Profiteer

He looked over his shoulder at Godwin. The overlarge red-yellow orb of Kropotkin was setting. It was time to talk to Webster.

 

He checked to make sure that the outer door was locked and took out his secure holo. He put it on the desk, let it check his DNA, and typed in the seed.

 

Soon, Webster’s voice came from the blue spherical test pattern. “Hello, Colonel.”

 

“Any news?”

 

“The score stands at Bakuninite gunrunners, one thousand three hundred eighty-seven. Confederacy, zero.”

 

“No one’s unearthed any more GA&A personnel?”

 

“Funny thing about people, Colonel. You start shooting at them, they hide.” Klaus didn’t like Webster’s sarcastic tone. However, Webster was the only operative he had who was free of Executive interference.

 

“You can’t hide that many people.”

 

“Colonel, this is a planet you’re talking about. Godwin itself has a population of ten million, and your targets could have disappeared anywhere between Troy and Proudhon by now. If they made Proudhon, they could be off-planet.”

 

Klaus pounded the side of the chair with his fist. He didn’t like needing people like Webster. “They have to be together, somewhere. Somewhere close.”

 

Eight hundred people couldn’t just vanish into the woods in less than three hours.

 

“The only people who would know would be Dominic’s people.” Webster sounded strange, as though he wasn’t telling Klaus everything. Klaus hated that.

 

“Any news about Dominic?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“He’s holed up with his people?”

 

“No. He’s been spreading stories about searching for Dolbrian artifacts in the mountains.” Webster sounded as though he found that amusing.

 

“Huh?”

 

“That’s the information I have. A cover for something.”

 

Ican see that, Klaus thought. “No current location?”

 

“It might be a good idea to prep for something against GA&A.”

 

Dominic would be a fool to try to retake GA&A. “I’ll take that under advisement.”

 

“Cheer up, I do have some good news.”

 

“What?”

 

“Remember that ‘traitorous bitch,’ as I believe you called her? Kathy Shane?”

 

Klaus leaned toward the holo, suddenly interested. “Yes?”

 

“I have some information on where she’s going to be....”

 

<>

 

* * * *

 

CHAPTER TWENTY

 

Executive Action

 

 

“Bravery comes when there are no other options.”

—The Cynic’s Book of Wisdom

 

“It is the policy of this government to fire when fired upon.”

—Damion Castle

(1996-2065)

 

 

Tetsami was concentrating on maneuvering through the chaotic Godwin traffic, so she missed it the first time Shane asked.

 

“What?” Tetsami asked as she turned the van on to one of the elevated roads into Central Godwin.

 

“Does that tunnel really go right under the GA&A complex?”

 

“Yep.”

 

The traffic on the overpass was a little better mannered. Commuting execs mostly, even though it was pretty close to midnight. One thing Godwin didn’t do was keep regular hours.

 

“A glaring hole in security,” Zanzibar said, with enough annoyance that one might think she was still in charge of security for the complex.

 

Tetsami shrugged. Security’s loss was their gain. “It wasn’t there when the complex was built. The project went bankrupt, I hear, because of angry people who didn’t like their foundations undermined. They laid siege to the backers until they agreed to pay them off.”

 

Shane looked at Tetsami as though she’d said something unusual. “You don’t mean they sued, do you?”

 

Tetsami burst out laughing, and even Zanzibar seemed to crack a smile.

 

Shane shook her head and looked out at the high-rises that were sliding by the van. “Do you know anything about this ‘Paralian ship expert’ your friend is introducing us to?”

 

“No,” Tetsami said. “We kept our communication as short as possible.” With barely concealed irritation she added, “Dom said this ‘Flower’ guy checks.”

 

Of course Dom had waited until they were leaving to volunteer that information. He’d said it in an aside, as if it wasn’t really that important that he was double-checking everything himself, in secret.

 

So, Dom? Do I check? The bastard probably had a file on her. The bastard probably had a file on everybody.

 

They were coming up on a major intersection, and Tetsami began slowing the contragrav van. In front of them, beyond the cross-street, another Godwin monolith was going up. Right now it was just a metal skeleton bracketed by four gigantic robot cranes, their arms reaching over the street and the neighboring—shorter— buildings.

 

As Tetsami slowed the van, Shane said, “Flower—” From the sound, Shane had a low opinion of any expert on Paralian ship design that could be found on Bakunin.

 

“Just because—” Tetsami began.

 

“Down!” Shane yelled suddenly, folding into her own footwell. She barely got out the word, “Sniper!” when a line of razor-straight polychromatic brilliance sliced through the body of the van.