and even DesPlainians had limits on the speeds with which they could react.
The two bodies crashed heavily against the down side of the station’s outer wall.
Although the padding within their armor absorbed much of the blow, the shock was still
too great for their systems to handle easily. The agents were knocked unconscious and
lay pinioned under the crushing weight of their own bodies and armor.
Safe and snug in the center of her mechanical spiderweb, Tanya Boros grinned. Although
the last report she’d gotten had said that Agents Wombat and Periwinkle had been
captured, she had little doubt that this assault on her station had been made by them.
Even though the attack had been totally unexpected, the battle station had reacted as it
had been designed to react. Lady A would be pleased that this latest addition to her
arsenal functioned perfectly.
And in the meantime, Tanya Boros would have the excitement of conducting an
interrogation personally. She had a lot of scores to settle with Agent Wombat.
Chapter 10 New Ally, Old Adversary
Helena and her comrade from the Circus, Luise deForrest, faced a dilemma: What
should they do with the captured Captain Fortier? They couldn’t let him go, but at the
same time they didn’t want to breach the Circus’ cover by bringing him back there. Even
though Fortier’s loyalty to the Empire was unquestioned, it was bad policy to let too
many people know of the Circus’ connection with SOTE.
Helena thought of a compromise. She checked into a small hotel and Luise brought
Fortier up to the room via the back entrance. From there they placed a call to Duke
Etienne explaining the situation, and he agreed to come at once to find out more details.
While waiting for the Duke to arrive, Helena had more chance to converse with the
prisoner. She wanted very much to hate him because of what had happened to her
father, but found she could not. For one thing, she knew the captain was honest,
intelligent, and doing his duty to the Empire as he understood it. Helena had to admit that
if she’d been the one to discover the evidence against her father, she might very well
have turned him in herself. More important, Helena thought Paul Fortier a very attractive
man. He was short and muscular, with a handsome face, dark hair, brown eyes, and a
pencil-thin mustache. She remembered reading his personnel dossier after the
Coronation Day Incursion; while his family was of DesPlainian origin, the last few
generations had lived on one-gee worlds and so did not have quite the strength or
reflexes of the true DesPlainians. She also remembered he was single-a fact she’d noted
at the time, and which now popped into her memory with disturbing ease. Watching him
lying on the bed across the room from her, she suddenly found herself thinking very
unprofessional thoughts.
Angry with herself, she pushed those thoughts from her mind to concentrate on the
business at hand. “Why did you come here, Captain?” she asked in as neutral a tone as
she could muster.
“I should think that would be obvious,” he replied just as coolly. “I wanted to take you
back.”
“But you’ve been following me for two days. Why didn’t you just grab me and pull me in?”
“I wanted to see if you’d lead me to anyone else.” Helena stood up and wandered around
the room, deliberately turning her back on him. Luise was keeping watch to make sure he
made no sudden moves, but she stayed discreetly out of the conversation.
“Despite what you think,” Helena said after a moment, “I’m not a traitor. The only reason
I escaped was to find some friends and clear my father’s name. I know he was innocent.
”
“If he was, no one is sorrier about his death than I am,” Fortier said quietly.
“You’re just saying that because I have you here at gunpoint. ”
“It’s the truth. You and your friend could have killed me there on the street when you had
the chance, but you didn’t; I have to think that speaks of good intentions. You could have
killed several of my officers while you were escaping from the Anna Libeling, but you
didn’t do that either. Your behavior isn’t what I’d expect from a deadly enemy of the
Empire.”
Helena’s fists were tightly clenched. “Nevertheless, my father is dead.”
Fortier paused and took a deep breath. “That’s not my doing. After you escaped, I
reported back to Luna Base and was told to bring your father to Earth for interrogation. I
handed him over and that’s the last I saw of him. I was ordered to try to track you down,
so I came here. It occurred to me you might want to check out my story for yourself, and
this was the natural place to do it. I heard about your father’s execution in the newsrolls,
the same as everyone else. It was the Empress who decided he should die; you’ll have
to blame her for that.”
It didn’t soothe Helena to realize that Fortier was absolutely right. Edna Stanley held the
ultimate authority in that matter, and the execution could not have taken place without her
express consent. Sometime in the future, if-no, when-her innocence was re-established,
Helena knew she’d have to confront her lifelong friend about the horrible murder of a
good and loyal man. The prospect did not appeal to her.
The conversation was interrupted by the arrival of Duke Etienne. The Circus’ manager
had come disguised so Fortier couldn’t recognize him; since Luise never made public
appearances without heavy clown makeup, Fortier couldn’t associate her face with the
Circus either. The Circus’ cover remained unbroken.
“Well, young man,” Etienne said to the prisoner, “you’ve made quite a name for yourself.
I’m sorry we had to meet under such tragic circumstances.”
“I didn’t realize I was that famous,” Fortier said. “Your. recent exploits have been justly
renowned in certain official circles,” the Duke told him, putting just enough emphasis in his
voice to make his meaning unmistakable. “I even have a very personal reason to be im-
mensely grateful to you-a reason which, for security’s sake, I can’t explain right now.”
Indeed he did. Not only had Captain Fortier saved the Empire at the time of the
Coronation Day incursion, he had also saved the life of the Duke’s daughter Yvette.
“Please accept my assurance,” Etienne continued, “that you are among friends here.”
“I’d find it easier to believe that if that lady didn’t have her stunner pointed at me all the
time,” Fortier said dryly. The Duke nodded at Luise. “Put the gun away,” he said. “We
don’t need it anymore. Captain Fortier will remain with us of his own accord. I even
suspect, when I tell him my little story, he’ll volunteer to help us.”
Fortier leaned forward on the bed. “You intrigue me, Gospodin. Please continue.”
Etienne d’Alembert sat across from the naval officer, watching his face intently. “When
Helena came to me for help, she told me your story of the investigation leading to her
father’s arrest. I have, in my time, performed services for the Empire along those same
lines, and I respect your efforts. Nonetheless, something in what you’d said raised my
suspicions-something you knew nothing about since it was well before your time. It was
that something which brought me here to Durward. ”
“The unfinished business with Elsa Helmund?” Fortier ventured.
“Only peripherally. I suspect Elsa Helmund is an unimportant piece of the entire picture,
merely a device to lure you from Lateesta to Preis. Something you reported about her,
though, interested me greatly. You said you first became suspicious when you saw the
necklace she was wearing: an integrated circuit chip on a golden chain.”
“Yes,” Fortier said. “I’d been told that some members of a certain conspiracy wore such
things as identification symbols.
“That was my information, too,” Etienne agreed. “Have you heard of Duke Fyodor Paskoi
of the planet Kolokov?” Fortier searched his memory. “I think . . . A couple of years ago,
wasn’t it? Something about treason. The planet reverted to the throne and a new Duke
was appointed. I’m afraid I don’t remember any of the details; I wasn’t involved with it in
any way.”
“No reason why you should remember. I, however, was involved with it in a large way, as
was the young lady who’d just been pointing her stunner at you. When I first met Duke
Fyodor, he was wearing an identical chain around his own neck.”
“I guess that stands to reason.”
“Much more to the point,” the Duke went on, “I thought at the time that I’d seen such a
necklace before, but I couldn’t remember where or when. The memory did not come to
me instantly and I quickly became embroiled with other matters, so I didn’t worry about it
again until the story of Elsa Helmund made me think of it. In the past few days I have