Night's Pawn (27 page)

Once they'd all gathered, Dancing Flame erected a magical ward around the loft for protection. If anyone or anything tried to get through personally or via a spell, Dancing would know. The loft also had technological protection, white noise and subsonic systems to handle eavesdropping, and, against the windows and walls, tremblers to counter acoustic lasers.

A nod from Dancing, and Bough punched a code into the security command box at his side. The ward was up, and the electronics were active. They were isolated and protected, hopefully.

"So," said Chase as the green lights on his console came on, "what have we got? Janey?"

Janey Zane was curled up on one of the secondhand couches that had been in the loft when Chase rented it. That and other clues led him to believe that the space had been used more than once for purposes similar to his. As the job had become defined and the team's tasks assigned, Janey's energy level had risen to the point where she seemed more like a thirteen-year-old. A very professional thirteen-year-old.

"Well," she said, "I've been scanning the streets for any word on anything that might be directly connected, and like the Ancients said, it's dead. Nada."

"Interesting," said Chase.

Janey held up her hand. "
But
there's a lot of talk about Fuchi on the streets. It's just that none of it contains the key words Cara Villiers, Simon Church, or Alte Welt."

Across the room, Bough was nodding. Apparently he'd picked up a similar scan.

"What talk there is concerns a possible coup going on inside Fuchi," Janey said. Apparently, there's been a shakeup in their personnel and a general beefing up of personal security. It seems to be centered around the top, and trickling down almost all the way to lower middle management. The suits are expecting a shakeup, too."

"Does it look like a resolution between the Japanese elements and Villiers?" asked Chase. Janey shrugged. "No way to tell. I did hear an interesting rumor that Fuchi's been staging runs against itself."

"Against itself?" said Dancing, obviously baffled.

"Yup. The beat is that Fuchi Corporate Services, their management consulting group, sent a run against the Systems Design group."

"Corporate Services was Nakatomi-run back when I was involved with Fuchi, and the Systems Design group is Samantha Villiers, Cara's mother," said Chase.

"Corp Services is still Nakatomi, though their consulting is mostly internal now," said Bough. "Villiers isn't actually in charge of Systems Design anymore. Doctor Ben Bleiler runs Systems since Villiers got pushed up to replace Darren Villiers as head of Northwest operations. But she keeps enough of a hand in that it could still be looked on as hers."

"Any idea what the run was for?" asked Chase.

"No," said Janey. "Street's quiet on that one."

"My sources paint a slightly different picture," Bough put in. "I've been talking to some corp types who tell me the rumor mill about the infighting at Fuchi says it's between Samantha Villiers and Darren Villiers, whom she replaced."

Dancing Flame leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. "Now you've confused me completely. When we decide what to do, wake me up."

Chase looked at Bough, who simply nodded and glanced back down at the datapad on his lap, and then at Janey who was grinning. "It's okay, he does this a lot," she said. "Dancing doesn't twitch on the corporate intrigue stuff, but he trusts us. When we get to the magical briefing part, we'll wake him up. It's kinda difficult to understand him if he's talking in his sleep."

"You're going to have to stay with me on this," Bough said with a grin at Chase. "It gets pretty complicated."

"Don't worry, I'm with you. Don't forget, I used to work for them."

"Right," said Bough. "And since there are so many fraggin' Villiers in this mess, I'm going to refer to them by their first names.

"Darren is apparently going head to head internally with Samantha over her control of the Northwest operations. She was in charge only a short time before they were hit with a series of fairly serious personnel extractions that have given some of Fuchi's rivals access to vital proprietary information."

Bough looked over at Janey quickly, who gave him a nod to go ahead. "We ourselves were one of those extraction teams. We pulled a Doctor Marie Palo from one of their robotics labs less than a week ago, right before you came to town."

"Any idea where Doctor Palo ended up?" asked Chase.

"No," said Janey. "We could guess Ares Macrotechnology, but that would be based on who might want her, not any clues we picked up."

"Could Fuchi have done it themselves?"

Janey looked at him. "You mean, like the rumors say?"

"Exactly."

She looked back at Bough. "No idea. Maybe. Coulda been. Hard to tell. The hiring and pickup were very pro from our end. We had no idea who we were dealing with."

"Darren is apparently backed by at least the Nakatomis," said Bough. "Since Seattle is part of the Villiers' sphere of influence, Samantha's ex-husband Richard maneuvered her into Darren's position when he got moved up to Tokyo. Darren planted the idea in the ears of the Yamanas and the Nakatomis that he thought Samantha wasn't competent enough to manage the entire Northwest operation and he's been using these defections as proof that others in the company agree with him."

"What's Richard's position in all this?" Chase wanted to know.

"Very delicate," replied Bough. "He's always been on good terms with his ex-wife, but he's got to be very careful of the power balance within Fuchi. If the Yamanas and the Nakatomis get enough ammunition, they can block-vote their shares against him and cut him off at the knees."

Chase considered this for a few moments. "So, let's say that the Nakatomis are actually behind Richard's assassination, or are at least involved in the plot. If they've tipped off Fuchi internal security, specifically the non-aligned elements, that Cara is involved in a plot to kill her father things could get very complicated if they even spot her talking to her mother, Samantha."

"Yes," said Bough, "that's how I read it."

Chase leaned back and stared at the ceiling. "God, I love my job," he said, sighing.

There was a snort nearby. "Now you know how I feel," said Dancing Flame.

Chase glanced over at him, but the shaman still seemed to be asleep. Janey giggled.

"So," said Chase, "what we're going to do is get me in close to Samantha Villiers and play it by ear."

"Wouldn't it make more sense to have one of us do it?" asked Bough. "You might get IDed by Fuchi security."

"Maybe," agreed Chase, "but she'll listen to me sooner than she would someone she doesn't know. Time, I suspect, is of the essence."

"Right," said Bough.

"We've just got to figure out how we're going to do that. Janey?"

She smiled and reached over to key a speed code into the small voice-only telecom sitting on one of the box-tables. It dialed, another green light lit up on Bough's console, and there was a click over the telecom's speaker. Then silence, and another click, before a voice answered. Chase had never heard the voice before, but he knew whom they were calling.

"Janey," said the voice. "I expected to hear from you sooner."

"Sorry, Jack. We were jabbering," Janey said. "I'm here, obviously, and so's Liam and Dancing. And Simon Church." She looked up at Chase. "Church, this is FastHack."

Chase had heard of the decker, but had never worked with him. The name was held in almost as much awe as the Denver data haven, of which FastHack was said to be a co-founder. It was also said that, as part of the old U.S. government's Echo Mirage project, he was one of the first deckers, ever, to fight the computer virus that swept the world's databanks in 2029. Chase knew that rumor wasn't true, however, because he knew the names of everyone at Echo Mirage. FastHack couldn't have been one of that group. Their fates were all accounted for.

It was also said that no one had ever met FastHack in the flesh. Some said he had none.

"Just Jack will do," said the voice.

"I'm pleased to finally be speaking to you, Jack," said Chase. "I've heard a lot about you."

"And I you. Shiva asked me to tell you that Lachesis is doing better. The doctors think that with therapy she should be able to feed herself in a few weeks."

Janey and Bough both looked up at that and then at Chase. Chase simply stared at the phone. "That was uncalled for," he said.

"Perhaps," said Jack, "and perhaps not. I have learned something of who you are and what you were."

"All of which is irrelevant," snapped Chase. The past was not something he wanted dragged out here and now, if at all. There were parts of it that were too hard to explain. "She took her own risks, against my warnings. Shiva would have told you that, too, or is it Bash you listen to?"

There was a chuckle over the phone. "I don't 'listen' to either one of them."

"Glad to hear that. Now, have you come up with anything or do we need to hire a different decker who can handle it?"

Janey and Bough seemed tense. Chase was sure their loyalties were being stretched. They'd worked with FastHack on many occasions through the years, as had other groups in Seattle. They also knew Chase, though not nearly as well. And they had no idea what was really going on between the two.

"No,
tovarich
," said Jack, and Chase felt himself tense. "No need for that damning action. I have the information Janey requested. Liam, plug your datapad cable into the telecom jack."

Bough leaned forward and did as Jack requested. Chase was suddenly reminded of his own datadeck left behind in Denver. Immediately, information began flowing to Bough's datapad.

"I acquired as much as I could," said Jack. "You'll find Samantha Villiers' personal calendar for the next three weeks in there, Liam, complete with cross-referenced and verified ancillary travel data. There are also records of her security, the personnel, and their normal patterns. I also pulled what I could of the architectural and security diagrams of the Fuchi buildings downtown.

"There's one event on the calendar that I would recommend for a contact. She is attending a party the night after next at the Renraku Arcology in honor of one Hiroshi Uchida, who's been sent in from Chiba to stabilize the arcology's management following their recent problems. The event is actually being sponsored by United Corporation Council, who advise Mayor Schultz on corporate affairs, so nearly everyone who is anyone from the corporate sector will be there."

"Which will make it harder to get into than the Zurich-Orbital," said Chase.

"Normally, yes, but there are aspects of the arcology's systems that I've had access to for years now. The party is scheduled for the West Garden on the two-hundred fifty-eighth floor. I can get into and affect the subsystem that controls security access to that area."

"I'm impressed," said Chase.

"You, under an assumed name, of course, have already been added to a list of personnel with access to that area at the time of the party."

Chase nodded, but Janey seemed annoyed. "Gee, Jack, making up our minds for us?"

"No, Janey. I've simply prepared the most immediate option. It need not be taken."

"Yeah, it does," said Chase. "We're running out of time. The longer we wait, the more likely things are to spin out of our ability to intervene, and Samantha Villiers could very well be recalled to Japan for it. For good or bad, we've got no choice."

23

Chase walked the streets of Seattle. A light drizzle of cool rain fell, but neither he nor the city noticed it much. Both were far too engrossed in their own concerns.

Cara Villiers. Chase watched the traffic pass and shook his head. Days ago she'd been only a memory, vivid enough, but not one he'd ever expected to see made flesh again. The resurrection of ghosts had become all too common in his life of late, and it was not a particularly welcome phenomenon. He'd spent a lot of time, energy, and emotion trying to move forward. Seeing it all come sliding back was disorienting.

Down the street Chase saw a man and a little girl who was probably his daughter attempting to cross the heavy, swift-moving traffic. The man wanted to get across quickly, but the little girl was distracted, glancing back at the brightly lit soy grill they'd just left. He pulled her arm, she stumbled, and then their chance was lost as the temporary opening in the traffic vanished as rapidly as it had appeared. The father said something to the child, his expression harsh. She listened, smiled, and shrugged. He picked her up, and when the next opening appeared, dashed across.

Following them, Chase's gaze was caught by a sign that read "Spirit's Way." He walked toward it and watched the large, full-motion hologram in a shop window. A brook wove through a sparse forest. Animals moved in the underbrush. Shafts of sunlight slanted toward the ground, brightening the air in sharp pools.

Intrigued, Chase entered the shop, which reminded him somewhat of Farraday's in Manhattan. But where the Cat shaman's shelves were mixed almost evenly with items of interest to magicians of the hermetic or shamanic stylings, this one was almost completely sha-manic.

At the far end of the store, an old Indian man was sitting behind a handmade counter. Dressed in a loosely woven pullover of tan and brown, he was reading a paperback novel probably as old as he was. He looked up as Chase entered. "Can I help you?" he asked.