She didn’t truly understand the inner workings of Defense, or how they made decisions, or who had the ultimate say in the various services. She’d heard the first Ari’s advice. But it was limited, and dated. And current politics mattered inside that Bureau, but she didn’t have good ins into its workings.
Giraud had been upset when she’d gone after Khalid.
Maybe she had, in some way, brought this on. She’d certainly made an enemy that day.
Maybe. Nothing proved Khalid was more of an enemy than he’d ever been, just that Khalid, for some reason, was moving before he had full support inside his own Bureau—that argued he was in a hurry for some reason. Mainly Khalid hadn’t won the election. That would have given him a tougher position. And people still defied him. Corain had outright called on elements of Defense to defy him.
Right now, deFranco might be right. She hoped so.
God, she’d done everything she could think to do, and if she hyped up on stayawakes to try to keep thinking, she’d be increasingly crazier, especially after all the deepstudy she’d done on the AK-36 case. It was time to let bodily chemistry do what it had to do for a few hours. It was time to get some rest. If they were lucky, they had a few days before Khalid got really upset or really desperate.
There was Hicks, who’d dealt with Defense. She could let him loose, dust him off, reinstate him, give him a chance to be a hero, and hope that resentment didn’t make him a highly irrational personal enemy.
There was Yanni, whom she couldn’t reach. There was deFranco, whom she could. DeFranco—if she knew how to read deFranco—was a resource she could use freely; except it was one without a crosscheck: she either believed deFranco’s assessment wholesale or she didn’t. She could ask department heads like Wendy Peterson and John Edwards, and Ivanov, who’d at least been around as long as Yanni.
But people that really knew what had been going on with Defense, long-term—that was Hicks; and Kyle, who wasn’t on Reseune’s side at the moment.
And…there was Jordan Warrick.
She ought to go to bed. She ought to fall in and go to sleep and stay there pending the next alarm. But the brain was going to stay active.
And she had enough energy left to get up, leave the apartment, and walk across the hall—Catlin and Florian were both on errands, she didn’t even alert Theo or Jory, and it was one of a few times in her life she’d left where she lived without one or the other of them.
She knocked at Justin’s door. And Justin answered it.
“Ari.” Eyes flicked to the hall. The missing escort.
“I need Jordan,” she said. “I need to talk to him. I need what he knows. I need you to go with me. Khalid’s not attacking us yet, but the whole Council’s coming here on the twelfth, deFranco’s just come in for refuge, and there’s Kyle downstairs, who I’m afraid I’ll kill if I try to deal with him. I don’t even know if it will do any good, but it’s what we can do, while we’re sitting here being a target. I want to know what Jordan knows. I want his help with the case I handed both of you.”
Grant had showed up, at Justin’s shoulder.
Justin started to say something. And then seemed to change his mind. “Come in,” he said somberly. “I’ll get my coat.”
“You said he’s not speaking to you.”
“You’re likely to get the door opened. I want to be there to give him an alternate target. Where’s Florian and Catlin?”
“On an errand,” she said, and that had echoes, way, way back, to the day her predecessor had died. “I can get your Mark and Gerry to come. It’ll be all right. Your father’s not the danger. I think—I don’t know—possibly—possibly Kyle AK is supposed to come after me.”
“God.”
“It’s dead serious, Justin. That’s why I wanted you both on it.”
“And what I read says he’s able to kill, if you want the short summation.” He pulled his coat on. Grant did the same, and Grant took his pocket com and called the downstairs security office, by the sound of it. “Gerry BG,” he said, “Mark. Meet us downstairs.”
She’d been too tired to function. She’d planned to talk to Jordan in the morning. Maybe. If she could talk Justin into it. But now that Justin was in motion, she thought—just do it. Just do it the best way possible, and she went with them, down the hall, down the lift, thinking, How odd, just to walk with somebody, in a safe building. How odd, to trust two people that aren’t staff, that don’t have all safe connections—because Jordan really wasn’t safe.
She did take out her pocket com and call Theo. “If my security asks, I’m with Justin and Grant. I’m going downstairs and over to Wing One. It’s quiet, all’s well, no problems.”
She wasn’t totally surprised when, as they picked up Mark and Gerry, Jory showed up from the lift, out of breath, and added herself to the group; and before they’d reached the security desk at the exit, Florian showed up from the other direction, sweating a little, but perfectly composed.
Then she felt guilty, and touched Florian’s shoulder, and said, “It wasn’t going to be this long or this far.” He was as tired as she was. And it hadn’t been fair.
“Yes, sera,” he said, a little out of breath. And they went on through to Wing One, herself, Florian, Justin, Grant, Mark and Gerry, and Jory, all of them into the dim storm tunnel of Wing One, and into the lift, and up again.
“Let me,” Ari said, and went and pressed the button at Jordan’s door. “Ser. Jordan Warrick.”
There was some delay about it. Then the door opened. Paul was there.
“He says he’s going to take a shower, sera, I’m sorry. Justin—” Seeing Justin and Grant just behind her, and the security, he hesitated.
“He can wait about the shower,” Justin said. “Paul. Now.”
“Come in, sera,” Paul said, and she walked in and all of them walked in. It might not be the best thing to do. It likely wasn’t. But she wasn’t going to tell Florian to stay outside. Ari felt his presence right at her back. And Jory’s. Mark and Gerry were there, the whole lot of them.
They waited. Paul came back again, and this time Jordan walked out, in his bathrobe.
“So?” Jordan said.
“That file I sent you,” Ari said. “I know you’ve got an opinion.”
Jordan drew himself up and folded his arms, staring at her. “This isn’t the way I do consultation. Try tomorrow. Without them.”
“You read the file. You recognized it.”
“I recognize the type.” His voice was edged with anger. But restrained, and he shot a glance past her, full of fury. Then back. “What, did you think I wouldn’t?”
“That set’s older than I am by a bit.” She cast a nod over her shoulder. “Older than Justin is, or Grant. They’ve never worked with the military sets. But you have.”
“I studied the mess the War sent us back. We all did. As I’m sure you know, since you get into every damned thing you like.”
“If I had everything you know, I wouldn’t have to ask. You worked with the Defense sets.”
“As a student. You’re talking about ancient history.”
“You consulted with them. You talked with them. You wrote one very good paper.”
“Several.”
She thought about the next question. Florian and Jory were there, if anything untoward happened. Mark and Gerry were. She didn’t think Justin would side with Jordan if he went for her.
She said, “Did you know an azi named Kyle, who worked with Giraud?”
Brows lilted slightly. “Alpha. Is that who this file is about?”
“Yes. Did you think he’d been axed?”
A little delay. She wasn’t dealing with the son of a bitch Jordan, the opaque stare. Calculation was quick and sharp. “You’re saying he wasn’t. He’s still alive?”
“He was, according to records, a Fleet Alpha Supervisor. And no, the code didn’t take. After which he had access to Abban, among others Giraud had in his office. He was still working for Defense. Defense w
as talking to you about breaking with Reseune. Ari found out and pulled you home. Defense knew that my existence was a possibility—knew that from you and from Giraud’s office. Knew that Ari didn’t have that long anyway. You were there with a grudge that was provable. Perfect vector for suspicion. Giraud had been in Novgorod, talking with Defense. So had Abban. So had Kyle, just one of the aides.”
“Bloody hell. This is a fucking setup. Get out of here.” He waved an arm toward Justin. “Get him out of here. Get away from me!”
“No,” Paul said, from over by the bar counter. “No.”
“The hell” Jordan said, and turned and walked out of the room.
Paul still stood there, facing them, Paul immaculately dressed, very steady. “Sera,” he said, “Justin, Grant.” A little dip of the head, “Jordan and I need to talk. We are going to talk. If you’d please call him in the morning.”
There was something changed in that equation. She didn’t know what. But Justin said, “Good. —Ari, he will.”
Jordan came back around the doorjamb, stood there, arms folded.
“You’re not welcome here, boy. As for you—” He looked straight at Ari. “You think Kyle murdered Ari?”
“I’m fairly sure there’s a connection between him, Abban, and that event, yes. All that’s in the past. What we’ve got now is the possibility, the very real possibility of a military operation directed at Reseune, and people getting killed.”
“Notably you.”
“And a lot of innocent people who haven’t the least idea they’re in danger. You won’t be safe here if Defense launches something. You know far too much. Defense was perfectly content while you were shut up inside Planys. You never heard them complaining about your being yanked away from Novgorod and going home with Ari that session. You never heard them arguing that it was some political set-up when you got blamed for Ari’s murder. No. And Yanni didn’t send you to Fargone for exile for one very good reason: because you wouldn’t have lasted the week there.”
“You’re saying Kyle killed her.”
“Was behind Abban doing it. But Defense did it. Let you take the blame. And while Denys and Giraud were in charge, Defense was real easy for them to get along with, if nothing else, because they didn’t push the way Ari did. The same day I took on Denys, I hauled your ass out of Planys to keep anybody from Denys’ staff from doing you in; and I think that same day some faction inside the Defense Bureau got very, very upset that you’d arrived here at Reseune proper, and worse upset by the chance you might finally be talking to me. I don’t know what Yanni knows. I don’t know if he knows all of it, or just suspects and never could prove it. But I think he knew you were in danger back then, and he saved your life…if nothing else, he intervened more than once to put your son on a safer course and to keep him out of Denys’ path. So I don’t think he was ever against you—the same way he didn’t argue against my bringing you back here. So you’ve had friends all along. None of them are in Defense.”
He’d drawn up just a little. His face had gone white, just white. The anger was still there. But he might be thinking. Better yet, he might be listening.
“Nice theory,” he said.
“I wasn’t there,” she said. “I haven’t any way to know any of this. No record shows it. I just watch where the pieces moved, and who moved them. And I draw my conclusions.”
He made an impatient gesture. “You want my help? You want—what?”
“I want your help with Kyle, I want your help cracking the block that’s keeping him on the Defense rolls. My doing it’s probably going to kill him and get no information, because I haven’t had the experience. I need your help, ser. I need your expertise, and I need you to help me find out what else Defense has got inside our walls, before they get desperate enough to do something—like kill me, yes. About now, they’d like to see another Ari, who’ll get to grow up until she starts asking questions, and maybe die again. Always keeping the power together, keeping Reseune together, dying before she gets to be a threat, reborn just to keep the power together—and let Reseune stay under caretakers they can deal with. Well, I’m not ready to die, ser. I don’t intend to. But I don’t think that’s what Khalid’s playing for at the moment. His actions have been too high, too wide. He’s going for a Council that will give him martial law. Control over all of Cyteen. And us.”
“Where’s Yanni?”
“Still in Novgorod. Hicks is under arrest and we’re on shaky ground with ReseuneSec. The department heads are all mad at me because I’m insisting on security drills and upsetting their routine. Somebody murdered Patil, somebody murdered Thieu, they probably had you on their list to make sure that what you knew didn’t get out—but didn’t want to stir up the old murder case and get questions asked. They were doing just fine as things were—until you came back here. They lost the election and they murdered Spurlin before he could take office in Defense—never mind they hadn’t read the results yet, they had the polls. They could work math. And they moved. That’s a faction at work. Somebody blew up a tower upriver, and it wasn’t the Paxers. It was a diversion of our energies. Or a signal to somebody. Lao’s dead. Khalid’s trying to force martial law. He’s getting very frustrated by now, because Council can’t muster a special decrees quorum if it wanted to, and I don’t know at what hour he’s going to get tired of reporters down at our airport sending out bulletins about Councillors’ families taking shelter here, which is what’s happening. Pretty soon he’ll figure out he’s got to do something about the reporters, and me, and maybe you. I’m due down at the airport in a few hours to talk to them so Councillors in Novgorod know their families are safe, and more to the point, so Khalid can’t lie to his own Bureau about what’s going on here. But if we make a mistake here at Reseune, the whole of Union is in for Khalid in charge of the government, and that’s not going to be good, so, no, ser, Yanni isn’t here, I’m doing the best I can with not too many people left alive who know what’s going on or even what it’s about, and I need you to tell me what your deal was with Defense, because you’re the cause the Paxers have taken up, while they’re bombing subways, and because you’re the one the first Ari hauled home because you’d been dealing with Defense. And you’ll notice Defense moved fairly fast once you came home to Reseune.”
“My deal with Defense was to get me the hell out of Reseune.”
“They did that part of it,” Justin muttered, and drew a black scowl from Jordan.
Then that stare snapped back to her. “If Kyle was theirs, I never knew it. I absolutely never knew it.”
“Who were you dealing with in that Bureau? Was Khalid any part of that group?”
“You want me to come clean? Then I’ll tell you my conditions. My name cleared. Cleared. Freedom to leave. Freedom to write and say what I want—anything. And I’ll tell you about Khalid. Yes, I know Khalid. There are questions I’ve got, too, with this azi you’ve got, plenty of them.”
“We’ve got a few days,” she said, “maybe a few days to figure out how to get through to him. And I want both of you working on this.”
“The hell,” Jordan said. “He can stay out of it.”
“Jordan and I will talk about it,” Paul said quietly.
Curiously, then, Jordan glanced aside, didn’t look at any of them, shrugged, and walked back into the inner apartment.
“In the morning,” Paul said to them. “We’ll talk.”
Family, she thought. Family more complicated, in its way, than her dealings with Denys. But it was somehow functioning. She had the feeling something was moving. Maybe it was something Jordan had finally believed. Maybe there’d been some other change in the atmosphere. Paul. Paul had never said a word before. And now Paul had an opinion.
And Justin had asked about Paul’s manual. Hadn’t he? She’d been distracted. Now she knew what the latest fight was about.
She walked with Justin and Grant back to Alpha Wing and back to their mutual parting, all their security in attendance, and didn’t sa
y anything but, “Thank you, Justin. Thank you, Grant. Try to work with him. Please.”
“I intend to,” Justin said. “I fully intend to.” After which he and Grant went inside.
She went into her own place, with Jory, with Florian, and felt like asking for a vodka, but she still had to go down to the airport. She still had to talk to the reporters.
She went into her office. Only Florian went that far with her.
She turned then, and looked at him.
“Please don’t do that again,” he said.
“It wasn’t fair of me. I thought I was saving you having to run back here. I didn’t intend to go farther than Justin’s apartment. Then it seemed safe. I think it was.”
“It scared us.” Florian said. Very few things did, but she saw that that was very much the truth.
“The first Ari made that mistake,” she said. “I’ve asked too much, sent you this way and that, asked you and Catlin to do more than you ever ought to have to. I won’t send you apart from me again.”
“We’re not tired,” Florian said. He didn’t lie often. He didn’t do it particularly well, no more than Justin ever did.
“I love you,” she said, and hugged his shoulder, which was solid and sure as he was. She rested her head against it for a moment. He put his hand on her head, and stood there.
A long, long time. Until she grew tired of standing.
BOOK THREE Section 5 Chapter xix
AUGUST 24, 2424
1421H
“…we will continue to support the Council as elected by the people of Union, and we will continue to provide for family and relatives of the Council who have appealed to us for a safe haven, this in the wake of the murder of one elected Councillor and threats against families of living ones. Two Councillors are with us at Reseune.