There weren’t any people.
“Term doesn’t start for another two weeks,” Jim said. “You’re probably the first to arrive.”
“Isn’t it a boarding school?” Teresa asked.
“They still have breaks between terms. I mean, don’t they?”
Amos shrugged. “Not a lot of private school types in my social circles. They know we’re coming?”
“Finley knows to expect us, but Naomi was keeping the radio-silence thing pretty strict. You know, in case.”
“Sure,” Amos said.
The main path was crushed stone gravel, light gray with flashes of pink and blue and gold where the sunlight glittered off it. An earthmover stood idle at the side of the path. Its wide industrial treads had left tracks behind it half a meter across. The disturbed ground was dark and damp. The sun hadn’t dried it yet. Amos smiled at nothing in particular, looking around like a tourist taking in the sights. Jim seemed tenser.
They walked up the path to a central courtyard three glass-windowed stories tall with a canopy stretched between the buildings. A stone fountain had lines of mineral deposits that showed where the water would have flowed if it had been flowing.
Teresa recognized it all from her reading about the school—the pale wood juxtaposed with the glass was apparently very interesting from an architectural perspective, but she just thought it looked awkward. The smiling kids and serious instructors that had filled the campus weren’t there, though. Muskrat whined and pressed in against Teresa’s leg.
“Yeah, dog,” Amos said. “Putting my little hairs up too.”
The wide double doors of the main building ten meters ahead of them swung open and a woman stepped out. Her arms were out at her sides, her hands open and empty. She was tall, long limbed, and thin, with high cheekbones and dark eyes. Her skin looked as taut and tough as if she’d been carved out of wood. Teresa couldn’t guess the woman’s age, but she wore a Laconian Marine uniform.
Jim muttered fuck to himself.
“I’m unarmed,” the woman said. Teresa recognized her tone. An officer’s voice. Brusque, and carrying an expectation of obedience. Her father’s palace had been filled with voices like it. “I’m no threat to you. You don’t need to escalate.”
“What are you doing here?” Teresa said, loud enough to carry through the courtyard. “Do you know who I am?”
Amos put a hand on her shoulder and gently pulled her half a step back. Jim’s eyes were wide, and his face was bloodless. If his expression hadn’t been so calm, she would have thought he was having a panic attack.
“Yes, I know who you are,” the woman said. “You’re Teresa Duarte. I am Colonel Aliana Tanaka of the Laconian Marine Corps. And Captain Holden, if I’m not mistaken. I have to say that’s a bit of a surprise. I’d have thought you’d have put her on a different ship. Eggs. Baskets. You know.”
Jim stood silent. Frozen. Oh, Teresa thought. He’s about to have a panic attack.
“I’m not here to hurt anyone,” Tanaka said. “I need the girl’s help.”
“I am here of my own free will,” Teresa said. “If my father—”
“At this point, I am considerably better briefed about your father’s condition than you are,” Tanaka said.
Amos reached down into his pocket, appearing to scratch idly at his leg while he looked up toward the canopy. Teresa heard a tiny, distant voice. Alex, saying What’s up, big guy?
“If we’re all friends and just talking,” Amos said, his voice loud enough to carry, “how come you got a fire team on the roof up there?”
Teresa looked up. She wasn’t certain, but there might have been shadows on the canopy. Her heart was tapping at her ribs like it wanted to get out. Muskrat whined, and she put a hand on the old dog’s back.
“He’s right,” Jim said, his voice steadier than Teresa expected. “That doesn’t seem friendly.”
The woman didn’t miss a beat. “You’re correct. If I wanted to resolve this through violence, it would already be resolved. But I think we’ve all been through enough firefights to understand that when the bullets start flying, it gets very hard to be certain where they all end up. And I don’t want anything to happen to the girl either.”
“Where’s the head of school?” Jim said. “The one who was meeting us?”
“She’s safe. Honestly, I was hoping I’d find Teresa already here.”