Night Traveller (Gay Romantic Sci-Fi)

Chapter Thirty Two

Eric Tate sat uneasily in the chair opposite Captain Spier, trying not to feel like a sacrificial pawn. 

Captain Spier and her officers had finally caused enough disruption in the district to force Chang to act. There was no way Chang was going to put himself in danger of being arrested or even held for questioning, so he had persuaded Tate to go in his place.  

"Just stick to your story and don't volunteer anything else," he had told him. "We went to the Victory to meet with Ser Keating to finalise our business deal, then there were the explosions. All that part is quite true and you can tell them exactly how it happened. Then you helped Governor Callan out of the hotel. You were mugged by someone from behind and when you woke up, the Governor was gone. And that's all you know. You'll be fine." 

All very well for him to say, Tate grumbled silently. He wasn't the one sitting here in the hot seat. 

Captain Spier took him briefly through those events and got his statement, but her main focus had shifted to the extortion threat. Luckily for Tate, he knew nothing about it and his look of confusion appeared quite genuine. 

"So you don't know anything about the extortion demand?" 

"Honestly, this is the first I've heard of it." 

"Is it possible Chang is responsible without your knowledge?" 

"No way! I'm his right hand man, I'd know if he was doing anything like that!" Tate protested hotly. "Besides, Ser Chang is a business man, not a criminal." 

Captain Spier looked unconvinced. 

"The whole idea is crazy. He's not going to risk killing his own son, is he?" argued Tate. 

"I suppose not. His son?" asked Spier with false casualness, idly straightening the items on her desk. Her pulse was racing, Chang had a son? This was the first she'd heard of it. If Chang had a son on Asra, maybe they were in this together. Who the fuck was he? 

Tate stared back at her in taut silence, undeceived by her casual attitude. As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he knew he had made a mistake. 

XXX 

Mike Oliver shut down his wristcom with a blank look in his eyes. He was off the case, suspended pending investigation, ordered to return to Kapunda immediately. 

His brain struggled to come to terms with what had just happened. How had she found out? Who had betrayed him? A 'friend', Spier had said. One of his friends had told her. Before he was conscious of making a decision, Oliver was out the door, on his way to see Callan and Trenwith. It wasn't one of them, he told himself. Even if they were pissed off at him for the moment, they wouldn't betray him like that. Would they? 

Dane was alone in the AISS office when Mike came in and shut the door behind him, a grim expression on his face.  

Dane looked up from his desk with a touch of defiance. That had been quick. He cleared his throat, "Yes?" 

Mike felt a lump of ice growing in his stomach. Why did Dane have that guilty look in his eyes?  

"Was it you?" he asked without ceremony. "Was it you who told the Captain?" His fists clenched and unclenched at his sides. 

The other man hesitated for a moment, considering whether or not to brazen it out, but then thought, why should he? He wasn't ashamed of what he'd done. He straightened his shoulders and looked Mike in the eyes. 

"Yes." 

"Why?" the word sounded as if it was forced out. 

"Because I wanted you to stay with us." There. It was as near as Dane could get to admitting his feelings. But the words didn't have the effect he had hoped for. 

Mike glared at him in furious disbelief. "How dare you! Just because I fucked you, doesn't give you the right to interfere in my personal life!" 

At that moment Ryan came into the room, alarmed by the raised voices. He saw Dane, sitting white faced, Mike standing over him, furious. Mike turned and glared at him accusingly, his anger overflowing to splash Ryan. 

"Did you know about it? Did you know what he was going to do?" 

"Yes, I did," Callan admitted in a low voice. "I'm sorry if we upset you." He held out a hand towards him, but Mike ignored it, and Ryan let it fall to his side. What had they done? Mike was livid, he'd never dreamt he would take it that badly. He licked his lips nervously, then pressed them tightly together to hide the faint trembling. 

"'Upset?'" Mike stared at them. He felt sick with betrayal, using his anger to hide the hurt. How could the men he loved have done something like that to him? What the fuck did they think they were doing?  

"I'm not 'upset', I'm in deep shit! I'm off the fucking case, I've been recalled to Kapunda and I'll be lucky if I'm not arrested!"  

He turned to leave before he felt tempted to hit one of them. "I hope you're happy. And for the record? I don't want to see either of you ever again!" he tossed over his shoulder as he stormed out, slamming the door behind him. 

Dane and Ryan looked at each other, feeling sick.  

"Well. Now I know what he thinks of me," said Dane, struggling to keep his voice even.  

Ryan's shoulders slumped. "Yes. I think he made it pretty clear that it was only ever about the sex." 

He couldn't help it, he kept replaying Mike's bitter words over and over again in his head, a slight frown beginning to form between his eyes. 

"Hang on a minute, it doesn't make sense. I know the Patrol doesn't like having oms in their ranks, but it's not illegal for god's sake! Why would Mike be going to get arrested?" 

Dane struggled to concentrate on what Ryan was saying. Half of him was feeling like going out right now and picking up the first willing man he could find and fucking him senseless, the other half felt like crawling into a hole and bursting into tears.  

What had Ryan just said? He made himself take a couple of deep breaths and think. 

He chewed his bottom lip and frowned. "You're right. When I spoke to Captain Takamoto, he was quite reasonable. He said he already knew Mike was an om and as long as we kept our relationship separate from his work, he couldn't see a problem. He didn't say anything about recalling Mike to Kapunda or arresting him." 

The two men stared at each other, wondering what, exactly, they had just confessed to.