Riposte

Quintus nodded. "They're its third 'Mech battalion."

Hanse rubbed his unshaven chin. "Send a message to Northwind. Let the Bravos rebuild themselves from all our battlefield salvage. In a week, I'll issue a transfer for them to rejoin the Kell Hounds—wherever they are."

Folding his arms across his chest, Hanse studied Quintus as the Minister made some notes. "I take it these two items were notwhy you woke me up?"

"The rabbit bolted from his hutch," Quintus said, with a smile from ear to ear.

Hanse's laughter filled the room and banished his fatigue. "Ah, Quintus, that's the best news I've heard since inheriting the throne." His blue eyes blazed with an obsessive light. "When? How?" Hanse crossed to the antechamber's couch, and seating himself on the edge of it, waved Quintus to a brown leather chair.

Quintus licked his lips and mirrored Hanse's predatory grin. "As you requested, CID agents moved in and arrested Serge Korigyn for espionage on the fifteenth. We tossed him onto his own DropShip and told him not to come back. At the same time, we cleared all trace data from the computer and let Michael see who and what was really where. He eluded our surveillance in the wee hours of the sixteenth, and a small shuttlecraft was reported to have boarded the Ambassador's DropShip before it reached its JumpShip and left the system. Since then, Michael is reported to be in seclusion."

Hanse leaned back with a humorless laugh. Michael, you fool! Don't you realize you've blown your one real chance at making something good out of your treachery? If you had come to me, in return for some concessions, I would have hailed you as my partner in an effort to deceive Maximilian Liao. We had nothing solid on you, nothing we could use to crucify you. Once again, you assume too much, and you suffer for it.

"When do we estimate the ship's arrival at Sian?" the Prince asked, his eyes still glittering.

Quintus hesitated. "The middle of February, which is also about the time we can expect word of Liao's disastrous Operation Riposte to get back to him." The Minister smiled cautiously. "Michael could get there sooner, but that would mean Liao has some extra JumpShips hidden away in the St. Ives Commonality to fill the gaps in that command circuit he set up."

Hanse barely heard Quintus's words. "The middle of February. How appropriate. I dearly hope Maximilian fully appreciates my Valentine gift to him."

51

Elgin

Tikonov Commonality, Capellan Confederation

2 February 3029

Colonel Pavel Ridzik half-rose as his di

Ridzik smiled broadly. I sincerely hope she is as talented as she is beautiful.Recent and bitter memories of Maximilian Liao's rejection of his proposed campaign still rankled. She will be the salve for my wounds . . . for now, anyway. Then I can decide what to do.

The Colonel cupped the brandy snifter in the palm of his left hand, swirling the liquid around and around as he reflected. My choices are simple, really. Either I arrange for Liao's death and force marriage on his daughter Candace, or I carve myself a sovereign realm from what's left of the Tikonov Commonality and negotiate a truce with Hanse Davion.He smiled while weighing the two alternatives in his mind. Bah! To hell with Hanse Davion. Why settle for a slice of the pie when I can arrange to have the whole thing ?

When the head waiter approached, Ridzik snapped out of his ruminations. "Excuse me, Colonel," the man said, "but there is a call for you." He pointed nervously toward the restaurant's entrance. "I'm sorry, but none of our mobile receivers are secure."

Ridzik nodded. I should never have told those idiots at headquarters where I was going."Don't worry. No offense taken. Please let my companion know where I am when she returns." Ridzik deposited his linen napkin beside the brandy snifter, then slipped past the waiter.

He found the visiphone in a corner of the entrance alcove, but the screen was dark and the co

Before Ridzik could act on his suspicions, however, two large, strong-looking men had him bracketed. "Please come with us, Colonel," one of them said.

"No! What is this?"

The man who had spoken glanced apprehensively toward the dining room. "Colonel, we have no time, and we're not supposed to hurt you."

Ridzik bared his teeth in an angry snarl. "Time? What is this about?"

The other man tugged hard on Ridzik's right arm. "Your date. She went to powder her nose, but she left her purse on your table. Move it!"

They lifted Ridzik off his feet and carried him from the restaurant. They made it through the doors and halfway down the dark street before a tremendous explosion ripped through the restaurant. Spears of flame shot all the way across the street to singe the buildings across the way, and glass splinters sliced through the half-dozen pedestrians unfortunate enough to be traveling the streets.

The ear-shattering blast and Shockwave knocked Ridzik and his guards to their knees. Momentarily freed from the grasp of his captors, Ridzik turned and saw a white-hot inferno burning where just moments before he'd been dining.

He swallowed hard. "By all that's holy, she tried to assassinate me. She was a Davion agent!"

The two men laughed briefly. "No sir, we're the Davion agents. She did try to kill you, but she was Maskirovka."

Ridzik's jaw dropped open. "I don't understand . . ."

The CID agents helped him to his feet. "If you don't mind, sir, we have an aircar waiting to take you to the spaceport. We have a ship bound for the Federated Suns. Prince Hanse Davion said he would explain everything to your full satisfaction if you would accompany us and be his guest."

Ridzik nodded weakly, then mumbled something. The guard on his left leaned down. "Excuse me, sir, I didn't catch that."

Ridzik smiled, his confidence growing. "Just an old Tikonov saying—'A slice of the pie, no matter how thin, is preferable to starvation.' " He bowed from the waist. "Colonel Pavel Ridzik, late of the Capellan Confederation, at your service. Do lead on, gentlemen. We don't want to keep the Prince waiting."

52

Sian

Sian Commonality, Capellan Confederation

14 February 3029

Justin Xiang narrowed his dark eyes as Duke Michael Hasek-Davion strode boldly through the heavy bronze doors of the Chancellor's throne room. Michael paused for half a second at the entrance, then continued just as boldly along the strip of red carpet ru

Maximilian smiled courteously as he stepped down from his throne to meet Duke Michael on even footing. He bowed respectfully to his visitor, then looked to the others in the room to join his gesture. Justin, standing between Tsen Shang and Alexi Malenkov and opposite six members of the Chancellor's personal bodyguard aped the Chancellor's bow.