The Journey Home, Part 2 (Ch 13)
Chapter 13
Dr. Messenger did as he was told. After stopping at the infirmary for three DNA swab kits, he went directly to the brig.
The very attractive young miss Lt. Devlin stepped into his path. Around 5’2” and trim, she had black hair, apparently long but currently pulled into some sort of bun on the back of her head. Her eyes were a vivid blue and attentive.
He smiled and held up one of the DNA kits. “The executive officer sent me.” Then he stepped past her.
She nodded, but watched as he went to the cell that held Roger Posey.
Posey, though fully clothed, was sitting on the toilet.
At the cell door, the doctor said, “Open, please. Authorization Messenger 1.”
Nothing happened.
Behind him, Lt. Devlin said, “Open Cell 1 Right.”
As the cell door shushed open, Dr. Messenger looked back at the lieutenant, then stepped inside.
Posey eyed the doctor closely, but he didn’t move and he didn’t say anything. They might be listening.
The doctor removed a swab from the test kit as he approached. In a casual, friendly voice, he said, “Open, please.”
Posey opened his mouth, his gaze searching the doctor’s eyes. When the doctor removed the swab and placed it in the tube, barely above a whisper Posey muttered, “What’s that for?”
The doctor shook his head slightly, sealed the tube and pointed to it. “Please put your thumb print here.” As Posey did, the doctor said quietly, “Everything will be fine, I’m sure—Mr. Posey.” Then he turned around and walked out of the cell.
Lt. Devlin said, “Secure Cell 1 Right,” and the door closed with a quiet hiss. She looked at the doctor. “Is that it?”
He smiled. “No, I have to collect a sample from each of the others as well.”
She looked at the other cells, 3 and 5.
Both prisoners were sitting on the floor against the back wall. She said, “Prisoners Schaeffer and Wilson, remain where you are.” As the doctor approached the door of Schaeffer’s cell, Devlin said, Computer, open Cell 3 Right.”
The doctor glanced back, the smile still on his face. “Thank you,” he said, then stepped through the opening. “Open wide, please.”
Schaeffer opened his mouth, but didn’t avert his gaze from whatever place on the front wall or beyond had his attention.
The doctor crouched and repeated the process he’d conducted on Posey, but without the conversation. When he withdrew the swab and slipped it into the tube, he indicated a wide area on the tube and said, “Put your thumb here, please.”
Schaeffer did, still not looking at him.
The doctor straightened, turned and exited the cell.
Devlin closed that door, then opened the door for Cell 5 Right as the doctor approached it.
Like Schaeffer, Wilson remained seated, but he looked up and smiled. “Hey, Doc, good to see you. Listen, you let ‘em know I didn’t mean to get involved in—”
“Certainly,” Messenger said. “Of course I will. But first things first.” He crouched. “Open, please.” He took the swab, reinserted it in the tube, and had Wilson mark it with a thumbprint.
As he straightened, Wilson said, “You won’t forget though, right?”
“I won’t forget,” he said, then laughed quietly as he exited the cell. The door closed behind him on Lt. Devlin’s command. As he walked past her, he smiled again. “That’s all I needed. Thank you.”
Devlin watched him go, then glanced back at the cells, her brow furrowed. In Cell 3, the doctor had said hardly anything, and Prisoner Schaeffer hadn’t spoken at all. In Cell 5, again the doctor had said hardly anything, but Prisoner Wilson had talked quite a bit. But in Cell 1, both the doctor and the prisoner had spoken.
She turned around. “Doctor?”
He stopped, put the smile back on his face, and turned to face her. “Yes?”
“What was that conversation you had with Posey?”
He laughed. “I don’t remember, exactly. I’m getting old, you know.” He smiled. “But I’m sure it was nothing. Just guy talk.” He arched one eyebrow and his smile broadened into a toothy grin. “You know how we are, especially around such an attractive young woman as yourself.”
She looked at him for a moment, then nodded. As he turned away, she looked again at all three occupied cells.
None of the prisoners had moved.
She went back to her station just inside the entrance to the brig. Quietly, she said, “Computer, contact Hones 1.”
A moment later, the major’s voice came through her implant. “Devlin, is that you?”
“Yes ma’am. Could you come to the brig, please? It isn’t an emergency.”
“I’ll be right there.”
*
Dr. Messenger continued to the DNA lab, inserted the swabs one at a time, then settled in to wait. When the machine signaled with a tone that the results were in, he approached and verified his identification.
The results on Schaeffer and Wilson were as he expected. For each, he pressed the green button to accept the results, then the white button to view the next set.
When Posey’s results displayed, they were also exactly what he expected, though they were hardly optimal for the current situation. He allowed his finger to hover over the yellow Request Corrections(s) button. If he pressed it, the machine would list several options, among them Retest for Verification and Make Manual Correction(s).
But no, the time wasn’t right. Not yet. Not on the first botched attempt. And Posey was not worth risking his own exposure.
He moved his finger up to the green Accept Results button, hesitated, then pressed it.
He smiled grimly. Mr. Posey would simply have to take one for the team.
Calmly he said, “Please send all three results to the executive officer’s tablet.” Then he turned away and exited the DNA lab. He walked briskly. After all, he had a lot of infirmary personnel to test, and he meant to toe the line perfectly. He couldn’t have come up with a better, more time-consuming tactic himself to divert their attention.
With the XO and CO focused on test results, most of which would be less than worthless, he and his team would have plenty of time to keep these fools from achieving their mission.
*
In his office, the XO’s tablet dinged to notify him something had been received.
Across from him were the lounge chief and his assistant. As he had done the day before, he’d asked them to stop by his office on their way to the Bridge Lounge for supper. He was in the midst of instructing them on the necessity for them to test the bartending and wait staff.
Mark Hanson glanced at the tablet, which lay to the XO’s left on his desk. He’d never been able to simply ignore a message when it came in, but apparently the XO had that ability. And it wasn’t Mark’s place to ask whether he needed to get it. He shifted his focus back to the XO.
The colonel noticed and smiled. “I’ll get it later. No worries. I’m pretty sure I know what it is.”
Mark said, “Yes sir.”
The colonel resumed where he’d left off. “Mark, you’re familiar with doing things from the top down, right? To get more verified assistants in the testing as you go? Like in a physical training test, the first person or two across the finish line during the run might help out by monitoring the pull-ups or sit-ups, right?”
“Oh. Yes sir.”
“Good. I thought so. So I’d like you and Isabel to test the senior bartenders from the day shift first. You’ll have to run the analyses through the DNA lab yourself for those. When they come back clean, though, you can have your senior bartenders run the others, and so on down to the wait staff.”
He paused. “Of course, they shouldn’t have to test the new arrivals at all. Those who came aboard after you and Isabel arrived.”
Isabel said, “Ah, right. I see what you mean.”
“I’d like the two of you to get right on it, beginning with Joe Stapp and Millie Severin. You can test them when you go into work tomorrow morning, right?”
Mark said, “Yes sir.” He turned to Isabel. “We could probably take the day off to test the other senior bartenders of the day shift in the other FOH lounges too. And maybe even catch some from the other shifts while they’re off duty. Then we can instruct the seniors to test everyone else.”
The XO nodded. “Good idea. And I’ll need the results as soon as possible, so—”
“We should be able to have all of them done within a week, sir.”
Isabel looked at him. “That might be pushing it.” She glanced at the XO, then back to Mark. “A lot will depend on how busy the lab is. I have a feeling others are doing the same thing.”
The colonel grinned. “Yes, in fact they are. But I want to stress, nobody has priority. Whoever’s in line next goes next to feed the machine. And Engineering is working to bring more machines online as we speak.”
Mark said, “We’ll get the results to you as soon as we can, sir.”
“Perfect. And that brings me to my final point. If any of the results come back mismatched, have those sent to my personal tablet immediately. But I don’t need a report on any that come back clean. Okay?”
Mark nodded. “Understood, sir. That should lighten the load quite a bit.”
The colonel laughed. “Well, at least my load.”
“Yes sir.”
The colonel spread his palms. “That’s it, unless you have any questions.”
“No sir, I don’t think so.” Mark glanced at Isabel, but she only shook her head.
“All right. The two of you go enjoy your evening and I’ll talk with you again soon.”
Mark and Isabel got up and left.
The XO watched them go, then picked up his tablet and touched the screen.