“What happened after you got back?” Hanna asked.
“Nothing. I dropped her off outside and went home.”
“That’s all? Did you hear what was said?”
“No, I got the impression it was all over, whatever it was, before I got there. Oh, hang on. I forgot. As I drove off, I saw her cross the road behind me in the rear vid screen.”
Hanna looked across the road. “Oh no.”
“What is it? Do I need to get my people together?” His question was instantaneous and Hanna was pleased by his reaction.
“No. I don’t think so. I need to check something first and if it doesn’t come to anything, you’ll be my first call. Keep your com open, just in case.”
“Alright. If you’re sure.”
“I am, don’t worry.” Hanna left him there a bit confused and ran up the stairs. She didn’t stop until she was through both security doors and outside Valerie’s room.
“Valerie!” She shouted and banged on the door as hard as she could. Names didn’t matter. No one could hear them here. There was still no response. “Open up, Valerie, or I will!”
“Go away,” a muffled voice came from inside.
“Open up!” She hammered on the door some more.
“No.”
“To hades with this.” Hanna muttered to herself and entered the door code. It clicked and she pushed it open gently. There inside, Valerie lay sprawled on the bed, still dressed. She had only bothered to take her coat off. Even her boots were still on. Four empty whisky bottles lay on the floor, with a full one to one side and a half empty bottle in Valerie’s hand. The stench of booze wafted out and Hanna wrinkled her nose. She really hated that smell.
“How you do that?” Valerie asked, waving the bottle in the air. “I changed code.”
“Override.” Hanna shrugged and she went over to the bed. “I programmed them.”
“Hah,” the bottle waved in her direction. “Clever.”
“I thought so. Come on, you can’t do that here.” Hanna tried to gently prise the bottle out of Valerie’s hand, but it was like trying to uncurl metal. Her fingers wouldn’t budge.
“No,” Valerie waved Hanna away, swinging round into sitting position. Hanna ducked back to avoid being clobbered by her boots. “Siit down.” The words were slurred but recognisable. She marvelled at the woman’s constitution. Even for a genetically engineered super solider, four and a half bottles of whisky was a lot.
Sitting down next to her, Hanna tried not to react to the woman’s breath. She reeked of the booze.
“Do you know what?” Valerie slurred.
“No,” Hanna sighed. “What don’t I know?”
“It’s all a mask.”
“What is?” It had been awhile since Hanna dealt with a drunk. All she could think of was her mother.
“Me?”
“You?” Hanna shook her head in confusion. “Why are you a mask?”
“It’s all fake.”
“What’s all fake?” It really was difficult to make sense of.
“Everything. Everything is a fake. I hide it.”
“What are you hiding, Valerie?” she asked gently
“The pain. Every moment, of every day, I feel it. Every time I fall asleep I dream of them.” The bottle waved about as she talked. “I hide it with plans, training, caring. I pretend to everyone I’m alright. I pretend I want to live. I pretend it’s all worthwhile. It’s just a mask.”
Hanna thought very carefully before answering and Valerie took more swigs of whisky.
“I know you’re in pain. I’ve known since the day you saved me from Tern. Sneaker and the others back on Blaze knew. We didn’t know why, well a few of us at the end, but we could see it in you. That’s why, if you asked, they would all be here right now. They saw your pain, and they saw a woman who would lead them into the worst situation possible and get them out again. They saw a woman who would do everything she could to keep them alive. If not for you, they would all have died rescuing me from Tumbler.”
With a low chuckle Hanna reached for the bottle in Valerie’s hand. This time she let it go. Hanna took a big swig.
“Arrgghh. How do you drink this stuff? Wow, that’s warm going down.” She passed the bottle back. “I know I’m not anywhere near as old as you, but you are by far the best leader I have ever seen. You care for people in a way not even Sneaker does. Look at this place. In months we’ve set up a gang rivalling his and without his massive list of contacts. When I couldn’t find you this morning, Cracker was ready to get loaded up and find you with blood in his eye. You inspire loyalty because no matter how much pain you’re in, you will fight tooth and nail for your troops.”
Valerie didn’t say anything and Hanna looked at her. She was astounded to see tears rolling down her cheeks.
“I saw one of them last night and the mask slipped.” Valerie said quietly.
“One of who?”
“Shadow Company. He followed us out of the bar.”
“That guy was Shadow Company? Oh shit. We need to get out of here.”
“Heh, no. After you gave that speech? He won’t say anything, but I broke my promise to him. I broke my promise to all of them.”
Hanna shook her head in bewilderment. “What promise?”
“They put their trust in me and I killed their friends and colleagues.”
“Oh... Furioso.”
“Furioso,” Valerie agreed.
The silence stretched between them. What could Hanna say about the killing of over twenty-four thousand people?
“Can you do anything about it?” she asked.
“No.”
“Do you feel guilty about it?”
“Some, mostly I still feel rage.” It shocked Hanna and she steadied herself before continuing.
“Would you do it again?”
“Maybe... I...” there was a deep sigh. “No. I wouldn’t.”
“Valerie, we can’t change the past. We’re light years from our birth world, centuries from a time when people used to think it was impossible to travel faster than light, but we don’t have time travel. Sometimes you have to put it behind you and move on. All you can do is ask those who are important to you, to forgive you.”
“How does a fifteen year old deal out advice like that?”
Hanna shrugged. “I had a couple of good teachers. Now you need to sleep this off.” She stood, turned around and held out her hand. “Give me that.” Valerie looked at the bottle, took one last gulp of whisky and handed it over. Placing a hand gently on her shoulder, Hanna guided Valerie back onto the bed. “Get some sleep.”
Valerie lay back without a complaint and shut her eyes. In seconds she was fast asleep. Hanna collected the other bottles, put them in the box they had been bought in, from the shop across the road, and left quietly, shutting the door behind her.
***
A shape in the doorway caused Hanna to look up from her desk. Valerie stood in the doorway, coffee in one hand and a bacon sandwich in the other.
“How are you feeling?” she asked.
The older woman shrugged and leaned against the door frame. “Manageable. I’ve got you to thank for the bacon in the fridge?”
“I thought you might need it after yesterday.”
“Thank you and not just for the food.”
“Don’t worry about it.” Hanna told her with a shrug. “I can’t know what you’re going through. It was different for me. Just know you’re never alone.”
“I know,” Valerie said nodding and took a deep breath. “So what have you found out?”
“I know nothing about financial transactions.” Hanna said with a smile and Valerie shrugged with a small smile in return. “Your husband’s encryption was easy enough to get through but these records are beyond me. I can’t make head nor tail of them.” As she spoke to her, it occurred to Hanna, Valerie hadn’t mentioned her husband’s letter during her drunken confession. Valerie showed it to Hanna when she handed over the financial data.
“I think we should approach Ison with this as your husband suggested.” Hanna said.
“No,” Valerie shook her head emphatically. “We are not going to involve one of them.” Her tone brooked no argument. “Let’s leave it aside for the moment. How are you getting on with Granath & Dietze?”
“Good news and bad news there. I can’t get into their client records. They’re actually one of the few firms on this world who have actually hard-walled their systems, well what they deem the most one’s important anyway.”
“I’m guessing that’s the bad news. What’s the good?”
Hanna paused before answering. “I think I’ve found who paid that police hit squad.” Valerie stood up straight suddenly.
“It wasn’t Bjorn?”
“No. Remember he never actually admitted to it. Oh, he was involved,” Hanna continued quickly, “he owned up to putting your family in harm’s way. He deserved to die, that’s for sure.”
“So who did then?”
“Granath & Dietze hard walled the client files, but left a lot of other stuff connected to the datanet, including their financials.”
“I thought you said you can’t read those.”
“The stuff your husband left for you? No. These are simply payments in and out. The arrogance of these people is amazing. The names of the officers you killed is public knowledge. They made them out to be hero’s giving their lives for the greater good and all that bullshit. I ran a search for those names through everything I data mined and all four names popped on, and you are not going to believe this, a personal expenses account. They actually claimed hired killers as an expense!”
Hanna hadn’t really expected Valerie to see the funny side of it and wasn’t disappointed.
“Whose?”
“Siobhan Dietze herself.”
“And where can I find Siobhan Dietze?”
“At her home in Narodowy tower. Her schedule is like it’s set in stone. She’ll be there from nine tonight.”
“You’re ready to go now?”
“If you are. With all your running around sorting the territory out, you gave me more time than I needed. I thought I might as well put it to good use. Deni’s scouted it and I’m all the way into the towers systems.”
“We go tonight then.” Valerie said firmly. “Another one gets to pay the price. She’ll be able to tell us who is next in the chain.”
***
“No, that’s not good enough!” Siobhan Dietze snapped into her com as she walked into her home. “Orobello needs this done. Tell Kenyon, if they don’t sign by eight tomorrow morning, then they won’t see a single one of the Damascus contracts.”
“But we promised those-,” Fabrizio Slaoui, her assistant, argued.
“I don’t care!” she cut him off. “Get it done!” she disconnected before he could reply. “If it wasn’t for his grandfather,” she muttered. “He would not have a job.” At three hundred and sixty-six, it was times like this she felt her age. Having kids not even in their forties thrust upon her because his grandfather thought he was special.
Dropping her bag on the side table, she kicked off her shoes and walked through the opulent apartment to the dining room. Her stomach was reminding her, it had been too many hours since lunch. She was surprised there was no food ready for her on the table.
“That’s strange,” she said to herself. “Martina!” she called sharply, to her house servant and cook.
“Martina!” there was no answer in the silent apartment. “Where are you girl?”
“Asleep,” a cold voice said from behind her.
Siobhan spun to see a woman standing there, dark hair, long dark coat and pistols strapped to her thighs. Her eyes drew Siobhan’s gaze. She’d never seen eyes as lifeless as these. No, that wasn’t right. They weren’t lifeless, just removed of every strip of human emotion. She felt frozen in their glare as the woman stalked towards her.
“Who? Who are you?”
“Eleanor Doherty,” the woman said in that same cold voice, sending a spike of terror running up Siobhan’s spine.
“That’s not possible. She died.” Siobhan managed a step backwards.
“Oh, you remember? Pomykala didn’t and made me angry.”
Siobhan did not want to see this woman angry. She tried to activate her com but nothing happened.
“We shut it down the moment you finished your call.” The woman claiming to be Eleanor Doherty said.
Terror was threatening to overtake Siobhan and the woman was almost in arms reach.
“It was business. I. I. Didn’t know the children...” She didn’t see the hand that struck her. All she saw was a flash of light as it impacted on the side of her face. Then she was looking up at the woman from the floor, disorientated.
“Whose business?” she asked in a voice cold enough to freeze stone.
“I can’t tell you. Please.” Siobhan tried to get to her knees to beg for her life. A boot came back and slammed into her stomach. It blasted all the breath out of her and she felt something snap inside. Pain stabbed in her chest, piecing and all consuming. Clawing at her clothes, she desperately tried to open them. Suddenly the pressure eased and she felt blackness overcoming her.
The last thing she saw was the woman crouching down and grabbing her by the shoulders. “No! Don’t you die on me.”
***
Valerie watched the woman writhe on the floor, after her boot impacted on her stomach. She placed the kick precisely to damage her internally. It wouldn’t kill her, not yet. Dietze struggled to breath and suddenly started clutching at her chest. Valerie frowned. The blow was lower down and Dietze was grabbing at her clothes, pulling at them. That wasn’t right.
Crouching down, she grabbed Dietze by her shoulders and watched as the life seemed to leech out of her. Valerie shook the woman in horror.
“No! Don’t you die on me.” It was too late, she was already gone.
“Whoa. What just happened?” Hanna asked over the com. “A medical alarm just went out of Dietze’s apartment and I couldn’t stop it.”
Before answering Valerie tore Dietze’s clothes open.
“Shit!” she swore loudly. “She has a heart monitor on.”
“Oh, no. I didn’t know about that. It hasn’t been jammed. It’s where the medical alert’s coming from. You have to get out of there, Valerie. Building medics are on their way and Dietze’s police watchdogs have been copied in.” There was a Zeus Police anti-terrorist squad on the floor below, to keep an eye on Dietze. Fortunately, Dietze did not want them anywhere near her.
“OK,” Valerie answered. “Extraction three. I’ll see you back at base.”
***
“Lightning blast it!” Valerie almost shouted, storming into the small kitchen/diner the three of them shared, two hours later. “I had her and she was so terrified she would have told me everything!”
Hanna and Deni both practically jumped at her entrance. They were sitting at the small table, with a coffee for Deni and hot chocolate for Hanna.
“I’m sorry, Valerie.” Hanna said contritely. “I should have spotted the medical feed.”
Stopping and taking a deep breath, Valerie made herself calm down.
“No, Hanna,” she sighed. “There is no way you could have known. They’re on a separate system entirely and it would only be transmitting if there was a problem.” Valerie poured herself a cup of coffee and dropped into the third chair dejectedly. “Back to square one. We’ll have to find a way into Granath.
“It’s a trap and you know it,” Deni said pointedly.
“A trap is only a trap if you don’t know about it.” Valerie told her confidently, but she didn’t really mean it.
“Bullshit!” Hanna said. “They know you’re coming. More importantly they know exactly what you can do. There won’t be any element of surprise. Whoever they have there will be fully briefed. They may not be able to spread the word about you far and wide, but they can tell the people they’re sending to catch yo
u!”
“So what would you have me do? Give up?”
“No. We need to go to Ison,” Hanna snapped back.
“I’ve told you. We’re not getting him involved. It would just give them a chance to cover it up. He’s as much a part of them as anyone else. They’ll close ranks and protect whoever’s behind this.”
“Maybe, maybe not,” Deni argued. “While Hanna was working on Dietze, I’ve done some checking on Ison. Of anyone to go to, he could be the best option. He’s ruthless, uncompromising and remorseless. He ruined the Tsuchiya family when one of them cost him a couple of million.”
“I’ve heard the story,” Valerie shook her head. “A couple of the family actually went to prison and the person behind it was killed. So what? He may be happy to do it himself but that’s not what I want. I want to look them in the eye before I crush their skull with my bare hands!” The vehemence in her voice caused both of the girls to sit back and Deni paused before continuing.
“OK. There’s something you may not have heard. Arnold Ison never goes back on a deal.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s not really common knowledge, as far as I can tell, but I came across a couple of examples when I was looking into him. There’s a factory over in Tettenhall borough here in Zeus. Ison bought it from a Family who were struggling, part of the deal was a one percent yearly wage increase for the workers.”
“That’s very generous. I’ve never heard of it before,” Valerie said.
“Generous it maybe, but the factory is still there and the workers are still getting the increase, I checked. It seemed a bit strange to me so I dug deeper. Ison drives a hard bargain, he’s renowned for it and I haven’t come across a single instance where he changed an agreement.”
“So, if we name our terms and get him to agree to them, he’ll stick by them?” Hanna asked.
“From everything I could find, yes.”
“Valerie, this must be why Tom told you to go to him,” Hanna told her. “He knew Ison would stick with whatever deal you agreed with him.”
Crusade For Vengeance (Dark Vengeance Book 2) Page 15