“If the PPDC knew Liwen was experimenting with Kaiju bioweapons…” Jake paused, and Lambert picked up where he’d left off. It was something long-time Ranger partners tended to do, after dozens of Drifts together. The fact that Lambert and Pentecost were already doing it suggested they had a stronger than average Drift connection.
“No Drone program,” Lambert said. “No Shao Industries. Nothing but a prison cell.”
Quan wasn’t so sure about that. People with Shao Liwen’s money and clout usually avoided prison. But there was no question Lambert was right about the Drone program and the fate of Shao’s company.
“The attack on the Council, the Kaiju cults—all a smokescreen,” Jake said. “Misdirection.”
It was plausible. Quan had to admit that. But hardly airtight. “And the only proof is from a cadet I just drop-kicked over the moon?”
“Gottlieb’s reaching out to Newt to see if he can dig up anything more solid from the inside,” Lambert said.
Quan chewed on that for a while. He didn’t like the idea of involving Gottlieb, who was a solid and brilliant scientist but perhaps not the best person to involve in a discreet investigation. Particularly not if it meant informing Newton Geiszler of the PPDC’s suspicions. Marshal Quan, like most other staff officers who had ever worked with Newt, considered that he might well be a genius but was definitely an unreliable loose cannon when it came to protocols and rules. “All right,” he said. “We’ll patch through to the Council and see what—”
“I don’t think we should trust the comms,” Pentecost said. Quan was about to dress him down for interrupting a superior—he had lost the last of his patience for Pentecost’s mouth—but before he could, Pentecost added, “Mako didn’t, or she would have told someone before Sydney.”
This made sense to Quan. He considered it, looked for holes in the logic, found none. “Then we’ll take it to them in person. Meet me on the tarmac in fifteen.”
“What about Amara?” Pentecost asked. “She found the link to Shao Industries.”
“If you’re right about this, we have bigger problems, Ranger.” Quan left the two Rangers in the hall, entering the War Room to make arrangements for the trip to Sydney.
Out in the hall, Jake fumed, wishing he could do more for Amara. She had screwed up, yeah, there was no doubt about that. But if in the process of screwing up she had pinpointed Mako’s killer, and uncovered a dangerous program of illicit Kaiju-related biotech research? To Jake that was more than enough to give her a get-out-of-jail-free card on the injury to Jinhai and the unauthorized snooping inside Obsidian Fury. Rangers weren’t supposed to be robots. They were supposed to know when to take the initiative. Amara had done that, and as far as Jake was concerned, the Ranger corps would be better off with her than without.
But that was a conversation for another time. Specifically after they had discovered whether Amara’s discovery led where Jake was beginning to think it would.
* * *
Shao Industries was on target to hit its deadline of full Drone Jaeger deployment forty-eight hours from her first order. Shao herself had seen to this, berating and terrorizing the staff, from the lowliest tech all the way up to Dr. Geiszler. They might fear her, some might hate her, but they worked hard for her—and all that work was paying off. She strode through the lobby of Shao Industries’ research headquarters in Shanghai, watching results on a data pad in her hands. Chief Kang fell into step with her, fresh from a check on the building’s security systems. “The building is secure, ma’am.”
“No visitors without the proper credentials,” she ordered. That would mean closing the public areas of the Shao Industries building, but at this point Shao didn’t care. She was too close to the realization of a dream she had pursued since before the end of the Kaiju War, when she had seen dying pilots and each time thought, What a waste. Why do we send young men and women out in the Jaegers when they might as easily control them from a Shatterdome?
When the sun rose in the morning, that question would be answered: we don’t anymore. “I don’t want anyone interfering with deployment,” she added, in case Chief Kang hadn’t already gotten the point.
Her data pad chirped. She looked down at it and angled it away from Kang, frowning. “I’ll be in my office,” she said, dismissing him.
Kang nodded. “Ma’am.” He walked briskly off, leaving her to grapple with what she was seeing on her screen. It wasn’t possible. Was it?
21
CADET DISCHARGE REPORT
CADET: AMARA NAMANI
REASON(S) FOR DISCHARGE:
RECKLESS CONDUCT RESULTING IN INJURY
TO PPDC PERSONNEL
INTERFERENCE WITH PPDC INTELLIGENCE
INVESTIGATION
FAILURE TO FOLLOW TRAINING
REGULATIONS
SUMMARY
Cadet Namani encouraged fellow cadets to accompany her on an unauthorized foray into the remains of the destroyed rogue Jaeger Obsidian Fury. During the course of this activity, she evaded security and damaged the interior of Obsidian Fury. The damage resulted in the release of Kaiju blood and injury to Cadet Jinhai.
Cadet Namani exhibited contrition and did not attempt to evade responsibility, which speaks well of her character. Ordinarily conduct such as hers would result in a dishonorable discharge but her record will reflect dismissal without the further censure of a dishonorable designation.
Cadet Namani will be returned to her former home in Santa Monica, California. PPDC will suggest to local law enforcement that she not be prosecuted for her offenses there.
[SIGNED] MARSHAL QUAN
Amara did what Jake had told her to do. She stayed in the room until PPDC security came to get her. But whatever faint hope of mercy she’d still held onto evaporated when they led her out the door and then said, “By PPDC regulations you are permitted to observe as we clear your belongings out of your locker. If you have concerns about our handling of your personal items, you may register those concerns verbally. But under no circumstances will you approach security personnel who are performing
