Grant got out from behind his desk and walked over to personally confront his boss's daughter. He stood there, towering over her, hands on hips.
''Longknife is not an objective of the Peterwald Empire on Eden. We have more important work to concentrate on. You will make no further attacks on Kris Longknife.''
Victoria shrugged. ''If you say so, Uncle Grant.''
Uncle Grant. He was now ''Uncle Grant.'' Maybe he had gotten something through that thick, red head of hers.
He better have. They couldn't afford any more blundering around.
24
''Hey, you alive.'' was deadly cheerful, coming from Abby way too early the next morning.
''Not sure,'' Kris mumbled. ''I feel like I'm being tormented by little devils like Tommy's grandmum warned him about. Come close and let me see if I can move my arm enough to throttle you. Tommy said you can't kill the real demons.''
With a thoroughly ugly grin, Abby approached Kris's bed.
After further thought…and an effort to move that sent her whole body screaming in pain…Kris decided to let Abby live.
''You two hungry?'' Abby asked. ''Cause the President of the Officer's Mess has declared dirty rules. You can show up in sweats.'' Abby tossed a Navy blue-and-gold set in Kris's lap.
''Hey, that hurt.''
''Can't this clinic arrange for hospital chow?'' Jack asked as Marine red and gold dropped on his blanket-draped belly.
''Hate to tell you.'' came in Doc's happy tones. ''But this is just an embassy clinic. We aren't staffed to handle really hard cases.''
''So what are we doing here?'' Kris asked.
''Well, we didn't want to send you to any old hospital where you could be strangled overnight, or doped and rolled out with the dirty laundry. I hate it when that happens to my patients. Besides, your armor did its job,'' he said glancing at Jack's readouts. ''Both of you are in great shape.''
''I've been doped. I'm hungover, and I hurt in every muscle in my body. And you're telling me I'm okay?'' Kris said.
The doc smiled, and tapped her left arm. That was one of the few parts of her that didn't hurt.
''You're stiff. You hurt,'' Abby lectured like somebody's mother, ''and if you don't get moving, you'll stay stiff. Now, let's get you dressed and some food in you before we ply you with morning meds. No more drugs on an empty stomach. Don't want an addicted princess showing up to wave at little kids.''
Two hulking Marines showed up to dress Jack, with two women Marines right behind them. Kris found herself dressed and marched down to the wardroom.
If the President of the Mess had suspended the uniform rules, no one else had the Word. But Kris ate the oatmeal and the stewed prunes that Abby set before her. After all, Jack ate the same, with Captain DeVar and two large Marines looking over his shoulder and offering encouragement…or else.
''I've come to accept that no good deed goes unpunished, but you'd think that saving that poor college girl's life would be worth some slack,'' Jack didn't quite whine.
''Oh, I'm sure she'll find a way to pay you back,'' the captain snickered.
Kris caught the doc's ear. ''Abby wasn't kidding about overdrugging me. I haven't been this stoned since I was twelve, thirteen. I don't want to go there again.''
Doc frowned. ''Your file has nothing about addiction risk.''
''If you're the prime minister's brat, there's a lot of stuff that doesn't make it into your permanent record.''
Doc nodded thoughtfully, then looked at the pile of pills he'd laid next to Kris…and took a few of them back.
''Let me know how the pain is. And if you start taking heads off, you will take the pills I tell you to if I have to have the Marines shoot them down your gullet.''
''Yes, Doc, your Godhoodness,'' Kris said with a grin.
''I got to have the Marines shoot that corpsman. I got to,'' Doc said as he went off to fill his own plate with pancakes.
But he'd left orders for Kris with Abby. No sooner than she finished a very light breakfast than Abby was herding her back to her room. ''Doc wants you to get some heat therapy for those bruises. This time we're going to use that bath of yours for something other than a pleasure dip.''
Then she handed Kris a little bit of something. ''And since the only other whirlpool in this embassy is in the ambassador's quarters, you're going to have to share your bath with Jack.''
''What's this,'' Kris said, holding up two bits of…
''That's a string bikini. It don't cover all that much of you, so if I need to, I can see about all of you.''
''And Jack?'' Kris said, her eyes measuring the tub. She'd always thought of it as big enough for two…or four.
''Jack won't peek, and besides, once you're in the tub, he won't be able to see much more than your pretty smile anyhow.''
Kris's doubts must have still showed.
''If you don't complain, you'll stay in the tub and no one will get a look. And you'll get to check Jack out. Unless, of course, you want him to get warmed up after you. We can do it that way. We got all day,'' Abby said as if she hadn't a care.
''I want a staff meeting as soon as we're done here,'' Kris snapped. ''Where's Nelly?''
''On your desk,'' Abby said as she helped Kris out of the sweat suit and into what little she offered Kris.
''Nelly, tell my usual suspects I want to see them in here in a half hour. Oh, and add Doc and Captain DeVar to the collection.''
''Will do,'' came from the next room.
Kris was deep in the water when Jack came in, wearing a blue hospital robe. When he dropped it, Kris got quite a view. There wasn't any back to Jack's suit, at least not much. Which gave her a good look at the ugly black-and-blue circles that covered his back and butt, circles that in several places merged into several huge blobs. Around the edges, they were healing already, swapping black and blue for sickening green and yellow.
''You look quite colorful,'' Kris said, trying to sound chipper.
''You don't look half bad yourself,'' Jack said. Causing Kris to look down. Abby had the jets going on gentle. Still, there wasn't all that much of her to see.
''Made you look,'' Jack said, with only a small chip of his lopsided grin.
After that, they lapsed into quiet contemplation, or serious concentration on their bodies and how they were taking to the warm and gentle workings of the water. Nothing broke loose to spur an embolism.
Jack left first, now having added a warm pink to the few square inches of his skin that hadn't been battered.
''We really ought to get you better protection. How about a ceramic girdle?'' Kris offered.
''I never have figured out how you run in one of those damn things,'' Jack said. ''No, thank you. But I will tell the manufacturer that they need to thicken up their blues. There's nasty stuff out on the street.''
''You tell ‘em, Jack,'' Kris said.
She'd had enough of sweats. ''Undress whites,'' she ordered from Abby. She dressed herself…mostly. Abby saved her from bending over by tying her shoes. At 1000 sharp, Kris walked into her sitting room.
Around the large table that occupied its center sat Penny and Chief Beni, Doc, and Captain DeVar. Jack was just arriving, having switched into undress khakis. Abby started to settle onto the couch, but Kris silently pointed her to a chair at the table. If Doc or the captain thought it strange to have a maid in their counsel, they kept it to themselves. But then, the Corps had seen Abby's shooting skill more than once and probably had spread the word to beat clear of her.
''Ladies and gentlemen, I am tired of being a target. I will not walk into any more shooting galleries that anyone hereabouts sets up,'' Kris said, opening the meeting as soon as Abby and Jack declared the room free of bugs.
''Here, here,'' ''I'll say,'' and ''About time.'' greeted that.
''How do you propose to avoid said galleries?'' Jack asked.
''That's why we're having this meeting. I'm open to suggestions,'' Kris said, throwing it open to the floor.