The Iron Admiral: Conspiracy (30 page)

the shock may well have killed me if it had hit my chest.”

A spot on the wall was suddenly more interesting than him. “Don’t ask me why I did it. I didn’t think.

Maybe I just felt too many people around me had died. I watched the news but they didn’t mention

Tesso. What happened? To Daizhen? And Tesso?”

“Daizhen is dead. Marratrax restrained Tesso. He’s been taken into custody and will probably be

returned to Ullnish to stand trial. The incident wasn’t mentioned because we didn’t want any other excuse for an inter-species riot.” He smiled faintly. “It’s called politics.”

She sighed. “Why? Why did Tesso kill Daizhen? And try to kill you?”

“Do you know what Daizhen said to Tesso before he went berserk?”

She nodded. “He said ‘Lord Anxhou will not take this lightly. Neither will I, human.’”

Saahren scratched at his scar. “That’s the way of it. Remember I told you what happened to Anxhou’s

son after Forenisi?”

She nodded.

“Daizhen would probably have been executed. He knew that. Either he was going to make sure that

Tesso shared his pain or possibly he was going to offer Tesso to Anxhou as the real culprit.” He paused.

“Me… well, if he killed me, Anxhou would probably give him a medal. I just think at that point, the man had lost his senses completely and forgot that he had no chance of getting out of the building.”

“Why did he go himself? To Brjyl, I mean?”

“I don’t expect we’ll ever really know. My guess is he wanted to be involved in something daring. He’d probably arranged the forgeries of the Qerran authorizations and thought he’d make a hero of himself.”

“Huh.” Allysha remembered the little man in the conical costume. Mister Cone. “Yes, I can believe that.

What else has happened?”

“Well, I’ve just had word that McKinley’s won a no confidence motion, so the Government has fallen.

They’ll call new elections very soon.” Saahren grinned at Allysha’s expression. “It means President

Galbraith has lost his job.”

“What about the warship in Qerran orbit?”

“It will take a day or two but I’m certain Anxhou will withdraw the ship.” He frowned. “Make no

mistake, Anxhou is implicated in this up to the top of his conical head. But he’ll blame Tesso and Daizhen and claim it had nothing to do with him. He’ll apologize to the Suldan and withdraw with dignity. Until next time.”

“So everything’s back to normal and I can go home.”

“Not quite normal.”

Allysha stared at him. What now? All she wanted was to go home, talk to Xanthor and sort herself out.

“What?”

“Didn’t you wonder how Marratrax knew your name?”

“Yes?”

“The Qerran authorities know you were involved in an incident that led to the death of a ptorix worker at Shernish University.”

Heendrax. She sighed.

“Nothing official will come of that,” Saahren continued, “we explained the circumstances. The Qerrans agree with us that public knowledge of the virus is unwise. However, lots of people knew you were

there. If you return immediately, there’s likely to be a public outcry.”

She pushed both hands through her hair, eyes closed. “And I suppose nobody wants to admit Admiral

Saahren was with me.”

“It would be unwise.”

Her hands dropped onto the covers. “What you’re telling me is I can’t go home.”

He’d folded his arms. “I’m sorry.”

“Are you? Are you really? Isn’t that what you wanted?”

He chuckled. “I suppose so, yes. But come on, Allysha. You can’t pretend to hate me if you’re willing to sacrifice yourself to save me from injury.”

She pulled a face. “I don’t know why I did it. I didn’t want you hurt, but that doesn’t mean I like you.”

It meant she needed to think about everything that had happened since she left Shernish only a few

weeks before, find out what was real and what was manipulation, understand the truth.

“Of course not,” he said.

“What about Sean?”

A shadow passed across Saahren’s face. “We’re looking for him.”

She felt a certain relief.

“You’re far too tolerant of that… that….” He frowned. “Just in case you’re in the mood to protect him a little further, you should know that he sold your house and cleaned out your bank accounts before you left Carnessa.”

Her heart jolted. “What?” That couldn’t be true. If it was, she’d be in trouble. “Let me see.”

“Pick up the report from my implant.”

It showed the sparse facts; credits to Sean’s account, where the money came from, the amounts.

“The bastard! The two timing, conniving, insufferable bastard! So that’s where he got the credits to

gamble.”

She felt used, manipulated, stupid, naive. He’d left her with nothing; nothing. She’d go home to Shernish and have to start all over again. She’d have to borrow just to pay rent.

“I’m surprised that you didn’t at least have a separate bank account,” Saahren said, eyebrow cocked.

“I’m not completely stupid. But he’s a good engineer. He fiddled my account.”

“A good engineer, but not enough to do the job on Tisyphor.”

“No. He’s not as good as me. Besides, he can’t work on Tor systems.”

“And does he know how you do things? Without a keyboard?”

“No. Father made me promise, I’m glad to say.” Too trusting, too honest. Stupid. Well, things were

going to change. “I only told you because you already knew. What now?”

He grinned and crossed one leg over the other. “Assuming you’re not ready to marry me—”

“No.”

The grin widened. “Will you at least work for me—or, more to the point, Admiral Leonov?”

“Doing what?”

“Your system skills are remarkable. There’s so much you could teach our experts.” He jagged his

fingers around the word experts. “Teach them how to find the weaknesses in our security systems, how

to match an InfoDroid; teach them how to think. And if there’s time, teach people some of the things you know about the ptorix—how to understand them better.”

“I don’t want to stay here forever.” She didn’t want to stay here at all. But if she had no choice then…

she needed the money.

“I’m offering a contract, a business proposition, that’s all.” He paused. “Five months, Allysha, that’s all.

Half a year with a competitive salary and accommodation thrown in.”

“What sort of salary?”

“Thirty thousand Confederacy credits.”

Her jaw dropped. Thirty thousand credits.Thirty thousand . At home that would buy a house on the

beach with plenty left over to furnish it. And these were Confederacy credits. She wondered what the

exchange rate was.

“At the moment, the exchange rate is about two point three.”

She rubbed her hand across her face. Sixty nine thousand. She felt faint. “What about you? I wouldn’t have to work with you, would I?”

His face showed no hint of what he thought. He was good at that. “I’ll be in space onArcturus . You’ll be here on Malmos. As I said, you’ll report to Vlad Leonov and you’ll work in there.”

He jerked his head and went to stand at the window. Allysha slid out of the bed and padded over to join him, conscious of the shapeless white hospital gown slipping down one shoulder. Sunlight reflected off a multitude of towers that soared into the sky beyond the gardens surrounding the hospital. Malmos wasn’t the urban jungle she’d expected. Tall buildings, sky-lanes crowded with traffic, certainly, but large tracts of what appeared to be forest, with pathways and walkways separated the buildings, adding life and

color.

“See over there? Three tall towers with a number of lesser buildings around them?”

She nodded. The three buildings formed the hub of a network, all connected together with walkways

and bridges like a multi-layered spider’s web.

“That’s the Fleet complex. You’ll work in the center building and we’ll get you an apartment in one of the blocks close by. The Parliamentary complex where we were the other day is just over there.” He

pointed. “The city center—the shops and entertainment areas and so on—is over there.” He pointed at a cluster of buildings that seemed closer together.

“It’s not what I expected.”

Saahren looked down at her. “Malmos? What did you expect?”

Allysha absently tugged the hospital gown back up her shoulder. She hadn’t actually thought much about the Confederacy’s capital, beyond an impression.

“Claustrophobic, I guess. A crowded city. Lots of tall buildings, lots of people, lots of vehicles. Not much room.”

He smiled. “They try to keep a balance. The city coexists with the planet. But as you can see,” he waved a hand at the multitude of vehicles traveling past in ordered lanes, “there’s plenty of traffic, even if most people do use public transport.”

She pulled at her lip. She’d made up her mind, really. It seemed she had little choice, but she wasn’t prepared to concede quite so quickly. “Can I talk to Lord Marratrax? Just to confirm what you told

me?”

His smile surprised her. “Very good, Allysha. Don’t believe everything you’re told. I’ll arrange for him to come by here.”

“No, thanks. I want to have something reasonable to wear.” She sat down on the edge of the bed. “And

I expect I still have a pretty necklace.”

“I’ll have Butcher book you into a hotel for now and arrange for Vlad’s wife to help you with wardrobes and such… And yes, your neck is still bruised but Marratrax knows about that. It won’t hurt for him to see what was done to you.”

“How much does Marratrax know?”

“Everything. He’s a most reasonable ptorix. Well, Allysha? Do you accept, at least on principle?” He

stood beside her, looking down at her with that familiar half smile.

“If I’m anything, I’m pragmatic.” She shrugged. “I have no choice. Book me into a hotel, give me a

chance to talk to Marratrax and get me a copy of your contract. I’ll read it tonight and subject to details, I’ll sign it tomorrow.” She’d earn his thirty thousand, go home to Carnessa and look after Allysha for a change.

He hadn’t gone. “Tell me, do you remember me visiting you before?’

Before? “No. You haven’t been here before.”

His lips curved in a slow smile. What was he thinking? What had she missed?

“I came here an hour after you were admitted. You spoke to me.”

She searched her memory. No, the last person she’d seen was the nurse to help her to the shower.

“You did? I don’t remember.”

His smile widened. “I love you, Allysha.” He walked out, leaving a vacuum.

She punched the pillow with a clenched fist. Damn it. Love was one thing; common sense was another.

She’d get over him. In time.

****

hands. So far, so good. The Admiral was satisfied; now for Chaka Saahren.

Patience; that was all it needed; time for her to accept facts. He wasn’t very good at patience but he was willing to try; for a while, at least.

The End

Turn the page for a glimpse at the next exciting adventure.

The Iron Admiral: Deception

The Conclusion of the The Iron Admiral Series

“You have a visitor, Allysha.” Albert, the apartment’s Information System, pronounced the fact in its usual measured tone.

Allysha rolled over in the bed. “Who is it?” she mumbled. “And what time is it?” She buried her head

back into the pillow.

“The time is ten hundred hours and the visitor is Grand Admiral Saahren.”

Saahren. Oh, good grief. She’d spent the night dreaming about him. Just when she thought she’d

consigned him to history.And now he shows up . “Tell him I don’t want to see him.” She tugged the sheet back up over her shoulder.

“That’s too bad. You’ll have to.”

Allysha’s eyes snapped open. He stood by the bed, looking down at her, wearing simple blue trousers

and a white shirt that accentuated his dark skin and black hair. Brad Stone revived. Her skin tingled while scenes from those erotic dreams tried to replay in her mind. She pushed them away. The physical

attraction was strong as ever but that was just physical. She didn’t like the man. He wasn’t Brad Stone; never had been. He was Grand Admiral Chaka Saahren who had bombarded a civilian planet, killing

billions of innocent victims, one of them her father.

She clutched the sheet tight to her chin, conscious of her nakedness. “How did you get in here?”

Saahren chuckled. “I opened the door and walked in. Usual sort of thing.”

“You’re not authorized to do that.”

He grinned. “I gave myself the authority. Come on, we’re going out.”

“No, we’re not. Don’t you have to obey privacy rules? Can you just walk into anybody’s bedroom?”

He sat down on the edge of the bed. “For anyone who’s part of the Fleet, I probably could, but I

expect it wouldn’t be a good idea.”

Making sure she kept the sheet up under her chin, she wriggled herself up to a sitting position. “But it’s okay for me?”

“It’s already after ten on a wonderful Tenday. I’m going to get Albert to make me some kaff. If you’re not out of bed when I come back in here, I’ll personally remove you.” His eyes sparkled as he smiled. “I might enjoy that. Why don’t you just stay there?”

“Oooh, get out of here.” She waved a hand at him. The sheet slipped slightly and she snatched it back up. Not that he would have seen anything he hadn’t seen before.

He chuckled as he went but he closed the door behind him.

Allysha slipped out of bed and swung a robe around herself. Erotic dreams and now this; the man

himself, coming in here bold as brass as if he had some sort of right. Well, she wasn’t having it.

She tied the cord at her waist and went to find him.

Brewing kaff assailed her nose as soon as she opened the bedroom door. Saahren, relaxed and