The Lost Stars: Tarnished Knight

“Really?” Togo had seemed distinctly unthreatening at the meetings where Drakon had seen him, but then a real pro would maintain that sort of low profile. “Can he be bought?”

“I doubt it, but I can make some discreet inquiries through third parties.”

If Togo couldn’t be bought, and he was both deadly and important to Iceni, he would have to be dealt with too if Drakon was forced to move against her. “Is he anything you and Morgan couldn’t handle if it came to that?”

“I would be hesitant to take him on myself. Morgan could probably do the job, but it would be a challenge even for her. However, I strongly advise against such a move. Taking out Togo would be a declaration of war against President Iceni and might spur her to make some rash actions against whoever she thought was responsible.”

“Is there anything going on between them?”

“No, sir. Purely business, subordinate and CEO.”

“You know how much ground that can cover, Bran.” After the call ended, Drakon found his thoughts fixed on Iceni and Togo. What did it matter to him if she did use Togo to satisfy her physical needs? It happened all the time in CEO ranks. But he had never been comfortable with the idea, a stance that only seemed to lead to frustration since nearly every woman he met worked for him, and those who didn’t work for him could too easily be assassins working for someone else. It had been far too long, and that just made the pressures of his job a bit harder. Maybe that’s what’s bothering Iceni, too. Maybe it’s been a while for her. Too bad she and I couldn’t . . . Yeah, right. Two CEOs in bed together? Who decides who gets to be on top?

But even though he dismissed the idea, it kept lingering in the back of his mind until he gave up in disgust and got up to work out.

Before he left his office, though, Drakon paused, thinking. He made another call. “Colonel Malin, inform all ground forces unit commanders they are to stand down to alert status four effective immediately.”

He had sent her a clear peace offering. It would be interesting to see how Iceni responded.

* * *

“GENERAL Drakon, we have received authorization codes from President Iceni’s office allowing us to link to the mobile forces units in this star system. We can now monitor their readiness states.”

So, she had returned his gesture in kind. Both of them still had their weapons, but both of those weapons had been powered down. Drakon started to relax, but he tensed a bit again at Malin’s next words. “I also should inform you that Colonel Morgan has returned from her latest inspection and investigation,” Malin reported, his voice and face extremely neutral. “I believe that you can expect to see her in the very near future,” he added before ending the call.

Great. Now what has Morgan’s pants in a twist? Maybe she found another Colonel Dun situation, but if she did, why wait to tell me until she got back? That’s the sort of problem Morgan would want to address right away and with some form of lethal weapon. Sighing, Drakon waited for her to show up.

As Malin had predicted, he didn’t have to wait long.

Morgan didn’t quite slam open the door to his office, but that was because she knew better than to pull that sort of drama with Drakon. “How long had Rogero been working with the snakes?”

So that was what this was about. Even Morgan knew that she couldn’t go after Colonel Rogero, or Kai or Gaiene, without clearing it first. And apparently she had also learned that Drakon already knew all about Rogero’s situation. Only Malin could have told her that, and he had probably enjoyed watching her reaction.

Drakon leaned back, deliberately casual, as he answered. “Colonel Rogero had been working for the ISS for a few years.”

“And you didn’t tell me?” Morgan was seething, looking dangerous as well as angry.

“I figured you’d find out.”

“But you told Malin?”

“He figured it out, too,” Drakon replied, being careful not to add before you did. When that message had come for Rogero while the Alliance fleet was transiting through this star system, it had made it all but inevitable that both Morgan and Malin would eventually follow that thread to its source.

Morgan leaned forward, her hands resting on the front of his desk, still angry but also curious. “Why? Why is Rogero still alive? He’s been a source for the snakes. He could have ratted us all out before we took down the snakes.”