Niemeyer didn’t offer to give me a hand up, much less a ride back to the Grand Germayne. When I could finally stand I checked myself for injuries. I had lots of bruising on my stomach and chest, but no cracked ribs as nearly as I could tell. I was going to be pretty tender for a while, but could still function.
Once I got to the street, I figured out where I was and made my own way back to the Grand Germayne. I entered through the garage and got to my room unnoticed. For once no one else was waiting for me, so I stripped my clothes off and tossed them into the shower. I let the water run fast and hot, and the steam filling the bathroom felt good. I also liked the fact that it coated the mirror so I didn’t have to look at the purple mottling.
I showered carefully, bagged the sopping clothes and called for valet service, then dressed and headed out again. I arrived at the main branch of the public library and stood next to a statue of a stylized lion from the hour to ten past, then wandered down the street to a Javapulse Generator. I got coffee and a scone, getting halfway through both by the time Gypsy showed up.
He was smiling broadly enough that he indulged in a pastry, too. “It was brilliant. We are set to go with the details of publicity and our next move.” He glanced at the storefront and I visualized it all fire-blackened and melted.
“When?”
“We launch our campaign tonight, with full coverage tomorrow for the early news cycle.”
“Good. What do you need me to do?”
He chewed and then swallowed as he drew his noteputer from his pocket. “We had hit on an angle of directing praise and, hopefully, money to some worthy causes. I have a list. Pick one.”
I looked at the list, then frowned. “The Basalt Foundation isn’t on here.”
“Family ties make it a negative.”
“I disagree. She offers such a contrast to the others that she makes them look worse. They have ostracized her, and she is so nice, they look yet more like monsters. Moreover, having her still present means that when an olive branch is extended, there will be someone who can accept it and salve the sensibilities of disaffected portions of the population, especially the off-worlders she’s helped. We have to look two steps ahead here, don’t we?”
Gypsy slowly nodded. “I’d actually had it on the list, but Elle argued for it to be deleted. It’s back on and it’s the one we’ll use. I like your analysis.”
“Good. Do you need me tonight?”
“Why, you have a hot date?”
I winced as I shifted in my chair, then tapped a finger to the slight bruising on my cheek. “Niemeyer’s boys wanted to convince me to leave Basalt. I could use a lot of sleep.”
“We’ve got it covered. Sleep well.” Gypsy smiled, then jerked a thumb at the shop. “Me, I’m going back for two more, large and hot. It’s going to be a long night.”
Manville boasted eight Javapulse Generators scattered about. We hit three outside downtown, then hit the largest in the heart of the city. As seen on some surveillance holos, a hovercar cruised past the place, a thermal detector checked for inhabitants, then a satchel containing high explosives and a detonator sailed through the plate glass. It bounced once or twice as the hovercar sped away, then a vicious gout of fire vomited from the storefront. Debris spread everywhere and out at the Heights’ site the fire companies arrived too late to stop a Capellan-owned shoe store next door from burning. Luckily it was empty, too.
Almost immediately FfW made its appearance, claiming credit for our previous strikes. The media messages pointed out that the explosives used in these attacks were from the same lot as had been used previously. FfW denounced the BSU as a government operation, citing the extra strikes BSU had taken credit for. FfW went so far as to claim that the reason the attack against the Palace had gone awry is because Ff W, in its quest for freedom for all, had tipped off Emblyn Security. “While we decry the private possession of weapons of war, in a time when the government cannot be trusted, we must be free to make ourselves secure.”
The reasons given for attacking JPGs were the usual. They were part of a multiplanetary corporation that generated lots of profits and drew them off-world. While JPG did employ a large number of people, they only offered the Republic-mandated minimums for benefits, and their wages, while competitive within the service industry arena, were barely enough for someone to rise to middle-class status. “Until such capital enterprises realize they have a duty to the community—the whole community—their cost of doing business as a bad neighbor will be high and get higher.”
I don’t know who Gypsy used to speak to JPG officials locally, but by noon on the seventeenth, the remaining JPGs had initiated several schemes to help improve their images. They donated a lot of product to shelters, as well as put out boxes as collection points for all manner of things to be distributed to the less fortunate. By four in the afternoon they announced a strategic alliance with the Basalt Foundation to fund some daycare centers for parents with young children.
That part of the plan actually worked far better than I had expected, and I knew Bernard would begin to react. Alba was all that stood between him and being out of control. I had to debate as to whether or not I wanted to flick that safety switch off. Without her he’d lose a competent planner. While I expected he would begin to model his little attacks after the JPG strikes, that also assumed he wouldn’t think he could do things better his way.
It turned out this was a flawed assumption.
I decided that I might not want Alba out of the picture, but having her a bit uncomfortable with Bernard would be good. Using the dead-drop system, I sent her a note saying, “Talked with your boss. He was curious about what you heard from me and when. Be careful.” Once I left it and made the mark in the appropriate place, I returned to the park and saw it get picked up.
I smiled. At least she would be warned. Forewarned is forearmed, and in this game, if you weren’t forearmed, you would end up dead.
In retrospect, that was a lesson I should have thought a lot more about.
33
Guerillas never win wars, but their adversaries often lose them.
Manville, Capital District
Basalt
Prefecture IV, Republic of the Sphere
18 February 3133
My warning to Alba Dolehide resulted in a harvest of unintended consequences, which took my plan, removed all calculation, and let things roll forward at the level of gang warfare. While there were resulting casualties, there were no fatalities, but I had no sense that this would always be the case. In fact, I had a disturbing certainty it would not be, and that things would deteriorate rather quickly.
Though I did not learn about it until later, the message to Alba was delivered, but the courier told Teyte about its content. Teyte immediately assumed that Alba was in league with me, and that both of us were in the employ of Emblyn. Teyte moved to grab her and have her interrogated as I had been, but Alba was one step ahead of him. She’d learned about my meeting with Bernard, looked far enough ahead to see what was going to be coming down, and had already slipped away. With her went a certain amount of knowledge about where a couple of ’Mechs and several vehicles had been stashed, so not only did Bernard lose competent leadership, he also lost a portion of his firepower.
That loss of firepower was a very good thing, because Bernard decided to hit Emblyn all over the place. It struck me that Bernard must have been getting tactical advice from somewhere, because as things progressed his attacks became more tightly focused and, while still doing more damage than was absolutely required, they were stinging Emblyn badly.