Changer of Worlds woh-3

by David Weber

  He reached into a pocket and pulled out a small, flat package. “As it happens, although the Chicago police are not officially involved, I do have some personal contacts. One of them saw to it that the ransom note was given the full treatment. As well as the evidence which I, ah, uncovered elsewhere. The results are on this disk.”

  He tapped the package against his knee. “But I’ll get to that in a moment. First, let me finish my train of thought.”

  With his left hand, he held up a finger. “So that’s point number one. The people who abducted my daughter were not professional Havenite agents, nor were they following orders from one. Or, if he was one, he was a desk pilot rather than a field man.”

  He flicked up his middle finger to join the first. “Point two. The action itself—kidnapping, for God’s sake—is completely out of whack with the supposed result. I’m an officer in naval intelligence, true, but my specialty is technical evaluation. My background’s in naval construction. I was a yard dog before my wife was killed. After that—”

  He paused for a moment, forcing his emotions under. “After that, I transferred into the Office of Naval Intelligence.” Another pause. “I guess I wanted to do something that would strike the Peeps directly. Unlike Helen, however, I was never good enough at naval tactics to have much hope of climbing to a command position in the fleet. So intelligence seemed like the best bet.”

  Lady Catherine cocked her head. There was something faintly inquisitive about the gesture. Anton thought he understood it, and, if so, was a bit astonished at her perspicacity.

  He smiled ruefully, running his fingers through his coarse mat of hair. “Yeah, I know. ‘And how many barrels of oil will thy vengeance fetch thee in Nantucket market, Captain Ahab?’ ”

  She returned the smile with a great, gleaming one of her own. Her eyes crinkled with pleasure. “Good for you!” she exclaimed. “A rock-hard Gryphon highlander who can quote the ancient classics. I’ll bet you learned to do it just so you could show up the Manticore nobility.”

  For all the gravity of his purpose, and his own tightly controlled terror for his daughter, Anton found it impossible not to laugh. Chuckle, at least. “Only at first, Lady Catherine! After a while, I started enjoying them in their own right.”

  But the humor faded. Here, too, there was old heartbreak. It had been his wife Helen—a Manticoran herself, and from “good stock” if not the nobility—who had first introduced Anton to Moby Dick. Not, in truth, because Helen had been a devotee of classic literature, but simply because she had shared the passion for any kind of naval fiction which was common to many officers in the Manticoran navy. Among whose ranks was firmly held the opinion that Joseph Conrad was the greatest author of all time, except for a vocal minority which held forth for Patrick O’Brian.

  He brought his focus back to the moment. “The point, Lady Catherine, is that I simply don’t know enough of any real value to the Peeps to make it worth their while to commit such a crime.”

  “They are brutal bastards,” stated the countess. “Especially those sadists in State Security. I wouldn’t put anything past thosethugs.”

  Again, Anton was surprised by the countess. Most Liberals and Progressives he’d met, especially aristocrats, were prone to downplay or even semi-excuse the viciousness of the Havenite regime with a lot of left-wing jargon. As if tyranny stopped being tyranny when you added more syllables to the term.

  He shook his head. “That’s irrelevant. They might well be brutal enough—SS is certainly brutal enough—but—”

  He couldn’t resist another chuckle. Talk about role reversals! “Lady Catherine, I am hardly an apologist for the Peeps but I’m also not a cretin. However foul that regime may be, they’re not storybook ogres out of a child’s fairy tale. There’s simply no purpose to this. Not enough, anyway.” He leaned forward, elaborating. “I was sent here to keep track of technology transfers from the Solarian League to the People’s Republic of Haven. Because of my technical background, I can make sense out of information that most intelligence specialists—” He hesitated. “Oh, hell, let’s call ourselves ‘spies,’ why don’t we?”

  The countess smiled; Anton continued: “Which most spies can’t. But it’s in the nature of my work that I am trying to ferret out the enemy’s secrets, rather than keeping our own. So why would the Peeps go to the extreme of kidnapping my daughter in order to force information out of me that they already have? It’s not as if they need me to tell them what technology they’re getting from the League.”

  “What about—”

  “That idiot theory of the admiral’s? That the Peeps are playing a long-term game, figuring they can use me to pass along disinformation?”

  The countess nodded. Anton turned his head and stared at the giant windows along the wall. Even sitting where he was, a good twenty feet away, the view was breathtaking. But he was completely oblivious to it.

  “That brings me to the third reason this doesn’t make sense. It just isn’t done, Lady Catherine.” He sighed heavily. “I don’t know if I’ll have any more success trying to convince you of that than I did with the ambassador and the admiral.”

  Anton hesitated, gauging the personality of the woman sitting across from him. The noble-woman. Then, moved by a sudden feeling that he understood her nature—some of it, at least—decided for straightforwardness.

  “Lady Catherine, I will say this bluntly. Almost every aristocrat I know—sure as hell Ambassador Hendricks and Admiral Young—screws up when they try to understand the Peeps. They always look on them from the top down, instead of the bottom up. If they’re right-wing, with a sneer; if left-wing, with condescension. Either way, the view is skewed. The Havenites are people, not categories. I’m telling you, this kind of personal attack on a man’s family is so utterly beyond the pale that I can’t imagine any professional Peep intelligence officer authorizing it. Not a field man, at least. It just—” He paused, setting his jaws stubbornly. “It just isn’t done, that’s all. Not by us, not by them.”

  Lady Catherine cocked her head again. “Are you trying to tell me that spies follow a ‘code of ethics’? Including Haven’s State Security?”

  Anton’s gaze remained steady. “Yes.” He spread his hands slightly. “Well… I wouldn’t call it code of ethics, exactly. It’s more like a code of honor—or, better yet, the code duello. Even the Ellington Protocol doesn’t allow you to just up and shoot somebody whenever you feel like it.”

  “That’s true. But there’s an official sanction standing behind—”

  “And there is here too, ma’am,” said Anton forcefully. “Any code of conduct has a practical basis to it, no matter how buried it might be under the formal trappings. Spies don’t go around attacking each other’s families, if for no other reason, because once you open that can of worms there’d be no end to it.” He grimaced. “Well, I’m putting the thing too sharply. Certain kinds of attacks are permissible—long hallowed, in fact. Seducing a spy’s spouse, for instance. But kidnapping a child and threatening to kill her—” Again, he set his jaws stubbornly. “It just isn’t done, Lady Catherine. I can’t think of a single instance, for all the savageness of this war between us and the Peeps, when anything like that has happened.”

  He took a deep breath before continuing. “As for State Security…” Another pause; then: “The thing is much more complicated, Lady Catherine, than people realize. The image most Manticorans have of State Security is that they’re simply an organization of goons, thugs and murderers. Which”—he snorted—“they certainly have plenty of, God knows. Some of the foulest people who ever lived are wearing SS uniforms, especially the ones who volunteer for duty in concentration camps.”

  Seeing the countess’ little start, Anton nodded. “Oh, yes. You didn’t realize that, did you? The fact is, ma’am, that State Security allows its people a lot more latitude in choosing their assignments than the Peep navy does. Or the Manticoran navy, for that matter. It’s quite a democratic outfit, in some ways, as hard a
s that might be to imagine.”

  He eyed her shrewdly. “But it makes sense, if you think about it. Whatever else Oscar Saint-Just is, he is most definitely not stupid. He knows full well that his precious State Security is a—a—” When he found the metaphor he was looking for, Anton barked a laugh. “A manticore, by God! A bizarre creature made up of the parts of completely different animals.”

  Again, Anton started ticking off his fingers. “A goodly chunk—undoubtedly the majority, by now—are people who joined after the Revolution looking for power and status. They’ve got as much ideological conviction as a pig in a trough. A fair number of those are former officers in the Legislaturalist regime’s secret police. That’s where you find your pure goons and thugs.”

  Another finger. “Then, there are a lot of young people who join up. Almost all of them are Dolists, from the lowest ranks of Havenite society. Some, of course, are just sadists looking for a legitimate cover or angry people looking to inflict revenge on the so-called ‘elites.’ ” He shook his head. “But not most of them, ma’am. Most of them are genuine idealists, who believe in the Revolution and can see the gains it’s starting to bring their own class—”

  Lady Catherine started to interject a denial but Anton drove over it.

  “Sorry, ma’am—it has. Don’t ever think otherwise. A lot of people in Manticoran intelligence thought the Havenite empire would collapse, after the Revolution.” He snorted. “Especially in the diplomatic service. Bunch of upper class snobs who think poor people are nothing but walking stomachs. Sure, Rob Pierre’s war has brought Haven’s Dolists a lot of bloody grief—not to mention that he’s even frozen their stipend. But don’t think for a moment that those Dolists are nothing but mindless cannon fodder. For them, the Revolution also meant lifting the Legislaturalists’ hereditary yoke.”

  For a moment, Anton’s eyes seem to smolder. Gryphon highlanders had chosen a different political course than Peep’s Dolists—like Anton himself, they were fierce Crown Loyalists down to the newborn babes—but no highlander had any difficulty understanding the fury of the underdog. Over the centuries, highlanders had had their own bitter experience with Manticore’s aristocracy. Anton himself hated the People’s Republic of Haven—for killing his beloved wife, if for no other reason—but he had never shed any tears over the Legislaturalists executed by Rob Pierre and his cohorts after the Revolution. In Anton’s opinion, a fair number of the Manticoran aristocracy would look pretty good, hanging by the neck. Half the members of the Conservative Association, for a certainty—with Ambassador Hendricks and Admiral Young right at the front of the line.

  His innate sense of humor overrode the moment’s anger. Indeed, for a moment, he felt a certain embarrassment. The friendly-faced woman sitting across from him—whom he had approached for help, after all, not the other way around—was also a member of that same aristocracy. Very prominently, as a matter of fact. If the countess was ranked only middling-high in the Manticoran nobility’s stiff hereditary terms—all the stiffer for the fact that they had been artificially created when the planet was settled—the Tor fortune was greater than that of most dukes and duchesses.

  Something in his thoughts must have shown, for Lady Catherine was suddenly beaming from ear to ear.

  “Hey, sailor!” she chortled. “Go easy on me, willya? I can’t help it—I was born there.”

  In that moment, Anton was stunned by how beautiful she looked. It was bizarre, in a way—a matter of pure personality radiating through the barrier of flesh. The countess’ face was not pretty in the least, beyond a certain open freshness. And while her figure was definitely feminine, its lanky—almost bony—lines were quite a ways outside the parameters of what was normally considered, by males at least, “sexy.” Yet Anton knew, without having to ask, that Lady Catherine had never even considered the body-sculpting which was so popular among Manticore’s upper crust. Even though for her, unlike most people, cost was no obstacle. As expensive as body-sculpting was, Lady Catherine could have paid for it out of the equivalent of pocket change.

  It was just—the way she was. Here I am. This is how I look. You don’t like it? Then go—

  Anton couldn’t help it. He was grinning himself. He could just imagine the coarse profanities which would follow.

  The moment lasted, and lasted. Two people, strangers until that day, grinning at each other. And as it lasted, began to undergo what Anton, from his reading of the classics, understood as a sea change.

  And so, his shock deepened. He had come here, carrying years’ worth of a widower’s grief and the newfound rage of a father whose child was in danger, looking for nothing more than help. And found—damned if it wasn’t true!—the first woman since that horrible day when Helen died who genuinely interested him.

  He tried to pull his eyes away, but couldn’t. And as the grin faded from the countess’ face, he understood that he was not imagining anything. She, too, was feeling that tremendous pull.

  The image of his daughter broke the spell. Helen, as a four-year-old girl, had been sitting on his lap at the very moment her mother died. Helen the mother had saved Helen the child. The father’s responsibility remained.

  Lady Catherine cleared her throat. Anton knew that she was trying to leave him the emotional space he needed, and was deeply thankful. Yet, of course, the same uncanny intuitiveness just deepened the attraction.

  “As you were saying, Captain…” Her voice was a bit husky.

  Anton finally managed to look away from her. He ran a blunt-fingered hand through his stiff and bristly black hair.

  “The thing is, ma’am—”

  “Call me Cathy, why don’t you? Anton.”

  He took the hand away. “Cathy, trust me on this. There are fissure lines running all through Havenite society. State Security is no exception. Oscar Saint-Just knows that as well—hell, better than—anyone in the universe. Except maybe Rob Pierre himself.”

  He leaned forward, extending his hands. “So he’s careful to keep the sheep separated from the goats. More precisely—since no one has still been able to nail down telepathy—he lets the goats and the sheep separate themselves. The thugs volunteer for the concentration camps, and the young idealistic firebrands head for the front lines. Which, for spies, means places like Chicago.”

  He nodded toward the window. “And that’s mostly the kind of State Security out there. In the lower ranks, at least. Tough, yes—even ruthless. But I know they weren’t the ones who took my daughter.”

  Cathy leaned forward herself, also extending her hands. But where Anton’s movements had been tight and controlled, hers were jerky and expressive. “Anton, I can’t honestly say that I share your assessment. I don’t have your expertise in intelligence, of course, but my own work has brought me into contact with any number of young—ah, ‘firebrands.’ Some of them, I hate to say it, wouldn’t shrink from any blow directed at their enemy.”

  Anton shook his head. “No, they wouldn’t. But they would shrink from using the wrong weapon.”

  He held up the package in his hands. “This is the forensic report. You’re welcome to look at it if you want, but I can summarize the gist. The people who broke into our apartment and took my daughter—probably male and female both, judging from the chemical traces—left a clear genetic track. Crystal clear, in fact—the idiots were even careless enough not to eradicate skin oils from the note.”

  “And they weren’t Peeps.”

  “No. The genetic evidence carried not a trace of the normal Peep pattern. And it hardly matters, anyway, because the pattern they did carry is unmistakable. They were members of the Sacred Band—or, at least, people who came from that very distinct genetic stock.”

  Cathy didn’t quite gasp, but her hand flew to her throat. “Are you serious?”

  Anton was not surprised to see that Lady Catherine—Cathy—had not only heard of the Sacred Band but obviously didn’t doubt their existence. Most people wouldn’t have understood the term, and most of the ones who
did would have immediately insisted that it was a fairy tale—a legend, like vampires. His suspicion was confirmed, and that knowledge brought him great satisfaction. There was only one way that the countess could have found out about the Sacred Band—she had been told by the very people Anton was searching for. The same people he had come here to find.

  The countess was now staring blindly at the window. “But that makes no sense at all!” Her lips tightened. “Although I can now understand why you’re so insistent that this wasn’t a Peep operation.”

  She gave Anton a shrewd glance. There was hostility in her eyes, but it wasn’t directed at him. “And—of course—I can understand why the ambassador and the admiral wouldn’t believe you.”

  She sprang to her feet. “Fucking assholes!” The countess began pacing back and forth, waving her hands. “Fucking assholes,” she repeated. “Charter members of the Conservative Association, the both of them, God rot their souls. Since their only guiding political principle is gimme—”

  Anton smiled grimly.

  “—they can’t possibly understand people who take ideology seriously.” For an instant, like a prancing filly, she veered at him. “You’re a Crown Loyalist, I imagine.”

  “Rock hard.”

  Cathy brayed laughter. “Gryphon highlanders! Just as thick-skulled as their reputation.” But she veered even closer. “S’okay. I forgive you.” She ran slim fingers through his bristly hair before prancing away. Coming from anyone else except his daughter, that act of casual intimacy would have infuriated Anton. Coming from Cathy, it sent a spike down his spine which paralyzed him for an instant.

  She was moving back and forth in front of the window, now. Her movements were jerky—almost awkward and ungainly—but they also expressed a fierce energy.

  Anton was dazzled by the sight. The bright sunshine penetrated her skirt—a modest enough garment, in its own right, but not made of a heavy fabric—and showed her long legs almost as if they were bare. Very slender, they were, though the muscles were obviously well-toned. Anton felt a sudden rush of sheer passion, imagining them—