“I will, Caine. You have my word on it.”
“Good. I’d like to have your word on one more thing, Richard.”
Downing immediately became wary. “And what is that?”
“Since you received Yiithrii’ah’aash’s message about what happened on Disparity, you know about Keith Macmillan, right?”
Downing looked, and sounded, like he was swallowing glass. “I do.”
“He has a daughter. Katie.”
“I know. I pulled his dossier.”
“So you know about the quid pro quo that the Ktor used to turn him: his cooperation in exchange for her life.”
Richard’s eyes were hard, unblinking. “They are right bastards.”
Caine wasn’t sure whether Downing was referring to the Ktor, their megacorporate lackeys, or both. And didn’t care, at the moment. “If my guess is right, they didn’t give Katie a full cure; Dora overheard one of the Ktor say as much. And frankly, that’s exactly what I’d expect of them: to let the disease come back, clean up all their loose ends.”
“I agree. And it’s an awful situation. But what do you want me to do?”
Caine leaned forward. “I want you to use your authority, your power, to make it right.”
Downing leaned away sharply. “Caine, assuming that I could get permission to—”
“Fuck permission. You’ve got the leads you need. Macmillan was approached in a hospital waiting room. That gives you a place and a face. And that face is sure to be all over the security cameras. I suspect that face didn’t arrive at the hospital by public transport, so that face is also connected to a vehicle. You track down that vehicle, and that face. You grab that face from whatever well-appointed apartment or sybaritic retreat it happens to be occupying and you put a bag over it. And you take that bag off when you have that face in a cold, well-lit room and you squeeze that mother-fucker for everything he knows. Someplace, there is a connection between that face — that malicious bastard — and whatever cure he slipped into Katie. I’ll even bet there are still some samples out there, just waiting to be used to turn some other desperate parent into a traitor. So you find that face, and that drug, and you save that poor girl’s life.”
“Caine, what you’re asking — I can’t just—”
“Richard, I will not listen to your bullshit. Not this time. This is a little girl who was a victim of our enemies. The timing makes it a near-certainty that they bred the cancer that was in her. And then they turned her father against everything else he loved to save her. You will do this, you will save that girl, or I will hold you — I will hold our side — responsible. Do you understand?” When Downing hesitated, Riordan lifted his hand to the table. He deposited its contents — a holstered CoBro liquimix sidearm — immediately to his right. “I asked: do you understand?”
Downing leaned even further away, eyes wide. “Bloody hell, Caine, what’s come over—?”
“I am going to ask this. One. More. Time. Do you understand?”
“Yes, yes, of course. But I—”
“No buts, Richard. And no excuses or backsliding or consulting with your superiors. If you don’t save her, then I will — and then I become your worst problem. Your worst problem. Do the right thing and — who knows? — we might actually become real friends. But I’m giving you a choice, right here, and right now: you can obey your precious rules and regulations and intelligence protocols and let Keith’s little girl die, or you can stand up for basic human compassion and loyalty, and resolve not to allow these monsters to screw with our children.” Caine felt his face grow suddenly hot. “With our children, for fuck’s sake.” Riordan rose so swiftly that his chair fell over. He spun and stalked away. If Downing called after him, he wasn’t aware of it.
Because all he could hear, again and again, was what Dora had told him about Macmillan’s death, about what the Ktor commander on Disparity had said: “Family is our strength, but it is your weakness.” Riordan walked through the dust and postcombat debris littering the marshalling area of Site One, and thought: and you Ktor actually believe that, too. Because part of the price you’ve paid for all your enhancements is love. But that love — and the loyalty it breeds — is not just our best virtue:
It is the weapon I will use to destroy you.
APPENDIX A
Dramatis Personae
The Humans
(Traditional Chinese and Japanese names list family names first.)
Qwara Betuclass="underline" Archivist/recorder; legation to Beta Aquilae
Piet Brackman: First Pilot, SS Arbitrage
Joe Buckley: Quartermaster/Purser; legation to Beta Aquilae
Oleg Danysh: Physicist; legation to Beta Aquilae
Richard Downing: Director, Institute of Reconnaissance, Intelligence Security; Riordan’s handler:
Philip Frieclass="underline" Engineer, legation to Beta Aquilae
Etienne Gaspard: Ambassador Plenitpotentiary, legation to Beta Aquilae; CTR Consul
Hirano Mizuki: Planetology/exobiome expert; legation to Beta Aquilae
Trent Howarth: Staff Sergeant, NZSAS; security staff for legation to Beta Aquilae
Ben Hwang: Biologist and senior scientist; legation to Beta Aquilae
Emil Kozakowski: Former master of the SS Arbitrage; (former) employee of CoDevCo
Morgan Lymbery: Aerospace and drive expert; legation to Beta Aquilae
Keith Macmillan: Warrant Officer Class 2, British Army/IRIS; legation to Beta Aquilae
Tina Melah: Engineer; legation to Beta Aquilae
Miles O’Garran: Master CPO, SEAL/IRIS; security staff for legation to Beta Aquilae
Caine Riordan: Commander, IRIS/USSF; security chief of legation to Beta Aquilae
Christopher “Tygg” Robin: Lieutenant, SAAS/IRIS; security staff of legation to Beta Aquilae
Bannor Rulaine: Major, US Special Forces/IRIS; security staff for legation to Beta Aquilae
Melissa Sleeman: Advanced science and technology expert; legation to Beta Aquilae
Vassily Sukhinin: Chief negotiator and Deputy Director of IRIS, Sigma Draconis; CTR Consul
Ayana Tagawa: Executive Officer of SS Arbitrage
Karam Tsaami: Pilot; legation to Beta Aquilae
Jorge Velho: Captain of SS Arbitrage
Dora Veriden: Personal security for Ambassador Gaspard; legation to Beta Aquilae
Peter Wu: Lieutenant, Taiwanese Army/IRIS; security staff for legation to Beta Aquilae
Xue Heng: EMT and assistant quartermaster; legation to Beta Aquilae
The Ktor
Ulpreln Balkether: Evolved; Crew of Red Lurker
Vranut Balkether: Evolved; Crew of Red Lurker
Zurur Deosketer: Evolved; Crew of Red Lurker
Tegrese Hreteyarkus: Evolved; Crew of Red Lurker
Pehthrum: Intendant; Crew of Red Lurker
Brenlor Perekmeres: Evolved and Srin; Captain of Red Lurker
Nezdeh Perekmeres: Evolved, Aware, and Srina; Executive officer of Red Lurker
Idrem Perekmeresuum: Evolved; Second Officer of Red Lurker