Peter Hamilton - The Mandel Files

“Her psi function takes a lot out of her. She’s at home recuperating.”

“Well, try and get her back here. I want to thank her personally.”

If Greg was aware of the irony he didn’t show it. “I’ll tell her.”

“So. Kendric had you roughed up, did he, boy?”

“My fault. I confronted him.”

“Why?” Julia asked.

“Taking a short cut. I wanted to establish that Kendric was the one who paid Wolf.”

“Well, of course he is,” she exclaimed.

Greg shook his head gingerly. “No. That’s the problem. Kendric isn’t directly behind the blitz. Not that I could prove, anyway. My intuition says he’s involved in some way, though.”

“Well, there you are then,” she said.

“I wanted something a little more concrete.”

“What for?”

She saw Greg and Walshaw exchange an edgy glance. It was so bloody annoying. Why couldn’t they speak in front of her?

“Concrete proof for concrete action,” Walshaw said quietly.

“Oh.” She put her hands flat on the table, studying the nails intently.

“It wasn’t a complete waste of time,” Greg said. “I think I can prove Kendric does know about the NN core.”

“Ah!” Philip said triumphantly.

Julia suddenly realized Greg was staring right at her.

“Katerina Cawthorp is living with Kendric on his yacht,” Greg said.

“Still?” Julia blurted.

“You knew about it?”

“I knew she’d gone off with him, I was there when it happened. I thought Kendric was another of her one-night stands. Kats is like that, you see. Bit of a bed-hopper.”

“What I’d like to know is whether or not she’s bright enough to work out that your grandfather was planning to translocate his memories into the NN core,” Greg said. “She was here for a few days. The opportunity exists.”

“A week.” Julia stared pensively at the leather-bound books on the wall shelving, not bothering to cut in the processor node. Remembering all those years she and Kats had spent together at school. Only time’s perspective gave them a totally different slant, like an old play whose plot she’d forgotten. They’d seemed like great days while they were happening, insufferably tedious now. “Kats never paid any attention to classes, too busy with boys,” she said slowly, reluctant to condemn. “But no, she’s not stupid. It’s just that I find it hard to believe Kats would bother listening to idle business chatter, let alone interpret it.”

“She wouldn’t have to interpret it, Kendric would do that for himself,” Greg said.

“I’m sure I never mentioned the NN core project in front of her. I wouldn’t have, there’d be no point, science and finance simply don’t fit into her world view. And Grandpa and I certainly never discussed it at meals.”

“She may have overheard it being mentioned. There’s a certain thrill in eavesdropping on the conversations of someone as powerful as your grandfather. Even if she couldn’t make sense of it at the time she might remember what was said.”

“True enough,” said Walshaw. “Though the Kendric connection is still circumstantial.”

“Don’t be obtuse, Morgan,” Julia said. After all Greg had gone through he didn’t deserve disparaging observations. “Of course Kendric’s guilty, he reeks of it.”

“I wasn’t disagreeing,” the security chief said mildly. “It is the degree of Kendric’s involvement which seems to be unresolved.”

“Not the exact degree, no,” Greg said. “But he’s in deep, no messing. And I think we can rule out a mole now we know about Katerina.” He glanced at Walshaw for confirmation.

“Yes.”

“OK, that just leaves the question of why Kendric allowed Julia to buy him out. I still don’t understand that, and it bothers me. We know he’s in trouble with the family over the money he withdrew from Event Horizon’s backing consortium, and he’s working on some deals to try and fill the gap, provide the house with an equal return. That’s got to be the key, these deals of his, And they’re tied up with you somewhere.” He shot Julia a fast glance.

She knew he meant his intuition again. It gave her a creepy feeling, the way his suspicions about the spoiler had turned out to be true. Now Kendric was making unknown deals.

“Raw materials?” Walshaw suggested. “Is he buying up the options on the compounds that go into the giga-conductor?”

“No,” said Philip. “There aren’t any really rare minerals involved in any case. And I’ve made quite sure we have a safeguarded stockpile of the chemicals we use. That’s an elementary precaution, I did that even before we filed the patent.”

Greg rubbed the dressing on his nose with a forefinger. “Tell you, my own impression is that Kendric has made some sort of alliance.”

“With who?” Julia asked.

He gave her a wan smile. “Don’t know. Someone, some organization, who would benefit from having your grandfather wiped. Kendric is an influence peddler, you see. Once he established that Philip Evans’s memories were stored in the NN core, he could barter the information in exchange for an investment opportunity that’d give the family house money a return equal to the Event Horizon backing consortium. Get someone else to do his dirty work for him, and make a profit at the same time. That’s his style.”

“A kombinate?”

“No, I never believed it was a kombinate behind the blitz, a month-long delay in introducing the giga-conductor would be a nonsense when you consider their cyber-factories would have to be totally rebuilt to produce the stuff.”

“What, then?”

“Sorry, I can’t tell you. That’s just the feeling I get out of all this.” He shrugged. “Kendric definitely has some sort of scheme in mind, the buyout is proof of that, as well as his hatred for you.”

“Mutual,” Julia said automatically.

“I know.”

And the way he said it made her glance at him, he’d sounded disapproving.

“What about this Wolf bloke,” Philip said. “He’s had two goes at me now. Seems to me, you ought to be concentrating on him, boy.”

“I was coming to that. My contact has backtracked O’Donal’s payments; he squirted Wolf’s identity to me this morning.”

“May we know the name?” Walshaw asked. “Charles Ellis. Currently residing at the Castlewood condominium, New Eastfield, Peterborough.”

She couldn’t help the little start of interest. “I know that place. Uncle Horace lives there, it’s not far from the marina. That proves Ellis is connected to Kendric, doesn’t it?”

“Not necessarily. It’s a perfectly logical place for someone that rich to gravitate to. Although I admit it’s pushing coincidence a long way.”

“Rich?” Walshaw enquired. “What is he, a tekmerc?”

“Apparently not,” said Greg. “According to my contact Ellis is a data fence. He normally goes under the handle Medeor. Wolf is a totally new venture for him.”

“What do you propose as your next step?” Walshaw asked. His grey eyes had narrowed, contemplating Greg with reserved, vaguely threatening preoccupation.

“Pay Charles Ellis a visit. He’s the last link, the connection between the team of hotrods who ran the blitz and whoever paid for it.”

“Seeing as how you’re so close I’d like to send one of my operatives along with you,” Walshaw said. “I know you prefer to work independently, and I respect that. But the stakes are mounting.”

“I wasn’t going to object,” Greg said. “Just make sure he’s briefed not to interrupt.”

“He won’t.”

“One more thing, have you had any luck with the analysis of Tentimes’ burns?” Greg asked.

“If you mean is there a single beneficiary, then the answer is no.” Walshaw paused, looking concerned. “But seven manufacturing companies have gone under because of O’Donal; and some of the financials are on a sticky wicket, although they’ll never admit a thing. And now we know what to look for, the researchers have spotted several similar victims outside O’Donal’s list. It looks like all eight of Wolf’s hotrods are very active; they’ve caused a lot of damage in the last year. It prompts the question why?”