Skybreach (The Reach #3) (4 page)

“Do it,” Zoe said.  She looked at Duran, then at the others.  “I agree with Alec.  We have to try.”

De Villiers nodded.  “I hate to say it, but for once I agree with Duran.  If we’re true to ourselves, if we really believe that we’re here in the best interests of the Reach, we have to go after this guy.”

“What about the Enforcers?” Robson said.  “They’re probably thinking the same thing we are.”

“We have no idea what they’re thinking,” Jovanovic said.  “And I’m not prepared to sit around and wait to see how they handle this.  By then it could be too late.”

“Go ahead,” de Villiers said to Robson.  “Let’s see if we can track down the location of Gudbrand’s cells for a start.  If one of them starts moving, we need to know about it right away.”

Zoe pursed her lips, contemplating.  “If the cells are autonomous, then taking out Jozef might not change anything.”

“Then we go to Plan  B,” Duran said.

“Which is?” Zoe said.

Duran shrugged.  “That’s something we’re going to have to figure out.”

4

Charles Prazor stood at the window and watched the shadows of murky grey clouds drift over the city of Link far below, dappling the orange landscape as far as he could see.  They were not an unusual sight, these toxic vapours, but today Prazor couldn’t help but feel that their significance was somehow greater, that they represented a more sinister aspect of the world.  They were a pall that hung not only over the city but over his own future as well.

He could still feel the vibrations of that accursed explosion in his bones, feel it rattling against his innards like some caged beast trying to get out.  Even though the attack on the consul had been carried out more than an hour ago, he still had not come close to processing its ramifications.  He could not get his head around the full implications of it, or even decide what to do next.  He felt lost.

In truth, he’d been expecting something like this to appear on the horizon for some years now.  The unrest had been growing as conditions both inside the Reach and out in Link had gradually worsened.  A discharge of tensions through some calamitous incident had been inevitable.

However, this was not an event for which Prazor had made contingencie
s.  He’d simply been hoping
that his tenure would be at an end before it arrived.

These were circumstances that his successor was supposed to have faced, not him.

Charles Prazor should have been long gone by now, far away from Earth, enjoying his retirement.

He turned away from the window.  Mrs. Appleby had brought him his customary cup of morning tea, Earl Grey – or at least the closest thing they made to it these days – and it now sat on his polished oak desk under a trail of curling steam.  Normally his morning routine would have dictated that he be sitting at the desk right now, sipping his Earl Grey and going over his financials, but this day was anything but routine.

This morning he felt sick to his stomach.  Sipping tea was the last thing on his mind.

He pulled out his high-backed executive chair and slumped into it, allowing it to turn idly toward the desk as he tapped worriedly on his chin
.  He glanced at the terminal and saw the video feed from Level Forty-Two, where emergency crews were still trying to bring the blaze under control.  It looked very much the same as it had almost an hour ago.

A mess,
he thought bitterly. 
A damned, blasted mess!

This hadn’t been a good week for Commissioner Prazor.

First there had been the debacle with Alec Duran.  That should have been an easy task to handle, cut and dried.  He only needed to have Duran taken to the Cellar, to let the thugs imprisoned there have their way with him.  Let them have their fun, and then Duran would be out of the picture.

A nice little punishment for that bastard
, Prazor had thought.

And yet Duran hadn’t even made it out of the Reach.  Somehow he’d slipped his escort and was now on the run, and the Enforcer security team couldn’t even provide any information on where he’d gone.

“Blasted fools,” Prazor muttered to himself.  “Idiocy.”

He wasn’t sure who he was more upset with – the security team or himself.  He’d had Duran right here in his office, under his thumb like a squirming bug.  Prazor himself had held a loaded revolver in his hand, pointed at Duran’s temple.  He could have put Duran down right here, no mess.  No fuss.

But no,
Prazor thought. 
I had to go and make an example of him.  I had to draw it out, torture him instead of giving him a quick death, make him pay for the embarrassment he’d caused me.  I overcomplicated things.

“You’re the biggest damned fool of them all, Charles.”

Now that incident seemed insignificant in comparison to what had happened in the early hours of this morning.  The attack on the consulate was not only unprecedented in Prazor’s seven year tenure as Commissioner, but in living memory.  There had never been a successful attack on Consortium personnel since the
organisation’s
arrival in the Reach.  To think that the entire consulate had been destroyed was unimaginable.

And Prazor knew that he was going to be held responsible for it.

He looked at the tea again.  He needed something to calm his nerves before that inevitable call came through, before he was forced to talk his way out of this mess.  He reached out a trembling hand toward the fine white china cup.

At that moment the terminal lit up, and Prazor snatched his hand back like a child who’d been caught stealing from the cookie jar.

There was an incoming call from a contact labelled
Administrator Valen.

This is it.

Prazor took a moment to compose himself, running a hand through his hair and smoothing the front of his black suit.  Then he accepted the call.

A face appeared on the screen, that of a neatly presented woman in her fifties with streaks of grey in her dark brown hair.  She had a thin face with hollow cheeks and crow’s feet at the edges of her eyes.  A humourless-looking woman at the best of times, Prazor thought, but now she appeared even more
so.

“Commissioner Prazor,”
she said, her greeting even, businesslike.

“Good morning, Administrator Valen.”

She narrowed her eyes. 
“What’s good about it?”

“Uh, yes…” Prazor said ruefully.  “Perhaps a poor choice of words.”

“
What the hell is going on down there, Commissioner?”

Prazor straightened his posture as he formulated a response.

“We’ve reacted swiftly to this morning’s events,” Prazor said, trying to inject some confidence, some surety into his voice.  “There are emergency crews on Level Forty-Two right–”

“I don’t care about
that
,”
Valen said acidly. 
“That’s a lost cause.  My people are dead.  What I want to know is
why?
”

“We’re trying to piece together the movements of the insurgents right now, Veronica–”

“Don’t ‘Veronica’
me
, Commissioner.  Didn’t you hear me?  My people are
dead
.  You’ve lost all semblance of control down there.”

“No, I assure you, that is not the case.”

Valen leaned forward intently. 
“I’m stuck up here in this habitat at the end of the Wire, many thousands of kilometres away from the Reach, Commissioner.  You do realise that, don’t you?”
  Prazor tried to answer but she went on regardless. 
“I rely on you and your Enforcers to be the extension of my authority there on Earth, the expression of my control, but from where I sit you have
no
authority.  You have
no
control.”

“This attack was highly irregular, Administrator Valen.  Most unpredictable.  When we gather and examine the forensics we hope to be able to trace–”

“And how many more consulates will I lose before you find something?  How many more of my people have to die because of your incompetence?”

“This is an isolated incident, Administrator.  I can assure you of that.”

“Is that so?  If I recall correctly, this is not the first time this week that my personnel have been killed or placed in jeopardy.  What about that cowboy of yours?  The one who was shooting at my Redmen in the Atrium a few days ago?”

Prazor kept his voice even.  “He’s been dealt with.”

“Liar,”
Valen spat.  Prazor almost jumped out of his chair in surprise.  He’d never heard Valen use such language before, or even that tone of voice. 
“Inspector Duran was escorted into an elevator that descended to Level Eighty-Seven a week ago.  Then he disappeared.  The Enforcers who were with him were found murdered.”
  She glared at him coldly. 
“Stop me when this starts to sound familiar.”

“We’re tracing Duran’s movements–”

“That was seven days ago, Commissioner.  You’ve lost him.  You can’t even control your own men anymore.”

“He will be found, I swear.”

“And what of the debacle in the Infirmary?”
Valen demanded. 
“Three Redmen slaughtered like cattle.  It’s unthinkable.  You’ve made no progress there
either, have you?”

“The intruders were last seen in Gaslight.  I’ve had men out looking–”

“Useless,”
Valen hissed. 
“You’ve lost control, just as I thought.”
  She leaned forward. 
“These incidents are not isolated.  You do realise that, don’t you Commissioner?  Something is happening here.”

“There’s no need to jump to unwarranted conclusions, Administrator.”

Administrator Valen shook her head disparagingly, then she sighed.

“Things have been getting progressively worse over the last few years, Commissioner.  The Consortium’s margins have been shrinking almost by the week.  If my personnel are now in danger, which they evidently
are
, there is no reason to continue this venture.  The Consortium may as well cease operations in this facility.”

Prazor stared at her, horrified.  “You can’t pull out.  You can’t shut down the Wire.”

“We can and we will.”

“After one attack?  This is a complete overreaction!”

Valen’s eyes narrowed. 
“Don’t you dare speak to me that way.  I will decide what course of action is in the best interests of the Consortium.”

“Yes, of course,” Prazor said quickly.  “But please believe me, we’ll get things under control.  I’ll see to it myself.”

Valen watched him impassively. 
“I’m not convinced.”

“It will be done, I assure you,” Prazor all but pleaded.  “But I’ll need your help.”

“Be careful what you ask for.”

“Please, we have to open the gates of the Reach again.  Our system of commerce can’t operate without it.  We’d be left crippled.”

Valen considered this, and as she did a man appeared at her shoulder and whispered something in her ear.  She nodded.

“I have to go, Commissioner.  I will consult with the Administrative Committee on this.  We will advise of our decision this afternoon.”

“Thank you, Administrator.  Very much.”

Valen’s voice dropped to little more than a whisper. 
“No more chances, Charles.  No more warnings.  Stop this uprising or
the Consortium will be nothing but a memory to you.”

The call terminated and Prazor was left staring at the screen, where the video feed showed emergency crews still milling around on Level Forty-Two.

Prazor reached out for his tea, and this time his fingers closed around the handle.  He drew it to his lips and took a sip.

He still had no idea what to do from here.

5

Talia hefted the terminal screen and carried it along the corridor toward the surveillance room.  She’d been lugging gear around the new Skybreach headquarters all morning and now she was glistening with sweat.  There were unsightly damp patches under her armpits and down her back, and even her palms had become slick, making her job all the more difficult.

Don’t they have air-conditioning in the Reach?
she thought idly, tightening her grip on the terminal.

A tall man with broad shoulders stood slouched against the wall, idly playing with his holophone.  His sizeable belly jutted out into the corridor, and as Talia approached he made no attempt to make way.