A People's War (The Oligarchy Book 2)

by Stewart Hotston

  Not waiting for Alex to make himself comfortable Andreas began his meeting. ‘Helena, let me get to the point, yes? Do you know David Chalmers?’ Keeping her voice as still as possible, she answered him in the affirmative.

  Andreas sighed like a disappointed father. ‘I thought as much.’ He folded his arms, his posture upright. He tutted once, pursed his lips then spoke. ‘I’ve assumed you haven’t been foolish enough to let this man know what we are doing. He has other friends who have put him in contact with us.’ Helena wanted to relax; the danger of her connection with David had passed, but the very fact Andreas was discussing him refused to let her sit at ease.

  Except that no one was looking at her.

  ‘Regional Commander Chalmers has requested I send someone with him on a trip he’s making to Nord Jutland.’ Helena’s heart stopped; she wanted to laugh at his daring foolishness. Instead she waited to hear how he had managed to position himself so effectively and why, exactly, he hadn’t previously mentioned his rank.

  ‘He has specifically requested Helena,’ said Andreas, sounding irked but looking resigned to the unfolding circumstances. He knew well enough he had no choice but to cooperate. ‘I think two of us working together with this detective will make a better team, perhaps allow us to pursue our own goals as well as the wider goals of the Company,’ he waved his hand dismissively, ‘which this detective assures me relates to catching those responsible for detonating the device at Surbiton station in southern London.’

  He won’t get it all his own way then, thought Helena wryly.

  Andreas leaned back slightly in his chair. ‘Chalmers is an important man; whoever gave him permission to leave the City in order to pursue these criminals is high enough in the food chain to arrange visas, transport and a welcoming committee of local officials. However, as far as I am concerned, he is not to be trusted with what we are doing here.’

  He was interrupted by Elizabeth. ‘Not that we know enough to ruin anybody’s secret plans anyway.’

  Andreas ignored her and continued. ‘His interest in Helena appears to rest on her connection with the pilot she dragged across the southern hemisphere in pursuit of Edward. The Normal has gone rogue in a completely different manner. Helena, I assume you have Danish language access?’ Helena nodded. ‘Good. You’ll at least be able to get by should you run into anyone who doesn’t speak globish.’

  Shifting slightly he spoke to Jane. ‘Jane, I know you’ve mastered the Scandinavian languages; coupled with your specialism in recent western European history, it seems natural for you to accompany Helena to the province.’

  In some ways, it would have been easier for her to be partnered with Elizabeth or Alex, even Roger, whose endless drinking stories were as stale as week-old beer. She had no history with them, but Jane had seen beneath the cracks, knew of the rift between her and Johannes.

  I can’t afford to expend capital on getting my own way, she thought. She was prepared to accept the situation because she believed she knew how to manage Jane.

  ‘The rest of us will prioritise getting these Solvers operating as they’re supposed to. I will require you to actually be in the office and working together on this.’ Andreas ignored the sighs. ‘Beyond that, I have a meeting with Euros’ security service tomorrow. I hope to force them to open up access to at least their surface level files on these agents we’re supposed to be hunting down. Regardless of what the Solvers turn up in the next week or so we should have material to work with.’

  Jane spoke up. ‘Andreas, you mentioned that two of us would be better placed to pursue our own ends. What reason do you have for supposing any of the agents have made it out of London?’

  Andreas touched the tip of his tongue to his lips before speaking. Helena noticed he was grinding his teeth between sentences and wondered what would anger him to such an extent. ‘The regional commander is aware of who we hunt. In fact, in counterpoint to what I have already said, he appears to know the identity of those we’re trying to find.’

  People shook their heads in cynical bemusement. Elizabeth, in a voice that could have burned through steel, said, ‘Right, so, this chump, who by the way isn’t looking for rogue agents, knows who they are but we’re stonewalled at every turn. This is a joke Andreas, whose sublime idea was it to put together a team to find rogue agents but, with the knowledge of who these people were at their fingertips, decided, in their infinite wisdom, to withhold that information from the very people they picked out? I’m just wondering who I offended to get this post.’

  Roger sighed. ‘I’m sure they had their reasons Elizabeth.’ She gave him a withering look and turned her attention back to Andreas, daring him to give her an answer. Helena said nothing, anxious about who David had said he was looking for in Jutland.

  Andreas showed no sign of hearing Elizabeth. ‘Since he seems to be a mine of unguarded knowledge I feel it appropriate we try to see what he knows. If what he’s indicated to me is correct, then we are looking for a group of people in possession of highly sensitive technology who’ve allied themselves with a group of Normal criminals. To what extent they’re cooperating he could not, or would not, say. However, in the absence of anything else, he remains our best and only channel of investigation. Am I clear?’

  Elizabeth opened her mouth to speak but Helena got in first. ‘What about the security service?’

  ‘I hope to force the issue tomorrow; knowing that the civilian security forces already have this information hopefully makes a persuasive case for including us in the “need to know” category. I believe I can negotiate access for us.’

  ‘Right,’ said Elizabeth sourly. ‘Andreas, on a serious note, what do you know about this Regional Commander? How is it he can make these kinds of demands and we simply jump?’

  ‘Elizabeth, if you’ve been watching the news over the last few days, you will have seen his face splashed across the feeds. He was responsible for saving nearly half a dozen Family members’ lives at the bombing. Not only is he a very senior director in an ascending division within the Company, he is also flavour of the month for his highly public and very marketable actions. I should have thought I wouldn’t need to explain that if he is here and asking for these items, the best approach is to listen carefully to what we are not being told.’ He held up two fingers, ticking them off as he spoke. ‘Two things: Firstly, you are the pattern spotter not me, so please go and spot the pattern. Secondly, what we know about Chalmers is what Helena knows. If you have questions address them to her.’

  Andreas turned his contemplative gaze from Helena to Alex. ‘Alex, briefly if you will, tell us how long Lysander will take to correct their system errors.’

  Alex sat up in order to speak clearly. ‘I’m still not sure what went wrong; they seem to have found some loop in their paralogic they can’t resolve,’

  ‘How long?’ cut in Andreas curtly.

  Alex stopped and, forming words in his mouth, said nothing for a few moments. ‘I don’t know. I’ve heard of this happening before, but I’ve not come across any prescripted resolutions. It could be a week, perhaps two. I won’t know until I find the answer.’

  ‘Elizabeth, work with him; try to resolve their paradox whilst he works on the logic.’ Elizabeth nodded. ‘That’s all. Helena, Jane, your plane leaves in the morning. Your documents will be waiting for you at Euros’ Northern Spires terminal. I’d advise you to pick up whatever equipment you require at least an hour before you fly.’

  ‘What do you mean?’ asked Jane.

  ‘Chalmers has secured you free access to the military supply depot in the Euros Spires. He seems to think you’ll need at least small arms and body armour.’ Jane looked at Helena, eyes wide. Helena nodded and stood up. The meeting was over. Helena and Jane left together discussing how to prepare for the next day.

  Back in her office, Helena paced, trying to find some way around it, but she couldn’t. She was going to have to return to her flat. Even if she weren’t followed, sending Jane to pick her things u
p would mean questions, not least from Jane. If her location was being made public, Helena rather thought she deserved to escape Jane’s inevitable probing.

  Helena had become accustomed to asking her Primary AI for advice, but it was still busy and she had no desire to derail its momentum. The inordinate amount of time it was spending on the question of other AI hinted that it was seeking answers to its own questions as much as to hers. If there were precedents of AIs developing personalities they could rightfully call their own, it could help them both understand what had happened in Africa.

  Finally, Helena concluded that news of her imminent trip would filter through to her Uncle’s people. On balance, she decided, they’d rather I was out of the City than in it.

  THE IRREFUTABLE logic of her reasoning did not stop them from meeting her at the door to her flat. Two women came out of the lift as she reached her door.

  ‘Are you coming in?’ she asked without turning to greet them.

  ‘Yes,’ said one of them.

  They stood just inside the doorway, waiting for her to set the tone of what had to happen. Helena carefully rolled out her senses to assess her visitors as she took off her jacket and dumped her bag onto the chair in the hallway.

  Looking at them briefly, she said, ‘Come on then,’ and walked into the living room. As she walked in, she turned and stood with her hands on her hips, waiting for them to catch up. They walked through the door but didn’t come any further.

  ‘What do you want?’ she barked at them. ‘I don’t have time for your games and do not think I can be intimidated.’ Helena was satisfied to see both women caught off guard. She wasn’t the timid diplomat they’d expected to find.

  I have to make capital from my immediate advantage or lose.

  They were dressed in black, loose fitting slacks and tighter shirts. The one to her left had red hair, the colour of bonfires on a November night. The other had dark brown hair with streaks of silver. Neither styles were particularly fashionable but trend setting wasn’t a consideration in their line of work.

  I could do with your help, she said to her primary AI.

  I am here, it said, empty but certain. Helena was strangely encouraged in knowing she wasn’t alone.

  ‘We want your help,’ said the brunette disarmingly, the streaks in her short hair catching the dusky light from Helena’s windows.

  ‘We just want to talk,’ said her companion.

  Helena laughed in derision but held up a hand in submission, waving away any disagreement.

  ‘Thank you,’ said the redhead, taking off her outer shirt to reveal a French grey satin vest underneath. She flung the jacket over the counter by her side and then ran her hands through her hair, pulling the curly ends straight.

  ‘Shall we?’ said Helena, retreating into the living room and sitting down in the chair she always chose when she wanted to gaze out across London.

  They followed and, seeing Helena’s back to them, awkwardly settled themselves down behind her. Helena could see them clearly enough in the window’s reflection. ‘That doesn’t change my question,’ she said, pulling her legs up under her.

  ‘What?’ asked one of them.

  ‘Sorry about this level of secrecy; we did try and catch you at the station,’ said the other.

  ‘Indeed,’ said Helena dryly.

  ‘I’m sorry?’ came back the reply. ‘I think you’ll find we are the ones who suffered, not you.’

  ‘You weren’t there, were you?’ said Helena, the pitch of her voice descending the more she felt aggrieved by their insensitivity.

  Seeing her companion getting flustered, the brunette took charge. ‘We lost friends there so, please, excuse us any emotion.’ She allowed the words to hang. ‘If we can move on, the reason we approached you there, and the reason we’re here today, is because we think you provide a link for us to someone under suspicion of war crimes.’

  A premonition came over Helena. ‘My Uncle.’

  ‘You knew?’ said the brunette sounding surprised.

  ‘No, she’s guessing,’ said the other. Helena rubbed at her eyes with one hand.

  ‘What do you want?’ asked Helena again, suddenly weary. All I wanted was to eat in my own home before I had to leave. At the front of her mind was how long she had left before the pre-flight briefing. She was determined to use the few hours before the flight to equip herself with a number of items, both intellectual and physical, which she hoped would be useful, or at least go some way to precluding others taking advantage of her.

  Helena focused through her windows into the middle distance, watching hoppers flit back and forth in the heavy light of the fading dusk. The stark burning oranges and purples that glowed across the horizon were only possible because of the war. The European parliament had suspended all weather management until the conflict had been resolved. Their official line confidently held out that it would only be a matter of weeks but, in the meantime, given the increased security threat and its high energy costs, Londoners were learning to live with the weather however it chose to manifest itself.

  Dull grey clouds hung in the sky; the setting sun was obscured for the first time in twenty years but producing glorious, pregnant umbers, reds and purples she’d never seen in London before. Helena thought the suspension of weather management was political not military in origin, but the view from her flat was a small pleasure and provided decent recompense. Twin rays of sunshine pierced the banks of cloud over the Thames north of the river, flashing like divinity against the sides of City’s Spires. It held her mesmerised while the two women behind her dawdled.

  ‘Where to begin...’ said the brunette.

  ‘Near the end,’ said Helena.

  ‘Fine,’ said the redhead.

  ‘Indexiv is intent on taking over Euros and becoming the largest Company on the planet. If it does, it will be well placed to tackle Amenic, the Americans’ behemoth. Obviously we couldn’t care less about Amenic, just the fact that if Indexiv manages to come to that point, it will be because we no longer exist as Families of Euros.

  ‘Your Uncle is under suspicion of aiding Indexiv in its attempts. To that end we are asking, since you are close to him but have also been able to show independence from his influence, if you would be willing to help us secure evidence to take to the Executive. He is clearly powerful enough to deflect any investigation that is not reporting directly to them.’

  Helena swung her chair around to listen; she stopped the turn of the chair by placing her feet back onto the floor.

  ‘She was guessing,’ said the brunette happily when she saw Helena’s face.

  ‘Start with your names, tell me who you work for and then tell me what you think he’s doing,’ said Helena.

  ‘Until we have an intimation regarding your cooperation you cannot have any of that information,’ said the Redhead flatly.

  ‘Fine, then we have nothing to discuss,’ said Helena, confident she was in charge of the situation.

  There was silence for a moment. ‘I am Sarah Wilkins,’ said the brunette. ‘My colleague is Penelope Monroe. Your Uncle,’ somehow they made it sound like it was her fault he was a traitor, ‘has been trading technological secrets with Indexiv for some time now. Further to this, he has been openly sympathetic to their merger overtures in the last three months. Many on the Executive were suspicious even then that he had stronger links with the corporation than was felt prudent, but none suspected he could be working to secure Indexiv routes into Euros’ heartlands and production facilities.’

  At this, Helena sat up straight with her hands perching at the ends of the arms on the chair, almost pushing her to her feet. ‘What do you mean?’ she asked. ‘What hasn’t been reported in London?’

  ‘Nothing,’ Penelope was quick to assure her. ‘There have been no seizures of assets yet, but we are aware of a number of centres where our resistance will be weak at best if, and when, Indexiv decide to penetrate.’

  ‘And?’ persisted Helena.

  ‘Most,
if not all, of these sectors were placed in the situation they currently face following the security briefing paper your Uncle presented to the Executive four months ago.’

  Helena knew she had to ask. ‘Couldn’t he just be incompetent?’ Neither woman answered her. ‘Fine. But the executive had to agree to his proposals for them to happen.’

  ‘Is that enough for you?’ asked Sarah.

  ‘You expect an answer now?’ asked Helena in surprise.

  ‘Of course we do; you’re leaving for Northern Europe in the morning. Circumstances will have moved on by the time you return. We need to have an assurance of your aid before this war progresses any further,’ said Penelope. ‘Besides, when we tried contacting you a number of days ago you were less than receptive.’

  Helena felt her hackles go up. ‘Listen here, it wasn’t me who set that bomb off, so back off.’

  ‘Will you help us?’ asked Sarah, casting a frustrated glance at her colleague.

  Helena pursed her lips. I don’t trust the wily bastard but this doesn’t smell like him. It’s war. Euros is a hotbed of self-interest and desperate ambition. Stars are rising and falling on the back of the war effort; few of them adding value. Some are just creating competitive blockages but they’re all playing the angles. She wondered how much of the accusation could simply be due to others manoeuvring themselves into positions of greater power.

  What will be the consequences should you refuse to help this investigation? asked her AI suddenly.

  Are you saying I should help them? she asked it.

  A commitment to help aids you either way, came the reply.

  She knew it made sense. If she agreed and the allegations were true, she would be ahead of the game with valuable allies when her Uncle finally discovered her duplicity regarding Rex. However, if they were false, then she was ahead of the game with Johannes, having inside knowledge that would force him to ally with her whether he liked it or not.