V
The scowl on Valerie's face meant only one of two things. Either the Seadogs were losing, or she'd not been very successful in collecting data concerning the Right Reverend Roberts. "What's the score?"
She shrugged. "Roberts one, me zippo." Her frown darkened her cafe-au-lait skin, but only intensified the azure fire in her eyes. Raven came down the stairs and gave Valerie an encouraging smile. "I'd not say that, Val. You've pulled plenty of data on all the Andrew Coles who've ever lived in Seattle." He tapped the hardcopy report in his hands. "This stuff on the kids is very complete. You've also given us a rundown on Roberts' empire. As soon as your other search knowbots report back, you'll have everything you set out to get."
Val shrugged. "I know, but something is wrong with that report on Roberts. I know it's been tampered with."
"Mycroft?" I asked, naming another wiz decker I knew.
Valerie wrinkled her pretty nose. "No, if it were Mycroft I'd have to dissect it with a scalpel. For this one I need a chainsaw. If I had to guess, I'd say it's got a government mask running over a transcription program."
Raven's head came up. "Assuming you're right, how tough would it be for Roberts to find out the government is tapping his accounts to keep track of him?"
"Not that hard." Val half-closed her eyes as she concentrated. "Jack could spot it, and maybe the Glass Tarantula. And maybe a half-dozen other deckers in the sprawl, but the preacher's network goes all over. He could have deckers from New York or Dallas checking his stuff."
Doc nodded thoughtfully. "Wolf, did you learn anything from the children when you went out there?"
I seated myself on the edge of a chair. "No, not really. Most of the food they eat is scavenged, but I think I knew that all along the way." I plucked the carnation from my lapel and tossed it into the trash. "Wait, I did get something."
I reached into my pocket and pulled out both halves of the broken credstick. "Cooper gave this to me as a birthday present."
Raven took the two halves and fitted them together. Wetting the tip of his finger with his tongue, he washed away some of the mud and got a clear look at the colored markings on it. He stared at it for a second, then turned to Val. "Cross-correlate Cole, Andrew with Kensington Industries." He studied the stick for another second. "Backdate the search from fifteen years ago to 2005. When you get a match, give me resident data for the house the kids are squatting in for the month on either side of Cole's death date. I'll also need a full file on the house's resident at that time, starting with Lone Star data."
I managed to pick my jaw up off the ground by the time Raven looked back at me. "What are you looking for?"
"I scanned the Cole data earlier and I seem to recall an Andrew Cole working for Kensington Industries. The color coding on this credstick is the type they used for a period between 2005 and 2035, before their merger with Saeder-Krupp."
I nodded. "Didn't Kensington get into money trouble, so Saeder-Krupp came in like a white knight before Beatrice-Revlon could snap them up?"
Raven smiled. "I'm surprised at your knowledge of Seattle's financial history, Wolf."
I said nothing. I wasn't going to tell him the story had been the subject of a trid docudrama I'd once seen.
"Home run, Doc!" Valerie's enthusiastic shout saved me from any chance of Raven testing my command of mergers and acquisitions among megacorps. "Cole, Andrew, married to Tina, died 14 March 2034. He worked in their accounting and disbursement division and was under suspicion of having embezzled 500,000 nuyen in bearer credsticks. Tina died just last year, but Kensington gave her a clean bill because she never spent a dime that couldn't be accounted for by her income. Insurance paid Kensington/Saeder-Krupp off after her death."
"And the resident of the house where the kids are?"
"ThomasHarrison lived there from June of 2033 to March of 2034. The house was reported abandoned after some food riots in the area. Officials list it as ASC-1, but no one has filed a claim on it, so it technically remains in the hands of the city. Harrison himself was a small-time hood and conman." She spun in her chair. "He has a list of bunko arrests longer than Mackelroy's hit streak!"
I blinked twice. "Wanna bet Harrison was the unnamed partner the good Rev claims the devil took away?"
Raven nodded. "They went to work the Bible scam on Tina Cole after her husband died. She doesn't buy into it, but confesses to these two obviously godly men that her husband has been stealing from his corporation."
"Yeah, Doc, yeah. She's afraid for his soul, so they offer to return the credsticks to Kensington anonymously. That way her husband gets eternal salvation, and his terrestrial reputation doesn't take any hits either. Harrison and Roberts have 500,000 nuyen in credits to split and Harrison skips with them?"
Raven shook his head. "I doubt it. Harrison would have gone through 500,000 in sixteen years. Given Roberts' success in that time, I would have to assume Harrison would return to blackmail his former partner. I'm certain Harrison is dead and that Roberts killed him in a rage after Harrison said he'd hidden the loot."
"I don't follow."
Raven folded his arms. "The Bible Roberts uses is left over from the scam they tried to work on Tina Cole. I suspect Harrison hid clues to the location of the credsticks in the Bible. The symbols you saw on the cover liner could well be a code that leads to them. The glue finally gave way, exposing the secret, and Roberts has deciphered it."
I frowned heavily. "I've been to his office. What's 500,000 nuyen to this guy?"
"Curve ball, wait, two curves," Val announced as her computer beeped at her. "To answer your first question, Wolf, 500,000 nuyen is the cost of getting out of Seattle and living comfortably. The government has a lock on all of Roberts' accounts pending an investigation of fraud on his proposed Jesusville amusement park and devotion center."
"What else?"
"Second curve. Roberts has filed to take possession of the house under an ASC-1 action. He found some judge to give him custodianship of the kids in a phantom hearing, so he's got the Abandoned/Squatter Claim filed in their names. Lone Star is supposed to be heading out there to help him serve the papers right now."
Raven tucked the credstick pieces into his pocket. "Val, file an ASC-1 counterclaim on the property." He tore a sheet from the hardcopy file he'd been reading. "Use this name if the computer will take it. Otherwise file it in my name and we'll fight it out later. Wolf, let's move."
The Fenris left two blackened patches on the floor of the garage and part of one on every curve we took as we headed toward the house. I didn't just break speed laws, I smashed them to up-quarks. We surprised the hell out of some Ancients as I took a short-cut through part of their turf, but the elven bikers abandoned the chase when they realized by my driving that I wasn't in the mood for games.
Standing on the brakes, I swung the Fenris wide around the last corner and brought it smack up against the curb just at the edge of the street light's circle of illumination in front of the house. Further up along the street I saw a Lone Star car with the driver's door open and light strobing. Beyond that, Reverend Roberts stood in the shelter of his limo.
The Lone Star cop looked over as Raven and I exited my car with our hands up. "Just get back in your car, Wolf, and leave. We have enough trouble without you here."
"Not much for gratitude, are you, Harry Braxen?" I let my hands drop slowly and closed my door with a hip-check. "Doctor Raven is helping these kids, so just chill." The ork cop scowled. "Raven, I can run you in as easily as I can the kids. Roberts owns this place free and clear, and he's their guardian." He raised his voice for the benefit of the kids inside as well. "If they don't come out, I'm going to splash the loudmouth with the gun, then bring them out in handcuffs."