The Commonwealth Saga 2-Book Bundle

by Peter F. Hamilton

  “Oh, God.” She hurried back into the bedroom where her case was sitting on the bed. The force field skeleton suit was an awkward bundle of bands that was difficult to put on around a wet naked body. “It can’t be Tarlo; he’s got us so close to the Guardians.”

  “I know this is difficult, Gwyneth. Just trust me for a few minutes more.”

  Had it been anyone, anyone else, she might have doubted, and Senate Security be damned. But not Paula Myo. “All right,” Gwyneth said. The skeleton bands were chafing badly, but they were all in position and switched to standby mode. She didn’t like to think what she looked like. Surely there had been time to put on some underwear? “I’m in the suit.”

  “Leave this channel open, and make the call.”

  “What about?”

  “Whatever, it only has to last a few seconds.”

  Gwyneth took a calming breath. Her virtual hand reached out and pulled Tarlo’s icon from her grid. “Hi, Chief. I was just checking in with you before I go to bed. Any developments?”

  There was a long pause.

  “Why are you in your force field suit?” Tarlo asked.

  Gwyneth jerked her head around to stare at the wall between the rooms.

  “Shit!” Her virtual hand swiped at the suit’s activation icon as she dived for the floor.

  The middle of the wall exploded in a gout of dazzling white plasma. Long ion flames seared across the room. One of them licked at Gwyneth. Her force field wasn’t quite established; it flared purple around her, allowing a weakened gust of the energized atoms to rake across her bare skin. She screamed at the pain, thrashing around as the force field stabilized, deflecting the rest of the blast. Flames burst out of the furnishings and carpet.

  The room vibrated to the bass roar of more weapons being fired. Blinding light flared through the wrecked wall. Gwyneth rolled over, tears blurring her vision. She risked a glance down at the side of her rib cage where the ion stream had penetrated. Her flesh was blackened, with red cracks splitting open to weep blood and fluid. It was an agony so intense it was actually dull. She knew she was going to throw up. The sprinklers came on, spraying a glutinous blue foam. Nozzles automatically sought out the hot spots, directing the foam to the worst of the blaze. Steam and smoke churned into the air, obscuring the room.

  More explosions sounded. One actually produced a quake in the floor that tumbled her about. The ceiling sagged, and what was left of the ruined wall collapsed completely. She tried to stand, but somehow her limbs didn’t respond. The best she could do was roll over into a crouch. An alarm was howling.

  Three armor-suited figures materialized out of the thick smoke. Two of them pointed fat stubby weapons at her.

  “Do not move, lady.”

  Gwyneth almost laughed.

  The third circled around her warily, and held a hand out flat toward the bathroom door. There was a dull thud, and a pressure wave knocked Gwyneth back onto her stomach. She groaned at the fresh outbreak of pain in her side. The bathroom door had vanished, along with most of its frame.

  “Clear,” the suited figure said.

  “Did you see where he went?”

  Gwyneth blinked in confusion. A galaxy of colored lights that weren’t quite part of this universe were flashing at her through the smog.

  “Gwyneth! It’s Paula. Did you see him? Did he come through your room?”

  “I … No.” She gritted her teeth in the effort to concentrate. “No, there was just the plasma grenade. He didn’t come this way.”

  “Okay, hang on. We’ve got a medic team on standby. They’ll be with you soon.”

  “Oh, don’t worry about me, I’m all right,” she said, and fainted.

  The sun was just high enough to send a pale light along Tridelta’s long straight streets as Alic Hogan’s taxi pulled up outside the cordon that had been set up around the Almada hotel. He got out of the vehicle with Lieutenant John King and stared at the scene with a rising sense of dismay. Alic wasn’t a religious man, nor even superstitious, but some days it did seem as if the Paris office had been cursed.

  Five big fire tenders were drawn up outside the modern concrete and glass edifice of the hotel. Firebots had crawled up the walls to the fifth floor, trailing their hoses after them. They were clustered around a series of holes that had been ripped through the neat mosaic pattern of windows and concrete panels. He recognized them as weapon blasts. The edges were melted, with little soot scarring the wall above, which meant the plasma had punched out horizontally. That was confirmed by the amount of debris littering the street below. Water and blue suppressant foam was smeared all the way down the wall below the holes, spilling onto the pavement to run into the gutters. There were a couple of shallow craters in the road, where plasma grenades had struck, and a number of smaller pocks from ion pulses.

  Outside the area where tenders and force field–clad fire department staff were supervising the damping-down operation, the police had established a cordon that they were enforcing with armed officers and patrolbots. Clusters of patrol cars were blocking the street a block back from the hotel, their red and blue strobes bright in the leaden dawn. Several other vehicles were stationary along the road, cars and a few early morning delivery vans halting where the city’s traffic management arrays had injected their emergency stop orders. The hotel residents, a couple hundred people, were all huddled together at one end of the building, wearing their pajamas, or dressing gowns, or less. A lot of them had bare feet. Police officers were moving through them, listening to the questions and protests. Kids were crying.

  A couple of ambulances and a medic command bus were parked behind the fire tenders.

  “Dear God,” Alic muttered.

  “He was determined not to be caught, wasn’t he?” John King said.

  “Right.” All Alic could think of was what the Admiral would say.

  The first person Alic saw when a police officer led them into reception was Paula Myo. His jaw clenched at the sight of her. She was wearing full assault armor, with the helmet held under one arm. Even in the bulky dark suit she managed to appear orderly, with her hair neatly held back from her face with a blue Alice band. Several of her Senate Security team were positioned around the reception area, also in armor, with their force fields active, and rifles held ready.

  A couple of the paramedics were working on Gwyneth, who was lying on a crash trolley with a green medical smock around her. Vic Russell was holding her hand, the big man’s face white with worry and anger. Renne was also there, along with Jim Nwan, both of them standing back a polite distance from the cart, but peering at their fallen colleague. The police precinct captain was talking quietly to Paula, while a detective sergeant called Marhol hovered at his side.

  Alic took a breath and walked over to the crash cart. “How is she?” he asked the senior paramedic.

  “Heavy burns on her side where the plasma struck. There will have to be some regeneration, but it’s not critical. We’ve cleaned the injury and sealed it in healskin.”

  “So she’ll be all right?”

  “A few days in the hospital, then a fortnight recuperating. She was lucky.”

  “Great.” He leaned over the crash trolley, trying not to look at the stains and flecks of crisped flesh.

  “Hi, Chief,” Gwyneth said. Her face was very pale, sweat glinting on her brow.

  “Hi, yourself. When you get back, the first thing I’m doing is sending you on a refresher course on how to duck quicker.”

  “Fine by me.” Her dreamy smile was mainly due to painkillers.

  “Go with her to the hospital,” Alic told Vic. “Take as long as you want.”

  “I’m coming right back,” Vic said. “I will be on the arrest team when we track that piece of shit down.”

  “Okay.” Alic wasn’t going to argue in public, but there was no way he was going to allow Vic any part of the case. Right now his priority was to get the big man out of the way.

  He finally turned to Paula, and smiled like
a prosecuting lawyer. “Would you care to brief me now, please.”

  “Certainly.” She thanked the precinct captain, who walked off with Marhol. It was just the Paris office team who were left in a group.

  “Tarlo is a traitor,” she said flatly.

  “I really hope you can prove that.”

  She glanced meaningfully around the reception area and through the huge glass doors at the scene outside. Alic reddened slightly, but held his ground.

  “I’ve been running elimination entrapment operations on both Tarlo and Renne,” Paula said.

  “Me?” Renne yelped.

  “Of course,” Paula replied urbanely. “Our observation was both visual and electronic. As soon as Tarlo was informed that Renne had Bernadette Halgarth under observation he called her. We intercepted that call. When we moved in to arrest him, he fought back and managed to elude us. His armament wetwiring is not registered. Next time we will field a more appropriate arrest squad.”

  Alic knew what the answer was, but he had to ask, just for the record. “Who do you believe Tarlo has been working for?”

  “The Starflyer.”

  “Goddamnit. The Admiral doesn’t accept the Starflyer is real.”

  “Don’t worry,” Paula said, with more sympathy than Alic was expecting,

  “he will have to acknowledge that Tarlo was a traitor. Your conduct has not been compromised; Tarlo dates back over two decades in the Paris office. Your priority now is to launch a review of his cases to see which have been compromised.”

  “Right.” Alic didn’t want to think how much work that was going to involve, nor where he was going to get the resources. Another navy intelligence office would probably have to be brought in, and they would put everyone at Paris under review, himself included. “Why was Bernadette under observation?” he asked Renne. “I thought we agreed that aspect of the case was closed.”

  “Christabel Halgarth placed her and Victor under observation as a favor to me,” Paula said before Renne could answer. Judging from Renne’s expression, she hadn’t known that.

  “So, Bernadette is working for the Starflyer?” Alic said.

  “It would appear so. In which case we must assume Victor is also an agent. I’ve informed Christabel about this incident. She will close the net around Victor if he hasn’t already gone dark.”

  “And Isabella?” Renne asked.

  “Her involvement is even more likely,” Paula said. “You made a good call on that investigation. I’d say the Doi shotgun was Starflyer disinformation intended to discredit the Guardians.”

  “All right,” Alic said; he just wanted to draw a line under the botched arrest. At least that was Paula’s responsibility. “What is your recommendation? What do we do next?”

  “Obviously taking Tarlo into custody is my principal priority. CST security officers at the Tridelta station will be reviewing every passenger for us. I’ve deployed an armed squad there already. Other than that, the ongoing cases must be kept open.”

  “Are you going to arrest Bernadette?” Jim Nwan asked.

  “Yes,” Paula said. “But it’s a question of timing.”

  “Now we know the Starflyer agents are weapons wetwired, we need to gather a lot more firepower, surely?” John King said.

  “I already have more Senate Security combat squads on the way,” Paula said. “But right now, Bernadette is the only Starflyer agent whose whereabouts we are certain of. She cannot be allowed to escape.”

  “How long until your reinforcements arrive?” Alic asked.

  “Fifteen minutes.”

  “Okay then, let’s go.”

  Paula shifted her helmet to her other arm. “No. She knows her cover has been blown; she also knows that we are observing her and we have armed squads in Tridelta.”

  “So?”

  “So, why didn’t she try and break the observation as soon as Tarlo was exposed?”

  Alic sagged, wiping his forehead with the back of his hand. “She’s waiting for something.”

  “Exactly.”

  “But the longer she waits, the stronger we can box her in. She must know that.”

  “Yes. So whatever she is here for must be very important to the Starflyer. She will try to break our observation, either by force or stealth. We need to let her think she has succeeded; that way she will lead us to whatever she is here for.”

  “You can have whatever resources you need from the Paris office,” Alic said.

  “I’d like to keep Renne’s team on her for continuity,” Paula said. “Can you give me someone to replace Vic?”

  “Sure.” He turned to John King. “That’s you.”

  “Yessir,” John said.

  “That’s useful,” Paula said. “We’ve got the Paris team, Halgarth Security, and Senate Security. If she can elude all three of us, then frankly we deserve to lose her.”

  “What about the meeting with the Agent?” Jim Nwan asked. “It’s set up and ready.”

  “That’s our second objective,” Paula said. “The Agent is the breakthrough we’ve been waiting for. He can lead us right into the Guardians. The meeting this evening must go ahead as planned. I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to take him into custody.”

  “I’ll take charge of that operation,” Alic said. It was the kind of legitimate interception that was part of the Admiral’s agenda. And success there would reflect well on whoever was in charge of the operation; it might even mitigate against the rest of this god-awful mess.

  “Good. You understand that Tarlo will also be there if we haven’t caught him by tonight.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Whoever gets the Agent will have access to critical information on the Guardians and their operations. The Starflyer needs that as badly as we do; for over a century they have been its only opposition.”

  “So … are we still trying to shut down the Guardians?” Renne asked.

  Alic had never seen such a troubled expression on Paula’s face, not even that day when the Admiral dismissed her.

  “There are a lot of political factors involved,” Paula said slowly. “I can only say that my allies will have to consider our next move very carefully after we have acquired the Agent and reviewed what he knows.”

  “Okay,” Alic said briskly. “We all know what to do. Send back to the office for any equipment you need, especially force field suits, given what we know about Tarlo’s capabilities. Paula, a word, please?”

  The two of them walked away from the others. “You know I can’t afford to go gray on the Guardians,” he said. “When we acquire the Agent, any information he has must be acted on in a positive manner. They are still classed as our number one terrorist group.”

  “I understand. Tarlo will give the Admiral pause for thought. He’s not stupid. If the information is useful, then my allies will be able to change Commonwealth policy.”

  Alic whistled appreciatively. “Those are some allies. Good luck for the rest of today.”

  “And yourself. My advice would be to strengthen the guard on Beard. He’s the only known route to the Agent. If Tarlo wants to avoid confrontation tonight that would be the obvious method.”

  “Right then.” Alic nodded, and headed over toward the apprehensive detectives.

  Mellanie spent the morning lying on the small room’s single bed with the floor-to-ceiling curtains drawn, accessing all the Tridelta news. Every show was featuring last night’s fight at the Almada hotel. The level of violence had surprised the reporters, and the police weren’t being very helpful with their bland statements. There was no mention of a body being found stuffed into the lower deck lifeboat escape passage on Cypress Island.

  She didn’t understand it, but she slowly allowed herself to relax. After a while she canceled the news and called Dudley.

  “Hello, my darling,” he said. “Are you coming back now?”

  “Not today.”

  “When? I miss you. I want you.”

  The familiarity of his neediness
was reassuring. Stupid old-young Dudley. A universal constant. “Soon. Maybe tomorrow.”

  “I hope so. I’ve done a lot of work on the trip.”

  “What trip?”

  “To the asteroid.”

  “Oh, right.” She’d forgotten. “How’s it going?”

  “Very well. I’m busy computing possible Hohmann transfer orbits. We need to have enough fuel left on arrival to explore the gas-giant orbit inside and outside its rings. Though I expect the habitat asteroid has a significant infrared emission. It should be easy enough to locate.”

  “Well done, Dudley. I’ll take a look at it all when I get back.”

  “I really want you.”

  “Dudley. You can always access Murderous Seduction again.”

  “No. I hate it. Hate it! That’s someone else having sex with you. I can’t feel that again. It’s awful for me. You should never have made it.”

  “Okay, Dudley. But I just want to know if you’re all right.”

  “Why shouldn’t I be?”

  “I thought someone might be following me. Now don’t get in a panic; I wasn’t sure at all. Have you seen anyone hanging around the apartment lately?” She was sure that Alessandra’s people must have picked her up on Earth, no doubt following her from the Michelangelo studios. So they would definitely know where Dudley was. They’d probably be focusing on him as a way of reconnecting with her.

  “No. Do you want me to go outside and check?”

  “No, Dudley, that’s all right. I’m tired, I wasn’t really sure.”

  “Okay then. What are you doing today? Have you found those lawyers yet?”

  “Not yet. But I’ve got a job that should put me close to them.”

  “What sort of job?”

  “I’m a trainee cleaner at the clinic.”

  The image of Kaspar Murdo’s overly friendly face as he acted as her protector and mentor in the belowdecks club filled her mind. All his glib words, his saccharine smile. The deep meaningful conversation he’d wheedled out of her after they went back up to the top deck as the Cypress Island headed home in the small hours, listening sympathetically to Saskia’s ambitions, admiring how she’d left home to strike out for herself. He was good, Mellanie saw; a lot of youngsters would fall for that concerned guru act.