Kgosi was in one of the many briefing rooms that branched off from the central corridor with Jennifer Brock.
‘Ms Brock,’ Vasco said as he entered. ‘My name is—’
‘Captain Adrian Vasco, I know. We all got the recording from the GHVI.’
‘Right,’ Vasco said.
Brock must have been in her mid-thirties, with skin the same coffee colour as Vasco’s and jet black hair tied up in a ponytail. She wore an impeccable cream-coloured blazer and skirt, and a terminal on her wrist disguised as a lapis lazuli bangle.
‘You are the Chief of Staff here in the Governorate?’ Vasco asked.
‘Yes,’ Brock replied tersely.
‘Has Corporal Kgosi explained to you the situation?’
‘He has,’ she replied, looking over to the man standing in the corner of the room. Her manner was calm and professional, everything Yashego hadn’t been. Any anxiety she was feeling—and with the mob outside, she would have had to have been inhuman not to feel some trepidation—was being contained by light stim usage. He could tell from the slight dilation in her pupils, and because his IHD had detected it and told him so.
‘He explained to you that we have a mandate from United Nations Joint Intelligence Command and a warrant of executive authority from the UN President to take any and all measures to safeguard you?’
‘He did. In fact he has transmitted me a copy of the warrant.’
‘Do you understand what it means?’
‘Yes.’
‘You understand that you’re currently marked for death on the Ascendancy Roster?’
Here she faltered slightly. ‘Yes.’
Vasco nodded. ‘Ms Brock, I am going to remove you from Ariadne and take you to a safe, but classified location within the United Nations. You do not have a choice in this matter. Do you understand?’
Brock nodded, but her features hardened slightly. He could see the skin of her knuckles tightening. ‘I understand, Captain. I would like the record to state that I am not happy about it.’
‘Duty noted,’ Vasco replied.
‘However, since you are not giving me a choice, I intend to co-operate,’ she added stiffly.
‘Well, we all appreciate that,’ Vasco said.
‘Quite,’ she said. She took a breath. ‘I should also add that I am recording everything on full sensory. Any missteps and your commanding officers will hear about it.’
Vasco had to stop himself from smiling. He knew, of course, that she was recording him; such scans were trivially easy to detect. What she didn’t—couldn’t—know, of course, was that he was doing the same thing.
‘That’s fine.’ He turned to Kgosi. ‘Take her upstairs,’ he said quietly.