Masterminds (29 page)

But, not all of them had received jobs on the Moon.

Goudkins couldn’t track them all. She had sent information on those clones to her superior, Ava Huỳnh. Huỳnh had told her that all of those clones had killed themselves at the same moment as the Peyti Crisis started unfolding.

Now, Goudkins needed another piece of information, one she hadn’t thought to ask before.

She wanted to know if all of the off-Moon clones had been lawyers who had gone through the Impossibles. Because if they had, they had probably been in touch with Mavis Zorn.

Asking about the lawyers without mentioning Zorn wouldn’t set off any red flags at all.

Besides, Goudkins needed to get up and move around. The depth of the perfidy that she was finding was making her ill.

She left her investigative area and went to the ship’s cockpit. She sent a message through her government links to Huỳnh, asking if she could get a piece of information.

Goudkins didn’t expect a response immediately. She figured she had at least an hour before Huỳnh finished whatever she was doing and got back to her.

Instead, Huỳnh appeared on a nearby table, her hologram wearing her signature purple outfit.

“Wilma,” Huỳnh said with a smile, “Lawrence Ostaka is still saying bad things about you.”

Goudkins felt her stomach clench, but she rolled her eyes anyway. “He’s the only person I know who can sit on his ass in an emergency and claim that it doesn’t fall into his jurisdiction.”

“And here I thought you two would complement each other,” Huỳnh said. “I was wrong. Sorry about that.”

Goudkins was sorry about it too. She didn’t want to admit how much she had grown to hate Ostaka to Huỳnh.

“Just finish this assignment,” Huỳnh said, “and I’ll assign you a new partner when you return.”

Goudkins had no idea if Huỳnh was watching her at a large size or a small size, so she made herself smile. She hoped the smile didn’t look too fake.

“Thank you,” she said.

Huỳnh nodded, then looked over her shoulder as if someone had entered the room or something had happened.

“Is this a bad time?” Goudkins asked.

“No, it’s fine,” Huỳnh said.

Goudkins hoped that was true. “I just wanted to check on something. You had probably told Ostaka, but, well, you know how things are going.”

Huỳnh said, “I do,” but she sounded distracted.

“I was wondering, you know the Peyti clones off-Moon? That information I sent you two weeks ago—”

“The ones related to the clones that nearly blew up the Moon again?” Now Huỳnh sounded annoyed. “Of course I do.”

“Do you have information on how many of those clones were lawyers?”

“I don’t have information at the moment, without checking,” Huỳnh said, then looked over her shoulder again. “How quickly do you need it?”

“Sooner rather than later,” Goudkins said.

“Huh,” Huỳnh said, sounding a bit surprised. “I actually thought you might’ve wanted to talk about Hétique City.”

“Hétique City?” Goudkins asked.

“You didn’t know?” Huỳnh asked. “There’s been another attack, Wilma. On Hétique this time. We’re investigating.”

“Oh.” Goudkins had to remind herself to breathe. “How many—”

“I can’t talk any longer. I’m about to go into a meeting. If I send that information, you’ll have everything from me, right?”

“Yes, thank you,” Goudkins said, but by the time the sentence was out of her mouth, Huỳnh had severed the link.

Goudkins put a hand against the wall, bracing herself. Another attack. She wondered if DeRicci knew, then realized she probably did.

Did DeRicci feel relieved that the attack was on Hétique and not the Moon? Or was she worried that things were about to get worse?

Goudkins wasn’t sure how she felt about it. She headed back to her computer, but as she did, her links pinged.

She stopped in the ship’s most narrow corridor and took the link without any audio or visual.

You alone?

It took her a moment to recognize that the contact had come from Miles Flint.

Yes
, Goudkins answered.

Great, because I have two questions for you and something I need you to look into.

No
hi, how are you
? No
have you heard about the new attack?
Just a quick contact, with no small talk at all.

Are you familiar with the Currency Department of the Treasury?
He asked.

As much as anyone is,
she sent.

Should they be funding operations in Earth Alliance Security?

What?
The question made no sense. She actually had to review it.
No, of course not.

That’s what I thought. Have you ever met a woman named Pearl Brooks?

No
, Goudkins sent.

She authorized the Currency Department’s transfer of funds to an operation run by an intelligence officer named Ike Jarvis. I’m wondering if she’s authorized other operations as well.

You want me to audit someone in the Currency Department?
Goudkins swallowed hard.
You realize that someone will trace that investigation.

Yeah,
Flint sent.
Hold off for the moment. But if you can check the files on Brooks, I’d appreciate it.

I’ll only check the easily accessed files,
Goudkins sent.
We don’t want to alert her to our interest.

Good thinking,
Flint sent.
I suspect we’ll have to go deeper later, but this is a start. And thanks for the help.

Then he signed off.

Goudkins hadn’t felt as if she had helped at all. She felt like she had told him no continually. Or maybe she was just off-balance from the new attack on Hétique City.

She went back to her investigative chair. Before she started looking up Pearl Brooks, she watched a few minutes of footage about Hétique City. The destruction didn’t look familiar. It seemed like a completely different kind of attack.

It seemed odd to her. But at the moment, it wasn’t her concern.

Mavis Zorn, Jhena Andre, and now Pearl Brooks were Goudkins’ concern. And this thing about the Currency Department had her intrigued.

Goudkins needed to calm down, and focus. She needed to think it all through.

An investigation—done right—would focus her.

She settled in, and got back to work.

FORTY-TWO

FINALLY, THEY ALLOWED
Berhane and Kaspian to go upstairs.

Not a moment too soon, either. Berhane had just about figured out what kind of angry fit she was going to throw. She had seen her father do it and get an instant response. She had seen Torkild do it, and occasionally make the person he was screaming at angry.

And she had seen her mother charm the people who didn’t let her do what she wanted.

Berhane couldn’t charm, and she wasn’t sure she could be insulting enough, but she was going to try.

Then the guard opened the last security barrier.

“They’ll see you upstairs,” he said. “Take the first elevator.”

She was so astonished that she didn’t walk past him immediately, even though Kaspian did.

Instead, Berhane said, “I can see Chief DeRicci?”

“Actually, you’ll be seeing her assistant chief, Rudra Popova. Chief DeRicci is still in the middle of something.”

Of course. But this was a start. And Berhane had heard about the legendary Popova. The woman could get anything done in one-tenth the time it would take the best assistant anywhere else.

Berhane’s father had dealt with Popova just once, and tried to hire her away from the Security Office. Popova hadn’t gone.

Berhane saw that as a vote in Popova’s favor.

“Berhane,” Kaspian said, making a get-over-here gesture with his hands. Apparently, he thought this opportunity would vanish in an instant.

She probably should have thought of that as well. She scurried past the guard, and got onto the elevator along with Kaspian. He looked at her, seeming even more stressed than he had when he’d contacted her on the train.

This is crazy,
he sent to her on their private links.
Someone from this office should have seen us immediately. Imagine if we had an emergency.

I thought this was an emergency,
she sent back.

No, I mean something like we’ve locked the clone terrorists in our house and we need someone to get them right away.

We would have contacted the police in that instance,
she sent. She didn’t want to be criticizing the Security Office, even on a private link. Not when she needed them to take her seriously.

But Kaspian never handled authority well. She had agreed to bring him along because he had all of the details of the old DNA and the possible cloning, but she had done so with reservations.

Those reservations had just gotten a lot worse.

The elevator doors opened, and Berhane started to leave, but Kaspian stepped out first. He was deliberately blocking her exit. He looked both ways before he moved aside.

He had been trying to protect her. Against what, she had no idea. She would have been amused by it, if it weren’t so ridiculous. Kaspian couldn’t have protected her from a physical threat even if he wanted to.

The corridor was quiet. There were a lot of closed doors, and some voices from her left.

A woman appeared on her right. The woman wasn’t much taller than Berhane was, but she had a long cloud of black hair.

“Ms. Magalhães,” the woman said, “I’m Rudra Popova. I’m sorry this has taken so long, but there’s been another attack.”

Berhane’s stomach clenched. “Here? In Armstrong?”

“No,” Popova said. “On Hétique. Are you familiar with it?”

Berhane wasn’t. But she didn’t know much about the rest of the Alliance.

“Is that a moon too?” she asked, then thought the question was stupid.

“You know,” Popova said as she led Berhane and Kaspian down the hallway, “I have no idea. I hadn’t heard of it until today. But the attack looks pretty bad. Apparently their major city was hit.”

“Why would the Moon’s Security Office care?” Kaspian asked.

Berhane sent a message across their links:
Stop talking.

To Berhane’s surprise, the question didn’t seem to offend Popova. “We’re trying to figure out the same thing. We think maybe the attacks have moved away from here, although someone just suggested that the attack might have been designed to lull us into complacency.”

“Nothing will lull us into complacency,” Kaspian said, then looked defiantly at Berhane.

She didn’t say anything. She agreed.

They rounded a corner, just as a woman and a man left a large room. They were in deep discussion. The woman looked like a heavyset person who had lost too much weight too quickly. Her clothes bagged on her.

It took Berhane a moment to recognize Noelle DeRicci. She looked nothing like the out-of-place person Berhane had seen at the fundraiser five months ago.

The man was gray and clearly sedentary. His hair was gray, his suit was gray, and his face—

Berhane’s breath caught.

His face was one of the ones she had seen just a few hours ago, with Kaspian.

“Oh, my God,” Kaspian said.

She grabbed his arm.
Shut up. They have no idea, and we’ll scare this guy.

But he’s a clone
, Kaspian sent back.

No kidding
, Berhane sent.

DeRicci and the man ignored Berhane and went through some double doors. As soon as the doors closed, Berhane glanced at Kaspian.

He looked terrified.

He wasn’t going to figure out what to do. It was up to her.

“Chief Popova,” Berhane said.

“It’s Assistant Chief,” Popova said, “but call me Rudra. I’ve worked with your father—”

“I’m sorry, Rudra,” Berhane said, “but who is that man who was with Chief DeRicci?”

“His name is Lawrence Ostaka. He’s an investigator for the Earth Alliance Security Division.”

Berhane was shaking her head. “No, he can’t be.”

Popova frowned. “I checked his credentials myself. More than once in fact. And in great depth. He is with the Security Division.”

Kaspian cursed. All the blood had left his face.

“What’s wrong?” Popova asked.

“He’s a clone,” Berhane said. “That’s what I came to tell you.”

“That Lawrence Ostaka is a clone?” Popova sounded as confused as she looked.

“That there are more clones on the Moon. We found the old DNA as we were digging through the wreckage, and we identified hundreds of dead clones.”