The Golden Way (The Kestrel Chronicles Book 3) Read online

“Me?” Jamon laid a hand on his chest. “Who wants to get bad news from me?”

  I puzzled over that remark for a moment.

  “Okay,” I said, “Maybe you’re right. Maybe you’re too lighthearted. Puckish, even.”

  “‘Puckish,’” he said to Zang. He grinned.

  “But that might be an advantage. When bringing someone bad news, I mean.”

  “No,” he said, suddenly solemn. “It isn’t. Besides, who’s in charge of this investigation?”

  “You are,” I said.

  “There, you see?” he said, spreading his hands wide. “It’s all settled.”

  The lift stopped and its gate slid open. We drifted along the companionway to the Captain’s mess.

  “What exactly do you have against the Church?” Erdos was saying. She was sitting in a chair at the Captain’s table. She glanced up and saw us coming.

  The Captain saw us, too, and gestured us in. We found spots around the table. Erdos was in a dress uniform, immaculate navy blue with white trim and gold and crimson appointments.

  “I don’t have anything against the Church,” said Yaug. He was in his usual spot at the foot of the table. He spoke softly, but his voice still rumbled. His long fingers in their black gloves were steepled in front of him.

  “I just think it’s odd that the Church has military offices aboard Jovian vessels.”

  “What’s odd about it?” said Erdos. “Why do we care? What’s the difference?”

  “Historically, it’s unusual,” Yaug said.

  “He’s right,” said the Captain. “Before the Red Revolution on Mars the Consortium never allowed any foreign military garrisons aboard its vessels.”

  “My brother the historian,” said Jaemon.

  “They aren’t exactly foreign,” said Erdos. “All the Host troops on Solomon are Jovians as far as I know.”

  “The Church is a foreign power,” said Yaug. “Its troops owe their allegiance to the Gray Cities, not to Tintagel.”

  “So?” said Erdos.

  “So that makes it unusual,” said the Captain.

  “Okay, fine,” said Erdos. “It’s unusual. What does that have to do with your investigation?”

  “Maybe nothing,” said Yaug. “I don’t know. It’s just odd. I think we should notice things that are odd. For example, that was no ordinary robbery aboard Kestrel. It was tightly organized, precise, and highly efficient. It was so precise and efficient that it had to have been guided by good operational intelligence. More like a commando raid than a holdup.”

  “Okay,” said Erdos. “I see your point. That doesn’t mean the Church did it, for Makers’ sake.”

  “Who has commandoes aboard Solomon?” said the Captain.

  “I do,” said Erdos, scowling. “And no, I didn’t steal your damned artifact.”

  “Nobody thinks you did,” said Jaemon.

  Erdos looked at him, and then at Zang, who returned her gaze coolly.

  “So who does that leave?” Jaemon said.

  Yaug said, “The Church. It has a garrison on Solomon.”

  “Why would the Church want to execute a raid against a Rayleigh trading vessel?” said Erdos.

  Jaemon shrugged.

  Yaug said, “Why would anyone execute a commando raid to get an archaeological artifact?”

  “The Church is pretty interested in archaeology,” said the Captain. “Especially the Mech Wars period.”

  “Which is when this thing is from,” said Jaemon.

  Erdos opened her mouth wide. Zang did too. Both of them started to say something, then they stopped and glared at each other.

  “You can’t seriously think the Church robbed us,” said Zang, finally. “The Church?”

  “What she said,” Erdos said, pointing at Zang.

  “First Harken, now this,” said Zang.

  “What about Harken?” said Erdos.

  “Jaemon and Lev think she’s in it with the robbers,” said Zang.

  “I didn’t say that,” said Jaemon. “Not exactly.”

  “Really?” the Captain said.

  “She was acting funny,” Jaemon said.

  “Harken?” said Erdos. “She always acts funny. She is funny.”

  “I know, right?” said Zang.

  “Look,” said the Captain. “We’re just noticing things. Yaug noticed the robbery looked like a military operation. The obvious question to ask is who aboard Solomon has a military. The answer is that there are just two. One belongs to the Defense Consortium. The other belongs to the Church.”

  “That’s right,” said Yaug, “We’re asking obvious questions. The answers are the answers. We don’t have to like them. We just have to pay attention to them. Maybe the Church wasn’t behind the raid. Maybe the Consortium was. Or maybe our robbers are retired soldiers. Maybe they’re washouts who took up a life of crime when their careers fizzled. Maybe they’re smugglers with a deep interest in military tactics. All we really know is that someone robbed Kestrel and whoever it was ran their operation like a commando team.”

  Zang and Erdos were both shaking their heads.

  Jaemon caught my eye and nodded slightly toward Erdos.

  “If I may be excused an interruption,” I said.

  “What is it, Lev?” said the Captain.

  “I wanted to ask the Commander about something,” I said.

  “Anything,” Erdos said, “As long as it’s not more of this bullshit.”

  “I think we may have made some progress in our investigation,” I said.

  “Already?” she said. She looked skeptical.

  “I wanted to check our reasoning with you.”

  “Good idea,” she said. “Very sensible. More people should think the way you do.”

  She looked pointedly at Yaug. He returned her gaze placidly.

  “The invaders knocked out Kestrel,” I said.

  “Yeah,” said Erdos. “And half the damn pier around you. I remember. I took the complaints from the other ships.”

  “We think it was an EMP device. A very powerful one.”

  “Yep. I know. What’s your point?”

  I looked at Zang. She nodded ever so slightly.

  “How did they get it into position?” I said.

  Erdos frowned at me for a moment, then her expression grew hooded.

  “We checked the Fabric,” I said. “In order to make a pulse as big as that, the device needed to be fairly large.”

  Erdos continued to stare.

  “They could have moved it easily enough, of course. Anywhere along the drive spine it would be weightless. They’d have the inertia to contend with, but moving it wouldn’t be a problem as long as they were careful and patient. I think we’ve already established that our attackers are well organized. And the drive spine is a major avenue for the transport of cargo. One more large crate wouldn’t be that noticeable.”

  “Get to the point, Doctor,” said Erdos.

  “Have you checked Solomon’s memory to see if there’s a record of anyone moving such an object into place outside Kestrel before the attack?”

  Erdos turned her gaze on Zang.

  “Damn,” Erdos said. “That was quick.”

  “What?” said Zang.

  “Don’t play dumb,” said Erdos. “I know it was you who figured it out. It had to be.”

  She shifted her gaze to the Captain.

  “The Doctor’s point—Zang’s point, I should say, because she’s obviously the one who came up with it—is that your robbers couldn’t have moved that device into place without being recorded by Solomon. Not unless they knew his archive cycle in advance. And the only way they could know that is—”

  “—is if they had an inside man,” said Jaemon.

  “Right,” said Erdos, glaring. “God damn it. And yes, I reviewed Solomon’s memories, and no, I didn’t find your goddamn crate.”

  Captain Rayleigh looked thoughtfully at Commander Erdos.

  “When were you going to tell us about this?” he said.

>   “That we have a ringer in the Security department? Never, if I could get away with it,” said Erdos. She sounded annoyed. “And don’t you be telling anybody else about it, either. It’ll panic other captains and traders. That’s all I need right now.”

  Zang raised her eyebrows at Erdos. Erdos sighed.

  She said, “And yeah, before you say it, I’d like to keep my reputation from going down the goddamn toilet before I even have the chance to tackle the problem.”

  “Maybe we can help,” said Jaemon.

  Erdos scowled at him.

  “Who on your staff can you trust?” said the Captain.

  Erdos snorted.

  “I’m pretty sure about me,” she said.

  “You have no idea at all?” said Zang.

  “Do you?” Erdos said. “You know most of them as well as I do. Why do you think I came here by myself? I didn’t know who to bring with me. I’m thinking maybe I should start picking random rookies out of the wardroom and hope whoever it is hasn’t gotten to them yet.”

  “Surely Serik is all right,” Zang said. “He’s been solid since he was a recruit. And Isaac. He’s a chaplain, for Makers’ sake.”

  “Probably,” said Erdos, throwing up her hands. “But probably’s gotten me exactly nowhere so far.”

  “That’s why you came personally,” said Jaemon. “To investigate the shooting. You’re watching your staff. You’re trying to figure out who the mole is.”

  Erdos scowled at him.

  “How long have you known?” he said.

  “That there was a mole on my staff?” said Erdos. “Couple of weeks. But I noticed something funny almost ninety days ago.”

  “What did you notice?” said Zang.

  Erdos shook her head.

  “Can’t talk about specifics. Some complaints from traders. Irregularities here and there.”

  “Seriously,” said Jaemon, “Lev and I have experience. We want to catch these guys as much as you do. Probably more. Let us help you.”

  Erdos was shaking her head.

  “Some big deal security commander, huh?” she said. “I don’t even know who I can trust on my own goddamn staff, and I hired most of them.”

  She looked at Zang.

  “Or you did.”

  “Hey!” said Zang. “How does that help?”

  Erdos looked away and shrugged.

  “Doesn’t,” she said.

  “What were you here for?” I said.

  “She came by to bring us news about Jo Jetjirawat,” said the Captain.

  “The man with Zang’s mask?” Jaemon said.

  “That’s the one,” said Erdos.

  “What news?” Jaemon said. “Why come all the way out to Kestrel? Why not just open a channel?”

  “What were we just talking about?” Erdos said. “I wanted to get the hell out of the office and away from Solomon’s eyes and ears.”

  “Now you don’t trust Solomon?” said Zang.

  “Solomon’s fine,” Erdos said. “It’s who’s watching him that I’m worried about. If they know his archive cycle then they have access. And if they have access—”

  “Shit,” said Zang. “They know everything you say and do. Everything Solomon can see, anyway.”

  “Right,” said Erdos. “And that’s damn near everything.”

  “Not here,” said Jaemon. “Not aboard Kestrel.”

  “Exactly,” said Erdos, pointing at Jaemon.

  “You could have used a private channel,” said Zang.

  “Fine,” said Erdos. “I needed to get away from the goddamn office, okay? You got a problem with that?”

  Zang lifted her hands and shook her head.

  “What about Jo Jetjirawat?” I said.

  “Dead,” said Erdos.

  “Dead?” I said.

  “Somebody threw him off the Axis.”

  I cocked my head at her.

  “That killed him?” I said. I ran some calculations.

  “Maybe,” said Erdos. “But actually I think it was the three bullets they put through his face before they tossed him.”

  Jaemon and Zang blinked at each other.

  “Okay,” said Jaemon. “So we just have to wait for this Jet guy to be reconstructed.”

  “Jo Jetjirawat,” I said.

  “Yeah,” said Jaemon. “That guy. We can find him in a day or so, when he’s back up.”

  “If he gets back up,” said Yaug.

  We all turned to look at him.

  “What do you mean?” Jaemon said.

  “If my former agency had killed Jo Jetjirawat then he wouldn’t be getting back up again.”

  “Wait, what?” said Zang, frowning.

  “How does that work?” Jaemon said.

  “Simple,” said Yaug. “The agency maintains your archives. The agency can withhold them. Or wipe them.”

  “Wipe your archive?” said Zang. “Would they really do that?”

  “Sure,” said Yaug. “If it comes to that.”

  “He could always stash an archive somewhere,” said the Captain. “One he made without their knowledge.”

  “That’s against the rules,” said Yaug. “At least it was against Strategic Service rules. I can’t imagine anyone else would have a different policy.”

  “How can they be sure you follow the rules?” Jaemon said.

  “They can’t,” said Yaug. “What they can do is arrange for dire consequences if you get caught breaking them. If you have a secret archive, you’d better keep it really secret. You’d better have a lot of confidence in the discretion of your archive service. And if you die your secret is blown. You’ll have two copies of yourself running around, one from the official archive and one from your private one. One of them will be unauthorized. They’ll both be in big trouble if the agency ever finds out.”

  Erdos and Zang looked dyspeptic.

  “So you think Jet-man’s agency will suppress his reconstruction?” Jaemon said.

  “If he’s from an agency,” said Erdos.

  “And if they’re the ones who killed him,” said Zang.

  “Who else?” said Jaemon.

  “You’re supposed to be a hotshot criminal investigator,” Erdos said. “You saying you can’t think of anybody else who might want to kill a bandit?”

  “No,” said Jaemon, “I’m saying it’d be one heck of a coincidence. Our bandit gets himself conveniently killed exactly when we’ve tracked him down to ask some embarrassing questions?”

  “Yeah, okay,” said Erdos, “Maybe it’s not a coincidence.”

  “Especially since you just got done confirming for us that whoever’s behind our robbery has somebody inside your organization keeping tabs on everything we do.”

  “Thanks for reminding me,” said Erdos.

  17.

  “Where are you headed now?” said Commander Erdos. We were back on the dock outside Kestrel, waiting for a car to come along.

  “What, so somebody can be waiting to shoot us in the face, like Jo Whats-his-name?” said Zang.

  Erdos turned and scowled at Zang.

  “You know damn well I had nothing to do with that,” she said.

  Zang flushed and looked away.

  “You’re right,” she said. “Sorry.”

  “Besides,” Erdos said, “If they’re really eavesdropping on Solomon, they’ll know where you’re going soon enough.”

  “True,” said Jaemon. “But at least they won’t know it before we get there.”

  “Yeah, okay. Fine. They can’t overhear what you don’t tell me. Let me know if you need something. And behave yourselves.”

  A car skimmed close and stopped.

  “Need a ride?” it said.

  “Sure do,” Jaemon said.

  “Where to?” said the car.

  “We’ll let you know,” Jaemon said.

  “I really need a destination,” said the car.

  “You really don’t,” said Zang.

  “That’s right,” said Commander Erdos.
/>   “Oh, hi, Commander,” said the car. “Are you traveling with these folks?”

  “I’ll take the next one,” she said. “Take these people where they tell you.”

  “You’re the boss,” said the car.

  “Good,” said Erdos. “I was starting to wonder.”

  “What now?” said the car after we got inside.

  “Go toward the city,” said Zang.

  The car floated away from the dock and gained speed. It slipped in among the other cars without drama and then we were flowing through the tube, cells in Solomon’s bloodstream.

  I opened a private channel to Zang and Jaemon.

  “Where are we going?” I said.

  “A bar I know in the Ring,” said Zang. She used the private channel. Her lips didn’t move.

  “What’s the Ring?” Jaemon said.

  “Oh, the South Ring,” Zang said. She gestured vaguely toward the drive spine. “Where the spine enters the hull. There’s a neighborhood in there. There’s another one at the north end of the Axis.”

  “Right, got it,” Jaemon said. “North Ring. South Ring.”

  “What kind of neighborhood?” I said.

  “You know,” said Zang, “Lots of dockworkers. Their apartments. Bars and pubs. That kind of thing.”

  “And we’re going there because...?” said Jaemon.

  “We talked about it before,” Zang said. “I know a few people.”

  “Ah,” Jaemon said. “Criminal contacts.”

  He grinned.

  “Whatever,” said Zang.

  “What do we want with your criminal contacts?” I said.

  “I thought we’d go talk to a couple of people I know who might have dealt in questionable goods from time to time. If our robbers mean to sell the artifact, they’ll have to talk to somebody who wants to buy it.”

  “You think they’ll talk to a local fence?” said Jaemon.

  Zang shrugged.

  “They have to talk to somebody. Somebody will know something if we ask enough people enough questions.”

  Jaemon nodded.

  “Good point,” he said. “You sure you’re not an investigator?”

  “A cop’s a cop,” said Zang.

  “Why do you think criminals will want to help you?” I said.

  “We may have traded a favor or two in the past,” said Zang, eyeing me sideways.

  I looked at Jaemon.

  “I’m shocked,” he said. “Shocked, I tell you.”