Shell Game, page 6
part #15 of The Last Hunter Series
How the woman managed to sound uninterested and blasé about an alien invasion was beyond Derek, but that really wasn’t his problem. If she wanted to take that as yet another hurdle thrown in front of her bureaucratic inertia, that was her decision.
McDonald thanked her, and the group got out of the way so that the next person in line to get their ship located could be about it. Rather than discuss the issue right there in front of everyone, they left the government facility. They didn’t go back to the mall level, but they did find a shopping area to browse. They didn’t have all the various items they would need to make their stay comfortable, and since they were out and about, he might as well correct that.
Everyone had brought what they needed to survive, but getting a wider range of personal care items and an array of small luxuries would certainly make their stay more comfortable. Knowing how his associates would go through coffee, he spoke to one of the clerks in a coffee shop and picked up a sampling of several of the higher-end brews. Buying a bag of each and a coffee grinder would set them up for at least as long as they intended to stay, and if they took it back to the spy ship, it would still get used.
With several bags in hand, they headed back toward their new quarters. He kept his eyes peeled, looking for anything out of place, but no one seemed to pay them any attention. Once he was back in their quarters, he set everything out on a handy table and turned his attention to Able Spacer Papadopoulos.
“It’s your turn, Diana. How do you think it best we approach your contact?”
She rose from the table she’d been sitting at and walked over to him. “It’s been a while since we’ve spoken, and even though we parted on good terms, I’m not sure he’ll want to talk to me. He had romantic interests in me that I just wasn’t able to return. That kind of thing stings a man. And women, too, of course.”
He gave her a lopsided smile at the last-minute addendum. “I get it. Even so, it would be helpful to get information from him, but I don’t want him telling the Poseidon Group that we’re sniffing around. They can’t know our real story, and that means that he can’t either. You’ll have to come up with something to get enough interest out of him so that he’s willing to talk but not compromise our mission. You’re the one who knows him best, so I want your input before we come up with a plan.”
She pursed her lips and frowned slightly. “He was never a jackass, and if he doesn’t want to talk to me, I suspect that’s exactly what he’ll say. I tried not to hurt his feelings when I broke up with him, but we won’t know what that means until we’re in a position to see how he responds to my approach. If I can’t tell him why we’re here, that’s going to make getting him to tell us about the Poseidon Group kind of awkward. Getting information about the Tardans will probably be easier, but I don’t expect that he’ll know more than anyone else. It’s not like the aliens are communicating with them.”
“And how would you make your approach? Do you think it’s best to call him first or try to pin him down when he is outside working hours?”
“I’m pretty sure that calling ahead would be better. People don’t like to be surprised, and having someone that he’d once dated show up unannounced would put him off. I understand that we’re under a time crunch, but I think it would be best to take his feelings into consideration and try to make this approach as easy as possible. Let’s not make barriers that we have to overcome.”
He nodded. “Solid thinking. I picked up some comm units that will work here and shouldn’t raise any eyebrows as long as they aren’t being used for nefarious purposes. We can continue to use our military comms for short-range communication, and I’m confident that Lisa can come up with something that will make even these low-end units more secure. For right now, take one, and let’s head out to a common area so we don’t make it easy to track us. Then we’ll turn it on and give him a call.”
The two of them left with a Marine following along behind. To him, the man’s behavior stood out a little, so he slowed their pace and motioned for the Marine to step up beside them. “Following us makes you look odd. Just walk beside us. We’re three friends out for a stroll.”
The young man didn’t look very comfortable with that, but he nodded and fell in beside them as they made their way to the mall. There would be enough traffic there that their presence would raise no eyebrows, and there were already tons of people using the communication circuits, so one more call wasn’t going to stand out.
Rather than stroll through the shops, he chose to shepherd his associates into the food court, and they picked up soft drinks and nachos. Who could complain about nachos even if it wasn’t a regular mealtime? He made certain to put plenty of jalapenos on his and was amused when the Marine avoided them like the plague.
Once they’d found a small table to sit at and had begun eating, Papadopoulos used the comm that he’d given her to look up the public directory of numbers and made a call. She had the unit sitting on the table, but she’d adjusted the sound suppression so that it would make the conversation understandable but still mute everything for the man on the other end enough that the surrounding conversation wouldn’t be distracting. That would allow Derek to listen in.
“Wallace Refining and Manufacturing. This is Sean.”
Papadopoulos frowned. “I’m sorry. I thought I was calling Jimmy Powell. He’s one of the managers on the manufacturing side. Could you connect me?”
“I’m sorry, but Mister Powell is no longer with the company. Could I help you?”
“No. Thank you.”
She disconnected the call. “That’s strange. He was a company man through and through, so I don’t see why he would quit, and I can’t imagine he’d ever do anything that would make them fire him.”
“Maybe you could find a personal number for him,” Derek suggested. “If it’s listed, of course.”
He watched her bring the directory backup and search. She shook her head. “Nothing listed, but a lot of people keep their personal numbers to themselves, so that’s not unusual.”
He brought out another one of the comm units, activated it, and began searching the local network for news or information about anyone named Jimmy Powell. He got a couple of hits almost immediately, and the news made him frown.
“It looks like your friend got into trouble with the law. In this case, that means the Poseidon Group, most likely. It looks like he was protesting something, and the event turned into a riot that was suppressed by the security forces. His name is listed as one of the people that was arrested.”
“Is there any way to figure out if they released him?” she asked. “How long ago was the riot?”
“Months ago,” he said. “I’m not seeing any information about his release, but that may not be something that’s listed because it’s not newsworthy. His name was mentioned on a list of people who were arrested, not as any kind of press release. It’s hard to imagine that he’d still be in custody for something like that, but this is the Poseidon Group we’re talking about.”
She nodded. “I don’t remember where he lives, so that’s not going to be helpful. Without having access to some of the more restricted databases, we won’t be able to get any information about him. I suspect the fact that he was arrested and lost his job may make him a little more willing to discuss the Poseidon Group with us, though.”
“Probably,” Derek agreed. “Let’s finish up our snack and head back to our quarters. We can tag Lisa at that point, and she’ll give us an address in a few minutes. Let’s take the time to go through the newsfeeds and see if we can determine how heavy-handed the Poseidon Group is being, particularly now that the invasion is taking place. That has to be something that everyone is probably searching for, and it’s not going to stand out. As long as we’re not speaking about them, they shouldn’t be paying much attention to us. They got bigger fish to fry.”
He handed another one of the comm units to the Marine and then began doing the research while he munched on the surprisingly decent nachos. It didn’t take much effort at all to figure out that the Poseidon Group wasn’t allowing negative things to be said about them. Once they’d taken control, the major news organizations had become silent about the new government, other than when they had something good to say.
Frankly, the press releases they put out were too saccharine for his taste. No one would be able to read them without suspecting they were government propaganda.
After just a couple of minutes of searching, he shook his head in disgust. They weren’t going to find anything critical of the Poseidon Group or the way the government was operating now that the news lockdown had taken place. Maybe if they spoke to some of the reporters in a private setting, they might get a different opinion, but it was entirely likely that those individuals would be terrified of what the Poseidon Group would do to them.
Considering that, it was surprising how normal the people around them were acting. One would never guess there had been a coup based on their behavior, much less an alien invasion. It was surreal.
While he wished they could get all the answers they needed immediately, this probing expedition would take time. At least they’d been able to locate McDonald’s family. It would be up to the admiral if they were going to try and find them immediately or if they would use the opportunity here on the station to try to get information. Honestly, he thought heading for the prospectors would be a bit of a goose chase. If they were smart, those people would have their heads down.
Still, they might’ve noticed something about the Tardans that people here aboard stations like this might not have. As much as he wanted to disregard that particular angle, he couldn’t do so in good conscience. They’d follow it up and see where it led, but only after they knew what was going on here on this station.
“Let’s throw away our trash and head back to our rooms,” he said as he stood. “It’s time to get our hands dirty.”
8
Patrick walked into one of the side rooms in the business portion of the suite and sat at a metal table with a synthetic top that was made to look like wood. It was a pretty good job because even though it was obviously fake, it still felt decent under his hand. Getting the tactile sensations right was almost as important as the visual representation, and in this case, it was acceptable.
Lisa and Admiral Romanoff followed him in with the big, bulky Marine officer trailing them. He wasn’t sure what the Marine was there for, other than to provide protection for the admiral in case Patrick suddenly lost his mind and decided to kill everyone. While that wasn’t going to happen, he couldn’t blame the Marine for feeling that way, and he wasn’t going to try to dissuade him. Patrick did have a reputation to consider, after all.
Once the admiral and Lisa had sat around the table and the Marine had leaned up against the wall in the far corner of the room, Patrick smiled. “I knew you were coming to DuPont, which was why I decided it would be prudent to do some work here, but I have to say that I didn’t expect you to turn up on the same station as I was on while I was eating dinner and gathering intelligence. That kind of coincidence almost never happens in my line of work. I can’t think of anything I did to leave a clue as to where I would be, but I have to ask. Did you track me here? Did this mythical sensor suite that you have that can detect concealed vessels locate me?”
“As much as I’d like to say that we knew where you’d be, this was just one of those little moments in life where something fortuitous happened,” Romanoff said with a shake of his head. “Given time, we could locate your ship, though the asteroids in this orbit would make that significantly more difficult. I’m not going to go into the specifics of how we would do so, but it’s not a quick process. I have to confess that I’m a little unsettled that you’re going to be working on the same station as we are because we’re trying to keep our presence concealed. Having members of the Poseidon Group leadership drop dead all around us wouldn’t help that.”
Patrick grinned. “I assure you that I can be more subtle than you fear. In any case, I haven’t gathered nearly enough intelligence of my own to start forming concrete plans on who to eliminate first. I realize that people in my line of work probably make you uncomfortable, but rest assured that I won’t strike any target that doesn’t deserve it. The more chaos inside their ranks that I can create, the better served the Confederation is. I left Earth in quite a bit of turmoil because of the assassinations I carried out, and the false evidence that I planted had them pointing fingers at one another. I feel confident at this point that they are living in armed camps and sniping at one another even without my presence. Striking them when they are weak will be much easier for you.”
Romanoff nodded. “I suppose it will be. I have to ask about who’s in a leadership position now. I know that each individual world has a governor who watches over the system, and there is a hierarchy underneath them. How is the Poseidon Group ruling the Confederation as a whole? Did they stick with the council model that the oligarchs used, or did they use something completely different?”
“A council. They even had the same number of councilors as the oligarchs utilized so that they could use the same seating arrangement in the official council chambers. I believe they manufactured everything so that they could simply step into the roles of the people they were replacing. They’ve been planning this for a very long time, and from what some of the individuals I questioned said, this was supposed to be a quick swap out of the grand council.”
“Then why didn’t they do that on the individual worlds?” Lisa asked.
“Control. It’s much easier to replace one recalcitrant underling than to eliminate the entire council on a world. A quick poisoning or some other method of slaying someone that rose above their station, and one of the underlings could step into their place. Those in the central leadership positions wanted to be certain that they didn’t face replacement like those they replaced.”
Romanoff pursed his lips and slowly nodded. “That makes sense. If they have to make a few salutary examples, anyone who gets ideas will fall in line. If DuPont is strapped with a single leader and a bunch of underlings, what do you hope to accomplish by killing off the people in charge? I can see where it would behoove you to do so on Earth, where they could fight one another, but that doesn’t seem likely here. Do you have other motivations?”
“I always have other motivations, Admiral,” Patrick said with a toothy grin. “In this case, I’m not even certain that I’m going to kill anyone. Oh, don’t get me wrong, I probably will, but I don’t want to cause too much chaos. I want to weaken the leadership here so that when the time comes for the Confederation to reassert control, it will be easy enough. If nothing else, I’ll see what I can find out about their secrets and where they have their safehouses so that you can easily track them down when you return.”
The admiral sighed. “I think you’re mistaking how hands-on I’m going to be. Once we take out the Tardans and their Locusts, I’m absolutely going to overthrow what they’re doing on Earth. Unfortunately, I can’t be everywhere at once, so other people will have to come to each of the systems and deal with the Poseidon Group there. Sadly, it’s all too likely that the Confederation will fall apart with individuals from various systems moving against others. If there was anything I could do to stop that from happening, I’d do it, but I can’t be in a position to stop them all.”
Hearing that made Patrick feel more than a bit sad. For all its flaws, the Confederation was hands down a better place to live than the Kingdom of Kastelara. The only thing that would keep it from being as destructive as it could be was the fact that the Confederation Navy wasn’t going to play along with that game.
“You overestimate their power,” he said. “Without military force, there won’t be much of a civil war. Each system will become an island unto itself, and you’ll have to send teams of folk to each one to hunt down the people who are trying to maintain control and deal with them. People like me. Or, if you prefer, people like your Confederation Intelligence cohorts. In a way, you can think of DuPont as a test case. While I don’t intend to change the government while I’m here, there will be certain lessons that are learned that will be very helpful. That’s why I want Lisa to work with me on this while you focus on the Tardans. Yes, I understand that you’ll need her assistance at points, but this is a teaching opportunity that I don’t want to waste.”
Romanoff pursed his lips and looked over at Lisa. “What do you think?”
“As annoying as it might be, I think he’s right,” she said. “You and Derek, working in conjunction with the people that General Turner brought with him, should be able to start getting information about where the Tardans have their command ships, and Tina is more than capable of operating the sabotage drones. I agree that I’m going to have to be part of hacking into the systems on board their command vessel or station, but we’re not going to be ready to strike immediately, and I believe that working with Patrick could prove beneficial in the long run.”
He couldn’t help himself and smiled at her. She acted as if he were a huge irritation, but he knew that the two of them could work well together, and that part of the way that she was behaving was jealousy. He’d seen the look in her eyes when she’d noted that he’d been at dinner with another woman, and even though she would likely deny it, there was a little of the green-eyed monster inside the woman.
That meant that he needed to be very careful. As a single man, it was quite acceptable for him to play the field and have a woman in every port, as well as to seduce others who could provide him access or information. She might not think of herself as his protégée, but they were stepping into a somewhat professional relationship. One where they’d already slept with one another, yet there had to be boundaries. He wouldn’t push her buttons by flirting with other women or going even farther. Not until he understood exactly how the two of them were going to shake out.
