrs. Peele. Have dinner with her. She's buying. She'll give you some information that you need to pass on to Reno. I'll contact you tomorrow with when and where you'll see him."
Frogman ended the call.
She got out Tory's City Directory and looked up Rigby's. It was all the way across town near the intersection of Fiora and Seventy-Ninth streets. She got her copy of the subway map. It would take her three changes to get there. Through rush-hour that probably meant an hour underground, a lot of it spent waiting for a train that wasn't already full. She looked at her watch. 5:30. She downed the rest of her wine, brushed her teeth and was out the door.
…
Lee sat on one side of the interrogation table and looked at the young man across from him. His arrest record said he was nineteen, but Lee doubted that was correct. He didn't look much more than sixteen, seventeen at the most. His hands were cuffed and shackled with a chain that was locked to a metal D-ring on the table. This was the third time this week that he had sat across from this kid and tried to get him to talk. Yesterday the boy had finally given him a name, a false one, but it gave him a place to start today.
The boy was doing his best to look defiant and brave, but Lee could sense the fear underneath the bravado. He had a black eye and swollen nose, a souvenir of the struggle at the time of his arrest. Perhaps that was what first made Lee think of Carrie. Either that or the haunted look he had seen in the boy's eyes when they first met. Carrie had the same haunted look from time to time. Life had been hard for both of them for the last several years.
The false name he had given Lee the day before was Martin Spiller.
"Do you prefer Martin or Marty?" Lee asked.
The boy shrugged.
"Okay we'll go with Martin. Tell me a little bit about yourself." The boy shrugged again. Lee looked down at the folder in front of him. "You have an uncle, Luca Spiller. Is that correct?"
"Yeah," the boy finally said.
"We talked to Luca Spiller yesterday and he said his nephew Martin Spiller died in the bombing of Sovana along with his sister who was Martin's mother and her entire family. He said he identified their bodies, all of them, including Martin's. Who are you really?"
The boy looked away and shook his head.
"Did you lose your family in the bombing?" Lee asked him.
"Why do you care?"
"I care because of what's it's done to you."
"Yeah, right," the boy said sarcastically. "Your Cylon-loving heart is bleeding all over me."
Lee didn't let the insult get to him.
"Life was hard after the bombing, wasn't it? Not enough food or water. No shelter. You did what you had to do to survive. Did you wind up in one of the refugee camps?"
The boy leaned over and blotted his nose on the long sleeve of his orange jumpsuit, but Lee had seen a flicker in his eyes at the mention of the camp.
"Which one were you in…the one south of Sovana?"
The boy shrugged again. This time Lee took the shrug to mean an affirmative answer. "I have a friend who visited that camp looking for his daughter. He said people were fighting over rats. Did you have to fight that way?"
The boy's chin came up and he looked Lee in the eyes for the first time. "A pretty boy like you wouldn't have lasted a week in that camp."
"You did what you had to do to survive, didn't you?" Lee asked softly.
"I made it on my own. I didn't do nothing like those other kids had to do."
"What did they do? What was it you were too tough to do?"
The boy shrugged again. Lee felt sick about what he was doing to this young man, but he knew he had a job to do. "They sold themselves, didn't they? They sold themselves for food and water and shelter."
The boy swallowed hard. "Not me. I never did nothing like that."
"How long did it go on before there was enough food in the camp? Weeks? Months?"
"There wasn't ever enough food in the camp. Even after the frakking government started sending food there wasn't ever enough. Nobody cared."
"Somebody cared or there wouldn't have been any food at all. Somebody stood up to the Cylons and got food sent to the camps. I know that it wasn't the best food. I know the bread was stale and sometimes moldy. I have a…a friend, a girl, who was in another camp and she said she and a friend of hers made little pyramids of the mold spots they picked off the bread."
"I ate the bread mold and all," the boy said without looking up.
"I would have, too," Lee said. "How did you know Martin Spiller?"
The boy wiped his nose again on his sleeve. "He was just a dork who lived in my neighborhood."
"Why did you take his name? Was he your friend?"
The boy said derisively. "We used to pick on him because he was such a loser. He was older and bigger and he'd still run home to his mamma and cry. Godsdamned big sissy crybaby."
"Did you make fun of him?"
"Yeah."
"Why?"
"Because he was pathetic. He was weak. He was a loser."
"Then why did you take his name?"
The boy looked down and shook his head.
"Is it because in the camp you felt like him? Is it because you felt like Martin Spiller? Weak and powerless? A loser? Because you had to do things in those early days in the camp just to survive?"
The boy's head was still bowed and Lee could see him starting to tremble. "I gave you his name because it was the only one I could think of."
"You know something? I don't like calling you Martin Spiller. I'd rather call you by your real name, the name of the boy who survived a horror because he was so tough. Tell me your real name," he said gently.
"Neil Speigel," the boy said barely above a whisper.
"What happened to your parents, Neil?"
"My dad left when I was little. My mom died in the bombing along with her four other brats. None of them had the same father."
"How old are you?"
"Fifteen, almost sixteen."
"Do you want something to drink, Neil? Maybe a soft drink?"
The boy nodded.
"I'll get you one and we'll talk some more."
He left the interrogation room and walked outside. For a few moments it was hard for him to breathe. Taking a break was more for him than it was for the boy. Nothing had brought the horror of those early days in the refugee camps home to him more than the haunted look in Neil's eyes. Fifteen and a terrorist. Lee leaned against the wall and felt sick.
Major Parker came out of the room where he had been watching the interrogation through the two-way mirror. "Good work, Lieutenant Adama."
"Yes, sir," Lee said, trying to pull himself together.
Parker very briefly put his hand on Lee's shoulder. "I know it's hard, taking a kid apart like that trying to get a crumb of information to help lead us deeper into this labyrinth of the resistance, but better you than someone heavy-handed like Ackerman. That's why I brought you along on this mission."
"What's going to happen to him?"
"When we're through questioning them, we'll turn him and his fellow terrorists over to Agent Darren's men. They'll go before a Cylon tribunal. We've got no choice this time."
"In other words he's going to be executed. He survived the hell of a refugee camp to die in front of a centurion firing squad."
Parker looked away. "After they torture him."
"He's just a kid. He's fifteen years old, for Zeus's sake. He was twelve years old when he went to that camp. He deserves a chance."
"I'm sorry," Parker said, "I'm really sorry, but he made a choice when he joined the terrorists. Being young is not a free pass to kill and maim. I saw the photos of the woman and her little boy who died in that blast last week. There are no free passes this time around. Now finish your job, lieutenant. Learn the names of his friends. You've established a rapport with him. This is the first break we've had in months. We can't afford to screw it up. The Cylons are expecting some real results from us this time."
Lee went to the drink machine and fed it the right number of cubits. As he carried the soft drinks back to the interrogation room, he thought of his grandfather and wished he were still alive. Joseph Adama would understand exactly how he felt right now. Then he thought of Carrie again. She would be at Zeno's in a few hours and he knew Zak would be there to meet her. He trusted Zak to carry his message. He trusted Zak to tell Carrie why he couldn't be there tonight. He trusted Zak to behave himself. He hoped he hadn't made a mistake.
...
Kara walked into Rigby's restaurant and went up to the hostess.
"I'm looking for Mrs. Peele. Has she gotten here yet?"
"Right this way." The woman took a menu from a stack and Kara followed her. She led Kara to a booth near the back where an extremely pretty dark-haired woman was sitting. Kara sat and waited until the hostess had put her menu down on the table and walked away before she spoke.
"Mrs. Peele?"
"Yes. Sassy?"
Kara nodded.
She studied Mrs. Peele. She guessed her to in her mid-thirties. Mrs. Peele's dark hair was straight and shoulder length and her makeup was subtle but perfect. She wore a dark purple or plum-colored business suit. It was hard to tell in the dim light. Her jewelry was understated, small gold hoop earrings, a dainty, expensive-looking watch, a gold pin in a knot design on the lapel of her suit, and a wide gold band on the ring finger of her left hand. She was married. Kara wasn't sure why that surprised her.
"You're very young," Mrs. Peele said. "I wasn't expecting someone of your tender years."
"I wasn't expecting a married lady," Kara replied.
"I'm a widow."
"I'm an orphan," Kara said, though later she didn't know why she had shared that with her. It wasn't relevant.
"I thought as much. Look at your menu. Decide what you'd like. I waited to order."
She hadn't waited to get a drink, though. Kara gestured to it. "I'd like one of those."
"I doubt you're old enough."
"Give me yours and order another one for yourself."
Mrs. Peele smiled and signaled the waiter. Kara noticed her manicure, the beautifully polished nails.
"I'm not sure I should be doing this."
"What happened to your husband?" Kara asked.
"No more personal information. We can't."
"You're right. So what are you supposed to tell me?"
"It's very important that you remember this and repeat it word for word to the next contact. Do you understand?"
"I understand."
"Sentinel and his five friends are being held at the military prison in Sovana. So far no one has broken, but two are possibilities. Sentinel says either a blue dog or a white dove on Sunday morning at three a.m."
She said the three sentences again and then made Kara repeat them several times. "What does it mean?"
Mrs. Peele shook her head. "I don't know. I can guess, but I don't know without a doubt. I really don't want to know. Our jobs just require us to repeat the message precisely."
"Who will know?"
"When this message makes its way high enough up the chain, someone will understand it. Some sort of action will be taken. That's why it's really import to repeat this message word for word."
Kara's phone buzzed. She recognized Frogman's voice. "I'm out front. Come on."
"You mean I don't even get to eat?"
"Not tonight. We're operating under a tight timeline. I'll make it up to you."
Kara stood up. "I've got to go."
Mrs. Peele held out her beautifully-manicured hand and shook Kara's. "I understand. Perhaps we'll meet again."
Kara left the restaurant and stood outside. Frogman drove up on the other side and Kara ran across the street. She was in his car and they were on their way in fifteen seconds.
"We're skipping Reno to save time. Where are you living now? I'm going to take you home."
"Drop me off at any subway station."
His voice edged into impatience. "Where do you live?"
"You won't tell Jared?"
"I've got a lot more on my mind than yours and Jared's love life or lack thereof. I don't involve myself in other people's domestic problems."
She gave him directions. When they got there, he pulled into the parking lot and found a parking place.
"Now tell me what Mrs. Peele said." Kara repeated the sentences. When she was through, Frogman said, "You're sure she said white dove?"
"Positive. What does it mean?"
"Basically what the group in Sovana is saying is that if we can't come up with a way to get them out, that's the blue dog, then we light up the whole military detention center where the captives are being held. Kill everybody if we have to rather than let our guys be handed over to the Cylons alive. That's a white dove. I want to make damned sure before I repeat that one."
"Kill our own men? Why?"
"Six of the group were taken in Sovana on Sunday night. It was a fluke that they were all caught together like that, some damned poor planning on someone's part. One of them, Sentinel, is very high in the group up there. He has information about a certain operation you and two of our men were involved in. We're hoping they haven't figured out who they've got, yet, but we can't chance him falling into Cylon hands. We've got to either get them out or…destroy the prison where they're being held."
"You would kill a bunch of innocent people to keep six guys from being handed over to the Cylons?"
"We would."
"How are you going to do it?"
"I don't know, yet. I've got to pass this message up the line to my contact. He's only a few away from the top man here in Caprica City. We'll have a plan before tomorrow night. Now, I've got to go."
She got out of the car. "Good luck."
"Thanks."
Kara watched him back out of the parking place and drive away.
She started walking toward the front entrance to the apartment building. She wondered how long it would be before she heard about the results of what they were setting in motion tonight. If the prisoners were extracted they might never hear about it, but if the group had to destroy the military prison, they would all know.
...
Lee was so drained by his third straight day in the interrogation room that he barely had the energy to eat dinner and shower that night. He lay on his bunk afterward and tried to clear his mind. For the hundredth time that day Carrie came into his thoughts. He looked at his watch…10:58. Sovana was a time zone east of Caprica City which meant it was 9:58 there. He got up and took his mobile phone from the charger and called Zak's mobile.
"Hey, big bro," Zak said when he answered.
"Where are you?" Lee asked.
"Almost home."
"How did tonight go?"
"Carrie never showed. She stood us up."
"I'm sure she had a reason."
"That reason is probably named Sam Anders."
Lee felt his chest tighten. "You don't know that."
"Why else would she stand us up except for another guy?"
"Maybe she's working. She told me she works at night when her boss asks her to."
"Whatever the reason, she didn't show."
"Zak, it wasn't really a date. I'll try to find time to call her tomorrow at work and make sure she's okay. You doing all right?"
"I'm fine."
"Anything on the new job you're trying to get?"
"No yet."
"Mom and Dad are okay?"
"They're fine. Is something wrong? You're usually not this warm and fuzzy."
"No, I…no, nothing is wrong. Are you home, yet?"
"I'm just walking in the door. Why?"
"Is Dad still up?"
"Probably."
"I need to talk to him."
"Okay, wait a minute."
Lee heard some muffled sounds and then his father came on the phone. "What's going on, son?"
"I'm in Sovana. I'm sure you know why. Is there any way you can talk to Agent Darren and see if he can work out something where he doesn't have to turn the, uh, guys we're questioning now over to the Cylons?"
"It's not my place to interfere with Darren's job, and it's not yours to start feeling sorry for terrorists."
"Dad, one of them is just a kid. I questioned him today. He's only fifteen. He survived a terrible time in a refugee camp."
"I'll talk to Darren if I get the chance. If the Cylons have already told him they want these guys, then I can't stop it. Even the President couldn't stop it."
"I understand, but do what you can. Please."
Lee ended the call. He lay back on his bunk and shut his eyes with the phone still in his hand. He was trying to form a thought that never completely came together. Sometime later he work up shivering. The phone had fallen from his hand to the floor. He left it there, rolled over and pulled up the blankets. He was asleep again before he even got warm.
The dream came, so vivid that he remembered it after he woke up as if it had really happened. He saw himself squaring off in his Viper against his shadow Cylon Raider, firing his missiles at the red eye and watching the Raider explode. He felt the small kernel of hatred for the Cylons that had formed in his chest when his long-ago girlfriend had died on Gemenon. The sharpness was honed by his knowledge of what Carrie Warner had gone through and from questioning a boy who had lived through hell. He thought of John and his father, of how many times they had actually opened fire on Cylon Raiders and watched them disintegrate in a fireball. He envied them that pleasure.
He sat for a few minutes on the side of his bunk before he got up and went down the hall to the bathroom. He had never understood what drove the resistance better than he did at that moment, nor had he hated his job more.
...
Laura remained seated at the small table in the little tearoom inside the Capitol Building when Bill walked in the door. She waved and he saw her. She had just gotten out of a mid-afternoon meeting and on impulse had called him. The fury she had experienced from him during their last meeting seemed to be forgotten. As he drew nearer she saw that he looked tired, his face more gray and drawn than she had seen it in a long time.
"Hello, Bill."
"Laura. You look good. A long weekend at John's place on Mykos must have been just what the doctor ordered."
"How did you know John and I went to Mykos?"
"Lee told me you were going away together and then John mentioned at lunch the other day that he had been down to his place on Mykos for a couple of days. I put it together."
"It was very nice. I needed a break, especially after what happened with Cavil. You look tired. Is it the job?"
"The job…and the plan, which is getting more complicated all the time…and my conversation with Lee last night. I didn't sleep much."
"What did Lee say that upset you?"
"He's in Sovana. I talked to Agent Darren this morning. In a nutshell, a small group of terrorists was arrested last Sunday night. Parker's team has been questioning them all week. They haven't gotten much. Darren said Lee had finally gotten through to a fifteen-year-old kid, but the kid doesn't know much about the inner workings or the operation of the terrorist cell."
"Fifteen. Dear gods. He's barely more than a child."
"Apparently he lost his family in the bombing and wound up in the refugee camp near Sovana. His situation got to Lee. He wanted me to talk to Darren and see if he would consider not turning them over to the Cylons. No luck with that request."
"Agent Darren is in agreement with turning them over?"
"He doesn't have a choice. These men won't talk. Darren has nothing to give the Cylons. They'll use methods that we would never consider."
"They'll torture them?"
Bill took a deep breath and said tiredly, "Of course they will. And when they think they've wrung every last scrap of information they can get from them, they'll execute them via a centurion firing squad. Most probably won't survive the torture."
"You can't allow that to happen. We can't allow that to happen."
"There's no way to stop it this time. It's them or a group of innocents. Cavil has threatened to take an army of centurions into Sovana and randomly take a group of hostages and start executing them publicly until someone gives up the terrorists or the terrorists give themselves up."
Laura was appalled. "That's barbaric."
"That will be our new reality if we can't get these terrorists to stop. I'm getting very discouraged. We can't implement my plan yet because all the pieces aren't in place. I need two more years, and yet I'm afraid the terrorists aren't going to give us that long before they bring the wrath of the Cylons down on the entire planet."
"Cavil threatened as much when he and I had our confrontation. I think the way he phrased it was that he would leave Caprica a dead and wasted cinder in space."
"He's crazy enough to do it, too."
"I know he is."
"That's why we've got to let Darren give these men…and the boy…to him."
"Sacrificial lambs," Laura said sadly.
"They aren't innocent. They were probably the ones who set off a car bomb that killed a government official's wife and child up there last week. They were the innocents, not these men in custody. This is basically a war, Laura, and everyone is a potential sacrificial lamb. It's got to stop. It's got to!"
"If only someone could get to the leaders of the resistance and talk to them. Maybe that would buy you enough time."
"I think the resistance here in Caprica City has finally seen the light. Nothing has happened here since Baltar's lab was destroyed. Sovana is another story."
"There must be a way to appeal to them."
"The big problem is that we can't tell them why we're asking them to stop. I can't say anything meaningful without jeopardizing my plan. I can't risk letting that get out. The Cylons would just execute me and be done with it."
"Oh, the gods forbid, Bill. I couldn't bear the thought of that."
He smiled and she thought she saw some of the tired dejection lift. "You would miss me?"
"Of course I would. I couldn't bear to think of a world without you in it."
He reached across the small table and put his hand over hers. "Now you know how I felt the day you went up against Cavil. I couldn't bear to think of a world without you in it, either."
Their eyes met. She felt the tug of the past. And yet she also knew that her feelings for John had crossed a line and she couldn't go back. A part of her would always love Bill, but not the way she once had. She felt tears sting her eyes. Dear gods, what was wrong with her lately? She cried now at almost everything whereas before she rarely cried at anything.
"I've got to get back to the office," she said as she hastily wiped at her eyes. "Thank you for meeting me for tea."
"Are you all right?"
"I'm fine. Ever since my run-in with Cavil I've been über-emotional. I cry at the least little upset. John told me that facing sudden death changes a man…or a woman. I believe him."
"John should know," Bill said.
"So should you."
"Take care of yourself, Laura. Don't wait so long to call me."
"If I can do anything to help with your plan…"
"I'll be in touch," Bill said.
They walked out of the tearoom and Bill turned to go back to his office in the Capitol Building. Laura started to call for a car and driver to take her back to her office in the Dressler Building but changed her mind and decided to walk the half-mile instead.
She had walked two blocks when she came to the small temple situated between two government buildings. It was very old, the only structure left standing when the surrounding buildings had been razed a century earlier to build the complex of government buildings where she had spent most of her career. The temple reminded her of a tiny jewel tucked into a concrete and granite forest of larger, more imposing structures. It had been years since Laura had been inside, not since her parents were alive. She walked up the steps and past the fluted marble columns.
The interior of the small temple had not changed at all. It was stone and glass with the main altar and statues of the gods and goddesses looking exactly like she remembered. There were incense pots and candles burning and small bowls for offerings to each of the gods. She went in and sat near the front and breathed the air. Was there such a thing as holy air as there was holy water?
She wasn't sure why she had walked in today to a place she hadn't visited in fifteen years. What question or inner turmoil had propelled her off the street into this sanctuary? She heard a soft noise and looked up. A priest was gathering the coins from the bowls.
Laura got up and opened her purse as she went up to the altar. "Here, please take this. I know coins are usually placed in the bowls, but I only have a few. This is better." She pulled a twenty-cubit note from her wallet.
The priest turned. She was wearing a turban headdress that Laura remembered from the past, not this woman, but another like her. Her dark skin was smooth, her eyes were kind, her features unstressed.
She took the note. "Thank you. I recognize you. You're Laura Roslin."
Laura smiled. "Yes, I am."
"I'm Elosha, priest of this temple. I've never seen you in here before. You must worship elsewhere."
"I don't worship anywhere. I believe in the gods. I just don't worship. I haven't since my parents and my brother died."
"Yet you come here now. Are you troubled? I often find that when someone visits a temple after a long absence that they are troubled."
"Yes. I am troubled."
"Your job is a great responsibility."
"It's not my job. It's a man. Two men, actually."
"Ah," Elosha said. "You must choose?"
"I've loved one of them for years. He's married to someone else. They have two fine sons. He was mine for such a short time and yet…I can't quite let go of him. My heart won't let go of him."
"And the other?"
"New to my life."
"Not married, a free man?"
"No. I mean yes. He's not married. He is free."
"Do you love him, too?"
"Yes. It's just that…"
"You hesitate."
"He's very handsome, very charming. He's been with a lot of women."
"Ah," Elosha said again. "You're afraid he'll leave you for another woman as the other one did."
Elosha had just verbalized what Laura had been unable to admit. She was afraid that John would hurt her the same way Bill Adama had hurt her twenty years earlier.
"Yes. I'm afraid he'll grow tired of me and move on to someone younger...and prettier," Laura admitted.
"Is he good to you?"
"Very good."
"Does he love you?"
"I think he cares for me."
"The human heart has an unlimited capacity to love. Is there not room in yours for both of them?"
"I don't understand."
"My life has not always been spent in the priesthood. In my youth I knew men." Elosha smiled at the thought. "Some might say too many men, but I understand love. I understand that we can keep the love of our youth in a special place in our hearts and still love another in our…maturity. Perhaps there is no need to completely let go of one in order to love the other." She smiled again.
"I will pray for wisdom to make a decision."
"Pray for wisdom, but remember that love is a matter for the heart. Sometimes it's better to let our hearts tell us rather than for us to tell our hearts."
Laura glanced at her watch. Three o'clock on a Friday afternoon. "I need to get back to my office."
Elosha nodded. "I'm here if you have need of a priest."
"Thank you," Laura said. "That's a great comfort to me right now. I will think about what you said to me today."
...
Kara and Karl went to a movie Saturday evening and she convinced him to go to Zeno's with her afterward. Zeno's wasn't nearly as crowded as it had been the last time she had been in there on the night of the semi-final pyramid game, but there were still no booths available. Instead she and Karl sat at a small table near the bar.
"So this is the famous Zeno's," Karl said looking around.
"What do you think?"
"It's nice. Is he here?"
"Who?"
"Your prince. Why else would you drag me halfway across the city to a bar and grill when there are probably thirty just as nice between here and where you live."
"Because I like this place. I never feel like I don't belong here. That place Anders took me wasn't all that fancy except the prices, but the people were different. Here everybody is just like you and me, not people who only go to a place to be seen or try to see somebody famous."
"I'll buy that. So is he here or not?"
Kara looked around. "No, but we'll stay and eat, have a few beers. Maybe he'll show up."
"And if he does, am I supposed to split?"
"No. I'd just like to see him and talk to him. I'm counting on you to walk me to the subway tonight and make me get on it. I'm counting on you to keep me from doing anything stupid."
"Do you realize how tough a job that is, keeping you from doing something stupid?"
Kara laughed. "Oh, frak you."
Karl smiled. "I've missed you, Kara."
"I've missed you, too."
Just after they'd ordered, Zak Adama came in with a tall, very pretty dark-haired girl with oriental features. "That's Lee's brother, Zak," she said to Karl. "He just saw us. He's coming over."
"Okay," Karl said. "Am I supposed to do something special?"
"No. I'm going to introduce you, but I'm only going to do it with your first name."
Zak was smiling as he walked up to their table. "You know you're lucky I'm even speaking to you after you stood me up Thursday night."
"I got hung up on the job. It was too late when I got off."
"You could have called."
"What? Called Zeno's and asked for Zak?" Kara snickered.
"You could have called mine or Lee's mobile phone."
"How could I do that when I don't have either of your numbers?"
"I can fix that right now." He rattled off two phone numbers.
"Which is which?" Kara asked him.
"Call and find out. This is Sharon, by the way, Sharon Valerii."
"Hi," Sharon said to them.
"I'm Carrie and this is my best friend Karl. Karl this is Zak…and Sharon. Do you want to join us?"
"Why not?" Zak said.
Karl turned to Sharon. "Did you take the Academy entrance test this past Wednesday?"
"I did," Sharon said to him.
Kara looked at Zak and saw him roll his eyes as they sat down at the little table. He was understandably not interested in discussing the Academy.
Karl and Sharon immediately started talking about the test. Zak went to the bar and got two beers, came back and handed one to Sharon. He sat down and turned his chair so that it was facing toward Kara.
"Where's your brother tonight?" She asked him.
"In Sovana."
Kara felt a dart of fear. "Oh," she said as nonchalantly as she could. "What's he doing up there?"
"Whatever he does on his job," Zak said. "Interviews, interrogates, questions…stuff like that."
For a moment she found it hard to breathe. What had the resistance decided to do? Try to extract the captured terrorists or, as Frogman had said, light up the prison and kill everyone at three a.m. in the morning? A blue dog or a white dove?
"Let me borrow your phone," she said to Zak.
"You've got one. What do you need mine for?"
"The battery's dead on mine."
"No it's not. The light is on."
"Give me your godsdamned phone," Kara said.
Karl and Sharon both looked at her with shocked expressions as Zak slowly took his phone out of its belt clip and held it out. "Yes, sir," he said.
She grabbed it and got up. Karl caught up with her outside the door. "What the hell is going on, Kara?"
"Go back inside. I won't be long. What time is it?"
"Nearly ten, why?"
"Sovana is an hour later, earlier, what?"
"Sovana is northeast of here. Later."
"Kara scrolled down on Zak's phone and found Lee's number. She walked away from Karl. "I'll be back in a couple of minutes. I need some privacy."
Karl turned and went back inside.
On the other end she heard it started ringing. "Answer it," Kara said to the phone, "come on Lee, pick it up and answer it…"
...
Lee had been reading in his bunk for thirty minutes and was almost ready to turn out the light when he heard his phone start chirping. "Damn," he muttered. He was warm under the blankets. He swung his legs over the side of the bunk, got his phone from the table and looked at the caller ID.
"Hey, Zak. There's an hour time difference between here and there. Did you know that?"
"It's not Zak," Kara said.
"Carrie?" Lee said in confusion. "This is Zak's number."
"It's Zak's phone."
"What are you doing with Zak's phone?"
"It's a long story. Where are you?"
"I was in my bunk almost asleep. Where are you?"
"Outside Zeno's. How far from the prison are you?"
"What?"
"I know you're in Sovana. How far away from the damned prison are you?"
"Half a mile, maybe a little more. How did you know I'm in…"
"Good. Stay where you are."
"What's going on?"
"Just promise me you'll stay where you are all night. Promise me."
"Talk to me, Carrie."
"All I can say is do not go near that prison."
"Somebody's coming for the guys tonight, aren't they?"
"I don't know. I really don't know any details. If it gets back to anyone that you know about this, they'll figure out where it came from and kill me."
"When tonight?"
"Three a.m. I think, but I'm not sure. Just promise me you'll stay where you are. Please, promise me."
Lee realized that Carrie was right. She was risking her life to warn him. "I promise I won't be anywhere near that prison at three a.m.," he said softly. "Carrie, I…" He saw that she had ended the call.
Lee carried the phone back to his bunk and crawled under the blankets again. His thoughts were whirling. Carrie had just put him in a terrible predicament. All his military training and discipline was screaming at him to find Major Parker and inform him of what was going to happen. But how would he explain knowing about it? Did he really want to stop it? Did he want five men and a fifteen-year-old boy to be turned over to the Cylons for torture and execution? The kernel of Cylon-hatred burned in his chest at the thought.
And yet some of these men might be killers, too. They had probably killed an innocent woman and child the week before. Lee shut his eyes. That was his dilemma. He had no proof that these six had killed anyone, and he knew without a doubt that the Cylons would kill them, torture them and then execute them.
He got up and put on his uniform and got his heavy parka from the back of the chair. Before he left, he called Zak's phone. This time his brother answered.
"Let me speak to Carrie," Lee said.
"She's gone, her and her friend. They didn't stay five minutes after she came back inside. Her friend was having a fine time talking to my date. They really hit it off. In fact she left with them. Said it was her bedtime. Bedtime, my ass. So here I sit at the bar in Zeno's all by myself."
"I feel for you. What happened to the guy who could always pick up any girl he wanted?"
"There's nobody in here tonight worth picking up. What was so damned important that Carrie had to practically rip the phone out of my hand to call you?"
"She wanted to remind me to pick up my dress uniform at the dry cleaners."
"You think you're a frakking comedian, don't you?"
"You know, Zak…" Lee started, but saw that his brother had also ended the call. He was two for two tonight.
He left the guest barracks where the interrogators were staying and jogged the half-mile to the prison through the frigid night. His security badge got him all the way to Neil Speigel's cell. There was no privacy for any of the prisoners. Neil's cell was small, six feet by ten feet, nothing but a bunk and a tiny sink and a toilet. None of the suspected terrorists was allowed a roommate. Neil was curled under a single blanket. Asleep he looked like he was twelve years old.
"Hey, Neil," Lee called softly through the bars of the cell. "Wake up." When Neil didn't stir, he called a little louder, "Neil, wake up."
Finally Neil stirred and looked up at him.
"Come here," Lee said.
Groggily Neil pushed back the blanket and got up. He looked at Lee questioningly. "What time is it?"
"Almost midnight."
"What are you doing here?"
"I just want to ask you something, okay?"
Neil shrugged in his non-committal way.
"If you got another chance, what would you do with your life?"
"What kind of stupid-ass question is that? You know what's going to happen to me?"
"Just answer the question."
"You came all the way down here in the middle of the night to ask me that?"
"Would you stay with these guys or do something else?"
"What else could I do?"
"There's lots of things."
Neil snickered. "Name one."
"You could go back to school."
"While I'm doing what? Living on the street and selling myself for a hot meal? Do my homework by flashlight in a cardboard box under a bridge?" He snickered again.
"You're fifteen. There's foster homes. There's government housing. I could help with that. I'd like to help you, Neil."
Neil Speigel smiled, the first time Lee had seen a genuine smile from him all week. "You're a nice guy, Lee. Crazy as shit, but nice. The Cylons are going to stand me in front of a wall after they've pulled out my fingernails and cut off my balls. You know that."
"Have you ever thought that what you're doing is just as wrong as what the Cylons are doing? What about that woman and her little boy you killed last week?"
"Listen, man, we didn't do that. We did not do that."
"Then who did?" Lee asked.
"I don't know, but it wasn't us. I heard it was some guys from out of town."
"Don't you see you're being blamed for it? Everybody lumps all of you together. You could do a hundred good things and then one thing like last week wipes it all out. If you want to do something to help all of us, then stop the others from killing innocent women and children."
The hard mask was back on Neil's face. "When all the Cylons are dead, then we'll stop."
"If you don't stop, the Cylons will take a group of humans to experiment on and they will leave, but before they leave, they'll destroy the planet. They'll exterminate what's left of the human race."
Neil got back in his bunk and turned his face to the wall. "What do I care? I'll be dead before that happens. Go away, Lee. I was having a really good dream when you woke me up."
...
Back in his own bunk Lee lay under the covers and waited. He finally fell asleep. At 3:20 the base alarm began blaring. He was so deeply asleep by then that he thought he was on the Triton. He thought the Cylons were attacking and someone had set Condition One. He was on his feet looking for his flight suit when he realized where he was. He pulled on his uniform trousers and stepped into the hall. Several of the other interrogators had opened their doors.
"What's going on?" One of them asked.
"Beats me," Lee said.
A young corporal in full combat gear came down the hall. "There's been some sort of attack over at the prison. Your CO said to stay put until further notice. We're setting up a perimeter around this building. You're safe."
Lee went back into his room and finished getting dressed. He and the other interrogators gathered in a break room at the end of the hall. Jill Hadrian made a fresh pot of coffee and they speculated about what had happened. Lee said almost nothing. At 05:00 Major Parker came in.
"A little after 03:00 a group of heavily armed men invaded the prison with the intention of extracting the prisoners. There was a firefight and there were casualties, three guards, one of the invaders and two of the prisoners. Four of the prisoners were freed although we think one was badly wounded. We've locked down every airport and transport station in a hundred mile radius and blocked all the major roads leading away from the city. So far nothing. If they made it into the mountains we'll never find them."
Lee realized that he had been holding his breath. "Which two prisoners died, sir?"
"Neil Speigel got away," Parker said. "Now go back to your rooms and pack your bags. There's nothing for us to do up here. We're going home. If anybody is caught, they'll be taken straight to Caprica City and handed over to the Cylons."
As Lee was packing his bag, he thought again of the risk Carrie had taken in warning him. He had let her go after she had pulled the knife on Ackerman. He had let her go after she had told him about her part in destroying Baltar's lab. Was her warning last night just repayment for that? A favor for a favor or as his grandfather Adama would have said quid pro quo? Had they done more than make love to each other's dreams that night?
On the transport ship flying back to Caprica City, he slept and dreamed that Carrie was waiting for him on the tarmac when the ship landed at the airbase and that she threw herself into his arms, her voice like warm rain against his ear as she said breathlessly over and over, You're alive…you're alive…you're alive.
The lurch of the transport touching down on the runway brought him out of his dream. Still half-asleep he looked out of the small window beside him and saw the empty tarmac. He knew Carrie would not throw her arms around him in relief and joy, but he could still hear her voice against his ear, warm and breathless and full of life...you're alive.
The feelings he had for the girl who had risked her life when she thought his was in danger had grown stronger and deeper. For the first time in his life, he admitted to himself that he might be in love.