Their lips met once more, then his palm rested against her abdomen and he urged her upward. A halting, wondrous breath escaped as she settled fully on him.
Lit by the glow of the pool, she could see the pleasure and the fervor consuming his eyes. Lit by the glow of the pool, she wondered if he could see the passion and the tenderness brimming in her own.
Deep in the recesses of her mind, she knew they were probably watching. They watched everything, after all.
Let them watch.
Let them see what it meant to be human. To live.
Let them see what it meant to love, and be loved in return.
40
EARTH
WASHINGTON, EARTH ALLIANCE HEADQUARTERS
* * *
MARCUS FOUND HIMSELF ONCE AGAIN surrounded by boxes, though the office was again larger and the view again better.
This would be the final time such was true, for both the office and the view did not get any better in the Earth Alliance than the Prime Minister’s office. Yet these were the same boxes containing the same items as before and he felt no different than when they had surrounded him in the Attorney General’s or the Foreign Minister’s office.
If the conditions were otherwise, he told himself, he would be able to feel satisfaction, be able to take pleasure at having achieved precisely what he had sought for decades. He had risen from a homeless street urchin in the slums of Rio de Janeiro to the most powerful office in the galaxy. What else could one possibly ask for?
The aliens having the decency to hold off another year before deciding to attack, for one.
He had been so close to maneuvering humanity away from this crisis. After more than five years of planning, it had come down to a matter of weeks.
“Sir, Admiral Miriam Solovy is here to see you.”
He winced at the voice of his Chief of Staff emanating from the speaker. Weeks which he could have bought if not for his guest’s daughter. Frustration clawed up his throat to leave a stale, rotten taste in his mouth, but he dared not show it. He was the Prime Minister now. So he grabbed a glass of water to try to wash the taste away and granted her permission to enter.
He had met Miriam Solovy half a dozen times over the last five years, the most recent being at the Select Military Advisory Council meeting mere hours before the Headquarters bombing. She had always carried herself with the quiet confidence borne by military officers who earned their rank rather than fell into it. Flawlessly composed in every setting, not once had he heard her yell or even raise her voice, yet when she spoke one felt compelled to listen.
He had never managed to ascertain why that was. It disturbed him when he didn’t understand some facet of human interaction, but she remained a mystery to him.
If only she had died in the bombing like she was supposed to…instead she now stood in his office wearing an immaculate uniform and an air of righteous authority.
He gestured with as much warmth as he was able to muster. “Admiral Solovy. I have a few short minutes, but I’m happy to spare what I can for you.”
“Thank you, Prime Minister. I would offer my congratulations, but I’m afraid the circumstances are far too grim for it.”
“I couldn’t agree more. I hope I can be half the leader Luis Barrera was. Now, what can I do for you?”
“In short? Find a way to negotiate a cease-fire with the Federation, commit the whole of our forces to defending against the aliens and fire General O’Connell from the EASC Board. Not necessarily in that order.”
“Is that all? It may take a few hours.” He chuckled, and was shocked at how frayed it sounded. The glint in her eyes said she noticed it too.
In his mind he uttered an old gutter curse learned in his gang days. Handing her a tactical advantage on a platter was not a good way to begin the meeting. “Admiral, I’m sure you appreciate the difficult situation we find ourselves in. I can’t overlook the atrocities the Federation has committed upon the Alliance in the last month.”
“I lost thousands of people in the Headquarters bombing—colleagues and friends. I assure you, no one understands the losses we’ve suffered more than I do. But the clear fact is we no longer have any idea who committed the bombing. Many people are beginning to question whether the Federation was responsible. There’s even less evidence they were responsible for the Orbital explosion. Sir, the Federation may be our adversary today but such a feud appears ridiculously tiny in the face of the alien menace which now exists.
“Prime Minister, I am not given to hyperbole. But the entire human race is threatened with extinction.”
The problem inherent in each of his possible retorts was that she was correct. To anyone who didn’t know what he knew her position was unassailable and he would be insane to argue with her. But given what he did know and she did not, he needed to buy whatever time he could.
“You are of course correct. Circumstances such as these require bold actions. I will do everything I can, but there is no guarantee the Federation will be interested in talking. And perhaps we will discover in the Messium offensive that these aliens are not as formidable as we believe. Our prospects are changing rapidly and for now I must keep all our options open.”
“Sir, I—”
“Now about General O’Connell? I realize his demeanor can be abrasive, but he has years of leadership experience and—”
“He has made a disaster of the Federation war and shows no interest in the alien one. I believe he is driven by a personal vendetta against the Senecans due to the loss of his mother in the First Crux War. It is clouding his judgment and forcing him into rash decisions not backed up by cogent strategy or the facts on the battlefield.”
“And the fact your daughter not only uncovered these aliens but then was apparently falsely implicated in the EASC bombing isn’t clouding your judgment?”
“Sir, we have lost eight colonies. 6.4 million citizens—quadruple that number if you count those who are perishing on Messium as we speak. Another four Senecan and five independent colonies are decimated. 1.2 million people missing or dead. I hardly need my judgment clouded in order to want to defend those who remain.”
Knight takes Queen. “Fair enough, Admiral. You’ve made your point. I’ll have a word with General O’Connell and make certain his priorities are as they should be. If they are not, I will consider a change in leadership.”
“Thank you, Prime Minister. Hopefully we will receive good news from Messium in the next few hours.”
“I hope so as well. Now if you’ll excuse me, the Assembly leadership awaits.”
But once she had departed, he did not head for the basement situation room where the Assembly leadership would be gathering. Instead he activated privacy shielding and walked behind his desk.
The alien had almost always been the one to contact him over the years, but there had existed a few instances where he had needed to be able to reach out. In those instances it had responded promptly.
He provided the code to his eVi, a nonsensical string of symbols and numbers.
“Hyperion, are you there? I’d expected to hear from you by now. As you’re no doubt aware, I’ve now risen to the position of Earth Alliance Prime Minister and can at last control humanity’s path.”
Silence.
“I ask you to pull your forces back. Pause the attacks. Give me a few weeks, and I promise you humanity will no longer represent a threat to you. I can make this happen—I possess the power. I simply need more time.”
Silence.
“This is why you sought me out so many years ago. Because you recognized the great deeds I could accomplish. I have fulfilled all that potential and from here I can move mountains. I can move worlds. From here I can do anything. Give me the opportunity to prove it. Pull back.”
Silence.
“Please. I beg you. Do not forsake me now.”
Silence.
41
KRYSK
SENECAN FEDERATION COLONY
* * *
OLI
VIA DIDN’T BOTHER TO TAMP DOWN her scowl as she approached the receptionist for the second time in as many months. She also didn’t introduce herself this time. Given the outcome of her previous visit she doubted the woman had forgotten her.
The receptionist quivered violently. She hadn’t, then. “I’ll inform Mr. Ferre you’ve arrived, m-ma’am.”
Laure Ferre had contacted her the day before to discuss a recalcitrant broker. Ferre’s largest supplier of block-stripped hardware components was pitching a fit in the wake of the ‘accident’ involving Ilario and Alaina Ferre and demanding to speak to whoever was in charge—really in charge—or he was cutting off his supplies. He refused to travel to New Babel and a holo would not do. The man blamed his obstinacy on the chaos of the wars.
She rarely acceded to the demands of others, but it seemed she was making a lot of concessions lately. End of days and all. Given the losses in the east she could not afford to lose the Federation markets as well, though on the fringes those markets were also beginning to vanish to the aliens.
So she had donned her most severe black pantsuit, slipped on dress heels which were capable of killing a person if the appropriate amount of force was applied, tied her hair in a black silk scarf and flown to Krysk.
Make no mistake, there would be no groveling. Not on her part. But if this supplier needed the fear of Olivia Montegreu put into him, she could certainly oblige.
The receptionist escorted her down the hall, literally shaking in her boots the entire way. With the woman’s touch a door opened to a far smaller conference room than the one used on her earlier visit. At the table sat Laure Ferre and two somewhat older gentlemen.
She spun around as the door slid shut behind her. She didn’t bother to check if it was code-locked; clearly it was code-locked.
Instead she pivoted to the occupants of the room, her expression hardening into cold steel. She didn’t need the results of the facial scans to recognize the two men were spooks. It oozed from their pores like oily beads of sweat.
“It appears stabbing me in the back is all the rage these days. I’m disappointed in you, Laure. I thought we had a mutual understanding.”
Laure had the gall to preen with arrogance, sitting cozily between his big, strong protectors. “We did, for the time being. But I had no reason to believe you didn’t intend to dispose of me the second you had no further use for me, just as you did to my cousin and aunt. I have to look out for myself. I assume you’re familiar with the concept.”
The man on the left sporting the bushy salt-and-pepper hair motioned to the chair opposite him. “Ms. Montegreu, please take a seat.”
She arched an eyebrow. “I’m not being arrested then.”
“Well, now, I think that depends on you.”
So they wanted something. Everyone always did. Lacking other options she sat, but remained silent.
The other man—he lacked any distinguishing features of note—leaned slightly into the table. “Who were the forty kilos of HHNC delivered to on Earth?”
Oh.
Had Marcus sold her out before she could do the same to him? It wasn’t his style, yet…end of days and all. Still, Palluda would’ve made for a more lucrative avenue of betrayal so perhaps not. “I don’t know to what HHNC you’re referring. I don’t deal in explosives.”
“Sure you do. You deal in everything. The HHNC which was smuggled from Pandora to Vancouver and used in the EASC Headquarters bombing.”
So Kigin had gotten clumsy in the rush after Terrage refused the job and sodded it up. This was why one never deviated from the plan. Agreeing to do so had in fact come back to bite her in the proverbial ass.
She decided she was definitely going to kill Marcus if she saw him again…
…unless she could do one better.
She smiled, though only in the most technical sense of the word in that her lips curled in an upward manner. “Director Delavasi, Colonel Navick—” they maintained sufficient composure to not look startled she had managed to identify them “—I expect you’re both prepped for a lengthy interrogation. You’ve likely worked out when to resort to bullying and at what point draconian threats will be required.”
She lost all pretense of a smile. “If it’s all the same to you, I’d prefer to avoid such unpleasantness. I realize I represent a prize catch for either of your governments, though which one wins me is an interesting question. Also one I am not inclined to learn the answer to.
“The simple truth is, while a few months ago I would be the biggest catch of either of your careers, today you face far larger problems. Problems I can help you solve.”
Navick started to protest; she waved him silent. “I will give you the entirety of what I know relating to this little spat which has broken out between your governments: who was involved, where the materials came from, the precise incidents which occurred when and by whom. You’ll find in there several catches adequate to make your careers, I assure you. I’ll provide the proof you need to bring a mercifully hasty end to your unfortunate war.
“Further, I’ll provide you materials to fight these aliens, off the books and free of charge. Bleeding-edge tech. Modified weapons. Biosynth boosters for your ground troops. Whatever you need. I imagine the supply lines are getting a bit thin what with so many colonies being cut off and so much wasteful usage of supplies to kill one another as you’ve been doing these last weeks.”
Navick’s jaw was grinding, she suspected from the effort of hearing her out. “Why would you give us all this?”
“What good is being a criminal mastermind if there’s no one left alive to corrupt? It is against my interests for the aliens to kill everyone.”
Delavasi’s fingertips drummed on the table. “And in return?”
“In return, I walk out this door a free woman. I’m not prosecuted for any involvement in events which may or may not have occurred in relation to your war. Or anything else.”
The man laughed heartily; the full-throated sound seemed to originate from deep in his gut. She supposed it might be what some referred to as a guffaw. Such a crass word.
Then in a flash it was gone and his eyes were hard. “You ask quite a lot.”
She met his rigid stare with her own cool one. “Not really. Everyone in this room knows if I’m put in prison, someone else will simply take my place. The business I’m in will continue as it always has. Wouldn’t it be better to have someone in charge who is favorably inclined toward saving the galaxy and toward you personally?
“Besides, I believe you’ve already made a similar if less grand arrangement with Mr. Ferre here. It’s not as if your scruples had anywhere lower to descend.
“Gentlemen, I am offering you the means to save billions of lives. All I ask in return is my own.”
Delavasi and Navick exchanged a glance. Navick was biting on his lower lip so hard she expected blood to dribble down his chin any second now. “And if we refuse?”
She settled back in the chair and crossed one leg casually over the other, her hands coming to rest together on her knee.
“Arrest me. Torture me. Parade me about in the public square. You will have your prize catch. And you will lose everything.”
Richard and Graham sat in another booth in another pub.
Richard took a long sip of his ale. Ice crystals miraculously clung to the outside of the mug despite the sweltering heat. He licked away the excess froth and gazed across the table.
“Well.”
Graham nodded sagely over his own mug. “Well, indeed.”
“What does it say about us that we can be manipulated so spectacularly?”
“In fairness, not us. Politicians. You and I, we saw through their schemes quickly enough, so I’d say it says rather good things about us.” The grumble which followed made it clear the statement was only partially in jest.
“Good things or not, we have a job ahead of us. And her information had damn well better be airtight because these people are not going to go down willingly.”
<
br /> “Yep. But hey, that’s why they pay us like princes.”
“I thought they paid us like paupers.”
“Oh, right.” Graham finished off his ale. He looked as though he desperately wanted to order another, but refrained. “So we’ll keep in close contact and try to coordinate events. Don’t want to spook our targets if we can avoid it.”
“I’ve got a lengthier trip than you, but it means more time to analyze the data. I’ll forward you what I’ve put together when I land in Washington.”
“Straight into the lion’s den, huh?”
Richard shrugged. “I’ll have a team waiting for me there. The longer we delay, the greater chance everything goes to Hell.”
“True enough. You believe she didn’t know anything about the aliens?”
“It’s logical. She made a good point. A galaxy devoid of life is not good for her bottom line. Still, I hate to let her go.”
“Greater good, my friend.”
“I know.” Richard exhaled. “Nothing left to do but do it. Shall we?”
Graham reached in his pocket and produced a small crystal disk. He slid it toward Richard. “For you.”
“What is it?”
“Will Sutton’s full Intelligence file. How he was recruited, what his mission parameters were and everything he’s given us over the years.”
Richard shook his head and pushed the disk back across the table. “Keep it.”
“Please. Consider it a small thank you for having the courage to take a tremendous risk in meeting me. I couldn’t have even attempted any of this without you. Instead I’d be sitting in my office yanking my hair out because I knew something was wrong but had no way to begin to prove it. Montegreu was right. We’re going to save billions of lives, and it’s easily as much thanks to you as it is to me. Probably more so.
“Because of that, you deserve to know two things. One, marrying you was never part of his mission parameters. That was his choice and his choice alone. Two, what his mission parameters were, and the manner in which he fulfilled them, are on that disk. So do me a kindness and take the damn file.”
Vertigo: Aurora Rising Book Two Page 27
