Kryshevski looked at him sharply. ” `Under the circumstances,’ ” he repeated. “The circumstances being that you won’t make a fuss about command of the Princess Cecile going to somebody else. That’s what you’re saying, isn’t it?”
“I wouldn’t want to put it that way, sir,” said Daniel. “But you can assure Admiral Ingreit that I have no intention of objecting to his choice of officers for any ship under his command. The Princess Cecile included, of course.”
“You are a smart little bugger, aren’t you?” Kryshevski said. There was admiration in his tone. “Well, I guess I shouldn’t wonder that Speaker Leary’s son knows that politics is the art of the possible.”
Daniel smiled without real humor. “The driver is my old servant,” he said. “He taught me to play cards, among other things. And he certainly taught me not to overplay my hand.”
“I’ll see what I can do,” Kryshevski said. “Between us, I don’t think your friend needs to worry about her share. They’ll rescind the grant on Cinnabar, but it’ll be valid for the period in question.”
He sighed. “There’s a school of thought,” he went on, looking toward the compartment’s blank front panel, “that says an officer clever enough to capture a corvette is likely clever enough to command her. Especially when he’s already been clever enough to destroy an Alliance cruiser.”
“The Bremse was Ms. Mundy’s doing, not mine,” Daniel said quietly. “I was very lucky to have her under my command.”
Kryshevski shook his head. “Speaker Leary’s son and a Mundy of Chatsworth,” he said. “He’ll have kittens when he finds out, won’t he?”
“I don’t see my father very often these days, sir,” Daniel said in what was for him a cold tone. “I don’t think he has much opinion on naval matters, and my relations with Ms. Mundy are entirely a naval matter.”
The jitney stopped. Hogg opened the door on Kryshevski’s side.
Kryshevski paused. “It wouldn’t be to your advantage if word that you met me got out,” he said.
“I’m aware of that, sir,” Daniel said. “I don’t think there’s any chance of that occurring.”
Kryshevski stepped down. Hogg bowed to him and said, “There’s some loose bricks on the right in the ceiling of the passageway to Ms. O’Sullivan’s. You’d be wiser to chance the puddle on the left instead of getting brained trying to arrive with dry shoes.”
Kryshevski handed Hogg a tip that made his eyebrows lift with pleasure. He was laughing as he entered the gateway.
* * ** * *
When the footsteps didn’t stop at the first door beyond the head of the stairs, Adele realized the visitor was coming for her. The man in the second room down the hallway worked nights, and the woman in the remaining room would only be returning at this hour if she had a client. The person coming was alone.
Adele took out her pistol and laid it on the desk at which she sat facing the door.
The knock was discreet. “Yes?” Adele said without getting up.
“My name is Sand, mistress,” replied the voice of a woman with a cultured Cinnabar accent. “I’d be grateful for a few minutes of your time.”
Adele considered the situation. She’d returned to the apartment she’d lived in before the coup because she had nowhere else to go. She still had nowhere to go.
“Come in,” Adele said. She’d known someone would come. She’d expected more than one person, but she hadn’t expected them quite so soon. “The door isn’t locked.”
The door opened. Sand was about sixty years old. She wore a long cloak and shoes that seemed unobtrusive unless you realized what they must have cost. She was heavy, though not quite what even Adele’s lack of charity would call fat.
“I appreciate your seeing me,” Sand said, sounding sincere. “I regret the hour, but I came as soon as I could.”
“You came from Elphinstone,” Adele said. Her lips smiled. “Let me rephrase that: Elphinstone works for you.”
She didn’t suggest her visitor sit down. The room’s only chair was the one in which Adele herself sat anyway.
Sand laughed and seated herself on the edge of the low bed. “Commander Elphinstone most certainly does not work for me,” she said. “He’s a naval officer. Wonderful fellows in their place, naval officers. Rock-solid, straightforward people, crucial to the survival of the Republic. Unfortunately . . .”