‘Then we’re going to need to look very different.’
‘We know,’ Morag said.
‘We need to put together a list of everything we need,’ I said. I’d started one in my internal systems.
‘We have. We’ve given it to Sharcroft. He said he’d take care of the resources side,’ Morag said smugly.
‘Then we need to ignore it and set up another one, get way too much money from Sharcroft and buy multiples of each item we need,’ I told her.
I was trying not to turn this into one-upmanship, mainly because I didn’t want to get hit. Morag looked at Pagan uncertainly.
‘He’s probably right,’ Pagan eventually admitted.
‘And Pagan, you should know better. Particularly as I’m betting it’s what Rannu did.’ Pagan nodded a little sheepishly. ‘We also need a place to pick it up which is not heavily watched over by the almighty. Speaking of which, any information on Cabal agents? Anything we have to watch out for while we’re shopping?’
At this Pagan looked exasperated.
‘Sharcroft’s not been particularly open about this,’ he said.
‘Let me guess – operational security?’ I asked.
Pagan nodded. ‘From what we’ve managed to garner, there was a purge based on what he knew, but some of them got away. I think he’s also playing counter-intelligence games with them.’
That wasn’t what I wanted to hear. I wanted something more direct and final. I didn’t think we could afford to play around like that, but then I’d never had the patience for intelligence games.
‘The problem is he’s too much of an old-fashioned spy, or rather too much of an old-fashioned spymaster,’ Pagan finished.
‘Well, we may need to show him the difference between operational security and what he’s running the operation for in the first place.’ So we could do our job. We were also going to have to dissuade him from constantly trying to bug our gear. Though we’d still need to continue checking it.
‘Infiltration?’ I asked. At this Pagan looked a little uncomfortable.
‘OILO,’ he said. He wouldn’t meet my eyes.
‘Into high G? Are you fucking nuts?’
‘Cool,’ Mudge said.
‘Look, I know rock-ape combat air controllers live for this shit, but it’s fucking dangerous at the best of times. What are you doing – reliving past glories?’
Pagan shrugged. I think he knew Orbital Insertion Low Opening was mad. ‘Can you think of a better way?’
Now I had to admit that he was right.
‘I don’t want to die in space,’ I muttered to myself.
‘You are such a fucking pussy,’ Mudge told me. I nodded.
‘How do we get there?’ I was unhappy and trying to change the subject.
‘NSA frigate, stealth bird,’ Pagan told me. I was already shaking my head. Pagan was starting to look a little put out. ‘Then what?’
‘Smuggler, a good one. We need to control as much of this as we can and take as much of it away from Sharcroft as possible.’ For this mission there was no such thing as paranoid. Pagan looked like he was about to argue but didn’t. ‘We need more shooters,’ I said.
‘Well, we’ve been looking for replacements for you,’ Morag said. I smiled at her but with the best will in the world she was not going to know as much as us about the special forces community.
‘I’ve been thinking about that, since you mention it,’ Mudge said.
‘In your state of mind? We’re not taking any dragons or talking goldfish,’ I told him.
‘Very fucking funny.’
‘We got a list from Sharcroft of active and inactive members of the community. A bit of a risk, but everyone I know is past it,’ Pagan said and ran his fingers over the monitor’s touch screen, opening the file. Mudge and I just looked at him. ‘I’m not,’ he added defensively.
‘I’ve had an idea,’ Morag said, and we didn’t mean to ignore her exactly.
‘Harry in Blue Troop,’ Mudge suggested. I took the monitor from Pagan and input Harry’s full name. He’d been a good soldier and was easy to get on with.
‘Dead,’ I told Mudge.
‘Yeah? Where?’
‘Sirius, two weeks after we shipped out.’
‘Them?’
‘No, accident. Looks like a mech stood on him.’
‘Fucking cavalry,’ Mudge said, shaking his head. ‘What about Crazy Shirley?’
‘What, that lunatic from the Special Reconnaissance Regiment? Wasn’t she the only girl you ever slept with?’ I asked.
At the time I wasn’t sure why Morag was looking so pissed off but even she turned and looked at Mudge askance.
‘You have to understand she’s really butch,’ Mudge said defensively. ‘She took me.’
‘Too much information,’ Pagan told him.
I’d finally remembered her proper name and found her on the list.
‘Still there, so we’ll be fighting her,’ I said.
‘Shit,’ Mudge said sadly. ‘What about Toadstool?’
‘As a source for drugs?’ I asked but checked. ‘Dead. Overdose.’
‘Fuck. Combine?’
‘The American guy?’
‘Yes, an American,’ Morag said, but we were distracted.
‘Dead. Orbital strike,’ I told Mudge.
‘Boom-Boom?’
‘Dead. Shot down in an assault shuttle.’
‘Did you know anyone with a proper name?’ Morag asked acidly.
A frightening amount of the people I knew vaguely or by reputation were either dead or still in theatre. That meant they were now working for Rolleston and Cronin. A few that we came across had been ‘tasked’, which I guess meant that they were doing the same sort of stupid thing as we were. This went on for a while until I saw the dawning of an idea spread over Mudge’s face.
‘I’ve had an awesome thought,’ he said. I looked at him expectantly. ‘Vladimir.’ He was grinning.
‘He’s a fucking lunatic. Maybe more so than Balor,’ I said, though despite myself I could see the appeal of it. The Spetsnaz warewolf was a good fighter and his insanity might actually be a boon. ‘He’s an officer. Do you think he’ll play along?’ I was checking the list to see if it carried info on Russian special forces. It did but it was sparser.
‘Yeah, if we pay him in cooking ethanol or something.’
I was pleasantly surprised to find Vladimir in the list. There was a link to the rest of the Vucari. They weren’t in theatre, which was a relief. They were however tasked. I was getting tired of this.
‘They’re off dying somewhere else,’ I told Mudge.
He looked crestfallen. On the plus side, I could imagine the Vucari making the Black Squadrons utterly miserable before they got caught. I didn’t like to think about the cost for the poor bastards who got caught in the middle but I hoped the Russians got to eat a few of the true believers.
I pinched the bridge of my nose between my thumb and forefinger tiredly and put the monitor down.
‘Finished your little trip down squaddie memory lane?’ Morag asked testily. I couldn’t quite work out how we’d managed to piss her off this time.
‘Hey!’ I started. That wasn’t fair. We’d discovered that we’d lost some people we knew. Mind you, we were used to that.
‘I’ve had an idea,’ she said through clenched teeth.
Pagan seemed to be in a world of his own. I think he was running through the information I’d given them from Vicar. Morag picked up the monitor and slender fingers played across the screen.
