"Why would they kill him if he gave up the girl?"
"So he couldn't give her up to us too. I need some high level pressure to get the girl's location from the Family agency. I was down there this morning already and they don't intimidate worth a damn, believe me. These ONIs or whoever have a head start now and I'm not sure the girl might not end up like the judge, if they get to her first. I'll tell you straight, you can get this done, or you can spare feelings over jurisdiction, but not both. Not in the time frame we have now."
"A double team will meet you at the records office again and you will leave with the information, if they have to face dunk the clerk in the toilet until he talks. Go now."
"Thank you, sir."
* * *
"Where the hell is Balance?" the President asked.
"In the general direction of Derfhome, The Interstellar Secretary said with a wave of his hand like it was somewhere out over the Pacific, "but what matters more is it is six days and three jumps from there. On the other hand it is about twelve days and six jumps from Earth. A bit more for a full freighter, a bit less for a fast courier."
"So it's a Chinese interest world?" the President asked confused.
"Yes, but they didn't bother any local interests, or a French ship at dock right beside ours. They very strictly followed their Letters of Marque and were gracious about the crew's private possessions and liberty."
"I'd say it is impinges upon their interests to have their customers robbed at their door. I wouldn't go back to a store where I bought something and was robbed leaving and the storekeeper just shrugged and said, what can you do?"
"Yes, yes I can see the analogy. But there are other considerations," the secretary explained, "it is different between sovereign nations. If they interfere as allies, Red Tree will make war on them. They'd likely issue Letters for their shipping also."
"If everybody was gunning for them they'd be out of business pretty quickly!"
"The truth is sir, space is big and ships are expensive. Nobody has a big enough navy to protect their shipping. They would go broke trying. The last hundred years of prosperity have been because we agreed with the Claims commission treaties to not prey on each other's finds and shipping. Everybody else is worried sick we are bringing that era to a close, with the first interstellar war and reverting will mean a general economic collapse. Nobody wants to open up their shipping to the same hazards and loss."
"So how much did they nick us for?" the President asked.
"The ship was worth perhaps four hundred million, being older. The cargo was less than a billion, but that is just immediate expense. The real cost is that shippers will avoid American flagged vessels. The risk will also drive up insurance. Even if no claims get paid for this loss, they will have legal expenses and risk a court that in some jurisdictions will disallow their exclusions."
"The price of indium will go up. They got about six months production from Balance, but the reason they mine it there is it is the cheapest source. So other deposits will be tapped that cost more to work. The erbium is worse. It puts a short term crimp on the supply that is essential for optics and will drive the price up. Almost every commodity sold will go up, because delivery just became less certain across the board. People will seek the safety of multiple sources even if it reduces their margins. The economy suffers."
"Nobody wants to consider what happens if it goes beyond ships. What happens when they announce there is a blockade of an American interest world – say Thorn – cutting off all the biologicals we are accustomed to receiving?"
"They wouldn't dare!"
"Mr. President. I don't think these people would drop a continent killing rock on us. They have displayed better morals than that. But my family is in Florida, because I am not at all certain they may not wipe out Vancouver in a decapitation attack. I care and want to serve badly enough to stay here, when it may be a target, but I have no doubt at all they dare a great deal." He mentally started planning to join his family, because bellowing that they wouldn't dare, was all bluster and no brains. His efforts were all pointless if he was working for a fool.
* * *
"We followed them all the way down the peninsula on back roads," Jesus told his manager. "We got a drone parked on a neighbors roof, watching the back and a truck down the street. Property records says it is his mom's. She's widowed, has a police pension from her husband and some of her own money, so she gets tax credits but not the full negative package."
"You said she is visiting ATMs?"
"All over the place. If she is taking the limit she has over $300K cash. She bought a few clothes, but as far as I can tell she hasn't used much of it."
"I wonder what she intends to do with that much money?"
"If it was mine I'd take out a contract on that son of a bitch judge."
"Waste of funds. Somebody blew his brains out this morning."
Jesus was actually shocked into silence briefly. "For real?"
"Yes, I had a watch and clipping service on him, because he was tied so closely to our principal in a very public way."
"Does it have anything to do with her?"
" I've got three people trying to find out right now. I'll tell you when I know."
* * *
"The destroyer Twelve Palms failed to rendezvous with the destroyer Phoenix in the Paradise system," the captain of his flagship told Admiral Benson. "They sent a fast drone here because we are towards Earth anyway and leave it to us if we wish to dispatch one home."
"No, Mr. Edwards, I believe we shall wait here as planned. We should have all our search parties back in three days, assuming no more of them go missing and we will back track the systems assigned to the Twelve Palms. We were retasked to determine if there is organized hostility to us. We have sufficient forces. I doubt there is anyone out there who wishes to test themselves against a Deep Space Battle Platform and five escorts. Send the drone back and tell the Phoenix to act like she is leaving Paradise, but jump short and observe any traffic in stealth mode. We will all join her in four to five days."
* * *
"Jesus, I have word from California. It looks bad. Word is, a team of operators claiming to be ONI visited judge Morse in his condo. They left with his computer memory and he conveniently ate his gun."
"Crap… they know where, uh, she was fostered." He almost broke operational security and said her name. They assumed their com might be broken any time.
"Almost certainly. And the FBI showed up ten minutes later."
"Maybe they killed the old boy and blamed it on the ONI."
"Someone with an evil mind might think so, but they also returned to the records office of the court and questioned a few people so forcibly they required transport to the hospital."
"Ah, so what they wanted was gone at the judge's and they had to scramble to get it elsewhere."
"Yes, but alas, that means we have two armed paramilitary teams wanting custody, or worse, of our principal. This does not please me. Now in addition to this, I have a hot interstellar drone message on my screen informing me her father wishes more than legal action and protection. He'd like a snatch and exfiltration, should opportunity present."
"This is getting complicated. It's bad to not have a single objective."
"I agree. And we are getting into territory Blackwater can't be connected with. That's why I have to let you go, Jesus."
"You mean you no longer require my services?" Jesus inquired, shocked.
"I'm afraid so. I have a courier on his way to recover your company ID and com. Your other team members will be contacted in about ten minutes. I do however have a friend, who runs a fine small security company called Michigan Associates. It was formed," he checked his com, "about twenty minutes ago and needs personnel desperately. If you'd be interested in working for him you will get a twenty percent hike in base rate and your retirement fund will be paid out to your Ceres account with a fifty percent bonus. Is that of any interest to you?"
"It certa
inly is," Jesus replied, calculating quickly how much of a boost that would give his bottom line, "And my team is getting the same offer?"
"Similar, not as sweet on the retirement, but no need to foster discontent by leaking it," he urged. "If any decline to accept the new employment we'll fill in your gaps. We are also sending four operators from the paramilitary subsidiary to your command. Chris French, Wendi Bragg, Arnold Ledbetter and John Fanuken."
Jesus was relieved to hear he was still the lead, that had been his next question.
"You are aware of our principal's funding, long term they have more assets than many sovereigns for whom we have worked. If it should be necessary to oppose government agencies you might have to be extracted and returning to the USNA or even Earth might become impossible. Count that cost too."
"We didn't want them to come down in the first place. We never foresaw this particular trouble, but the whole place is turning into such a shit hole we worried something could happen. My team have all been grumbling for the last year or two that it is time to head out to the colonies and leave Earth before it becomes impossible to leave," he confided.
"Very well. The courier will have your new employment ID and fresh com. What is happening with our charge?"
"They stopped gathering funds and returned to the relative's house. He had what looked like a load of honey in the trunk on the trip down. Apparently he is a black-marketer and a bit of a smuggler. Last couple stops he made, he loaded up a bunch of groceries and a carton of something we could not identify, but was very light from how he handled it. He's smart enough to use his mom's car for local shopping. If they load their shopping bags in his trunk in the morning I expect they will be returning to Ishpeming."
"Stay on her and we will try to arrange an extraction. I don't think she can lift from the USNA, but we we'll see where else would work to get her off Earth."
* * *
"Why did you buy that food in cases and then put it all in grocery sacks with the loose stuff to carry it in the trunk?" Lee asked John. It didn't make sense.
"Remember the cop who got a free jar of honey?"
"Yes, of course."
"Well, if I have three or four cases of food in the trunk and a crooked cop stops me he may take a whole case to leave me alone. A case looks like trade goods. But you divide it up in shopping bags and put a few more odds and ends on top of it to make it look like normal shopping, they won't take it. Robbing somebody of their personal groceries just goes over the line and even the bad ones feel that is low-down and cheap."
"Amazing." Lee sat and wondered how that might apply to other things, like wearing flashy jewelry as costume… She went back to hug Mrs. Williamson goodbye.
* * *
"Very good," the Blackwater Special Services supervisor beamed at his compact operational team. "Thank you for accepting. I think you will find this duty under Michigan Associates very profitable. This is an important client and all the stops are pulled out. We'll provide air support and anything you need to protect the principal. I've worked with Jesus in the past and he is steady and smart and decisive. I think you will be impressed with him. He has never been a rent-a-cop weenie."
"If it is that critical can we draw equipment beyond personal weapons, or does that have to come from the new company?" team leader Wendi Bragg asked.
"You may draw anything in my control," he assured her.
"In that case you have a big shipment ready to go out to Pakistan. I'd like to open a few cases and you can delay it until you bring the order back up to snuff."
"Help yourself and it will get transferred to MA."
"Good, I want one of the Israeli 12mm heavy machine guns, two 40mm grenade launchers, a four-pack of claymores and an Iris DRMB Electronic Warfare Pack, with the scanner and jammer. And I'd like two black window vans with Postal Inspector markings. Nobody wants to mess around with the postal inspectors. Not even the other Feds." It didn't seem to bother her that she was messing with them to borrow their insignia.
* * *
The Phoenix drifted silently with their reactor barely running, maintaining environmental and little else. They were grappled at the rear to a rocky asteroid that was dumbbell shaped. It was only about three times their length and had almost no rotation and that easily corrected. They had a two-hundred-thirty degree view of the system.
Paradise was a colony world. The name was perhaps an exaggeration. It was nowhere near as pleasant a world as Providence. It was dryer, with very salty oceans and continents with very dry interiors. But it also had a remarkably simple ecology of very extreme forms, for both desert and high salinity water. It had enough commerce to warrant a space station and once you have a space station mining is practical in almost any system, for local consumption if not export.
Phoenix listened to the chatter of all the small mining ships with Paradise Station and three down planet towns. While they watched one European freighter went out system, bound for Thorn via two jumps. A group of biologists from the University of Bologna on board, kept up a constant chatter with their colleagues they left on Paradise, almost to jump.
Another vessel came in on a vector that indicated a Fargone origin. It hailed the station and announced an intention to go directly to a mining complex in the outer system, far around from the Phoenix radially.
It had to be either an empty freighter, or military by the delta V it was expending. It named itself the Arch of Heaven and declared a Fargone flag, but was not in their database. That didn't sound particularly martial, but who knows? The Phoenix's captain, Charles Allen, would have loved to paint it with some radar and see its size.
Another ship entered from the contrary direction to the Fargone vessel and hailed the station as the Red Metal. They announced a fast transit and did not slow, just adjusting vector for a Fargone jump. They announced no home world or port, contrary to firm custom and there was no Red Metal listed in the registry either. They did appear to be a freighter and heavily laden, from the long burn needed to change their exit angle.
Another ship entered hot on the same vector and made a hard turn right after the Red Metal. It appeared to be on an intercept and accelerated after the freighter. It would catch up easily and even match speed if it desired before jump. It had to be military, but if offered no ID.
"Red Metal, this is the Republic of Fargone Defense Cruiser Arch of Heaven. Are you aware you have a pursuer astern? If you are attempting to reach Fargone under hostile pursuit, we have an interest. We are painting you briefly in concern, please do not consider it a threat."
"Thank you, thank you," said Captain Allen. "Illuminate him please!"
The Arch examined both ships with several seconds of radar and shifted frequency for a really detailed look. The power level did suggest a Cruiser.
"Negative on any trouble, Arch of Heaven. That is our escort. Our apologies for silence, but we were concerned about lurkers in system, so please refrain from illuminating us again. Our friend will identify himself on entering Fargone traffic."
"Too late," chuckled Allen on the destroyer. The echo from the Red Metal was just what he thought. "The other ship…"How do you read that?" he asked Combat Control.
"It's big," the officer responded. "About as long as a Heavy Cruiser, three hundred meters and a bit, but fatter, with more of a football shape instead of a cylinder. I see a few pixels like something is sticking out of its side on one ping. Maybe extra shuttles grappled externally?"
"Any match to a known vessel or class?"
"No sir. I hate to say it, because I don't know how it could have been built anywhere in secret, but it might mass damn near as much as the DSBP Florida. If the Twelve Palms ran into that, all she could do would be run. She could outrun it, but not by all that much. I'd hate to assume what we saw was its best legs."
They watched them run to jump, both drives bright from their view. The two ships were uncomfortably close, about fifty kilometers apart, but not matched for speed when they both blinked out at once.
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"Targeting, how close did those two jump together?"
"As close as makes no difference on our scan. Less than ten microseconds."
"They had to be closer on the tick than that, not to be damaged by tidal forces at fifty kilometers. With a huge speed differential to complicate the timing. It's not easy to synchronize your clocks overtaking. That isn't any freighter crew flying the Red Metal either. They are going to emerge in Fargone space so tight they will look like a single ship for several minutes. That is some hot military piloting."
* * *
"The girl is visiting with the Jones family," Earl told the single naval officer that came to his door. They must think he was stupid. They had those mirror windows on the big truck, but the sun was behind it. He could see the silhouette of three helmeted thugs inside. "They got a girl Ellen her age and they hit it off. She's staying with them a couple days. They are in the next group of apartments west on the main road. Their name will be on the post box. Don't be surprised how it looks, it's negative income projects, kind of rough. We just moved out of there, improved ourselves a bit. I've got no objection if you want to question her, but she is fostered to us. I expect you to have a three way with me and family services if you need to take her back into custody," he said sternly.
"That isn't necessary," the man lied smoothly. "There are some problems with jurisdiction and the judge may have acted outside his authority," he said.
"The way she told it, the old fart was a total jack-ass," Earl told him to see what it would shake out.
"I met the old fool," the man said with a sudden scowl. "She is an excellent judge of character." Earl was positive it was the first truthful thing he'd said.
Perhaps his lie was too dangerously close to the truth, but he'd been too startled at them to create something from scratch. Altering the truth had been within his skills.
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