There was a stiffness to his walk not born from military training. Daniel was angry. Watching a member of his team nearly die was enough for that anger, but it wasn't the reason for it's intensity. Carole had laid on the packed earth for an hour while Yukiko worked on her, desperately trying to save her life when her entire body had already shut down.
One hour.
Not a single paramedic from the infirmary came to the emergency. There was no reason for that. He'd sent Ana, the fastest team member they had besides possibly Carole who would not leave her sister regardless of orders. She'd been gone less than five minutes, returning with a message that they were on their way.
Fifty-five more minutes. Nothing. There was no excuse for that level of delay.
With that in mind he was going directly to the infirmary for answers. They better have good ones.
He didn't reach the doors at a run. His steps were precise and timed at a sedate pace. That didn't mean he didn't open the double doors with enough power to match his ire. "Damian Nelson," he said to the first orderly he ran across.
The slightly overweight man, Geff Nealson, was obviously intimidated by his entrance. Not wanting to be in front of him longer than he had to be the suddenly sweating man pointed down a hall. "Third door to the left." He had been told many times that when he lost his temper the expression he had would make the devil himself flinch. He hadn't lost his temper, but a portion of that expression was still there. He would probably feel guilty later for using even a piece of it to scare the orderly, but not now.
Giving Geff what he silently wanted the most at that moment, Daniel moved down the hall and to the office of his foe. "I'm sorry, I didn't hear you coming." the head of the infirmary asked, not looking up yet. "Give me just a second to finish this page. I don't think we will ever escape the plague that is bureaucracy and its faithful servant, paperwork."
The attempt at levity was lost on him. Once he was done and looked up Damian noticed immediately as his expression became more serious. "If you're worried about private O'Neal she'll be okay. Your healer is impressive." He must have assumed his anger was at the situation, which was partially true, and not their end of making it worse than it needed to be.
He was going to set him straight. "I am not worried about her. I am worried about the incompetence of your infirmary."
From serious to affronted in less than a second, the surgeon glared. "Excuse me?"
With an even voice, tight from the willpower it took to keep from screaming it, the lieutenant said "it was almost an hour after private Mutet gave you the alert, and no medics made it to the parade grounds. Wouldn't you call that incompetent?"
The glare never left Damian's face, but a cast of confusion was added to it. "We were ready in three minutes and heading out when we got the all clear."
What the fuck? "Who gave that all clear?" he asked, his own face adding a similar cast of confusion over the anger.
Obviously confused he replied simply "Private Mutet."
For a moment Daniel believed him. It certainly fit with her personality. Then three reasons rose up that contradicted the possibility. First was Ana would only do it if she thought there was zero chance of being caught, and in this case the opposite was true. Secondly she didn't have the time. She didn't have the time to run there, give the summons, wait three minutes out of sight, then give the false all clear and return to the grounds, not even if she had more speed she could squeeze from her boosts. Finally why bother with an all clear? She could simply have not gone and left the staff unaware they were needed.
Unwillingly he also allowed himself to remember a forth reason. She'd given her word to abide by their agreement. While her desires were despicable, she had a sense of honor as well.
No, that wasn't right either. She didn't understand the concept of honor, but she had come to the conclusion that being caught breaking her word or lying would make her lose credibility. She needed it though. Without it she would find distrust, making any deals or promises she made worthless or unattainable.
Why the headmistress allowed her to enroll he could not understand. Ana was going to keep him on his toes. She may keep her side of a promise, but she was going to use any loophole she could. The only good thing was he had the heads-up from the rather lengthy psych eval the headmistress had provided for her, along with the rest of the team.
That eliminated Ana as the culprit, but he also knew the Doc believed every word he'd said. "This may seem odd, but describe what private Mutet looked like when she came back the second time?" His expression returned to normal, or nearly so. He had a theory. He hoped it was wrong.
The doctor didn't answer right away, his face growing thoughtful, then even more confused than it had been. "Uh..." Damien was obviously trying to find it, but equally obviously not having any clue to the answer.
That confirmed his theory. Daniel had given a report to the headmistress on this loophole to their best line of defense. The last question was more for the infirmary's benefit than his own to get him to understand what had happened. "How did you identify her as the private?"
"Um... My heads up." Nervously he started twisting his ring.
With the final bit of proof he pointed out what the good doctor was missing. "You had just seen Ana three minutes before. How would you forget any of her information to activate your HUD?"
Befuddled he started twisting his ring more vigorously. "I couldn't have..."
"My apologies for my earlier accusations," Daniel said sincerely, throttling what remained of his anger for the moment. It would return when the true culprit was found. Right now it would only cloud his thinking, as it already had when he came here.
He had three more years to work on that or his subordinates, who were going to be much larger than five, were going to suffer for it.
More himself, he focused on what should have brought him here. "How is private O'Neal doing?"
"Very well. Your healer, Private Sato was it?," Hawkinson nodded to the question. "She is impressive, as I told you before. Judging by the information I have gathered from Alisha a single healer could not have done what she did. All Carole needs is rest, fluids and some nutrients. It may take her a couple of days to fully recover. I'm definitely not going to release her today or tomorrow. Friday is a good possibility though."
That only reinforced his worry about how well the team would function once Yukiko returned home. Maybe he should suggest selling their contracts to different people and break up the squad after they graduated.
"Thank you doc. I will be back tomorrow to check on her progress."
"Of course."
Knowing that his subordinate was going to be okay, he moved on to his next destination. By procedure the headmistress was the first person he was to report to after an accident of this scale. Daniel believed she would appreciate him being thorough and forgive his delay.
Standing in front of the entrance to the administration building the first-lieutenant composed himself. The headmistress didn't have an office. Stacy made herself as available as possible by working in the main room of the building. It was something he had come to respect. With the amount of power she wielded nearly unchecked it allowed everyone on the school grounds to get a feel for her and come to understand how much she cares for all of her students.137Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiJ2sHU2Sc3
With one final deep breath he entered. As expected she was sitting at the desk closest to the door. Looking up she smiled kindly. "Lieutenant, I already have heard about the incident on the parade grounds. Give me your interpretation of events if you would."
He had come to expect her to be aware of what was going on almost as soon as it happened, and then use that information to shorten these kinds of meetings. Unsurprised he began. The report had been practiced in his head multiple times on his walk to the building. It was as short and concise as he could relay, covering ground he was sure the headmistress would already know. After a two minute description, he waited for the questions to start on the specifics his short recital would miss.
They were not long in coming. "You said you believe the incident at the infirmary was foul play?"
That had an obvious answer, but he suspected where she was going with it. He'd gone the same place. "Yes ma'am."
"So do you believe the private's collapse was also a matter of foul play?"
Expecting it he responded with another "Yes ma'am" instantly. "Beyond what I have already reported I would also note that her level of depletion was well beyond the point that a person would normally pass out. This indicates outside interference."
Pausing she looked at him shrewdly. "Do you have any theories on how that could be done?"
That was the problem, he didn't. He knew how the infirmary had been fooled, but it did not give any clues on who. "Not yet ma'am. I do believe that this attack could not have been done with less than two people. One to cause the depletion, and one to make sure the medics didn't come."
"I came to the same conclusion," Stacy agreed. "I'm impressed."
Accepting the complement, he used it for a request. "May I be permitted to investigate this further?"
"Granted, but do not interfere with the official investigation," she agreed quickly. "I have one last question, though I am sure you do not know. Who would want to hurt and possibly kill her?"
Another question he would want the answer too. Not only did she have a personality that would rarely make enemies. She was too new to the school to have made one that would go to this extreme. "No ma'am."
"Report to me with anything you find, no matter how minor. I'm disturbed that this could happen on my campus."
Nodding one last time, he accepted the implied dismissal, trying to decide where to begin. There were a couple of possibilities to begin with.
His first target was Master Sergeant Susan Gringrich. She had a job outside of her studies, and she was good at it. He needed the skills that made her so good. Susan was the one who updated the school registry on the doorknobs of each dorm room door. To be able to work on each glyph on each door in a single night was an unparalleled feat in his opinion. It was good that she only needed to do it when there was someone new on campus.
By the time he found her it was approaching lunch time. It was a favorable coincidence since it would give him a good way to talk to her socially while still asking for a favor. He may out rank her, but she wasn’t in his chain of command so he couldn’t simply make it an order.
“Susan, I need to talk with you if you don’t mind,” he asked casually. One of the advantages of socializing outside of his command was the ability to let go of military protocol.
The master sergeant gave him a questioning look. They’d bumped into each other before of course. Half the population of DMA was not students or teachers, making up the portion that worked in the merchant district as well as the people who worked behind the scenes in the school like janitors and cooks. With that small of a population it was inevitable for them to bump into each other after three years, but being different years they’d never really talked. He wasn’t certain she even knew his name.
“Oh?” She managed to say it so it sounded both guarded and amused.
Giving the best smile he had he suggested “How about we talk over lunch, my treat.” That was only fair given he was taking some of her valuable time.
She looked him up and down, then returned his smile. “Why not. Next class isn’t until one. Since you’re paying, how about McGriff’s.”
That wasn't a question, and he realized this was going to be a very expensive favor. “I can work with that.”
“Let me get this straight,” Susan started. “One of your squad members was attacked, but you don’t know how, you don’t know why, and you don’t know who. You have virtually no clues to work with, and while you’re allowed to investigate it, you’re not getting any outside assistance, and was specifically told not to interfere with the official investigation, and by that we both know she means we can't even talk to them. And you think I can help you somehow?”
“You have a marvelous ability to simplifying the complicated,” he said with casual ease. The talk had been going on longer than expected, partially because they kept going off topic. They should have made the attempt to talk to each other a long time ago. "Specifically, I need to know who went in and out of the infirmary at that time.”
Her own ease suddenly disappeared. “And how do you think I can help you with that?”
This was a secret, or it was supposed to be, but he’d figured it out a long time ago. “Yes," he said, his voice suddenly serious, "and you already know how I think you can do it.”
The unease went much deeper now. It was almost fear, but not exactly. She knew she was under no form of threat from him. The threat was from the possibility of being blamed for this information getting out. “Don’t worry. Whether you agree or not, I won’t tell anyone. I haven’t before this have I?”
She visibly swallowed, something he’d always thought was something writers put in their books but never really happened in real life. “How long?”
The smile returned to his face, trying to bring the aura back to the simple bonding of new friends. “Hmmm… I think I started suspecting it in my second year. I verified it in my third.”
Her eyes widened with surprise. “That long?”
“Yes, and in all those years I’ve told no one, not even my roommate.”
Her own smile returned, lightening the mood slightly, but not completely. There was still a slight feel of unease.
He though about how relaxed they were before he had asked for his favor, and then allowed himself to return there. That allowed him to say “So, want to help?" as if they were old friends.
It did the trick. Sitting a bit straighter she replied “on one condition.” That last shred of nervousness left her, and the smile became devilish.
That devilish smile worried him in a good natured way. Still, a single condition was beyond fair. “If it’s within my power.”
“Take me out to Instinct, and this time I’ll pick up the tab.”
Yeah, she was definitely relaxed again, blackmailing him into a date at the best (only) upscale club in Davis-Monthan. He had to admit, he had thoughts about asking her out on a date anyways, and she was picking up the tab. Not exactly chivalrous, but these days showing that form of respect was appreciated, but not expected, and not missed.
"That's extortion."
"No, that's negotiation."
With another chuckle he gave in. “I accept.”
That night the two walked up to the infirmary. It was never truly closed, but it only had a skeleton crew at night. With the headmistress's permission they didn't need to sneak up on it, but the fewer people coming in and out the easier this was going to go.
“I’m going to be behind on my rounds because of this, so you better make tomorrow night special.”
He was fairly certain no one new would be coming to campus anytime soon, and her kidding voice confirmed it. “I will do my best.”
There were four ways to enter the building, all of them locked. Only students, faculty and essential personel had access through their rings. That was how he knew it had to be someone from the school, not an outsider.
Kneeling down, Susan looked at the first doorknob inches from her face, never touching it. “This is a long list,” she said absently. This was the big secret. Honestly he wasn’t sure how no one else had figured it out.
Granted, having to put that much information in a door knob made the circuitry particularly fine in order for it to all fit. Only a handful of people on campus would be able to make it out. Still, it was obvious there was more than just the official information on the knob. The glyph was larger than the one on the ring and the lines were equally fine.
“Narrow it down who entered to everyone who came in five minutes after Ana entered the building,” he told her.
She sighed. “You’ve figured out a lot on how much information the doorknobs record.”
Daniel couldn’t help but laugh quietly. “If I was running the school and had access to something as powerful as these rings, it’s what I would do.”
“You are a sneaky minded bastard,” she said good naturedly.
The casual camaraderie just came naturally. “And you’re the scheming vixen who blackmailed me into a date.
“Negotiated," she corrected. "Ready for the names?”
Pulling out a pad of paper and a pencil he leaned against the wall as a writing surface. “Ready.”
The list was longer than he had expected. A lot longer, until he realized he was hearing some names multiple times. “You’re reading them in order. Are you going backwards or forward in time.
“Backwards. I figured the names closest to the incident were the most likely.”
“Smart girl.” He hadn’t thought of that, but now that he did… “Susan, give me the times for these names. I want to check the interior knob. If I cross reference when people came in and out I’ll have a good idea of who was inside at the time. That’ll severely narrow the possibilities.”
Looking over at him, she gave a winsome smile. “That’s going to be a lot of work. That tenacity needs to be rewarded.”
His partner was starting to become very distracting. He caught himself examining her curves, magnified by her short stature, contemplating the reward she was implying. Shaking his head once, he looked at the paper and refused to look back before he became too distracted. “So, what are the times?”
He was sure he heard a faint laugh, but she got back to business. Once they were done, going back to oh-six-hundred, they started on the interior knob, going down to the same time. They repeated this at the other three doors and used up a surprising amount of paper. He was glad he brought a pad instead of just a few sheets.
Looking over at him one last time Susan leaned in and kissed his cheek. “I think it might be a good thing we’re in different chains of command. Now I need to run off and do my real job. Remember tomorrow night.”
“How could I forget? Free food is involved.”
Sitting at his desk, his roommate obliviously sleeping, Daniel started his work. The first step was to combine the eight lists, making note on if each entry was them coming in and out. That resulted in a list ten pages long. That was actually shorter than the number of pages he'd been copying from.
The lists started out daunting, but eliminating entries to just the last time they came in or out shortened it greatly. Then he started comparing the times of what remained. It didn’t talk as long as he feared to reduce the list down to only the ones who were inside at the time Ana left the building.
There were two possible exceptions; If she came in before the time that the list started, that wasn’t likely’; or if she had followed someone else in. That was a high possibility. There had been several names that only showed coming in or going out. This method wasn't perfect, but it would narrow the initial search. If these names all check out, he'd start looking at everyone else who he knew was in the building at all.
Two hours of work and fifty-six names later his eyes were starting to go crossed. Tomorrow morning was squad meeting. As much as he wanted to work out more, he also needed to be at least half functioning for that. Both Carole and Yukiko were not going to be recovered enough to be there, but the remaining three deserved his best.
Besides, he wasn’t going to be able to narrow the list farther without talking to Damien to vouch for people he knew were supposed to be there. Then he was going to be talking to Master Richardson to get his expert opinion. He had to work all of that around his classes, making it even more complicated. It would be a busy and tiring day. With the short amount of sleep he was going to get he was going to have to be careful or he wouldn't be worth anything on his date. She'd earned his best.
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