David Drake - When the Tide Rises

"Roger, Six," Vesey said. This time her voice really was flat, quite apart from the effect of transmission. "We'll wait in Security State One until further notice. Sissie Five out."

Daniel rose from the console, giving the Bagarian officers a friendly smile. "There, gentlemen," he said. "There's no need for trouble, you see."

But therewould be trouble, as soon as Daniel knew more about the situation. And he didn't think it'd take long to learn all he needed.

"I won't wait to send the courier," said Secretary Yager, a wild-haired man in his mid-fifties. "But there are citizens on Pelosi I need to warn also. Bloodyhell!"

His fingers hammered commands into the integral computer. It had a flat-plate display rather than a holotank and a mechanical rather than virtual keyboard, but the Skye Commission's electronic security was better than usual in Morning City. Adele had made her initial link through a disused microwave port which would've been difficult to access outside Yager's office.

"I wish you and your principals the best," Adele said to the Skye official. She started to shut down her little data unit, preparing to leave.

She knew that other people would've said something about regretting the situation or commenting on the injustice, but that was simply a waste of words. She'd delivered her warning and she didn't expect to see Secretary James Yager ever again.

If they were together again, it was likely to be in a Bagarian prison. Too much was happening for her to predict events beyond the moment she stepped outside the Commission building.

As her holographic screen collapsed, it flashed red. She brought her unit live again to receive the urgent message that she'd almost missed.

"Lady Mundy?" Yager asked as she settled back in her chair.

Adele ignored him. Her mouth quirked in a wry smile: she couldn't predict as much as she'd thought. She hadn't gotten as far as the door.

The message, voice sent as text, was from Rene Cazelet: As I arrived at the harbor, I saw over two hundred armed spacers boarding the Ladouceur. I diverted to the Princess Cecile and informed Lieutenant Vesey, who has sealed the ship. Over.

"Lady Mundy, is there something wrong?" someone nattered. "Can I help you?"

Adele entered theLadouceur 's command console. She ran the visuals live but voices as a text crawl at the bottom of her display… no need for trouble, you see, Daniel was saying.

"She's busy," replied a dry voice. It was like hearing a wasp speak. "Shut up or leave the room. Or I'll kill you."

Adele split her screen and imported the bridge record from ten minutes back, then scrolled forward to the point Daniel had entered the compartment. He looked calm, but he usually looked either calm or cheerful. Actually, he seemed rather cheerful also.

Daniel turned and left the bridge unmolested. Adele shrank the real-time display to a thumbnail while the record was still running, then searched for Minister Lampert's present location. She knew she was taking a chance, but time was limited and she had to set priorities.

Lampert was in his townhouse. He wasn't married. Three servants and four guards recruited from his company's security force were in the building with him. Adele did a quick background check on the guards. All were from off-planet and had military experience either with the Alliance or Cinnabar.

"All right," she said, shutting the data unit down again. There might be more to learn, but there was always more to learn. Now she had to act. "Tovera, leave all your weapons here. We're going to visit Minister Lampert at home. We have no chance of getting through his security if we're armed."

As she spoke, she took out her small pistol and set it on the desk. Secretary Yager goggled at it.

"Mistress, that's not a good idea," Tovera said. Her hands squeezed the attache case minusculely closer to her chest, probably unconsciously.

"Do it!" Adele said. "Hoppler and Seward have arrested Daniel under Lampert's orders. We have to get Lampert to change his mind."

Tovera grimaced but didn't otherwise move. "Do it or stay here!" Adele said.

"Mistress," Tovera said without expression. She set the case on the floor beside her, took a knife from either sleeve, and bent to do something with her half-boots.

"Lady Mundy," Yager said softly. He didn't seem to have moved since Tovera offered to kill him. "I know Lampert. He'll never change his mind once he's committed himself."

Adele looked at the secretary and smiled faintly. "It's always a matter of the argument one offers," she said. "I think I know one that will convince him."

Tovera was taking off her belt. She looked up, saw Adele's expression, and smiled also.

"Sorry, mistress," Tovera said, again a wasp speaking through human lips. "I should've known better."

Adele rapped the street door of the narrow, four-story townhouse with her knuckles. She wished she had something hard to make a sharper sound, but though her personal data unit shouldn't have been harmed, she wasn't willing to disgrace it by such a use.

She stepped out of the door alcove, looked up the ornate brick facade, and cried "Minister Lampert! You're being robbed and I'm being robbed too! Let me in to explain while there's still time to get our shares!"

The second story window moldings were ornate, but the living quarters were on the third story just beneath the mansard roof. The small balcony there had a wrought iron railing and was supported by caryatids of ivory-glazed terra cotta. Engaged columns and what looked like the entablature of an ancient temple framed the double-width window which opened onto the balcony.

Tovera stood on the other side of the street where she had a better view of the building. She'd crossed her arms; she didn't seem to know what to do with them when she didn't have the attache case to hold.

"The curtains of the balcony door moved," she said. There hadn't been any traffic on the narrow street since the taxi dropped them off. Two vehicles had started to turn in but thought better of it when they saw Adele shouting. "And a servant looked out from the second floor but ducked away when I looked at him."

Adele knocked again. She half-wished she'd kept her pistol so she could use the butt as a gavel, but-she smiled-thatreally would've sent the wrong signal.

"Minister Lampert, do you have any idea how much money you're walking away from?" she called. "There was a king's ransom on Conyers, acluster's ransom, and we won't get a trissie of it if you don't listen to me!"

"Somebody's coming onto the balcony!" Tovera said. Then, "It's not the honorable Minister Lampert."

Adele backed a little further from the door. The tunic of the man leaning over the railing had puffed sleeves with a white sash over one shoulder, business dress here on Pelosi. His sub-machine gun made his real function clear.

"What do you want?" he called.

"To speak with the minister," Adele replied. "He and I are being robbed, but there's still time to get our shares."

Under the circumstances she had to raise her voice; she was speaking to Lampert inside the building, after all. She regretted doing that both because raised voices always read as anger in a human's mind and because she was making a spectacle of herself. That wasn't behavior she expected of a Mundy of Chatsworth.

Her mother would've been horrified. There was a great deal in Adele's life in the past seventeen years that would've horrified Evadne Mundy, if she hadn't been murdered and beheaded in the Proscriptions following the Three Circles Conspiracy.

The guard had straightened to hear instructions muttered from the room behind him. Now he leaned over the railing again and said, "All right, but you'll be body searched before you come in. And that secretary of yours! We've heard about her."