Confession didn’t exactly work that way, but Book wasn’t about to raise any objections. “Yes. Provided, of course, that withholding such information wouldn’t make me complicit in the commission of a crime. If that’s the case, then I’m under an obligation to reveal it.”
Wong thought a moment, as if mentally reviewing what he planned to say and checking it twice. Book refrained from adding that there was nothing in his vows that would prevent him from acting on the information, as long as he didn’t disclose who had shared it with him.
“This goes against the grain,” Wong said. “I’ve been conducting this operation on a strictly need-to-know, and so far I’ve been the only one who needed to know.”
Book remained placid. Then Wong said, “But your inferences are on the money. There are vigilantes active on Persephone— Browncoat vigilantes — and they have been committing atrocities on this planet and others. The Alliance is unhappy about it. They want all citizens to be safe. So I’ve been reactivated by my old division to stop them.”
“I see,” Book said.
“A few days ago the vigilantes here stepped up their operations. They’ve some sort of new objective that’s gotten them all very excited, and Elmira told me she had found out what it was. We had a rendezvous scheduled for the day before Alliance Day so that she could lay it out to me in person, but she didn’t make it. I haven’t heard from her since.”
Could this “objective” have something to do with Mal’s disappearance? “How is she in a position to know what they’re doing? Is she an Alliance plant? A spy?”
“A spy, in a sense. She was my CI — my confidential informant.”
Gradually the pieces of the puzzle were coming together. “How did you find her in the first place?” Book asked.
“During the war, a battalion of Browncoats burned down the Atadema family homestead and razed the surrounding land. Elmira’s parents starved to death. She herself was in dire straits, close to dying the same way, so she made a choice. She sold herself as a bondswoman. It was her only way out.”
“Dear Lord. That’s shocking.”
Wong frowned. “Well, you know how the Browncoats were. Declared themselves the champions of the people and then stole or destroyed everything they could. Damn barbarians.”
There was no sense arguing with him, and Book was not there to change his mind. As far as Wong knew, Book had no truck with the Independent cause. He maintained a neutral expression and waited for Wong to continue.
“Life as a bondswoman can be very unpleasant,” he prompted.
Wong’s lip curled. “Yes, not least when your bondholder is Hunter Covington. He is, his suave demeanor to the contrary, not what you would call a nice man. At any rate, I’d got wind that Covington was in league with the vigilantes. Maybe not a sympathizer, as such, but associating with them on a commercial basis. Covington’s a mover and shaker round these parts — when it comes to shady dealings, that is. He trades in information, people, data, whatever. Makes a tidy living out of it, too. On Persephone, and in Eavesdown in particular, knowing who’s coming and who’s going and what business they’re about can set you high on the totem pole.”
“Covington tipped the vigilantes off to something. Something big.”
“More than that. He helped facilitate it, from what I hear.”
The something big being… Mal?
“This I got from Elmira,” Wong said. “Not the specifics, which she didn’t know, but an overall picture that the vigilantes had major plans.”
“You still haven’t told me how you recruited her to be your woman on the inside with Covington.”
“It was when she ran away from him. It came to my attention that there was a bondswoman, a fugitive on the run from Hunter Covington. By then I’d already established Covington’s links to the vigilantes, and I realized here was my chance. I had someone who was ripe for cultivating. Elmira was hiding out in one of the slums not far from the docks. I approached her and promised her I’d set her up in a new life if she became my CI for a while. I sweetened it by promising to pay the full amount of her bond, when the time came.”
“But in order to do that, she had to go back to Covington first.” In effect, Elmira had exchanged one kind of servitude for another. Book, however, refrained from voicing this observation aloud.
“Which she did, voluntarily, albeit reluctantly,” Wong said. “That’s why Covington didn’t kill her, when he almost certainly would have if he had simply caught her himself. You don’t cross a man like that, not if you know what’s good for you. Elmira went crawling back to him on hands and knees, making out as though she was sorry, she bitterly regretted what she had done, she wouldn’t run away again. She begged him to take her back, and you know from that poster that she’s a fine-looking woman. Face like hers, gazing up at you full of pleading and contrition — well, you just couldn’t say no to it, could you? Even if you’re a cruel-hearted piece of lè sè like Hunter Covington.”
“Still, it chills me to think how he might have dealt with her. You took a huge gamble with her life, Mika.”
“Elmira knew what she was getting herself into, and she thought the risk worth the reward.”
“It may yet be that the risk has proved too great. Elmira has disappeared. Rumor is she may be dead.”
Wong’s shoulders sagged. “You heard that too, huh?”
“What if Covington has discovered she’s your informant?”
“I reckon she’ll be okay. She’s had a tough life, and it’s made her crafty and strong. But I always told her, if she ever felt she’s getting in over her head, she can contact me and I’ll pull her out. I’m trusting that because I haven’t heard from her yet, nothing untoward has happened.”
“Or it has and she was unable to get word to you in time.”
“There is that,” Wong admitted.
“So you’re just crossing your fingers and hoping Covington hasn’t murdered Elmira, most likely in some dreadful way?”
“No. Well, yes, maybe a little. But I have a contingency plan.”
“Namely?”
“In case of emergency, I can locate her. Before Elmira returned to Covington, I had her fitted with a subdermal tracking implant, networked via the Cortex with heavy encryption and shielded internally so that it can’t be detected by any electronic scan. It registers her bio-signs as well, so if she’s alive, or otherwise, I’ll know. All I need to do is activate it and I can pinpoint where she is, anywhere in the ’verse, to within a half-mile radius.”
“Then why haven’t you done so?”
“Why do you think I was downtown earlier?” Wong said. “I was trying to gather some solid intel on her disappearance. There’s a great deal of tittle-tattle goes around Eavesdown and it can be an effort sorting the wheat from the chaff. I didn’t want to go after Elmira to pull her out without good reason.”
“Wouldn’t want to blow her cover unnecessarily,” Book said with undisguised sarcasm. “Waste of a good asset.”
“Don’t take that high moral tone with me, Derrial. I’m not an inhuman monster. I’m concerned about Elmira and I’ll do all I can to get her back safe and sound, on the proviso that it doesn’t happen unless there’s absolutely no alternative.”
“I’d say you’ve reached that point, based on current evidence. You need to fire up that tracking implant, find out where the hell she is, and go fetch her. Whether she’s alive or dead doesn’t matter. You owe it to her to try.”
Wong studied him, flinty-eyed. “Ever the man of principle, huh?”
“If you won’t do it, I will.”