3 Weeks Later, Friday. 05:27 Co-Ed Dorm

John practically jumped out of bed. He landed quietly on the ground. He took a deep breath and looked at the bed. Whatever caused John to do all that did not wake up Alice. How she was still asleep was a bit of a mystery to John. His head was splitting and was hurting, feeling worse than he did during the most recent fight with the twins.

He quietly walked out into the living room and took a deep breath. John was told several months ago that something similar to phantom limb syndrome would happen to him. He sat down on the ground in front of the couch and held his head. It felt like someone was slicing his brain apart.

“So, it’s finally happening, eh?” Alice said leaning on the wall.

“How…”

“Doctor Maizen assumed, correctly I might add, that you wouldn’t share this information with me. You know I’m in training to be a psychologist, right? Or that I’ve treated people with phantom limb syndrome. This is my wheelhouse, John.”

John leaned his head back on the couch and looked up at the ceiling, “I probably should have learned by now to not keep secrets from you.”

Alice rolled her eyes and sat down next to him, “Duh, we’re on the same team. When it comes to our health you need to communicate better.”

“I’m sorry,” John hugged Alice, “I don’t deserve you?”

“You probably don’t, but we do make a good team. Please for the sake of my sanity can you be less stubborn about this stuff?”

John kissed her forward, “I will, but unlike the work you do, there’s no cure for what may afflict me for the rest of my life.”

“Yet. No cure yet. The good news is that your wife can and will work on this until I can discover a cure.”

John laughed quietly, “Lot of good that will do. Finding a cure to something that affects like one or two people a century seems like a gross waste of time and resources.”

Alice punched John in the ribs, “That’s not the point you ass.”

The couple stayed together on the ground for several minutes. During the conversation, the pain in John’s head died down. Alice let go of her bear hug and seemed to notice John was no longer in pain. She let go and stood up.

“Since you woke me up, you get to wait for me to finish getting ready this morning.”

“Loved you too,” John said as he looked at the ceiling again.

John had hoped that the doctor’s prediction would be wrong. There weren’t that many cases of that happening. The loss of telepathy wasn’t a common occurrence, and the number of cases was likely underreporting since those that weren’t registered were unlikely to come forward with what had happened to them.

In any case, this new development was most unwelcome. If it was something that occurred infrequently John could find a way to deal with it. Whether that was wishful thinking or not, only time would tell. The morning got off to a positively rotten start.

12:10 Cafeteria

John sat down and was agitated, “Stupid motherfuckers.”

“Group project?” Kristin asked.

“Wait, the two of you didn’t get paired up?” Andern asked after he took a huge bite of his apple crisp.

“I wouldn’t be pissed if we were,” John took an aggressive bite out of his chicken sandwich.

“Who’s your partner?” Nathan asked.

“Blake Nelson. He ‘forgot’ and said he’d work on it this afternoon,” John said using air quotes, “I told him to send his work to me when he was done, and I’d submit it.”

“I presume you gave him a deadline?” Brian asked, “This dessert is fucking amazing.”

“Right? They got the right amount of crunch on the top.” Andern said as he looked down at his plate, “Might go back for seconds for the apple crisp.”

“Hey, do either of you know when the summer tour gets announced?” Jessica asked.

“Wolfpacks are determined on Monday, right?” Kristin directed her question to John.

“Yeah, crews should be selected Tuesday or Wednesday.”

“Should we be worried about getting drafted but some asshole?” Thomas asked.

“All five of our instructors said poaching was not acceptable. Now if the captain decides they don’t want them, then you’d be free game for the other captains,” Kristin said.

“Heard Terry wants a capable ops man Andern,” John said snickering.

The table started to laugh. Except for Andern who was horrified at the thought of serving under him. He shook his head and dropped his fork on the plate.

“Nope, nope, and nope.”

Theresa was still snickering to herself, “You don’t get to pick your orders. You know that right?”

“She’s right. Would be a dick move on those two’s parts to cut you loose like that though,” Alice said.

John interrupted Andern, “Before you ask, Kristin, Joeng, and I are going to meet this weekend. Which is also why we’re not going out with y’all for chow that day.”

“I think if the numbers were accurate no one from the Marcinko would end up outside of one of our commands,” Kristin said.

“That means you ops folks are actually in the chain of command this go around,” John said as he finished his sandwich, “Hence the command class y’all are taking.”

The bell dinged in the cafeteria. The table groaned and began hurriedly finishing their food. Five minutes later the group had dropped off their tray sand split up and headed to their afternoon classes.

Saturday. 12:30 Callisto’s Diner

The diner was about three blocks from the football stadium. It was a popular place for the cadets. That wasn’t because the food was good. It was bog average on its best days. It was cheap as hell though. That improved the food’s quality somehow. John didn’t really understand it, but he did like coming to the diner.

“I would like Brian on my crew,” Joeng said before making faces after he took a bite of his sandwich.

“They pickle their peppers here. Dunno what it is about them, but they taste god awful,” John said, “And on that note, I’d like Kevin and Andern.”

Kristin gave John a look, “Two names already? Theresa and Thomas are on my crew then.”

“I was really hoping you’d take his wife, that’s more responsibility than I’d care to have if I’m being honest,” Joeng said.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

“Nope. I love Alice and you as well John. But no thank you. I’ll take Jessica too,” Kristin said smugly.

“I’ll take Nathan and Kara. All of our medical needs are taken care of now. Jeong, pick three names but two have to be your engineers.”

“As much as I like Sato, he’s too much of a headcase for me. I’ll take Lewis and Lawrence for my engineering people. I will also take Lacey.”

“I like working with Sato, so I’ll take him,” Kristin jumped in, “Oh, and Derek too for ops coverage.”

“Kori defaulting to me then,” John paused as he looked at his tablet, “I’ll take Wei.”

“Dammit, I wanted her on my crew,” Joeng said laughing, “My other pick will be Caleb.”

“Pick one more,” John said as he was eating some apple pie.

“Ari.”

“Dammit, you stole one from me now,” Kristin almost dropped her drink.

“I’ll take James and Andy,” John said as he slid the names over on his tablet to his side, “That is my crew basically.”

“Hey, your numbers are off, Joeng is missing one name,” Kristin looked up at the pair, “Unless I’m missing something. That means Antonio and Derek are with me.”

“You must be bad at math; you and I both need another person.”

John smiled, “Joeng is right. Look through the list of cadets that served with the upperclassmen. You can pull the names from them. We’re also doing this today because we get first dibs because our ship was generally fucking awesome.”

Kristin’s face was glued at the list of names, “Aside from the whole fight on Manchester.”

“I’m not one to say much in the way of things, but that was both quite risky and rife with poor decision making.”

“Thank you both,” John shook his head.

“Kristi Waters will be my last selection. Her scores and reviews on the ship were excellent,” Joeng said as he smiled, “There was always someone else that outshone her, but she appears to be every bit as capable.”

“Reese Wright was overlooked for every possible commendation,” Kristin said, “Yeah I want her. She seems solid.”

“Can y’all send me your lists? I’ll send them off. Scratches one more thing off the list.”

“Done and done,” Kristin said as she pushed her plate forward.

“Already sent, do you know what we can expect when we head out?” Joeng asked.

“We’ll obviously be working in a small wing detachment. We will do combat patrols together and then also be vectored off to do different tasks,” John took a drink of water, “We won’t do much in the way of ship interdiction, but we will mark ships for the military to investigate.”

16:00 Academy Armory

When John, Kristin, and Joeng got back to the academy he excused himself from the trio and headed to the armory. John sat down at a terminal and began reviewing the latest on the investigation. Intelligence believed nearly half of the falsified orders had been stopped. They also discovered one source that was providing them with ship components.

On the flip side, they still had no firm names on who was orchestrating this scheme. There was a general agreement on who had been providing Dianna with the orders. Aside from one careless email that mentioned the first name, they had no further clues.

“Jesus, this has been utterly pointless,” John said under his breath.

He leaned back in his chair and rubbed his cheeks. He took a deep breath and began reading the next analysis. John sighed once more and moved on to the next. Nothing of use was written on that one. This repeated for the next hour and twenty-two reports.

John’s tablet was ringing, “Hey honey, what’s up?”

“Where the hell are you?” Alice asked.

“Main armory. Nice and quiet here. Let’s me get some work done.”

Alice paused before responding, “Oh, that thing is still going on. Well, we’re heading to chow in thirty. You should eat with me and our friends.”

“Damn, is it really dinner time already?” John looked down at his watch, “Sonofabitch, it is. Yeah, I’ll leave here in ten.”

“Be here for dinner. I don’t want you getting here late,” Alice commanded.

“I will, I will,” John set a timer on his tablet, “Set an alarm too, I’ll bounce when it goes off.”

“Love you,” Alice said ending the call.

John wasn’t going to disobey that order. But he did have time to look at one or two more reports. The next report didn’t have anything useful in it. The last report he looked at caused him to read and reread the contents several times.

He noticed a name kept popping up in several reports. Nothing definitive was tying them to anything though. John believed in the old saying, where there is smoke there’s fire. And it definitely appeared that this person was involved. But the Navy was running into barriers trying to get any more information. The investigation was both pointing and ending at this same person.

The alarm went off on his tablet. John cursed that his time was up. He stood up and logged out of the terminal. On his way out of the armory, he called Flavio Ricci.

“Evening or I think it’s the evening for you, Flavio,” John said.

“John, as always it is a pleasure to speak with you. Perhaps you are wanting to make good on that deal?”

John grinned, “I got a new deal for you. You help us kill this I can help steer some Marine and Intelligence contracts your way.”

“Interesting, how do I know you can do that?”

“Truth be told I don’t know if I can, but I happen to know two people that do. Oh, and I don’t care about that old deal. That’s old news.”

“Oh, so what would this new deal be?”

“Ever have any dealings with Gerald LaRue, of the Pegasus Group?”

John heard silence as he walked toward the cafeteria hall. Flavio said nothing. John knew mentioning the Pegasus Group would rile up his friendly enemy a bit. They attempted and failed, a hostile takeover of a company he was trying to acquire.

Flavio eventually spoke, “You do your homework well Mr. Lief. I’m sure you are aware of the history between our corporations.”

“Flavio, I’m not going to bullshit you, I’ve neither the time nor the patience to try that on you. I honestly don’t care about what kind of shit you guys have on one another, much less understand the bad blood between you. What can you tell me about Gerald?”

“He’s tried to acquire companies my father and I have in the past. Through underhanded measures that are often viewed as dishonorable. They’ve largely failed, but he has cost me plenty. As for the man personally, admittedly not as much as I’d like. He’s a recluse, and if I may say prone to delusions of grandeur.”

“How so?” John asked immediately.

“He believes he holds the key to humanity's future. His attempts to corner the military have obviously failed because there are far too many competing corporations for the myriad of services and wares that the planetary governments, militias, and military requires.”

John laughed, “He ain’t alone in believing he has the path forward for humanity. Not the first asshole that I’ve run across with that belief.”

“I’m not one to freely give information out, especially to someone like you, but I believe you can do some good with what I’ll provide. In return pull some strings for your old friend,” Flavio paused a moment, “Going after him directly won’t work. Go through Dexter Lahey, he’s the Pegasus Group’s majordomo.”

“I’m sending you two contracts y’all should bid on,” John smiled, “I’ll do everything in my power to get you approved on one.”

Flavio ended the call. John smiled as he continued to walk toward the cafeteria. He sent messages to both General Mizrahi and Director LeCroix asking that one, or both, of them, approve a contract submitted by Military Industries. Just before he walked into the building, he sent a message asking the analysts to investigate Gerald LaRue.

Seven Days Later. 18:25 Business District

If John was being honest, he preferred the previous mission. Spring was still refusing to break through the stranglehold winter had on the weather. And his target was a hell of a lot less easy on his eyes.

Dexter was a man in his mid-fifties, greying hair and a bit overweight. John had shadowed him through five different stores. The majordomo had purchased perfume and cologne from a high-end clothing store. The next stop was to purchase some lingerie and ladies’ underwear. That was an odd store to go into without his wife, and even odder to leave there without buying her something.

They had just been in another clothing shop that Dexter was ordering two suits. John made a note to come back to this place if he needed to get another suit. They appeared to be using high-end fabrics and were constructed magnificently.

It was a busy night for the business district of Annapolis. John could follow his target with little risk of being caught. He was getting anxious and tired of waiting. Patience was required in handling this case. Something that was perpetually short supply for John. LeCroix and Mizrahi also didn’t want John to come into direct contact with Dexter.

They had to presume that the cabal at a minimum knew far more than they should and in the worst case everything they did. John believed they knew far more than they should, but not everything. But as with all things in this awful investigation, there was precious little proof backing that belief up. In fact, if anything the evidence suggested they knew virtually everything the investigators did.

John answered his tablet, “You are getting too close, fall back a bit.”

“Oh hi, Mom. Thanks for the call, and as for the advice I’ll consider it.”

The voice on the other sounded irritated, “Do not make a move.”

“Fine,” John sighed, “I’ll pick up groceries on the way home and I won’t get any sweets.”

John ended the call and kept walking behind the target. He fell back a bit from Dexter, but he could still see him. He had walked into a jewelry store. A little part inside John died. He desperately wanted to go in. It wasn’t worth the trouble he’d get in with Intelligence or his wife. He found a bus bench and sat down and waited.

He looked at his watch and the impatience at the whole thing was building. John was nearly ready to get up and go into the store but as he looked at the store entrance, he saw Dexter walk out. He followed a healthy distance behind monitoring the target. John noticed a swanky Rolls Royce car drive by him.

He pulled out his tablet, “Hey mom, dad’s car just showed up. Want me to go home with him or will you be picking me up?”

“Head home,” the agent responded, “We need to discuss a few things on the way back to the barn.”

“Fucking waste of time,” John muttered under his breath.

Just then John was caught off guard by a hand that grabbed his shoulder, “Excuse me.”

“What do you…” John started to say.

The man pulled out a gun a fired once at point-blank range. John fell backward and crumbled to the ground. The attacker hopped over his body and jumped into a waiting vehicle. A trickle of blood began to flow down the corner of John’s mouth.

“John…” the agent said, “Answer me, what the hell is happening?”