company credit card. He was in the air before the slime balls blew up. His boss informs us, that being meticulously honest, he has already paid them back for using the card for personal expenses and apologized for quitting without notice. The owner said he'd hire the guy again in a New York minute and to hell with anybody who doesn't like it."
"Home just saved my bacon, didn't they?" Wiggen asked. She didn't say again .
"I can't prove it, I can't prove much of anything here," he said frustrated, "but it sure looks like it. and it all tells me that Home militia has an effective and extensive intelligence network, likely with sleepers and support people in North America. If you'd asked me a week ago I'd have told you they didn't have any intelligence assets in North America, maybe not even on Earth."
"The militia? No, Jon has been Spox for them, but he wouldn't lift a finger to save me. All the Home people ever involved with me, have revolved around April Lewis as a fixed point. That group is quite different than their militia."
Wiggen paused and looked thoughtful. "How about the possibility he just stumbled into the situation and brazened his way through?"
"Please, don't insult my intelligence. He's a visual match and has the means to be accepted and then has every skill and device to systematically thwart their plot at hand? I supposed he just happened to want to emigrate anyway and grabbed the opportunity without a thought to abandoning all his possessions? He didn't clear anything out of his Atlanta apartment. It's beyond coincidence. That's not all that has been happening," he said and drew a deep breath. "Remember the former agent whose file you had pulled, Santos, who hosted Miss Lewis in Hawaii?"
"Yes, he was drowned in the Drake passage, wasn't he? His yacht went down."
"Well, he seems to have lifted for Home from the Canary Islands spaceport since his drowning, along with his wife and an agent the Chinese government seems to want very badly right now. On the same flight was a woman who also appears to be on our State Department detain and question list and several others we are trying to identify."
"Do they run special bargain charters for defecting spies? Free champagne if you show your agency credentials?" she asked, incredulous.
"I know. If you wrote all these improbables up as a spy thriller, the editor would chuck it in the waste basket, as too farfetched and silly to ask readers to suspend disbelief. But tell me, who else right now wants you to remain in office more than Home? You're the only one right now who isn't hot to blow them out of the sky the first chance they get."
"If any of this gets out, it will look like I've only survived by being protected by a foreign power," Wiggen predicted. "My polls are bad enough, that would kill me and I have to deal with this lawsuit in the world court. I can't afford to look weak to the voters in any of it."
"Then if you can't reach an accommodation with them to settle the suit, I'd recommend you move very aggressively to rein in the lunar colony. Bold action looks better, even if it isn't the bold action you'd prefer," Wainwright suggested.
"I've already put the executive, the surviving one, under arrest and issued orders to resolve most of the issues brought up by this legal action. It was a can of worms up there, I admit."
"And are you getting independent confirmation those orders are being followed ?" he asked pointedly. "They have a history of ignoring them, so I wouldn't assume it is fixed."
Wiggen looked funny at Mel, getting a slowly twisted smile. "I think you have a point there. I'll try to settle, but if it can't be done I'll make sure the public sees me arrest them and that their actions were not what I wanted or ordered. I'll appoint a special investigator today. One with enough power to get the job done. I wanted to say they wouldn't dare, but they did dare."
"People do understand, underlings don't always do what you wish," Wainwright
"Home just saved my bacon, didn't they?" Wiggen asked. She didn't say again .
"I can't prove it, I can't prove much of anything here," he said frustrated, "but it sure looks like it. and it all tells me that Home militia has an effective and extensive intelligence network, likely with sleepers and support people in North America. If you'd asked me a week ago I'd have told you they didn't have any intelligence assets in North America, maybe not even on Earth."
"The militia? No, Jon has been Spox for them, but he wouldn't lift a finger to save me. All the Home people ever involved with me, have revolved around April Lewis as a fixed point. That group is quite different than their militia."
Wiggen paused and looked thoughtful. "How about the possibility he just stumbled into the situation and brazened his way through?"
"Please, don't insult my intelligence. He's a visual match and has the means to be accepted and then has every skill and device to systematically thwart their plot at hand? I supposed he just happened to want to emigrate anyway and grabbed the opportunity without a thought to abandoning all his possessions? He didn't clear anything out of his Atlanta apartment. It's beyond coincidence. That's not all that has been happening," he said and drew a deep breath. "Remember the former agent whose file you had pulled, Santos, who hosted Miss Lewis in Hawaii?"
"Yes, he was drowned in the Drake passage, wasn't he? His yacht went down."
"Well, he seems to have lifted for Home from the Canary Islands spaceport since his drowning, along with his wife and an agent the Chinese government seems to want very badly right now. On the same flight was a woman who also appears to be on our State Department detain and question list and several others we are trying to identify."
"Do they run special bargain charters for defecting spies? Free champagne if you show your agency credentials?" she asked, incredulous.
"I know. If you wrote all these improbables up as a spy thriller, the editor would chuck it in the waste basket, as too farfetched and silly to ask readers to suspend disbelief. But tell me, who else right now wants you to remain in office more than Home? You're the only one right now who isn't hot to blow them out of the sky the first chance they get."
"If any of this gets out, it will look like I've only survived by being protected by a foreign power," Wiggen predicted. "My polls are bad enough, that would kill me and I have to deal with this lawsuit in the world court. I can't afford to look weak to the voters in any of it."
"Then if you can't reach an accommodation with them to settle the suit, I'd recommend you move very aggressively to rein in the lunar colony. Bold action looks better, even if it isn't the bold action you'd prefer," Wainwright suggested.
"I've already put the executive, the surviving one, under arrest and issued orders to resolve most of the issues brought up by this legal action. It was a can of worms up there, I admit."
"And are you getting independent confirmation those orders are being followed ?" he asked pointedly. "They have a history of ignoring them, so I wouldn't assume it is fixed."
Wiggen looked funny at Mel, getting a slowly twisted smile. "I think you have a point there. I'll try to settle, but if it can't be done I'll make sure the public sees me arrest them and that their actions were not what I wanted or ordered. I'll appoint a special investigator today. One with enough power to get the job done. I wanted to say they wouldn't dare, but they did dare."
"People do understand, underlings don't always do what you wish," Wainwright
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