“If it helped you in your more recent ‘unpleasantness,’” Kris said, “they earned their keep. But tell me, without going into all the gory details, what happened here?”
Nelly made one of her polite coughs before interjecting, “I’ll dig into all the ‘gory details,’ as Her Highness so delicately put it. Do you mind if I access what’s on Bronc’s and Esteban’s hard drives?”
“Feel free to talk with them about it as well. I doubt if either one of them is getting any homework done tonight.” Kris felt the slight vacancy in her head as she often did when Nelly concentrated her attention elsewhere.
“Would you like a cup of coffee or tea?” coming from Juan told Kris she was in for a long night.
“Tea, if you have any that’s not caffeinated.”
“I think Estella keeps some herbal tea,” he said as he headed for the kitchen, and Kris followed.
“My wife reads minds,” Juan said as he spotted the already warm teakettle and packets of tea laid out, ready for them to chose from. “She knows I like something warm in my hand when I have to talk about hot topics.”
They both chuckled at that.
Tea in hand, they settled at a friendly dinner table—simple and just right for a family meal. Growing up, Kris’s meals had been served in a cold, palatial setting, with nothing warm and friendly about them. When she could, she’d slip away and have supper with the cook and her husband.
These surroundings reminded Kris of those easier meals. Somehow, however, she doubted that the talk around the table tonight would be warm or simple.
“What are you setting me up for?” Kris asked.
“Unpleasant truths,” the senior inspector said.
“I’ve been hit over the head with plenty of them. Hit away.”
“The attack tonight bothers me,” the police officer said. “I thought we had you locked up behind solid security. Yes, we had two arrest warrants for you, but the president doesn’t want to serve either one of them. It will be embarrassing if it becomes common knowledge that we had you in our control and let you go.”
“So it wasn’t just my safety that was at stake but your government’s embarrassment,” Kris pointed out.
“Worse. We don’t want to get on the bad side of both our king and Wardhaven.”
“Hold it. You said you had two arrest warrants. One from my Grampa Ray and one from my father?”
“Yes.”
“That doesn’t sound right. I know I didn’t get much outside news on Madigan’s Rainbow, but . . .” Kris tried to think this piece of news through, and gave up. “What’s been going on while I was locked away in Siberian ice?”
“It’s hard to put it into a few words, Kris, but let’s say the Articles of Confederation for the, ah, something or other, is causing a lot of confusion. Lots of legal challenges are working their way to the newly established Supreme Court, but lots of planetary judiciaries are already refusing to accept any legal decisions they don’t agree with. You noticed that the president used the term ‘Union of Societies.’”
“Yes, he and Inspector Johnson.”
“Alex says whatever the powers that be are saying,” Juan scoffed. “However, since, as the president told you, your great-grandpadre is pretty simpatico about raising taxes to mobilize a fleet, there are a whole lot of people suddenly a whole lot less interested in being one of the hundred and seventy-three planets in the U.S. Unless, of course, they can replace King Ray with someone of their choosing.”
“It sounds like a mess.”
“Or worse.”
“Hold it,” Kris said, a thought rising to the surface of an otherwise-bubbling-and-confused mind. “If your president is so down on the central government, what was this effort at trying to get a different government on Eden?”
“I have no idea,” Juan said. “We are not the worst, Kris. We are kind of in the middle. If I’m reading the takeover correctly . . . and there was a whole lot of confusion about just what they wanted to do . . . they intended to take us out of the Union.”
“Grampa Al is taking political action against his father?” Kris had to say the words. Her mind was refusing even to hold on to the idea.
“It sounds crazy, doesn’t it?”
“To say the least. And you think the assassination attempt tonight was from my Grampa Al?”
Juan shrugged. “I was prepared for someone who’d lost a loved one in your fleet to maybe take a potshot at you, but that doesn’t appear to be the case. Those were hired killers. They obviously didn’t act alone. Someone had to leak your itinerary, and someone else had to pay these guys. As much as I hate to say it, this was either the actions of someone who was trying to curry favor with Alexander Longknife after having failed miserably to subvert Eden and used what money and access was left over.”
Juan paused here. He took a sip of his tea and looked Kris square in the eye. “Or your grandpadre ordered a hit on you.”
Juan let the silence stretch before adding. “Do you know your grandpadre well?”
Kris shook her head. “No. Once he and father argued about staying in politics, Grampa Al pretty much disappeared from my life.”
Kris let the thought roll around in her skull. She’d gotten used to the idea that Henry Smythe-Peterwald XII wanted her dead and would pay a princely sum for her splattered body. She’d come to terms with the idea that the odd-and-sod soldier or Sailor might shoot her or blow her out of space. That’s what happened to people who chose the Navy for a profession.
But her own grandfather!
It had to be a mistake. Or bad choices by some underling. Flesh and blood did not turn on flesh and blood.
Then Kris connected a few more dots of her puzzle. “You say both my father’s Wardhaven government and my great-grandfather’s royal government issued a warrant for my arrest?”
“Yes,” Juan said.
“Two arrest warrants and one killer for hire. That covers my whole family.”
Juan gave Kris an expressive shrug. “It certainly looks like it could be that way.”
“And your president wants you to put me on a slow boat or a fast boat to Wardhaven, huh?”
“Yes. I have two choices for you. Both leave tomorrow. One is a small corvette, the Dainty, similar to your old Typhoon. Only Eden never bought into the Smart Metal stuff, so our accommodations are always small and cramped. The other is a container ship that also has facilities for passengers, folks in a hurry who want to go now, not when the next liner leaves. Which one interests you?”
“What are the benefits of one over the other?” Kris asked.
Juan chewed on his lower lip. “If you take the Dainty, you are on Eden sovereign territory and if you are met by a Marshal, either U.S. or Wardhaven, with an arrest warrant at the pier, you can stay on board, or not, your choice.”
“You’re ready to claim that a U.S. ship is the sovereign territory of the planet it comes from?” Maybe things were worse for King Ray than she thought.
“Yes, our ships have those orders. You have to understand, there is no legal precedent, yet. And it would be more than embarrassing for our president if the first time we took that stand was between you and your family.”
“I imagine so.” Kris had a strong suspicion that if push came to shove, she’d be shoved out the air lock.
Hopefully onto the dock at High Wardhaven station and not into vacant space, but she wasn’t taking bets on which just now.
Kris swallowed hard, and asked, “And what’s the other option?”