EVA HAD NOT initially intended to hunt Janus. His cleverness and success in his upward climb were traits she admired, in principle. Only after it became necessary to leverage the Red Hand did he become a target. His death would strike to the core of the cartel, show them they were not impervious to the long arm of the Kingmaker, and that the cartel would be safe only when they acquiesced to her wishes.
His demise would achieve a specific result—a very carefully calculated result, as precise as the sociometric predictions of Raem the Taskmaster and her augmented intelligence could make it. Her tactics were in keeping with her—their—philosophy and strategy of selective action.
It was that strategy that took her so far from home on her various self-assigned field missions. “It’s like a child’s game of castle-blocks,” she’d explained once to Teo. “A structure may look elaborate, but remove just the right piece, and all the blocks shift position. In predictable ways, if you plan carefully enough.”
“Or they come tumbling down,” he said dryly.
“A possibility.” She shrugged. “But not likely, if one plays deftly. Some blocks are foolish to move; others are irrelevant. Push the right one in the right direction, though, and the others will fall into line. You will win the game.”
It was a good metaphor for the game she played so well. It was one of her gifts, that ability to perceive which building block to move in order to rearrange the entire heap in proper order. It was why she saw to certain things personally. Only she could sense the shifting currents, calculate how to act in the moment or change leverage to achieve her desired ends. On the most important matters, it was not something that could be left to subordinates to do.
For that reason, she had journeyed to Bekavra weeks ago to nudge things in the proper direction to ensure Rishan’s succession. Approaching old-line organizations was out of the question. Corporations, Great Houses, Sa’adani derevin cartels: any group with the massive resources she required was also tangled up in old Sa’adani factions and alliances. They would be more difficult to coerce, and their positions could change unpredictably because of hidden faction interests and influences.
Only here in the CAS Sector, culturally different than older Sa’adani space, were there relatively independent groups. And of the leading cartels in Cassian space, Internal Security had the inside scoop on the richest of them all: two years before, a raid on Bekavra had laid critical parts of the Red Hand network open to scrutiny. Now, as time pressure grew, Ilanya Evanit knew exactly where to go, who to talk to, and how to reach them.
Her target chosen, she had asked the triumvirs to a meeting. It was time to nudge the cartel in the direction it must now go. Would inevitably go, when she was done with them.
SHE HAD MET the bosses of the Red Hand alone in a park on the outskirts of Bekavra: Sefano and Mika in the flesh, Janus a life-sized virtual representation standing on a holopad Sefano had brought with him.
Eva was comfortable with the relative isolation of the meeting. Teo recorded it and monitored her from a hillside one klick away. He could shoot the eye out of any one of the bosses at that distance, and though she was out of range of his sidelink to her Tolex, she felt nearly as physically secure as always. No doubt the triumvirs were equally protected. A sense of security allowed one to focus on the business at hand.
Mika seemed to be the spokesperson for the trio. She was a broad-featured woman with short gray hair, a square jaw, and an unblinking dark-eyed gaze. Her high-collared, stiff-shouldered tunic emphasized the blocky lines of her body, giving her a gender-ambiguous, faintly military air.
“We’re surprised that you pressed for this meeting,” she said, pointedly leaving Ilanya’s names and title out of her speech. “IntSec has made it clear that we are watched. We’ve grown accustomed to such a frivolous use of imperial taxes.” She shrugged broad shoulders. “We make sure to toe the lines that IntSec requires we observe.” She smiled ambiguously. Eva filled in the subtext as the woman spoke. She might as well be saying, We don’t get caught doing anything that would get us in overt trouble.
“In short, then: we see nothing we could possibly have to talk about that you cannot get from IntSec files.”
“Nevertheless, you are here,” Eva pointed out. The Red Hand knew very well who the Kingmaker was, just as she knew of the web of trade and influence this cartel managed. “It is not security files that interest me, but what you can do to assist me.”
Mika actually blinked. Sefano looked surprised. Janus betrayed no reaction, but forced himself to stand even more still. Eva smiled to herself. There. That got their attention. She continued with the tactics she had resolved to try first.
“You know who Lord Shay is, I presume.”
She expected them to nod; instead, blank looks met her own. Her brow furrowed. “The Yellow Sa’adani leader of the Reconciliation faction on the Imperial Council,” she supplied.
Mika spread her hands. “That is Sa’adani business,” she said apologetically. “Such matters don’t touch us here in the CAS Sector.”
Eva took that in. Of course Council dealings impacted this sector. The Red Hand could claim disinterest, but that was a lie. This cartel traced its directorship all the way back to an ancient order of assassins that had originated on the motherworld of Ástareth, in the once-empire of Urshad. That brotherhood of death still existed there, and its derevin descendant had played a persistent role in the Empire’s criminal underworld. The Red Hand had flourished in Sa’adani space long before its migration into the confederation sector over two centuries ago.
“One of you, at least, must know of Lord Shay,” Eva persisted, locking eyes with Sefano. “He is, after all, a famous distant kinsman of yours, is he not?”
The triumvir had a fringe of close-cropped white hair above prominent ears and a pleasant, nondescript face. He could have been a senior bureaucrat or a well-off retired citizen in his plain tunic of expensive zio cloth.
Sefano returned her gaze with a neutral expression. “Is he?” he asked blandly.
Eva quirked a lip. This crime boss was a Darvui-caste merchant, born and bred in Sa’adani space. His kinship was distant from Lord Shay, not in the dishonored den-miri sense, but through accidents of marriage and migration that had diminished his family’s status from once-noble roots over many generations. Until two years ago, IntSec had been ignorant of this connection, but after the netrunner known as FlashMan had infiltrated Red Hand systems, Sefano’s biofiles and history were now part of IntSec’s dossiers. The cartel boss knew his ancestry. And now, so did she.
Let him play coy, then. She diverted the conversation to a new path. “Lord Shay holds considerable influence on the Council, but his faction is sometimes … divided in opinion. For him to secure unity and bring his allies to the table with one voice, he needs greater resources.” Eva had been speaking to them all, but she addressed her words now to Sefano. “That is why I’m here. I am asking you to donate resources to your kinsman.”
The triumvir’s brows shot up and he burst out laughing. The others joined him in merriment. “Donate resources to Shay?” he chuckled. “Do I understand you correctly? You want us to just … give … support to your pet nobleman?”
Eva did not respond to their laughter. She let the question hang on the air until they quieted to hear her answer. “I am asking you to put significant resources at the disposal of your kinsman,” she affirmed coolly, “so he can do what he must.”
Janus snorted; Mika grinned. Sefano looked at her speculatively. “Whyever would I want to do that?”
Ah, she had him engaged now, dropping the corporate “we.” Sefano was the senior of the triumvirs, and she had no doubt that his decisions often ruled how the organization ran. The rest of this conversation would pay courtesy to the illusion of three, but the words would be framed for only one.
“The Emperor requires the minister’s aid, and all the backing he can muster through his allies. If you give Shay the means to rally this support, the Red Hand will have the favor of Nalomeci III, as well as that of the minister.”
“Imperial favor.” Sefano fell silent for a moment, seeming to think it over. “In exchange for what, exactly?”
“Between the three of you, you control the economies and resources of at least twelve subsectors.”
“Fifteen,” Sefano corrected her smugly, “but only in the gray market, of course. We do not usurp official channels in those regions.”
She dipped her chin. “I would say half of that should be sufficient to help Lord Shay accomplish what he must in the short time remaining to us.”
“Half—!” Sefano’s eyes widened in disbelief. Mika shook her head. Janus studied Eva with narrowed eyes.
“This minor gratuity in return for imperial favor?” Sefano waved a hand. “Such generous terms you offer to bankrupt us. No.”
This, too, Eva had anticipated. Time to shift tactics. “The Emperor will make it well worth your while.”
If they would not do it out of a Sa’adani sense of familial duty, they would certainly do it out of self-interest. This cartel already controlled more wealth than all but a few noble houses or trade consortia, and none that she knew of had the bloodline connection to a royal councillor to excuse or facilitate an influx of wealth from unexpected quarters.
Eva was preparing to explain Nalomeci’s terms when Janus spoke up. “If the Emperor is so anxious to fuel this lord’s activities, why not let him contribute from his own purse? Oh!” He snapped his fingers. “I forgot: the privy purse is intentionally small, so the Emperor cannot overtly buy Council favors.” He shook his head. “How unfortunate for the Emperor. And for you.”
Eva glared at the man for a second before she could soothe the challenging expression off her face. “The Emperor does not ordinarily offer amnesty, trade licenses, special charters, and patronage for organizations with activities as questionable as your own. I suggest you think carefully about this offer, and how it will benefit you.”
Mika looked skeptical, glanced at Sefano. The boss folded his arms on his chest, cocked his head with a look of interest on his face. Only Janus remained unaffected by the sally.
Eva spoke again. “Lord Shay would, of course, recognize his cousin, if acknowledgment would suit that cousin’s purposes.”
A flicker of interest showed in Sefano’s eyes. Of course legitimacy would tempt him, perhaps as much as imperial privilege. That was Raem’s analysis of the man as someone who could be bought by rank and privilege. It rang true.
But it was Janus who spoke into the lull. “You offer us dependencies, Domna. You offer us to be compromised and accountable.”
His interruption was unwelcome. She replied more curtly than she intended. “I offer you the chance to expand your business into legitimate channels, and to operate without restriction or repercussion even in your gray-market undertakings. No derevin cartel has ever received such a charter from the Emperor.”
“You offer us the death of the Red Hand,” Janus retorted. “First by paupering ourselves, then by a bastard agreement with the Emperor that sooner or later he could not afford to honor.” Janus shook his head. “So kind of you to go out of your way to meet with us today. How unfortunate that yours was a wasted journey.”
He turned to his compatriots. “There’s no deal to be made here. I oppose it.”
Sefano hesitated. “There might be ways—”
“We do not deal in exchange for imperial favors. It would compromise us too much.”
Sefano locked eyes with Janus, then nodded once. “As you say.”
Eva saw they would be having words on the matter, but it would not be in front of her. Sefano glanced to Ilanya, an ambiguous message in his eyes, but his words betrayed nothing. “Come,” he said to his companions. “We’re done with this.” He picked up Janus’s holopad; for a moment the slender triumvir towered over the others in midair. “The Red Hand is not for sale,” Sefano said, “not even to the Emperor.”
With a tap of his finger he shut the pad off, and Janus disappeared. He and Mika turned their backs on Eva and walked away on a winding park pathway, soon vanishing from sight.
She watched them go in disbelief, then cursed them soundly. Sefano had been on the verge of agreement. It was Janus’s resistance, alone, that had spoiled the play.
She had other ploys, other offers, but they did her no good, for the trio refused to see her again, or even receive communications from her. Other cartels had ties to opposing factions, or lacked the resources needed to put votes solidly in Lord Shay’s hand. This was the only avenue that would serve, and the door to it was shut, even as the Emperor’s health worsened.
AFTER THAT MEETING weeks ago, Eva had spent long hours in conversation with Raem, analyzing the interactions of the triumvirs. Little was known about Janus, who had been a lowly derevin lieutenant when IntSec had acquired the Red Hand intel. But Raem’s take on Sefano was correct—she had read that much from the man’s aura while offering the bait. If unopposed, he would reach for legitimacy and recognition by House Shay. It was equally obvious to her that Mika would follow the consensus of the group.
The obstacle was Janus, and to this hindrance there was but one solution. The Kingmaker must reach behind the closed door of the cartel with a hand of violence, to destroy the obstacle and send a message with two meanings: that Sefano was free to deal how he saw fit, and that not even the Red Hand was safe from the grasp of the Emperor, if they were not his friends.
Sefano had been a street enforcer in his younger years, working his way up the ranks. The sudden death of this one truculent partner—in a cartel thought inviolate by backstreeters—would get his attention and force that door open again. If Janus were out of the way, Sefano would bring the cartel to the table out of self-preservation, as well as self-interest.
During the next round, Sefano would play this game her way, and the castle-blocks would fall where she wished them to.