Chapter 29 - The defense of the Duchy

The following day, the first Sunday in April, Jason Schmidt went home. For him, home was not the house in Wisconsin, nor was it really his dorm room in Chicago. Instead home was a feeling, which he could only experience when he was with Cecilia. He desperately wanted to be with her, and anxiously counted the mile signs along the freeway as his father drove him south.

Jason, as usual, took a ride from his father. He felt guilty about accepting a ride from a man he had betrayed, but he really had no choice. He had no other means of getting out of Wisconsin. He promised himself that the ride he was taking would be the last trip he would need from his father. Somehow he needed to strike out on his own, because he felt that everything associated with his father was contaminated, tainted with blood and poverty. He needed to move on, which would be an issue he would try to resolve during the final weeks of the semester.

Mr. Schmidt blissfully drove his son back to the university, his mind on other concerns. He needed to dump off the wimp and really get moving with his own ambitions. There still was a lot to take care of and he planned to spend most of the next couple of weeks at his office or his apartment in downtown Chicago. Big things were about to happen, and with a project as complicated as a double coup against two countries, invariably there would be last minute problems.

Still, it seemed that the project was going as well as could be expected. Earlier that morning one of his associate sent him a coded message with some good news. An important element, the bomb needed to blow up Vladim Dukov�s plane, already was safely assembled in Athens and ready to be loaded in a suitcase. The associate had hired a luggage handler to load it, and he would be paid $ 50,000 once the plane blew up. The plane was a commercial flight, so which aircraft it actually would be would not be known until shortly before it took off.

It was true that probably about 130 passengers would be on that flight along with the Danubian delegation, but so what? What was a planeload of passengers in comparison with the big plans Mr. Schmidt and his associates had for their own futures? Sure, a lot of people would die in two weeks, but that was just too bad. The world would just have to learn not to stand in the way of Mega-Town Associates.

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When Jason got back to Huntington Hall, Cecilia was waiting for him. She rushed into his arms, thrilled to see him after a week of lonely nights in her room. There was a lot for the couple to take care of and discuss that night, but they did have their priorities. Less than 10 minutes after Jason got out of his father�s car; he was naked in Cecilia�s room, his face safely back between her legs, his tongue gently massaging her clitoris.

That afternoon was a day she planned to reward him for good behavior. Once she climaxed from the oral sex, she got on her elbows and knees and wiggled her dark sexy bottom. Seeing her in that position had its usual effect on him. He just loved seeing her backside turned up and spread like that, a lewd invitation for him to enter. It was an exquisite homecoming for him, as he released of all of the tension from the past week into that lovely body of hers.

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Jason and Cecilia discussed in detail what each knew about the pending Mega-Town coup plot in Eastern Europe. Jason filled in the details about what exactly he did in his father�s home office and what he found out. He discussed the strange chain of events that led him first to find out about the coup in the first place and then to be able to access the office to be able to copy all that information. How strange, that he happened to be in the basement precisely when his father was talking about the coup. How strange that he had caught Rita digging through his mother�s jewelry box, thus making her an unwitting accomplice in his efforts to undermine what his father was planning to do.

Cecilia gave the matter some thought, and finally commented:

�Jason, I�m not so sure all that was coincidence. While you were gone, I was readin� about their philosophy in Danubia, and they think that everything happens for a reason. Maybe everything that happened last week was �sposed to happen that way. I know that�s what Kimberly Lee and her friends think, which is why they don�t give a shit about losin� their singin� contracts. Kim thinks they�re �sposed to serve some other purpose, and I�m wonderin� if maybe you�re part of all that.�

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The following day classes started up again, which forced Jason to concentrate on the mundane details of his life. There were tests to study for, term papers to finish, formulas to memorize; all of which crowded into his thoughts and forced him to push the entire Upper Danubia situation to the back of his mind.

There also was his project to finish teaching Cecilia how to swim, which took up a half an hour each day after working out. That Monday afternoon they were back in the university gym swimming pool, with him swimming alongside her as she continued to struggle to overcome one of her biggest fears in life.

The Wednesday after classes started Cynthia Lee came back from Danube City. She was in a difficult situation, because she had to struggle to get caught up in her studies without being able to explain to her professors what it was that had forced her to run off for a week. However, in spite of her hectic schedule, she did make time to get together with Cecilia and Jason.

She filled them in on what had happened during her week in Danube City. It turned out that practically everything Jason had scanned or copied had useful information. Jason had been right about photographing the passports, because they were to be given to various mercenaries slated to enter the country�s southern neighbor and infiltrate the Duchy on the night of April 20th. Now the Danubian government knew many of the aliases of the conspirators.

The plot relied on a large number of arms caches stored in several safe houses around Danube City and Rika Chorna. The majority of the mercenaries in the plot planned to travel first to Upper Danubia�s southern neighbor. They would pass through the country�s relatively unguarded southern border and then pick up their weapons at Danubian stash sites. The mercenaries would spend about two days setting up around the national capitols and several major provincial cities of both countries, coordinate with local armed groups, and wait for Dukov�s plane to crash as the signal to start operations.

Once they heard the plane had gone down, hit teams would immediately kill off military and political leaders in both countries, and then there would be a major land and air assault by heavily armed men to take over Danube City. Several Danubian collaborators would occupy the provinces with their own militias, freeing up most the foreigners for an invasion of the country�s southern neighbor. Dukov would be dead, and by then hit teams would have killed off most of the members of his government.

The plan was to have both countries secured by people friendly to the plotters within about three days. The Danubian phase of the coup would be the most difficult because apparently the number of trustworthy local collaborators was relatively small. Securing the politically unstable neighboring country would be less problematic, because there were plenty of armed gangs who opposed its government that had been recruited by the Mega-Town CEO�s.

Cindy did not want to discuss in detail how the Danubian National Police planned to counter the plot, but she did provide some general information.

Dukov still planned to send the delegation to Athens to attend the conference, but would not accompany them. His brother Victor Dukov, with his hair cut short and his face made up to look like the Prime Minister, would go instead. The only problem was that Victor did not speak English as well as Vladim, but they would have to get around that somehow. Meanwhile Vladim would secretly travel to meet with the Prime Minister of the neighboring country. The two governments would launch a series of coordinated arrests on the 21st, the day most of the mercenaries were planning to cross over into Upper Danubia. As many of them as possible would be arrested on the Danubian side of the border, taken back to Danube City, and locked up in the Central Police Station. As soon as the arrests started, there would be raids against arms caches and safe houses in both countries.

An important part of Dukov�s plan was seizing the bomb in Athens before it made it on the plane. Because the Prime Minister was unsure which officials in Athens he could trust, members of the Danubian Secret Police would travel to Athens and try to locate the baggage-handler themselves. Once he and the bomb were identified, the Danubian embassy in Athens would notify the Greek government and it would be up to the Greeks to intercept it. Anyhow, to be on the safe side, the Danubian delegation planned to miss their flight on the 23rd. They would go to the airport, check in, wait in the boarding area, but not get on the plane.

Following the 23rd would be the most difficult part of the operation, arresting the local conspirators in both countries who had coordinated with the Mega-Town executives against their own governments. Arresting foreigners was relatively easy, but it would be much more difficult to arrest local citizens, especially ones with any influence. Still, by the 23rd, hopefully the coup plot would be disrupted enough that it would not take place.

�Now it�s just a matter of waiting, and that�s gonna be the hard part.�

Cynthia continued with another concern.

�Jason, the Prime Minister is very worried about your safety. No matter what happens next week, the people launching this thing are going to be asking a lot of questions about what went wrong. You�ve already seen what they�re capable of, and don�t think that they won�t come after you if they figure out that it was you who got us the information. I can tell you there is a lot of money riding on this coup project, millions of dollars. I mean, to hire all those mercenaries, pay off a bunch of locals, buy and ship all those weapons�that�s a lot of expense, and some big wigs here in America are really rolling the dice on this. So, you can�t be talking about it to anyone. Not anyone. You don�t know anything about it. And that goes for you too, Cecilia. No research, no term papers, nothing about Upper Danubia. Ever. I know it�s gonna mess you up academically, but I think your life is more important.�

�What about you?�

�I�m finishing the semester and then I�m leaving. I have to go back to Danube City and stay there, because I was dumb enough to fly under my real name. My trip�s now in a bunch of records, and sooner or later someone�s gonna make the connection. So, I�m heading out in May, and I don�t know when I�m coming back, if ever.�

There was a sad resignation in Cindy�s voice that frightened both Jason and Cecilia. She didn�t say it with words, but her message was clear. My life in the U.S. is finished. I am going to have to start all over, from nothing, in Danube City. That�s my sacrifice, and it�s just the way it�s gonna have to be.

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The next two weeks passed uneventfully, as Jason tried to stay caught up in his studies and Cecilia dealt with both Burnside�s demands and the looming crisis in the dorm over finals week and a floor full of nervous students. The weather got warmer and spring fever hit many of the residents, much to Cecilia�s chagrin. She found herself continuously trying to calm down rowdy freshmen and began waging a personal campaign against loud music on her floor. There were drinking problems, overflowing toilets, petty vandalism incidents, and disputes between stressed out roommates. Cecilia sighed with despair as she ran around her floor, her radio crackling aggressively, as she tried to deal with one idiotic situation after another.

On April 19, Jason decided to do something dumb and immature with Ken. He suspected that it might be the very last time in his life he could act his age, because he figured there was a very strong possibility that the serious side of life shortly would intrude on him and change him forever. He felt the urge to mark the change with one last irresponsible action. He and Ken decided to go streaking, in a repeat of their ill-fated adventure in the fall.

Before going out, Jason flatly told Cecilia what he was planning to do. Oddly enough, she understood, and while not exactly approving, at least let him know she wouldn�t try to stop him. She only had one comment:

�If you gotta do that shit, I guess I kinda understand. Just promise me you�ll stay out of the Student Center. Please don�t go into any buildings.�

He kissed Cecilia and went downstairs with Ken and Lisa. As before, Lisa would stand guard at the door, holding the shorts of the two freshmen.

The two young men stripped to their shoes and took off, running down the same dark path they had run during the fall. With the humid spring air gently blowing against their bodies, they circled to the library courtyard and heard the cheers and whistles of the handful of students milling about during those late hours. They continued along the dark trail to the Student Center, but did not go in. If that female security guard were in there, well, tonight there would be no risk of any encounters, because the run was more for fun, not because of any dare. As best they could, Jason and Ken would try to play it safe and not risk getting caught by Campus Security. They simply circled the Student Center and returned to the trail. There were more whistles and clapping as they crossed the library courtyard again, but this time the two freshmen continued uneventfully on their way back to Huntington Hall. Less than 40 minutes after leaving, they had safely returned to the back door.

While Lisa waited, Cecilia had joined her with a camera. She took several pictures of Ken and Jason before allowing them to get dressed and Lisa to let them back in. This time she was not mad, nor even pretended to be. She understood the real world was about to close in on her boyfriend and that he needed one last night of acting stupid. He hadn�t been caught, was now safely back in Huntington Hall with his shorts on, and on his way to take a shower.

Once Jason got out of the shower, Cecilia escorted him back to her room. Both of them knew she owed him some quality time with the leather paddle. He meekly undressed and placed his hands on her dresser while she massaged his bottom and lectured him about what a bad boy he was for running around the university with no clothes on. Only bad boys who deserve good hard spankings on the bare bottom would do such a terrible thing. So, Jason, are you a bad boy?

With that she began spanking him, not too hard but with enough force to put a nice warm sting in his backside. She watched as he became harder and harder, gently rubbing his warming bottom and massaging his penis between swats. However, even bad boys need love, and before long she was lying on the bed, groaning with delight as he entered her and thrust vigorously. Yes, she did indeed know what her bad boy needed�

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Twenty-four hours later Jason did a search on a popular Internet news website for the term �Danubia�. Immediately he got his answer:

Danubian Prime Minister declares State of Emergency as border arrests continue

Danube City - April 21: 7:05 a.m. Danubian Prime Minister Vladim Dukov appeared on television to declare a National State of Emergency, following the arrest of at least 218 foreign nationals along the country�s southern border. Along with the arrests, the Danubian Prime Minister claimed the seizure of three significant arms shipments and numerous caches of small weapons and ammunition distributed throughout the country.

Officers from the National Police remained mobilized and were guarding every major intersection throughout the capitol Danube City and the eastern provincial center Rika Chorna. Meanwhile, military reservists and citizen defense patrols manned checkpoints between other provincial capitols while police officers conducted raids against multiple targets. All traffic in and out of Upper Danubia remains suspended and flights at the King Vladik International Airport have been grounded until further notice.

The Danubian Prime Minister stated that all persons arrested so far were intercepted attempting to enter the territory of the country through various points along the southern border, and that many of them were armed. He added that more arrests were likely, but the focus of enforcement actions will shift to Danube City and Rika Chorna in the next few hours.

Correspondents working for Griffin Independent Media report that gun battles between officers of the Danubian National Police and unknown assailants erupted near the main railroad station and the governor�s palace in Rika Chorna at approximately 5:30 a.m. local time. However, the Danubian National Police later issued a statement that both buildings were re-taken earlier today and all assailants were killed or captured.

The Danubian Defense Minister also reported combat operations at a landing strip 40 kilometers south of Danube City, during which at least 44 soldiers and an unknown number of foreign gunmen were killed. Five aircraft at the landing strip were disabled by the Danubian military and seized. There are unconfirmed reports of the loss of an army helicopter and a fighter jet in the vicinity due to hostile fire.

In a related note, the National Parliament approved the Prime Minister�s request for an arrest warrant against David Jones, the Commercial Attach� at the United States Embassy in Danube City for �Espionage in Furtherance of an Act of War�, which, under Danubian law, is punishable by death. The United States Government vehemently denies the charge and has lodged an official note of protest at the Danubian Embassy in Washington DC. The whereabouts of Mr. Jones remain unclear at this time, although he is believed to be in the U.S. Embassy.

The U.S. State Department issued a statement denouncing the arrests and the �wild accusations� of Prime Minister Dukov against the United States and American interests in the country.

�Of particular concern to us is the detention of three high-ranking employees of Mega-Town Associates. The Administration unequivocally demands the immediate release of those three individuals.�

Jason downloaded the article and printed it. He then called Cecilia, who had news of her own.

�They got the bomb! I just heard about it on the news! The Greeks are holdin� a press conference about it right now!�

Jason quickly turned on his television. Sure enough, the cable news channel was running footage of a press conference in Athens, with several airline officials, uniformed members of the Danubian National Police, and Victor Dukov present. The Prime Minister�s brother seemed visibly outraged, while the Greeks were staring at the device with incredulous expressions. The cameras focused in on a rather powerful plastic bomb placed inside an open suitcase.

Jason thought the coverage of the entire affair was a bit odd. The U.S. news media seemed completely unconcerned about the drama unfolding in Danube City, but the moment there was mention of a bomb on a plane, that was headline news.

Cecilia came over to Jason�s room to sit with him and watch his TV. They cuddled in his bed as he flipped through various cable channels for re-runs of the press conference and dramatic footage of the ongoing arrests and arms seizures occurring throughout Eastern Europe. It was obvious the coup had failed, and failed quite spectacularly.

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The next day Jason�s grandmother called with the news that his father had �gone berserk� at the house and had kicked his wide-screen television to pieces. Cassie had fled the house and was at the condo, totally terrified at her father�s inexplicable display of temper.

�He was sitting there watching the news, and suddenly he went nuts. He smashed up the TV, and then the phone rang and he grabbed it and threw it against the wall. Then he just started kicking stuff and screaming �FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!� Cassie said to me: �I don�t get it�he was just watching the news�and then he went crazy�. Of course you and I do know why he went crazy��

Jason swallowed hard and tried to catch his breath.

�Grandma, you can�t tell Cassie about anything that�s happened with you and me, you know that, right?�

�You bet I know that. I�m not telling her anything. But anyhow, I�m glad it happened. Your father needed to get his comeuppance. Now maybe he can think about what�s really important, and��

�I don�t think so, Grandma. I don�t think it�s gonna happen like that. I�m kinda thinking he was in a lot deeper than we realize��

�What do you mean?�

�Grandma, think about it for a moment. Dad�s not a CEO from Mega-Town Associates. He�s a lobbyist. Why would they take him in as part of their group? I�m now thinking it�s because each of those guys put his own money into the operation, and the money�s why he was in on it. If that�s true, Dad may have gotten wiped out financially.�

Jason�s grandmother was silent on the other end. She realized that her grandson probably was right. Mr. Schmidt was doing far more for the coup project than just writing press releases. He must have been one of the financial backers.

Jason thought about Cecilia�s comment last Thanksgiving about �dirty money�. Well, this was about as dirty as money possibly could get. It couldn�t get much worse. Now, with the mercenaries in custody, their weapons piled in the basement of Danube City�s Central Police Station, and information just beginning to come out in the press about Mega-Town�s involvement in the project, the �dirty money�, including whatever his father had put in, was gone.

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There was only a week of classes after the 23rd and then a week of tests during the first week of May. Whatever consequences there might be from the coup, Cecilia figured they would not directly hit Jason�s family until sometime during the summer. She had a common sense approach to his dilemma: there wasn�t anything he could do for anyone for several weeks at least. What he needed was to concentrate on was passing his classes and doing as well as possible academically. Jason followed her advice and tried to focus on his classes. He needed to take care of the semester. When he got his grades then he could deal with the other problems in his life.

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During finals week Jason had lunch with Cynthia Lee to get an update over what was going on in Danube City that was not making the news. Cynthia, her sharp mind able to sort out what was important from what wasn�t, gave Jason a concise picture of the ongoing crisis, a systematic analysis he had not been getting from watching cable. Jason had been following the US portion of the news and its impact on Mega-Town Associates, so on that part he was able to compare notes with Cynthia.

On Wall Street and in Washington the failed coup attempt was morphing into a massive scandal that caught up several U.S. State Department employees, executives from Mega-Town Associates, arms dealers, and a couple of Danubian provincial politicians who were arrested in the Duchy as conspirators. Mega-Town Associates� reputation suffered a catastrophic blow and it�s stock price fell nearly 15% in just two days. Five Eastern European governments ordered the company out of their territories, which essentially shut down its chances of expanding into that region of the world.

As for the conspirators, they were finished professionally. The week following the coup attempt Mega-Town Associates held a chaotic emergency shareholder meeting over the fiasco, which resulted in the firing of all the executives involved in the project. The company elected a new board that immediately began a campaign of damage control that publicly excoriated the rogue operation.

Certainly what happened in Eastern Europe did not reflect the values or goals of the employees and shareholders of this fine company as a whole�

It was an exercise in absolute hypocrisy, but it assured that Mega-Town would lie low for a while and leave foreign governments alone until it repaired its public image.

Cynthia then moved on to what Jason knew less about, the situation in Danube City following the failure of the coup attempt.

A total of 153 National Police Officers, Army soldiers, helicopter pilots, military reservists, and citizen defense patrol volunteers were killed during combat operations, along with 78 mercenaries. Another 583 mercenaries and local conspirators were in custody, and that was just in Upper Danubia. Another 139 prisoners had been taken south of the Danubian border, and the Greek government was holding the people responsible for the bomb.

There was a surge of militant nationalism in the Duchy, which was to be expected after such a traumatic event. The first priorities on the minds of the Danubian public were the �fallen heroes of the Ancients�. The 153 Danubian fatalities were buried with honors on April 24th, the day after the coup itself was supposed to have been launched. They were buried together in a specially designated cemetery outside Danube City, each of them dressed in a black robe and holding a small mirror. That day the entire country was dressed in black robes in honor of the dead and the Temples were full of worshipers attending memorial services.

Following the state funerals, Vladim Dukov faced a complicated problem, how to handle the nearly 600 prisoners captured on April 21st and April 22nd. They remained chained in the basement of the Central Police Station in Danube City and the Governor�s Palace in Rika Chorna, while the Danubian government tried to figure out what to do with them. The problem was a complex one for the Prime Minister, because the prisoners pitted his own supporters against Upper Danubia�s international image.

The Danubian public was livid over the coup attempt and demanded the execution of everyone involved. Tens of thousands of outraged Danubians marched down the streets of Danube City waving hangman�s nooses. Politicians and news commentators were arguing for the mercenaries to be shot in groups in front of the U.S. Embassy in full view of the American diplomatic staff. Then the crowd should throw the corpses into the embassy compound as a protest against the U.S. government.

Dukov knew that no such thing as a mass execution was going to happen. He had to get rid of the mercenaries, but shooting them was not a viable option. Jailing them was not an option, because Upper Danubia did not have any prisons. To collar them and sentence them in the Danubian manner was not an option either, because the Danubian justice system was not set up to accommodate several hundred hardened foreigners. Dukov�s only real option was to somehow repatriate the majority of the foreign mercenaries to their home countries and hope they would be prosecuted abroad, but with the public mood the way it was, to do so would risk a popular revolt if he didn�t handle it right.

While Dukov was struggling to calm the tempers of his citizenry, he also had to answer the angry demands of foreign governments asking what was going to happen to their citizens currently languishing in the underground cells.

Dukov viewed the conflicting demands of the Danubian citizenry and the foreign governments as a possible opportunity to solve his problem. Being a skilled and shrewd negotiator, he had decided to play the Danubian public and the foreign governments against each other. He would extract concessions from other leaders in exchange for deporting the mercenaries, bring home real benefits to the country, and improve Upper Danubia�s international standing in Europe. The prisoners, instead of being a problem, would be used as bargaining chips in a very complex game of international Poker. He would argue he needed meaningful concessions, or else his Parliament would not allow him to deport the prisoners, which was very true.

While Dukov wanted to deport most of the prisoners, there were about 25 among them he planned to prosecute to the fullest extent of Danubian law. They included the three captured Mega-Town executives, several German and U.S. coup organizers, all of the field commanders, a Bulgarian arms dealer, the people who tried to plant the bomb in Athens, and last but not least, the U.S. Commercial Attach�, who was still holed-up in the U.S. Embassy.

By threatening some of the lower-ranking foreigners with prosecution, the Danubians quickly got the confessions and information the government needed to identify the leaders in court. The lower-level mercenaries had been shown TV images of the angry crowds marching outside with nooses, and after several days, many of them were scared enough to tell prosecutors whatever they needed to know about the coup operations as originally planned.

Dukov decided to allow the high-profile prisoners to hire their own lawyers and hold a foreign-style trial with real defense attorneys instead of assigning them Danubian Spokespersons. The reason for making that concession was that he wanted as much of the incident to become public knowledge as possible. He wanted the defendants to show themselves in court for what they were, allow them to turn on each other, and use the trials to humiliate Mega-Town Associates.

The strategy was risky, because foreign defense attorneys would try to cover up the truth about their clients. Also, it was becoming increasingly obvious that the coup had been thwarted because the Danubians had prior knowledge of the attack, and any worthwhile defense attorney would demand to know how the Danubian government could have known ahead of time that a coup was about to be launched.

The problem was how to handle that question: who tipped off the Danubians about the coup. Dukov couldn't tell the truth, because that would put Jason at risk. However, to claim the Danubian Secret Police somehow uncovered the plot would require police officers to commit perjury on the stand, which was a grave violation of Danubian values. Cynthia didn't know how the Danubians were going to resolve that problem, to obtain convictions that could not be challenged by foreign governments.

Jason gave her words some thought. Then he sat up straight and took a deep breath. He knew exactly what he needed to do. As the Danubians always said, it was a question of honor.

"Cynthia, the only solution is for me to go to Danube City and testify. You said it yourself; Dukov doesn't have any other options if he wants to nail those fuckers. I'm gonna have to testify."

"There's no way, Jason, no way. You'd be dead within a week of getting back. Even now there's some really pissed off people running around trying to figure out who screwed up their plans, and..."

"It doesn't matter. They're gonna find out anyway, sooner or later. Before they kill me, I want to tell my story. I want to stand up in court and say 'yes, I'm the son-of-a-bitch who messed up your precious plans.' I want the world, and I especially my father, to know what I did. I'm not ashamed of it at all, so why should I hide?"

"I think you're wrong. They don't have to find out it was you..."

"I want them to know. I want to look at those defendants and tell 'em it was me. When you go to Danube City, I want to go with you."

"But...you'd be ruining your life...your college..."

"That's over anyway. I think my dad just got wiped out financially, and anyhow, even if he didn�t, I'm sick of taking his money. I don't want to go to college on his money anymore. I'll do it some other way. I want to stand up and do things on my own, and if I have to, I'll fail on my own."

"But..."

"Look. You need that information. Once I give it up, I really won't be worth killing, 'cause I won't have anything to hide anymore. It'll come out in the trial, and then, that's it. I will have said what I need to say."

Cynthia took a deep breath. Unfortunately Jason was the one who truly understood his situation. Sooner or later someone would find out he was the one who got the information to the Danubian government and he would die, probably a horrible death. If he traveled to Upper Danubia, perhaps the Danubian government could protect him.

"Maybe you're right. I suppose you really would be better off testifying and just be done with it. But if you do come with me, there's gonna have to be a condition. I'm gonna need you to stay in Danube City for a while. I think you'd be safer there than anywhere else. Maybe you could learn Danubian and study at the National University."

"But I don't have any money."

Cynthia gave him an incredulous look.

"I think the Duchy can afford a scholarship. I also think that anyone in their government would open up their house to you and consider it an honor to have you sit at their table. You're the only reason they're not all dead right now."

There was a long pause, while Jason thought of another detail in his life, the one person he could not live without.

"There's something else, that's very important to me."

"What's that?"

"Cecilia. I can't leave her. She'd have to go too."

"That goes without saying. She'll have to go, because she'll be in just as much danger as you."

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Later that afternoon Jason broke the news to Cecilia. She agreed that he really had no choice but to travel to Danube City and testify, and really no choice other than to stay there and hope the Danubian government could protect him. She also knew she had no choice other than to go with him. He needed her, as he had needed her over the past year, to encourage and inspire him. He needed her support, he needed her body, and he needed her presence. She would have to go.

On the last day of final exams, Cecilia told Ruth Burnside about her decision. She explained in detail about Jason�s role in preventing the coup plot and that he had one final contribution he needed to make, providing his testimony to ensure the plotters could be convicted. She explained that Jason�s life was in danger, and the only hope he had of surviving the summer would be to stay in Upper Danubia. To that Burnside responded:

�Well, you know that we�re setting up an exchange program with the National University in Danube City. We won�t be sending students until next year, but the program�s going to need a counselor. We�ll need someone to be the first student on the ground, a U.S. citizen who can deal with the quirks of the Danubians and help people get settled in. I had been wondering who we were going to send, but I think the candidate just chose herself.�

�You mean�me?�

�Why not? You�ve proved yourself as an RA. I just got a phone call from the director of Huntington Hall. He told me you were the best RA he�s had, ever. Since you�re going to be stuck in Danube City anyway, we�ll just send you as our first student. Our trailblazer, so to speak. Get yourself settled in�you�ll have a year to do it, and then you can put your old RA skills to use when we send our first batch of exchange students next summer.�

Cecilia�s heart jumped at Burnside�s proposal. So it really was her destiny to follow Jason and continue to be the mainstay of his life. Even Burnside knew that. They would be leaving together and they would stay in Danube City, however long that needed to be, together.

However, another thought crossed her mind, a strange one, considering all that had happened to her over the past year. She felt pushed to share it with her professor.

�You know, Dr. Burnside, in spite of everything, I�m gonna miss you.�

�I�ll miss you too. A lot, maybe more than you think. We�ve had our rough spots, but it�s not going to be the same without you around the office.�

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Cecilia and Jason both had to say goodbye to the people in their lives. Cecilia got together with Suzanne just two days before it was time for her to leave. She wasn�t one to talk about what had happened to Jason to most people, but she did feel she could share some of the details with her photographer friend. Suzanne was very sorry to see Cecilia departing from her life, but she knew that it had to be that way. Upper Danubia needed Jason, and Jason needed her. The path of her life had been determined, and she would have to follow it. Before they gave each other their final hug, Suzanne took one last picture of Cecilia. It was a simple portrait taken of her sitting at the university coffee shop, but once she developed the picture, Suzanne would consider the image one of her best.

There was the need to say goodbye to Lisa and Ken, but both Jason and Cecilia knew that it would be better not to burden them with the serious situation of the upcoming trial in Danube City. Instead they listened to Ken talking about his upcoming pledge obligations with the Tri-Alphas, and Lisa talking about her recent decision to join the fraternity�s sister sorority. They would spend the summer doing odd things for upper classmen and getting their butts paddled, and then in the fall Ken probably would be doing a repeat performance as a pledge leader. It would be a while before life would close in on them, but Jason was glad about that. They could still have some fun and just be ordinary students for a few more years. Jason hoped Ken and Lisa could stay together as a couple, but wasn�t sure whether that would happen.

There was one final goodbye, and that was Jason�s grandmother. Her friend drove her all the way from Wisconsin to Chicago, in part so she could take some of the things he would not be able to ship to Danube City. She would store the items to give back to him at some point in the future. She talked about her hopes for him and Cecilia. As for Mr. Schmidt, she had no news about him whatsoever. Cassie had gone back to the house, but had told her that she had not seen much of either of her parents since her father�s temper tantrum in the den back in April. Not that she wanted to see him. She was perfectly content having the house to herself.

Jason�s grandmother was proud of her grandson, even though he had been forced to turn his back on everything he had grown up with. He would leave and then return in a few years, irrecoverably changed. While he was absent the crisis about to strike down his parents would come and go, and later he would be called upon to salvage what was left of his family. Life had great things in store for Jason, even if he did not realize it yet.

Jim Halsey was the person who took the three students to the airport. He stayed with them until they made it past the security screeners, his eyes watchful to make sure no one had followed them into the terminal. A short time later Cynthia Lee, Jason Schmidt, and Cecilia Sanchez were on their way to Frankfurt, where they would change planes and make the final short flight to Danube City.

The Freshman - Chapter 30