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Khalid didn’t like it when I took him on when I was a little kid. I nearly finished him in politics. The head of Intelligence wasn’t used to public appearances–and he looked the fool. But note he’s back. And he won’t be my friend. He’ll have the notion, I’m pretty sure, that Reseune won’t be his to manage if I take over, and I’m very, very close to doing that. It’s personal, for him. It’s emotional; and he is an emotional man–he showed that, back when I Got him. And he’s fast ru
That’s where Khalid’s getting his support, isn’t it? He doesn’t have enough support on his own or he’d have won the election, but there are people inside Defense who see me coming up fast, and they’re worried all of a sudden. The rank and file of Defense, the electorate, they went for somebody who hadn’t gotten embarrassed by a fourteen‑year‑old on national vid–And Giraud warned me about that at the time, that I might be sorry. But I was right. I may have kept Khalid from being elected again. The electorate went for Spurlin; and another defeat would about do for Khalid permanently–so Khalid and everybody invested in him has no way to get back in without using some really unorthodox methods.
Like murder. They’d already done that, inside Reseune, to take out my predecessor. What’s one more? What’s two murders, and three more?
There’s this Anton Clavery business. Patil dying. Thieu dying. They both had Defense Bureau work, lots of contacts, so they were easy to get to–and then Patil was joining Reseune, and at the same time Ya
We’ve been thinking about Anton Clavery as a Paxer. Paxers have been our noisiest problem. But did the Paxers blow up the tower at Strassenberg? There are those that could blow something up, a lot, lot easier.
Attacking Strassenberg doesn’t make sense as a political move, except to expose what I’m doing, except to divert our attention to what isn’t their real objective.
It’s me they really want dead. And they’ll take down Reseune’s power one piece at a time, anything to slow me down. You can only do so many murders without leaving evidence. So they have to ration those. Just peel away the really critical pieces.
But I’m not playing their game. And when I do move against Defense, I’ll have to move fast, and be ready for anything. They’re not going to let Jacques name the Proxy we want: they’ll kill him, or they’ll force him to name Khalid; and then Jacques will die, and Khalid, who couldn’t get in by a fair election, will he Councillor, just plain Councillor, in complete charge of the military.
A man named Machiavelli once said something like…commit all your atrocities early. Your enemies will lie low, knowing what you can do, and the rest of the people will forgive you when you turn out to do good things…
Florian had set a cup of coffee by her hand. The two of them sat, sipping theirs, waiting.
She picked up the cup, took a sip. Wondered where all of her people were at the moment. But she couldn’t move them. Someone would notice.
Just one. “Florian.”
“Sera?”
“Go down to Justin’s office. Tell him and Grant to go home. Tell him he’s in charge of Alpha Wing for the next while. Gerry and Mark will be under his orders. Then come back here. Catlin.”
“Sera.”
“Go down to Rafael’s office, and tell him I want him and his best twenty, no helmets, light body armor. Lethals in reserve. Non‑lethals up front. Wait for me there.” She had a last sip of the coffee and put the cup down. “Body armor for me, too. Lay out one of your outfits for me before we go, Catlin.”
A slight hesitation. Then: “Yes, sera.”
She opened a drawer, took out the mini, waked it up. Things went in a sequence. She wasn’t particularly scared, not even mad, at the moment. She just found her awareness stretched wide, trying to see everything, imagine everything, think of everything, and not to drop a single piece in the process.
BOOK THREE Section 5 Chapter vi
JULY 26, 2424
1102H
Knock at the office door. And it opened before either of them could acknowledge it. Justin shut the manual with some deliberation, saw Florian standing there–it could just as well have been Ari. Grant had the same manual under consideration, and quietly slipped it onto a neat stack of others.
“Ser.” Florian said. “Sera requests you go home immediately. Mark and Gerry will be in contact soon from AlphaSec.”
“Is something wrong?” Stupid question. Justin got up, picked up his coat. When Florian asked in that mode, it was urgent.
“You will be, officially, ser, in administrative control of Alpha Wing. Base One access. Mark and Gerry will be your links to AlphaSec. They will be reliable.”
“They’re damned young,” he said, feeling a rise of panic, the scatter of thoughts informing him, My God, it wasn’t academic. She’s doing it.
Florian, who was only months older than Mark and Gerry, andthe azi in charge of AlphaSec, said. “They’ll take their orders from you, ser. You may also draw on Marco and Wes, in sera’s apartment. Sera counts on you. Come with me.”
Grant came, he did. They both headed to the lift, under Florian’s protection. Down the hall, where AlphaSec had its offices, there was traffic, a few black‑uniformed officers entering as a group, more of them headed that direction.
Damn, he thought, asking himself what he would do, what he coulddo but lie low, himself and Grant.
Jordan, was the competing thought. He couldn’t protect Jordan.
“I’m concerned for my father,” he said to Florian.
“He has security in place, ser,” Florian said. “They areours.”
BOOK THREE Section 5 Chapter vii
JULY 26, 2424
1128H
Units of two and three went out–walked out of Alpha Wing, into Wing One. One such went to the end of the building and walked across the quadrangle to Admin’s curbside door. Another went via the storm tu
That one met up with the unit from the storm tu
Ari stopped, with Florian and Catlin, at the ReseuneSec door. Catlin’s regular winter coat was a little large on her, very heavy, and not with fabric: it impeded her fingers getting at the mini, in her pocket, but she pulled it out, flipped it open, keyed Voice, said, “Ca
“Now,” she said, and Catlin quietly opened the door.
Midmorning and the ReseuneSec office was full of people, security and otherwise, with business to conduct.
“The office is closed for an hour,” Ari said quietly, loudly enough to be heard, especially as voices died away. “Please leave and come back later. Please remember your places.” People didn’t like to feel pushed. The fact some clericals might know her, and some might know Florian and Catlin, started a few to their feet without a word, those anxious to reach the door.
She said to the receptionist, who had punched keys, “It won’t work, probably. I’m afraid not much will for a bit, so we’d like to minimize that time and get things ru
“I can’t,” the receptionist began, his face somewhat ashen, and by now the room was filling with AlphaSec perso