Homecoming - Christie Golden [21]
“I’m all right,” Libby had replied. “A little nervous about meeting him.”
“Our sources tell us that he hasn’t made any permanent commitments,” Covington went on. “Do you think he might be interested in resuming a relationship with you?”
“I—I really have no idea. He’s been gone seven years.”
“Yet he has remained unattached,” Covington had pointed out. “As have you.”
Understanding began to dawn. “Do you want me to pretend I’m still interested in him? Romantically?”
“Would it be pretending?”
Libby said nothing.
Covington leaned forward. “I’m not asking you to do this on a whim, Agent Webber. I have information that leads me to believe that we need someone on the inside with Voyager’s crew. It would take a long time for us to find someone else with your convenient connection. It would be well worth your while,” she added.
Knowing that she was putting her career at risk, Libby had said stubbornly, “I don’t think it’s right to play with Harry’s feelings like that.”
Covington sighed. “I didn’t want to tell you this, but I see I have to. The situation is grim, Agent Webber. We’ve got a mole.”
“What?” Libby was shocked.
Covington nodded her fair head, looking somber. “There’s been a great deal of technological information leaked to the Orion Syndicate. We have reason to [60] believe that the arrival of Voyager, with its astonishing new technological developments, is going to be very appealing to the mole. He or she is going to want to get close to it, and the people who were on it. It’s a rare chance for us to flush the mole out into the open. Considering the nature of what’s been leaked, we’re going on the assumption that the mole is very highly placed in Starfleet.”
“Do you have a suspect?”
Covington shook her head. “No one suspect, although we’ve got our eye on several. None of them is below the rank of admiral. And frankly, the only ones we can rule out with certainty are the Voyager crew itself. It’s hard to negotiate deals with the Syndicate when you’re several thousand light-years away.”
“But,” Libby had said, puzzled, “if Harry’s not under suspicion, why do you need me to ... to be close to him?”
“Your fame as a concert performer has opened many doors,” Covington replied. “You think Aidan Fletcher’s commendation for the job on Ktar didn’t cross my desk? If you resume an intimate relationship with Ensign Kim, you’ll be able to accompany him to all kinds of functions. Quite possibly even on board Voyager. You’ll be moving in the same elite circles we think the mole moves in. And it’ll be a completely logical place for you to be.”
Libby felt sick inside. She almost wished that she was entirely over Harry. It would be easier to completely fabricate an affection she didn’t feel than to take her already confused emotions and point them in a specific direction.
[61] But Brenna Covington was awaiting her reply, and both of them knew what it would be.
“I think it went as well as could be expected,” Libby told Covington on the viewscreen, shaking off the memory of their first encounter. “It’s hard to get very personal in a crowded banquet hall.”
“But he believed you were interested in resuming your relationship?”
“Yes.” Libby, too, believed she was interested in resuming the relationship. She might have exaggerated a few things here and there when speaking with Harry, but not much, not much at all. The old feelings were still surprisingly strong, even after seven years. “It was difficult to speak with any of the admirals present. Harry and his parents pretty much demanded my full attention, and to leave them would have been too conspicuous.”
“That’s fine, Agent Webber. Cement the relationship first and you can worry about analyzing admirals’ behavior at the next function. You did very well. To be honest, I wasn’t sure you’d go through with it.”
Libby squared her shoulders. She needed to be truthful with this woman. “Director, I have to say that it wasn’t just a great acting job tonight. I really do still care for Harry, and I think the closer we get, the less objective I’m going to be.”
To her surprise,