When it came to the scales of personal vendetta, Kalico Aguila kept very good score. Since the shuttle’s return yesterday afternoon, she’d been stewing not only over the photos that betrayed the extent of Mark Talbot and Dya Simonov’s deception, but when and how to act against them.
The mobbers, however, ranked at the very top.
And they were due again sometime around midday.
Kalico meant to be present when they came. Meant to play a role in the extermination of the whole accursed flock if she could. But then people had been telling her that she was a vindictive bitch since she’d been in her teens.
That didn’t mean that she couldn’t concentrate on finalizing her plans for Talbot and his complicitous wife. “Farmstead out west my unholy ass,” Kalico muttered as she studied the images taken by the shuttle as it had flown over Mundo Base the day before.
Across the table from her, Lieutenant Spiro bent over the enlarged image, arms braced, expression thoughtful. She shifted, pointing with her right forefinger. “There’s another person. Two women down at the southern end of the field. Another two children going into this shop-looking structure. Then this woman here by this shed and this man picking vegetables in the field.”
“That’s Talbot.” Kalico indicated the white speck on his upper arm. “That’s the bandage where you shot him.”
“And none of the women are Dya Simonov. She’s blonde. These are all brunette or black-haired. How many people do you think are living there?”
“A lot more than we thought.” Kalico smiled. “Mundo Research Base. Makarov wasn’t even twenty minutes into his search before he had them. Oh, how cunning Simonov and Talbot were. Just a small farmstead hacked out of the forest? In a rat’s ass! The dome by itself is stunning.”
Spiro grinned in satisfaction. “I am so going to love busting that guy.”
“Lieutenant, I do not want him hurt. He’s important to Simonov, and that woman’s important to me. Very important. Do you understand?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Repeat it so that we’re clear.”
“You do not want him hurt.”
“Correct. Your mission is to fly down there, land, and apprehend Mark Talbot. Once you have him in custody, you are to bring him back here to me. You are not to harm anyone else. You don’t break anything, shoot anything, or act in a manner that will in any way alienate Dya Simonov or any of the other inhabitants.”
“And if they resist, ma’am? I can go in with the best of intentions, but in any conflict, the other side has a say in how it’s going to go down.”
“Are you telling me, Lieutenant, that you can’t figure out how to conduct an apprehension without precipitating a shootout? Is this your way of saying that I’d better do this myself because you’re incapable of following orders?”
Spiro stiffened, lips twitching, eyes hot. “No, ma’am!”
“Good. Because you’ve stretched your rope remarkably thin, Lieutenant. You and I both know that you meant that grenade for Perez, but you got a nurse. A nurse who’d been treating me, for God’s sake! So if you can’t get Talbot out without poisoning the well at Mundo, I need to know. And the reason’s pretty clear: We’re all going to have to be drinking from that water.”
“It’s a Corporate property,” Spiro countered. “It’s yours. Those people down there are yours. Who gives a damn what they think?”
Kalico sighed, fingered her chin as she studied her lieutenant. “They’ve been independent for six years. Clemenceau had two of their men shot. By Perez, no less, which is a stroke of luck for me.”
“She flew them out of Port Authority.”
“To keep from having to face her own people over that little girl’s damned quetzal. No. I have to play this very carefully. If I go in there slamming my fist, giving orders, telling them their meat is in my frying pan, there’s no telling what they’ll do. Fanatics are crazy. They might burn the place down around their ears just to keep me from getting my fingers on it.”
“So I apprehend Talbot. What then?”
“Leave them for a couple of days. Let them stew about his fate. Let them integrate the knowledge that Corporate Marines took one of theirs before I show up and give them a human face, a more personal approach.”
Kalico was thinking of her people, the ones now firmly in her corner as they fought to save Corporate Mine. Her job was to convince Dya that while yes, Mundo Base was Corporate property, there was a way that she and the others could stay. Could continue their lives at the price of a few staples and the loss of a little control.
“And who knows? Some of those people down there might still be under contract.” To Spiro she added, “You remind Talbot that he’s a marine and under orders. That contracts will be fulfilled. Agreements must be upheld. Tell him specifically while in the presence of others, that I am willing to consider his absence as official leave rather than desertion and dereliction of duty.” Kalico smiled, adding, “We want to look as reasonable as we can.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Kalico checked the time. “Take a small detail. No more than five. I don’t want to panic those people or make them think they’re invaded.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Kalico studied her lieutenant. “Deb, I mean it. If you botch this, don’t come back.”
Spiro’s lips were twitching again. She snapped a perfect salute, barked “Yes, ma’am,” and wheeled on her heel. Back erect, she strode from the room.
After she was gone, Kalico stared down at the image. The place was a perfect rectangle. The forest crowding a thick line of terrestrial trees. Mature trees that had been there for years. Could the answer be as simple as that? No burning, explosives, walls of fire, poisons, or trenching? Just trees?
She chewed her lips as she studied the place. The lift broke and Kylee was injured. What else was falling apart at Mundo?
She whispered, “Mundo is Corporate property. But it is your home. As The Corporation’s Supervisor on Donovan, I have an obligation to my Boardmembers to maintain the property. In return, we are willing to pay those of you who aren’t under contract to continue your fine work.”
Give consideration to their sense of independence. Let them maintain the illusion that they still have it.
Yes, that should do it.