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Rodriguez asked. His voice was as cold as
ice. “Have you thought about what will happen to you and your men
if they are? How stupid do you have to be, to be a commissioned
officer in the Military Police, Captain Harkness?”
    Harkness paled. He had never heard of anyone
arrested on these kinds of charges actually being acquitted, so he
had not considered the possibility. It seemed unlikely, but if it did happen… “Why, Major, sir, I simply…” he began.
    “Never mind,” Rodriguez snapped impatiently.
“Just get some clothes on them, and my men and I will take them.”
He pulled a sheaf of folded papers from inside his jacket and
thrust them at the Captain. “Here’s your receipt for the prisoners.
Sign off on my copy,” he said, indicating the place with his
finger.
    As Harkness scribbled his signature on the
form, the Military Police were freeing Robin, and putting her and
Jodie back into their bathrobes. The two uniformed NSB men
handcuffed their wrists behind their backs and held them by their
elbows, waiting for their superior.
    The Captain offered the signed receipt back
to Major Rodriguez with his left hand, and saluted with his right.
“They’re all yours, sir,” he said.
    “Aren’t you forgetting something, Captain?”
the Major asked. The corners of his lips curled up a fraction of an
inch in response to Harkness’s obvious confusion. He returned the
salute, and turned away, motioning for his men to take the
prisoners out. “You never asked me for any identification,” he said
over his shoulder. “How do you know I am who I claim to be? I could
be practically anybody waltzing in here, and you just handed these
high-profile prisoners over to me without the making the slightest
effort to confirm my identity. I should report such a
serious breach of security procedures to your superiors. I don’t
imagine they would be especially pleased with you. What do you
recommend I do, Captain Harkness?”
    The blood drained from the MP officer’s face.
The possibility of the suspects being cleared of the charges and
returning to seek revenge was a little troubling, but it was so
unlikely to happen that he could put it out of his mind without
great difficulty. But this was different. A report from an NSB
agent about a failure of security this serious would undoubtedly
blight the Captain’s career forever. It could potentially get him
busted down to the ranks, or possibly even court-martialed.
    “I, uh, would really appreciate it… sir, if
you would overlook it… this one time, Major Rodriguez, sir,” he
stuttered. “I… I’m sure it… won’t happen again.”
    Major Rodriguez did not wait for the Captain
to finish. He squared his shoulders and strode out of the room
without another word or so much as a backward glance, while
Harkness was still stammering out his plea. Harkness slammed the
door shut behind Rodriguez, waited long enough to be sure that the
National Security man was out of earshot, and exhaled loudly.
“Fucking bastard,” he muttered in the general direction of the
departed Major.
     
    * * * * *
     
    “Fucking bastard,” Rodriguez muttered, as he
followed Robin, Jodie and his men through the long, unadorned
corridor that led out of the Military Police station. They emerged
in an underground garage and slid into the back seat of a waiting
vehicle, a big command car with tinted windows and windshield.
There were three rows of seats inside. One soldier was sitting in
the second row on the far side of the car, looking out the window,
facing away from the women, and another was in the driver’s seat.
The two men who had been holding Jodie and Robin helped them into
the second row of seats, then climbed in behind them. Major
Rodriguez slid into the second row next to Jodie.
    The soldier who had been waiting in the car
spoke in a high voice, without turning his head to face them. “This
is a fine mess you’ve gotten yourself into, isn’t it, General
Lawrence?” Robin and Jodie both