The Farther Shore - Christie Golden [28]
So she returned to the bed, and put her tools to work. At one point, he seized her roughly and said, “You know what I want.”
“No,” she said. “Later. Tonight. It takes too much time.”
Disappointment and anger flickered across his face. Denying him anything always frustrated him, so she tried to do so only when necessary. That was part of her power over him—she knew how often he had been [82] disappointed, been overlooked, been denied. She didn’t care, but she knew, and utilized that knowledge.
By all rights, Project Full Circle should have been his. She, too, was disappointed that he had not been selected to lead the project; it would have made her job so much easier had her lackey been given such power.
Instead, Starfleet had appointed the hero of the hour, Admiral Kenneth Montgomery. He had courage, intelligence, and tenacity, and, unfortunately for Covington’s ultimate plans, scruples. The man was incorruptible. Covington knew; she’d tried, several years ago. She had done nothing to truly compromise herself or her plans, of course. She was far too sharp for that. But she had done enough for Montgomery to regard her with suspicion and distrust.
She had to get him out of the way, or at least hamper him as much as possible. He wasn’t a fool, and sooner or later, he’d be onto her. So Covington had searched for the perfect innocent agent to take him down. Libby Webber’s name had reached her desk. Libby’s former connection with Voyager made her someone that Covington needed to redirect as soon as possible. The pretty thing was an information gatherer, nothing more, and Covington found her sweet, malleable, and eager to please.
So Covington had spent some time putting together some false evidence and put Little Miss Music on Montgomery’s trail. Although Covington had to admit, Libby was better and had more initiative than she had suspected.’ Libby’s decision to track down Blake came perilously close to jeopardizing the entire plan. [83] Fortunately, Blake, though brilliant, was utterly devoid of social graces and probably wouldn’t know what had happened if Libby had actually seduced him.
One thing Covington knew for certain, though, was that, seduced or not, Blake would never utter one word of the plans he, Grady, and Covington had been working on over the last several years. He had too much at stake.
And seeing Aidan Fletcher ... Covington dismissed it. She knew he and Libby had an affair a while ago. She made it her business to know these things. Apparently, boring good-boy Harry Kim wasn’t enough to keep Libby’s attention for long.
Voyager’s return played right into Covington’s hands. It couldn’t have been timelier. There it was, complete with two Borg and a host of futuristic refits. All attention was focused on it. It was unknown, unfamiliar, and she understood well that it was never a big leap from “unfamiliar” to “suspected.”
Grady, acting on Covington’s instructions, was the first to voice suspicions about the Doctor when the strike erupted, and the Borg when the virus began to manifest. She didn’t have the pleasure of seeing him do it, but she knew how he would look: reluctant to cast blame on returning heroes, embarrassed to think bad thoughts about them, but ... just worried enough so that Montgomery would be worried, too. And Montgomery was one who didn’t sit on his hunches, but acted.
She had watched with amusement, standing just out of viewing range, one time when the meddlesome Janeway had contacted Grady. How easily he lied to [84]Voyager’s former captain, that boyish freckled face screwed up into an expression