CARINA

by Alison Morton

  The night shift security detail at Domus Mitelarum watched as the car slid in through the service entrance; they said nothing as they opened the car doors. We trudged across the back courtyard between snow piled up each side of a dark grey path carved out of the white.

  I stamped my freezing feet on the sisal mat by the entrance door of the service passageway that linked kitchen, storerooms and staff quarters. Out of respect for them, I stayed silent as we walked through. The steward, Junia, met us with hot drinks. Ah, tea. The British had conquered an empire with that drink. Too bad they were moving onto coffee and soda now. Over my cup, I glanced at Conrad. He said nothing, just gave me a half smile. I wanted to shout at him, but I’d do that later.

  * * *

  ‘Welcome, Marcia Vibiana.’ My grandmother stretched out her hand with one of her best smiles. ‘Come and sit with me.’ She pointed at the large leather couch which was my favourite perch by her side.

  Vibiana hesitated. Aurelia Mitela was the senior patrician in Roma Nova and quite a presence. Only Imperatrix Silvia outranked her. Most people would be intimidated by her sense of power. But why was my beloved Nonna being so nice to this nobody?

  Vibiana sat on the edge of the couch seat and clutched her mug. Maybe she was asking herself the same question.

  ‘Colonel Mitelus tells me you need to remain covert for your own safety,’ Aurelia said. ‘You can be assured you will be secure here. Nobody in this household will mention your presence.’ She laid her hand on the back of Vibiana’s free one. ‘Roma Nova owes a great debt to Maximus Vibianus for his service during the Great Rebellion. It’s the least I can do to protect his great-niece.’

  I stared at Nonna. Although I hadn’t been born in Roma Nova, I’d studied hard and thought I knew all the main personalities of the Great Rebellion. It was thirty years ago, and Nonna had led troops liberating the country. But who was this Vibianus she was praising? Such a paragon couldn’t possibly be related to Grumpy.

  After such a tiring time dealing with Vibiana, I’d been looking forward to talking to Nonna. She welcomed me back, hugged and kissed me then turned all her attention to her new guest. I left them to it.

  In our private quarters, I pulled off my thrift shop clothes I’d been wearing for the past twenty-four hours and threw them on the floor. I stomped into the warm shower and shoved soap all over my body. A minute later, it was plucked from my hand and Conrad’s arm circled my waist. He pulled me to him and kissed the back of my neck. I leant back against him revelling in the warmth of the man and the warmth of the shower. His other hand caressed my breast, my stomach and my groin, I sighed, then gasped as his fingers explored further.

  ‘Shh, just relax.’ His voice was equally caressing. He turned me, gently pressed me against the tiles, his mouth crushing mine under the hot streaming water.

  13

  Just after seven the next morning, I was back in uniform and eating my eggs and bacon. Conrad smiled across the breakfast table at me. I responded automatically, remembering waking earlier enfolded in his arms. His hazel eyes reflected the warmth in his smile. I stopped, my fork halfway to my mouth, and my stomach fluttered. I forgot the rest of the world.

  ‘If I may interrupt?’ Aurelia’s voice pulled us back. She inclined her head towards Vibiana, whose back was to us; all Vibiana’s attention was on selecting food from dishes on the sideboard. ‘What are your plans this morning?’

  ‘I think the best thing is to go in as if I came back empty-handed and watch for reaction,’ I said. ‘I’ll pretend to be keeping it all super secret, but leak a few words to the right people.’

  ‘Acting as bait again,’ she said.

  ‘It’s a very effective technique,’ I retorted.

  ‘Agreed, but there are obviously some very influential players behind this, Carina, so be careful who you trust.’ She made a moue. ‘I’m not going to apologise for saying that.’

  * * *

  Apart from routine stuff and a message from Daniel on his way back from the mountain exercise, there was nothing out of the ordinary waiting for me at my desk. I hung around with a cup of coffee, looking suitably subdued and catching up on news with colleagues.

  ‘Mitela!’ The adjutant. I peeled my rear off my neighbour’s desk and slid into my own seat. ‘Stop chatting and get your operation report on my desk by this afternoon.’ He snorted. ‘If you can call such a cock-up an operation.’

  Heat spread up my neck into my face. I caught a few nods and rueful smiles of sympathy and one bark of laughter. Calenthus, one of Dubnus’s buddies. His desk was by the side wall in the admin area.

  The cavern-like general office was a pain in the butt if you wanted to have a private conversation but for once I was grateful for its open plan. Although separated from us by a half-height partition made up of low-level shelving, you could hear and see everything done by the admin and legal weenies.

  I tapped away on my keyboard, churning out the required official report, but watched Calenthus out of the corner of my eye. He looked around, then over at me. I locked my eyes onto my keyboard. After a second I peeked over in his direction. He was tapping away on his phone. He could have been messaging anyone, but my suspicious mind thought it had to be Dubnus. A minute later, after he’d put his phone down, a really loud ping sang out from his direction. Not even put his phone on silent – what an idiot! He looked over at me again, looked back at his phone screen then looked again. Juno, didn’t he know even the basic rules of staying covert?

  A second, softer ping. He studied the screen, then looked up and openly fixed his gaze on me. He grinned. Not good.

  * * *

  I sent my official report to the adjutant, but wrote a second, secret one in longhand. I didn’t want any trace of it in the central document registry. Dubnus’s actions in North America were questionable. Only the assault on Flavius would stand up in court and that would be Dubnus and buddy’s word against Flavius. Vibiana could testify against him, but apart from acting a little heavy-handed he would protest he was guarding her in the name of Roma Nova. And his absence was covered by that damned study leave travel warrant. But worst of all, Legate Vara would always take her cousin’s side. No, while he might catch a disciplinary, he wouldn’t be convicted by a court martial. We had to catch him in actu.

  Getting the go-ahead from his executive assistant, I knocked on Conrad’s door.

  ‘Ah, the real facts!’ he said. ‘Oh gods, it’s in your handwriting!’

  ‘No need to poke at me. No way am I typing it here. Anybody might read it, including you-know-who.’

  ‘Agreed.’

  ‘Anything on the joint services watch list about my grumpy friend?’

  ‘Yes.’ He swivelled his screen round. Vibiana’s face and profile stared out along with her description as a fugitive, and an instruction to arrest on sight for treason, economic sabotage, theft of strategic assets, handling and sale of stolen goods and evading arrest.

  ‘I’ve only just filed my report. How on earth did this get out so quickly?’

  ‘Exactly. When I sent you and Flavius to go and bring her back, the order was restricted to the confidential circulation list and she was only wanted for questioning as a person of interest. This notice on the open list was posted last night by the custodes.’

  ‘Why? Surely being on the confidential list should have made them at least consult us.’

  ‘You tell me. Perhaps your friend Lurio could enlighten us.’ His face was neutral as he spoke the words, but his voice was coated with sarcasm. Lurio was now the local commander of the XI Custodes station for the central part of Roma Nova, a good promotion after his stint as the previous minister of justice’s personal assistant. He and Conrad had history, not least from the time Lurio and I were briefly lovers.

  ‘I’ll ask him who requested the notice be posted,’ I said.

  ‘Go in person and tell him to forget you ever asked.’

  ‘He will.’

  ‘Well, you know him better than I d
o.’

  * * *

  ‘Why are we playing at cloak and daggers in the middle of the day?’ Lurio munched on his sandwich. We were sitting on plastic padded seats in a booth at the back of a small sandwich bar used by office workers.

  ‘Nothing of the kind – it’s just a bit confidential.’

  ‘You’re in civvies, you asked me to wear a coat over my uniform and log out as if for lunch. What else would you call it?’ He finished, wiped his hands on the paper serviette and leant back, waiting.

  ‘Look, this is part of a highly confidential operation only known to a very few people. We have a, um—’

  ‘Well, spit it out.’

  ‘We think we have a rogue guard who’s protected at high level.’

  ‘Ha! I presume the protector isn’t the upright Mitelus,’ he snorted. I kicked him under the table. ‘The only other possibles are his opposite number in the regulars who’s too thick to do anything but work out the palace guard rota, or that blasted woman Vara.’

  ‘I—’

  ‘Don’t bother, Bruna. It’s one or the other which means it’s a complete pile of shit you’re digging into. I wouldn’t, if I were you.’

  ‘Too late. But I think we can shovel our way out and catch the rogue guard, but I need your help.’

  ‘What in particular?’

  ‘Who instructed the custodes to post the wanted bulletin on Marcia Vibiana on the open list?’

  He blinked. His mistake.

  ‘That’s confidential.’

  ‘How in Hades is that confidential?’ I knew from my time in the custodes that it was a simple sign-off.

  He stood, fastened his coat and stepped out of the booth, but I was there before him and blocked him.

  ‘Sit down, Lurio, I haven’t finished.’

  ‘Well, I have.’ He gave me a steady look. ‘Are you going to take me on, Bruna?’

  He was tall and strong. I didn’t doubt my own ability, but it would make a mess. And he knew it.

  ‘Not here. These people are innocent, I don’t want to fight you, but if you don’t cooperate you’ll be up on a charge of treason yourself. Or obstruction at least.’

  ‘I’m trembling already.’

  ‘I would be, in all honesty.’

  ‘Just leave it, Bruna. Let things take their course.’ His expression was almost pleading.

  ‘Why are you blocking me?’

  ‘You’re the one doing that,’ he said. ‘Now get out of my way.’

  * * *

  ‘This is ridiculous. What in Pluto is going on?’ Conrad frowned. ‘They can’t be running an operation involving Vibiana, can they? Or are they investigating something else that’s connected with silver?’

  ‘I can’t believe Lurio wouldn’t tell me.’ I glanced at him, then away. ‘I may have a contact who can help. But it has to be totally off the record.’

  His eyes narrowed. ‘Who? No, on second thoughts, don’t tell me. Just don’t let it be traced back here.’

  * * *

  I climbed the stairs to the second floor of an insula off the Via Nova. Why she had to live in an old block with no lift was beyond me. I raised my hand to knock on the metal door when it opened.

  ‘I spotted you coming up the stairs,’ she said. ‘Concealed camera.’ She opened the door further and I stepped into a studio apartment that looked as if it had been raided. I nearly tripped up on a pile of discarded clothes. I scooped them up and threw them on the unmade bed. In contrast, the desk area was immaculate, no paper except for a small jotter pad, no pen except for one in a slimline desk tidy. Three highly polished full-size screens and their keyboards faced me. Their owner, however, wore a pair of jeans with slashes at the knees and frayed hems, topped with a crumpled tee showing multiple signs of coffee drinking. Her urchin cut hair and skinny figure made her look about twelve.

  ‘Why are you here?’ she said. ‘I’m not on duty yet?’

  ‘Less of the attitude, Fausta.’

  ‘Oh, sorry, ma’am, I’m sure.’

  In front of me was one of the shining stars of the PGSF IT service. To be truthful, she was a little tainted as she’d been an expert black hat hacker. Maybe more grey hat as she hadn’t had the malicious intent typical of a black hat. But I hadn’t shared that knowledge with the recruitment people at the PGSF as she’d put that behind her, she’d said.

  ‘I know you’re not on until this evening, but I need you to do something. Well, two somethings.’

  She shot me a suspicious look. ‘Illegal, I suppose?’

  ‘I presume you can get into the city custodes system?’

  ‘Illegal definitely, then.’ She tilted her head. ‘You’ll get me a good lawyer and visit me in prison?’

  ‘Oh, you think you might get caught? Oh, sorry, I wouldn’t have bothered you. Forget I asked.’ I turned towards the door.

  ‘Wait. I didn’t say I couldn’t.’

  I smiled to myself, then turned back with an assumed serious expression to face her. ‘No trace guaranteed?’

  ‘Not the whisper of an ant’s breath,’ she replied. ‘What’s the other thing?’

  ‘How good are you at voiceprints?’

  ‘I can run a cross-check against some databases if you send me the recording, but it might take a little time.’ She gave me a funny look. ‘Why aren’t you using the databases at HQ? They’ve got hundreds of thousands of clean examples.’

  ‘Look, Fausta, this is hugely covert. Only Colonel Mitelus and I are in the loop on this. I don’t want a trace of this search on our systems for the same reason I need to know about that custodes sign-off. Trust me on this one, okay?’

  She nodded, but drawn by the lines of indecipherable white characters streaming across a black background she turned back to her screen. The blue insignia of the Roma Novan custodes flashed up and we were in. She found yesterday’s notices. How I kept myself from exploding, I didn’t know.

  Vibiana’s wanted notice had been signed off by bloody Lurio.

  14

  ‘I am going to kill him.’ I was pacing up and down Conrad’s office. ‘I presume my “failed mission” was posted on the confidential part of the joint watch list, so he knew I was involved in the case. It was a relatively simple question, but he’s gone straight into clam mode.’

  ‘Perhaps it may have been better to have phoned after all rather than meeting him,’ Conrad said. ‘That way it may not have appeared significant.’

  ‘Sure, maybe, but I never expected such a stupid answer.’ I glanced at Conrad. ‘Who gave you the instruction to go and bring Vibiana back in the first place?’

  He didn’t reply immediately, but tapped on his keyboard and stared at his screen. ‘It came from Legate Vara’s office. So now we have this notice posted before your report was written, Lurio’s stonewalling and one of Vara’s cousins and clients freelancing while pretending to be on study leave.’

  ‘She’ll back him.’

  ‘Obviously. She’s his patron and the Varae put the patron–client relationship before Roma Nova.’

  ‘They make me sick.’

  ‘Perhaps, but they’ve been traditionalists for sixteen centuries.’ He tapped again. ‘Flavius has been transferred from the sick bay at Brancadorum. Go and talk to him. If we can at least nail Dubnus for that assault in Quebec, that might worry the opposition, whoever they are.’

  * * *

  I made my way to the other ranks’ quarters and found the optiones common room, door open. I knocked on the doorframe. It wasn’t mandatory, just good etiquette for members of different messes to ask rather than barge in. I was surprised anybody heard me, the noise that was coming from the games area, but the senior optio nodded me in.

  ‘Anybody special you’re looking for, ma’am?’ she asked.

  I glanced at the digital display which showed who was in.

  ‘Marcus Flavius. I see he’s in.’

  ‘Second corridor on the right, third door along on the left.’ She paused. ‘He limped in looking as if he’d b
een in the worst sort of bar brawl.’

  ‘Just a traffic accident. You should see the other driver.’ I gave her a really cheery smile, but she didn’t say anything.

  I knocked and went in. Flavius lay on the bed, his top half elevated by several pillows and his eyes closed. With large purple and yellow blooming everywhere, his face looked worse than it had been when I’d picked him up at the hotel in New York. Of course, I hadn’t seen him in proper light since then. He stirred, but his eyes were still closed. I crept back to the door.

  ‘Don’t go,’ he murmured.

  I pulled a chair up, took his hand and pressed it lightly.

  ‘I’m okay, really, just a bit tired. The medic visited earlier this afternoon and said I was recovering well.’ He opened his eyes and tried to look convincing.

  ‘Flav, you rip me a new one when I try to bullshit you, so don’t try it in reverse. You look terrible.’

  ‘Oh, thanks.’

  I picked up the pills in the tray on his bedside table. Strong antibiotic. Had the cracked rib gone into his lung? The hospital in New York that patched him up would have kept him in if it had been that serious.

  ‘Can you talk for a few moments?’

  ‘Of course.’

  ‘When you were beaten up in Vibiana’s hotel, did you see who attacked you?’

  He turned his head away and sighed.

  ‘No. Just as I heard footsteps behind me, a bag was thrown over my head. I raised my hands to pull it off, then they really started in. Sorry.’ He shifted in the bed and tried to sit up.