The big question now was what to do. Strike back? Syndicate etiquette called for an equivalent response, which would mean an attempt to put an end to Drakon.
Iceni kept her eyes on the display, but she wasn’t seeing the play of ships through the star system anymore. What am I feeling? Disappointment. No, something more than that.
How could Drakon have done such a thing? Or, if he didn’t order the attempt, let someone like that insane Morgan go after me? They should have known that even if the plot succeeded the military-tagged explosives would point—
Her eyes refocused. So did her brain.
Yes. They should have known. Get a grip, Gwen. Would Drakon or one of his close staff, people with access to commercial explosives, people who overran and control the snakes’ old headquarters facilities and so must have access to snake explosives, use military explosives that would clearly implicate them?
I must be getting old. Why did it take me so long to spot that?
She sat back, thinking, running through every fact, every event. After several minutes, Iceni keyed in a comm address. “General Drakon, I need to speak with you. Alone. Not at the command center. I have learned that at least some of the supposedly secure rooms here have been compromised.”
Drakon watched her, his eyes questioning. Concerned. She could tell he was worried, but his next words caught her off guard. “Are you all right?”
His first question was about her? She was what he was concerned about? Iceni’s mind floundered for a moment, surprised. “I’m fine. Where do you want to meet? We need somewhere new, somewhere secure, where no one would have expected us to meet.”
“There’s only one place I know of that fits that description, but you might not want to go there.”
“Tell me.”
Drakon waited at the entrance to the office once occupied by CEO Hardrad, former head of the Internal Security Service in the Midway Star System. The snake headquarters complex had been badly shot up when Drakon’s troops took the heavily fortified building, but Hardrad’s office deep inside it bore only one sign of the fate of both CEO Hardrad and the snakes on this planet. On one wall, behind Hardrad’s former desk, stains were still visible, marking where Hardrad had been standing when Colonel Morgan put a bullet through his head.
Iceni arrived with a couple of bodyguards, whom she told to wait outside before entering. She looked around, grimacing. “I have no fond memories of this room.”
“Me, neither,” Drakon agreed, gesturing to Colonel Malin to close the door and remain outside. “But the one place on this planet guaranteed to be without recording or listening devices is this office.”
“Ironic, isn’t it?” Iceni said. She glanced at the desk and Hardrad’s former chair, shook her head, then sat down in one of the comfortable chairs arrayed about a small table to one side of the office. “The snakes bugged every place they could except the office of their boss.”
“Snake CEOs don’t want anyone to know what they’ve done, or ordered,” Drakon observed, taking a seat opposite Iceni. “What happened?”
She eyed him for a few seconds before replying. “Someone tried to kill me. Or someone tried to make it look like someone tried to kill me.”
Drakon’s face went cold and hard. Inside, he felt the same way. “An assassination attempt? Aimed at you?”
“There was a biometric trigger on the bomb.”
He could feel warmth rushing to his face now, anger replacing the coldness. “I’ll— Hold on. You said someone might have tried to make it look like an assassination attempt?”
“Possibly.” Iceni watched him, looking puzzled. “You are a dilemma, General. Let me be frank. The bomb aimed at me contained military-tagged directional explosives.”
“What?” She kept throwing revelations at him, and it was taking time to absorb each new one. “Military-tagged?” The implications hit, and his anger grew. “Someone tried to implicate me in it? Someone wanted you to think I authorized that?”
“You didn’t?” “No!”
The vehemence of his reply surprised him, but Iceni just gazed back at him speculatively. “What about members of your staff? Someone close to you?”
“Absolutely not,” Drakon said. “You mean Colonel Morgan, don’t you?”
“Among other possibilities.”
“It wasn’t Morgan,” Drakon said, “because if it had been her, you would be dead. How did the bomb get spotted?”
“Someone detected it before I sat down.”
“Lucky they were behind the desk.”
Iceni paused. “Why do you say that?” Her voice sounded a bit too calm, too controlled as she asked the question.
“You said it used directional explosives,” Drakon explained. “The trigger would only have been scanning in the direction the explosives would strike.”
“Yes,” Iceni agreed. “So the trigger could only be detected in that direction? Interesting.”
Drakon gave her a demanding look. “Why?”
She watched him again for a while before replying. He wished he could hear the thoughts behind Iceni’s eyes.
Suddenly, Iceni made a small movement that caused a compact but very lethal and powerful weapon to appear in her hand. “You know that I could kill you right now.”
“I know that you could try. You must know that I have the same sort of defenses.”
“Yes.” Another twitch and the weapon disappeared into concealment again. “Why didn’t you tense when I displayed my weapon?”
Drakon gestured toward her face. “I was watching your eyes, not the weapon. When someone intends using a weapon, you can read it in the eyes first. You didn’t have the look.”
“I’ll have to work on that. I thought maybe you… trusted me. My experience in life,” Iceni said, “everything I have learned while climbing to the rank of CEO in the Syndicate, tells me to trust no one. There is only one person in this star system who I can be certain is not working against me.”
He started to smile, only to stop as she continued.
“That person is the Alliance liaison officer. I know she is not a snake. I know she is not working for you, or for any other faction in this star system, or for anyone in any nearby star system.”
“You think she doesn’t have any agendas?” Drakon challenged, his voice harsh.
“I know she does. And I know those agendas should correspond to mine.”
“Really? Are you ready for those free-and-open elections the Alliance always boasts about?”
Iceni didn’t answer immediately, instead sitting back and running one hand through her hair as she looked to the side. “You brought that up before. The citizens seem to be content with the bones we’re throwing them,” she finally said.
“I assume you’ve seen the same reports that I have,” Drakon said, pushing his point. “Some elements are already dissatisfied, already pushing for elections for all positions up to and including yours.”
Her eyes went back to him, challenging this time. “But not yours.”
“Because I don’t fill that kind of job. But those elements of the citizens expect me to obey whomever they elect to your job. I’m not thrilled at the idea,” Drakon added. “At some point, we’ll have to confront those citizens. That means keeping the majority of the citizens on our side and the majority of the elected offices on our side. I understand what that means. So do you. That Alliance officer? Very likely not.”