"Come on out, sweetie," he said, aiming the pistol. "They told me you might show up."
"Oh, good," Lizbeth called, ducking as more bullets came her way.
Razia looked to Lizbeth and motioned for her to keep talking.
"So, how much money is Harman paying you?" Lizbeth asked.
"More than you can even guess," he said.
Razia leapt to another protective cover as he shot at her again.
"I hope you already got your payment," Lizbeth said, smiling, "because you aren't going to get money. We've got enough proof to shut this whole thing down."
Razia dove behind a musty box, but this time the bullets didn't follow.
"Yeah, you're gonna have a hard time doing that when you're dead," he said.
"Honey, do you think we would be up here if we didn't have a ten-page report sitting in the director's office?" Lizbeth taunted.
"Really?" Razia said popping her head up. She ducked again as more bullets came whizzing by her head.
"Dammit, Razia!" Lizbeth hissed as the man laughed again.
"Welcome and thank you! I just heard from General State, who very graciously conceded—" A roar of cheers drowned out the rest of Llendo's words.
The man pointed the pistol at Lizbeth and pulled the trigger, but nothing came out but clicks. He was out of bullets. Razia burst out from her hiding spot and tackled him to the ground. She kicked and punched, but the man was solid, a former soldier.
His elbow connected with Razia's jaw and she went flying, seeing stars for a moment as she lay splayed on the ground.
"Lyssa!" Lizbeth screamed.
"'m fine," Razia grumbled, her head spinning. She saw the man crouch down against his other gun against the window, and tried to move her legs to get to him. But her head was spinning too much and she couldn't—
Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw Lizbeth running towards the man.
There was a crack of the gun, and a scream. More screams from the crowd below and for a brief, terrifying moment, Razia worried that they had failed. But then—
"HAH!" Lizbeth laughed. "You missed!"
Razia, eyes watered from the pain in her head, jumped to her feet. To their surprise, the would-be assassin began laughing.
"Well that's just fine, ladies," he chuckled, wiping blood off his lip. "Dead or not, the effect is still the same. Because from what I can see, I got a pirate up here and a rogue agent. Looks like we won't need to frame nobody after all."
And with that, he took off running down the ramp.
"Aw…shit!" Razia screamed, taking off after the man.
"Wait, Lyssa!" Lizbeth cried.
Razia, still starry-eyed from the elbow to the head, slammed into the bottom of the ramp, sliding on the stones. The gray uniform disappeared around the corner and she pushed herself off the wall, grabbing the corner of the ramp to help her make the turns at quick speed. He slipped through the open door, and she put on a burst of speed, the full sound of the crowd and the height of the building crashing on top of her.
She swooned for a moment when she saw the distance to the ground, but her attention snapped to the one security guard running down the length of the wall. She narrowed her eyes and took off, flying as fast as her legs could carry her. The man was fast, but she wasn't a Deep Space Exploration scientist for nothing. She dug deep and pushed her legs harder, gaining speed until she was close enough to grab the back of his uniform.
He tried to deck her again, but she ducked, and punched him in the gut. He let out a loud breath of air, and she pivoted around, her knee connecting with his side. She whirled around again, but felt his hand clamp around her leg and flip.
She landed on the ground, and he leered over her. She froze, unsure of how she was going to get out of this one.
Lizbeth appeared out of nowhere, planted her feet, then punched the man in the gut, then slammed her elbow into the back of his head, effectively knocking him out.
"I did it!" she grinned, rubbing the back of her elbow gingerly.
"We're not out of the woods yet," Razia said, quickly getting to her feet. Just as the words left her mouth, she heard the telltale sounds of footfalls on the stone coming from both sides.
"Hands up!" Jukin's faithful lieutenant Opli was the closest, the gold flecks on his uniform gleaming angrily.
"Perfect." Razia sighed, putting her hands in the air.
***
"So, this could be worse…" Razia offered, leaning against the dank stone wall. They were in the basement of the presidential palace, presumably while chaos reigned upstairs. No one had questioned them, or even come down to talk with them, regardless of how much Lizbeth waved her shiny badge around.
"I am telling you, Lieutenant Opli, I am Lizbeth Carter," Lizbeth tried again with the obstinate young police officer. "I met with your boss over a month ago. Look, I have a badge and identification."
"And I also see you hanging around with a known pirate," Opli sneered with a nasty glance to Razia.
"Oh, get off your damned high horse," Lizbeth muttered. "You know I wasn't the one who fired the gun!"
"We found a rifle in the clock tower," Opli said, "and I'm sure it will have your fingerprints on it."
"Because I would be so stupid." Razia rolled her eyes. "If I was gonna shoot Llendo, I am damn well gonna wear gloves."
"You aren't helping!" Lizbeth hissed.
Opli smirked and sat back.
The door to the jail opened, and in walked the very last person either of them expected to see.
"General State!" Lizbeth cried against the jell cell.
Up close the General was formidable, but had a sort of grandfatherly feel to him. His uniform was a dark blue military dress uniform with an array of different colors on his chest. The moment he walked into the room, Opli was on his feet, staring sternly ahead with an almost over-enthusiastic stoicism. But his eyes weren't on State; they were on the other man who followed.
Jukin.
"Agent Carter," State said, looking at Lizbeth. "You have thirty seconds to convince me to let you out of this jail cell."
"McDougall was planning to use the assassination to generate trillions of credits in security contracts that he was going to steer to his company, Wedekind Planetary Services," Lizbeth recited, sounding as if she'd rehearsed that line for days.
General State's face was unreadable. "And you have proof?"
"Yes sir," Lizbeth nodded. "Razia and I do."
"Who is Razia?" State asked, turning his gaze to Razia. "You?"
"Yes sir," Lizbeth said when Razia didn't speak up. "She's been assisting me in the investigation all this time."
"You look familiar." Razia withered slightly under State's intense stare.
"Sir, she's…well, she's a bounty hunter," Lizbeth admitted. "You've probably seen her on wanted posters."
Jukin sniffed.
"Something to add, Peate?" State asked, his voice firm but not menacing.
"Just that if this agent hired a pirate, she's already in violation of the Piracy Act," Jukin said.
"What, do you want to hang her too without a trial, too?" State asked.
Razia wasn't sure if she wanted to glare at Jukin or kiss State.
"As for me, I still believe in the theory that all people are innocent until proven otherwise," State said. "So, Agent Carter, please explain."
"Thank you, sir," Lizbeth nodded. Jukin looked about ready to spit fire. "Six months ago, I began investigating a series of similar pirate hijackings. They were centered around the same area, and with the same company. My branch handles piracy-based insurance fraud," she added nervously.
State nodded.
"S-So…" Lizbeth swallowed and then pushed her shoulders back, as if it would give her some confidence. "After a few months of digging and trailing pirates, I centered the source of the conspiracy on two men—Alfr Jos and Krishna Harman."
"I know them well," State nodded with the smallest hint of a smile on his stoic face.
&nbs
p; "Yes, well, maybe not as well as you think," Lizbeth said nervously. "They had called all of the most wanted pirates and the runners to a meeting, and told them to target government shipments near N-42653, N-38324, and S-4296."
"And I arrested them," Jukin interjected, "not three days ago, for that very same crime."
"Hah!" Razia barked, unable to resist a jab at him. "Did a bang up job, Jukin, as usual."
"Explain," State ordered.
"Based on their accounts in the Universal Bank," Razia said, more serious under State's piercing stare, "they're out on D-882…and not in the pirate jail."
"Oh sir, she's lying," Jukin growled.
"I can prove it, if you'd return my mini-computer to me," Razia said, holding out her hand.
"Lieutenant," State ordered simply.
"But sir," Opli stammered. "She's dangerous—"
"If she tosses it at my head, I'll be sure to duck," he said humorlessly.
Opli, still unsure, thrust the mini-computer into Razia's hand. She quickly searched the Universal Bank, praying to the Great Creator that Harman and Jos hadn't had their bank manager friend remove all the transactions.
She let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding.
"See, look," Razia said, offering the mini-computer to the general. He took out a pair of reading glasses and scanned the screen.
"Appears as though your prisoners have escaped, Captain Peate," State replied, with a casual glance to Jukin. "Perhaps you accidentally incarcerated them in the wrong jail."
Jukin said nothing, but Razia saw a muscle twitch in his jaw.
"Please continue, Agent Carter," State said, sitting back down in the chair. "We know that the pirates were targeting those planets on orders from Jos and Harman."
"Yes," Lizbeth said, "but those weren't the only planets, and, if I were to make an educated guess, the others were just distracting from the real cargo movement."
"What cargo movement?" State asked.
"A company called Wedekind Planetary Services has purchased several planets near military bases," Lizbeth said, "including the planets that I've already mentioned, but also a few more. They purchased S-6642, which is near to one of the military's new arsenal hold on J-636.
"J-636 was one of the many planets included as part of a big contract," Lizbeth continued. "What I—we discovered, was that Wedekind was purchasing planets near military installations to re-route guns and other weapons to store until they were needed."
"Needed for what?"
Lizbeth swallowed. "After the president was assassinated, Wedekind would be first in line to get more of those security contracts that would presumably be offered in the aftermath."
"Sir, you don't believe them, do you?" Jukin spat. Razia noticed the panic behind his eyes; he knew just how deep their investigation had gone.
"Agent Carter, if you please," State said, holding up his hand to silence Jukin. "What does this have to do with Minister McDougall?"
"McDougall owns Wedekind," Lizbeth said, "or at least put up the original money to fund it. Five billion credits."
Razia's eyes swept over to Jukin as he turned a particularly nasty shade of green.
"And where did he come up with this huge sum of money?" State asked.
"Jukin," Lizbeth said quietly.
It was the first time that General State was surprised as he looked to his captain. Jukin's jaw was set in stone.
"And where did Jukin get this money?" State said, talking to Lizbeth but his attention on Jukin.
"He stole it from his sister," Lizbeth replied.
Razia's breath caught in her throat as she waited for Jukin's eyes to sweep over to her. But they didn't. In fact, they didn't seem to be even in the room anymore. He was staring at the ground, as if preparing himself for the inevitable, and Razia saw something familiar in him.
"Why would my very best police captain want to pay Minister McDougall five billion credits?" State asked.
"Because he needed someone to cover his ass when he killed Tauron Ball," Lizbeth said. "And the minister agreed to do it."
Razia thought she would feel a surge of hatred towards Jukin, but she found herself watching Jukin with a numb sort of observation. He looked like he knew everything he had worked so hard to attain was about to disappear. Once she and Lizbeth told State that Jukin was in on the assassination attempt, he would most assuredly be arrested, his career destroyed.
This was the moment she had been waiting for, wasn't it? From back in his office, to the train when he didn't recognize her. And for as much as she dreamed about it, somehow, it didn't feel half as good as she wanted it to.
Something about him, the defeated and familiar stare, it made her feel almost sorry for him.
"Ah," State nodded. "I wondered why John took such an interest in your young career, Captain."
"We believe that the deal extended farther than that," Lizbeth continued. "As part of the conspiracy—"
"Jukin didn't know about the assassination attempt," Razia said, cutting Lizbeth off. The latter shot the former a look of stunned surprise. And Jukin's eyes grew so large that they might fall out of his head.
"Oh?" State asked curiously.
"Jukin paid off the minister," Razia continued, and a part of her wondered what in Leveman's Vortex she was doing, "because he thought that if he could catch one pirate, the money and support would follow."
"I see," State nodded.
"We believe the minister acted on his own accord after he received the money," Razia finished.
State studied so intensely Razia that she was sure he knew her name was really Lyssandra Peate.
"Very well," State said, standing up. "Lieutenant, please release them."
Opli looked nervous about opening the cell doors, but was probably more nervous about defying a direct order from the highest commander. The cell doors swung open and Lizbeth bolted out as if she thought State would change his mind.
"Now, there's also the matter of Minister McDougall," State said. "Lieutenant, I would like to have a chat with him, please bring him down here to me."
"Y-yes sir." Opli nodded before sprinting out the door.
"Captain, you had better go with him, in case there is any trouble," State said.
"S-Sir," Jukin stepped forward, unsure of what to say.
"Is there a problem, Captain?" State asked.
"Are you sure that you…I mean, I…" Jukin stammered very uncharacteristically.
"I don't see any reason to throw you in here along with the minister," State said. "Unless you think the pirate is lying about your innocence."
Jukin's eyes met Razia's for brief moment and she found herself searching them for any sign of recognition. Nothing stared back at her but shock and confusion.
"No sir," he whispered, turning on his heel and disappearing out the door.
"Agent Carter, I would like a full debrief on my desk first thing in the morning," State said.
"Sir," Lizbeth said hesitantly. "Might I have an extension. My apartment was broken into and the majority of my information was stolen, it may take me—"
"Tomorrow morning," State said firmly.
"Y-yes sir," Lizbeth said. "Come on, Razia, we have a long night ahead of us."
"I would like a word with the pirate," State said, causing Razia to shrink down a little.
"Yes sir," Lizbeth nodded supportively to Razia and then disappeared out the door without another word.
Razia stood in the room alone with the old general, wondering how a seventy-year-old man was more intimidating than any pirate she'd ever faced. State continued his penetrating stare and she moved nervously from one foot to the other, uncomfortable to be the subject of his intensity.
Finally, he spoke. "I want to know why you lied about Jukin's involvement."
"I…I didn't lie," Razia stammered unconvincingly.
"You were on Tauron Ball's crew, were you not?"
Razia's eyes grew wide; nobody, save Sage and Harms, seemed to rememb
er that about her.
"How did you…?"
"My dear, you are the only woman in the pirate web," State said. "I would think it would be an insult to my intelligence to not recall your involvement, especially after you kidnapped the brother of one of my captains." He paused, tilting his head at her. "And yet, you just saved his career. A career, I might add, built on the idea that you and all of your fellow pirates deserve to swing from a noose."
"You don't agree?"
"I do not approve of his methods nor his results," State said with a disgusted look on his withered face. "In fact, if it wasn't for the political headwinds being so indecisive about piracy, I would have had him tried for murder three years ago."
Razia's heart jumped to her throat.
"I, personally, have never felt piracy to be anything other than a nuisance to multi-trillion dollar corporations," State said. "But Jukin, it seems, has a one-track mind. He seems to believe that the very existence of the pirate webs is an affront to his sense of righteousness. He is, obviously, willing to put his career on the line in the hope to completely eradicate it."
"I know," Razia replied quietly.
"Indeed, and you had the power to stop him completely. Yet, you chose to let him continue his vendetta," State replied, reflecting the same stern, piercing expression she'd seen on all his campaign posters. "I can't help but wonder why?"
Razia didn't answer him, because she was wondering the same thing.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
"Well, if it isn't the Universal Beings Union's favorite pirate!"
Razia grinned as she walked into Harms' bar, glowing his praise. Until she saw the shaggy blonde head sitting across from him.
"Yes, it's a wonder you have time for us little people, when you're being showered with adoration and media requests." Sage grinned as she slid into the booth next to him. "Your buddy's been all over the news lately."
"That's her job." Razia shrugged, sitting back. "I was simply helping out—you know, putting my extensive bounty hunting skills to use, uncovering one of the biggest government conspiracies in over three hundred years."
"And also cutting all twenty of the top pirates and their runners out of close to a billion credits," Harms interrupted, unable to keep the amused smile off of his face.
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