Safe (house) Words, Part 2

Posted on Mon Jun 7th, 2021 @ 7:52am by Kindra Graham

Mission: Fortune & Glory
Location: Persephone, Jonas' safehouse
Timeline: Six months ago, continued from Part 1

Kindra leaned back in her chair and pulled the puzzle box from her pocket, relieved to have things between her and Jonas settled and a plan to get off Persephone in place. She held up the box to show Jonas before going back to turning it in her hand. "My stepfather Walter kept this in his office when I was a child. He used to hide treats for me inside. As far as I know, besides Walter, I'm the only one to learn the trick of opening it." Kindra closed her eyes and ran her fingers along the smooth sides of the cube, feeling for the subtle curve of starting place. Then she began the complicated sequence of applying pressure at just the right points. The box opened with a small whoosh into two joined halves to reveal a data rod. Kindra stared at it a moment, then looked up at Jonas. "May I use your cortex terminal?"

Jonas listened to the history of the puzzle box. "Sounds like he was a good man to you." He watched as her nimble fingers made their way over the cube, feeling it's surface is a familiar way. "Huh, doesn't look like a piece of candy. But, sure, you can use it. It's over there in the living room, on the small desk." He got up and put the tea cups in the small sink after rinsing them out.

"He was a good father, the only one I ever knew." While Jonas cleared the teacups, Kindra found the cortex terminal, sat at the desk, and inserted the datarod into the port. She opened the file named Walter Scott Buccleuch LWaT. It was the same document Margaret had shown her. "This is Walter's will. He left a third of the Buccleuch estate to me, with the proviso that I renounce my Guild license." She sighed and shook her head. "He always thought he knew better than I did what was best for me. Instead he just gave his son a reason to kill me too. Huh… There are other files on this datarod."

"That's quite the proviso, though." Jonas was about to ask if she'd ever consider that, but then other files showed up. "You sound a little surprised to find them. Not expecting anything else on there?"

She responded with a distracted lift and fall of her shoulders and tilted head. "Margaret – my stepmother – just gave me the box and said Walter wanted me to have it." There was a file of a type she didn't recognize - huge, the name some kind of code - plus two vid files, one named Kindra and the other Liddesdale. She tried to open the vids, but each required a password. "Jiàn tā de guǐ. Encrypted." Kindra rested her elbows on the desk, pressed the fingers of both hands to the sides of her head, and massaged her temples, thinking. "Walter must have expected me to guess the passwords."

"Sorry, but I don't have the knowledge to crack stuff like that," he said. "Heads, now I can crack heads and get information, but not this kind of thing. What about a date or name that was important only to you two? A place, even." He noticed her massaging her temples. "Maybe just relax for a bit. You've had a rough few hours. Shower, get into something more comfy...take a nap. Might come to you then."

"You're probably right." Kindra slumped back in the chair and gave him a tired smile. For all Jonas' tough talk about cracking heads and killing people for a living, there was a nurturing side to him too. "Walter probably expected me to figure out the password for the file with my name on it first. The other one, that's the name of a ranch that borders the Buccleuch estate. I was born there. He bought Liddesdale from my birth father after he left my mother and me. Walter always called it…" Kindra abruptly sat up straight and typed in her guess.

The soundless vid file opened to a split view of three simultaneous scenes. One was a wildflower garden and horse stables beyond. The next was a transport landing pad framed by trees with a lake just visible through the breaks. Next was a tastefully decorated room inside a house, with sofa and chairs, a fireplace and a door. "This is Liddesdale ranch. Must be video surveillance from security cameras." A beautiful woman with dark brown skin and wearing riding gear – Siobhan Graham - appeared in the stable view, headed for the house. "My mother," murmured Kindra. In the landing pad view, a shuttle set down and a tall man with dark hair and light skin emerged - Kinmont Armstrong. Kindra gasped. "My father."

The two united on the interior view with the passion and desperation of lovers too-long separated. They left a trail of clothing across the front room, then they were off-screen, presumably the bedroom. A time lapse and they were both dressed in the landing pad view, Kindra's mother with her saddled horse kissing her father goodbye before he climbed into the shuttle and took off. Another similar video sequence began, but the wildflower garden was covered in snow and the trees were bare. Kindra's vision blurred with tears and she set the vid to fast forward. The seasons cycled, showing clear evidence that her mother and father had continued seeing each other... for years. "This changes everything I knew about my father. I thought he left us." But it seemed he'd only left her.

Jonas watched and listened to Kindra's commentary. It was interesting, seeing the father and mother of his new boss. Seemed to him like she got her looks from her mother. It wasn't often that he was privy to such information. Let alone by someone he'd just met and was now working for. He wondered if saving her life had made some kind of connection that he wasn't aware of.

Kindra slowed the vid to normal speed as it neared the end. A second shuttle landed next to her father's. Armed men surrounded Kinmont's shuttle and appeared across all three views. On the interior view, two of them held her mother, and a third man Kindra knew well struck Siobhan across the face. "That's my stepbrother, Jim Buccleuch " she whispered. On the stable view, Kinmont sat astride Siobhan's horse and galloped away. Jim held a gun under her mother's chin and words were exchanged. Then suddenly there was blood everywhere. Kindra screamed and all but fell out of the chair.

Jonas blinked at the scene that had unfolded in front of his eyes. He hadn't expected that to happen. Her stepbrother shot her mother. He hated this for Kindra and had a feeling that either this was the first time she'd seen it or that it confirmed something. To the mercenary-by-trade, it made him wonder if this Jim fella had hired the thugs he'd chased off at the port. And if so, they'd be coming back for her. Which made it all the more urgent that he get her off the planet.

He looked over to Kindra with a solemn face. He didn't know exactly what to do in circumstances like this as he was usually the one doing the harming. Something his mother had always told the children came to mind. Sometimes people don't need to hear platitudes, but just know you're there for them. So he put a big hand on her shoulder, hoping to help comfort her and make her feel secure.

Kindra's whole body shook. She closed her eyes tight, wishing she could block out what she'd just seen. At the gentle weight of Jonas' hand on her shoulder, she turned toward the tall muscular man who had already come to mean security and safety to her, and buried her face against his chest. Kindra wept.

After long minutes, Kindra began to get hold of herself, and as her sobs diminished, she spoke into his damp shirt. "That was seven years ago... her murder… never solved. Walter… lied."

Jonas just let the woman cry until she was ready. When she spoke, he patted her back. "I'm not sure what it all means," he finally said. "But maybe you can figure out why he lied. Or maybe it's somewhere else on that data rod. But for now, you just rest. That's a lot to take in. I know a guy who knows a guy that might be able to get us on a decent ship off-world as soon as possible. Gotta get you somewhere safe."

She nodded assent and rubbed her eyes. "Sorry about your shirt," she murmured. Kindra pulled Walter's data rod from the cortex port, her mind reeling with the lies told by all three of her parents - four now she knew Kinmont was involved. She returned the data rod to the puzzle box and sealed it – Kindra didn't want to think on this new information right now. "Whatever you think is best, Jonas. About now seems a good time to be taking advantage of that hot shower."

"Eh, shirts wash," said Jonas. "In the meantime, I know a guy who knows a guy who might be able to slip us on a passenger liner as a couple. Less conspicuous, but I'd have to get my fancy clothes out of the closet first." He chuckled a little. "And new ID's to match our new names. Hopefully. But you go ahead and grab that shower. Lots of stuff coming up and we're both going to need our rest."

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