“And now you think this Gabriel, or someone using his identity, has transferred his anger at the death of his father to Sir Thomas? Is that it?”
“Yes, something like that — it really is the only explanation.”
“But why go to all the trouble? Why didn’t he just kill or have Sir Thomas killed?”
“Because he wants to make him suffer. In his talk with Jonah, he says, ‘You probably think I am crazy’. This is transference — deep down he thinks he is crazy, but transfers that emotion to Jonah. There are other lines in the discussion between Gabriel and Jonah that give us an indication of his thoughts, which are ‘Perhaps I shouldn’t be asking such personal questions so early in our relationship, but then I feel as if I have known you for so many years’ and, ‘Will you request God to strike me down for my sins, or having sought repentance of Him, shall I be saved as you were vomited from the great fish’s mouth onto the shores of Nineveh?’ The Devscreen had changed to the image of Jonah naked in the room with Gabriel. It switched focus from Gabriel to Jonah and back again. Something about the image made Cochran feel uncomfortable but she couldn’t put her finger on what it was.
“For someone who is supposedly crazy, the capture and escape were an extremely well put together plan and well executed. Hardly the mark of someone who is crazy.”
“On the contrary, people who are obsessive can be extremely detailed in thought and action. Their lunacy is in the premise they are acting upon not in how they accomplish those actions.”
“What is the significance of the meeting with Jonah Oliver?”
“It’s a threat. Jonah Oliver is Sir Thomas’s last surviving relative, so as Gabriel has lost his family he is telling Sir Thomas that he can touch Sir Thomas’s family in the same way.”
“I see. And is Jonah Oliver in immediate danger?”
“That is harder to predict, although we do think that he will be the first target and he won’t simply be killed — he will be made to disappear.”
Marty spun around in the Biosense without otherwise moving and, still sitting cross-legged, faced Cochran.
How does she do that? Cochran thought, with the quick hot flush along her cheekbones, and said, deadpan, eyeballing Marty, “Well I am sure you are on the right track, but we really aren’t in any better position than we were a week and a half ago, are we?” Cochran pointed her Devstick at Marty.
“No, I wouldn’t say that, Sharon. We have narrowed down the focus of this trace into a very specific area. We have identified the runner and identified the most likely target of his actions. We’ve also figured out how he escaped right from under your nose.” Sitting in a perfect Lotus position, her face without expression, Marty's words hung in the air. Dom and Fatima cringed but didn’t say anything and avoided looking at Cochran.
Her record until Gabriel had been perfect, and then the impossible had happened. Escape from the Deep. Until then it was thought to be impossible. That’s why when the trembler alarm went off, the guard, under the command of Cochran, had ignored it as a malfunction.
The jagged hole in her reputation gagged in her consciousness. Frowning and turning her Devstick over end to end, Cochran said, “Supposing for a moment that this theory of yours is true, does Jonah’s recent trip to the Moon have anything to do with this?”
“Yes. We think it’s possible that Gabriel hypnotized Jonah in the White Room and planted the suggestion that he visit the Nineveh Resort.”
The Devstick spun just a little faster. “So wouldn’t this indicate an urgent need to provide UNPOL protection for Jonah Oliver?”
“No, that wouldn’t be a good idea — I think you’re missing the point.”
Cochran’s nostril’s flared, the spin of the Devstick just a little harsher, and she said in a flat tone, “No, Martin, I think you’re missing the point, but please go ahead, tell us. What is your point?”
Marty’s posture straightened just that little bit more. Her gender re-assignment was common knowledge to the gang, but outside it wasn’t, and no one inside or out called her Martin.
“Agent Cochran, my name is pronounced Mar-teen, not tin, and I’ll thank you to remember that if you want one iota of contribution from me in the future — and that takes into account your likely promotion to Director.”
Stanislav said, “Ma, ma, ma, ma, me too.”
Dom and Fatima nodded their heads in unison.
“Martine, please forgive me. That was uncalled for, and unkind. Please accept my profound and sincere apology.”
Dom and Fatima’s heads stopped nodding and they turned, in unison to look at Marty.
Marty felt the lie beneath the sincerity, but now was not the time to take this bitch down. There would come a time.
“I accept your apology, Sharon. Please let’s forget this incident ever happened. So to answer your question as to what is my point, I would say that the point was bait. We know that Gabriel is going to come after Jonah. The fact that he made it back from the Moon means that Gabriel wants Sir Thomas to suffer for a while, before he makes his move. But if we shroud Jonah in protection, then he may pull back from Jonah and go straight for Sir Thomas.”
“Bait?” the surprise in Cochran’s voice was clear to them all. She hadn’t expected this. She hadn’t thought of using Jonah as bait.
“Yes, bait. Put a shield around Jonah but make it invisible, and sooner or later Gabriel is going to try to penetrate that shield. If we’re lucky, we’ll be able to stop him.”
“Lucky?”
“Sure. Gabriel might be crazy but so far he’s shown he is a brilliant operator, Sharon.”
Cochran nodded her head, the casual use of her first name rankled her system somewhere and was stored away for future damage creation but right now her systems were running on full, thinking about the possible scenarios that would involve Sir Thomas. She needed more information before she could go to him with this. What she had wasn’t enough.
Cochran looked at Marty, her hands still on the table. “What next?”
“We have a gap of 36 years to fill in Gabriel’s life. If we can get more detail on that then we will have a better handle on predicting his moves. We plan to start in on that next.”
“I see. Well, time is of the essence so I suggest we call this review to an end and get working this problem. I’d like to see a list of your proposed solutions to this investigation by midnight.”
“Sharon, in our calculations for the time we require to come up with a solution, I’ve taken into account the fact that this is Fatima’s birthday and we’re taking the night off. We’ll be back on by the midday shift tomorrow, but otherwise I agree that this review is over. I just can’t say exactly when you’ll get our list.”
I’m going to fry this little creet when this is over, Cochran thought, but smiled at the Gang of Four, one by one, as they waited for her answer.
“Of course, how silly of me. I completely forgot.” She looked at Fatima, who flushed a deep red at being the object of the undercurrent of tension in the room.”It is, isn’t it? Well happy birthday to you. I hope it is a happy and — ” looking hard at Marty, “- a healthy year for you.” She rose from the Biosense and walked out of the room.
The others looked at Marty and smiled. She raised one eyebrow with a flick and said, “Let’s go.”
Fifteen minutes later they’d collected their belongings from the Cave and were back down at ground level outside the central Lev port on Jurong. Dom, Fatima and Stanislav shared an Envspace in Orchard Towers. The party they’d been planning for Fatima would start at 10pm.