An Airless Storm: Cochrane's Company: Book Two

by Peter Grant

  Tears were pouring down her face once more. Her son goggled at her in astonishment as Cochrane nodded. “Thank you, Mrs. Sejdiu. Young man, consider this. We would never willingly have used such methods, but they’re so devastatingly effective that we saw no other way to learn what we were up against. We had no wish to be your enemies. We knew nothing about you – we’d never even heard of the Albanian Brotherhood – until your people tried to steal asteroids from a system we’d been hired to protect. We tried to stop you, as we were legally entitled to do; but instead of backing down and looking for easier pickings elsewhere, you escalated the fight against us.”

  His voice became biting, angry. “You, the Brotherhood, are criminals, plain and simple. You have no legal or moral justification for your fight against us. However, you’ve forced us to defend ourselves against you. Since you hold nothing back in your attacks, we can’t afford to hold anything back in our defense – but that’s your fault. We learned that ruthlessness from you, and last night we used your techniques to learn what your spy team leader knew about us and planned to do to us. Don’t you dare call me dishonorable for trying to protect my people in the only way possible, against criminal thugs who wouldn’t recognize honor if it reared up and spat in their faces!”

  The young man’s face showed his inner struggle. “I… I am not a thug! I have never been a criminal!”

  Cochrane cocked his head for a moment, looking thoughtfully at him. “I daresay you, as an individual, are correct, Sub-Lieutenant. You’ve behaved honorably in captivity, and never betrayed your cause or your superiors, even though both are unworthy of you. I accept that you’re a man of honor, who’s been brainwashed almost from birth into supporting a cause that’s morally and intellectually bankrupt. In fact, I wish you were in my service. Someone with your obvious talent and ability would rise quickly through our ranks, and go far. It’s a pity that isn’t possible. Nevertheless, in general, your Brotherhood’s behavior has been nothing less than criminal, right from the start. Your Patriarch began it that way, and the rot set in right from the start.”

  “My great-grandfather was no criminal! He left the Bregija clan because it would not allow him to pursue his dream!”

  “Your great-grandfather? You mean you’re directly descended from Bashkim Bregija?”

  Jehona put in, “He was my grandfather.”

  “What were you told about how he split from his clan?”

  “We… we were told he tried to persuade the Bregija elders of his vision. When they refused, and mocked him, he broke away, taking with him those who shared his ideals and were loyal to them. We have built our own clan around them.”

  “That sounds nice, ma’am, but it’s not true – at least, not according to the Bregijas. They claim Bashkim insulted the Bregija elders, calling them cowards and weaklings for refusing to adopt his vision of an Albanian homeworld, from which they could build a criminal empire to rival the Big Three – the Cosa Nostra, the Nuevo Cartel and the Dragon Tong. He started plotting to kill some of his opponents on the clan leadership council, and have them replaced by his sympathizers. He made so much trouble that the clan eventually expelled and proscribed him.

  “He got off-planet one step ahead of an execution squad, and gathered around him malcontents and dissidents from other Albanian Mafia clans. They eventually settled on Patos, where, as you say, they’ve formed their own equivalent of a clan. However, they weren’t there because of his idea. They followed him because he was a strong leader who could weld their disparate elements together into a cause. They had nothing better to live for, after being expelled from their own clans. They wanted the security of a clan structure, something they’d been used to since birth. In him, they found a leader who promised that. It took him a long time to convince them to commit everything they had to his vision. I’ll give him this, he must have been one hell of an orator and politician.

  “We know all about how he laid the foundations. We’ve spoken to several people he used, then discarded or abandoned, as part of the process. It took him almost four decades to put everything in place. It was going well, too, except for one thing. The entire project was built upon crime – stealing asteroids that didn’t belong to you, and to which you had no right at all. You ran into us when we stopped one such theft. There have been other setbacks in other systems, and more will come, because people are now aware of what you’re doing, and mobilizing against you.

  “We aren’t the only enemy you’ve made. You’re making the situation worse by hitting back against everyone you perceive as having opposed you, even though they have every right to protect their property and defend themselves against you. The Big Three are now talking to each other, discussing joint action against you.”

  That drew exclamations of surprise from all three. Alban was clearly at a loss for words. Jehona sat with her head bowed, fighting the realization that Agim had broken his promise, to her and her husband, that he would never lie to them about anything to do with this mission. For her part, Aferdita was numb inside. All her upbringing, training and formation had been based on the vision of Bashkim Bregija as the Patriarch, the wise leader who had led his people into the galactic wilderness to find a new home, a refuge – in due course – for all the Albanian clans.

  At last Jehona looked up. “How can I be sure Agim knew my son was alive, at the time he told my family he was dead? What if he truly believed him to be dead, lost with his ship?”

  Cochrane shook his head firmly. “Ma’am, I wrote to him in care of the Neue Helvetica chargé d’affaires on Constanta. He forwarded my message to the Foreign Ministry on Neue Helvetica, which forwarded it in turn to their chargé d’affaires on Patos. She delivered it to your boss, and certified to the Foreign Ministry that she’d done so. In due course, Agim acknowledged receipt of it through her, nothing more. The chargé d’affaires on Patos sent that back to Neue Helvetica as well, which sent it to the chargé d’affaires here, who delivered it to us.

  “I can show you all those messages. You can compare their dates with the date he told your family that your son was dead. If that isn’t enough to convince you, I’ll arrange for you to speak with the chargé d’affaires yourself. You can identify him from the diplomatic corps page on the planetary net, so you’ll know we aren’t trying to fob you off with someone in disguise. You can even write to the Foreign Ministry on Neue Helvetica, if you wish, sending them copies of the messages and asking them to confirm that they’re real. They will.

  “What’s more, there’s the briefing he gave to the assassination team. He told them, months after informing your family that the Sub-Lieutenant had been killed, that he was still alive, and that he was a traitor – yet another lie. The team leader confirmed that during his interrogation last night, and I’m sure Ms. Tahiri will do the same, if you ask her.”

  Aferdita, sitting dumbstruck in her chair, could only nod mutely as Jehona glanced at her. The Commodore’s certainty was so clear, his words so convincing, that there was no room left for either woman to doubt what he had told them. Jehona’s heart was torn with anxiety for her husband and their other children. Agim had deliberately lied to them that their son and brother was dead, and to her fellow agents that he was a traitor. What kind of monster would do that? she asked herself desperately. She could find no answer.

  Alban asked, “What are you going to do with us?”

  “With you, nothing, Sub-Lieutenant. I don’t hold you responsible for spying on us, like your mother and this other woman have done. You will continue as our prisoner of war, unless something happens to justify a change in that status. As for your mother, she’s a spy. I have every right to treat her as one, including interrogating her to find out what she’s learned about us, and what she’s told her boss. The only reason I haven’t yet done so is out of respect for you. You’ve comported yourself in every way as an officer should. I’d hate to repay that by killing your mother – but I will, if I must. That’s up to her, not me.”

  He turned to A
ferdita. “As for you, ma’am, you’re also a trained agent. You have no right to expect mercy. You were taken in the act of attempted murder, even though it was one of your own people you were trying to kill. You were part of a team that tried to kill the Sub-Lieutenant last night, and me, too, and my fiancée, and many of my staff. I have every right to treat you as the spy and assassin that you are. The only reason you haven’t already been interrogated is that I wanted to give the Sub-Lieutenant and his mother a chance to hear what we know. If they don’t or won’t believe it, I’m going to make them attend your interrogation, so they can hear and witness you confirming everything I’ve told them about you and your team. After that, you won’t have a brain anymore, so you’ll end up as dead as your late team leader.”

  He tried to keep his voice as harsh and unfeeling as he could, to appear more convincing. It seemed to work. Aferdita flinched, and stared down at the floor, shoulders hunched as if against a blow.

  Jehona said, tonelessly, “What do you want from me?”

  “I’m not expecting to convert you from the beliefs in which you were raised, although I hope you have the intelligence to realize how flawed they are. I need to know what you learned about Hawkwood, and what you’ve told your boss about us in your reports, and what his intentions are toward us. If you tell me that much, I’ll allow you to live, and confine you as a prisoner with your son. It won’t be on a planet, because the risk of someone like you escaping is too great. You’re too well trained for me to take that chance. You’ll be held aboard one of our ships, under close security. It’ll be as comfortable as we can make it.”

  “So we might be stuck in space for years?”

  “I think this will be over, one way or another, within a couple of years. Like I said, the Brotherhood has made a lot of enemies recently. Once that problem has been solved, I think we can at least confine you less strictly, if not release you, provided we can be sure you no longer pose a threat to us. That remains to be seen, of course.”

  “And… if I tell you, what about this woman – Aferdita Tahiri?”

  “I hadn’t given her any thought yet. Why?”

  Jehona took a moment to marshal her thoughts. “Commodore, if I help you, I’d like to make three requests. I can’t make them demands, because I have no leverage to insist on them. Nevertheless, I ask them of you as favors.”

  “Name them.”

  “First, let Aferdita Tahiri live. She’s an agent, yes, and she was taken in action against you; but she was also brought up, as I was, in the shadow of the Patriarch and the legend that has grown up around him. I’m still not convinced that’s entirely false, although you’ve given me a lot of food for thought. I’d like to see the records of what you’ve learned, to understand him better.”

  “I can arrange that.”

  “Thank you. She… she needs time to make up her own mind. I can’t hold her trying to kill me against her. She was obeying orders she believed to be justified and appropriate. As the Patriarch’s granddaughter, I don’t want another death in his name on my conscience.”

  Aferdita stared at Jehona as if she were some exotic species of animal that she’d never seen before. Her eyes brimmed with unshed tears, and she had to force down a sudden wild hope. Might she yet live through this, with her mind unimpaired?

  Cochrane nodded slowly. “That’s very considerate of you, Mrs. Sejdiu – and far more merciful than Ms. Tahiri has any right to expect. Next?”

  “I want to send a message to my husband. I have a way to do that. He can’t go on believing that Alban is dead. He must be told.”

  “What if he can’t keep the knowledge to himself? He’s bound to be so overjoyed and relieved that it’ll be almost impossible to conceal.”

  “I trust him to do so. I know him.”

  “I’ll think about that, too. If I agree, I’ll want to read the message before you send it, and know the full details of how you’ll encrypt and transmit it. We’ll do that for you. Next?”

  Jehona struggled to find words. “I… I want to keep my family safe against… against whatever may happen. You say the Brotherhood has made more enemies, and that they are talking to each other. I have heard of clan wars among the Albanians. They tend to be bloody, merciless, and absolute. More than once, an entire clan has been killed, to prevent its descendants ever again making trouble for the victors. I… I do not want that to happen to my family. Can you find a way to keep them safe, if it comes to that? Will you?”

  “I don’t know if that will be possible, ma’am. I’m prepared to try, if you give me all the information I need, but I can’t promise success. For a start, we have no agents on Patos at all, and I don’t know how we’d get any there. Without them, I don’t see that we can do much.”

  She jerked upright. “No agents? Then who has been spying on us?”

  “Not us. Remember what I told you about the Big Three? Draw your own conclusions.”

  Her face went white as a surge of apprehension flooded through her. If enemies of that caliber were already working against them… She shook her head. There was nothing she could do about that now, and no chance to warn even her husband, much less Agim, about it. She could only try to salvage what she could. Slowly she said, “If you will try, that is the best I can hope for. I may be able to help you get some of your people to Patos, if I can set that up with my husband.”

  Cochrane’s eyebrows rose. “I’ll… I’ll consider that. That’s as far as I can go at present.”

  Aferdita raised her head and said, almost timidly, “Commodore, may I say something?”

  “What is it?”

  “I can tell you what I know, too, if you will try to help my family also. I, too, know the results of clan feuds. I want to keep them safe.”

  “I already know most of what you can tell me from the interrogation of your team leader.”

  “I know you do. I cannot offer what I do not have. I can only hope that what little I can add may persuade you.” Her eyes blinked rapidly as she tried to hold back her tears.

  Cochrane thought for a moment. “I’m willing to proceed on that basis, but there’s a condition. I know I can trust the word of Sub-Lieutenant Sejdiu. He’s been an honorable officer ever since he fell into our hands. However, I need the word of both you ladies that you will accept captivity until the issue is decided, and not offer any resistance, and not try to escape, and make no trouble whatsoever. I warn you that if you break your word, or even give us grounds to suspect you may have broken your word, the penalty will be immediate – I repeat, immediate – drug-induced interrogation, followed by death. There will be no second chances. Are you willing to give me your word about that? I remind you that you’re under truth-tester examination, so any lie will show up at once.”

  Jehona nodded. “I give you my word, Commodore.”

  Aferdita struggled with herself for a moment, then submitted. “I give you my word.”

  Cochrane raised his voice. “Truth-testers, confirm, please.”

  A disembodied voice sounded through a speaker. “Both truth-testers confirm, Captain. They meant it.”

  Alban spoke up from his chair. “Sir, I thank you for your trust in me. I’d like to add my own parole. I will not try to escape, or do anything incompatible with my status as a prisoner of war, so long as these women are held as captives under the conditions you’ve laid down.”

  “Thank you, Sub-Lieutenant. That wasn’t necessary, but I’m glad you made the offer. It makes the next step easier.” He glanced at the guards. “Please release all three; the Sub-Lieutenant first, then his mother, then Ms. Tahiri.”

  The two men glanced at him, then at each other, but moved to obey. Alban stood up, waiting impatiently while they released his mother, then swept her into a huge hug. She wept as she laid her head on his shoulder. As they clung to each other, the men released Aferdita’s bonds. She stood up, rubbing her wrists.

  Jehona turned to her. “Aferdita, you did not know me. You were following orders when you tried to
kill me. I will not hold that against you. I have heard enough tonight to make me question… many things of which I was once certain. I hope you will join my son and I in doing that, and finding out the truth. Help us to help each other.”

  “I will, ma’am. Thank you… thank you for speaking up for me. I think, without that, I would shortly have been dead.” She glanced at Cochrane.

  “Yes, you would,” he assured her. “However, you’ve made your commitment, so I’ll trust you to keep it. All three of you will be confined to this house, except for exercise periods outside under close guard. You’ll be interrogated tomorrow – without drugs – concerning what I need to know from you. After that, I’ll arrange to have you sent up to orbit, and transferred to a spaceship. I’ll see you again before you leave, to discuss your requests concerning your families, and consider what might be done about them.”

  As he walked to the door, he added, “Guards, return Ms. Tahiri to her room. Give Mrs. Sejdiu and her son some time together before you return them to theirs. If they want to sit somewhere more comfortable, and share a snack and some tea or coffee, let them.”

  “Aye aye, sir,” the senior guard replied.

  Cochrane let himself out, and headed for the guardroom. There he found Hui, who’d watched the proceedings on closed-circuit vid. She hugged him as he walked in.

  “I was proud of you tonight,” she said softly, her eyes shining. “You were utterly convincing – and a lot more merciful than I thought you were going to be.”

  “I hadn’t planned on that,” he admitted, “but it occurred to me that if I behave as badly as the enemy all the time, how can I claim to be any better than him? Sometimes I’ll need to be as brutal as he is, but not always.”

  “You’re right. I’m glad you realized it in time to avoid that trap tonight.”

  “So am I. Come on, darling. Let’s go back to the apartment.”