Reason For Vengeance (Dark Vengeance Book 1) (16 page)

The horror on President Klostermair’s face, now completely void of any politician’s control spoke volumes.  Soetemeyer turned to Antonio.

“There actually were survivors, Admiral?”

“No” he answered.  “There was just one.  Valerie Carter.  She exceeded all of their expectations and targets.  Faster, stronger and smarter than any other human being alive.  That was before we trained her.  After over a hundred years of the best we could offer, and more direct combat experience than almost anyone else in the Legion, she became something extraordinary.”

The President found her voice.  “You sound proud of her, Admiral,” she questioned.  It was not an accusation, she sounded curious.

“Yes, Madam President.  I was given command of the project, with the remit of shutting it down.  I watched over three thousand children, from the four last clutches before I arrived, die painful and agonising deaths.  One little girl survived and I saw her grow into adulthood.  I saw her survive the years of experiments, as they tried to find out why she lived, after all her brothers and sisters had not.

“The scientists and doctors failed to find that answer.  On her eighteenth birthday I authorised her release and sponsored her application to join the Legion.  Since then, I have never seen a more dedicated or loyal servant of the Pantheon.”

The four others at the table sat back at his simple pronouncement.  Surprisingly it was Moore who responded.  “Up until the point she destroyed our most important installation, killing tens of thousands of people.”

Just as surprisingly it was Soetemeyer who answered.  “We broke faith with her.  I said before I can understand what she did.  Can anyone else around this table say they would not have done what she did if they could?  We gave her the tools to make her actions possible.  Who do you think work for you, Moore?  A bunch of meek, cowardly idiots or lions who do what you tell them because they choose to.”

“She’s exactly right, Mr Secretary.”  Antonio said.  “The reasons are varied, duty, money, promise of a better life, adventure and the opportunity to see more of the galaxy, are just some of them.  These are why men and women serve in the Legion, we promise them this and they give us their loyalty in return.  When we break that promise there is a cost.”

“I was concerned when I read what the Admiral sent to us initially on Major Carter.”  Soetemeyer said musingly.  “Now I know the whole story, I am glad she did not survive.  No matter how much I understand her, the last thing I would want, is that woman hunting me.  Trust an old woman who knows a thing or two about holding a grudge.  If she were still alive, we would all be looking over our shoulders.  She would not stop until we were all dead.”

“Why on earth would she come after us?”  Bala asked incredulously.  “Are you implying we sent that hit squad after her family.”

“No.”  Soetemeyer looked at Antonio slyly.  “I imagine the good Admiral is about to cover that.  What I am saying is, that everyone in this room, every one of our Families and all the others who have schemed and plotted against each other.  No matter the consequences, no matter who we destroyed or killed in the process.  She would see us all as responsible.”

Antonio felt himself take a deep breath and saw The Secretary of the Interior in a new light.  He felt a new respect for her.  Soetemeyer was just as experienced as he at reading body language and smiled slightly at him.

“Did you think I’ve sat in government for this long for the fun of it?  We sit on a house of cards.  Ninety nine percent of the population want what we few have.  All it would take is the slightest tremble at the wrong point and it all comes crashing down on our heads.  While you’ve been playing with your fleets and armies, I’ve been running twice as fast as anyone else making sure that doesn’t happen.  That’s why I look a hundred years older, rather than the mere dozen it actually is.”  She took a deep breath.  “Now why don’t you tell us which fuckwit set this all in motion?”

“Yes, Madam Secretary.”  Antonio said with a nod of respect.  Perhaps Soetemeyer and he were not as far apart as he thought.  It was rare that these tremors, as she put it, crossed over between the military and civilian’s sides.  While he smoothed things over on his side, she had been doing the same on hers.  Both working from different sides, with the same goal and without realising they had clashed, causing their decades long animosity.  They both knew that would not go away.  What they did have now, was an understanding of what the other could achieve and the recognition of a possible ally.

“The reason this all started, was due to a massive fraud at the Sandy Shores redevelopment project here in Zeus.  Nothing new, I know.  What is different about it is first of all, the size and scope and secondly, that the culprit wasn’t just taking government money.  They were also taking what Arnold Ison, Darby Pope and Lateef Crowder invested.  We are talking about millions from each of them.” 

A low whistle came from Bala.  “Ouch.”

“Indeed.”  Antonio continued.  “Thomas Doherty was responsible for the accounts, discovered this and was looking at what to do.  Someone found out he was on to them, panicked and paid the Zeus PD to go in.  That person was Julian September.  Fortunately my investigators were able to back track the payments

“Oh, that’s bloody marvellous.”  The President said, throwing up her hands in exasperation.  Old Aidan’s golden boy.  Are you certain he is responsible?”

“Yes, Madam President.   My investigators were able to back track the payments before they could be properly hidden.  If we were only a day or two later, there would have been nothing to find.”

“Do you have any more bad news?”

“No, Ma’am.”  Antonio responded shaking his head.  “That’s everything we know as of two hours ago and although you can never be sure, my analysts are confident that, aside from some specific details, we do have the broad picture sketched out.”

“That’s a lot of information to uncover in a week.”  Bala accused.

“To be honest, I had a good idea of what happened at the time Major Carter destroyed Furioso.”  Antonio explained.  “I was being notified on the attack on her home when the news came in.  Knowing Carter and where she was stationed it really was quite simple to put two and two together.  I had a team from Legion Intelligence looking into the Zeus PD’s actions within two hours.  They were still in the process of building their cover story and Furioso slowed that down.  My team were able to get inside their investigation during that window.  As to Julian, I would love to send a team to deal with him in the same way.  That’s not possible though.”

“Agreed.”  The President leaned forward, taking control of the meeting for the first time.  “Paul, the Moore's have the closest ties to the Septembers.  Can you ask Raphael to have a quiet word with Aidan?”  She asked, referring to Raphael Moore the head of the Family.  He nodded in understanding.  “Keep it low key.  Tell Raphael that Julian has screwed up big time.  He’s covered but Aidan needs to sit on him for as long as possible.”

“Not a problem.”  Moore confirmed.

“Sunkrish.”  She continued turning to the Secretary of Security.  “Put the word out.  No more hit squads.  Tell them the Legion is very unhappy about one of their own being targeted by the Police.  The story is, we are close to a major turf war and unless they want the off duty Legion personnel going after their people, they need to calm things down.  No more hit squads and if the Legion is involved, hands off unless they have some extremely strong evidence.  Then it gets handed to Legion Intelligence to handle.”

“Yes, Ma’am.  I’ll make sure the message gets across.”  Bala replied.

She looked at Antonio and Soetemeyer.  “We’ll need to keep Carter’s name out of all of this, but we will continue to use the terrorist cover story.  Thomas Doherty was the money man for whoever carried out this monstrous attack.  His wife and children tragically died in the explosion caused by a suicide bomb he planted himself, in case he was ever caught.  Find someone on the casualty list we can hang this on.  Make sure they are confirmed dead with a body and would have the access needed.  When that person heard about the raid on the Doherty’s home, they went ahead with their plan to destroy Furioso and were killed in the attempt.  Petra, you handle the media and the overall story line.  Antonio, co-ordinate all the Legions press releases with Petra.”

“I’ll handle it.”  Soetemeyer acknowledged and Antonio nodded.

“Good.  As the Admiral said at the beginning, this is highly sensitive.  I do not want to hear a word of this outside of this room.  Are we clear?  No off the record remarks or hints.  If Prometheus becomes common knowledge, we’ll all be in trouble and it will be almost as bad if Sandy Shores comes out, so we keep a lid on it.”  The President looked directly at Secretaries Moore and Bala when she said it and they nodded emphatically.

“Unless there is anything else?”  The President asked with no response.  “Then I suggest we adjourn and get to work.”

Five Legion soldiers stood on the corner of the street.  Only years of practise prevented Arlene from reacting to their presence.  She kept her eyes focused straight ahead as she passed them on the path.  In the week since the attack on Furioso, those soldiers became an all too familiar sight.  It seemed as though every member of the Legion, not actively part of the rescue operations, were deployed into the Ghettos. 

The Zeus Police had retreated to form a strong cordon around the towers and suburbs of the Privileged, leaving the rest of the city under martial law.  Incidents between the public and the Legion were few fortunately.  President Klostermair’s people may be arrogant but they weren’t fools.  They knew, here on Olympus, the Legion were held in a higher regard than elsewhere.  Combined with the huge upswell of sympathy from the public for their loss on Furioso, it quietened any protests at the Legion’s arrival in the Ghettos.

Having passed the soldiers without incident, Arlene continued on, picking up her pace in haste.  Turning off the street, she entered a small alleyway and knocked on a heavy metal door halfway along.  It opened moments later and on old man stuck his head out.  Taking a swift look at Arlene he nodded once and stepped back, opening the door wider.

With a murmur of thanks, Arlene went past him into a busy kitchen.  Everyone ignored her as she moved through the hectic cooks, busy with the lunch orders.  Two swing doors at the end opened and closed swiftly.  Men and woman carried plates of food out and empty ones back in.  One of the men, a boy of no more than fourteen years paused at her side briefly.

“Table thirty-two,” he told her in a low voice.  “She’s on her own and I haven’t seen a tail on her.”

Nodding to him, Arlene waited for him to move away and considered what she was going to do for the hundredth time.  There was no guarantee the boy hadn’t missed someone watching the woman Arlene wanted to meet.  She could step out there and be arrested instantly, but this was the only way she could get the information she needed.  There really was no choice.

Taking a deep breath, she went through the swinging doors, close on the heels of one of the waitresses.  Table thirty-two was only a couple of metres into the busy Café and Arlene slid into the seat opposite a dark skinned woman.  She looked up in obvious surprise to see her.

“What are you doing here?”  The woman hissed as she looked around frantically.

“Having lunch with an old friend.”  Arlene replied calmly, before continuing in a harder tone.  “Now stop looking like you have something to hide, Kerstin and calm down.”

With a visible effort Kerstin did as she was told and smiled falsely at Arlene.  “Are you trying to get us both killed?  If you want to contact me, leave a message in the normal place.”

Arlene leaned forward slightly.  “I did.  Six days ago.  Four days ago, one was left at the back up and yesterday at the emergency drop.  You didn’t answer a single one.”

“Well, it’s been busy since Furioso.”  Kerstin said looking away.

“Busy?  Yes, I imagine you have been.  That made it all the more important that I talk to you.”

“Maybe I don’t want to talk to you.  Over twenty thousand dead!  How can you justify that?”

Now they were getting to the heart of the matter as Arlene had expected.  Like many of her contacts Kerstin was not happy with the attack on Furioso.  As the support for the Legion grew, it declined for those opposed to the Privileged.

“It wasn’t us,” Arlene told her contact quietly.  “We would never do anything like that.”  The look Kerstin gave her was profoundly sceptical.  “Don’t you think if we had, we would have at least admitted it by now?  That’s why I need your help.  I need to know what happened as much as your bosses do.”

Rubbing her face undecidedly Kerstin shook her head.  “I don’t know.  It’s just too risky.”

“I’m not asking, Kerstin.  I’m telling you.  All I need to do is, send the information of our dealings for the past eight years to the right place and you’ll be done.”

“You wouldn’t!”

“Normally no, but I’m backed into a corner, so what is it going to be?”

The clenched jaw said it all, but Kerstin nodded as well.  “Good.”  Arlene said as she got up.  “Send it to the usual place.  We won’t meet again.”

Leaving the table, Arlene was quickly back out into the alley and heading in the opposite direction to the one she entered from.  She hated pushing Kerstin like that, not just because she thought of her as a friend, but it meant she could no longer be trusted.  From now on, any contact had to be at arm’s length and all information would be suspect.  Assets like Kerstin, who needed to be forced to co-operate, were highly likely to try and turn Arlene in to the authorities.

For the thousandth time that week, Arlene cursed whoever attacked Furioso and in the same thought thanked Billy.  He was true to his word.  Todd had been reassigned to another Cell off planet.  Arlene did not know where her son was and did not want to, but he left Olympus a full week before the attack.  For that, she would forever be in Billy’s debt.