The Impossible Future: Complete set by Frank Kennedy (mini ebook reader .txt) 📕

Admiralty fifteen years ago. He was a colonial fleet admiral until he was transferred to the GPM six months ago.”

“Oh my god. If this ever got out, he’d be ruined.”

“More than that, Samantha. He’d be publicly executed and his descendancy stripped of all title. Something of this magnitude, they’d be banished to live among the indigos. The worst possible judgment for Chancellors. He’ll kill thousands of innocents to protect this. But Finnegan uncovered it. My dear Mr. Moss.”

Sam had often asked for miracles, but one never dropped into her lap quite like this. Was there no honor anywhere in the Guard?

She tapped her amp.

“Are you still there?”

Lucinda Blanche and Ezekiel Mollett, her Americus Presidium allies who had been watching and listening on circastream since her team attacked the Moss compound, spoke over each other.

“Unbelievable … astounding … will destroy the Admiralty.”

“So,” she asked them, “are you ready to take action now?”

No longer did they speak with cautious pragmatism.

“I’m sure we can bring Coronado and Vancouver together on this,” Lucinda said. “Perhaps even a few more.”

“The question is one of method,” Ezekiel said. “We can arrange direct confrontation at the GPM or release it through the public streams and rely on Chancellor rage to finish the job.”

Samantha turned to David. “If these documents are released, every family who benefited from Artemis will be exposed as well.”

“Yes, they will.”

“The civil war will only grow worse.”

“Yes, I would think so. I’m not sure the Chancellory could recover from this.”

“Agreed,” Lucinda and Ezekiel said together.

“Then we’ve got no choice,” she told them. “We go to the GPM tonight. No warning. If he refuses to see us, we pass along a one-word message: Artemis.”

“And if he decides to have us killed on the spot?” Lucinda said.

She turned to David. “Then we go nuclear. David here makes it all public. It’ll be ugly, but at least everything will be out in the open. Maybe this invasion can be stopped. Maybe we can save Michael and all those other Solomons out there fighting and dying for their rights. Either way, we can’t be like other Chancellors and just hide in the shadows. We come at Grandover and Marsche head-on.”

Ezekiel agreed then added something else.

“My grandfather believes in luck. Says his whole life was built on it. Maybe he’s right because damned if we didn’t stumble into a heaping pile of it tonight. Lucinda and I will bring in our contacts and arrange transport. I know a couple of officers inside the GPM. They might still take my stream.”

“Thank you both.” She closed the circastream and tapped her amp. “Capt. Doltrice, I need you in the observatory. Hurry.”

She knew the head of her mercenary strike team was not going to like her proposal, so she planned to up their pay ten percent.

“David, is there any way you can warn Finnegan without that bitch catching on?”

“Of course. I can plant a message on his admin stack. But he has taken enormous precautions over there. He turned off his notifier protocols. It’s currently three in the morning there. He won’t be aware of the message until after he’s awake, and even then, he’ll make sure Celia is nowhere close by.”

“But … how did he transmit so much data without her knowing?”

“Like I said earlier, he forwards it through a Solomon.”

“OK. Can we contact that person instead?”

“No. He’s never told me a name. Only that it’s a woman with considerable access to Celia. She’s above reproach, as far as Celia is concerned. No suspicion of her true allegiance.”

“We need him back, David. Just like I need Michael back home. If we take down Grandover and Marsche but lose Finnegan and Michael, what difference will any of it make?”

“I’ll do what I can, Samantha.”

Capt. Doltrice arrived promptly, but his sense of urgency suggested he was already on his way when Sam contacted him.

“Ms. Pynn, Mr. Ellstrom, we have a disturbance on the grounds. Unidentified forces, twenty altogether, heavily armed, approaching on rifters. They broke through before we restored the security cascade.”

Sam knew her luck was too good to last. “What do they want?”

David nodded. “Probably for no one to leave this compound. Ever.”

53

Marsche Compound

Ericsson Fjord, Scandinavian Consortium

 

C ELIA MARSCHE HAD NO PATIENCE for rule-breakers. In this case, the rule she levied upon Finnegan Moss: As long as I am in bed, you will lie next to me. For him to leave in the middle of the night was more than a little disturbing. When she realized he was not using the toilet, she contained her annoyance, slipped on her shoes, and threw on her robe. She expected a damn good reason for his absence.

The house was silent until she ventured two levels down and neared the kitchen. She heard whispers. What conspiracy is this?

She held back in the doorway as Finnegan carried a cup of café to the picture window, which offered a spectacular eastern view. At the moment, however, darkness shrouded the fjord. He was dressed for the day. How did she not hear him?

Ester Chernik, her handmaid, cut a breakfast cake and set it out on a small platter. Ester wore her pre-duty robe and a head wrap, her normal attire for setting up the kitchen long before Celia’s morning arrival.

To her irritation, Celia caught them in a moment of silence. Finnegan sipped café as if in contemplation. But then, for just a few seconds, Celia saw their connection. Their stare was brief and innocent, the only two people up and about so early. And yet …

She stuffed her paranoia for now and entered.

“And what, my lonely dearest, are you doing here at three past?”

Finnegan seemed unfazed, sipping casually as he swiveled about, although Ester jumped back a half-step.

“Miss.” She