No Sorrow Like Separation (The Commander Book 5) (37 page)

Gilgamesh radiated Crow standoffishness to an unusual extent.  He was a well-dressed six-footer with wild dark hair untamable without a dab of Brylcream.  Which he hadn’t bothered with.  He had male model good looks, and what Zielinski considered an intelligent face.  “Glad to meet you, Dr. Henry Zielinski.  I’m charged with passing along greetings from Crow Occum and his Noble charges, who thank you again for your help and who continue to hold you in highest regard.”  Hmm.  Well spoken, with a soft but unpanicked Crow whisper.  Definitely intelligent.

“Thank you.  I hope, later, to steal a moment of your time.  I have some questions, if you’re agreeable.”

Gilgamesh nodded, not entirely happy.

“Oh, Doc, not business already,” Flo said.

“I believe the Good Doctor’s always doing business,” Sky said.  “When he’s not disguised as a truck driver or an engineer, of course.”

Sky’s comment led into another set of stories, all about him.  Hank found a quiet place to sit, right next to what appeared to be Keaton’s personal chair.  The Arm had tagged her personal chair, he guessed, and found a way to give the chair itself enough ‘mine’ vibes even he picked up on the tag and knew not to sit in it.

He sat and studied the crowd, keeping his big mouth shut.  He had expected Ann Chiron in a gathering like this, but no Ann.  There was obvious tension between the Focus and Sky, which he had expected.  There wasn’t any discernible tension between Sky and Gilgamesh, which surprised him.  Of course, as talented Major Transforms, they could easily be hiding it from him.  He certainly knew Sky could, when the mercurial Crow decided he wanted to.  He sensed other tension; Focus Ackermann was wary of both the Crows and Focus Rizzari’s face turned into an icy mask whenever she glanced at Gilgamesh.  If he hadn’t heard the story, he would think the Focus’s reaction was hatred; he knew this was just the Focus’s way to keep her tender emotions in check.

“Well, good news, midget.  She passed and she’s still alive.”  Keaton.  Bantering.  Somebody had made sure she was full up on juice for this meeting, hadn’t they?  Hank turned and spotted Keaton, Ann Chiron and Carol coming in from the kitchen, where stairs led down to the basement.  Ann wore Arm exercise gear, fully sweated out.  She appeared to be half-terrified and sported a shiner and some bruises.  The two Arms had done something to her.  Why?

Oh.  Inferno had demanded its own seat at the table, for today’s meeting.  Keaton made the Inferno demand into a test.  Typical Keaton.

Carol strode over to him and gave him the look.  She wanted him to vacate his chair.  He met her gaze and didn’t give in – he represented normal humanity and he had the right to sit at Keaton’s side.  She didn’t say a word, but he had an uncomfortable feeling he had just pushed her within a hair of too far.  She didn’t like any hint of challenge in front of Keaton.  Fortunately, Keaton was watching Sky with unsettling intensity and hadn’t spotted the brief interaction, so Carol let it go.  She pulled up another chair to sit on Keaton’s other side.

He had chosen Keaton’s left side.  Stupid he wasn’t.  It was one thing to argue with an order, it was another to occupy an Arm’s own place.  “Ann, how are you doing?”

She glowered.  “I’ll tell you the gory details
later
.”  Both Focuses laughed, but neither Carol, Keaton, or Sky did.  Keaton pulled her gaze from Sky to study the room.

Gilgamesh appeared on the couch to Carol’s right.  Zielinski hadn’t seen him move.  Interesting Crow, definitely interesting.

“Let’s get going,” Keaton said.  “Based on the information you’ve collected I’m okaying this little exercise.  Unless someone convinces me otherwise.  Who wants to start?”

Nobody spoke up.  “Okay.  Let’s start working on the details.”

Zielinski took a sip of water.  His presence here wasn’t really necessary, mostly to answer questions about how far a foreign Focus might push things, worst case.  The incident with the police detectives still strained both Arms’ credulity, and Hank had to explain, again, about how Focus protective instincts and paranoid preparations often gave them what appeared to be a supernatural information conduit.  “The only juice trick Focus Peshnak needed to use for this was her charisma, Ma’am Keaton,” he said.  “Ma’am Hancock likely didn’t spot the other twenty or so wild goose chases Focus Peshnak likely also prompted.”  Neither Focus appreciated his comments.

Both Flo and the Focus had agreed to personally participate in the attack, although Focus Ackermann wasn’t going to be involved in the combat.  Keaton had her handling Focus politics and communications.  “I can support the entire Transform contingent for a day, if I need to,” Lori said.  “I think it’s important, symbolically, to have representative Transforms of all the Focuses in my rebellion involved in this effort.”

“Are you going to be doing the multiple tag trick, then?” Carol said.  She ate a mini-quiche in one bite and winced.  Haggerty had been hauling out an endless stream of reheated snacks, and Zielinski guessed those quiches had tasted better several weeks ago when Carol originally cooked them.

“No.  I don’t know that one and I’m not going to do any experimentation along those lines for this,” Lori said.  “However, I can do temporary tag overwrites.  It’s functionally the same.”

“Not exactly,” Flo said.  “The overwrite trick also drives the rest of us crazy when she does it.  The trick does work, though.”

“Do you ever do anything in a standard fashion, Focus Rizzari?” Keaton said, exasperated.  Exasperation appeared to be the standard emotion both Keaton and the Focus had for each other.

“No!” Flo, Sky and Ann said, together.

Heaven help them if Keaton turned on the Focuses.  She was learning far too much about them.  She and Carol noted his internal thoughts, which Keaton answered with a twitch of her lips.

“You’re in,” Keaton said.  “Carol?”

“I think it would be a good idea, ma’am, if we get Focus Laswell involved in the actual fight.  More people to help keep the Clinic Focuses out of the real fight, for one, and second, she signaled me she wanted help getting out from under Rogue Focus.”

“Tell me about this Focus Laswell,” Keaton said.

Carol and Lori did so, filling in the gaps in his minimal knowledge of Focus Laswell and piquing his interest.  He suspected he wouldn’t meet her until this little affair was over, but she did sound like a Focus well worth knowing.  Keaton agreed, reluctantly, assigning Carol and Gilgamesh the task of covertly contacting Focus Laswell, but stuck in an added step she would handle herself: getting permission from the West Region Focuses for the attack, via Focus Webb, the current West Region Council representative.  Keaton would be going through her Network contact, Focus Rodriguez, for permission.  It sounded like only a formality, which Keaton kept pressing today.

He also approved of them calling Focus Peshnak ‘Rogue Focus’ and Wandering Shade ‘Rogue Crow’.  The terminology nicely delineated the scope of their operation, and why the rogue Major Transforms were appropriate targets, without triggering a discussion on the matter.

“I have a question,” Flo said.  Keaton waved her hand in acquiescence.  “What are we going to do with Rogue Focus afterwards?”

“You’re assuming we succeed,” Keaton said.  Keaton was paranoid over a takedown of a single not-overwhelming Focus?  Her slip got his attention.  She thought more went on here than met the eye.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“We’re going to kill her,” Carol said.  “What other possible outcome is there?”

Keaton didn’t say anything.  She just leaned back and waited.  Houston was Carol’s territory, or would be again later, thus this was Carol’s decision.  Oh, and likely a test by Keaton, who still worried about unknown influences on Carol’s mind from the Madonna of Montreal.

The Focus shook her head, as did Flo, but Sky was the first to comment.  “Ma’am, she’s a Focus.  Focuses save lives.  If we kill her, her Transforms die.”

“So?” To an Arm, dead Transforms were a resource, not a problem.

“I doubt they volunteered to be Rogue Focus’s Transforms,” Sky said.  “They’re innocents.”  Keaton studied Sky intently again as he talked, and Zielinski decided she wasn’t happy about how he had fooled her during the Hancock rescue.  Carol followed Zielinski’s gaze on Keaton and her mouth twitched.  She had also noticed Keaton’s reaction to Sky, and Keaton’s reaction bothered her.  Zielinski hoped Keaton didn’t decide she needed to do more than study from a distance.

“Not all of them, if what Captive said was true,” Carol said.  Captive, he knew, was the name the Arms had given to the normal Carol had kidnapped.

“How many volunteered?” Lori said, leaning forward with her elbows on her knees.

“Four Transforms, all women, all fellow Czechs.”

“Those are her surviving Focus Attendants, then,” Flo said.  She glanced at Lori.  “Most Focuses never part with their attendants, so they’re not exactly volunteers.”  Flo and the Focus exchanged dark looks.  He sensed tension between them on this topic, but Zielinski had no idea why.  “I agree with Sky.  It’s wrong to kill Focuses.”

“Then why are we doing this?” Carol said.  Her anger over the loss of her one-day-claimed territory was palpable enough for him to read.

“There are other methods of neutralizing her without killing her,” Lori said.  She took a deep breath.  “I have an idea about how to handle this.”

“Here we go,” Keaton said, sotto voice.  She suspected she wouldn’t like whatever screwball idea Lori came up with.  The older Arm gave Zielinski a sideways glance that read ‘getting me involved with this space cadet is your fault, understand’.  He restrained the urge to gulp.  Keaton polished off four deviled eggs and tapped her fingers on the edge of her chair.

The Focus’s demeanor grew colder, which Zielinski hadn’t thought possible.  “Sell her to the first Focuses.”  She glanced over at Ann, who nodded.  “Although this goes against my household’s wishes, my suggestion for the proper first Focus to sell her to is Focus Fingleman, the West Region President.”

“Sell her to that cunt?”  Carol leapt out of her chair, the full predator.  Flo, Ann and Sky flinched.  Surprisingly, Gilgamesh didn’t.  “Are you out of your mind?  Lori, she’s one of the two bitches who were after me and drove me into withdrawal!”

“I have some limited contact with Focus Fingleman,” Lori said.  “Yes, she wanted you neutralized.  If I can believe my contact in her household, she had nothing to do with the latter.”

“What sort of contact?” Keaton said, quiet tense.  Meaning ‘how good is this contact?’

Lori frowned, visibly unwilling to supply the name, grimaced and continued.  “Her name’s Dahlia Woo, and she’s Focus Fingleman’s house diplomat.  Focus Fingleman would have gained nothing from destroying you, Carol.  She wanted you leashed, not slain.”

Hank flinched; he knew Dahlia personally, and knew she was one of the top Transforms in the country.  Keaton flickered her eyes his way; he allowed her to read his mind on the subject.  He had, long ago, told her the story of his first Dahlia encounter.  She remembered, and shrugged.

“So, what the fuck are you trying to suggest?” Carol said, arms crossed.  She hadn’t sat back down, and her predatory presence had grown to where even he felt queasy.

The Focus licked her lips.  “Buy her off by selling her Rogue Focus.  If we play this right, it should buy you some good will from a sizeable number of the ruling first Focuses.”

Carol’s predatory presence faded, though her grimace didn’t.  After several seconds she nodded and sat back down into her chair.  “This is business and I’m dealing with the mafia.  My personal feelings are irrelevant.”

Both the Focus and Flo nodded.  Despite her words, Zielinski knew that Carol wasn’t convinced.

“No more hunting Arms.  Any tagged Arms under ma’am Keaton’s sway, that is,” Carol said.  “If this is the direction we have to go, than that’s what I’m going to demand.”  She realized what she had said and turned to Keaton.

“I’m not going to object.  Rogue Focus is your property, to dispose of as you please,” Keaton said.  She turned to the Focus.  “Why are you doing us a favor?  Your rebellion could also make use of this sale.”

The Focus and Flo turned to each other, non-verbally communicating Focus-style.  Flo took a deep breath.  “Arm Keaton, it’s a question of visibility and provenance,” Flo said, unsteady.  “If the rebellion got the rewards from her, it would send a message, um, an inappropriate message, uh, that the rebellion Focuses controlled the Arms.  If this Focus lived in New England, the politics would be different.”

“Twisty political machinations must be an actual Focus ability,” Keaton said, sneering.  “I wonder if it’s juice powered?”

Zielinski opened his mouth to answer ‘yes’, but seeing Ann’s appalled reaction to his obvious commentary, he decided it might be best if he refrained.

“I have an observation, Arm Keaton and Arm Hancock, based on the plan as I’ve seen it,” Ann said.  Hearing no objections, she pushed forward.  “Won’t ‘disappearing’ the Feds protecting Rogue Focus, as you’ve planned, be too much of a signal to the FBI’s Arm Task Force about Arm participation, and that an Arm has established a territory in Houston?”

Keaton went stone face, which Zielinski interpreted as shock.  She hadn’t seen this problem coming.  Carol leaned forward, the predator again.  “It’s a risk, but one I’m willing to take.”