Heres the key, said Ekaterin numbly, producing it from her pocket.
Thank you, said Vorkosigan, taking it from her. Wait here, please. He jerked up his chin, checked and pulled up his mask, and led the still-protesting Tuomonen back out the airseal doors, imperiously motioning the medics to follow. Ekaterin could still hear the clattering and strained sharp voices of the armed guards, echoing from distant corridors deeper in the office building.
She huddled into the chair Vorkosigan had vacated, feeling very odd not to be following the men to Tien. But someone else was going to be cleaning up the mess this time, it appeared. A few tears leaked from her eyes, residue of her body-shock she supposed, for she surely felt no more emotion than if shed been a lump of lead.
After a long while, the men returned to the lobby, where Tuomonen finally persuaded Vorkosigan to sit down and let the senior medic attend to his injured wrists.
This isnt the treatment Im most concerned about just now, Vorkosigan complained, as a hypospray of synergine hissed into the side of his neck. I have to get back to Serifosa. Theres something I really need out of my luggage.
Yes, my lord, said the medtech soothingly, and went on cleaning and bandaging.
Tuomonen went out to his aircar to relay some terse communication with his ImpSec superiors in Solstice, then returned to lean on the back of the chair and watch the medtech finish up.
Vorkosigan eyed Ekaterin, across the medtech. Madame Vorsoisson. In retrospect, thinking back, did your husband ever say anything that indicated this scam had to do with something more than money?
Ekaterin shook her head.
Tuomonen, in gruff tones, put in, Im afraid, Madame Vorsoisson, that ImpSec is going to have to take charge of your late husbands body. There must be a complete examination.
Yes, of course, Ekaterin said faintly. She paused. Then what?
Well let you know, Madame. He turned to Vorkosigan, evidently continuing a conversation. So what else did you think of, when you were tied up out there?
All I could really think about was when my next seizure was due, said Vorkosigan ruefully. It became kind of an obsession, after a while. But I dont think Foscol knew about that hidden defect, either.
I still want to call it murder and attempted murder, for the all-Sectors alert order, said Tuomonen, evidently continuing a debate. And the attempted murder of an Imperial Auditor makes it treason, which disposes of any arguments about requisitions.
Yes, very good, sighed Vorkosigan in acquiescence. Make sure your reports have the facts clear, though, please.
As I see them, my lord. Tuomonen grimaced, then burst out, Damn, to think how long this thing must have been going on, right under my nose!
Not your jurisdiction, Captain, observed Vorkosigan. It was the Imperial Accounting Offices job to spot this kind of fraud in the civil service. Still theres something very wrong here.
I should say so!
No, I mean beyond the obvious. Vorkosigan hesitated. They abandoned all their personal effects, yet took at least two air-vans of equipment.
To sell? Ekaterin posited. No, that makes no sense
Mm, and they left in a group, didnt split up. These people seemed to me to be Komarran patriots, of a sort. I can see where they might classify theft from the Barrayaran Imperium as something between a hobby and a patriotic duty, but to steal from the Komarran Terraforming Project, the hope of their future generations? And if it wasnt just to line their pockets, what the devil were they using all the money for? He scowled. That will be for ImpSecs forensic accounting team to sort out, I suppose. And I want engineering experts in here, to see if they can make anything at all from the mess thats been left. And not left. Its clear Soudhas crew put something together in the Engineering building, and I dont think it had anything to do with waste heat. He rubbed his forehead, and muttered, Ill bet Marie Trogir could tell us. Damn but I wish Id fast-pentad Madame Radovas when I had the chance.
Ekaterin swallowed a lump of dread and humiliation. Im going to have to tell my uncle.
Vorkosigan glanced up at her. Ill take over that task, Madame Vorsoisson.
She frowned, torn between what seemed to her weak gratitude, and a dreary sense of duty, but could not muster the energy to argue with him. The medic finished winding the last medical tape around Vorkosigans wrists.
I must leave you in charge here, Captain, and return to Serifosa. I dont dare fly myself. Madame Vorsoisson, would you be so kind?
You will take a guard, said Tuomonen, a little dangerously.
I have to get the flyer back, said Ekaterin. Its rented. She squinted, realizing how stupid that sounded. But it was the only fragment of order in this mortal chaos it was presently in her power to restore. And then, belatedly, the realization came: I can go home. Its safe to go home. Her voice strengthened. Certainly, Lord Vorkosigan.
The presence of the hulking young guard crowded into the flyer behind them, Vorkosigans exhaustion, and Ekaterins emotional disorientation combined to blunt conversation on the flight back to Serifosa. She drew stares, turning the flyer back in at the rental desk while trailed politely by a large, fully-armed, half-armored soldier and a dwarfish man with bloody clothes and bandages on his wrists, but on the other hand, they had a bubble-car all to themselves for the ride back to the apartment. There were no delays in the system on this return leg, Ekaterin noted with weary irony. She wondered if there would be any point, later when this all got sorted out, to check if Vorkosigans insistence that it had already been too late for Tien when Foscol had called her was precisely true.
Her steps quickened in the hallway of her apartment; she felt like an injured animal, wanting nothing more than to go hide in her burrow. She came to an abrupt halt at her door, and her breath drew in. The palm-lock panel was hanging partway out of the wall, and the sliding door was not entirely closed. A thin line of light leaked along its edge. She backed up a step, and pointed.
Vorkosigan took it all in at once and motioned to the guard who, equally silently, stepped up to the door and drew his stunner. Vorkosigan put his finger to his lips, took her by the arm, and drew her back halfway to the lift-tubes. The automatic door wasnt working; the guard had to grasp it awkwardly and lean, to push it back into its slot. Stunner raised and visor lowered, he slipped inside. Ekaterins heart hammered.
After a few minutes, the ImpSec guard, his visor up again, poked his head back out the door. Someones been through here right enough, mlord. But theyre gone now. Vorkosigan and Ekaterin followed him inside.
Both Vorkosigans cases and her own, which she had left sitting by the door in the vestibule, had been broken open. Their clothing was scattered in mixed heaps all around on the floor. Little else in the apartment appeared to have been touched; some drawers were opened, their contents stirred, but aside from the disorder nothing had been vandalized. Was it a violation, when she herself had all but vacated this space, abandoned those possessions? She scarcely knew.
This is not how I left my things, Vorkosigan observed mildly to her when they fetched up in the vestibule again after their first short survey.
Its not how I left them either, she said a bit desperately. I thought you would be coming back with Tien, and then leaving, so Id packed them all for you, ready to take away.
Touch nothing, especially the comconsoles, till the forensics folks get here, Vorkosigan told her. She nodded understanding. They both shucked their heavy jackets; automatically, Ekaterin hung them up.
Vorkosigan then proceeded to ignore his own dictate, and kneel in the vestibule to sort through the heaps. Did you pack my code-locked data case?