Olivia's Guardian (11 page)

Heaving a happy sigh, she rested her head on his large chest, and soon, lulled to sleep by the steady beating of his heart, she fell into a deep and blissful slumber.

* * *

A bell rang in her head and it wasn’t the alarm or school bell. Olivia sat up in bed. Caleb, as always, snored next to her. It was a good thing she was such a deep sleeper or she truly would need her own room.

Then the bell sounded again, and she realized it was the front door. Slipping on a robe and slippers, she made her way to the door.

“Morning, officers. Selling tickets to the police officers’ ball or is this a bust?”

Standing there were two members of the Neo Providence police force, both fine-looking young people in their early thirties. The man smirked, the lady frowned.

“An attempt at humor, ma’am?” she grumbled.

“Yeah, and I guess a pretty poor one. What can I do for you?”

“We would like a word with Caleb St. Armand,” she replied. “We understand he’s your regen guardian.”

“That’s a matter of public record, and entirely within the law. What’s this about?”

“Please, ma’am, if you would just call him to the door,” the man said.

“Oh, very well,” she replied, studying their badges. “Come in, Officers Marie and Kevin, have a seat, and I’ll fetch him.”

She turned and scampered to the bedroom, woke Caleb, and assessed him of the situation.

“No idea what they want?” he said, pulling on clothes.

“Nope. Is there something you should be telling me, my man?”

“No, nothing, I’ve never been in trouble with the law. Come on, we’ll sort this out.”

He headed for the living room, his demeanor and stance exuding confidence, which helped to ease her mind. She followed and they sat together on the couch opposite the officers. The police declined offers of coffee and donuts (another attempted joke, yet still a sincere offer), and started in with the questions.

“Sir, are you the Caleb St. Armand of Neo Houston?” Marie said.

He shook his head. “No, ma’am, I’ve never even been there, why do you ask?”

“We got a flyer in the other day from Neo Houston, missing persons, a Caleb St. Armand and his wife Katrina. Then, last night, we caught your new show.”

“Loved it, by the way,” Kevin said.

“We?” Olivia replied.

“Yes, we’re married,” he said.

“Ah-hem! Can we stay on point here?” Marie asked. “Anyway, we saw his name in the credits, and wanted to check it out.”

“A missing persons report?” Olivia said. “That’s almost unheard of. Under the law, citizens have total freedom of movement. How do you know they didn’t just leave town?”

“According to the report, they’d both recently regened, and gotten a new lease on life,” Marie explained.

“Just like our friend here,” Kevin added.

“Yes, except I’ve never been married and, as I said, don’t know the town.”

“Listen to his accent,” Olivia suggested. “Does he sound like he comes from there?”

Marie nodded. “True, but accents can be faked.”

“And my motive for doing so would be…?”

“According to the couple’s daughter, they seemed very happy,” Marie said. “So, you’re right, a motive does not present itself. For the moment.”

“Has this daughter been investigated?” Olivia asked.

“She’s the one who filed the report,” Kevin replied.

Olivia blew a raspberry. “Oh, please, I’ve seen enough detective shows to know that can be a ploy to throw suspicion off of her.”

“Witnesses report they set sail on their new boat,” Marie said. “That was several months ago, and they never returned. Sir, would you consent to being photographed so we can send the picture to the NHPD for comparison?”

“He’ll do no such thing,” Olivia snapped. “Without a warrant, that’s a violation of the privacy laws.”

Caleb smiled. “Honey, it’s all right, I have no objections whatsoever, if it’ll settle the matter.”

Olivia was amazed, and if the expressions on the faces of the officers were any indication, they were too. Now she was totally confused and didn’t know what to think. She sat there, eyes wide, brain reeling as she tried to process what was happening, and just watched as they snapped a couple of pictures. They thanked them for their time, and Caleb showed them to the door. Olivia’s mind finally shifted out of neutral and an answer (of sorts) presented itself. Moving to the china cabinet, she got
it
out of the bottom drawer.

“Goodness, Olivia, what is that?” Caleb said, closing the door and facing her.

“This is a Smith & Wesson Colt .45, one of the most ancient of human weapons. Fires lead projectiles propelled by expanding gas, and it can be lethal at close range, like we are now. So, let’s have a little chat, ‘Caleb,’ starting with who you really are.”

She gestured at the chair opposite her with the gun.

“Where is this coming from?” he said, hands up as he moved to sit. “A moment ago you were defending me to the police.”

“That was to allow me to ascertain the truth, and I’m only giving you this chance because of the love we once
had
and I hope can have again. Now, out with it! Who are you?”

“I… it’s not… how did you know?”

“You were very good, very convincing,
apparently
completely honest, but there was one little point: the tiniest of twitches when they mentioned the boat. It made me wonder, and then I put it together with other things: the pig, the spices, fumbling with the car and how you drive, to list only a few, and I got suspicious. I’ve heard of couples getting bored with their lives and each other, and going off to start new lives. That made perfect sense, but when you let them take your picture, I got confused. How could you know about the boat and
not
be the man they’re looking for?”

“Wow, you’re good.”

“I was first a schoolteacher, my man. You don’t do that for fifty years and not learn to tell when a little boy is lying. So, what’s the truth?”

“Okay, I know when I’m beaten. Come to my room, my old room, and I’ll show you everything I’ve collected and have with me.”

“Easy there, keep your hands where I can see them, and don’t try any funny business or I’ll plug you!”

Caleb, keeping his hands up, slowly rose, yet also rolled his eyes. “Olivia, I think you’ve seen one too many of those old shows.”

Walking to his room, Olivia behind him, but not too close, he moved to sit on the bed. Olivia entered, but stayed right by the door, and watched and waited. He pointed at the dresser.

“What? All I see are your toiletries,” she said.

“That’s what you’re supposed to see. Their appearances mask their true uses. I’ll explain everything and you can listen to the reports I’ve been keeping.”

“Listen? Reports?”

Caleb launched into an explanation, and Olivia stood there, her jaw dropping lower by the minute, and finally she picked up his recording instrument and (following his instructions) listened to everything. They returned to the living room where they sat facing each other across the room.

“Wow,” she said slowly, barely above a whisper. “So, you’re a… secret agent, a spy? Oh, that’s so exciting! Have you thwarted any evil geniuses or secret organizations? How many femme fatales have you bedded and turned to good merely through the power of your sexual prowess?”

He couldn’t help it, he again rolled his eyes. “Olivia! Goodness, would you get your head out of the movies and TV shows you’ve seen?”

“Sorry. Well, we’ve known for years that the other colony worlds suspected we had the regen process.”

“That’s why you shut yourselves off from them, right?”

She nodded. “Exactly. We only trade with Tamiami. Not only are they nonhuman, but they value their privacy even more than we do. You snuck in on one of their ships?”

“Exactly, and bailed out as they approached the spaceport in Neo Houston.”

“And when you came ashore, that’s when you found Caleb and Katrina.”

“Right again. Based on the look of their boat, it had hit a reef or shoal.”

“That makes sense,” she said. “Part of the reason I sail on the lake is that our shoreline is so dangerous. And, if I understand these notes correctly, you learned about the Lobos from Heidi more than a month ago.”

“You’re three for three.”

“So, you completed your mission, but you… stayed. You stayed for… me?” she said softly.

Caleb lowered his head for a moment, closed his eyes and nodded, and then lifted his gaze to meet hers. “Yes, because I love you, Olivia. Now you know everything. If you want to call the police and turn me in, go ahead. I imagine I’ll get life or banishment, or… some such thing. They certainly won’t be sending me home, will they?”

“No, the only thing we guard more than our privacy is the regen process!” she said, and put the gun on the coffee table before her. “I believe you, Caleb, and I still love you. Sorry about the gun and all.”

He grinned. “Oh, it’s okay, it’s not loaded.”

Her eyebrows went up. “Wha—?! How did you know?”

“Olivia, please, I
am
a CIA agent, I know a lot about firearms, and while I’m not familiar with that one, it’s clear that the chambers are empty.”

“It is?”

“Yeah, the little holes on either side of the barrel are empty,” he said simply.

She spun the gun in her hand, literally pointing it at herself, and looked at the chambers. “You knew. The whole time, you knew, and you… you played along, you let me…”

“I let you play little miss tough lady. I thought it might help you believe I was sincere.”

She blinked her eyes to keep the rapidly forming tears from trickling down her face. “It did,” she squeaked.

He smiled and crossed to her. Getting down on his knees before her, he hugged her gently, his large hands patting her back, and she lost it. She just melted into his embrace and sobbed. It took a few minutes, but she finally calmed down, and smiled to see that he was misty-eyed.

They then sat down to breakfast and talked about the future. The key issue was a simple one: What should they do about the CIA?

“Will they come looking for you at some point?” she asked, drinking her milk.

He nodded. “Yes. They knew this was going to be a tough mission; no on-site help, no information on the planet, and so they allocated six months before they’d try to contact me.”

“Really? No information?”

“I guess you don’t know as much about your own planet as you thought,” he replied with a grin. “You have an incredible satellite screening system. We can’t even get a clear picture of your continents or listen in on your communications.”

“Wow. So, what can we tell them?”

Caleb rubbed his chin. “Hmmm, I’m not sure. It needs to be brief; the signal beacon will only operate for a few minutes, to avoid being detected, and it needs to be something that will dissuade them from ever wanting to send someone here again. If they do and they find out about your regen process, they’ll never leave your planet alone. They’ll do anything, even wage war to get the secret.”

“Wait a minute, I’ve got it,” she said with a smile as she snapped her fingers. “I’ve seen a couple sci-fi movies and TV shows that used this plot point, and I think it’s perfect. Daddy, eat up, and then we’ll give Cyn a call.”

He was intrigued and pestered her with questions, but she stayed firm and said nothing, and later that morning they met Cynthia and Stanley at the theater. Stanley got out the makeup kit and some prosthetics, and made Caleb look like a plague victim. They then prepared a small apartment set on the stage and made it looked lived-in, as if he’d been there for a while, and he got his beacon ready to transmit. They discussed what he should say, Cynthia even wrote out a few ideas, and then he ran through it a couple of times so they could gauge his performance.

“Try not to sound quite so hysterical,” Stanley said. “Remember, you’re an agent, you’re supposed to stay cool under pressure.”

“Even when I’m dying?”

Cynthia nodded. “Especially then. Think about it. If you were dying and had to send a message of warning, how would you act?”

“Hmmm, I see your point,” Caleb said, slowly nodding in agreement. “I’d want to do my duty. Okay then, I’m ready.”

Olivia kissed his cheek, straining up on her tiptoes to reach. “Good luck, sweetie.”

“Oh, we never say that in the theater,” Cynthia said sharply. “It’s bad luck! We say, ‘Break a leg.’ Don’t ask me why, but it’s an ancient saying.”

“Um, okay,” Olivia replied. “Then, break some legs, honey.”

He smiled and nodded. They moved out of range, and he activated the beacon.

“This is Agent Green reporting,” he wheezed. “I’ve learned the truth about Avalon. There is no regeneration process. It’s all a lie to hide the truth, the truth you see before you. The planet has been devastated by a pandemic, a horrific plague with a ninety percent death rate. Don’t bother coming for me; as you can see, it’s too late, and we can’t risk spreading the infection to other worlds. I gladly give my life in performance of my duty, long life to you all, my fellow agents!”

He slumped in a chair, fumbled with the beacon, and finally managed to switch it off. He then smashed it.

“Think it’ll work?” Cynthia said.

“I… hope so,” he replied. “At any rate, I think it’s doubtful they’ll risk another agent anytime soon. So, what about me? Do we need to go to the authorities?”

Olivia smiled. “Why bother? After all, they’ll figure out that you’re not the Caleb St. Armand they’re looking for, and drop the matter.”

“And you, little one, can I do something special to make it up to you for deceiving you?”

“Ohhh, I have a few ideas,” she said, her smile turning into a wicked grin.

Chapter Eleven

Life was very full for Olivia and Caleb for the next month. Production of the TV show kept them busy, and the station asked for another original program. Caleb suggested a spy show where the hero would often spank the ladies he encountered: enemy agents who were up to things or had information he needed, nosy girls trying to get in his way, and so on. They decided to call it
Agent from S.P.A.N.K
.