A knock on her door woke Sarah up. She rolled out of her bed and answered the door. Dave leaned on his cane. This one looked even plainer than his previous one and probably didn’t contain a technically illegal sword. He looked better than the night before, but he still looked roughed up and probably would for the next few days. He always seemed to get hurt the most during the escapades.

“Clean yourself up and grab your stuff. We might not be able to report what happened to the police, but we need to tell someone. My da can help with that.”

“The General.”

“That’s what most people call him, even though he’s not one anymore. I guess it’s a respect thing.” He yawned a bit. “We can get something to eat at his place.”

She closed the door, changed, and got ready. It was hard to believe how much had happened the day before. All because they knew Yager and he had gotten them involved. If he hadn’t suffered the most grievous injuries, she’d be tempted to wish some on him. But no use in dwelling on it. What was done was done.

As Sarah left her room, she nearly ran into Mel. He wore glasses, but by the way he squinted, Sarah had to wonder if they weren’t quite right for his eyesight.

“You all right?”

“Oh, these?” He pointed to the glasses. “They’re an old pair, so they aren’t quite strong enough. I’m going to go get a new pair today after we talk to the General.”

“Sorry I stepped on them.”

“That’s all right. You didn’t know to look for them. Besides, I probably needed new ones. I’m just glad that Dave’s leg is all right. It’s easier to get new glasses than a new prosthesis that fits, even a wooden one.” He stepped back to allow her to go in front of him. “How are you feeling? You got dragged around a lot yesterday.”

“Fine, just a bit shook, to be honest.”

“I promise you it’s not usually like this for us.” He assured her as they walked. “Of course, there’s not usually wars going on either. I’m sure if you want to leave now, Dave would gladly understand. And if you’re worried about a place to stay, Heather’s parents wouldn’t mind helping you out.”

“I think I’m better off here, for now at least. I don’t want to be forced into a bad job just so that I have a way to earn money for food.”

They joined Dave and Claire outside and took a bus to the neighborhood the General lived in. It wasn’t as nice as the one the Dyer’s lived in, but Sarah could tell that everyone who owned a place here at least had more money than the average person. The General’s house was smaller and skinnier. She noticed that there was no space between it and the house next door, a far cry from the nearest neighbor being a five-minute walk away in her hometown.

Dave rang the doorbell and waited. She noticed that he was fidgeting. From what little she gathered, he had a good relationship with his father currently, though there had been rough parts in the past. Maybe it was because he hadn’t visited the last time, at least not as far as Lily knew.

“It’s been a while since I’ve seen the General,” Mel remarked as he put his hands in his pocket to shield them from the chill air. “Do you think he’s taken my advice of giving up his evening cigar?”

“If he has, it’s because he thinks it’s too expensive and not because you’re concerned for his health. He thinks you ought to still be in medical school or doing a residency.”

The door opened and a man slightly shorter than Dave with what Sarah could only think of the most glorious mustache she’d ever seen stepped out in his robe. He grabbed the newspaper from the post and picked up the milk bottle.

"Did we wake you, Da?" Dave shook his head. "Well, at least you're wearing something."

"No, surprisingly my son who only seems to visit or call me whenever he's in some sort of trouble didn’t wake me. The men in suits from government intelligence who want to talk to my son did, however."

That was certainly one way to say good morning and he acted so casually about it.

For once, Dave had nothing to say right away. "Why didn't they come down to the docks? And how'd they know I'd come here? I didn't plan on it until this morning."

"Simple, Captain Sherman." The General stepped aside to allow a woman in a sharp dress to come out of the house. "Past behavior has shown that you come to your father when you're in over your head. That’s happened in the last month not once, but twice. But come in. Out here is too exposed and you’ll all catch a cold if you stay out here too long.”

Dave grumbled something but went in after her. Mel followed. The General allowed Sarah to go in before him so he shut the door. He held out his hand to her.

“Former General Harold Sherman at your service, Ms. Hidalgo. Happy to finally meet you in person.”

Sarah went to shake his hand, but he shook hers instead. He certainly had a very firm grip. Fortunately, he knew when to let go too.

“Not too bad of a handshake for a civilian. At least you didn’t let your hand go completely limp. That means you aren’t completely compromising.”

“Da, stop analyzing her personality through her handshake. They do handshakes in Liba too. She probably just knows how to do a proper one.” Dave hung up his coat. “Do you mind if we get something to eat first, Agent…?”

“Agatha. Agent Christie Agatha. We brought some food for all of you. A couple of my fellow agents are collecting Mr. and Ms. Letterman as we speak. You four can go ahead and eat. We'll interview all of you individually?”

“Here? Are there enough rooms?” Mel took off his scarf and offered to hang up Sarah’s coats.

“There are. The General has been kind enough to lend us his home for this. It’s one place we know is secure, even from your friend the Thespian.”

“He is no friend of mine.” Dave made his way past Agent Agatha and grabbed some kind of pastry from the plate in the kitchen. He stuffed it in his mouth even as he continued to talk. “And neither is Yager.”

“He’s not? Someone should tell him that then.”

She nodded and a man that Sarah somehow missed in the parlor brought a box with a note tacked to it. Sarah grabbed a pastry to eat herself and tossed Mel one. He could probably use something to eat. Agent Agatha picked up the note.

“This was left on your father’s doorstep, which was what initially brought us here this morning. We were worried that it was a bomb. The General might be retired, but I’m sure there are still a few out there who wouldn’t mind taking a post-career revenge.”

“You watch this house?” Dave shook his head as he finished the pastry. “You know what, I’m not even surprised. If it’s a bomb, what is it?”

“Let’s see, a coat just your size, Captain, a blade that is an illegal cane sword given the handle and width, the rest of the cane, a pair of smashed glasses, a wrench, and a notebook full of notes on other languages."

"I don't think I want that coat back," Dave replied. "Someone died in it and there's probably blood on it. I need a new one anyway."

"That's fine. The only things we can return are the notebook and the wrench I assume from the handwriting and subject matter, it is yours, Ms. Hidalgo. It somehow made it through the incident unharmed."

"How do you know so much already?" Claire the box was set down on the table with the pastries. "I doubt even you could glean that much from items in a box."

Agent Agatha handed the note to Sarah. She had a feeling that she knew who it was from.

"Read that, please."

She cleared her throat. "Dear Crewses of el Echelon, me culpa por what happenstanced with das Alemanian agentes. So yo am returning das things of dus that we got from them. We will leaving it at el Generale's haus. Ver du soon, Captain Yager." At least he had good penmanship.

"That, combined with the bodies that the police collected told us what we know now. Captain Sherman, we need your crew to fill in the gaps. We can't ask Captain Yager unless we want to go scouring around international waters."

"Fine. Let's get this over with. I was coming here to ask Da if he could help us with this anyways." Dave picked up another pastry. "You seem calm about the Alemanian agents."

"We'd been tracking them for a while. Then suddenly, they disappeared. Now we know why and the public is none-the-wiser. We'd prefer for one of them to be alive, but they did mess with pirates."

Sarah ate two pastries by the time that some more agents brought Heather and Ash. Mel had only eaten one and Dave had scarfed down three more. Claire had also eaten three. The General hadn’t touched any and sipped on a cup of tea he made the whole time. Maybe he wasn’t hungry at the moment. Heather and Ash waved at them as they came in.

“Good, we’re all here now.” Agent Agatha stated. “Captain Sherman, if you’ll come with me. Mr. Letterman, Agent Phillips will conduct your interview. Mrs. Letterman, you’ll go with Agent Floyd. Dr. Whitmore, Agent Redd. Ms. Cunningham, you’ll be with Agent Wallace. And finally Ms. Hidalgo, your assigned agent is Agent Niles.”

Agent Niles didn’t stand out from the other agents in the house. He was a tad taller and lankier but looked normal besides that. He nodded at her.

“Let’s try to keep this from dragging on too long.” Agent Agatha informed her people. “This is a fact-finding interview, not an interrogation."

Sarah followed Agent Niles into a spare bedroom. He took the only chair in the room, leaving her to sit on the bed. He took out a small notepad.

"Where do you want me to start, Agent?" Sarah asked as she tried to make herself comfortable on the rather hard bed.

"Let’s start with what happened after the Echelon returned from Aleman."

Sarah nod and went over the events the best she could. Agent Niles took notes and nodded once and a while.

"And after I crashed the car, the pirates dumped us and someone called the police. That's about all."

"Good start." Agent Niles flipped to another page in his notepad. "Now tell me about what happened in Aleman with this Recke that the Alemanian agent mentioned."

She did, but left but the part about the time she spent with Agent Zehn after they landed. If he asked about what happened after they landed, she would tell him. But for now, he didn't seem to be focused on anything that happened before Mel's disappearance in Aleman.

"And this Recke, what was your impression of her?"

"Well, she's certainly determined to accomplish her goal. I didn't feel like we could trust her, but she didn’t hurt Mel, so she must have some scruples. I'd just rather not meet her again. It only seems to invite trouble."

"One last question, did you ever learn what was in the fake cigar?"

"No one ever said. Maybe Dave saw it, but that's it."

Agent Niles closed his notepad and put it back in his pocket. "That's all I need to know for now. Let's see if the others are finished."

They left the room and went downstairs. Claire sat on the couch, leaning against the arm. It looked like she was about to drift off to sleep. Mel stood behind the General, who sat in an armchair, reading the newspaper. He picked up a pipe next to him.

"That's not what I meant when I said not to smoke cigars anymore."

"I don't smoke this pipe every day. Only when I feel like I need to."

Mel sighed but didn’t say anything else. Agent Niles joined the other two agents in the kitchen. Sarah sat on the other end of the couch.

"I hope we aren't disturbing you too much, General." She stated to their host one he put down his paper and snuffed out his pipe.

"I'll survive. It's not the first time that I've had a bunch of strangers in suits at my house." He eyed her. "Dave treating you all right?"

"Yes sir. I don't know where'd I be right now without his help. Without everyone on the crew's help. Oh and your advice about going to the embassy. That greatly helped me too."

"Think nothing of it, my dear. Just doing my duty as a gentleman and a fellow father. I doubt he'd want you to be without a place to stay and work during times like these."

"No, he wouldn't."

Thinking about her parents stung. She had written and sent them a letter right after fleeing from Paradis, but she had no clue if it managed to get into Liban airspace before the blockade went up. If it hadn't, they wouldn't know that she was safe.

They'd think that she was in Paradis, under the thumb of a government hostile to theirs. They'd be even more worried than before and it was her fault. If she hadn't flown off across the ocean to learn a language she'd never use, she wouldn't be causing them pain. If she'd never come…

"And you can take your theories and shove them!” A shout brought Sarah out from her darkening thoughts. Heather marched from downstairs, followed by a rather flustered Agent Floyd. “If I weren’t a lady, I would give you a right hook!”

Sarah heard someone in the kitchen sigh. “Agent Floyd, you certainly have a way with women, don’t you?” Floyd murmured something and he joined his fellow agents. The General raised his eyebrow as Heather huffed and sat down between Claire and Sarah.

“The nerve of some people…” She muttered and crossed her arms. Sarah had never seen her angry before and it was pretty frightening. “Me and Yager, pah!”

“I mean, I know he’s sweet on you, but you’ve never even flirted with him, even before you married Ash,” Claire commented, looking a little more awake than she had been. “Don’t let a know-it-all agent get you upset over something he doesn’t know.”

A few minutes later, Ash and Agent Phillips emerged from the basement. Neither of them acted like much had happened, so the conversation must have gone well. Ash caught one look of Heather’s expression and wisely kept his mouth shut. Finally, Agent Agatha and Dave joined the party.

“I think we have everything we need.” She said to everyone. “We’ll let you know if we need more information, we’ll contact you. So, I would recommend that you not leave the country for a couple of weeks.”

“We were taking time off anyway,” Dave replied politely, but Sarah could tell he was tired of this whole thing. “I think we all need a break from international trips for a while.”

Agent Agatha nodded and flicked her head at the door. All the other agents got up and left. She was the last one to leave. The General got up and went to the kitchen.

“I’m making some real food if anyone wants any. These pastries don’t stick with you like sausage and eggs do.”

“That’s a nice offer, General, but Ash and I should get back to my parents’ house. The one who’s going to replace the door should be coming by soon.” Heather stood up from the couch and linked her arm with Ash’s. “Dave, let us know if you need anything.”

He waved as they left and walked over to the kitchen. “Da, fix some of that food for me. The pastries already ran out. Guess I’m too used to Ash’s cooking by now.”

“Sure.” The General got the pan down from the cabinet and turned on the gas. “And while I’m doing that you can tell me what happened in Aleman and after that’s gotten the attention of those agents. As much as I like to josh you around about the trouble you get up to, you rarely ever get in actual trouble.

Dave nodded as he prepared the teapot. “Fair enough. I started when we landed in Aleman…”

He spent the rest of breakfast explaining things to the General. Claire added some, but not much. She had spent most of the time knocked out. And since Mel had lost his glasses, he hadn’t been able to see well enough to know what was going on. After they were finished, the General sighed.

“You have stepped in it this time, Dave, but I can’t say that it’s your fault.” He put the dishes in the sink. The breakfast had been good, though not as good as Ash’s. “Can you afford to stay grounded for two weeks?”

“Fortunately, the Aleman job paid very, very well. I don’t know if I’ll be able to stand it.” Dave admitted as he drank the last of his tea. “I don’t have the best record when it comes to downtime.”

“Then stay here and keep me company. Despite what you might think, I don’t just laze around all day.” The General turned to the rest of them. “Do the rest of you have somewhere besides the ship? I know how lonely they can get even if they aren’t warships.”

“I have some family to visit. I think I should get going.” Claire finished off her remaining piece of sausage and got up. She turned to Mel. “You coming, Mel? My aunt always loves it when you come over.”

“I suppose so.” He stood up to follow her. “Still got to replace my glasses.” He moved the pair he wore around. “These do for close up, but anything out of arm’s reach is so blurry.”

“You can go get them this afternoon. I’m sure one of my cousins would give you a ride. He’s a taxi driver after all.”

Sarah held her tongue until they left. “Dave, are Mel and Claire a couple?”

He shook his head. “No, not to my knowledge. They just get along well. And a word of advice, don’t ask either of them. Claire will get upset and Mel won’t know what you’re talking about.”

She nodded. “I was just making sure I wasn’t missing anything. Don’t worry; I’ll keep quiet.”

“Would I be wrong in guessing that you don’t have an alternate place to stay?” The General questioned. His tone was that of someone who already knew the answer to the question they just asked.

“I mean, the Dyers, but I think Ash and Heather need some alone time.” They wouldn’t turn her away if she asked, but she’d feel bad the whole time she was there. “I mean, someone has to watch the ship, right?”

“I have a feeling those agents will be keeping an eye on it for a few days.” He looked to Dave, who nodded. “You’re welcome to stay here. I have room.”

“Are you sure, General? I wouldn’t want to intrude.”

“You wouldn’t be intruding. Besides, what’s the point in having a guest bedroom if no one uses it?”

Sarah had a feeling he wouldn’t take no for an answer. “If you insist, General.” She grabbed a towel and put it on her shoulder. “Let me thank you by doing these, at least.” She started to wash the dishes. “My mom would kill me if she knew I wasn’t helping with any of the chores.”

“We can do the drying once you’re done,” Dave offered. “Besides, you don’t know where to put them.”

The three of them did the dishes in silence. Sarah didn’t mind. In a way, it felt good to be doing some menial chores. It felt like being at the home she was starting to miss more and more.