The Thousand Emperors

<Our conversation is private,> de Almeida continued, guessing why he was suddenly reluctant to respond. She was looking in the other direction from him now, towards the shattered window. <Neither Cheng nor Cripps will know we’re scripting, unless I tell them or you make it obvious. Now tell me if you agree with my conclusion.>

<It could have been faked,> Luc sent back, turning the device over in his hands. <That doesn’t mean it was.>

The casing had been crudely soldered, as if it had been built in a hurry. In that respect it was entirely unlike similar devices he had encountered in the past, which had been more sophisticated in appearance, often indistinguishable from commercial CogNet units.

‘Do we know for a fact that Falla killed himself ?’

Luc glanced up. De Almeida had directed her question at Cripps.

<I think it’s fairly evident he did precisely that rather than be caught,> Cripps scripted back to her.

<Speak out loud,> de Almeida sent back. <Let Gabion hear you, or switch to open broadcast.>

<I don’t think I—>

‘If you will, Bailey,’ Cheng commented.

Cripps looked like he’d eaten something sour. ‘Clearly Falla killed himself,’ he said out loud. ‘He must have had a tip-off that SecInt were on their way here.’

Luc stepped across to the shattered window at the room’s far end and looked out. The ground was an unpleasantly long way down.

‘But a tip-off from who?’ asked Luc, stepping back from the window.

‘Black Lotus, of course,’ Cripps barked. ‘He decided to end his life rather than face punishment for his actions.’

‘Or possibly, someone connected to Black Lotus made that decision for him,’ suggested Cheng. ‘It would certainly make it harder to track down whomever was responsible for giving him his orders.’

‘It’s looking very open and shut to me,’ Cripps declared. ‘His connections with Black Lotus are extensively documented.’

‘Finding that device doesn’t prove he killed Vasili, let alone somehow found his way through the Hall of Gates!’ de Almeida protested.

‘No,’ said Cheng, ‘but that machine’s own internal records strongly suggest he did.’

‘Those records,’ she said through clenched teeth, ‘could have been faked.’

‘Oh no, Zelia,’ said Cripps, one corner of his mouth curling up. ‘On the contrary, I already checked the White Palace’s own security records. I found anomalies in them, corresponding to the times and dates inside Falla’s crude little toy.’

‘But why on Earth would Black Lotus want him to kill Vasili?’ she demanded.

Cripps regarded her with a pained expression, as if confronted by an imbecile. ‘Surely, Zelia, that should be clear. This was a tit-for-tat move, a strike against the Council in return for Winchell Antonov’s death. As far as I’m concerned, you can stop playing detective now. We’ll arrange an immediate inquest and have a decision based on the evidence within the next few days. After that, we can concern ourselves with other questions – such as who might have helped Falla carry out his crime.’

‘Wait a minute,’ said de Almeida. ‘Are you telling me that you think Vasili was killed as revenge for our stopping Antonov? He hasn’t been at the heart of Council politics for more than a century. What would be the point? You, on the other hand,’ she said, practically spitting the words at Cripps, ‘would make a far more worthwhile target, especially since you spend so much of your time away from Vanaheim. Why, if Falla found it so easy to pass through the Hall of Gates, would he fly halfway around Vanaheim just to kill a minor and half-forgotten member of the Eighty-Five, when he could have stuck around Liebenau and killed someone a lot more important?’

Cripps shrugged. ‘You heard Joe: there’ll be an enquiry to figure out the hows and the whys. Right now the most appalling thing about all this is that it’s all so easily preventable.’ His voice began to rise. ‘That means someone hasn’t been doing their job, Zelia. If they had, Sevgeny might still be alive today.’

‘If it were to become publicly known that the architect of the Reunification was murdered in his own home,’ said Cheng, ‘it would be a major propaganda coup for Black Lotus and their supporters, and there are still plenty of those left. I’ve already made it clear that this is unacceptable. Instead of questioning Bailey’s hard work, Zelia, perhaps you should try and find out how it is your vaunted security systems failed to prevent a lone agent, acting with the minimum of support, from entering our sanctuary and killing one of our own like a dog. If it hadn’t been for Bailey’s swift and decisive action here, Falla might have lived to do much worse things than what he so very clearly did to poor Sevgeny.’

Luc watched de Almeida closely, noting the stricken look on her face. ‘I want to see the evidence for myself,’ she spat, but Luc could see she was shaken. ‘I have that right.’

‘You’ll see it,’ said Cripps, regarding her with a smile. ‘I’ll be happy to release the complete details of my investigation to you at the appropriate time.’ <I’m afraid the evidence still won’t reflect well on your security arrangements, Zelia. I’m sorry to have to tell you that.>

<I’m sure you managed to find a way to deal with the pain,> she shot back.