Page 66 of Enthraller

Which begged the question, last chance at what?

Everything pointed to this being a plot conceived by the former Core Companies of the breakaway planets. They were adrift now, could call no place home since the VSC had assertedtheir control of Garmen and Lassa and were actively seeking the old company directors for a long list of crimes. They’d since tried to interfere on Faldine, and even on Fynian, but both of those were peripheral planets or moons, vassals rather than major VSC planets.

Aponi was a major VSC planet.

But it was also the most remote, and the closest to Caruso, the planet most hostile to the VSC, and who the Core Company executives had definitely made a bargain with before, when they’d held control over Garmen and Lassa.

If they were going to go big, and try to grab a VSC planet, Aponi was the obvious target.

And damned if he would stand for that.

He’d lost his home planet once before. He wasn’t going to lose another.

The man they were trailing walked down two flights of stairs and then stepped out onto the mezzanine level, taking the massive escalator down to street level.

He was in a hurry, which made Ed hope he was off to report his findings to his handler.

He only walked a short way down the street, less than a block from the Gate, and then crossed the road and entered a small cafe. Ed took Wren’s hand, giving it a happy swing as if they had all the time in the world as they crossed after him, and then slowed to a stop near the entrance.

Wren bent as if to tie her boot lace, and when she straightened she shook her head. “It’s too small of a place for us to go in after him. He’ll see us.”

Ed shifted, had a look himself. He was glad they only had their bags, and he’d left the Guan scanner in the secret passageway. It was unique enough that it would have drawn far too much unwanted attention.

Their quarry was standing at a counter, talking to someone, and then he turned and headed back out.

“I’ll watch what happens here, you follow him,” Wren murmured as they turned their back and slowly walked away, heads together, as the man ran back across the road.

Ed didn’t want to separate, but he accepted this was the logical course of action.

“Meet back at the house,” he said, bending to give her a quick, hard kiss, and then he turned and jogged across the road, keeping the man in view.

When he glanced back, almost reflexively, Wren was gone.

She was so far from helpless, he forced himself to focus on what was in front of him, and he came to the decision that it wasn’t going to work to let this traitor go back into the office, as it appeared he was planning to do.

That would be more time wasted, more time treading water. More danger of exposure.

This asshole was going to tell Ed what was going on. Right now.

He took a few bigger strides, which got him level to his man, and then he put an arm around him and shoved him into the narrow alley that ran between the Gate and the building next to it.

The man had let out a strange squeak when Ed made his move, and now he looked down at the laz Ed held at his throat and back up with very big eyes.

“You’ve come to my interest,” Ed told him. “Hunting for notes in Velda Shanïha’s office and talking about how she’s been taken out, along with Ethan Hyt, will do that.”

“How . . .?” he could barely get the word out.

“Velda is a suspicious sort. Do you think she didn’t set eyes and ears in her own office before she left?”

He blinked rapidly, as if suddenly realizing the depth of his trouble. “I was caught oncomms feed?”

“Oh yes.” Ed gave him a slow smile, wishing he really was on comms feed, but making him think he was was almost as satisfying.

“I’m . . . done.” He looked around wildly, as if he expected to be murdered any moment.

“Depends what your understanding of done is,” Ed told him. “Banks, the head of maintenance on the observatory, was killed by a nearspace laser strike at Demeter’s hover port. I think your friends tried to do the same to Velda Shanïha and Ethan Hyt, didn’t they? That would be too easy an end for you, in my opinion. Imagining you locked up for the rest of your life will do for me.”

“Locked . . .” The man looked like he was going to faint. “I thought . . .” He swallowed. “You think I’m a traitor?”

---