With a bit of a chemical additive from one of his other business ventures and a bit of a lure of the sort Harakamian was well known to covet, this was the perfect bait. If anyone knew where the unicorn girl and her kin were going, or how to find the planet where all of those magical horns on the hoof lived, it would be Harakamian.
With the right messenger, the right bait, and-ah, the properly dramatically delivered tale surrounding the gift-not too much, of course, just enough to lead the rival in the right direction Harakamian was quite likely to be concerned enough for the welfare of his ward to wish to personally check on her welfare. And where Harakamian could go, so could Ganoosh. Or Kisla. Dear little Kisia, who soooo needed to be healed from the death of her beloved parents and who would not hesitate to murder each and every unicorn person while they slept.
Nadhari Kando showered and dressed in fatigues prior to reviewing her troops. As the sonic waves cleansed her skin of sweat and sex she felt the need to be cleansed of something else as well. Edacki Ganoosh, hmm? Now, what would he be calling Ikkyfor?
Ganoosh was not in the same league with the Piper-at least, not while Manjari had been alive-and the investigation into the child labor and sex industry businesses hadn’t turned up anything conclusive linking Ganoosh’s businesses to Manjaris. But he was the appointed guardian of Manjari’s adopted daughter, twisted little piece that she was. He also controlled the few legitimate enterprises the council had allowed Kisla Manjari to retain for her maintenance, as they had been very meticulous about not punishing the child for the sins of her adopted parents.
And now he was calling Ikky on private business. This didn’t sound good for the hopes she had had for the general. She shook her head at her own foolishness. He was a goodlooking man, fit and steely like herself and well able for the games she enjoyed. Bedding down “with him, to use the term loosely, was a bit like a good day in battle, kept the body honed and the wits sharp. But she had felt, as she twisted his arm to join the forces of Li and Harakamian in battling the Khieevi, that he had taken some pleasure in helping the comparatively defenseless settlers of Rushima. Of being a good guy for a change, or at least of working for the good guys -who were for once the highest bidders. It was that, more than the blackmail or his attractiveness, which had made their fling turn into more of an alliance.
She’d known he was getting restless, though, and from the men she had heard some things she didn’t particularly like. She had been, in fact, thinking for the last couple of days of bailing out.
She bloused her trousers in her boots and took the back way down to the quadrangle where her men would be waiting. The corn suite was on the way. She thought it might be wise to leave a message with the kids on Maganos and maybe Harakamian’s security forces as well, asking them to check for new activity on Ganoosh’s part.
But as she drew level with the door to the communications suite, she heard Ikky’s voice. One thing about being a CO. Your voice did tend to carry after all those years of barking orders.
“What I want you to do,” Ikky was saying, “is go back into our banks. Find the signals we received from that Linyaari ship when we were all on Rushima, up against the bugs. Isolate their signal, analyze it, and send word to our allies to do the same thing, and so forth, until they find it again.”
“And once they find it, sir?”
“Jam it from going any further then track it to its source. Keep me posted and when we have contact, I’ll issue further orders.”
“Very good, sir.”
Nadhari managed to be well down the long corridor before Ikky entered the hallway himself, but she felt his eyes between her shoulder blades and she knew he would know that she had heard. Normal people, maybe, wouldn’t jump to such conclusions. But she and Ikky were trained by the same people and they thought very much alike. He knew. She had to make an effort not to stiffen, waiting for him to call after her, or even shoot her, perhaps, though that was less likely. But what he did was reenter the corn shed.