“I suppose that’s true.” He took a deep breath, then steepled his fingers. “I guess you’re right. When it comes down to it, I don’t have much of a choice. If I don’t do something, the result could be devastating for both of our countries.”
“I thought it was the position of the Sol Federation that there is only one nation—the Sol Federation itself?”
If I wanted to maintain my cover, I needed to seem like a patriotic servant of the North Atlantic States. In the complex network of power that governed the solar system, the North Atlantic States was probably the least inclined to respect the authority claimed by the Sol Federation.
“I don’t think semantics really matter, do they?”
“I suppose not. So what do you have for me, Mr. Yeun?”
“Call me Edward, please. If you agree to help me, we’ll be working together closely on this. A strictly off the books investigation to prevent a war between the NAS and the Sol Federation.”
“Listen, Edward. I’m a law enforcement officer. I investigate crimes, and I arrest the people that commit the crimes. If you have evidence of wrongdoing, I’ll happily look at it and see if it merits a full investigation. If I believe it does, I’ll arrest the suspected parties even if they happen to be high-ranking officers of my own service. What I won’t do is go off the books on a rogue mission because someone from Federation Intel told me to.”
Tycho Barrett was all about the rogue, off the book missions. That was the entirety of his job. Jean-Paul Baudri was just an Inspector General, devoted to his duty and not inclined to stray from the rulebook. When you’re protecting your cover, you have to stick to your character.
“I’ll send you the full dossier by dataspike.”
A notification appeared in my view, indicating a file transfer request. I gestured confirmation, then I opened it for a closer look.
“Edward, this is a large file. I’m seeing transcripts of conversations, some banking information, some dataspike messages. What’s the executive summary?”
He nodded once. “That file contains information compiled over the last eight months. It proves the existence of a criminal conspiracy, which is why I’m bringing it to you.”
“A conspiracy by whom?”
“By multiple cabinet members of the North Atlantic States.”
“To do what, Edward?”
He leaned in closer and lowered his voice. “To assassinate the Sol Federation Secretary-General.”
This Section 5 analyst could have potentially just handed me Section 9’s next mission. The question, of course, was whether any of this was even true.
“That’s a substantial claim,” I said. “Secretary-General Claudette de Beauvoir is arguably the most powerful leader in the system. If what you’re saying is true, the implications are—”
“I know.” He nodded. “I wouldn’t expect you to just take my word for it. Verify the data for yourself.”
“Will you be available if I have questions?” I asked.
He looked surprised at that, as if he’d expected today to be the extent of his involvement.
“I am concerned about anyone seeing the two of us together,” he said. “I’m officially on leave. I’m not expected to be at the office for a few days, but these are powerful people. It wouldn’t be hard for someone to—”
“I’m not suggesting anything else face-to-face. We can communicate strictly through encrypted dataspike messages. I’ll send you the endpoint node address.”
I gestured in the air to call up my notes. Colored tiles with dates and subject lines filled my vision, and I swiped through to find the tile containing my personal remote service list.
As an engineer, secure messaging had been a necessity to avoid corporate theft in a cutthroat industry. As an Arbiter, I was granted access to a completely isolated network with its own unique protocols. Section 9’s systems were even more secure and atypical, so it’d been years since I last needed my personal services. I’d only maintained access because it was easier to keep paying the fee than to cancel.
“We’ll use this,” I said, and I initiated a dataspike transfer.
Edward seemed satisfied, nodding as he spoke. “Remote access service in Córdoba? That’s good. Very good.”
“Indulge me, Edward,” I said, dipping my last pierogi in sauce. “Why didn’t you go through your own agency? Intelligence Section 5 could present a report, get someone to take adequate countermeasures, notify MetSec...”
“I did present a report. My supervisor directed me to reach out to you.”
“Your boss told you to contact a member of a foreign service?”
“You’re not a foreign service in our view. The North Atlantic States is a regional government under the purview of the Sol Federation. We’re the ones ultimately responsible for the welfare of all member states, and we have a better chance of stopping this if we work together.”
That sounded a little weak.
“I’m sure that will be the official reasoning,” I said, “but my gut tells me it has everything to do with who’s implicated. If the Federation tried to move on NAS senior officials, it would be considered an act of war.”
“As would the murder of the leader of the free system.”
He was right to come to an Inspector General with this, and fortunate that person was me. “We’ll do everything we can,” I said.
“How many people do you expect to bring in?”
“A few. I’ll see what they say.”
“Can you trust them?”
“Without their help, this goes nowhere.”
He stared at me intently. “Okay. Meet with your people. I’ll wait to hear from you.”
3
Walking back to the train station, I sent a message to Andrea and the others.
Emergency meeting at A’s place. On my way now.
Andrea sent the first reply a few seconds later.
You have something for us?
Maybe. Need to confirm.
As the train wound through the city, I reviewed Edward’s file. It wasn’t as complete as I would have liked. He’d claimed that it proved the existence of a conspiracy, but proof was too strong a word. The file was at best an assortment of hints, records of people talking around something without saying exactly what it was they were talking about.
Once I’d read the whole thing, though, I had to agree that it made a fairly compelling case. Whatever these cabinet ministers were talking about, it did seem to center on Secretary-General Claudette de Beauvoir. Footage of her moving through the Federation building in Bruges, records of building access times, and archives of her itinerary stretching back months. Payments to non-bidding contractors. Maps of her properties in Florence and Dusseldorf. Working backward from the conclusion, the pieces lined up.
Andrea’s apartment was in west Brent, rented under her pseudonym Anne Walsh. It was in a quiet residential area fifteen minutes away from the maglev by foot. With little traffic and fewer MetSec cameras, it was the ideal hub for meetings like this.
Thomas Young was just walking up as I reached the building. He must have come straight from the IG office, still wearing his black suit and gray long coat. He had hair I could only describe as poetic, and with his high cheekbones he had the look of some decadent aristocrat from long ago. His seemingly unblinking eyes constantly hinted at a restless intellect, with the almost intolerable arrogance that sometimes goes with it.
“Tycho…Jean-Paul, I should say. Do you really have something interesting?”
Andrea buzzed us in, and I pulled the door open. “You’ll just have to see, won’t you, Thomas?”
He somehow managed to flinch and scoff at the same time. We walked up the hallway to her apartment and found Vincenzo Veraldi holding the door open for us. He was a man who looked equally at home attending a cocktail party with system leaders or taking part in a back-alley knife fight. Both perceptions would be accurate.
“Tycho, Thomas, you’re the last ones here. We can get started w
henever you’re ready, Tycho.”
He locked the door behind us, and I walked into Andrea’s living room. She was sitting on the arm of the couch, with Raven Sommer next to her. Raven gave me a warm smile, which was typical of her in our relationship. She was a rare beauty, with soft, dark hair and flawless brown skin. She was also an expert sniper who had killed more men than she cared to remember.
Andrew Jones was standing nearby, leaning against a wall with a vaguely nonchalant air. He was wearing his dark gray suit, despite the fact that we were all off duty that day.
“Everyone’s here,” announced Andrea. “What have you got for us, Tycho?”
“I decided to go out and explore my neighborhood today. While I was out, I noticed that I was being tailed.”
“Internal Affairs?” asked Andrew.
“Man, if our cover’s blown…” muttered Raven, but Andrea held up a hand to silence everyone.
“That’s what I thought, too,” I said. “I slipped him for a while, but then he approached me in the restaurant where I was eating lunch.”
“He just went right up to you?” asked Raven.
I nodded. “Yes. He’s not Internal Affairs. He’s an Intelligence Analyst with Section 5 named Edward Yeun.”
Andrea frowned. “Are you saying that Section 5 knows about our presence here?”
“No, I don’t think he has any idea we’re Section 9. I don’t think he even knows that Section 9 exists. He seems to genuinely believe I’m an Inspector General.”
“Well, what does he want?” asked Andrew. “Don’t keep us in suspense.”
“He gave me documents. I’ll send it to all of you right now and summarize what he told me about it.” I sent the file out to them by dataspike, then waited a few seconds while everyone completed the transfer.
“This is some varied material,” commented Veraldi. “It’s like someone was conducting an investigation.”
“That’s exactly what he claims he was doing.”
“Investigation into what?” asked Andrea.
“Into a plot by several members of the NAS cabinet to assassinate Claudette de Beauvoir.”
Andrew blinked a few times and pulled his head back. “Wait, the Secretary-General of the Sol Federation?”
“Yes, exactly.”
“That would start the biggest war the solar system’s ever seen.”
“According to Yeun, that’s exactly what he’s trying to prevent. He told me he’d been authorized to undertake a covert mission to reach out to us as IG so we can stop it.”
“Of all the people he could have brought it to, it was someone from Section 9. What are the odds,” said Raven quietly.
Andrea shook her head. “This doesn’t add up. Section 5 does analysis; they don’t undertake covert ops of any kind. And if they needed something done, they’d reach out to Section 1 . Why would the bosses in Section 5 authorize him to reach out to a rival service?”
“I’m suspicious of it too,” I told her. “When I spoke with him, he seemed genuine. But his actions are peculiar, and absolutely against protocol. Something strange is going on here.”
“Let’s analyze it then,” Veraldi replied. “Why would Section 5 not reach out to the other sections for help with this?”
Andrew stepped away from the wall and started pacing. “Trust. Maybe there’s too much oversight, or they suspect there’s a mole and don’t want the operation blown."
I hadn’t considered that, but it was a possibility. Still, the most plausible explanation was the one Edward offered. “He said it was because of the optics,” I countered, “and I’m inclined to agree. Anything overt could start a war. If the Federation takes action against high-level members of the NAS government, it’ll look bad whether they’re guilty or not.”
“This is taking us off-vector,” Andrea said. “We need to focus on this information. The facts of the material and what it tells us. Everyone have a look at the file and then we’ll pick this up in ten.”
We scattered around the apartment, everyone seeking out a comfortable place to pore through the documents. I’d already read it all, but I tried to look over it again with fresh eyes. My conclusion was still the same. It didn’t amount to proof, but there was a lot of circumstantial evidence that the plot was real.
The unresolved question was whether the evidence itself was real.
I went back to the living room and sat down in a lounge chair. The others filtered back into the room one by one, Thomas Young returning last of all. He had an uneasy look on his face, like he was trying to figure out something vaguely worrisome.
“What’s the verdict?” I asked.
Andrea shook her head. “I’d like to hear from the rest of you before I say anything. Raven, why don’t you start?”
Raven was standing behind the couch with her arms crossed. “Well, I’ve done plenty of targeted killings, and the things they’re talking about in this file are exactly what I would need to figure out first. Where the target is going to be, when they’re going to be there, and so on. That part tracks.”
“Does that mean you buy this evidence?” asked Andrea.
“I’m not sure I do. They don’t seem security conscious enough to me. Yes, I would be trying to figure out the same things they’re trying to figure out. Would I ever be talking about those things so openly? No, I would never do that. It sounds like they’re planning to kill the Secretary-General, but it also sounds like they’re doing so in a way I would describe as amateur.”
“They are amateurs, though,” Andrew Jones pointed out. “They’re politicians, not trained intelligence operatives. In my opinion there’s a decent chance this thing is real.”
“Thomas?” asked Andrea. “I can see you thinking about something.”
“It’s a technical question,” he replied, brow still knitted in thought. “How did Section 5 gain access to this information? What we’re seeing here includes raw stream captures of private dataspike conversations between NAS cabinet members. I’ve never heard of anyone successfully eavesdropping on cabinet-level encrypted comms before. Unless one of the ministers is secretly working with Section 5, it’s unclear to me how they could have gained access to these messages.”
Andrea nodded thoughtfully. “That’s a possibility. Another possibility is that they’ve broken the encryption and don’t want to reveal that fact to anyone, so they maintain access to everything they’re listening in on. Alternatively—”
“This entire file could be an expert fake,” I finished.
“Vincenzo,” Andrea said. “We haven’t heard from you yet. What do you think?”
“I’m just as wary of this evidence as you are. Someone could be playing us, maybe to bring down these particular cabinet ministers or shake faith in the NAS government. Or maybe there’s some agenda we don’t yet understand.”
“Having said that,” Andrea added, “we have to consider the potential consequences. If this report is true, we have a major problem on our hands.”
Veraldi nodded. “Yes, we do. Even if the ministers involved are acting independently, the optics of an assassination plot would force the Federation to condemn the North Atlantic States or risk appearing weak. Every negative outcome leads to war.”
“So we have two main responsibilities.” Andrea held up two fingers. “First, we obviously have to prevent anyone from assassinating the Secretary-General. Second, we have to prevent anyone from using the assassination plot as justification to start a war. Is everyone agreed that we should treat this alleged assassination plot as a real threat?”
“I think we should investigate it,” Thomas answered. “According to Federation comptroller records, one Edward Yeun is receiving FCS-6 pay. Residence on file is an apartment in east London. It seems he may really be with Section 5, though I would like to compare facial topography for full confidence, of course.”
Andrea looked thoughtful for a few seconds, quietly considering the information. “Give Tycho the address of that apartment,” she said. �
�For now, I want you to create dossiers on our principals. Recent history, known associates, the full course. Andrew can help you.”
Thomas tilted his head quizzically. “Why do you always assume I need his help? Clearly I’m perfectly capable of accessing any system that can be hacked. Andrew’s really just a hobbyist by my standards.”
“Thanks, buddy. I respect you too,” Andrew replied.
“You need to learn how to play well with others, Thomas.” Andrea’s voice was just slightly stern, like she was lecturing a difficult but sensitive teenager. “We’ve talked about this, remember? Andrew can’t improve if you don’t let him work with you.”
“Wouldn’t the effort be better spent on someone with an aptitude for it?” Thomas asked, seemingly oblivious to how much he was offending Andrew.
Andrew just shook his head and said, “Holy shit.”
“He has plenty of aptitude for it,” Andrea replied, her voice becoming slightly firmer. “I’m assigning him to help you. Find something for him to do.”
“As you say,” he replied
Andrea didn’t hesitate to continue. “Vincenzo and I will check the details for corroboration. We’re all on leave with the IG through the end of the week, so we can focus on this for now. If all of this is true, we may end up having to break cover at some point, but until then, be discreet.”
“What do you need me to do?” I asked, though I already knew what she was going to say.
“If Yeun’s story isn’t just a story, then the people he’s exposing will try to kill him. We should assume they already know. He’ll need a bodyguard until we get this figured out. Is he still going into work?”
“He said he was out on leave.”
“That’s good for us. It’ll be much easier to keep him alive for a little while. You’re assigned to Yeun. Stick with him whether he likes it or not. If he objects, you can reveal your status as an intelligence agent. But no mention of Section 9, and only if necessary.”
I nodded. “You’ve got it. I’ll keep the guy alive.”
Raven looked over at Andrea. “Alone? That’s not a one-man job, is it?”
Sol Arbiter Box Set: Books 1-5 Page 96