Rules of Conflict (46 page)

“I know.” Jani brushed off his look of surprise. “If he’s so
dangerous, why do you go out of your way to twist his tail?”

Pierce shrugged. “I’ve no use for his sort. Self-serving. No
loyalty to anyone or anything save themselves.”

“When did you acquire your experience with his sort—during your
weapons-running days?”

“My crimes are no secret.”

Aren’t they?
Jani tried to pull away from him, but he
tightened his hold on her arm. Not hard enough to hurt her, but hard enough.

“I waited to hear from you concerning the reading list,” Pierce
said. “I’ve prepared one especially.”

“I’ve been very busy.”

“You’re never too busy to learn.”

“I’m sure you’re right.” Jani glanced back over her shoulder and
down the fabric tunnel that connected the tent to the house.
So much for
shouting distance,
she thought as she watched Lucien’s silvery thatch
disappear amid the crowd.

The tour began and ended in the same place, a sitting room
on the second floor. It no doubt resembled every other sitting room where such
discussions had ever occurred. The chairs were large and well padded, the
windows darkened against any threat of accidental observation. A sideboard held
a narrow selection of hard liquor. The basics—whiskey, gin, vodka. A bucket of
ice.

She recognized Admiral-General Mako. General Carvalla. The
three-star had to be Gleick, the base commander. There was also a two-star she
didn’t recognize, but no one seemed inclined to make introductions.

“So.” She stepped inside. “Let’s get the story straight now, in
case it ever comes up. Where were we during the time this meeting never took
place?”

Carvalla fidgeted. Gleick scowled. The two-star swirled his
whiskey.

Mako smiled. “You were touring the house with Colonel Pierce. You
stuck your heads in this room, and spoke with General Carvalla, who had a yen
to sample my excellent vodka in private. A display of Channel World curios in
my library held your interest for quite some time. Then you and the colonel
returned to the party.”

“Shouldn’t I be able to describe these fascinating curios?”

“Colonel Pierce will take you to see them after our meeting.”

“And what about you and General Gleick and General . . . ?”
She thought her prompting obvious, but no introduction to the silent stranger
followed.

“We will see to ourselves, Captain.” Mako’s smile dimmed. “Thank
you for your concern.” He gestured toward a vacant chair near the center of
their grouping. “How are you feeling?”

As Jani sat, she sensed Pierce move behind her chair. “I’m fine,
sir.”

Mako turned to Carvalla. “Is that true, Sophia?”

“Her test results are as screwy as ever.” Carvalla sipped from a
small, frosty cylinder with a silver handle. “Roger’s worried that the readings
we’re getting aren’t telling us what we need to know. He’s desperate enough to
contact Shroud.”

Jani recalled Pimentel’s edginess. “He’s changed my diet. He’s
manufacturing a new liver for me. Is there something else going on I should
know about?”

“Not one for the military courtesies, are you,
Captain
?”
That was Gleick. Grey-haired. Bullet-headed. Face like a fist.

“No, I’m not.” She withheld the “sir” deliberately, and watched
him squirm. “But I didn’t think you’d mind, seeing as we all have so much in
common.” She did a slow three-count. “Officer-killers, all.”

Everyone stared at her. Jani sensed Pierce, still behind
her, like you’d sense eyes in the forest.

Finally, Mako broke the tension with a small snort of humorless
laughter. “Not much for preliminaries either, are you, Jani?” He wiped a hand
over his face, regarded his empty tumbler. “That’s fine. Neither am I.” The
angle of his chairside lamp highlighted his fatigue-grooved jowls. “I gather
you arrived at this conclusion during your explorations with the odd Mr.
Duong?”

“He’s not odd—you just made sure everyone thought so!” Jani sat
back as tiny flecks of darkness bloomed and faded before her eyes. “My attorney
had difficulty locating Rauta Shèràa Base documents I told him should have
existed. Documents I’m charged with having neglected.”

“Indeed,” Gleick growled.

Jani looked at the man. He sat rigidly straight—she would have bet
her ’pack the clear liquid in his glass was water. Physically, he looked
nothing like Durian Ridgeway, but she could see the similarities just the same.
The cutting voice. The air of judgmental superiority.
Behind every great man
stands a creep with a shovel.
“You know, General, I bet you made one hell
of a poop boy.”

“
How dare you, you—
” Gleick had half risen out of his
chair, but settled back in shocked surprise when Mako held out his hand.

“Sit down, Gunter.” The look he gave Jani was stern, but not
unkind. “I’ve known Spacers like you before. When their expertise is needed,
none are better. As you proved yesterday, at the idomeni embassy.” He nodded
slowly. “But your times are few and far between, and those betweens are the
career-killers, aren’t they, Jani?”

Throwing a fistful of stars at me didn’t work, so now you’re
trying understanding.
“I had the sort of career that killed itself. I
conducted audits on Rauta Shèràa Base—that was no way to win friends.”
Stay
on course—don’t let him distract you.
“One thing I learned is that the
reason documents disappear is because they lead to bigger and better things.”

“Paper disappears because nobody cares about it,” Gleick grumbled.
“It disappears because it doesn’t matter.”

Jani ignored him. “The
Kensington
shipping records, for
example, that described the loading of two agers.”

Mako waved a dismissive hand. “I admitted in closed-door sessions
long ago that in our haste to free up space for evacuees and supplies, we
accidentally packed bodies in unsuitable containers.”

Jani nodded. “Yes, and it’s a shame that that story doesn’t hold
up, because it’s nice and simple. Short of space, let’s get these bodies out of
the way—whoops, we loaded them in the wrong sort of box, but we were in a
hurry, you see. SFC Caldor was a sound move. Good randomization. If a little
nothing colonial got stuck in an ager, well, it couldn’t have been planned. Had
to be an accident.”

A cloud passed over Mako’s face. “I did not consider Caldor a
‘little nothing colonial,’ Jani.”

“Then I stand corrected.” Jani touched her face—the skin felt hot
and dry. Her heart pounded.

“Are you all right?” Carvalla set her drink on her chairside
table, and sat forward. “Get her some water, please, Niall.”

Mako looked at Jani, then at Carvalla. “Sophia?”

“I don’t like how she looks at all.”

“
I’m all right
.” Jani sat back, inhaled deeply, tried to
relax. But when she attempted to cross her legs, the right one wouldn’t work.
She couldn’t even lift it off the ground. “The question is, why go through the
trouble to rot the bodies? What was it about them that you couldn’t afford to
let others see?”

She looked up just as Pierce leaned over to place the water glass
on her table. His eyes proved his only handsome feature, rich gold-brown, like
honey.

“They deserved it.” His voice held an eager rasp, as though he
felt he had to convince her.

Jani nodded encouragement. “They ran, and you had to stop them
because they were headed into Rauta Shèràa, and once they disappeared into the
city, you’d have lost them for good.”

“They deserved it. Do you know some of the things they did?”

“I lived some of the things they did.” Her dull tone made Pierce
cringe. “You were just supposed to arrest them, weren’t you? Those were your
orders. But they ran. And you’re another of Mako’s Spacers—it was between-time
for you. He gave you your big chance, and you let him down.” They’d begun to
breathe as one. Short. Sharp. Inhale. Exhale. “‘Which way I fly is Hell; myself
am Hell.’”

“Book Four, Satan’s entry into Paradise. Out of context. You need
to study before you can toss lines at me. I lived it!”

“What did you do, Niall, blow them apart with a long-range?”

“
They deserved it!
” His beautiful eyes described the ugly
details. He held out the glass to Jani with a tentative hand. As if whether or
not she took it from him would forever define something between them.

Jani took it. “I can’t argue with that.” She sipped the
metallic-tasting water and set it down. “I can’t argue with that at all. But
the problem isn’t whether I agree or disagree, the problem is that I
know
.”
She looked at Mako, Carvalla, and Gleick in turn. “So, that’s my side. I’m
assuming you asked me here to give me yours.”

Gleick’s lip curled. “We don’t owe
you
any explanations.”

Mako closed his eyes. “
Gunter
.”

“Damn it, Roshi, stop coddling her! She didn’t do it for the good
of the Service, like—”

“Like we did?” The eyes that opened held the dimming light of a
suddenly older man. “No, Spacer Kilian didn’t kill for the good of the Service.
She killed because people were dying horribly, and she wanted to make it stop.”
Mako tipped his glass back and forth. It had been empty since Jani entered the
room. Looked, in fact, as though it had never been filled. “Isn’t that true?”

Jani listened to the sound of ragged breathing behind her. Pierce,
reliving Hell. “Does it matter?”

Mako held out a hand, palm facing up. “Perhaps not.” But something
in the way he looked at her indicated that it did. When he donned his uniform
and appraised himself in his mirror, he no longer felt the way he wanted to.
And he blamed her for it.

Jani read his single thought easily, followed its flarelike track.
“You’d have me executed, if you could. But I’ve become a symbol. The Channel
Worlds would make trouble, and that could increase the dissension between the
colonials and Earthbounders in the ranks. And you know a fragmented Service
would lose against the idomeni. Nema’s hinted at that, hasn’t he? War. I think
you blinked where that was concerned. He couldn’t have convinced Cèel to go to
war over me. But you had seen the Haárin fight in Rauta Shèràa. You didn’t want
to chance battling them with divided troops.”

“You credit yourself with formidable influence, Kilian.” Gleick
still couldn’t let go the old standard. “You’re nothing.”

Jani breathed, but couldn’t sense her chest rise or fall. Her legs
felt numb. She wondered if Pierce had poisoned the water. “If I’m nothing, then
have Pierce escort me to the brig. Process me. Treat me the way I should have
been since you nailed me on Felix. Prosecute me—for Neumann’s death.” She
stopped to catch her breath. “Stop throwing roadblocks in the way of Colonel
Veda’s investigation. Then watch her reach the same conclusion I did, because
any investigation of Knevçet Shèràa will lead her right back to Rauta Shèràa
Base on the Night of the Blade.”

Gleick’s mouth moved, but no sound emerged. Carvalla tossed back
the balance of her vodka. The silent two-star, whom Jani had forgotten about,
watched her unmoving, like a snake on a rock.

Mako finally spoke. “What do you want?”

“What do I
want
?” Jani tried to shrug. “Nothing.” Her limbs
felt leaded. “To be left alone.”

“A job befitting your training?”

“Anyone with a scanpack can earn a living.”

“But people will still think you a killer. They’ll think you got
away with it.”

“I don’t care what people think of me.”

“Don’t you?” Mako cocked an eyebrow. “This isn’t some Outer Circle
backwater, Jani, this is Chicago. The Commonwealth capital. Home base for all
us Earthbounders of whom you think so little. You’re the Eyes and Ears, a
famous woman. Nema has formally declared you. Your days of hiding are over.
What some people in this city think of you will shape your life.” He touched
fingers to forehead in a mock salute. “The Prime Minister and the Exterior
Minister, for example. Let me commend you. You’ve managed to acquire some very
powerful enemies in a very short time.”

“I’ll leave Earth.”

“Your medical condition prevents that. The only facilities that
can treat you properly are located here. From what Sophia tells me, if you left
Earth now, you could be dead in a month.”

“That’s ridiculous.” Jani paused to breathe. “I feel fine.”

“Why are you so determined to make it hard for yourself?” Mako
gestured to the silent two-star, who set down his glass and reached into his
inner tunic pocket. “Li Cao is agreeable to releasing you, but to appease some
of her more vocal critics, she needs a victim. It’s a matter of record that the
late Sergeant Emil Burgoyne threatened the late Colonel Rikart Neumann on
several occasions. The Judge Advocate is prepared to make a ruling that all
evidence points to him as Neumann’s killer.”