“And timber is bulky,” Julia said. “You need a lot of ships to transport it.”
“That’s right. Only father didn’t just supply single pieces of hardware to Russia, he shipped in entire factories.”
Charlotte reached out and smoothed the remaining strands of hair from Fabian’s forehead. They both smiled at each other.
“OK,” said Greg. “That confirms it. Jason Whitehurst was working for the Dolgoprudnensky, at least to start with. When he began to realize how valuable Charlotte was he decided he didn’t need them any more. It explains why Nia Korovilla was on board, to keep a close watch on the Dolgoprudnensky’s most valuable timber deal partner. And they were also the ones who mounted the observation on Baronski’s apartment after the Colonel Maitland failed to show at Odessa.”
“But how did they know I was carrying the flower for Julia?” Charlotte asked.
“They wouldn’t have known it was the flower specifically, not at first,” Greg said; he pursed his lips, gazing at the ceiling. “Let’s see. How long had it been since your last genuine by-yourself holiday?”
“I’m not sure, a couple of years at least, maybe longer.”
“OK, and where were you when you asked Baronski to get you in to the Newfields ball?”
“I was still up at New London. If he couldn’t get me a ticket there wouldn’t have been much point in coming back to Earth early.”
“And you specifically told him it was Julia you wanted to see?”
“Yes.”
“Good. That would make Baronski very suspicious. You break off a pre-paid holiday of a lifetime, all because you want to physically meet the woman who owns one of the largest companies in the world. There must have been a compelling reason, yet you didn’t tell him, which is not only out of character, it goes against your whole arrangement with him. If I was Baronski, someone who lived off the kind of byte scraps dropped by people like Julia, I’d want to know exactly what you were up to.
“I’d say it went like this. After he found you the Newfields ticket he called the Dolgoprudnensky and told them something dodgy was going down. You either knew something about Julia, or you were carrying something to her. They would have been on to you straight away, probably before you left New London. Your luggage would be searched, which I’m guessing is when they took a sample of the flower. It was obviously something that had been given to you recently, something you’d brought down from New London. An empathic psychic would home on to that flower straight off. Tell you, it gives off some pretty weird vibes. And any pro tekmerc team would use a psychic on an observation mission. Suzi will tell you.”
She gave Charlotte a rough nod. “Too fucking true. When we roll a courier, anything and everything they have with them is suspect until proved otherwise. Clothing, hair, luggage. We even pick up sweet wrappers out of the bin, half-eaten hamburgers, you name it, anything discarded. Using an empath is routine, it’s the least you need. Me, I prefer a precog if I can get me one. They tend to be more reliable.” She held Greg’s eye, taunting.
“The man at the airport!” Charlotte said in a fearful gasp.
“What man?” Suzi asked keenly.
“I saw him twice, maybe three times. He was waiting at Capetown when I landed, then he was at the Monaco airport, too. And I thought I caught a glimpse of him at the Newfields ball, but I couldn’t be certain. He was dressed as a waiter.”
“Interesting,” Greg said.
“No such thing as coincidence,” Victor murmured.
“No messing.” Greg turned back to Charlotte. “When did Baronski tell you to meet Jason Whitehurst?”
“He called me right after my flight landed at Capetown. I was still in the spaceport.”
“A day after he organized the ticket. Plenty of time for the Dolgoprudnensky agents to discover the flower. After that, after they had analysed it and discovered it was alien, they would have been very interested in exactly where in New London you obtained it, and from whom. They must have allowed you to go to the Newfields ball so they could confirm it was Julia you were delivering the flower to. Then Jason Whitehurst was supposed to take you straight to them for interrogation.” He shook his head in amused admiration. “They must have been frantic when you dropped out of sight. I imagine they’ve had their agents searching New London for the last four days.”
“So if the Dolgoprudnensky haven’t contacted the alien, why did Mutizen make their offer to me?” Julia asked.
“It wasn’t a genuine offer,” Greg said. “As far as we know, Event Horizon is the only company to be offered generator data by Mutizen. Everyone else has been approached by Clifford Jepson, including Mikoyan who loyally informed the Russian Defence Ministry. Consider the timing. Three or four days ago the Dolgoprudnensky learned about atomic structuring, either from contacts in Mikoyan or the Russian Defence Ministry. A technology so startlingly original it’s frightened the crap out of every company and government that’s heard about it. Then, at more or less the same time, they find out there could be an alien in the solar system. Just like you did, Julia; and just like you they drew the same conclusion. The two have to be connected. Since then, they have been doing exactly the same as everyone else, trying to find the source of atomic structuring, the owner of the generator data. Their advantage was that they were the first to know about both atomic structuring and Royan’s alien together. They thought all they had to do was interrogate Charlotte and they would get to the alien first. But then Jason Whitehurst played his joker and isolated her. The Dolgoprudnensky started to panic. There’s a definite deadline involved, because tomorrow Clifford Jepson is going to finalize his partnership. If they want in, they’re going to have to find the alien before then. They’re trying to get you and Clifford Jepson to do their work for them.
“Mutizen was ordered to offer you the joint development deal and production partnership. It’s a complete phoney, but it made sure you knew about atomic structuring after you’d been given the flower. That way you would be bound to mount a major operation to chase after Royan, an operation that was naturally put together in a hurry. In other words, a sloppy one, one which would be easy for them to follow. And Mutizen’s offer would also spur Clifford Jepson along, maybe even force him to visit the alien to ask how come Mutizen were also offering generator data. Certainly they slipped him the know about Charlotte and maybe Royan as well; that’s why Leol Reiger appeared on the scene. The Dolgoprudnensky couldn’t lose; they have their own agents searching New London, then they had Event Horizon and Clifford Jepson plugged in as well, three trails to follow. Vassili was right, that Kirilov is one smart bastard.”