Home Front (Star Kingdom #7) - Lindsay Buroker Page 0,161
office.
“I guess you’re not invited, girl.” Oku pushed herself to her feet and left Chasca, trusting nothing else bad would befall her today.
Her own fate was more in question, though she felt a little heartened that Finn had been drugged. With a truth drug, she hoped. Even if they did the same to her, she had no fear of telling the truth.
Chief Van Dijk gave Oku a baleful stare as she waved her into a chair. “If they’d succeeded in kidnapping you, we wouldn’t have been able to track you since you replaced your chip.”
“Maddie was with me. You could have tracked her.”
“Maddie almost got herself shot.”
Oku looked at her mother instead of Van Dijk. “Do they know who was responsible? Finn said it wasn’t him, that he just went along with it.”
Her mother held up a hand. “We don’t know yet. Intelligence is looking into it. Wait until the doctor has applied the eslevoamytal, please, before explaining your version of the events of last night.”
Oku looked at the doctor preparing the jet injector. She hoped they’d gotten the real version out of Finn. And that she wouldn’t somehow manage to say something to incriminate herself. She hadn’t done anything wrong. But that didn’t put her mind hugely at ease.
“You’re questioning me?” Oku asked the obvious question as the doctor approached to test her for an allergic reaction. “With a truth drug?”
“I’ve just lost one son,” her mother said. “I don’t intend to lose more children to ambition and stupidity.”
“That seems reasonable.” Oku watched in morbid fascination as the doctor pricked her, then waited to gauge her reaction. As long as Finn had been questioned the same way, it didn’t seem too unfair.
When nothing happened, the doctor gave her the injection. It wasn’t until Chief Van Dijk sat athwart a backward-facing chair in front of her that Oku realized she might be in trouble. What if the woman took the opportunity to ask her about her chip?
She did. She started with that, damn it.
“Why did you have your chip replaced, Your Highness?”
Oku clenched her jaw, but it soon grew slack under the influence of the drug. A strange mellow state came over her, and she found herself patiently explaining that it wasn’t right for her father to dangle her as a prize to Casmir nor for the Intelligence agents to spy on their conversations. Her mother’s eyebrows flew up at one point, but Oku couldn’t quite imagine what surprised her. Had Casmir’s parents made it safely back to their home? She hoped so. They were nice people. They’d baked Chasca dog treats.
Van Dijk must have heard what she wanted, for she directed Oku’s rambling to the previous night’s events. With no hesitation, Oku explained everything, though she felt sheepish mentioning that she’d stunned Finn’s bodyguard. And Finn. And who was this Sir Slayer who’d been sending him a feed?
Van Dijk murmured a few notes to her recorder at that. Fortunately, there weren’t too many more questions, and Mother’s eyebrows remained in a neutral position for the rest of the interview. When it was over, Mother walked Oku out herself. Oku wobbled a bit when Chasca bounded over and leaned against her legs.
“What happens next?” she asked, her mind still muzzy, but her sense of self-awareness slowly returning. “With Finn and, uhm, everything.”
Her mother sighed. “I’m sending the recordings of these interviews to your father. He can figure it out on his way to derail that blockade, or afterward. I don’t care when, but I refuse to have more plotting under my own roof. I’m sending Finn up to orbit to survey what Fleet ships were left to protect the planet and the moon base. Hopefully, it’ll give him something to do besides become a target for schemes.”
“Isn’t he ruling the planet in Father’s stead? Won’t he object to being sent?”
“He can do whatever ruling he wants from a spaceship headed into orbit. He may believe he’s in charge of something because your father gave him vague directions to keep an eye on things while he’s gone, but he has little support among the Senate, Jager’s aides, or even the staff. Jager may change something when he returns, but for now at least, Finn should be out of your hair.”
Oku patted Chasca’s head. “I’m glad to hear that.” She was also glad that her mother had cared enough to step in. Perhaps still loopy with the drug, Oku hugged her mother.
“Don’t let your guard down, Oku.” Her mother patted her. “I’m