"I have it on unimpeachable authority that you two can find anything." Eleazar Dantes spoke with a gruff voice, deeper than his short stature might suggest. For all that he was stocky around the middle, there was something delicate about the deeply lined contours of his face, and his suit might have cost more than a year's rent for the office they were sitting in now.
Dantes had introduced himself imperiously, and Kai believed the name was genuine, not least because he had heard it before. Beyond that, despite the fact that Dantes was human, Kai was having trouble getting a read. He knew Eleazar Dantes by reputation, but he couldn't decide what to make of the man as a prospective client. Kai glanced to his left, eyes seeking his partner. Ilsa was perched on the edge of the only desk in the cramped office. Her face, sienna dark with even deeper freckles, was a practiced blank. But Kai recognized the twitch of her left pinky finger atop her knee: a subtle signal of distrust.
Kai shifted his weight and returned his attention to Dantes. The uncomfortable chair creaked beneath him in protest. Dantes sat in a similar chair, but he didn't look the least bit discomfited by the rickety metal edges or the hard back. There was patience in the carbon gray of Dantes's eyes, and his gaze slipped between Kai and Ilsa as though gauging his target. His focus finally settled on Ilsa and her easy perch.
"Miss Vance." Dantes spoke with calm determination, leaning forward to emphasize the subtle plea in his voice. "Whatever concerns you might harbor, I give you my word they are baseless. I'm willing to pay up front for any expenses you might incur on my behalf, and if you're successful, I will double your usual fee."
Rather than reassuring, the generous offer gave Kai pause. And though Ilsa's face showed no outward sign, he knew it had tripped her instincts just as soundly as his own. Their fees were imposing to begin with. For a potential client to offer double wasn't simply unusual: it was potentially dangerous. Whatever Eleazar Dantes intended them to find, he wanted it with a desperation that straightened Kai's spine in alarm. He and Ilsa were a competent partnership—Vance & Othen, Professional Finders had built themselves an impressive reputation—but any customer intent on overpaying was best approached with caution.
"We can't accept your contract if we don't know what you're looking for." Ilsa's steady tone gave no hint of unease or mistrust. She folded her hands together over her crossed legs and rested twined fingers atop navy-blue dress pants. There was nothing but reassurance in her voice when she continued, "There's no need to be cagey with us, Mr. Dantes. My partner and I understand the importance of discretion. Whether or not we agree to take your case, nothing you say will leave this room."
Dantes's eyes cut away from Ilsa and skated sideways, catching Kai with piercing weight. "Is that true, Mr. Othen?" Dantes peered intently at him. "Will you guard my secrets as if they were your own?"
"Would your unimpeachable authority have recommended us otherwise?" Kai raised one eyebrow but kept his expression otherwise bland. He had nothing to prove to Eleazar Dantes. He certainly wasn't going to defend his own discretion to a man who had already traveled seventy parsecs to offer them double their usual rate. He held himself perfectly still beneath Dantes's pointed inspection, waiting out the scrutiny with practiced patience.
If Dantes intended to discomfit a reaction out of Kai, he was going to be profoundly disappointed.
After several awkward seconds, Dantes gave ground. He nodded in quiet satisfaction. "Very well." There was dismissal in the casual shift of his glance as Dantes returned his attention to Ilsa. His brow creased deeply beneath the curl of black-and-silver bangs, and his voice fell painfully somber. "I'm looking for my daughter."
Ilsa's eyebrows rose with surprise, and her eyes darted briefly towards Kai before she echoed, "Your daughter."
Kai shared her surprise, though the startlement faded quickly. It certainly wasn't their standard gig: usually they were hired to track down lost valuables, stolen property, even pets in one memorable instance. But he and Ilsa had certainly been hired to find people before, usually family members scattered during the ugliest years of the war.
War was a rending force. Even now, three years since the Enriu had been driven away for good, there still stood deep swathes of scar tissue across entire quadrants of the Alliance. Kai Othen and Ilsa Vance had been approached a handful of times to search for missing loved ones, nearly always by people who could never hope to pay their baseline expenses, let alone their steep commission fees. It was a point of perfect understanding within their partnership that Kai and Ilsa never turned those cases away.
There were some jobs they took on, not for the sake of money, but because it was the right thing to do. If it put a strain on their resources between paying gigs, Kai and Ilsa both agreed it was a worthwhile price for a clean conscience.
They had never been approached by the likes of Eleazar Dantes. A businessman recognized throughout the halls of galactic commerce must possess better resources. Law enforcement, private detectives, employees answerable only to him—local talent he could hire without putting himself in harm's way. Travel in some sectors was still dangerous, peacetime or not. Surely it was even more so for such a prominent figure. Eleazar Dantes had been rich even before the war. In the years that followed, he had proven himself a mastermind at wartime economics and had come through the conflict with unimaginable wealth.
A man who profited off of violence and death would have enemies to spare. He must have been desperate indeed to travel so far, alone and in person, to put his case before Kai and Ilsa now.
"Her name is Abigail." Dantes pulled a small data screen from an inside pocket of his gray coat. He tapped an indecipherable sequence into the screen, summoning the relevant data, then handed it to Ilsa.
Ilsa peered at the screen with assessing eyes. If their current office were equipped with all the standard technological niceties, she could have projected whatever she was seeing so that Kai could take in the information simultaneously. But this was a shit building in an even shittier port town—their last real paycheck was getting to be uncomfortably far behind them—and Kai had to settle for waiting his turn. Eventually Ilsa handed the small data screen over, and Kai leaned forward to accept it.
Instead of the list of dates and information he expected, Kai found himself greeted by the image of a woman's face. She was young, in her mid-twenties if he had to guess, and she wore her hair in a thick braid that twined forward over one shoulder. She wasn't smiling. Defiance tightened both the line of her jaw and the set of her shoulders, giving her an air of fierce determination.
Kai liked her already.
"Abigail Dantes?" Paternity was hardly a guaranty that the woman shared her father's name.
"Yes." Dantes took the screen back and tapped it dark, then put the device away. "She'll be thirty this year, if she's still alive." A cloud passed across Dantes's face, an expression both shadowed and ferocious, and Kai found himself sympathizing despite his suspicious nature. He hadn't seen his own family face-to-face since long before the war, but he could well imagine the anxiety he would feel at not knowing they were all right.
"And you've tried to find her before?" Kai pressed. He pretended not to notice the quick glance Dantes cast towards Ilsa. It was a fleeting look, obvious confusion at the fact that Ilsa seemed content to allow the questions to progress without participating. A familiar expression, to be sure. Kai knew full well how he and Ilsa appeared to strangers. Between the two of them, Ilsa seemed the more collected and serious, more intelligent. Her composed demeanor and professional attire made people assume she was in charge, especially when contrasted with Kai's brawnier figure and more casual dress. Dark trousers, faded shirt, worn leather jacket, stubbled jaw: he looked more like a bodyguard than a business partner, and he had certainly used people's prejudices to his own advantage in the past. It was good to be underestimated in his line of work, and Kai never bothered to be offended by faulty assumptions.
But there was no point misleading a man who clearly hoped to be their client by the end of this interview. There was no reason to hide the fact that Kai and Ilsa shared a more balanced arrangement than superficial judgments might suppose. Ilsa preferred to listen; Kai preferred to talk. They both had their strengths. Kai's just happened to lie in the realm of human interaction. If they were genuinely considering Dantes's proposal, then Kai would damn well conduct this interview his own way.
To his credit, Dantes recovered quickly from his hesitation, and he turned his full attention on Kai to answer, "I've hired half a dozen private investigators in the past three years. Every single one of them has reported back with resounding failure. They've all tried to convince me my daughter can't be found." Dantes paused and drew a deliberate breath, visibly steadying himself. "I sent her into hiding during the war, for her own protection."
Kai kept his eyes on Dantes's distressed face, but the eyebrow Kai arched was all for Ilsa. "Why did you need to protect her?" he asked.
Dantes's expression cleared, and he huffed a quiet, ugly laugh that managed to sound angry and exhausted and wounded all at once. "I was... not a popular figure, as you can well imagine. My unexpected success during troubled times earned me a veritable army of enemies, many of whom still plague me to this day." Stubborn pride seemed to straighten Dantes's spine, despite the fact that his posture had already been perfect to begin with. "I will not apologize for seizing opportunities that were rightfully mine to take. But I also couldn't allow my own notoriety to put my daughter in danger. I was besieged on all sides. I trusted no one, least of all my own employees, and I needed to know she was safe."
The explanation seemed perfectly reasonable. It sounded honest and hurt and painfully sincere. But it also sounded incomplete. There was something guarded behind Dantes's stiff-backed pride.
Kai straightened in his own chair, consciously matching Dantes's rigid posture. "Was there someone specific you needed to protect her from?" Dantes's eyes narrowed with displeasure, but before he could protest, Kai pressed, "Mr. Dantes, if you aren't candid with us, there's no way we can accept your commission."
Dantes's face was a practiced blank, but Kai still perceived an internal struggle in his hesitation, not to mention the faint crease that flickered at the center of his brow. Whatever was giving him pause, Kai sensed it nearly sending Dantes into retreat despite the distress that had brought him all this distance.
A moment later, Dantes's spine visibly, if reluctantly, loosened. He still sat straight in the uncomfortable chair, but there was new resignation in the line of his shoulders. "It's private. A family matter that I have gone to great lengths to keep from the public eye."
Kai waited with deliberate patience. He didn't need to glance at Ilsa to convince her to do the same.
Grudgingly, with visible discomfort and no hint of his previous poker face, Dantes answered, "Helena Kanne."
Kai blinked. "I don't know who that is."
"I suppose you wouldn't. She's my late wife's only sister."
"And you think she's a danger to Abigail?" Kai's brow furrowed. "Why?"
A fresh look of discomfort colored Dantes's expression, but this time he didn't hesitate. "I don't like to cast aspersions when I have no proof. Please know these are only suspicions; if I had more, I'd have taken action years ago." A pause, a cut of his eyes from Kai to Ilsa and back again, and then Dantes continued, "My wife's death was no accident. And while I could never prove anything—I could never find a tangible motive, let alone evidence—I know just how few people Lora let close. Helena was one of only a handful of potential suspects, and her relationship with Lora was... complicated."
"Was Helena Kanne's relationship with Abigail also complicated?"
"They were never close," Dantes said. "And all I have are suspicions. I can't imagine a reason Helena would want to hurt Abigail. But I couldn't have imagined losing my wife, either. It was just one more reason to get my daughter safely out of sight. The war made such a mess, even for me. I couldn't protect her any other way."
Kai wanted to press for more detail, but some kinder instinct stopped him. There was uncanny certainty in Dantes's tone. For all his care not to claim sure answers, Dantes had the air of a man with no doubts at all. He didn't just suspect his sister-in-law; he knew who was to blame for his wife's death. Much as Kai wanted more to go on, he sensed Dantes shutting down around the painful topic.
Kai hesitated. He spoke his next words with strenuous care. "Mr. Dantes... The war has been over for three years. Even the most damaged systems of the Alliance have managed to repair basic communication capabilities. Surely Abigail should have been in touch with you by now."
"Exactly." Dantes leaned forward in his chair. Determination glinted in his eyes as he glanced back and forth between Kai and Ilsa. "She should have contacted me by now. But she hasn't. What if she can't? What if she's hurt or lost? What if she's in trouble?"
"She could be dead," Ilsa said softly. Kai stiffened, glaring in rebuke at her clumsy observation. Ilsa's eyes widened for the briefest instant as she realized she'd spoken aloud—that she'd spoken unkindly—and then Kai turned away to find steel on Eleazar Dantes's face.
"I refuse to believe it." Dantes's voice was a dangerous growl. "Until I see a body, Abigail is alive and healthy. If she were dead, there would have been something to find before now."
Kai wasn't so sure, but it would be cruel to argue otherwise. With even greater care, he asked, "Is it possible she doesn't want to be found? Perhaps she's still hiding from Helena Kanne."
A strange look passed over Dantes's face at the suggestion, unreadable shadows and a fleeting grimace. There was something stern, almost accusatory, in his voice when he snapped, "Abigail would never do that to me. She would find a way to contact me if she could. My daughter is no coward. She wouldn't leave me to suffer this eternal doubt." Then, obviously reluctant to concede the point but recognizing the validity of the question, he added, "Even if she would, it doesn't change anything. I still need to see her. I need to know she's okay."
Silence closed in through the claustrophobic office, heavy and stifling in the too-warm air of the room. Kai looked to Ilsa again, not in rebuke this time but in question. He could feel Dantes watching them. The pleading weight of the man's regard echoed heavily in the quiet, no matter that Kai wasn't looking at Dantes.
Kai pressed his mouth into a thin line, turned his head a fraction, but otherwise held perfectly still. Ilsa met his eyes. Her own gaze narrowed almost imperceptibly, and Kai knew they were in complete agreement. Wary of Eleazar Dantes, unsure of him, but firmly convinced of his frank desperation. They had never refused to search for missing family before. They certainly couldn't do so in good conscience now, especially with double their usual fee on the table.
It was Ilsa who turned to Dantes and said, "We'll take your case. Will you sign our standard contract?"
"Of course." Dantes nodded somberly. "But with one particular request."
Kai felt his own eyebrows rise high on his face, but he gestured for Dantes to continue.
Dantes looked far too sure of himself as he explained, "I want to accompany you in your search. I want to be there every step of the way."
Ilsa blinked, and her large eyes looked owlish with dubious surprise. "You're joking."
Dantes shook his head. "I've never been a jesting man. I assure you, I am entirely in earnest."
"It's dangerous enough for you here," Ilsa protested, and this time her unguarded words were a sentiment with which Kai fervently agreed. "Your name isn't a popular one, and our investigation is liable to tread through even less sympathetic sectors. It's not safe. You can't very well pack along a bodyguard on a trip like this."
"I don't care." Dantes met their skepticism with level stubbornness. "Either I go with you, or the entire deal is off."
"We're not fond of ultimatums, Mr. Dantes," Kai said softly. He was impressed despite himself when Dantes held fast, stubbornly refusing to back down.
"We're talking about my baby girl," Dantes said. "I have no intention of making a nuisance of myself. And I'll increase my offer if that's what it takes. But I will accompany your investigation."
Kai exchanged a quick glance with Ilsa, but Dantes's tone had already decided him. He was relieved to find silent assent in Ilsa's implacable expression.
"Fine," Kai relented. "But we make the travel arrangements. And if you aren't ready to leave by morning, we'll depart without you. Understood?"
"Understood." Dantes visibly relaxed with the concession. "Now. Where is this contract you need me to sign?"
"I'll draw it up for you tonight," Ilsa said, rising from the edge of the desk. Kai rose as well, leaving Dantes no choice but to follow suit. Simple as it would have been to revise their standard contract and sign it before Dantes departed the office, neither Kai nor Ilsa offered. There were certain steps they needed to take before obligating themselves in writing.
"Well." Dantes straightened. "I'll expect your missive. Where shall I meet you in the morning?"
"We'll send you the details along with the contract," Kai said, and escorted Dantes to the door.
*~*~*
Ilsa kept an apartment not far from the office she shared with Kai, and six blocks' distance made for a dramatic change of scenery. The neighborhood where she lodged wouldn't be anyone's idea of a holiday destination, but it was cleaner and better lit than the industrial district that abutted it to the east. The buildings stood just as tightly packed, but as Ilsa approached her destination, the architecture changed, a tangible shift away from lumpy stonework and rusted industrial frames. Cardim Lane boasted sleeker edges and sharper skylines. Windows glinted not just with reflected sunlight but with active security panes, and the few shops and kiosks conducted their business with dated but functional tech.
There was still a crust of age and disrepair dulling every surface, settling across the streets with subtle determination. But this far from the landing hubs, there was significantly less grime. The air didn't carry such an overwhelming smell of engine grease and toxic discharge. Ilsa could almost convince herself she was staying in the crappy part of some nicer town, rather than the reverse. Port cities weren't always unpleasant, but Naius V had proven one of the most uninviting planets Ilsa and Kai had landed on yet.
She let herself into a looming building that looked exactly like the structures to either side, then navigated a clean hall with severely high ceilings. Her apartment was on the sixteenth floor, reached by a quick ride up a shuddering lift. The rental was more like a cramped bedroom than a proper home, but it was clean and secure. The fact that the back wall—the one facing north towards the central port terminal and landing hubs—was ninety-percent window made up for a great deal of inconvenience.
Ilsa had always harbored a fondness for spacecraft. The reality of space travel might have proved more tedious than the romantic imaginings of her childhood, but that fact didn't stop her from appreciating the sleek lines of a well-designed ship. It sure as hell didn't prevent her enjoying the way heat shuddered visibly around descent thrusters as atmosphere-competent vessels made their landings and liftoffs. One planet or a hundred, the view never lost its appeal.
Overhead lights activated as she stepped across the threshold and into her apartment. She would have a little over an hour before Kai appeared on her doorstep, but that should be more than enough time. Her desk was a mess of data screens and tools, and Ilsa sat to begin her work. She ignored the question of Dantes's contract for the moment, focusing her efforts elsewhere. Research first. There were things she needed to know about Eleazar Dantes before she and Kai signed themselves over to his employ.
An hour later she had what she needed, and Ilsa turned her attention to packing. Her sturdy rucksack held nearly everything she owned, and the rest she would leave behind without regret. Ilsa lived light, traveled light, and kept few possessions beyond her clothes and equipment. It was part instinct, part conscious choice; there was no point accumulating volumes of trivial effects when a new transport ship hovered just beyond every horizon.
Ilsa knew from experience that even if Eleazar Dantes hadn't called them away from Naius V, she would have been too restless to stay put much longer. Funds had grown tight, but they weren't a problem just yet. This was nowhere near the longest she and Kai had gone between jobs in their seven years as partners. But Ilsa could feel the streets and walls constricting around her as the surrounding city became too familiar. This place was becoming routine, and Ilsa couldn't bear the mounting itch that sense of familiarity put beneath her skin.
No matter how predictable her need to board a ship for elsewhere, Kai always followed without complaint. His willingness to uproot at a whim was a vital tenet of their partnership. It was also an unspoken understanding, and one Ilsa depended on more than she would ever admit. Few friendships were stubborn enough to survive through a lifetime of wanderlust, and Ilsa could hardly blame the friends who had faded and flagged along the way. Keeping up with her was a lot to ask.
Kai did it without the need of asking. Loyalty like that was a gift Ilsa never quite knew what to do with.
When her door slid open without warning, Ilsa didn't startle at the sound. Caution made her turn quickly, but a glance only confirmed what she already knew: Kai had arrived right on schedule. Ilsa was well accustomed to Kai entering her space unannounced. She'd given him her pass codes on day one planet-side, as she did in every new location, and she offered a humoring smile as Kai strode across the threshold into her apartment.
Kai shrugged out of his jacket, looking out of place in the tiny room. He stood almost a foot taller than Ilsa, and his broad shoulders took up a comedic amount of space amid the narrow walls and sparse furniture. With his sturdy frame and bulky muscle, he looked very much like he might shatter the impractical little chairs beside what passed for a kitchen table. Ilsa pursed her lips to hide her amusement as Kai strode past the ridiculous chairs, dropping his jacket over one of them on his way past. He planted his feet before the enormous window instead. The sun was setting at the edge of a polluted sky, and the result was a horizon painted violently in orange and red and pink. Clouds scattered through the mess like an afterthought. The city below looked garish in the skewed sunlight.
For all its gaudiness, Ilsa found it a beautiful view. It was one of the few things she would miss about Naius V.
"I see you're already packed," Kai said without taking his eyes off the horizon. He stood completely at ease, his posture loose, his hands stuffed carelessly in his pockets. His rust-and-copper hair was cropped particularly short at the moment. Backlit by the setting sun, it looked eerily like a sheen of fire across his scalp.
Ilsa moved to join him, and they stood shoulder to shoulder. She crossed her arms over her chest and considered the disjointed city stretching into the distance below. Despite the view, she wouldn't be at all sorry to go.
"Have you begun a data trace on Abigail?" Kai asked, glancing down at her with green-hazel eyes.
"Yes," Ilsa said. "At least, as much as I can from a backwater like this. Nothing I found changes tomorrow's itinerary."
Dantes had given them everything he knew about his daughter's last known physical location. Wherever she had gone after that, Kai and Ilsa's search could begin in only one place.
Ilsa was familiar with Corriah Mor. An independent space station, it stood brazenly at the intersection of seven different Alliance trade sectors. It was the nearest port of its size, and the largest that was still intact from before the war. It was also the only place within a dozen parsecs that had direct access to all the data streams Ilsa would need to patch into. That it happened to be the only physical clue Dantes could provide towards his daughter's whereabouts was too logical to be coincidence. A journey to disappear had to begin somewhere, and what better place for Abigail to lose herself than Corriah Mor?
"What about Eleazar Dantes?" Kai asked. His posture hadn't changed, but he had shifted so that his attention was unmistakably on Ilsa rather than the city below. He needed a shave, but she had no intention of telling him so. He seemed to favor the careless stubble, especially when they traveled, and he would certainly blend in better with the crowds in transit if he looked a little rough around the edges.
"Everything I found fits with the information he volunteered." Ilsa paused and added a wry, "More or less. You won't be surprised to learn he took some editorial liberties."
"What kind of liberties?"
"He was right that his wife's death was no accident. The local authorities agreed—they tried to charge Dantes himself with her murder." She ignored Kai gaping at her and continued, "The charges were ultimately dismissed, so I had to break into some sealed court documents to get the full story. From what I can tell, they simply lacked the evidence to convict. Which... of course they did. Can't produce evidence that isn't there. Dantes's defense did implicate Helena Kanne, but it doesn't look like anyone pursued the investigation after his acquittal."
Kai whistled, long and low. "Sounds ugly as hell."
"No kidding." Ilsa shook her head. "It's no wonder he didn't want to give us details. And get this: I tried to track down Helena Kanne? I can't find recent traces of her anywhere. She fell off the map after Dantes's trial. There were some hiccups in the system at first—if I had to guess, I'd say she was traveling and trying to keep a low profile—but nothing since."
"That's a little suspicious."
"A little," Ilsa snorted. "We'll have to move carefully. If she's still watching, we could end up leading her straight to Abigail Dantes.
"We'll stay vigilant," Kai agreed. Then, glancing at Ilsa with an expression of fond familiarity, he said, "There's something else bothering you about all this."
Ilsa breathed a quiet sigh, but she waved a dismissive hand as the tension eased from her shoulders. "I just don't like that he's coming along. We're not babysitters. How the fuck does Dantes expect us to do our job and keep him out of trouble?"
"He doesn't," Kai reminded her. "His safety's on his own head. We'll add a waiver clause to the contract if we have to, but our job begins and ends with the investigation." Then, after a pause, Kai asked, "What do you make of him?"
Ilsa huffed and scrutinized the horizon to keep from rolling her eyes. "I don't know." People weren't exactly her bag of tricks. She preferred computers to flesh-and-blood puzzles. There were reasons she and Kai tended to divide responsibilities the way they did. "What do you think of him?"
Kai shrugged. "I think he genuinely wants to find his daughter. And I think he'll keep his head down, at least. Hopefully he'll stay out of the way, let us do our job without interference." Kai's next words were quiet. "He's desperate. He wouldn't be here otherwise."
"Do we trust him?" Ilsa asked. She was confident of the answer, but she wanted to hear Kai say it just the same.
"We're too smart to trust him." Kai spoke with only a trace of worry, the words softened by a teasing smile. "But we can at least rely on him to pay."
"Come on, then." Ilsa nudged Kai with one elbow and turned from the window. "You can book tomorrow's transport while I draft this contract. The sooner we get moving, the better I'll feel."