Twenty-six

 

The Earth Alliance investigators had taken over the central conference room. Popova had probably banned them from the area around her desk, thinking that would make them leave.

Instead, they had taken over the conference area that had clear windows on all four sides, with corridors around it. In truth, it should have been Popova’s office because she was the center of this floor, but the conference room wasn’t close enough to the elevator for her to monitor all the arrivals and departures. Rather than letting security do that, she preferred to do that herself.

In that way, she reminded Flint of DeRicci.

And himself.

He could feel Popova’s gaze on his back as he made his way to the conference room. He had shut her up when he told her that he didn’t work for her, but he had a hunch she was contacting DeRicci.

And DeRicci wasn’t going to be happy with him.

He didn’t care as long as he managed to move forward on this investigation.

The two Earth Alliance investigators weren’t sitting around waiting for someone to talk with them. They had attached some equipment to the long table in the conference room, and were doing some investigating of their own.

Fortunately, the conference room table wasn’t networked into any of the systems in the Security Office, so the investigators couldn’t access any proprietary information.

He wondered if they had tried.

He pulled open the door. The woman looked up at him first. She had wedge-cut black hair. It had purple highlights that matched the highlights on her clothing. She had tinted her lips purple as well, and the lids above her eyes had a faint purple tinge.

While he had learned to accept that level of fashion detail in some professionals without judging them, he found it odd that an investigator, whose job was often to blend in, would bother taking that kind of care.

The man sitting next to her looked more like the average investigator to Flint. That man had on a rumpled black suit, and his brown hair was tinged with gray. He had lines under his eyes and some extra pounds around his middle.

After a moment, the man looked up, too.

They watched Flint as if they were wary of what he was going to say or do.

“I’m Miles Flint,” he said, letting the door close behind him. “I’m a retired Retrieval Artist. I’ve been consulting on this investigation.”

“Hm,” the woman said as she stood. “And here I thought you were actually doing some of the investigating. I’m Wilma Goudkins.”

She extended her hand. Flint took it, noting the softness of her skin. She’d either had enhancements or had spent a lot of money to have treatments.

“And I’m Lawrence Ostaka,” the man said, extending his hand. “Forgive my partner. We’re a bit frustrated. The Earth Alliance sent us here to work with you folks to make certain that the investigation has all the resources it needs, and we’ve been frozen out.”

Flint shook Ostaka’s hand as well.

“I understand,” Flint said. “Secrecy is important up here. There’s a lot I don’t know, either.”

Somehow he managed to keep that from sounding bitter. He was angrier at DeRicci than he thought he was.

“But they finally sent you in here to talk with us,” the woman—Goudkins—said.

“Actually,” Flint said, “Rudra Popova just tried to stop me.”

Ostaka moved his head back just a little, as if he were surprised. “You came on your own?”

“We have to be clear,” Flint said. “I am not working for the Security Office, the City of Armstrong, or any Moon-based organization. I’m consulting, yes, but I’m doing this part on my own.”

“This meeting,” Goudkins said. Her dark eyes glittered. “That’s what you’re doing on your own. Not the investigation.”

Her questions irritated him. He was beginning to understand why Popova didn’t like them.

“The investigation,” he said, “has so many branches that it’s impossible to keep track of. Each bombed city has its own investigation. Then there are separate investigations into the assassinations. The Earth Alliance wants its own investigation, and Security Chief DeRicci is trying to find out what happened Moon-wide, so that she can prevent another attack.”

“You sound critical,” Goudkins said.

“If you continue to question me like you would question a suspect, Ms. Goudkins,” Flint said, “I will leave this room. And for the record, I don’t like the fact that you approached my underage daughter, trying to get information that Rudra Popova would not give you. You talk to my daughter again, and I will go to your superiors with a complaint.”

“They know I have to conduct this investigation—”

“They know inappropriate behavior as well,” Flint said. “I worked with the Earth Alliance dozens of times back when I was with the Armstrong Police Department. I’m not telling you anything new. You’ve looked at my records. But what you might not know is that I’ve developed some of the computer systems that the Alliance still uses. I don’t just have police contacts, I have contacts with the upper echelon of the Alliance. I will not hesitate to use those contacts if you persist in involving my daughter. Are we clear?”

Ostaka leaned back and crossed his arms. His expression didn’t change, but Flint got the sense that the man was amused.

Goudkins sat up just a little straighter. “We’re clear. Although I must say that threatening someone is not the best way to begin a cooperative relationship.”

Flint couldn’t take it any longer. “Is she always like this?” he asked Ostaka.

“Actually,” he said with a bit of a drawl, “her blunt doggedness usually gets us exactly what we want, which always surprises me. I would expect people to push back like you and your daughter have. But they generally don’t.”

Goudkins glared at her partner. He shrugged and gave her an almost impish smile.

“It’s true,” he said.

Flint knew the good cop, bad cop routine. It annoyed him.

“If we’re going to cooperate,” he said to them, “then I will be an equal partner or this conversation is over now. I want to know what you know—all of it, even the classified stuff. I don’t care if you tell your bosses. I certainly won’t. In fact, I won’t compromise much of anything. I know how to search for information without leaving a trace. And if you tell me information, I don’t have to seek it out on my own. If I do that, there’s the risk that I will blunder into your investigation and ruin it.”

“A threat, Mr. Flint?” Goudkins asked.

“The truth,” he said. “If you think you’re going to get cooperation when Security Chief DeRicci gets back, think again. She is the one who ordered Rudra Popova to ignore you. She doesn’t like you, and she’s worried that you’ll take over the investigation with no quid pro quo.”

“So why are you here?” Ostaka asked. “Are you going to feel us out?”

“I know this investigation has stalled. I also know that parts of the government have information the rest of the government doesn’t have. I talked with a few people tonight who have even more information.” Flint crossed his arms. “The problem here is that we have too much information. We don’t have enough people to process it, and we have no central clearinghouse for that information.”

“You propose to be the central clearinghouse?” Ostaka asked.

“I’m going to act that way whether you cooperate or not,” Flint said. “I will go to anyone I can to get information from and I will do my best to put that information together. I don’t care what organization gets stung in the process, whether it’s the Earth Alliance or some Moon government. I prefer to work in cooperation with everyone, but if that’s not possible, I will work alone.”

“Why are you so vigilant, Mr. Flint?” Goudkins asked. “What makes you so special?”

“I have special skills,” he said. “I can solve this thing if I have the right information. But that’s not what you’re asking, since you know who I am. You want to know why I care so much. You met the reason I care. My daughter has to grow up in this new world we find ourselves in. I prefer that she concentrate on her schoolwork instead of spending her free time looking for bombers. I want her to spend her days making friends instead of worrying about what threat lurks around the next corner. That’s why I’m working so damn hard. I’m kind of amazed no one else is.”

“No one else, Mr. Flint?” Goudkins asked. “We’re here. No one in this office will work with us.”

“Because we’ve all worked with the Earth Alliance before. I’ve had cases that you people took over and then forbade me from working on. I know that Noelle has, too. I’m sure every major law enforcement agency has had the same experience.”

Ostaka’s amused expression slowly changed to something more serious. He sat up a bit straighter as well.

Goudkins hadn’t changed her position at all.

“As to why you’re here,” Flint said, “I assume you’re here because someone ordered you to be here. Otherwise, you’d be investigating some other crime in some other portion of the known universe.”

Goudkins looked down. Then she sighed.

“You assume we don’t have a personal stake,” Ostaka said.

“You probably work at Earth Alliance Headquarters on Earth,” Flint said. “The Moon can be very far away from there.”

“Wilma’s sister lived in Tycho Crater,” Ostaka said.

“Shut up,” Goudkins snapped.

“She contacted Wilma the minute the crisis started at the Top of the Dome.”

“Shut up,” Goudkins said.

“She was sending information through their private links all day—”

“He doesn’t care.” Goudkins turned toward her partner. “He’s going to think you made this up.”

“Actually, it’s easy to check,” Flint said. He was feeling sympathetic despite himself.

“Then you can check,” Goudkins said. “My sister stayed inside the center of the dome to help with the rescue efforts. When the Top of the Dome blew, she was right there.”

Goudkins looked like she was going to say more. Then she shook her head, as if saying more wasn’t worth her time.

“She heard her sister die,” Ostaka said softly.

“I did not.” Goudkins stood up and walked to the other side of the conference room. “The link severed when the dome blew open.”

If she was acting, she was doing a terrific job. Flint could feel her upset, even though she had tamped it down.

She had walked to a corner of the conference room where the light hit the windows just right. He could see shadows of her face, but not a reflection of her face.

That movement, more than any other, convinced him she was telling the truth.

“You people here on the Moon,” she said, her voice steady but just a bit too soft, “you think you’re the only ones hurt by this crisis. You forget that families get spread all over the Alliance. You forget that we all watched what happened, just like some of you did. You forget that analysts agree with your Security Chief. This attack was something big, something that’s aimed at a large goal we don’t understand. And until we do understand it, we won’t know what’s going to happen next or who it will happen to.”

“I haven’t forgotten,” Flint said quietly. “That’s why I’m here, even though I know my old partner Noelle DeRicci will be quite angry at me for talking with you.”

“You’re here for the children,” Ostaka said drily.

“No,” Flint said. “I’m here for one child. Mine. If other people get helped, then that’s all well and good. But in this case, I’m being one selfish son of a bitch. This crisis has gone on too long. I want it to end. And I’ll do what I can to end it, even if it means disagreeing with good friends.”

Ostaka studied him for a minute, as if he’d never quite seen anything like Flint before.

Then he asked, “How do you know you can trust us, Mr. Flint?”

“I don’t,” Flint said. “But I’m willing to work with all kinds of people I don’t trust. I’m willing to look at all the information and see what fits. I want to stop this thing. Am I the only one?”

His words echoed in the overly large room. Ostaka watched him.

But Goudkins was the one who moved. She turned around. Her eyes were sad, her mouth turned down. She looked like she had aged a year in the past few minutes.

“No,” she said. “You’re not the only one. I volunteered for this assignment. I’m here because I want this solved, too. I’ll help you, Mr. Flint. No matter what it takes.”