Chapter Fifteen
The Secret Keeper had a full day ahead of him with a seemingly endless amount of paperwork. He decided it was best just to plow through and keep going until it was complete.
He told Chester in advance of sequestering himself in his office that he might not even take a lunch break and asked his assistant to bring him something he could eat at his desk. His untouched lunch dishes were still on the sideboard.
He was just finishing up a particularly arduous batch of paperwork involving a land dispute between neighbors on the edge of Suspicion that had miraculously rectified itself when one of the complainants had become ill and accepted the other neighbor’s offer to avoid court.
The Secret Keeper realized that the door to his office must be ajar, because he heard voices raised in anger from the direction of Chester’s desk.
“I demand to see the Secret Keeper. Now!” a man shouted.
Chester countered with, “The Secret Keeper is busy and you don’t have an appointment.”
“I don’t need an appointment.”
“You do need one— Hey! Where do you think you’re going?”
At least the Secret Keeper had that warning when an unfamiliar man barged into his office. His faithful assistant was right behind him, holding a fistful of the stranger’s jacket as the man dragged him into the room.
Chester shouted that the man could not come inside the Secret Keeper’s office.
“Too late. I’m already in here,” the man said. “Let go of me or I’ll make you let go and, trust me, you won’t like it.”
The Secret Keeper was on his feet, rounding the side of his desk, ready to pummel the man for not only intruding on his busy day, but also threatening Chester.
“Chester, release him,” the Secret Keeper said.
“I’m sorry, sir, he surprised me.”
“Undoubtedly.”
Chester released the man’s jacket from his ferocious grasp, though his expression remained rigidly angry. “Shall I call for security and have him removed?”
“That won’t be necessary.” The Secret Keeper kept his voice calm. “I’m certain he’ll leave in a couple of minutes once he tells me whatever it is he came to say.”
The stranger nodded, tilted his head to one side as if to stretch out his neck as he straightened his jacket lapels. The place where Chester had held him remained crumpled.
The Secret Keeper silently signaled his assistant to have security come into his office in five minutes if the man was still there. Chester nodded and exited the room, closing the door solidly behind him.
“Who are you?” the Secret Keeper asked, though he suspected he knew the answer.
The man looked surprised, as though he believed he should be recognized wherever he went. “I’m Dirk Zandis.”
“Fine. Mr. Zandis, speak your piece quickly. Don’t waste my time.
You won’t like it if you do,” the Secret Keeper said.
He knew who Dirk Zandis was. He was the prospective groom named in Madelaine’s envelope.
The Secret Keeper couldn’t imagine why he was here.
Surveillance had not flagged his entrance into town, likely because of his affiliation with the Paladin Cabal.
“I need to know why the Paladin Courier hasn’t contacted me.”
“Why do you need to know anything about the Paladin Courier?” The Secret Keeper shot back, unsure of why this man was inserting himself into a journey that clearly was not in the cards for him. “Maybe you shouldn’t worry your pretty little head about it.”
That earned him a smirky, superior gaze from the intruder.
The more troubling question was, how did Dirk know the Paladin Courier was already on her journey? Had he set up a tripwire in Alienn to be informed?
The Secret Keeper had more knowledge than most of the participants in this important journey the Paladin Courier had undertaken. He shouldn’t be surprised that others might have made themselves privy to additional information.
Still, he was surprised that Dirk had been given any extra knowledge.
The Secret Keeper certainly hadn’t disclosed anything. He’d ensured Chester was extra vigilant about not telling anyone about Madelaine and Jack’s trip to Suspicion.
Dirk huffed, clearly affronted by the question. “I need to know because I was supposed to be contacted in Alienn. I was supposed to be her husband. I was supposed to accompany her on her important mission. She has to be married. I know she does.”
“Does she? Are you certain?” the Secret Keeper asked, pretending to be surprised and curious about Madelaine’s wedding needs.
Not to be put off, the man insisted, “Yes. She does. And it’s supposed to be me. I’ve been waiting.”
The Secret Keeper mentally took a deep breath, ready to obscure this man’s path as best he could.
“For the record, I was not privy to any part of the Paladin Courier’s journey or procedures, except to give over a package once she identified herself.
How do you know any part of her clandestine mission?
By my recollection and understanding, you shouldn’t. ”
Dirk frowned. “I am a trusted entity in this matter. I was forewarned about the initial procedure. I know the trigger foretold long before you or I were born has taken place. The Dravo star has gone supernova. The heat from the blast is already headed to Tryxas. I know the process must have started. Tell me why I wasn’t contacted. ”
The Secret Keeper decided to throw him off. It wouldn’t keep him away forever, but it might buy Madelaine and Jack some needed time.
“I do not know why you weren’t contacted, Dirk. How could I? I’m merely a pawn in the process. I have done my duty and given over the package, as I was instructed. That is where my participation ends. I cannot help you.”
Dirk took a step closer, his expression contorted. “You lie. I know you know more than you’re saying. Tell me what you know!”
The Secret Keeper considered Dirk’s accusations and realized there must be a subtext going on during Madelaine’s mission.
It was possible someone in the Paladin Cabal had ratted him out as a knowledgeable figure who knew more than he let on.
The Secret Keeper considered a different option and did his best to keep a civil tone while he thought on his feet.
“All right. Let’s say that you are correct. Let’s say that I do know more than I’m saying. Why should I tell you? I don’t know you. You may be a trusted entity in this process, but how would I know that?”
Dirk seemed to understand the Secret Keeper’s hesitancy in sharing all he knew, but it didn’t take long for him to snap back to attention.
“I don’t have time for this. I need to know what you know. The Paladin Courier might be in danger,” Dirk said, his eyes fervently wide and shiny with what looked like desire. It was unsettling. “Tell me what you know!”
The Secret Keeper decided he was right in his initial assessment. Madelaine made the correct choice in a husband to accompany her. Even if she had opened the envelope and met this man, she never would have trusted him. Ever.
“Perhaps there was an addendum that you were not privy to.”
Dirk perked up. “Addendum? What addendum? Explain.”
The Secret Keeper took a deep breath before saying what he hoped would send this foolish man on a path that would never connect with Madelaine Archer or her new husband, Jack Grey.
“I’ll tell you what I know, but please make note that I’m revealing this to you under protest.”
“Fine. Whatever. Speak.”
“I can neither confirm nor deny that a trip was added to the mission that may or may not involve Nocturne Falls, Georgia. As you likely know, Alphas hide in that town in plain sight, just like they do in Alienn, Arkansas. Anything foretold before you and I were born would not include that destination, would it?”
Dirk soaked in the information about Nocturne Falls and looked a bit pale. Good.
“The special trip that, again, I can neither confirm nor deny would add three days, possibly more, to the journey. That said, I must also point out that if you are here when the Paladin Courier attempts to contact you instead of in Alienn, then you are the one who has compromised this very important mission, haven’t you?
“Your self-important attempt to insert yourself where, trust me, you should not have may have jeopardized this entire journey. As a result of your hubris, Madelaine may have had to improvise and choose someone else. If that is true, then you are no longer needed.”
Dirk looked sick with apprehension. The Secret Keeper didn’t feel the need to make him feel better about his foolish actions.
But he knew that once Dirk found out he’d been led astray, he’d follow Madelaine.
Since he had knowledge of the trigger, he was likely in league with someone who may not be acting in the best interests of the Cabal or the Paladin Courier.
Dirk might not care that Madelaine had married Jack. He might insist on an annulment to proceed with whatever his ultimate plan was.
The Secret Keeper said, “I suggest that you make haste back to Alienn and wait, like you were told to do. I’ve already shared with you more than I should have. I hope you will not rat me out at the first opportunity to those in charge on Alpha-Prime or in Alienn.”
Dirk puffed up and said, “I can be trusted not to disclose what you have said.”
The Secret Keeper didn’t believe that one single bit. There was a brisk knock at the door. Without waiting for a response, a group of four security men entered, guns drawn, to escort Dirk out of his office. At long last.
The Secret Keeper doubted that Dirk Zandis would meekly go back to Alienn and wait for whatever happened next.
His ego was set for the pinnacle of vanity and he was too self-important to care about anyone but himself and his own concerns.
He’d find a way to follow Madelaine and Jack. The Secret Keeper just knew it.
He’d have to send a message to Madelaine, but would need to time it in such a way that he didn’t jeopardize her fraught journey.
First, he needed to warn someone else about Dirk Zandis, self-important dirtbag on the prowl.
He dialed a familiar number in Nocturne Falls.
When it was answered, he wasted no time in getting to the point. “Bubba? This is the Secret Keeper. I need to apprise you of something possibly coming your way.”
The Secret Keeper kept his explanation vague enough to satisfy those who had confided in him, but he trusted that Bubba Thorne would take this conversation to his grave without even being asked to do so.
The former guardsman listened and agreed wholeheartedly with the Secret Keeper’s assessment of Dirk Zandis, self-important dirtbag.
“Thanks for the heads up,” he said. “I’ll keep an eye out for him, but I suspect you’re right.
He won’t chance a trip to Nocturne Falls in case your courier has already been and gone from here.
He will likely follow her to one of the places he knows is on her itinerary or wait for her to show up in Alienn and cause trouble for her there. I hope you can warn her about him.”
Bubba had a point.
“That is good advice,” the Secret Keeper said. “I’m not sure I’ll be able to get in touch, but I’ll try.”
When their call concluded, the Secret Keeper sent a silent message to Madelaine on the device he’d given her.
There was no guarantee she’d see it. If he didn’t hear from her in a day or so, he’d have to call her. She needed to be warned about Dirk.
He expected the text message would arrive in a timely manner, though that wasn’t often the case with regular message devices from Alpha-Prime. The device he’d given Madelaine was a top-notch, experimental communicator with an amplified embedded message delivery system.
This would be a good test of the long-range capabilities of the device.
The Secret Keeper pondered what else he might be able to do to help Madelaine and Jack on the Paladin Courier’s dangerous journey.
He’d have to give it some thought and at the very least be prepared to act quickly for the duration of Madelaine’s trip.