Trader's Honour

by Patty Jansen

  "Wrong? Apart from the usual, nothing—"

  "Nothing? Why do you freak me out like this? I was worried about you. "Damn, she was angry all of a sudden.

  He looked taken aback. "I thought you'd like having a real talk."

  "Why weren't you there this morning or yesterday? I didn't hear anything for two days—"

  "The Lawkeeper called me to Kedras. He wanted to go over some documents and discuss the case. We've been crazy busy."

  Yes, now she noticed that he wasn't in the office, but sat in a comfortable aircraft cabin. She could see the controls behind him, and out the window, golden light reflecting off the glass façade of a building. The Guild headquarters.

  He continued, "I didn't hear anything from you on the morning I had to go. I left a message. Did you get it? I was worried about you."

  Crap. She breathed out heavily. She was being stupid. He wasn't her brother and she didn't own him.

  "Sorry that I didn't come. I was out with some Pengali. Did you know that they're nocturnal? I didn't, and it messed up my normal day. I came back, and I didn't have time to come to the Exchange before going to work." It sounded like a lame excuse. She breathed out heavily. "I'm sorry."

  "I missed our chat."

  Mikandra nodded. Damn, she'd missed it, too. "I found out some things, but nothing important that relates directly to the case." Yet. She didn't want to say anything about the book. She didn't want to say too much about anything else either. Someone was sure to be listening. "How did you go with the Lawkeeper?"

  "The case is weak. There are small discrepancies between the Exchange data from the central node and the one from Barresh, but is seems that is due to a logging error and there is no evidence of manipulation. The exports don't show up on the Miran Exchange, but anyone who wanted to smuggle would use a third locality anyway. They would have used a high-volume port like Kedras to hide the shipment and lump it with something else."

  "So basically, you have no evidence against the charge?"

  "Pretty much. I'm applying for transfer of licence. I wish . . ." He stared into the distance.

  "Yes?"

  He let a small silence lapse. "I'll talk to you about it later. You are coming back to Miran at some point, aren't you?"

  "Well, I guess, but . . ." She'd been planning to go to Kedras. Was he saying that there was no point in turning up for the start of the academy year? "Can you do anything to hurry the application up?"

  He shrugged. He had lost his business-like air. "It will take the best part of a year to go through the process. I won't be able to work all that time." She could feel the pain in every word. "Before you ask, I don't know yet what it means for you. I'll look into that after the court session the day after tomorrow."

  "Is anything going to be solved on that day?" Her course started soon. There was no way she could fund herself.

  "Probably not. The process will probably drag on for some time." He must have seen the expression on her face. "I'm sorry."

  "I want to start at the academy." Her voice cracked.

  "I know. I'm sorry."

  And it wasn't fair of her to keep thinking of herself while he was in so much trouble and was still missing his brother as well. But damn. If she couldn't start at the academy, her whole future collapsed.

  He sighed and wiped both hands across his face. "I was hoping that we'd be in a better position this close to the trial. Our entire business is about to dealt a huge blow. I don't know if we can survive this. This is my father's business, my grandfather's business."

  "You look tired."

  He blew out a breath. "I am tired." He rubbed his face again. "I can hardly think straight. You know, sometimes I feel like I understand what my aunt is going through all the time. I think I can hear people talking in the room and then I turn around and there is no one. That's how tired I am."

  "You didn't fly yourself?"

  "No, Braedon did. Taerzo has been here for a few days already. Bartering for a deal on aircraft parts or something. I hate to leave Mother alone, with the situation in Miran as tense as it is. If anyone comes to the house, she's likely to take Father's gun that she has told us she can't find and start shooting at them."

  Mikandra remembered Isandra's harsh words at breakfast. "I can imagine her doing just that."

  "She asked about you the other day."

  "Did she? I thought she didn't even see me."

  "Mother never misses a thing." He gave a wary smile which faded quickly. "I worry about her. What happens to her if we're unsuccessful? Her pride won't survive that."

  His pride wouldn't survive that. He was worn out, worn down, close to despair and on the brink of madness.

  She wanted to tell him to take it easy, but understood why he couldn't. She wanted to tell him what she had discovered, but didn't trust the link. And what were the implications of her discoveries for him anyway? That was, any except We have more enemies than we thought we did?

  "I presume Gillay is at home with your mother?"

  "Yes. But if Mother has it in her head to do something stupid, Gillay won't stop her."

  "I'm sure they'll be fine. You're better off concentrating on the case. Can you let me know how it's going?"

  "I will."

  When he'd signed off and the screen had gone dark, she remained in the cubicle for a while, his pained expression etched in her thoughts. She had failed at everything she had set out to do in Barresh. She hadn't found Iztho and the only evidence she had—questions asked by the thugs who had robbed her—suggested his guilt rather than his innocence.

  There had to be a way for her to prove that Barresh had changed the records.

  Rehan looked like he was going to pieces. He was a proud man and would not ask for help, even though he was at risk of sliding into madness for reasons that had nothing to do with his intelligence. Reasons he wasn't aware of and she wanted to talk to him about.

  He needed help and she could help him.

  But damn it, he was a grown man and wanted no babysitting.

  She didn't own him.

  She stared at the opposite wall without seeing anything. The warm feeling from seeing him alive and well still lingered.

  Damn it.

  The last time she'd felt like that, the man in question had betrayed her badly. Sold her out to some Damarcian airhead. A trophy wife from an influential family.

  Crap.

  This wasn't the time to admit to herself that Rehan Andrahar had grown roots deep inside her heart.

  Powerful men made lousy partners. They were ambitious, selfish.

  No. It wasn't worth the pain. She was not going to wait for another man. She didn't need another man.

  But they would be a crack team, working together. There were many great Trading couples in the Guild.

  Working together. Nothing else.

  But first Rehan and his brothers needed to win this case. It was time for desperate measures.

  * * *

  When Mikandra came back to the guesthouse after work, she found Jocassa sitting by himself at a table in the courtyard. Normally she would go up to the two Kedrasi women and they'd go to the markets together, but this time, she sat at his table where, as he often did, he was counting his money. She sat down opposite him and watched. He had an ingenious system where he put one Mirani tiran for each lot of five pearls and then counted those off on his fingers, placing a finger on the table for each set of five

  His face was scrunched up with concentration.

  "What do you do for all that money, Jocassa?" Because she had never come close to finding out.

  He didn't take his eyes off his work. "'s not that much money. 's mosly scrap metal."

  "Enough to live here. I never see you do any work."

  "I do work."

  "Business that can't stand the light of day?"

  "Whoa, whoa, watch out what youz are sayin'. It's honest business."

  "If it's so honest, tell me what it is."

  "I protect things."
Evasive as hell. Honest business? My arse.

  "Things. Like illegal things? Like brew? Like weapons?"

  Now he looked up and frowned deeply at her. "Why all this askin' all of a sudden?"

  "Because I want to ask you something and I need to know if you're reliable."

  "Oh? What for?"

  "I can't tell you yet."

  He raised his eyebrows at her. "Some thing illegal, I'm guessing?" His face was completely humourless, but she was sure that he was poking fun at her.

  "If it turns out that I can trust you, and if I've solved the problem I need to solve, I might tell you why."

  He froze with his hands on top of a pile of coins. "What are youz? A spy?"

  "If I was a spy, would I be asking someone in a guesthouse for help?"

  He shrugged, probably conceding her point. He glanced at her from under his frown. "So what?"

  If ever Jocassa was going to be busted for anything, it would be through his curiosity.

  Mikandra lowered her voice. "Say if I wanted to get into a place . . . that's normally closed, could you help me? I need to get in through an upstairs window."

  "Youz get a ladder 'n' jus' climb in."

  "There is glass."

  "Oh." Another frown. "Youz want a burglar."

  "I guess so. That's why I'm asking you."

  The eyebrows went up further. "Why d'youz think I'm a burglar?"

  "Because whenever I ask how you make the money, you change the subject."

  "I don' change th' subject!"

  "You do. You 'protect things' or 'deliver things'. Vague replies like that. If you were really proud of what you were doing, you wouldn't be saying that."

  "We's ex-soldiers always get th' jobs other people think we's stupid enough t' do. We's stand guard fer their warehouses. Sometimes . . . stuff happens."

  "Stuff," she repeated. Not that there was any need for him to explain. She bet that, like in Miran, competing merchants got into each others' stores. She bet that merchants employed guards, and that those guards were easily-bribed.

  "So. If you're not a burglar, do you know any?"

  He shrugged. "S'ppose I know some people . . ." Then he looked up at her. "If youz are tryin' t' crack the Exchange, forget it."

  "Not the Exchange. I need to get into a room at the council."

  "That's as bad as th' Exchange. Din' I tell youz t' forget it?"

  "I have two days. I've run out of friendly options."

  "Two days t' what?"

  "Until there is a court case. I know exactly where the thing is that I want. I just need to get it. Then I'll leave Barresh and you'll never see me again."

  He shook his head. "Dunno how many poor buggers have said that t' me before. I'm hard t' get rid of."

  "Jocassa, please. I'll pay."

  "I thought youz had no money."

  "I got paid all this time I've been working."

  "But that wouldn't give youz that kind of money. Th' thieves 'n' burglars for rent are not cheap."

  "I'll pay back everything later." Heat rose in her cheeks.

  Jocassa's frown deepened. "All of on credit? Youz know th' rates fer pay-later jobs? Seems a bit . . . radical for a nice girl like youz."

  "So where? Can you tell me?"

  "Listen, I'm serious, youz do not want t' be messing with th' Exchange or th' council or th' guards there. There's Coldi ones, too. There's a reason there's no jails in Barresh. As a woman, if youz are not a whore, keep yer head down and hope someone bigger 'n' you doesn't take a fancy if youz know what I'm talking about. I don' know who youz are but I don' know that youz could tell th' working end of a gun. Whatever's yer aim, it's not worth it."

  "Tell me." Mikandra returned his stare. "Because I'm going to do it, whether you help or not."

  He looked at her, shaking his head. "No way. Youz are not going. I'm not helping. That's that."

  He glared at his piles of money. "Now look what youz've done. I lost count." He swiped all the money back into a large pile.

  "Jocassa, have you ever felt that your family didn't care if you were alive or dead? Have you ever found someone who believed in you, and wanted to give you a chance? Have you ever seen that person be hurt badly because of injustice done to them?"

  He gave her a suspicious look. "So there were no man, right?"

  "There was, but he wasn't the only reason I came here. My parents wanted to marry me off because they didn't want the burden of paying for me." The web of lies grew and grew. "I ran away. My mentor gave me a chance, but now these people are trying to frame him. Please Jocassa, I have no one else to ask."

  He didn't say anything for a while. His dark blue eyes took in her short hair, her clothes.

  "Youz are a good sort," he said. "Youz are no good at lying. If I's t' do stuff for youz, I need t' know what's going on. The truth. I's not as dumb as youz think."

  "I never said you were dumb."

  "No, but youz acted like it plenty times." He fixed her with a look more angry than she had ever seen from him. No, he wasn't dumb at all and she had behaved like he was. "Youz want me t' do some seriously risky stuff. What can youz offer that would make me even think about it? What can youz say that's make me think that youz are not goin' t' report all of us t' th' Mirani council?"

  "Why should I?"

  "Youz got t' be joking, Eydrina from Bendara." His eyes met hers squarely. Oh no, he didn't believe her. "Youz want t' pay us for doing illegal things so that youz can report us to th' council."

  "What? Why would I do that? I have nothing to do with the Mirani council." Mikandra stared at him. "If that is what you want to believe, I can't say anything to change your mind. And I'm not going to." She rose.

  "Wait, where are youz going?"

  "I'm going to do this myself. I changed my mind. I don't want your help." She turned and walked away, her steps becoming more heavy as she went. She had no idea how she was going to get into the building. Without help, she was nothing.

  "Wait."

  Jocassa swiped all the money off the table into a bag, ran across the courtyard and caught up with her on the stairs.

  "What? Leave me alone. Go back to believing I'm a spy."

  He sighed. "All right, I'm sorry. I don' really believe youz work fer th' council. I'll help youz. Although I'll live t' regret this."

  "Why the change of mind?"

  "'cause youz are stubborn 'n' if I don' help, youz are goin' t' ask people youz shouldn't be messing with."

  She let her shoulders sag. He was probably right. It also irritated her that he still thought of her as needing protection.

  They went back into the courtyard and sat at the same table. A couple of ex-soldiers on the next table raised their eyebrows.

  Jocassa lowered his voice. "I'll do this fer free, but we will need t' hire people. First lesson about this kind of business: youz never do the big jobs alone. When does this need t' be done?"

  "As soon as possible." Hire people? This was turning into a bigger fuss than she planned. She'd just wanted to bring some ropes and some tools to remove a window from the frame, practice with them and go in alone.

  "We can go get th' gear tonight 'n' then do the job tomorrow."

  "So, what do we need?"

  "Most importantly, a thug lookout. Thasep can do that, but he'll want payin'. Dalit can do th' security system. We need weapons and signal-jamming gear. I know where to get them, too."

  "Weapons?" A chill went over her.

  "Youz said Council. They's one the second floor. Youz don't jus' walk in through th' front door without setting off all th' alarms in th' entire block. Youz climb in through th' window. Youz need gear for that. Th' builders can lend some t' us. Youz need weapons in case something goes wrong."

  "Yes, I'd figured that."

  "But apart from the climbing gear, we're going t' need someone who can turn off the security system."

  "System? There's only the door into the foyer and there are guards on the other side. As long as we are quie
t—"

  "Don' be mistaken by looks. That place has th' best security there is, came in with th' new Exchange. All Hedron-built. Youz know the Chief Councillor has lots of ties with Hedron? He's got th' whole pace wired up. They'd have filmed youz from th' first step you set into that building."

  She felt sick. "How do you know all this, Jocassa?"

  "I used t' work in th' army security, but here I keep doing th' same for whoever pays. Mosly protect Barresh businesses against thieves. Mind, some of th' merchants are thieves themselves. Gets real complicated 'n' messy 'n' all th' stuff that goes on could get me killed. I tried t' get work in Miran, but th' merchants in Miran don' have th' money."

  * * *

  For their nightly trip, Jocassa told her to get dressed in a neutral, non-descript colour. Up in the dorm, Mikandra could hardly do up the buttons of her shirt because her hands were trembling that much. If it came out that she had done any of this, she could wave goodbye to her place at the Trader academy. Licence holders had to have an impeccable record.

  It was raining heavily by the time they left, which made the air even more steamy than usual.

  The streets were dark and slippery. The few people out on the street all hid under rain hats, making them look like ghosts. Hordes of meili squawked in the trees above them. Their screeches made Mikandra think of the maramarang and she kept looking over her shoulder just in case any of them decided to attack.

  Jocassa took her further into the city than she had ever been, further even than she had gone with Bakimay.

  At the far eastern end of the main island of Barresh, the street opened out into gentle downwards slope from where she had a view over the bridge between the two islands, a place she had only seen from the air.

  On the other side, silhouetted against the moonlight, was the second island of the city. From here, in the haze of the rain, it looked like a giant heap of light. Mikandra had learned that the island was called Far Atok and it was where the Pengali and a lot of the permanent foreign workers lived. The keihu upper class thumbed their noses at anyone who lived there, but judging by the many lights, the population was much greater than that of the main island. The closer they came, the more lights, windows and apartments resolved from the darkness.