The elevator opened on the two hundred forty-second floor. Kris marched out, followed by her tiny flying wedge.
Sweatshirt and gym shorts had helped them blend in on campus. Among the three-piece suits, the effect was quite the opposite. Talk stopped, people eyed them, but the upside was that people in their way got out of it fast. Kris went through double glass doors into a moderately huge waiting room with chairs, couches, and small conference rooms off to a side. The receptionist was heads up as Kris entered. Eyes locked on each other, Kris marched for her desk. ''May I help you?'' the woman said, a professional nonsmile on her face.
''I'm Kris Longknife, here to see my grandfather,'' Kris said without slowing.
''Do you have an appointment?'' came right back.
''No,'' Kris said, and changed course from the desk to the wooden double doors beside it.
''You can't go in there,'' the woman shouted, getting to her feet, but she'd been outfaked on this one. Kris was at the door before the receptionist could get away from her desk.
''Yes I can,'' Kris said and pushed through the doors into another foyer. The receptionist here was male, big, and already on his feet.
''I require verification of who you say you are.''
That was reasonable. Kris marched to his desk, planted her hand on a glass, and glared at a camera behind the desk. Done with that formality, she sidestepped to allow each of the men following her to do the same. With all three of the intruders stopped on the waiting side of his desk, and work needed to verify the IDents provided, the man settled into his chair.
Kris took the moment to lead her small invasion team around his desk and through the door it guarded. ''You can't go in there until I finish your IDs,'' the man shouted.
''And probably not for a month after that.'' Kris said as the door closed behind her.
The next room was even more spacious than the two before it. The carpet was almost as deep as the mud on Olympia. The walls were wood paneled. Off to one side were a few chairs grouped around a holovid of a Japanese garden and waterfall—correction—around a real Japanese garden and waterfall. The room stank of wealth and power.
Directly ahead of Kris was an older woman seated behind a desk made from a thick slab of stone. At either side of the desk stood two men in matching dark blue suits. Each held a gun out in the standard two hand stance, aimed at Kris.
''Don't take a step closer,'' the gunman on the right said.
Kris decided that, for once, she would do what people holding guns aimed at her said. She halted.
''I am going to raise my left hand,'' Jack said slowly. His words were soft and hard in the deadly way hired killers have of saying the nastiest things in the nicest way. ''It has my badge and ID in it.''
''Do it slow,'' said left gunman. Kris tried to act unconcerned as her stomach did flip-flops. It was a whole lot easier to face armed men when she had her own M-6. But she wasn't here to shoot her way in. She waited, hoping she'd find the right words when this macho ritual was done.
''I am Agent John Montoya of Wardhaven Secret Service, assigned to the prime minister's family. This is Kris Longknife, his daughter. You are in violation of 2CFR, section 204.333 in that you are armed and in the presence of a primary Secret Service subject. I will ask you only once to put down your weapons.''
''I am Senior Private Agent Richard Dresden, of the Pinkerton Agency, Wardhaven Division. You are in violation of Public Law 92-1324, dated 2318, revised 2422, to whit, trespassing on personal property. It has been legally posted that this property is protected with deadly force under subsection 2.6.12 of that statute. You have been warned; now remove yourselves.''
''I guess this is why you don't have many family reunions,'' Tommy said.
''Yeah,'' Kris agreed, ''by the time all our gumshoes have finish citing their legal authority, the potato salad's rancid and there's no daylight left for a friendly game of baseball.''
''Why don't you drop in on the Liens next Santa Maria Landing Day. I'll show you how one of these is supposed to go.''
''I may take you up on that.'' Kris noted that she and Tommy's effort at humor hadn't gotten even a flicker of a smile from the gunmen or the secretary. There is such a thing as being too professional. Enough already.
''Grandpa Al,'' Kris shouted, ''this is your granddaughter. You know it's me, and if you weren't sure, that fellow at the last desk has had enough time to run a full genome on me. How long you going to make me wait out here?''
''And why do you suddenly have a need to talk to your grandfather, young woman?'' the secretary asked.
''Grandpa, I don't think you want me shouting for all to hear just why a twenty-two-year-old woman suddenly feels the need to know a few things about what's going on in her family. Aren't there a few skeletons that you want kept in our closet?''
A door to the left of the secretary opened. A gray-haired man in a gray suit stepped out. The man was near two meters tall, explaining where Kris got her height. ''Gentlemen, I think you can put away your guns.'' The guards quickly did. The man turned back to the room. ''We can finish this later,'' he told a man and woman who quickly stepped around him and left by a door to Kris's left. ''All right, young woman, you've interrupted my day. Come in and say your piece.''
''Sir,'' Jack said politely, ''I should examine any room she's going to be in alone with another individual.''
''Who isn't vouched for by your system, young man. You honestly think my office isn't the safest place on this planet?''
''For you, yes sir, for her…?'' Jack left the question hanging.
''Government!'' Grandpa Al spat. ''Do what you have to.''
Jack trotted to the door, gadgets appearing in his hands that Kris had never suspected could be hidden by shorts and a bulletproof sweatshirt. The senior Pinkerton did a good imitation of joining at the hip as Jack went by. A minute later, both reappeared. ''You have your personal workstation in your desk, as well as a recording device in all four corners of the room,'' he told Grandpa Al, but the report was for Kris.
''Shall I have my personal computer make a full transcript of our meeting?'' Kris asked.
Grandpa scowled. ''All security and recordings off, alpha, alpha, zed, forty-eleven. Happy, young woman?''
''You know Longknifes take more to make them happy than that, Grandpa.'' Kris smiled as she entered the room alone. It was vast. Glass on two sides offered a magnificent view of Wardhaven, better than Tru's penthouse. The room, however was gray: gray rug, gray walls, gray marble desk. Even the sofa and chairs around a gray slate coffee table were different shades of gray. The room smelled as gray as it looked. If air could be completely empty of odor, this room was it. Grandpa Al headed for his desk and only seemed happy when he had it between him and Kris. Nice way to treat family.
''So, what is it you want?''
''Grandpa, it's been what, ten, twelve years since we've seen each other. Don't you at least want to ask me how I am?''
''Computer, how is Kris Longknife?'' he growled.
''Kristine Longknife is no longer in therapy. Her last doctor's visit involved a full physical checkup while applying to the Navy for a commission, which she passed. Her last medical issue involved an infected blister while in OCS.''
''I know how you are, so that should cut the minor stuff. What do you want? And don't waste my time, young woman.''
You don't know the half of me, Kris wanted to say.
Instead, she opened with, ''Who's trying to kill me?''
Grandpa AI actually blinked twice on that one. ''Computer, have there been any attempts on Kris Longknife's life?''