<A lot to think about, Julien, Winston,> Gino sent. <Thank you for your advice,> he added, and closed the links.
Across the Méridien system, SADEs inundated Julien and Winston with their noisy and colorful cheers. Nothing had been decided, but the SADEs enjoyed their champions standing up for them.
26: Rafe and Bryce
Rafe and Bryce made the transport level beneath the Hall. Their clothing stood them in good stead. They appeared as well-to-do New Terran businessmen.
Bryce used his slate to order a car and request a destination.
When the third car arrived at their station, the transport system cued Bryce’s slate, and the men stepped aboard. During the entire time they’d waited and rode the cars, they kept a running quiet dialogue about important business deals.
Interested Méridiens strained to hear the private conversation in hopes of picking up valuable financial dealings.
The assassins worked to prevent laughing outright. They’d successfully used this technique many times. It allowed them to be transparent among wealthy citizens. Deliberately, they planted likely but false information, and they often wondered how many times the citizens acted on what they thought was insider information only to lose their investments.
After changing cars multiple times, Bryce was cued to exit the car with the message from the transport system that the destination had been achieved.
Accessing a map on the slate, Bryce led his partner from the transport level upward to the grav car level. An anonymous account allowed the rental of a two-seat car. Bryce communicated to the car the next destination, a private shuttle port.
The private port sat high in the air above an older part of Méridien, which had never produced sky towers. The circular landing platform’s outer ring was festooned with travelers. In the center, were multiple private terminals.
“The pleasures of wealth,” Rafe remarked sourly.
The men knew their lives were in shambles. They’d missed their targets, and no more payments would be forthcoming. They would have to hide for a long time on the ten point one million they were paid.
The grav car headed for a smaller platform located just below the top tier, where grav cars continually landed and exited.
When Rafe and Bryce’s car settled on the platform, they were greeted by a man and a woman who didn’t identify themselves.
“Hurry, but walk as if you have an important appointment,” the man coached.
The assassins immediately recognized the voice. He’d escorted Daphne Lemoyne the only evening they’d met.
The attractive woman led the way, and Rafe had trouble taking his eyes off her. She walked with a suggestive sway.
In the lift to the top tier, Rafe sought to engage the woman in conversation, but she never replied.
Finally, Bryce nudged his partner, delivering a frown, which said, “Cease and desist.”
In the terminal, there was no delay. They simply walked through it to the nearest traveler, which was a cargo model. The ramp was already down.
The woman motioned Rafe and Bryce to seats, and the man headed for the pilot’s cabin. Except for the two Méridiens, the assassins were the only other individuals aboard. They briefly gave a thought as to why a cargo shuttle, but they assumed it was due to expediency.
“Special flight for us,” Rafe commented quietly to Bryce.
When the ramp closed, the woman’s personality changed.
“Apologies for seeming rude at the port,” she said. “We didn’t want to draw attention to us by failing to have an appropriate conversation.”
“Not a problem,” Rafe replied graciously.
“The flight will last less than half an hour,” the woman said, smiling. “However, we’ll have to queue at the liner’s bays for our turn to land. May I offer you drinks?”
Rafe returned the woman’s smile. “Absolutely,” he said.
“My pleasure,” the woman replied.
Rafe watched the woman walk up the aisle to the serving station.
Bryce, who normally would have told his partner to focus on the job, didn’t bother to make a comment. After their targets had evaded their attack, the one thing he’d wanted to do was escape Méridien. Settling into his nanites seat, it seemed like they’d done that.
The woman returned with stim drinks.
When the men sipped on the cool liquid, there were appreciative sighs.
“Let me know if you wish anything else. I’ll be in a front seat,” she said. Then she gave the assassins a final view as she returned forward.
<Drinks delivered,> the woman sent to her partner, who piloted the ship.
Three minutes after the assassins consumed their drinks, they were dead.
The woman waited several more minutes, and then she walked aft to check the pulses. <It’s done,> she sent.
The escort, who had piloted the ship, left the flight in the virtual hands of the controller. Then he doffed his helmet, rose from his seat, and proceeded aft.
The Méridiens stripped the covers off two utilitarian light metal boxes at the aft end of the cargo ship.
When the assassins had boarded the ship, they’d walked past their burial arrangements.
The escort rolled the first box beside Rafe, who sat in the aisle seat. Then the Méridiens struggled to pull the heavy-worlder free of his seat and deposit him in the box.
The woman sneered at Rafe’s body and remarked, “Good riddance.”
Then the escort closed and latched the metal box.
After sliding the first box rearward, the Méridiens repeated the maneuver with Bryce.
When the Méridiens were done, they settled in for the long trip to Delacroix, the Méridien system’s next-to-last planet outward and a gas giant.
Days later, the pair would don environment suits. The woman had already gotten rid of the poison by depositing it in Rafe’s box.
As Delacroix hove into view, the air in the main cabin was evacuated, and the ramp was dropped. Then the escort signaled the controller, which opened the ramp and swung the ship’s aft end toward the massive planet.
Unceremoniously, the Méridiens shoved the metal boxes into space.
It would take some time, but slowly the planet’s gravity would tug the boxes into its embrace. Then Rafe and Bryce would accelerate toward their final resting places. Only, by then, they would be dissociated into gases and minerals to be added to the planet’s cauldron.
Job done, the Méridiens closed up the traveler, climbed out of their environment suits, and celebrated their successful elimination of the assassins.
* * * * *
Two days after the assassination attempt, Tatia received a report from one of Gino’s escorts.
<Admiral, we’ve followed your suggestion,> the escort sent. <With the help of SADEs, we’ve found multiple devices at two locations.>
<Let me guess,> Tatia sent. <The Diamanté home and the commercial building.>
<That would be correct, Admiral,> the escort replied. <The devices were still broadcasting, and the SADEs identified the anomalous signals and followed them to their sources.>
<Short or long range?> Tatia inquired.
<Short, Admiral,> the escort replied. <The SADEs estimate not more than two hundred meters.>
<Derivation,> Tatia requested.
<The internal circuitry is Haraken, but the external camouflage technique is definitely New Terran in nature,> the escort sent. <According to information we’ve received, this form of camouflage isn’t an application used by the Harakens.>
<That confirms the origin of our attackers,> Tatia mused.
<It does, Admiral,> the escort replied. <Had you other suggestions for us?>
The escort was a team leader, and Leader Diamanté had made it clear, in no uncertain terms, to the team leaders that they were to do everything possible to find the assassins and who paid them.
<How well known was it among Méridiens that Alex would visit with Leader Diamanté?> Tatia asked.
<Common knowledge,
I’m afraid, Admiral,> the escort replied. <Their relationship gives the citizenry hope for the Confederation’s future.>
<How popular is Leader Diamanté?> Tatia asked. The delay in the reply told Tatia that she’d touched a delicate subject. <I need the truth,> she sent forcefully. <If that isn’t possible, don’t bother replying.>
<Apologies, Admiral,> the escort sent. <In general, Leaders are respected but not admired. Therefore, popularity isn’t a measurable attribute of the Leaders. I can tell you that the removal and incarceration of Mahima Ganesh was a great relief to the general populace.>
<Except for the few Leaders who supported her,> Tatia replied.
<There are those,> the escort admitted.
Winston and Julien had a brief conference with Méridien and Omnian SADEs. Their directive was to search every controller, server, and repository for evidence. As this order violated Méridien protocols, it was decided that the Méridien SADEs would team one for one with the Omnian SADEs. The local SADE would point the way to a databank, and the fleet SADE would review it for evidence.
The transport system revealed the men’s exit from the Hall, and their motions through the underground. They were seen boarding a grav car. The account used had been deleted, and its existence wiped.
Satellite information was searched to track the grav car’s path. Even with the power of SADEs, it took them hours to track the tiny vehicle across the face of the planet.
Unexpectedly, the port monitors blanked for a period of a quarter hour. During that time, it was assumed that the assassins had boarded a shuttle.
Undaunted, the SADEs returned to satellite surveillance, and they followed the flight path of the tens of shuttles that arrived and left during that quarter hour.
A SADE named Theo kept the records of the shuttle flights that were being evaluated. After a traveler made its destination and returned to the terminal port, other SADEs would review the destination vid monitors for evidence the men had boarded a ship or a station.
Theo matched every satellite instance to the flights researched. At the time Tatia was receiving her report from the escort, Theo had completed the matching and handoff, except for one vessel. At the last spotting, the traveler had passed through a line of cargo ships.
Theo connected to the SADEs who managed the intrasystem ship traffic. He gave them the last known position of the shuttle and its trajectory. Then the SADEs connected to every ship’s controller to find the errant traveler.
On the third day after the assassination attempt, Theo received an enormous vid file. He scanned it and forwarded it to Winston. Immediately, Winston connected to Gino and Julien.
<Proceed, Winston,> Gino sent.
<Greetings, all,> Winston replied, realizing he had a significant audience with Gino’s associates and the Freedom’s bridge.
<We’ve been eliminating shuttle destinations that launched from the last known location of the assassins,> Winston sent. <The shuttles landed aboard ships and stations within hours, except for one. We’ve located that traveler.>
The pertinent section of vid captured by a cargo ship’s controller spooled off onto holo-vids.
As a massive ball of red-orange hove into view, Tatia asked, <Where is this?>
<Delacroix, Admiral,> Winston replied.
<That’s your next-to-last planet outward,> Tatia sent. She was painfully familiar with the area. The twin ships of United Earth had engaged the nascent Haraken fleet there.
<It is, Admiral,> Winston agreed.
<Is there a reason that travelers would sail to Delacroix?> Franz asked.
<Negative,> Gino supplied.
<What did we just see?> Franz requested.
<That’s the critical part of the vid,> Julien explained. <Unfortunately, the cargo ship’s telemetry was blurred by the flare of Delacroix’s gases, at this point.>
<The imagery has been enhanced,> Winston assured the audience. <You can see the ship turn its aft end toward the planet, with its ramp dropped, but it’s unclear if something was ejected.>
<Who owns this traveler?> Gino asked.
<Unknown,> Winston replied.
<How is that possible?> Bartosz demanded.
<The ship’s controller never communicated,> Winston replied.
<The ship’s gone,> Alex surmised.
<Perceptive of you, Alex,> Winston responded. <The traveler passed the cargo ship on a return trajectory to Méridien. Somewhere between Delacroix and Méridien, the ship went missing.>
<We presume there was no explosion,> Franz supplied. <The controller must have been overridden.>
<That’s our assumption, Admiral,> Winston sent.
<What’s the summation here?> Shannon asked.
<Those who paid for the assassination attempt are cleaning up,> Alex sent. <The SADEs couldn’t find evidence of the New Terrans boarding a liner or a cargo ship because they never did. More than likely, we just witnessed their final resting place.>
<Then why disappear the traveler?> Emilio asked.
<What do we know about the terminal from which this shuttle launched?> Renée inquired.
<That’s the intriguing part, Ser,> Z replied. <The terminal belongs to House Diamanté.>
<A nice bit of obfuscation,> Alex commented, with a laugh.
<That’s true,> Winston sent. <Houses contract with whatever traveler is available to minimize the waiting time of their staff or vendors.>
<This is narrowing the prospective suspects,> Renée sent. <There is only one type of entity who has the resources to afford this professional level of assassins, assist them in their attempt, and obscure their tracks.>
<I’m afraid you’re right, Renée,> Gino sent. <I’ve been resisting the thought, but it’s become evident. This is the work of a Confederation House.>
<And only the Leader, or his or her heir, could have given the order,> Winston added.
27: Exposed
After Daphne’s plans to be rid of the assassins and their executioners successfully unfolded, she considered the ten point one million credits paid to the assassins’ account. It was paltry amount for House Lemoyne. More important, recovering the funds could be incriminating. As it was, she decided the credits could sit in the assassins’ private account never to be spent.
However, Daphne had made a serious mistake in directing the two payments. She’d moved funds from the accounts of multiple companies to pay the New Terrans. House Lemoyne had partial ownership in these companies, which gave Daphne access. After each transfer out of a company’s account, she replaced the credits with funds from House Lemoyne. To Daphne’s mind, the process was so complex as to defy being unraveled.
Daphne’s error was her failure to realize that by including Julien in the New Terran’s targets, the entire race of SADEs within the Oikos system would hunt her, and she’d given them a financial trail to follow.
To most accountants, numerous transfers from multiple corporate accounts to a single account would appear as investments in a new entity.
Except, the SADEs noticed three things. The first was that these companies had transferred similar amounts to a single account. Second, the receiving account was anonymous. Third, each transfer was associated with a one-for-one replacement of the credits.
When Winston and Julien accumulated the data supplied by the forensic SADEs, they traced the original source of the funds. The acc
ount had been created two cycles prior to the arrival of the assassins on the planet. It was closed three cycles later, when the final replacement transfer was completed.
The data’s most interesting fact disclosed that the primary payment account was set up and closed within a company that, according to planetary records, no longer existed.
<Who owned this entity?> Julien inquired.
Winston checked the Council’s records and replied, <House Ganesh.>
<Is it feasible that House Ganesh is the source of the funds?> Julien asked.
<Doubtful,> Winston replied. <Mahima Ganesh had four children. During her reign as Council Leader, the eldest three died in various accidents.>
<How surprising?> Julien sent sarcastically.
<When Ganesh was incarcerated, the youngest, a boy of seventeen, inherited the House,> Winston explained. <Like the boy’s eldest siblings, his relationship with his mother was contentious. He’s spent many of his early years as a Leader reorganizing the House’s assets.>
<Ganesh’s supporters embrace a figure who no longer exists,> Julien surmised. <However, one of these supporters knew of the company and had authority to manipulate the records.>
Winston dug deeper into the data. <There were two investors, House Teressi and House Lemoyne.>
<We need to trace who might have been able to manipulate the records to the extent that accounts could be opened and closed in the name of a defunct company,> Julien sent.
<It’s being researched as we speak,> Winston sent.
Julien, who sat with Alex and Renée, shared the recent information.
“It won’t be sufficient to come up with a multitude of suspects,” Alex commented.
“Understood,” Julien replied. “We’re dealing with someone extremely clever. There’s the possibility that we can’t define the payment source as originating from a single House.”
“Alex is right,” Renée interjected. “We must present proof of an individual’s or individuals’ complicity in the hiring of the men responsible for the crimes.”
* * * * *
“Wake up,” the woman aboard the traveler said sharply, slapping her companion’s face. It had been her rotation in the pilot’s chair, when the anomaly occurred.