Fourteen: Aftermath
They emerged from the tunnel smudged with clay and stinking of dwarf gas, but otherwise unharmed. Holly had no trouble hot wiring the shuttle, but as the sound blasting and magical bolts continued to shudder through the facility, it was not until they were in the air that Holly truly felt relief.
Free. Somehow, against all odds, they had escaped once again.
She glanced down at the controls as they picked up another shuttle. A moment later a signal came through. "Unidentified shuttle, stand down by order of the LEP."
She wasted no time in making her reply; it had been a long day already and she did not much feel like being shot at by colleagues. "This is Captain Holly Short. Both Opal Kobois are still in the facility."
"We're aware of the situation, Captain. We have a team ready to head in. Remain on standby for the Commander."
"But–" And then the signal cut out. "D'Arvit!"
Mulch excused himself, muttering something about needing to use the lavatory and she and Artemis knew better than to ask. Artemis had somehow managed to squeeze himself into the copilot's seat and was watching her with great intensity and, she was certain, with no little smugness.
She suppressed a groan. He was going to make her say it. Typical. "So that was the omnitool you'd gotten your hands on?" she said without turning to look at him.
"Yes, essentially. I disassembled it and stripped it down to its most basic components with the notion of making it easier to conceal for just such an emergency. I did tell you I wasn't working on anything dangerous."
"This really isn't the time to try to wrangle an apology out of me." Shaking her head, she hit the auto-pilot and turned to look at him. "Artemis..." Yet in spite of her best efforts, a smile managed to creep onto her face. He did not need to say 'I told you so.' She could see it in the glimmer of those mismatched eyes of his. "You couldn't think of an easier way to pass it to me?"
He shrugged. "I needed my hands free to manipulate the extinguisher." A shadow seemed to flit over his features then. He looked her straight in the eye when he spoke again. "Did you believe me?"
"You mean did I think you would leave me there?"
"Did you?" he said, his features carefully schooled so that she could read nothing in them. But she didn't need to. She knew him so well. After all this time, she should.
"The thought crossed my mind for a second or two when you mentioned the gambit, but I figured you had to have a plan. Artemis Fowl always has a plan."
He nodded, air still neutral. "My plans have not always been to your benefit."
"You've always come back for me." She was gratified when a smile finally cracked through his facade.
"Unlike Opal I do not consider the people in my life to be playing pieces. Sacrifices are not acceptable." He shrugged then. "I'm not sure Opal would have believed it had she known the extent of our relationship. On the other hand, your Council members seems quite willing to believe me incapable of any real affection so why should Opal Koboi?" She reached out to squeeze his arm. "There is something to be said for the chess analogy, though I don't believe I have enough pieces to constitute an entire set."
"You'd be the king, of course," Holly said with a sniff.
"Naturally. The king represents the player, the mastermind who directs the others behind the lines of battle. Foaly would, of course, have to be a knight. And Butler would make a fine rook. I suppose that leaves Mulch as a bishop; I think the diagonal movement would be fitting."
"And me?"
"The queen," he said with a sly smile. "The most versatile piece on the board."
"Flattery does not make you smell any less of recycled dwarf clay, Artemis," she said pointedly. "No pawns?" she added then.
"No," Artemis replied. "Not any longer."
ooo
With a great groan of relief, Mulch emerged from the bathroom, yet he paused in the doorway, arrested by the little tableau before him. Artemis and Holly, eyes locked, speaking in low tones that, for some reason, sent a tingle through the hairs of his beard.
There was something different about the way they talked, the way they looked at each other. The way she looked at Artemis. Mulch had worked as Holly's partner long enough to know that that wasn't the way she looked at friends or felons and Artemis was both; when she looked at Artemis, her eyes danced. Artemis meanwhile was smiling and Artemis Fowl did not smile freely, particularly in the middle of a crisis.
All at once, the lacy, black panties packed in Holly's travel bag came to mind.
A grin split Mulch's face, displaying his tombstone teeth to best effect as he marched towards the two and reached out to shake Artemis's hand. "Ah Artemis, I'm so proud of you," he said, startling the two so that they stared at him wide-eyed. "Finally a master thief – stealing Holly's heart and all that."
Holly's face turned a tint of burgundy, verging on purple entirely worthy of Julius while Artemis seemed suddenly preoccupied with picking at the clay that was drying on his ruined jacket.
Mulch drew back a moment to take in the sight of them. "So how do you two managed exactly? Must be a tight fit – if you get my drift," Mulch added with a snigger.
Holly's jaw dropped, but she remained dumbstruck with ire. Artemis glanced up at Mulch, one eyebrow raised, and said, very cooly, "If you need advice in that department, Mulch, I'd be happy to offer you a few pointers."
Mulch grimaced. "Keep your pointer to yourself, Mud Boy. And for your information, I happen to be very popular with the ladies," he said, drawing himself up. And then, wincing, "Excuse me. After that I'll be needing to use the toilet again."
ooo
Holly glowered after Mulch as he retreated into the bathroom once more. "If he hadn't just saved our lives I swear to Frond I would kill him."
"Did you expect to be able to keep it from him for much longer?"
"No but– and what was he doing here anyway?"
Artemis' brow creased. "Now that is a much more interesting question." He glanced over his shoulder toward the bathroom as a rather loud boom echoed from inside. "One I don't suppose we'll have answered for some time."
Holly's attention was arrested by her console as a yellow light began to blink on and off accompanied by a tinny beep. "That will be the Commander," she said with a sigh. "He'll want me back in Haven, I imagine."
Artemis smiled thinly. "We should do this again sometime."
"Getting captured and escaping? I think we do that quite enough already."
He quirked an eyebrow. "While I admit that Opal is the very definition of self-sabotage, that is not what I was referring to."
She tried to smile but the yellow light flashing in the corner of her eye made it difficult to think of anything but the immanent parting. "I don't know when I'll be able to get another surface visa, especially for such an extended period."
She found she couldn't meet his stare and instead turned to her console, finally activating the view screen. Trouble's imaged sprang into view. "Captain Short," he said. "Good to see you in one piece."
"Thank you, sir."
"I'll be anxious to see your report. But..."
"Sir?"
"Our team is in there now but there's no sign of Koboi – either of them."
Holly heaved a groan. "They got away? Again?"
Trouble scowled. "I'm afraid so." He looked tired, she thought, rumpled around the edges. It was happening more and more these days. She thought she even glimpsed a few glimmers of grey in his hair– but that could just have been the overhead lights down at police plaza. "You're cleared to land the shuttle at Tara. You can catch the shuttled back down along with the Retrieval team."
Biting her lip, Holly glanced over her shoulder in towards Artemis who watched the exchange, stony-faced. "Sir, are you cancelling the rest of my leave?"
Trouble shook his head. "No, I can wait a few more days for your report." And then, brow creased, "I figured after everything you'd want to get some rest at home."
Home... She glanced once more at Artemis and then, resolute, turned her attention back to her commander. "If that's the case, sir, would you mind if I finished my time off up here as planned?"
He opened his mouth as if to object but then snapped it shut. "All right. But I want your report as soon as you get back. Is that clear?"
"Yes, Commander."
He closed the channel without another word and Holly had a niggling suspicion that they would be having a chat when she returned to Haven. But that was then. She shot a glance in Artemis's direction only to find him looking very smug indeed. "Not a word," she said warningly... before leaning over to kiss him.
They were both too busy to notice as, behind them, the bathroom door opened – and then shut again just as quickly.
ooo
Guzzling an energy drink, Holly put the finishing touches on her report. Getting used to Haven's time again after two weeks on the surface being semi-diurnal was proving just as difficult as adjusting to surface time had been. Shuttle lag they called it.
And then there was the nagging sense of something missing – as when you knew you were forgetting something but couldn't quite pin down what. Except that she knew exactly what it was that was missing... who it was.
She eyed the corner of her desk warily; it was piled high with e-forms that had to be filled out and cases that needed to be reviewed. And once it was all done, once she'd finished her hours of catch-up work, she would make her way through the crowded streets of Haven City back to her flat. Her empty flat. If she was lucky there would be an email waiting for her from Artemis; it would be too early on the surface to call him and she didn't think she had enough stamina today to wait up.
She straightened as a voice came through her com line. "Captain Short, could I see you for a moment?"
"I'll be right there, sir."
When she reached his office, Trouble looked as worn out as she felt and without shuttle lag to blame for it. "I'm just finishing up my report on the Koboi incident, sir."
"Take a seat, Captain," he said, closing the door behind her. "I think it's time we have a little talk." She knew from his tone what was coming. Holly sat very straight in her chair and waited for it. "I've had a few chats with Foaly lately, about Fowl and what he's been up to. And he's been... fidgety about it. Foaly, I mean, not Fowl."
"Sir?"
She'd known Trouble a long time, since before she'd even made Recon, and he looked genuinely uncomfortable – pained even – as he spoke. "Holly, look, I'm asking this as a friend, not just as your commander. Have you – That is, is Fowl..."
"Just come out with it, Commander."
He took a breath. "Are you sleeping with him, Holly? With Fowl?"
"Yes."
The colour drained from his features, leaving his normally coffee-brown skin looking greyish and not quite healthy. "If he has some hold over you... If he–"
"No!" Holly said, leaping to her feet, hands balled into fists. "Gods! After everything Artemis has done for the People, how can you even think that?"
"Calm down, Captain." She sat; she knew an order when she heard one. But her arms remained crossed and she sat stiffly in her chair. "So your... involvement with him is entirely voluntary?"
"It is." And she stared him down, daring him to object.
Trouble groaned. "Why are you doing this to me, Holly? If the Council gets wind of this... You're already on the Internal Affairs black list five times over."
"Are you going to tell them?"
"Not unless I have to. My officers' personal lives are none of my business." He shook his head. "Frond! I hope you know what you're doing."
"Is it that hard to believe I might actually care about him?"
"But, Holly, he's human... They don't live very long."
Her breath caught for a moment but she forced away the familiar pang. "Do you really think I don't know that? That I don't think about it every time I see him?"
Trouble sighed. "I hope you don't regret this in a century."
"Regret?" Holly shook her head. "Do you regret knowing Julius?"
Trouble's features crumpled into a frown. "Julius? What does he have to do with this?"
"Do you remember there was a betting pool in the office on how long before his heart popped?"
"But that was... that was just in fun," Trouble said, shifting in his seat.
"The smart money was on half a century, wasn't it? Do you remember what the highest guess was?" He said nothing. "I think it was seventy-two. Maybe seventy-three. My point is that... we knew we would lose him," she said softly. "It happened... earlier than we thought... but we all knew it would happen." She waited for Trouble to raise his eyes again to meet hers. "So do you regret it?"
"No," he said.
And they spoke of the matter no further.
A/N: I meant to have this up Friday night as usual, but then realized I had forgotten to make some edits to this chapter so I had to do them this morning. My apologies if there remain some choppy bits.
Also, things are wrapping up now. Just so no one is too surprised, next week is the final chapter.
