Chapter 12


Jake almost wanted to moan when he looked across what passed for a major highway on this rock. Garcia had driven him here because Jake still had no idea where anything was. He had not even spent five hours on this rock yet and the disasters seemed to be piling up faster than the hours. The only good news here was that at least everything was convenient. Jake pointed it out too his driver, "that's the place that went up in smoke this morning?"

Garcia put the car in park and then looked at what the new boss was talking about, "what? You mean Foo King? Yeah that's it all right." Then Garcia pointed to the little strip mall they were at, "the dry cleaners are right there."

"If I had known this place was here this morning," Jake replied, "I could have saved myself the trouble." That seemed to be the biggest problem he had right now too. Jake had no idea where anything was or how anything worked in these parts. He was completely dependent on other people for even the most basic of services and, to an old Special Forces guy, that just smelled plain wrong. That went doubly so when he was sure someone else was using it against him.

What choice did Jake have? This little trip was a prime example of that. Jake had worn his best suit when he came down from the starship. He had figured the day would start out with meeting all the high officials and, never once, did he dream he would be playing in the sand box. Jake still had a few more officials to go too. The most important of which was meeting the Governor for dinner this evening. He could not do that in the blue pilots jumpsuit he was currently wearing.

Jake had borrowed it from the station and, not because his suit was the only thing he had to wear but, right now, Jake wanted something a little more official looking than jeans. The jumpsuit not only fit but had a badge stenciled on it. That would have to do until he got a real badge, a newly minted phone with his identification cards , and all the other little things that went with being duly checked in. That could not happen until after he met with the Governor, unfortunately. Hence he was now at the dry cleaners.

When Jake came back out and got back in the car he told Garcia, "drive me over there."

Garcia was busy with his phone, "hey I just got an update text from Kaiser."

It took a second for Jake to realize what the guy was talking about, "oh the hospital. How's she doing?"

Garcia sounded relieved, "she's awake."

"Not bad for a few hours," Jake mumbled and then pointed once again to the diner, "now let's go back over to the crime scene." He also now had one other place he wanted to go and he still had very limited to time to do it all in. Garcia promptly did as instructed and, after a few almost near mishaps with other traffic, did finally manage to get them back to the diner. Jake was a little surprised to see the place was open for business again. He was equally surprised to see that cars were already parking over the burn marks from this mornings fiasco.

Leaving Garcia in the car, Jake found the guy with all the supplies, right back at his window as if nothing had ever happened. When Jake said as much to the guy, and he thought his name was Mel, the guy took offense, "look pal, a good friend of mine got killed this morning. Her name was Grace, and she left behind two orphaned kids. So, no, my morning is not going along with business as usual."

Mel also added from behind his window, "in fact I knew things were pretty screwed up when Gracie first came and pointed that truck out to me."

That took Jake by surprise, "she waited on it? Did she say anything?"

"Stuff that was none of her business," Mel replied. "I tried to steer her away from it. That guy was trouble, although, I got to admit, I didn't expect the kind we got."

Jake's brows narrowed, "you knew the guy?"

"Knew of him. Hell everybody in the Arch does," Mel replied. He also added, "and it couldn't have happened to a nicer guy."

"Um," Jake thought about it for a minute and then just asked the question with one qualifier, "you're going to have to forgive me but…"

"You're new here," Mel finished the sentence. "You stick out like a sour thumb buddy."

"Don't you mean sore?"

"Not in my line of work," Mel replied. He then went on, "the guy's name is Roy. It's Roy Kingsley. That mean anything to you?"

"Not particularly," Jake replied, "no." That was not entirely true but close enough. It was certainly more than Mel needed to know. "Is he important?"

That caught a condescending laugh from the cook who then said, "of the Texian Legion Kingsley's. I'm sure you heard of them all the way back to Earth."

The one question that Jake did ask this time had nothing to do with anything about the case, "how did you know I was from Earth?"

"The accent," Mel replied. "I heard a lot of it in the military. Speaking of which, like I was telling that buddy of yours, I seen me one or two explosions back during the war. That one wasn't like none I ever seen short of a nuke. Only not quite as big. You know what I mean?"

Jake nodded to the man as he walked off and said, "more than you realize." When Jake got back to the car he noticed that Garcia was still busy with his phone, "hear anything else?"

"Just letting everybody know," Garcia replied. For a moment, Jake wondered if he should stop the guy. Then Jake decided against it. The girl was their friend after all. They deserved to know and anything else was of second importance. Garcia finished quickly enough anyway. He probably already had blabbed it to half the island by now. When he was done he did ask, "did you find out anything else?"

Jake repeated the question he had been asked, "does the name Roy Kingsley mean anything to you?"

Garcia coughed and then said, "he was behind this?"

"Sort of but," Jake replied, "it was more like right in the middle. He was the guy in the truck."

Garcia coughed again and then said, "Roy was the schmuck who got vaporized? I don't know if we need to arrest who did it or pin a medal on the guy."

That answered Jake's next question of, "who would want to kill the man?" Judging by what Garcia had just said the answer was, "everybody." Instead of asking the question, Jake just watched as the agent pulled his phone back out and readied up his thumbs to type. Jake snatched the phone away from him. "Till we close this case you keep your mouth shut, and your fingers too, for that matter."

Garcia was not sure exactly how to take that. He just stared at Jake until the man told him, "drive!" In a meek voice Garcia replied, "can I have my phone back?" There was no answer all the way to the hospital. There wasn't much of any talking at all for that matter. The next thing that was said, as they rode the elevator up to the Intensive Care Unit, was Garcia pointing out, "they're not going to let us see her."

"Are we not cops," Jake thought about it and corrected himself, "ok I'm not officially a cop yet but, are you not a cop?"

Garcia was confused, "what difference does that make? No disrespect, um, deputy, it's just that the CG doesn't carry a whole lot of weight around here. You ask anybody with the city, or hell, even the Wehrmacht and the answer is going to be…"

The doors opened and Jake cut in with, "get out."

"Something like that," Garcia replied.

When they reached the doors to the ICU, they found themselves with the exact trouble that Garcia had expected. The woman at the outside counter would not buzz them in. She was a cranky woman and kept saying, "we cannot let our patients be disturbed. They're in there for a reason."

"Look lady," Jake told her, "I'm a Deputy US Marshall and this here is an Agent of your own Government. We are conducting an official investigation here."

The woman was unimpressed. She looked to Garcia as she pointed at Jake, "Alvarez, who is this butt munch?"

Garcia felt like, and was in reality, kind of on the spot, "he's who he says he is Kitty. He's a deputy US Marshall. He's also kind of our new boss."

Kitty acted impressed as she looked back to Jake but, she also made it apparent that her admiring glare was all sarcasm, "oh one of those treaty people from Earth, come here to save all us poor little colonists from ourselves." Then her glare turned down right hostile, "kind of like the cock sucker they sent here to run this place."

Jake just nodded, "yeah that would be me. Now while you're feeling all self righteous, Kitty," and Jake made the name sound as sarcastic as he could. Then he got down right hostile, "I got a kid sitting in there with a few extra holes in her body and I'm kind of interested in finding the real cock suckers who did it to her. So why don't you get off your fat lazy ass and push the damn button so we can go find out if she remembers what they look like."

The woman was red faced, livid, and had yet to unlock her eyes with those of Jakes. She did, however, reach over and hit the button. As the two men walked off Kitty left one parting thought, "good luck Alvarez. You're going to need it."

When the ICU doors closed behind them, Garcia suddenly exploded, "holy shit. I never seen anybody talk to her like that." As an afterthought he added, "and live."

"It's a front kid," Jake told him as he looked around in the many little cubicles for patients. "She's just another bureaucrat who's too lazy to push a button and then fill out the forms that come with it." He finally had to ask a nurse who, fortunately, proved to be more helpful than Kitty. The guy led them right too Danni's little space.

Danni was not only awake but she instantly recognized Garcia and smiled. He slid right into a chair next to her bed and took the girls hand. Jake just stood back and watched as they exchanged the kind of comments you normally expected in such situations. That included the nurse warning Garcia about all of the needles that were currently sticking in Danni's hand.

Jake took that as his cue, "Agent Nguyen, if you're finished giving Agent Alvarez a hard on, I'd like to chat with you for a moment."

For some reason Danni did not look confused at all. She simply directed her attention at the man and, with a weak sounding voice, she stated, "pretty good accent for a German."

Garcia corrected her, "he's our new boss."

Jake cut her off at the pass. He knew how pain meds could be and, better than most, "yeah I'm the cock sucker."

That sent the girl into a giggling fit that ended in some rather harsh sounding coughs. When she could speak again she said, "he reads minds too."

Jake just kept it simple, "what happened Agent? How did you get shot?"

Danni fell asleep a couple of times as she tried get things straight. Finally it was the nurse that put an end too it. Jake let the guy get away with it because it was quite clear the man was only doing it for reasons involving Danni's health. Jake nodded for Garcia, who smiled at Danni one last time, and they both left the ICU. When they were out the door Garcia just shrugged, "hate to tell you I told you so, man. Nothing she said helped one little bit."

"Yeah it did," Jake told him. Then he looked to his man and said, "who is this Sally Henchersfield?"