Merkiaari Wars: 02 - What Price Honour

by Mark E. Cooper

  Skinner sat back and nodded in satisfaction. “In your opinion, could those he led mount an effective attack on President Sanderson?”

  Kate snorted. “Not a chance. They’re a bunch of amateurs. They couldn’t mount a raid on my piggybank let alone something the size of the Assembly Building.”

  Skinner beamed. “Excellent. What else have you to report?”

  Kate scrambled for an answer, and her thoughts flashed to the APCs outside Millard’s house. “I saw three brand new APCs but not much else… lost any?”

  Skinner glanced at Fairhead.

  He nodded and lowered the pulser. “They were stolen not long ago from the port.”

  “From under his very nose,” Skinner said with a glare at Fairhead. “They cost us a lot of money, and Millard took them just like that. He had to have inside help of course. I did send my people to round up the obvious suspects, but none of them talked.”

  “You knew Millard had them?” Kate said in surprise.

  “I knew. I wanted to be sure you did.”

  Kate nodded, a test then. “You wanted to be sure I’d been to his base.”

  Skinner nodded and stood. “Well, I think that’s about everything.”

  Kate got ready to lunge for her pulser.

  “Not quite,” Fairhead said. “If the job is done, why is she still here?”

  Skinner raised an eyebrow. “Well?”

  Kate shrugged. “My ship doesn’t leave until tomorrow. I thought I would take the opportunity to have a little fun.”

  “Hmmm. Major?”

  Fairhead weighed the pulser in his hand and frowned, but after a moment he shrugged. “I see no problem with that. I’ll make sure she doesn’t leave the hotel, and I’ll have a couple of my men escort her to the port when the time comes.”

  “Excellent again,” Skinner said and pulled on the coat he retrieved from the back of his chair. “I have a meeting with the President in an hour, so I’ll say my goodbyes.”

  Kate watched him leave and turned back to Fairhead. “So that’s it?”

  “That’s it.”

  She eyed the pulser in his hand. “Not going to kill me are you?”

  “I’m a soldier not an assassin,” Fairhead said looking at her in disgust. “Unlike some, I do not murder unarmed men and women.”

  “No?” She bet he would like to make an exception in her case. She could see it in his face. “You don’t like me much do you?”

  “Is it that obvious?”

  She ignored his sarcasm. “You don’t like Skinner either.”

  “What’s your point?”

  “No point. Just wondering why you didn’t take out Millard yourself if you knew where he was. You must have known. How else did you know to use the APCs as a test?”

  “Of course I knew,” Fairhead said angrily. “What do you think my men and I do all day—sit around with our thumbs up our arses?”

  Kate didn’t get the chance to answer that.

  “I didn’t want Millard killed; he was serving a useful purpose out there in the jungle. Shit girl, I could have taken out his entire base with a single barrage any time I wanted. Know why I didn’t?” He didn’t wait for her to answer. “Because I wasn’t ready, that’s why. Millard was my hothead magnet. Get it?”

  Kate nodded. “You were using him to draw out the troublemakers.”

  “And now Millard’s dead and his followers have scattered into hiding. I told that idiot Sanderson to let Millard rally the malcontents behind him—I knew where to find him, but no, he had to go behind my back and get his partner involved. Bloody Whitby. He’s so used to knocking off rivals that his first thought was assassination. So he sent you to take care of business.”

  Kate smiled grimly. “You’ll just have to start again. Wait for another leader to arise.”

  Fairhead glared. “Exactly. That will take months, the riots will get worse, and even more innocent people will die.”

  “I shouldn’t think that would worry you. You’ll still get paid. In fact, killing Millard has probably increased the term of your contract.”

  Fairhead’s face reddened and he raised the pulser. “You think because I run a mercenary company I would condone the murder of innocents? You, an assassin, a common murderer, have the utter gall to judge me? Let me tell you something: I spent fifteen years of my life in the army moving from post to post—wherever the Alliance sent me. I’ve seen people die in every way imaginable, and for every stupid reason under the suns. Dying in a riot, because a stupid man raised tariffs so high that his people would rather sit idle and starve than bother harvesting, has got to be one of the stupidest.”

  “So leave.”

  Fairhead sighed and his shoulders slumped. “My contract with Sanderson is airtight. I wish it weren’t. If I break the code, the Guild will pillory my company. My men and I would lose everything.”

  He was right. The Mercenary Guild was well known for lacking a sense of humour. The guild, and the merc companies it served, survived only as long as they obeyed the rules. The guild enforced those rules rigidly. The Alliance tolerated their existence, even welcomed it in some instances, but it wouldn’t take much for the Council to review the situation and pull the plug. Broken contracts, war crimes… anything might be enough to set that review process in motion.

  Kate nodded thoughtfully. “You’re screwed. I’d fire your lawyers if I was you.”

  Fairhead hung his head for a moment then he shook it and began to laugh. Kate watched his shoulders heaving with the force of his hilarity, and shook her head a little. He had obviously been here way too long. Finally he calmed enough to explain.

  “I fired them years ago.” He looked at the pulser in his hand then tossed it to Kate. “You wanted some fun you said. Better get to it.”

  Relief flooded through Kate—enough to make her go weak at the knees. Until that moment, she hadn’t dared to believe that he wouldn’t kill her. Being armed again left her almost gasping. She quickly flicked on the safety, and dropped the weapon back into her pocket before opening the door to leave. Fairhead had one thing more to say. She paused on the threshold to listen.

  “Have your fun, but don’t try to leave the hotel. My men will have orders to kill you should you try. I’ll have Captain Sheldrake drive you to the port in time to catch your flight up to the station. Understood?”

  Kate nodded and left.

  Kate’s meeting with Skinner focused her attention like nothing else could have. It had the effect of making her even more determined to punish the Whitbys and one in particular. Gerald Whitby, the head of his family and the one ultimately responsible for her father’s suicide. Fairhead’s threats didn’t concern her. She was confident she could find her way out of the hotel when the time came, and she had a way off planet already arranged, so that was no problem. Tyco had been well paid to wait for her. His little insystem runner would get her to the ship. No, she had no concerns about Fairhead. Her problem was that she was no closer to a location for the President’s retreat than she had been. There was no personal information about Sanderson on Tigris’ Infonet. None at all, which was a neat trick considering how nosy people were, and how easy Infonet seemed to fill up with such trivia. No doubt he had his security people sanitise it and keep it that way. All she knew was the most basic of information about him. She knew what he looked like, that he had remarried after the death of his first wife, and that he had one grown daughter from that time. She knew more about the members of his cabinet than she did about him.

  So, it was back to the club to sniff out a lead.

  “Everything all right?” The barkeep yelled over the music. She filled Kate’s glass with water and dropped some ice into it. “Didn’t expect to see you back so soon. We get soldiers in here a lot, but they don’t usually bring their guns with them.”

  Kate made a face. “Scared me a bit, but everything’s fine now.”

  “Glad to hear it. What did they want?”

  “Wanted to check my papers. They sai
d the station had a warrant out for me, but it turned out to be someone else. I wouldn’t want to be in her shoes. Soldier Boy was really pissed off when he realised I wasn’t the right girl. If I was her, I’d flit quick.”

  The barkeep nodded in agreement.

  Kate noticed a sudden parting in the crowd. Two women entered the club with their arms around each other. They kissed briefly and parted ways. One went off toward the restrooms while the other aimed for the bar. Kate watched as the dancers moved out of the woman’s path. It was fascinating to watch. They didn’t even stop dancing or fondling each other. They simply drifted out of her way and back again after she passed. Who was this girl to receive that reaction? She had obviously been drinking, though she might not be drunk. She was weaving on her feet a little and was obviously different in some way. Men were tracking her with their eyes, but far from being lecherous, they were full of loathing.

  Why?

  Kate was hetero of course, but even she could appreciate the woman’s beauty. The girl was tall and slender. What she could see of the woman’s body looked firm and decently muscled. A woman any man would go for. Why then was she disliked? It was a puzzle, and an interesting one.

  “Gimme a drink,” the girl said in a hard but sober sounding voice.

  The barkeep continued polishing non-existent dust from her bar. “You’ve had enough. Go home.”

  “I’ve as much right to drink here as… as she does!”

  “She’s drinking ice water.”

  “Really?” the girl said in surprise and turned to look. “That’s a first.”

  “I’m Cherry—” Kate began to say.

  “I just bet you are,” the girl said snorting laughter.

  Kate ground her teeth and kept a smile fixed to her face. “And your name is…?”

  “Bobbi Lemmington.”

  The barkeep rolled her eyes at something. Was there something Kate was missing? The barkeep was definitely amused about something.

  “Nice to meet you. Am I supposed to know that name?”

  “Everyone knows my father,” Bobbi spat.

  “Oh?”

  “You really don’t know who I am?”

  Kate clamped her mouth shut and counted to three under her breath. “I really don’t,” she said with a grin more like a grimace of pain.

  “Good.”

  Kate’s eyes blazed and she clenched a fist out of sight. She turned to the barkeep. “Who is Lemmington?”

  The barkeep glanced at Bobbi and then shrugged. “The President’s minister of finance.”

  Jackpot! The minister of finance must know all there is to know about Sanderson and his dealings. He had probably visited the President at his retreat. What chance he had taken his daughter with him? My God, she had hit the mother load. Bobbi Lemmington was her ticket to Sanderson.

  “Give me that bottle there, would you?” Kate said.

  “This?” the barkeep said pointing to a bottle of faintly green coloured liquid. “It’s expensive. The best we have.”

  “I know. Yantai from Alizon’s Chayton valley.”

  “You do know,” the barkeep said in surprise and carefully lifted the bottle down.

  Kate didn’t say anything further. She knew Cherry looked like a dizzy tourist. She was meant to. It was good that people fell for it. She pulled out her credit wand and paid for the bottle. The price was astronomical, she noted gleefully. It was a good thing that her wand came with her forged ID. It was ironic that Whitby’s money was paying for this little extra mission.

  She put her wand away and turned to Bobbi. “Would you like to come up for a drink?”

  The barkeep’s eyes widened. Her speculation slowly turned to the mistaken realisation that Cherry was trying to pick up Bobbi. Cherry was hetero just as Kate was, but it served a purpose for the barkeep to assume otherwise.

  Kate smiled. “Would you like that?”

  Bobbi stared into her eyes and nodded silently.

  “Come along then,” Kate said and gave the barkeep a challenging look. The woman smiled in amusement and shook her head.

  * * *

  Chapter 7

  The Tigris Mayflower Hotel

  Once safely up in Kate’s room, she let Bobbi wander around the suite while she went to fetch some glasses from the mini-bar. The girl checked out the holocentre and suddenly the entire suite was filled with music. Kate found herself tapping a toe and humming in time with it, while she carefully poured two large glasses of Yantai. The girl had good taste in music.

  The thing to do with Yantai was to take your time. Pour very slowly, and the sediment at the bottom would stay put allowing the full flavour and strength of the liquor to come through. Poured quickly, it would be sour and undrinkable. She poured very slowly, and then held the glass up to the light. The emerald green colour of the Yantai was pure and free of cloudiness. Perfect. A glass this size would make a Marine try to hump his rifle—not that hard to do actually. She grinned at the image that popped into her head. Two glasses of it, and he would be incapable of anything but snoring.

  “Dance with me,” Bobbi said coming up behind Kate and draping her arms over her shoulders.

  Kate turned holding the drinks. “Drink first, dance later.”

  Bobbi pouted but she took the offered glass. She took a long swallow and her eyes bugged. She coughed and gasped. “What the hell is it?”

  “Yantai.” Kate raised her glass and pretended to drink.

  “This is Yantai? I’ve had it before, but it didn’t have a kick like this.” Bobbi took another swallow. “Yum.”

  Kate raised an amused eyebrow. “You’ve had it before?”

  “Hmmm,” Bobbi said whirling around the room. She stopped and swayed a little. “Yours is better.” She finished the glass and tossed it over her shoulder where it bounced and rolled under the table. “Let’s dance.”

  “I have to finish my drink. You go ahead and I’ll watch.”

  Bobbi grinned mischievously and began a sensuous dance full of suggestive movements and casual caresses. She turned away and began undressing, making the movements a game. She turned back with her top gaping open and revealing small pert breasts and froze.

  Kate smiled.

  “What… I don’t understand,” Bobbi said staring at the pulser in Kate’s fist.

  Kate gestured with the gun. “Sit and drink this.”

  “I don’t want anymore…”

  “Take it!”

  Bobbi jumped a little and took the glass. She stepped back, not taking her eyes off the pulser, and fumbled for the couch behind her. She sat and took a small sip of Yantai. She coughed and Kate waved away the fumes. The girl smelled like a damn brewery.

  “You won’t kill me… will you?” Bobbi said trembling with fear.

  Kate didn’t answer the obvious. The girl wasn’t stupid. If she said she would let her go, Bobbi would know she was lying. She sat on the table and prodded the girl between the breasts with the gun.

  “Sit back,” she said and Bobbi complied. “Drink your Yantai. You said you liked it.”

  Tears spilled over Bobbi’s cheeks as she drank.

  “Good girl. Throw the glass—carefully!” Bobbi lowered the glass. “Throw it behind you, there’s a good girl.” The glass landed and shattered into a million fragments. “Now then Bobbi Lemmington the finance minister’s daughter, I have some questions for you.”

  “Please… please don’t hurt me… I’ll do anything. I’ll be good,” Bobbi said reaching tentatively toward Kate.

  “You will tell me everything you know about Sanderson. Where the mountain retreat is, what it’s like, how it is guarded. Everything.”

  “You’re going to kill him. Kill Sanderson?”

  “That’s not your concern.”

  “I’ll help, I will,” Bobbi said suddenly excited. “Everyone hates him. With him gone, people will like me again.”

  Kate shook her head. They wouldn’t forget her father’s place in Sanderson’s schemes that easily. The
best thing for her would be to book passage to another world where no one knew her, but that was Bobbi’s problem and none of hers.

  “I don’t need help. What I need is information, and you’re going to give it to me. Understand?”

  “Yes,” Bobbi whispered in fright and began to detail what she knew of the set up at the retreat.

  Ten minutes later, Bobbi was flagging as the Yantai had its way with her, but Kate had what she needed. She watched the drowsy woman for a time debating the pros and cons of the situation, but finally she fetched her other pistol. The slug thrower was better for this. Quieter.

  Bobbi struggled to rouse herself just as Kate returned. “Can we, you know… can we still do it?” she said ignoring the pistol pointed at her.

  Kate goggled at the stupidity of the woman. “I don’t swing that way.”

  “Pity, I do like you…” Bobbi began and fell back unconscious.

  Kate sighed and put up her gun. It was a risk, but Bobbi was too stupid to kill. She carried the unconscious girl into the bedroom, and dumped her on the bed before turning to leave.

  “Oh hell,” she growled and turned back.

  She stripped Bobbi out of her clothes and tucked her in properly so that she would have a good sleep. Some people were like puppies. They needed someone to look after them. Bobbi was the biggest puppy she had ever seen. After folding the girl’s clothes neatly on a nearby chair, she retrieved her kit and left illuminating the do not disturb sign as she did so.

  The dining room was her destination. She couldn’t chance going out the front after her meeting with Fairhead. She had no doubt he meant what he said, but she was hoping he would underestimate her. She was counting on it actually. She rode the elevator down to the ground floor. The receptionist was busy with new guests checking in, and didn’t see her walk by.

  The dining room was dark with chairs stacked upon the tables. Kate looked around briefly and located the service way. She hurried across the room and ducked through the doors. A short corridor led into the kitchens, which were also dark. At first she couldn’t find what she was looking for, but a little scouting revealed another door leading to the stores tucked away behind a huge industrial sized autochef. A service elevator led from the stores deep into the bowels of the hotel. She rode it down three levels to the sub basement and took the opportunity to change into her sneaksuit.