Dan rubbed his eyes in a vain attempt to rid them of the afterimage the laser had burned into them. Quintus knelt beside his son. "Are you hurt, Dan? God, there's blood on your face!"
Dan pulled his hands away and saw blood on his right hand. He turned toward his father and took heart as the concern quickly bled from Quintus's expression. "Just a small cut, Dan, over your right eye. Won't even scar."
Dan nodded. "Probably flying glass."
Quintus glanced over at the toppled chairs. "You saved my life, Dan." He dug a handkerchief from his pants pocket. "That's as close as I ever hope to be again."
Dan accepted the handkerchief and pressed it to his forehead. Leaning heavily against the wall, he slid himself to his feet. He crossed to the corpse and kicked the boxy submachine gun free of the assassin's nerveless grasp. "Dark hair, darkish skin." He glanced up at his father. "Looks as though he's from a Hindi or Azami enclave—they never did mix much with others. Subhash Indrahar has a Hindi background and the Azami live in the Draconis Combine. Do you think this could be a Kurita Internal Security Force operation?"
Quintus knelt next to the body. "No. If the Combine wanted me dead, they would have used some of the Nekekami."
Dan nodded. "The Spirit Cats. I've heard it said they're as invisible as the wind and apprentices to Death itself."
Quintus grimaced. "You're right about them. This guy, however, is probably Hindi." The Count glanced down at the man's boots. "Wet, with sand in the treads. He came in from the sea."
Dan nodded. "That explains the red line around his eyes. It's from his diving mask. He probably left his gear down by the ocean, then slipped into this black jumpsuit."
Quintus pointed to the hole burned through at the man's ribs. "Had to be a laser rifle. Clean shot."
Dan nodded slowly. "From the angle, the shot must have gotten both lungs and heart. No blood, though. The beam cauterized everything."
Suddenly the bungalow's front door burst inward. Dan dropped to a crouch as two individuals in Jump Infantry body armor swept in, covering the room with the muzzles of their autorifles. Their full helmets and mirrored faceplates totally obscured their identities, but Dan easily recognized the golden star crest emblazoned on their chestplates.
"Clear," clicked the computer-adjusted voice of one. He and his partner snapped to attention as Precentor Tharkad stepped into the room. "Minister Allard . . . Captain . . . are you hurt?"
Quintus shook his head and Dan shrugged. "A scratch," he said.
The Precentor nodded distractedly as he viewed the body. "Shot at you through the skylight?"
Quintus nodded. "Dan pulled me from the chair as the attack started. We rolled into the hall and avoided the first burst."
Precentor Tharkad forced a light smile. "How fortunate." He glanced at Dan. "Excellent shooting, Captain."
Dan shook his head. "Wish I could take credit for it, Precentor. The shot came from outside."
The Precentor narrowed his eyes for half a second, then he let a big smile begin to play over his features. "Well, I'm glad no one was seriously hurt. If you would allow us some time here for a couple of hours, I assure you we can put everything right again."
Dan hesitated. Someone's wandering around on this island with a laser rifle and you 're worried about our accommodations! His anger gathered like a storm over his features, but Quintus laid a hand on Dan's arm.
"Come, Dan. Let us leave the good Precentor and his people to clean up this ... accident."
The Precentor nodded, smiling kindly. "I knew you would understand, Minister. We would not want to spoil the wedding by alarming anyone needlessly. It will be dealt with discreetly."
Quintus smiled as he and his son passed between the ROM guards toward the door. "Oh, Precentor."
"Yes, Minister?"
"The Peace of Blake be with you ..."
34
ComStar First Circuit Compound
Hilton Head Island, North America, Terra
19 August 3028
Justin Xiang pounded thunderously on the plasteel door to the suite shared by Romano Liao and Tsen Shang. Tsen swung the door open quickly, but his welcoming smile died instantly as Justin pushed his way past into the suite's parlor.
Justin turned back to face him, rage contorting his face and blazing through his eyes. "Where the hell is she?"
Shang stared at him. "What is this about?" He reached for Justin with his right hand, but Justin savagely parried with his metal hand.
"No, Tsen. This is between that scheming bitch and me." Before Tsen could oppose or restrain him, Justin had spun about and marched across the handsomely appointed room toward the far door. With a savage kick, he knocked down the door, then he hung in the darkened doorway like a madman, with one hand on each side of the portal.
Two candles burned on the outside panels of a three-way mirror. Her silken robe puddled at her feet, Romano Liao stood admiring the triple reflections of her naked form. Light from the open doorway washed over her, but Justin's hunched shadow clung to her back like an inky stain.
Contempt glowed in her green eyes as she stared at Justin's silhouetted form. Justin detected not a shiver, not even the shadow of a tremor to betray the outrage she must feel at his intrusion. Lifting her chin so that her eyes became half-hooded, she murmured, "I assume, Citizen Xiang, that you have a reason for this . . . visit."
"Oh yes, Lady Romano, a most urgent reason." Justin's voice came low and controlled despite his fury. Shaking his head in disbelief, he met her gaze with a fierce directness. "How could you have been so utterly stupid?"
Her eyes narrowed at his accusation, but she restrained an outburst. Brushing her red-brown hair back from her shoulders, she turned slowly to tease him with the sight of her naked body. As she moved to the side, Justin's shadow no longer shrouded her in darkness. Smiling coyly, she dropped her voice to a seductive whisper. "Am I not more desirable than Candace?"
"This is no time for your games, woman!" Justin's left hand tore free a long section of the doorway's wooden trim. As he stepped into the room, his shadow covered her again. "You senseless idiot! Do you have any idea what you risked? Little matter if it worked—which it didn't—the advantages you sought were phantoms!"
Justin's left hand came forward as he threw the chunk of wood at Romano. She flinched, ducking beneath it. The missile sailed past, shattering the mirror's central panel into a cloud of glittering crystals.
Furious, she snarled at Justin. "How dare you call me an idiot, you halfling whelp! You lack the fortitude to carry out the actions that must be taken! Don't fault me for your lack of courage."
Justin closed on her within the space of a heartbeat and lashed out viciously with his right hand. The backhanded slap smashed against the side of her face, sending her reeling off to his right. She crashed onto her bed, arms and legs splayed akimbo, and lay there staring up at Justin in terror. She pressed her hand to the hot red welt on her cheek.
A feral grin peeled Justin's lips back from his white teeth. "Yes, Lady Romano. I dared strike you. How fitting it is for you to lie there naked, for you are nothing more than a babe—hardly as innocent, but just as naive." Justin shook his head heavily. "And just as unquestionably self-centered."
Another shadow, this one long and lean, stretched into the room. "What is the meaning of this, Xiang?"
Justin half-turned toward the doorway, thrusting a finger back at Romano. "The meaning of this, Highness, is to teach your daughter a lesson in restraint. This halfwit arranged for an assassin to make an attempt on Quintus Allard, here, tonight, not but an hour ago!"
The revelation shook Maximilian Liao. Justin smiled and turned back to Romano, who mewled in terror at the angry shiver that rippled through her father's silhouette. "Yes, Romano, this little game of doing the things you believe your father would wish ordered has done more harm than good. You alone saw the wisdom of killing Davion's Intelligence Minister. Did you strike at him because he capitalized on your mistake of ordering the atta
ck on Kittery last year, or did you have some other brilliant plan in mind?"
Romano swung her legs together and sat up. "Killing Quintus Allard would deal a crippling blow to the Federated Suns."
Justin nodded emphatically. "Yes, perhaps it would, but not here. Not now. Don't you see what you risked?"
Romano's chin came up defiantly. "I risked one individual, a pawn, nothing more. He was insignificant compared to the gain."
Justin glanced back at where the Chancellor leaned heavily on the door jamb. "But the loss, my Lady, the loss could yet mean the end of House Liao."
Romano frowned. "How? What loss?"
Are you truly that stupid, or are you utterly mad? Justin laughed cruelly. "ComStar guaranteed the safety of everyone here, Romano. They vowed no harm would come to any guest. Our security is in their hands."
Romano bristled. "They would never dare harm us!"
"Maybe not," Justin growled. "But they would issue an Edict against anyone violating their precious peace. Yes, my Lady, you have risked placing House Liao placed under a total Interdiction!"
Justin watched as Romano's irrepressible belief in her own superiority struggled to deny the horror of a ComStar Interdiction. No messages in or out through ComStar channels. Aside from a relay system that could take months to travel from one end of the Confederation to the other, we would have no way to send messages between worlds. Without ComStar and their HyperPulse Generators to send messages, we could not order our troops. The only word we might get of Davion or Marik advances upon our borders would come from the mouths of fleeing refugees.
Justin nodded as though he were reading her mind. "Yes, Lady Romano. Hanse Davion could gobble up our worlds and we'd have no way to allocate reinforcements. Our agents, who use ComStar to send us confidential dispatches, could no longer communicate with us. If ComStar places us under Interdiction, the only thing we could do would be to make wagers on which House would capture Sian first."
Justin advanced and roughly took Romano's chin in his right hand. He forced her to lift her head and stare into his eyes. "And one more thing, my Lady, something I never want you to forget. The man you tried to have killed tonight is my father. He may be a thorn in our side, but it is not yet time for him to die."
Romano tried to twist her head from Justin's grasp, but he held on firmly. "I want to humiliate him as deeply as he humiliated me. I want him to know his efforts have been thwarted by the son he betrayed. When I think he's been frustrated, when I think he's been humiliated, when I think his spirit has been broken—that will be the time for him to die—not a second sooner."
Justin thrust Romano back down on the bed. "And when that time comes, I will kill him. He is my father. That is my right!" He stood over her menacingly. "Don't get in my way, Romano."
Justin turned on his heel, stepping past Maximilian Liao, and strode back into the suite's parlor. Tsen Shang stared at him, stunned, then started toward the bedroom's doorway.
"No, Tsen. Not yet," Justin said. "Come with me now. Let her live with her blunder while we try to make it right."
Shang hesitated, but Justin snapped a harsh command, forcing compliance. "Now, Shang! Now!" With leaden feet, the Maskirovka analyst followed Justin from the large quadruplex building reserved for the Liao guests.
Halfway to the beach, Justin turned to the tall, slender Shang and stabbed a finger at the man's chest. "You get this one chance, Tsen, to tell me that you knew nothing, had not even a hint of this ridiculous assassination attempt. . ."
Tsen drew back like a cobra preparing to strike. "And if I do not choose to answer your accusation . . ."
Justin was furious. "This is no time for games of face and honor, Shang. What she did could damn us all. If ComStar denies us service, we'll be more helpless than a blind, deaf man in a room full of cutthroats." Justin rubbed his eyes. "Do I have to draw the big picture for you? Our job is to preserve the Capellan Confederation. Even as we speak, the forces of House Davion are gathering for another series of Galahad military exercises. If ComStar cuts us off, I can guarantee you that Davion will strike—and strike hard."
With much of his anger spent, Justin sighed. "I need to hear from your lips what my heart and head tell me is true. I need to hear you deny any knowledge of this plot."
Tsen Shang nodded slowly. "Had I known of it, Justin, I would have told you."
A weak smile tugged at the corners of Justin's mouth. It died, however, as the silhouette of a man ran down the path toward Tsen's back. Justin moved to the side and dropped into a low crouch. Tsen spun, brandishing the long nails on his left hand like razor-edged daggers.
Alexi Malenkov raised his hands as he slowed to join the other two members of the crisis team. "Thank God I found you two together, and away from the building . . ."
Justin frowned. "Where the hell have you been? And you smell like a distillery. How could you be drinking while you're supposed to be watching Ridzik?" Justin raised his face to the sky. "What have I done to deserve this plague of idiots?"
Alexi's face closed immediately. "I don't know what you're talking about, Citizen Xiang, but I'm not drunk. As it was, I had to share a bottle with a couple of men from the Davion contingent here. It was the only way to keep an eye on Ridzik without drawing suspicion to myself. Onerous duty, to be sure, but at least they had the sense to steal a bottle of good Scotch from the Archon's reception." Alexi allowed himself a guarded grin. "And an effort well worth the information gained by it."
Justin folded his arms across his chest. "We've neither the time nor the patience for guessing games. What's Ridzik doing? Selling out the Tikonov Commonality?"
Alexi flicked a cautionary glance toward Tsen's shadowed face, but Justin waved away his concern. "Speak freely, Alexi. What is said here will go no further, and I doubt it will either improve or worsen the present situation."
Alexi took a deep breath. "Colonel Pavel Ridzik had a tryst this evening with Elizabeth Jordan Liao."
Justin felt his stomach somersault. Has the whole court gone mad? He glanced over at Tsen Shang, ruefully noting that his expression had taken on a look of determination. No, Tsen. Don't go rogue on me now. Justin grabbed Tsen's arm. "Hold it, Tsen. We don't need to stir up more trouble."
Justin turned to Alexi. "Why do you think he's after the Chancellor's wife?"
Alexi shrugged uneasily. "Ridzik is a womanizer, so it could simply be a case of lust. Though I'll wager it's more than that. I think Ridzik wants to use Lady Liz to influence the Chancellor. Ridzik bristles publicly at the preferential treatment given to the Warrior House regiments. If the Chancellor drops his support of those units, the bulk of new supplies will go to Ridzik's troops."
Justin nodded. "Interesting. Tsen?"
Shang nodded stiffly, as though hearing only distant echoes of Malenkov's words. "The motivation runs true. Elizabeth Liao has lately been caught in the crossfire of Candace and Romano's battling. Romano has hinted that her stepmother has taken lovers before to spite the Chancellor, but Maximilian either knows nothing of the affairs or he simply does not care. His preoccupation with forging a new Star League makes him oblivious to many things."
Alexi nodded in agreement with Tsen's assessment. "Now what else has happened?"
Anger smoldered in Justin's eyes. "Romano used one of her Thugee assassins to try to kill my father this evening!"
"What!" Alexei stepped closer and looked hard at Justin. "Believe me, Justin. I had no idea. I continued to check on Romano's dealings with the cultists, as you asked, but I heard nothing about this..."
Tsen angrily turned to face Justin. "You've been checking on Romano Liao?"
Justin's face hardened. "I check on all threats to Liao security."
Tsen glowered at him. "I suppose that includes me."
Justin shook his head curtly. "Not yet. You're not a problem."
Muscles bunched at Tsen's jaws. "Why do I sense some sort of hidden agenda here, Justin? Do you work for House Liao, or just one member of it?"
>
Justin's eyes narrowed to thin black slits. "I work to preserve House Liao in spite of itself. Imagine, Tsen, what would happen if we were not here to act as control rods in an old fission reactor! ComStar would cut House Liao off. Maximilian would try to kill Ridzik, which, in the best case, would leave him minus his most competent military commander and, in the worst case, would start an outright revolt in the Tikonov Commonality. Romano would provoke a war between the Federated Suns and the St. Ives Commonality just to spite her sister, then she'd use her influence with the Chancellor to get him to attack the Free Worlds League again."
"You are correct to characterize it as a nuclear meltdown," Tsen said.
Justin's face darkened. "And you are correct in noting I have a hidden agenda. I need a healthy and strong Capellan Confederation so that I can exact my revenge upon Hanse Davion and my father. In the coming months, I will locate their hidden research base and use the fruits of their labors against them. I would hope my success would be House Liao's success as well. Until that time, I will do anything I can to hold this insane band of rulers together."
35
ComStar First Circuit Compound
Hilton Head Island, North America, Terra
20 August 3028
Unabated fury blazed in Myndo Waterly's blue eyes. "I cannot understand this, Primus. How can you call a near assassination of a Davion Minister a 'minor incident?' " Golden hair washed across the shoulders of her red robe as she shook her head in dismay. "By now, most of the guests have heard the tale. What action will you take against House Liao?"
Julian Tiepolo looked around at the First Circuit. "Why, Precentor Dieron, we will take no action against House Liao for this disturbance. It's true the assassin managed to slip between our ROM patrols, but we killed him before he could spill anyone's blood."
That ploy will not work, Primus. Myndo narrowed her eyes. "I was unaware we had issued laser rifles to our patrols. That would denote the existence of a Stage Three emergency in our Compound."