Crystal Deception by Doug J. Cooper Page B

Cheryl.
    “Both parties want possession of me, and neither seems aware
there is a serious rival in the mix. Sheldon is backed into a corner. He cannot
please them both and feels the Kardish are a threat to his personal safety. So,
he convinced the Kardish to stage a kidnapping. This scheme delivers me to the
Kardish and gets him off the hook. If I am kidnapped, Fleet cannot blame Sheldon.”
    “This was Sheldon’s idea?” asked Sid.
    “It would be fair to describe it as his best choice among a
set of bad options. If he crosses Fleet, he knows he will be in trouble. If he
crosses the Kardish, he fears he will be dead.
    “Early on, Sheldon approached a member of the company’s board
of directors to push for open negotiations between Fleet and the Kardish. His
associate would not agree for fear it would delay my transfer to the Kardish. There
were several sharp exchanges between the two. These were the messages they tried
to delete. And that was what led me to everything else.”
    “Who was this board member?” asked Sid.
    “Her name is Victoria Wellstone.”
    “Did you find any communications directly from the Kardish
to Sheldon? Or between the Kardish and anyone, for that matter?”
    “No,” said Criss. “But that is not surprising. It is not
difficult to ensure that there is no archive record. For example, I lost track
of the conversation between you two last night when you disabled your coms. Did
you put them inside something?”
    Sid didn’t answer and again looked at Cheryl. This time he
was the one frowning.
    “Something doesn’t make sense to me,” said Sid. “Why would
the Kardish invest twenty years of effort developing this relationship and now
be anxious to end it? If they wait another few years, won’t they be able to have
many of you? Or even the next generation beyond you?”
    “I agree and do not know,” said Criss. “The Kardish are
excellent at hiding information. Their methods and culture are opaque to me. I
only know what I do because Sheldon is not as clever.” He then said, “Excuse me
for changing topics. Brady Sheldon is returning to this laboratory. He is walking
at a fast pace and will be here momentarily. My assessment is that he is angry.”
    In the moments remaining, Cheryl jumped in. “I understand that
you’re a thousand times smarter than us. And it seems that the Kardish are much
more intelligent than humans. Why not join with them? What is your thought
process?”
    Criss offered no answer. He simply delayed for several
seconds as if he were thinking.
    And then Sheldon stormed through the doors and into the lab,
his face beet red. He was so agitated that drops of spit flew from his mouth as
he yelled. “What’s going on here? What’ve you been talking about?”
    “Your timing is excellent, Dr. Sheldon,” Cheryl said with a
bright smile. “We’ve just finished.”
    “So what did you learn? I demand a full report right now!”
    Criss watched as Cheryl responded in a firm yet cheerful
manner. “Procedure, Dr. Sheldon. We don’t want to upset Fleet by not following
procedure. You’ll receive a full report in a few days.”
    * * *
    Cheryl reflected on what had
transpired in the lab as they traveled back downtown. “That was interesting.”
    “Hi, Criss,” Sid spoke to the air. He looked over at Cheryl.
“Remember, he’s watching and listening to us whenever we’re near anything that
feeds to the web. We can talk privately when we get to the secure room.
    She nodded. Sitting side-by-side, they traveled in silence.
    Despite her earlier vow not to dredge through their past, Cheryl
did just that for most of the trip. She’d spent those early months after he
left trying to learn to hate him, because that was the only emotion she knew
was strong enough to counter her previous feelings. Eventually, the pain
diminished. Once stowed, she never expected those feelings to reemerge and was
caught off guard when they sprang out so willfully at that first sight of him
in