Tracy-Ace embraced him, hard. “Am I glad to see you, babe!” she murmured, kissing him on the cheek, then pulling back to gaze at him. “We were worried, back when you first arrived, that things weren’t going too well.”
Legroeder gazed back at her in wonderment. “Were you there the whole time?”
One corner of her mouth curled in a grin. “What do you think? Now, if they’ll let me go with you, do you think you’re ready to take me to meet your friends?”
It took some intervention on Harriet’s part to get that much freedom of movement for Tracy-Ace; and even then, guards were never far away. The officers of Phoenix and Impris joined Legroeder, Harriet, and Deutsch in the dining room, and that was where Tracy-Ace and Harriet first had an opportunity to talk. Tracy-Ace was frowning, the corners of her eyes flickering. Finally she stabbed the air with her finger. “Harriet Mahoney—Bobby Mahoney! I almost forgot to tell you, Legroeder—I got news from YZ/I on the way in. They found him! They found Bobby. One of Carlotta’s outposts has him, and YZ/I is negotiating for his release.” She turned to Harriet. “Bobby is your grandson, yes?”
Harriet looked faint, her eyes wide with shock and joy. “Yes,” she whispered. “Is it true? He’s really alive?”
Tracy-Ace’s face was alight. “He really is.”
Harriet leaned across the table. “Will he be freed?”
Tracy-Ace breathed out slowly. “He’s not in our hands yet, so I can’t promise. But I believe there’s a good chance. YZ/I can strike a pretty hard bargain.” She glanced around the table with a grin. “And if YZ/I can’t do it, maybe we could send in the Narseil.”
Legroeder winced a little at the joke, but was filled with gratitude on Harriet’s behalf. Harriet was weeping openly now, dabbing at her eyes with a handkerchief. Legroeder took her hand, and she squeezed back fiercely. Then, to Legroeder’s surprise, Harriet reached across the table and squeezed Tracy-Ace’s hand, too. “Thank you,” she whispered. “I just can’t tell you…”
Introducing Tracy-Ace to Morgan and Maris was a different matter. After dinner, Tracy-Ace was permitted to come to his suite along with other visitors, and she was there when Maris and Morgan arrived. In fact, she was standing with her hand on Legroeder’s shoulder as the two women walked in.
Legroeder blushed as he saw Morgan stiffen. “Hi,” he said, managing not to stammer. “Ladies, I’d like you to meet my friend, Tracy-Ace/Alfa.” He turned, as Tracy-Ace’s hand dropped from his shoulder, and awkwardly completed the introductions. He glanced at Harriet, but she merely raised her eyebrows slightly.
Tracy-Ace stepped forward to meet the other two. “I’m pleased to meet you both at last,” she said. “Legroeder has been very eager to get back here to rejoin you. He’s told me a lot about you all.” Legroeder pressed his lips together and said nothing.
“I’m sure he has,” Morgan said brusquely. “Pleased to meet you. Hi, Mom.”
“Hello, dear,” Harriet said, and appeared to decide to help Legroeder out a bit, after all. “Legroeder’s friend Miss Alfa—”
“Please. Tracy-Ace.”
“Tracy-Ace, sorry. Tracy-Ace has brought some wonderful news. They’ve found Bobby, and there’s a good chance he’ll be freed.” Harriet waved to a small sofa and a side table. “Please sit. Get yourself a glass of wine.”
Morgan blinked, and seemed to be struggling to recompute.
“That’s right,” Tracy-Ace said, taking a seat in a chair, while Legroeder joined Harriet on the other sofa. “Bobby’s not at our outpost, but we’re hopeful.” She explained what she had told Harriet.
“That’s… terrific,” Morgan said, her eyes implying that it would have been even more terrific if Bobby had never been captured in the first place.
“Bobby is what—your nephew?” Tracy-Ace asked.
Morgan bobbed her head. “And I’m extremely grateful—really—for the news.”
Tracy-Ace took a sip of wine. “But you’re not so sure about me, I take it.”
“Well, it’s not—”
“I think,” said Maris, speaking for the first time, “that we’re both wondering… well… are you here with Legroeder in a purely official capacity, or…”
“We’re friends,” Tracy-Ace said quickly.
“Good friends,” Legroeder echoed, in a voice that seemed exceedingly hollow.
“Ah-hah,” Maris said, nodding.
Morgan also nodded, more slowly. “Then we should—” Regard you as a friend? Claw your eyes out? What? her eyes seemed to say.
Legroeder cleared his throat. “You should treat her as a friend of mine,” he said softly. “As someone I trust, and someone who has helped me tremendously. If it weren’t for her, I wouldn’t be back here now.” He could feel the flush in his face as he said it—annoyance, defensiveness, guilt. Love for Tracy-Ace, and embarrassment about it.
“Perhaps,” Harriet said, in an even voice, “we could let Tracy-Ace speak. I’m sure she’d like to answer some of our questions.”
“I would be happy to answer your questions,” Tracy-Ace said softly.
Answering their questions was no trivial matter; and as Tracy-Ace talked about Ivan’s scheme to draw first the Narseil and Legroeder—and later the Centrist Worlds—into talks, Morgan grew increasingly restless. “That’s all very well,” she said, “but what about the kidnapping of Maris? And those attacks on my mother and Legroeder? They almost died getting to McGinnis, you know. Are you going to explain those away?”
Tracy-Ace looked a little startled by the ferocity of the question. She closed her eyes for a moment; her cheek implants flickered frenetically. She muttered something under her breath before opening her eyes again. “We certainly had nothing to do with those attacks. I believe it was the local group Centrist Strength, under orders from Kilo-Mike/Carlotta.”
“If you knew that, why didn’t you do something to stop it?” Morgan demanded.
Tracy-Ace turned her palms up. “We didn’t know in advance. Understand, we have a few people here, but nothing like Carlotta. She has agents everywhere, including—well, we know where, now. All the way at the top of the Spacing Authority. We did what we could.” She turned to Maris. “I didn’t know until just now about your… protective custody. But yes—it was our people who took you.”
Maris’s face tightened.
“Our field commander had learned of the attack on Legroeder and Harriet,” Tracy-Ace continued. “It was his judgment that you were in grave danger, Maris, and that you very likely would not have left that hospital alive, or free, if they did not take action at once.” Tracy-Ace opened her hands in apology. “I’m sorry they treated you like a prisoner. Very sorry. Our agents truly were ordered to protect you. But they were insufficient, as it turned out. And they both paid with their lives. I’m very glad that your friends came to rescue you.” She nodded toward Morgan.
For a moment, no one seemed to know what to say, Legroeder least of all. Maris stared at Tracy-Ace with an uncertain expression. She seemed to be trying to process this latest twist, and coming up short. Finally Legroeder cleared his throat. “Maris, Tracy-Ace and her people saved my life, more than once. If she says that’s what happened, you can believe her.”
Maris did not shift her gaze from Tracy-Ace. But after a moment she nodded decisively. “Very well. Since you are a friend of Legroeder’s, I will allow that you may be telling the truth.” She glanced at Legroeder with a trace of a grin. “Seeing as how you saved my life, too, eh?”