“Not the way a politician would be, but the stories about them made them notorious. Here on Charlton, at least. Well, Blake was notorious. Captain Santiago has always been unique and that makes him noticeable. Blake, though, was a…” Barney wrinkled his nose. “A professional, ethical blackmailer.”
Lucie blinked. “How can you be ethical if you’re breaking the law?”
“Depends on the law you’re breaking,” Barney said with a bland tone. “A lot of this came out after Blake disappeared. Sheblackmailed…well, creeps. The morally corrupt. Lawbreakers. The money she got from them, she used to correct anything they’d tampered with. Trust funds for new orphans, new IDs, new lives for some. Even a new body, once.”
Lucie drew in a slow breath. “She righted wrongs.” She shook her head. “Ethical blackmail.” She frowned. “But…that means Santiago was…corrupt? You said they were enemies.”
“Of a sort. Ship’s Captain and fleet owner is Captain Santiago’s fifth or sixth major lifestyle choice. Sometime before that, though, he was an investigator.”
“What is that?”
Barney shrugged. “If he were working freelance, he’d have been called a bounty hunter. But he was employed by the city. ‘Investigator’ was his official title. Essentially, he tracked down criminals and brought them to the Forum for justice.”
Charlton City’s trials were famous across the known worlds. They had invented trials where the guilt or innocence of the accused was decided byeveryone. And everyone got to decide what the punishment would be, if the accused was found guilty.Includingthe accused—who got to nominate their punishment while everyone else voted on it. It was said the true extent of a criminal’s remorse was measured by the punishment they suggested. And, often, those judging him would choose a lighter punishment, if that remorse was detected.
“Charlton City employed Santiago?” Lucia asked. “Were you the city computer then, Barney?”
He shook his head. “My predecessor. She’s a Varkan now.”
“Not Yennifer?”
“There have been three of us since Yennifer gave up her commission,” Barney said. “Shoulda been more, but the city just won’t let us go. I’m a prisoner, you know.”
Lucie rolled her eyes. “So Santiago was paid to go and find Blake…and he did?”
“Nah. She was a moving target. Rumors of her everywhere, but when he got there…poof!” Barney spread his fingertips, imitating a cloud dispersing. “Everyone thinks they never actually met until the big showdown, but they did, you know.” His voice was secretive. “She found him. On the polar caps of Nicia.”
“Why would she look forhim?” Lucie asked.
Barney looked both ways, then leaned forward.
So did Lucie.
“Let me show you.” Barney reached for something out of view of the “camera”, then video footage took over the screen.
It showed an octagonal room with windows for walls and roof. Beyond the room was miles of polar ice. Snow whipped across the landscape, driven by frigid winds. In the distance, a herd of some lumbering mammalian-type animal with shaggy grey fur and plenty of body fat, were trudging across the landscape, their heads down, moving in a great body for warmth and protection.
Inside the room, a firepit crackled cheerfully. Around the central fireplace were tables and chairs. A restaurant. A popular one, for all the tables were occupied.
A range and zoom finder popped up on the screen, and zoomed in, while the view panned. The table the feed focused upon had a single diner. Elijah Santiago.
He looked little different from the man Lucie had met today, except that the hard lines around his mouth and eyes were not there. He was eating a solitary meal, and pausing to sip what Lucie guessed was wine. She wrinkled her nose. She had never got used to the strange bite of wine on her tongue. She didn’t understand why humans were so in love with it. True wine afficionados could talk about wine for hours, and always, they bemoaned the loss of Soward to the Periglus. Soward, where the very best wine grapes had grown.
Santiago did not look particularly happy as he ate. Both the eating and the drinking appeared to be mechanical, as if his mind was far away.
He looked up sharply as someone approached the table, their backs to the security eye. The woman slid onto the seat opposite Santiago, as he reached under the table with a jerky movement.
“Oh, don’t be stupid, Santiago,” Blake Bloodworth said, laying her hands flat on the table. Her voice wavered, filtered through the noise of diners speaking, the clatter of dishes and utensils. Then the aural focus dialed itself in to match the view focus, the scale rotating in a little circle on the screen, then disappearing. Blake’s voice was crystal clear as she added, “I’m not armed. I just want to talk.”
Santiago sat back, appearing to relax. His fist rested on his thigh, though. With the other hand, he reached for his wine. “Blake Bloodworth. You’re slipping. I’ve been three days behind you for weeks. Now we’re both on the same planet at the same time.”
“By intention,” Blake said, rolling her eyes. “This has to stop, Santiago. You’re scaring away my business.” Her hair, Lucie noted,wasshort. And auburn, with a wave that made the ends curl up.
Apparently, even Blake Bloodworth hadn’t been able to control her curls.
Santiago showed white, even teeth. “As I’m here to arrest you and take you back to Charlton City to stand trial, the fortunes of your business are irrelevant to me.”
“You’re too well known, Santiago,” Blake said. “Everyone knows when you’ve arrived on their world and all the criminals and those who don’t want your attention all take a dive and make themselves impossible to find, or they head off-planet, like rats leaving a ship.”
