She barely got the limb into place in time to prevent an early end to the fight. As it was, the blade plunged into flesh and muscle, sending pain shooting through that limb as well. He ripped the blade free and allowed her blood to flow from the resulting wound.
Her left arm screamed in protest at every movement as Kepper went on the offensive. He was agile for his size. His blade repeatedly jabbed at her throat and torso, forcing her into a desperate series of defensive movements to parry, block, and evade his attacks.
He's fighting differently. With each attempted strike, Miri became more convinced of that. He seemed eager to draw more blood, as if their wounds excited him. That excitement grew more obvious when he managed to cut her shoulder in a failed stab at her right lung. The cut stung, but it wasn't near anything vital.
Miri kept her feet set and bided her time. She was still a little faster, and Kepper's left hand was useless from the gunshot wound while her hands remained intact.
Here and there, his relentless attack resulted in another cut, another line of red, but none of the wounds were anywhere vital. Painful, yes, but she knew pain, and she ignored it. She kept her distance, led him about, and waited for her moment.
There!
Kepper made a lunge that put him a little off-balance. Miri struck swiftly, evading his cut and driving her knife into his right wrist. He howled in pain as the blade cut through flesh, tendon, and ligaments. The blade fell from his limp hand.
She wasn't going to take chances. She brought up her right hand, the knife still clenched in her fist, and punched him hard. Kepper fell over from the force of the blow. Once he was down, she stopped down and delivered a couple more blows until his eyes rolled up in the back of his head. He settled into unconsciousness.
With her foe down, Miri turned her attention to her friends. Tia was finally getting back to her feet. Linh was still down but moving. "Are you two okay?" she asked.
"Are we okay?" Tia grinned at her despite the situation. "You're the one who looks like you've been wrestling with Yanik!"
Miri glanced down. Blood still poured from the wound in her left arm. Her suit was cut in multiple places from all the points where Kepper's blade sliced her. Each stung like hell, and the agony in her left arm was telling.
Despite the pain, she laughed at Tia's remark. "Yeah, I do," she admitted.
"Thank you." Tia's eyes went to her fallen attacker. "You saved our lives."
"You're welcome." Miri turned to her fallen enemy. "Looks like Rigault wants you dead now."
"It does." Tia frowned at Kepper. The look on her face said everything: the adrenaline crash was coming, and the fear she'd suppressed was taking a toll "Me and Linh, I'd say. I guess he doesn't care anymore about the amnesty. Now I'm wondering if we should just let this bastard bleed out or..."
The sentence trailed off. Miri noticed a glint in the Hestian woman's gray eyes. "What is it?"
"We need Kepper alive," Tia said. "We'll need him. I think we've got our ticket onto their shipyard."
38
Tia waited until the war council was fully assembled, in person or by link, before she spoke. "Rigault's assassin's given us an opportunity," she said. "We can use his ship to sneak a team onto their space station. It'll give us a good shot at seizing those cruisers."
That won their immediate attention. "How?" Sarno asked.
Tia nodded to Miri, who spoke up. "Kepper's ship isn't any normal transport. It's a League External Security personal operations vessel, usually given to senior League operatives. It's got heavy passive-stealth systems to undermine targeting locks and make detection harder. It will also confuse life sign scanners so they can't tell how many people are actually aboard."
Kaiya sounded more concerned than impressed. "And how did he manage this?"
"Knowing Kepper, it was probably by killing the prior owner," Henry said. "So what's the plan?"
"Take a team on the ship and slip onto Rigault's base," Tia said.
A few skeptical looks were the replies she received, although not from Henry. Kaiya gave voice to what had to be their common thought. "I doubt it will be that easy, Chairwoman."
"At minimum, we need a masking program ready so that video data appears to be from Kepper himself," Miri said. "A voiceprint for fake audio too."
"And that assumes Kepper is allowed on the station," Sarno added.
"That's probably where he stayed," Tia said. "With all the Leaguers in Thyssenbourg, or around Hestia, it's the only place Rigault could hide him."
There was silence while everyone considered her line of argument. Henry was the first to speak up. "Alright, that makes sense. What's our next problem?"
"Assuming Kepper is allowed to land, Rigault will likely make contact," Kaiya said. "Especially with his motivations being personal and not simply professional. He'll want to know, immediately, of your deaths."
"So we give him the appropriate imagery. I can arrange that," Miri offered.
"We have the hardware and software necessary," said Kaiya. "For both fake imagery of their deaths and to create a believable false visual layer overlaying Kepper with anyone else. But audio is different. We need a comprehensive audio sample of his speech."
Miri nodded in agreement. Her lips pursed into a concerned expression. "That's the hard part. Kepper will be unlikely to cooperate with us, and he's seen enough of our preparations he'll likely guess what we're after. He's going to intentionally throw off any attempt at gaining a voice sample."
"Do you think he can be persuaded to cooperate?" asked Lou via the link.
"For a price, sure," Henry said.
"Maybe, maybe not." Miri shook her head. "I've read CIS's dossier on him. Kepper's a psychopath, a sadistic serial killer who keeps his murderous urges in check by holding himself to strict principles of, for lack of a better term, professionalism."
"That didn't keep him from turning on the League back at Lusitania," Tia remarked.
"Commander Li tried to have him assassinated after he failed to capture me on Harron," Miri said. "To his code, that released him of any professional obligation to his employer. But we have no indications Rigault's done the same."
"Any way to find out?" Henry asked.
Miri nodded at him. "Yes. I'll go talk to him."
"Alright. We'll meet back here when you're done," said Tia.
* * *
Kepper awoke in an open cargo hold. The sting of treated injuries brought him to wakefulness quickly, which led to him checking his surroundings before he allowed himself the luxury of emotional reaction. The chamber he was in was fairly large, probably a secondary hold of sorts. He sat up on a cot and noted that his hands were cuffed together behind his back and his ankles, also cuffed, were tied to the floor by what he guessed was steel cable. In a visual scan of his surroundings, he noted a chemical toilet just within reach. The rest of the room was empty. Above the door, he spotted projectors for what he guessed was a forcefield cube. Coalition technology. Interesting. They're not taking chances with me.
His mind flashed back to his attack and the fight with Miri Gaon. His first impulse at remembering her was a desire to kill her in a number of bloody and painful ways, but the professional detachment soon returned. That he wasn't dead meant they thought they might have use for him, and it wasn't hard to guess the use, given some of the things he'd heard and seen coming in-system.
Escape, if possible. Strike a deal… There he stopped. Professional pride resisted the idea, and resisted it strongly. He had a contract and his employer hadn't betrayed him. Professional courtesy demanded he remain loyal to his employer.
An employer working with the League, he reminded himself. He says he needs me more, but he would say that, wouldn't he? Whether it was true or not.
Kepper weighed his trust of Antoine Rigault against his professional pride.
He hadn't made a decision yet when the forcefield projectors turned off. The hatch door opened with only a slight shriek of metal against metal. Miri stepped
in. Her eyes focused entirely on him, as if he might at any moment lunge for her despite his restraints. But she said nothing.
They want something. Information? No, not just that. The Nimrod is perfect for infiltration. They want my ship.
A smile crossed Kepper's face at that thought. He had more power in this situation than he'd realized.
When Miri still didn't speak after a few moments, he decided to. "Hello, Miss Gaon." He kept his words very flat and stilted, maintaining a dull monotone. "You want something from me? A voice sample, perhaps, to fool my employer?"
The way her lips twitched told him he was right. "Very perceptive, Mister Kepper," she said. "And you're taking the obvious precautions to prevent me from recording useful audio samples."
He nodded. Again he felt the debate within himself, professional pride against self-preservation. Maybe, if I gain time, I can get an opening?
"I've read your dossier," Miri said.
"Oh? CIS has a dossier on me?" Kepper's smile grew. He kept the dull monotone going. "I should be flattered."
"Perhaps not." Miri reached out of the room and pulled in a chair from the hall, a basic metal frame with a plastic seat and back. She sat in it and brought her link up. "Their analysis is that you are a sociopath. Your avowed professionalism is nothing but a screen to cover for the sadistic serial killer that you truly are."
Kepper's smile faltered a little.
"You don't like that appraisal, do you?" Miri's lips formed a grin now. "No, you worry about your reputation a lot, after all. Who would hire you if they knew you were a psychopathic monster who wants to stab people just to watch them suffer and die? How could they trust you to not turn on them just for the thrill of the kill? Your reputation shields you."
He blinked and drew in a breath. His urges roiled within. "And yet you are willing to be in the room with me," he pointed out. "Alone."
"I am. After all, I've beaten you once, haven't I?" Her grin grew.
Kepper felt the twitch on his face before he could stop it. His urges screamed with need. He felt the burning desire to take a blade and ram it into this Coalition bitch over and over, to smell her blood and hear her agonized screams die away with her very life. He gathered his will and forced the images from his mind.
"You're not the first monster I've faced," Miri said matter-of-factly. "And to be perfectly honest, it's not even your previous attack on me that makes me despise you."
He sneered at her. "What about your Saurian friend, then? The one I crippled?"
"A little there, yes, I admit." Miri put the link up and crossed her arms. "But that, taking Tia, then trying to murder her and Linh… none of those things really make me despise you as much as one other thing."
"And that is?"
Her grin faded. "Vasily."
Kepper searched his memory. After a few moments, he smiled and shook his head. "I've killed a lot of people. I'm afraid I don't usually ask their names."
"Maybe not, but you know who I'm talking about." Her voice hardened. "We talked about this before the battle at Pluto Base. A man like you has to keep a good memory."
The smile became a smirk. "Well, I've got nothing new to say. As I told you before, it's part of the game. I'm not about to start begging forgiveness for killing the alien, if that's what you want."
"Oh, I know better." Miri leaned forward. "You do remember he was a convert, right?"
"A Christian convert, yeah. What of it?"
"Not just any sect or branch of that faith, Kepper. He was a member of the Old-Rite Orthodox Church of Cyrilgrad. They took his death very seriously, and by their laws, they claim jurisdiction for the murder. So let me make this clear." Her eyes hardened. "If you don't cooperate with us, Kepper, I'm going to turn you over to the Tokarev brothers. Personally. And if you're lucky, they'll just space you."
The steel in her eyes told him she wasn't lying. Knowing the Tokarevs, they'd make sure to make his spacing as violent and vicious as they could. His death would certainly not be merciful or kind.
That's how the work goes, he reminded himself. He knew going in he might die badly. He still had his pride.
That immediately prompted a deeper, more visceral emotional reaction. Damn pride; I want to live!
I'm a professional, this is how it goes. Even as he made that protest, it felt hollow, particularly given the very real likelihood that his life would soon end. Was he really going to die for pride? Was he willing to die for Antoine Rigault?
Miri's reciting of the CIS analysis on him was a reminder that Rigault knew too. He knew about Kepper's urges. He'd even offered to satiate them. He offered his own workers to me, for me to slaughter. Like I was a prize beast. The man doesn't care about professionalism at all. He just wants power over people. He's not a deserving employer at all.
The thought again piqued the professional side of Kepper. It also let his pride reconcile with his desire to save his life.
He sat back on his cot. "Alright, Gaon. I've made deals with you before. But I have terms."
"Tell me," she said.
* * *
Upon her return to the wardroom, Miri waited for the war council to be present before she started speaking. "I've secured a deal with Kepper for full cooperation."
"How?" asked Lou over the link. "He lives on his reputation of being a ruthless but loyal professional. Why would he turn on Rigault?"
"Because he doesn't want to end up in the custody of the Tokarev brothers," she answered. "He murdered one of their Harr'al converts when he was hunting me in Sektatsh. They'd kill him, and it wouldn't be kind. Sociopaths like Kepper usually pick their own lives in the end, whatever they say about professional standards."
"And what were his terms?" asked Tia.
"Whatever happens, he wants his ship back and his freedom." Miri slipped into a seat at the table. "In exchange, he'll provide a full voice sample for us, and let you scan his appearance for the false visual return. He's also going to provide the appropriate landing codes and what knowledge he has of the Rigault Lunar Station's interior."
"He helps us, he goes free." Tia frowned. "We let him do that before, and look at what he ended up doing. Besides, he's probably murdered at least some of our other comrades while working for Rigault. I'm just supposed to let him walk away?" She cast a glance toward Shahkrit and Linh, who nodded in agreement with the sentiment.
Henry shook his head. "He's still our best shot at getting aboard that station." Miri nodded in agreement with Henry, who added, "I'd recommend taking it. But it's your call."
Miri saw the way Tia's eyes narrowed in thought. It was clear she didn't want to just let Kepper go. "I don't want him free again either," Miri said. "But if we're going to make this operation work in time, we can't pass up this opportunity."
"I know, I know." Tia's answer was fiercely stated. "There's no way around this? No way we can get that voice sample without his cooperation?"
"None." Kaiya shook her head. "He has to be speaking normally. If he's under physical duress or drugged, it will corrupt the sample and make the deception clear."
Tia's fists clenched. After several moments, she glanced again toward Linh and Shahkrit. "Our comrades would be more interested in saving Hestia." It was statement more than question.
"They would," Shahkrit agreed. "Our people must come first."
Linh nodded in agreement.
"Alright. But before I agree…" Tia walked around the table toward the door. "I need to go see someone."
* * *
Yanik was eating a quiet meal when Tia entered his shared quarters on the Majha. He looked up at her from the common table. "You are angry," he noted.
"I am. Because I have to…" Tia bit her lip. "Yanik, it's about Kepper."
His eyes blinked, and not for moisture. "I assume this is about his fate."
"He'll help us stop Rigault and the League if we free him when it's over," she said. "The others are ready to agree, but I want you to have a say, given what he did to you."
> Yanik's tongue flicked the air rapidly. His anger toward the mercenary who maimed him grew. His right arm and shoulder ached in sympathy with the thought of letting Kepper go like that. I want to rip his arms off. I want to cripple him, to see my wound avenged! His taloned fists clenched. "He is our only hope for victory," Yanik remarked.
"Looks like it, yeah," Tia said. "We're still doing this, but… I'm not sure we can remove the cruisers from Rigault's forces without his help."
"I agree." Yanik let that thought fill him. His comrades, his friends, would face death or capture if they failed, and this man's fate was tied to the outcome. I must go unavenged so that the greater evil can be stopped. Divine, how you test me so!
"If you don't want us to let him go…" Tia began.
He let that sentence linger off for a few seconds before he rumbled a reply. "What I want is immaterial," he said. "Krassha is clear. My retribution must be sacrificed to save your world, so I shall agree with the deal. Allow the mercenary to go free when this is done."
She nodded. "I know how much it hurts," she said. "After everything he did on Allentown, or back in Sektatsh. And he probably killed at least some of my old comrades before he was sent after me. I want justice too."
"Justice and revenge are tightly linked," Yanik hissed. "It can be hard to tell one from the other. But whether it is justice or revenge we seek, we must set it aside for now. The good of your people demands it." There was no need to state the obvious. He noted the nod of her head as sufficient agreement and returned to his meal.
* * *
Tia returned to the wardroom. The others were waiting. "What was that about?" Sarno asked gently, her face showing on the vidlink from her office at St. Francis.
"I had to speak with someone else that Kepper harmed," she explained. "Someone who deserved a voice in his fate."
"I see." Sarno nodded quietly. The old nun's face continued to show that reserved expression she seemed to prefer, when she wasn't trying to be outwardly warm. "It was thoughtful of you to consult others affected by this cruel man. But the matter must still be decided, and our time is growing short. Will you deal with this assassin? Will you let him go?"
Breach of Trust: Breach of Faith Book Four Page 31
