A couple of troopers from the detail moved forwards to look. Grae led the main group through a station office and down a hallway to the situations room.
The console station in the situations room was active, chirping and buzzing, but it was unmanned. A tall figure stood waiting for them in the centre of the room.
She turned to face them.
‘Inquisitor,’ Grae said, startled.
‘Colonel Grae,’ said Laksheema. ‘Did you honestly think that you could disguise your movements and deceive me?’
‘I was… merely taking Major Kolea into custody, as we agreed,’ said Grae.
‘This is not what we agreed,’ said Laksheema.
‘This is her, is it?’ Hark asked Grae.
‘Yes,’ said Grae.
For a moment, Hark had thought Grae had walked them into a trap, that he’d been playing them all along. But from the look of dismay on his face, it was evident that his part in delivering them to Inquisitor Laksheema had been unwitting.
‘The intelligence service is extremely proficient,’ said Laksheema, ‘but it is an amateur operation compared to the omniscient surveillance of the Holy Ordos. You’ve made a fool of yourself, Grae. Inter-departmental rivalry is ridiculous and counter-productive. I will be speaking to your superiors.’
She looked at Hark.
‘You are Viktor Hark?’
‘I am,’ said Hark.
‘You are known to me from the files,’ she said. She took a step towards Kolea, and waved the intelligence service guards surrounding him out of her way.
‘And Gol Kolea. Face-to-face, again.’
Kolea said nothing.
Laksheema eyed him with curiosity. She tilted her head, and her gilded augmetics caught the light.
‘With respect, ma’am,’ Hark said.
She looked at him sharply.
‘A phrase which always means “without any respect at all”, commissar.’
‘True enough,’ said Hark. ‘What do you want with Kolea? I am here to watch out for his welfare, and I intend to do everything in my power to do that.’
‘You have no power at all,’ she replied. ‘However, unlike Colonel Grae, I see great benefit in inter-discipline cooperation. You will assist me in learning the manner of truths from Major Kolea.’
‘Like what?’ asked Hark.
‘Major Kolea clearly has a connection of some sort to the so-called eagle stones,’ she said. She looked at Kolea. ‘Don’t you, Gol? We will explore that connection.’
‘Will we?’ asked Hark.
‘Yes,’ said Laksheema. ‘And let us first consider this. The city is under attack. It has been a safe stronghold for months. Now, suddenly and without warning, it is the focus of a major assault, one which we did not see coming. And, just days ago, the major here, and his regiment, and the secrets they guarded, including the eagle stones, arrived in Eltath. Do you not suppose the timing is significant? Do you not imagine that the Archenemy of mankind is descending upon us to get the stones back?’
Night was falling, and the rain was still beating down hard. A minimum number of lamps had been lit at the K700 billet because of the danger of air raid. The void shield of the Urdeshic Palace, a dome of green light just visible through the filthy air, was still lit. The waves of enemy aircraft had finally stopped coming about an hour before, but the shield was still up. Areas of the city on the slopes of the Great Hill glowed amber in the gloom: blocks and streets turned into firestorms by bombing overshoot.
Outside the wash house units behind the billet, people were still queuing for the mandatory anti-bac showers Commissar Blenner had ordered. V Company had already run through shower rotation, and were supervising the civilian queues. E Company was lining up to use the blocks of grotty wash houses on the east side. The rainy air smelt of counterseptic gel and carbolic.
‘I don’t want to do this,’ Felyx whispered to Dalin. ‘I don’t have to. I don’t have lice.’
‘Everyone has to,’ said Dalin. ‘Blenner ordered it. Instructions from staff command, he said.’
‘Dalin–’
‘Don’t worry. We’ll use the block on the end. There are only four stalls. I’ll cover the door while you’re in there, make sure no one else comes in.’
‘This is stupid,’ said Felyx.
‘What’s stupid is us not telling anyone,’ said Dalin. ‘Then we wouldn’t have to go through this pantomime.’
‘Don’t start on me.’
The group ahead of them was waved over to the left-hand shower block by Trooper Perday.
‘Next group,’ she called.
‘We’ll take the right-hand block,’ said Dalin.
Perday frowned.
‘It’s the commander’s son,’ Dalin whispered to her with a meaningful look. ‘A little privacy, all right?’
Perday nodded.
‘Understood, Dal,’ she said. ‘On you go.’
Dalin and Felyx walked across the puddled cobbles to the end block. A couple of E Company troopers followed them.
‘Use that one,’ Dalin told them. ‘Only two of the stalls are working in here.’
They reached the door of the end block. It was a grim, tiled chamber with four curtained brick stalls. The place reeked of mildew. A couple of troopers were exiting, towels around their necks.
‘Go on,’ hissed Dalin. ‘Get in there and be quick. I’ll watch the door.’
Felyx glared at him and stomped inside. Dalin heard the pipes thud and water start to spray. He pulled the wooden door to and waited.
‘Trooper?’
Dalin turned. It was Meryn.
‘You done yet, trooper?’ Meryn asked.
‘No, sir,’ said Dalin. ‘I’m just…’
‘Is it full in there?’
‘No, sir. Uhm, Trooper Chass is in there. I was just watching the door. Giving him some privacy.’
Meryn nodded.
‘I want to know where the transports are,’ said Meryn. ‘They should be here by now. Seeing as how you’re still dressed, run up to the gate and ask if they’ve seen anything inbound.’
‘Oh. B-but–’
Meryn frowned at him.
‘That’s a fething order, Trooper Criid,’ he said.
‘Of course.’
‘Come on,’ said Meryn, smiling slightly. ‘I know you take your duties seriously. This’ll take you five minutes. Don’t worry. I’ll watch the door and keep precious Trooper Chass safe.’
Dalin hesitated.
‘Get the feth to it!’ Meryn barked.
With a sigh, Dalin turned and began to run down the breeze-way towards the yard and the gate.
Meryn leaned back against the shower block wall and folded his arms. Gendler and Wilder appeared out of the shadows.
‘Get on with it,’ said Meryn, ‘and make it fast.’
He walked away.
‘Keep watch,’ said Gendler to Wilder. He pushed open the door and stepped inside.
The ragged curtain was drawn on the end stall. Gendler could hear water hissing.
He approached the curtain, and drew his straight silver.
‘Hello, Felyx,’ he said.
There was a long pause.
‘Who’s there? Who is that?’
‘I just want a little chat, Felyx.’
‘Is that you, Gendler? Is it? I know your voice.’
Gendler smiled.
‘Yeah. It’s time to have a little chat with your Uncle Didi.’
‘Stay out! Stay the feth out!’
‘Oh, that’s not very friendly is it, Felyx,’ said Gendler. He poked the tip of his knife through the curtain at the top, near the middle of the rail, and ripped it down, cutting the old curtain in half.
He expected to find the boy cowering inside. He didn’t expect Felyx to come flying out at him like a fury.
Something sliced into Gendler’s shoulder and he yowled in pain. Instinctively, he lashed out, swatting the boy aside with the back of his fist. Felyx lurched hard to the left, cracked his head against the side wall of the stall, and collapsed in a heap. His straight silver clattered from his hand onto the tiled floor. The water started to swirl Gendler’s blood off the blade.