The Freshman
Copyright 2005 by EC

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 slightly 
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 associates 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.

----------

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.

-----------

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 singing contracts. Kim thinks 
they're 'sposed to serve some other purpose, and I'm wonderin' if 
maybe you're part of all that."

----------

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. 

----------

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…

----------

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: 6:05 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 commercial 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 fourteen 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 Attaché 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.

----------

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 just 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.

----------

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.

----------

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 53 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 53 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 Attaché, 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."

----------

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 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."

----------

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 quite proud of 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.