by Terry Mixon
That almost made Brad laugh. He had no friends in this body. Potentially, he might find temporary allies, but this nest of vipers was incapable of friendship.
“I appreciate that,” he said, hoping the lie rolled effortlessly off his tongue. “Now that we’ve settled that matter, shall we see if we can discover how a weapon of mass destruction made its way into First Oberon?”
Councilor Eden turned her attention to Command Constable Daskalov. “Let’s see what our security service has been able to determine. Athanasius?”
Surprised in spite of himself, Brad followed her gaze. Perhaps he’d been too hasty in saying that no one in this body had friends.
The OSE man nodded. “We figured the easiest place to start looking was the work crew assigned to renovate the buildings. We found plenty of basic construction workers, and they all had the same story.
“Their management team told them that there’d been some kind of regulatory hold-up. They told them that the doctors were continuing to pay the workers’ salary while this was cleared up, so no one made a fuss. They were getting paid to stay home and do whatever they wanted.”
Eden frowned. “I’ve been keeping an eye on the bureaucracy where it concerns this project. There was no hold-up on our side.”
“No, there wasn’t,” Daskalov agreed. “We figure that was a lie so that they could get the workers out of the building while they rigged their trap. We haven’t been able to confirm that, because none of the construction managers seems to still be here.”
“What?” Grand Councilor Killian asked. “Where did they go?”
“Various places over the last month. They and their families slipped away on vacations and other pretexts. Not one of them is still here to be asked pointed questions. Someone went to great lengths to make absolutely certain no one was talking out of school.”
Brad was willing to give a lot of credit where it was due, but he felt the need to clear his throat. “Forgive me, Command Constable, but it seems to me that whoever was doing the investigation missed some significant details. What about building inspectors? Port inspectors? Someone must have seen something.”
“I’m sure they did,” the OSE man said agreeably. “The challenge is going to be to find them and get them to admit it. Within broad limits, one can get anything they want for the right amount of money here on Oberon.
“Let’s take the building inspectors, for example. So long as the building will safely hold pressure, just about anything else can be overlooked for an appropriate bribe. I’ve got people out speaking to the man assigned to inspect the new hospital complex. Or I suppose I should say the former hospital complex.
“I can virtually guarantee what he’ll tell us. That once he was notified by the contractors that they were pausing work, he stopped going to the site. They probably paid him a little extra to be absolutely certain he didn’t stop in for an unexpected visit, but the man had no reason to expect high explosives and nerve agents. Those aren’t exactly the kind of thing any building inspector would be looking for.”
“So, you’re telling me that we’re never going to find out who did this?” Grand Councilor Killian objected. “That’s preposterous! This was obviously a very large operation. Someone must know something and I expect you to find them.”
The red-uniformed man nodded. “I and my people are doing everything humanly possible to find a lead, Grand Councilor. It’s clear this attack was meticulously planned and executed over a period of months.
“It’s likely that the nerve agent entered through the port in an innocuous container that no one could have spotted. We don’t have testing machines looking for that sort of thing. Why would we? I mean really, who can get their hands on military-grade nerve agents? Frankly, I thought they’d been outlawed decades or centuries ago.”
Brad cleared his throat. “Why don’t I run you through everything that I know. Truthfully, that’s all I can contribute to your investigation. The ambush was planned and put in action before I even landed. Whether I was the target, the doctors were, or we both were, that’s probably only going to be determined long after I’ve departed Oberon.”
When he’d left Oath to come to this meeting, that was exactly how Brad had felt. Now that he knew someone on the Council was likely in the pay of the Cadre, what he’d just told the Council was a polite fiction. It was very likely he’d have answers within the next day or two.
He focused his attention subtly on Ferarre. The man’s sour expression told Brad that he wasn’t pleased his ploy had failed. With three days until Brad’s ships were scheduled to depart, it was going to be a race to see which of them struck first.
Brad suppressed a cold grin. With Agent Falcone at his side, he knew where he’d be putting his money. Let the games begin.
Chapter Thirteen
After what felt like going over the same dreary details a thousand times, Brad returned to Oath without incident. As he’d expected, the meeting had been a complete waste of time. With the exception, of course, of coming face-to-face with Ferarre.
That was an unadulterated stroke of luck. One he hoped they could leverage into a solid lead on the people behind the attack. He felt confident that if they tugged the threads hard enough, they’d lead back to the Cadre. And the mysterious Phoenix.
Xan had carried out Brad’s instructions and Falcone was waiting with Michelle in the wardroom.
Over the years, they’d spruced up the wardroom to the point that it actually felt homey. They’d paneled the serviceable metal cabinets with thin sheets of dark wood and hung pictures taken from the scanner records of their various battles. Their victories.
Those reminded him of Sara Kernsky’s office on Ganymede. The Mercenary Guild factor had just such an image over her desk to commemorate the hard-fought victory over the Cadre that had cost her so many friends and comrades all those years before. This was similar, though with a thoroughly Vikings feel.
The two women were huddled at one end of the wardroom table, chatting over coffee. They looked up as he walked through the hatch, and smiled.
“I was beginning to wonder if we’d have to come pry you out of their hands,” Michelle said. “I heard they were being asses.”
“Self-important asses,” he agreed. “I don’t think I was directly in danger this time. It was more a matter of them trying to show me who was boss. It didn’t quite work out the way they’d planned.”
“What was this other matter?” Falcone asked. “The message was somewhat garbled. Something about someone we knew from somewhere. I hope it was important enough for me to break off my investigation and rush back here. Not that having some time to get to know your wife wasn’t fun and useful.”
Michelle nodded. “We’ve been talking about you, of course.”
Of course they had.
He poured the last of the coffee into a cup, turned off the burner, and sat across from them. “We’ve met one of the people on the Council of Speakers. Back when we were at Oberon City a few years back. Ferarre was his name then, but now he goes by the name Zackary Schrum.”
The Agent sat up abruptly and set her coffee cup on the table with a clatter. “Seriously?”
“It was definitely him. I asked the person who came to get me a few general questions about him. He arrived here shortly after I beat the snot out of him in his office on Oberon City. He’s been working behind the scenes since then but only joined the Council of Speakers about nine months ago.
“From everything I can tell, it takes a lot of money and influence to get a seat at that table. Since he didn’t have anything on that scale before, I’d be willing to place a rather large bet that the Cadre is behind his sudden rise in the world.”
Falcone picked up her coffee mug and took a long sip, frowning as she thought. “That is very interesting. Did he recognize you?”
Brad shook his head. “I never took the face wrap off while I was in his office back then. The only thing he’d have to go on is my general height and build, and my voice
. I watched his face pretty closely and I don’t believe that he’s suspicious.
“I could be wrong. The man might be the best actor to hit the stage in my lifetime. Odds are long but I suppose it’s possible.”
“Do you think he’s the one who smuggled the nerve agent into the city?” Michelle asked.
Before he could answer, Falcone cut in. “Of course he is. This is no coincidence. In fact, once you start working in the intelligence field, you discover there is hardly ever any kind of coincidence. We’re going to have to find a way to get our hands on him.”
And this time, Brad promised himself that he wasn’t going to let the rodent live. When dealing with pirates and slavers, it seemed no good deed went unpunished.
“Do we have any idea where he’s living?” Falcone asked. “I can certainly have some of my contacts get the information for us, but the fewer people that know we’re interested in him, the better.”
“It shouldn’t be too hard to find out, even if we’re being careful,” Brad said. “I’m wondering what his follow-up plan is.”
The Agent cocked her head. “Follow-up plan?”
Brad set his forearms on the metal table and steepled his fingers. “If he had instructions to stop the Doctors’ Guild from setting up shop, then he’s going to be scrambling to find a new way to make that happen. The Cadre isn’t just going to accept his explanation that we stopped plan A and they lost.”
Falcone considered that for a moment before nodding. “Since the Doctors’ Guild hasn’t located alternative housing, they’re still working out of the ships. The Pythons are responsible for their security now, so I suppose we should read them in.”
“I can make that happen,” Michelle said. “I’m meeting Colonel Ahmed later this evening to discuss a couple of logistical issues before we head out.”
“That would be good,” Brad said. “I’m certain Ferarre has people watching our ships.” He turned his attention to Falcone. “If I might be so bold, what exactly were you working on today? I assume it was some variant of ‘find the bad guys.’”
“Close enough,” she agreed with a nod. “The agency doesn’t have any paid informants on Oberon, and I was thinking to change that. If the Cadre is operating out of First Oberon, then I want to have my own eyes watching for signs of another attack before it happens.
“For something like that, you can’t just pick someone off the street. First, you need someone that has enough access to know that something is going on. Second, you need someone that is steady enough that they won’t inadvertently reveal themselves when something happens. Third, they need to be closed-mouthed so that no one knows they’re spying for us.
“As you might imagine, that pretty severely cuts down on the number of potential candidates. Worse, many of the people that are qualified and suited to be a spy for you don’t have the character. Or they have too much character, not that I expect to find that particular problem on Oberon.”
That made sense to Brad. In very general terms, that was similar to how one hired people for a mercenary company. “Did you find anyone?”
“I found a few potential candidates,” she said vaguely. “I wouldn’t exactly call them hired at this point, but those type of folk would certainly be willing to do a little scouting for us. I’d wager that I can get Ferarre’s new address within the hour.”
Brad checked his wrist unit. It had been a long day. For his people, it had been an exceptionally long day.
“Put those feelers out. Michelle, that will also give you time to carry out your scheduled meeting with the Pythons. Then we can all have dinner and get some sleep before we can act on this. We definitely want to have as many locals as possible off the street when we start moving.”
“I can do that,” Falcone agreed. “What kind of operational plan are we looking at? A smash-and-grab? Your people blow a hole into his place and we snag him?”
“I’d rather not leave First Oberon with the hounds baying behind us,” Brad said with a shake of his head. “We’ve already told everyone that we’ll be staying for the next few days. Let’s try something a little less obvious first.
“If we can slip inside his place, we might be able to get him before anyone is aware we have. That would give us days to ask some pointed questions.”
A slow smile spread across Falcone’s face. “I like the way you think. Shall we meet back here around 0200 local?”
“Sounds perfect. See you then.”
As expected, Ferarre lived in one of the most exclusive and well-guarded areas of First Oberon. Unlike Olympus Mons City on Mars, the wealthiest people on Oberon didn’t go deep. They built on the surface and used exclusive tunnels to get to the rest of First Oberon.
Frankly, Brad wasn’t sure why they bothered. Uranus wasn’t that much to look at. If this had been one of the moons of Jupiter or Saturn, that would have been a very different story. Well, he supposed people just had to make do with what they had.
Brad lay on top of a small pressure ridge in an armored vac-suit, examining these buildings through a military-grade optical enhancer. A hand-picked fire team was spread out of sight behind him.
He’d brought extra people when he’d left the pressurized domes who had taken pains to avoid being seen getting out onto the surface. They were off conducting the “exercise” he was using as cover in place of Brad and his primary strike team.
“They aren’t much to look at, are they?” Falcone asked over the short-range radio link as she lay beside him, also examining the buildings. “I mean, seriously, why not just build down in the city? Those damned buildings had to have cost a fortune, and they’re ugly.”
Brad agreed. Built to withstand exterior conditions on Oberon, the buildings looked like toy blocks that some angry child had stacked roughly on top of one another and then knocked over in a fit of pique.
“I’ve seen two exterior patrols,” he said after a few minutes. “They’re using some kind of surface rover. Probably two or three people in each. They’re taking a clockwise path around the entire group of buildings. Probably some kind of neighborhood watch.”
“Ferarre will have some kind of internal security, as well,” Falcone said. “Politics here is a contact sport. He’s not just going to let anyone wander in and potentially murder him.”
“That’s where we have an edge,” Brad said, putting away his optical enhancer. “Our equipment is a lot stealthier than the locals can get their hands on. It won’t take us much effort to get past the roving guard.
“If you can get us inside without setting off any alarms, we can deal with what we find inside. My techs will make certain no one calls for help.”
She set down her optical enhancer and rolled over far enough so that she could see him through her faceplate. She was grinning.
“You can take it as an article of faith that I’ll get us into that building without tripping any alarms. However, we need to figure out which of the buildings he lives in, first. My contact told me roughly where he lived, but that’s not enough detail to identify a specific building.”
Brad smiled back at her. “I have a plan for that. With any luck, we won’t have to do anything that might tip our hand. I’d hate to have to break into every building out here just to find the little bastard.”
Falcone laughed. “Yeah, let’s avoid that.”
Sneaking past the guards proved to be relatively uncomplicated. The small rovers stayed on a predictable track, circling the exclusive neighborhood, and followed a regular schedule. All Brad had to do was wait for one to pass before crossing and moving out of sight between the buildings.
Once past the patrol, they moved slowly and only cautiously crossed any open areas. If there was a way to stick to the shadows, they did so. Uranus’s blue-green light didn’t make for very bright illumination, so he felt safe enough.
The communications specialist they’d brought along with them, Corporal Tisha Reece, located a handy com junction and began removing the access panel, while the rest of
the fire team spread out to give her cover.
Brad had seen an expert hack into the Cadre’s com and security systems when they’d attacked the Terror’s base two years earlier. Deeply impressed, he’d invested some good money to make sure he had other talented people who could do almost as well. The corporal had proven well worth the training costs.
Reece plugged in several cables and began tapping on a tablet. “The communications are encrypted from end to end, it looks like. If I were trying to see the content of any calls, this would be a lot harder. But all I need to see are the routing tables. Those are in a simpler code. A standard code.” She sounded almost offended at this lapse of professionalism.
“I found the one we’re looking for. All I need to do at this point is determine which building matches the hardwired location.”
“And how are you going to do that?” Brad asked, curious. “Just because a certain line is labeled as going to the target, how can you determine which of these physical residences matches up with the other end of the cable?”
The trooper turned and smiled at him through her helmet. “Someone helpfully put a map of this so-called neighborhood into the maintenance files and labeled which cables followed which route. I figured they’d do something like that. Otherwise, maintenance would be a nightmare.
“Here we go. It looks like the target is on the outskirts off to our left. Probably just inside the patrol area. Here’s a map.”
Brad and Falcone leaned in and examined the readout on the tablet.
“I can find that,” Falcone said.
After the corporal had closed everything back up, the fire team made its way to Ferarre’s home. Again, they saw no signs of activity on the surface. No surprise, considering the conditions they were working under.
The block walls of Ferarre’s house looked like everyone else’s: thick, uncolored stone. Each building they passed had had an emergency exit, basically a personnel airlock with a security system to prevent it from being opened from the outside without the right codes.
