“Time?” Mikk asks.
“We need time to plant that bomb. We haven’t dived the Dignity Vessel in years. We could get to the heart of it within about fifteen minutes, if my memory serves, but we can’t do that now.”
“Why not place the bomb in that hole in the hull?” Jennifer asks.
Squishy shakes her head. “We want the bomb outside of the stealth tech. Close, but not close enough to be in the stealth tech field.”
“Still, planting it outside seems the logical thing to do,” Jennifer says.
“That also makes the bomb obvious to the military,” I say. “I’d rather put it in the cockpit.”
I want to obliterate that place from my memory. I’m not sure a bomb will do it, but I hope it will.
“We need some kind of diversion,” Odette says. “We need those military vessels out of the area for at least an hour.”
“An hour?” Hurst says. “You think that’ll be enough?”
I shake my head. “We’re better off planning for two or three hours, and even that might cut it close.”
I put my hands on the table and stand up, effectively ending the meeting. More hard facts aren’t forthcoming, and speculation will only confuse the issue. Squishy hasn’t finished the bomb yet.
Up to this point, the bomb is all I’ve focused on. Now I have to get us past military vessels and find time to dive. That’ll take a lot more planning than I’m used to.
I wish Karl were here. This is a mission he would be able to lead much better than I would. His own military background and his innate caution would guarantee success.
“Let’s think on this,” I say. “We have time. Let’s make sure we do this right.”
THIRTY-THREE
Odette pulls me aside later. I am heading for my berth. She insists on walking with me.
The corridors in this part of Longbow are narrow and cramped. They’re designed to discourage people who’ve been drinking and eating in the nearby restaurants from venturing in this direction. There is barely enough room for both of us to walk side by side, even though neither of us is large.
Before she speaks, Odette looks over her shoulder. When she is satisfied that we’re alone, she says, “I think you should let Squishy go.”
“I sought her out,” I say.
“I know,” she says, “and I’m not exactly sure why. She’s not trustworthy.”
I clasp my hands behind my back. “She knows a lot about stealth tech.”
“You’ve asked her for her expertise in that area, and she’s given you what she knows. At least, as much as you can tell.”
We go around a corner, and I stop. I want to see Odette’s face as we talk. “You don’t like her, do you?” I ask.
“Do you?” Odette asks.
It’s a fair enough question. “We were friends once.”
“Once,” Odette says. “Then she betrayed you. To the Empire, no less. She’s the reason they have that Dignity Vessel in the first place.”
“I know,” I say. I’m not likely to forget that betrayal.
“Have you ever asked her why she turned you in?”
“I know why,” I say. “She thought stealth tech was too dangerous for us. For any layperson, really. She wanted the Dignity Vessel removed from that site.”
“Which didn’t happen,” Odette says. “You’d think Squishy would know that it couldn’t happen.”
I think about that for a long moment. Odette has a point. And I never asked Squishy to clarify her reasons. She hasn’t apologized to me for reporting the Dignity Vessel, nor has she said she made a mistake.
I’m not even sure she considers her actions a mistake, given what she knew at the time. She figured no one could work in stealth tech. She probably figured giving something that dangerous to the Empire might save lives.
“She fought me pretty hard on that Dignity Vessel dive,” I say. “If she wanted to stop me—and anyone else—from diving the vessel, she made the right choice. She didn’t report us until Jypé and Junior died. I assumed— hell, I know—she couldn’t take it anymore. She didn’t want to be part of any more deaths.”
“Yet she gives the ship to the Empire, which guarantees there will be more deaths,” Odette says.
“What choice did she have?” I ask. “She didn’t want others to stumble onto the wreck, and I wasn’t listening to her.”
Odette frowns. She looks at the empty corridor as if making certain we’re still alone. When she looks back at me, her frown seems to have deepened.
“She’s delaying you now,” Odette says. “She wants to test everything. She wants to tell others what to do. She invited her old lover and is now ignoring her. All of this will cause troubles on the mission.”
I got into this position the first time by not listening to one of my team members. After Jypé and Junior died, I vowed I would listen. I have to struggle right now to follow my own vow.
Which is odd, since I’ve known Odette a long time.
“Have you worked with Squishy before?” I ask, recalling the stray thought I’d had during the meeting.
“My opinion remains the same,” Odette says. “She’s trouble.”
So she has worked with Squishy.
“I’m not doubting your opinion,” I say. “I just want a little more information.”
Odette sighs. She leans against the wall, something I would never do here, since these corridors are filthy.
“I worked with her,” she says. “I helped train her to dive.”
“A long time ago,” I say.
“Boss, you’re being dismissive,” she says.
Normally, she would be right. What I’m saying may sound dismissive, but it isn’t.
“I’m trying to get a sense of how long ago this was,” I say.
“When Squishy came out of the military,” Odette says. “Before you gave her that ridiculous nickname. We called her Rosealma, but she wasn’t fond ol that either. She was very military.”
“Meaning?”
“By the book. She didn’t like change or variables. Even after the training, I thought she was a dangerous dive partner.”
“Why?” I ask.
“Because she wanted everything just so,” Odette says.
That wasn’t the Squishy I dived with. But most divers were by the book in the beginning. If they remained by the book, they could never go beyond tourist dives.
I would never take an inflexible by-the-book diver on my wreck dives. But if I tell Odette that, she’ll think I’m being defensive again.
“Did you have other trouble with her?” I ask.
“I never knew exactly where she stood,” Odette says. “Like now. Is she working for the Empire? Is she working for you? Or is she working on something else?”
I smile. “She’s not working for me, and she’s certainly not working for the Empire.”
“How can you be sure?” Odette asks.
“Because I’ve been to her home. I’ve talked with the locals. That’s an antigovernment place.”
“So they tell you,” she says.
“The research I did after I left backs it up,” I say.
She nods once. “If she’s not working for you or the Empire, who is she working for?”
“Herself,” I say. “Just like the rest of us.”
“That doesn’t reassure me,” Odette says.
“I didn’t think you were asking for reassurance,” I say. “I thought you were talking about Squishy.”
Odette studies me. She knew me back in my beginning days too. She obviously feels like I’ve changed enough to lead a team. This will be the second time she trusts me to lead her somewhere dangerous—and the first time did not go well.