‘For how long?’
‘Until you are no longer under threat,’ Saren butted in without bothering to hide his frustration. ‘Two attacks within less than a month is more than we need.’
‘The search you suggest could take days, weeks. Months, even. Your evidence is insubstantial.’ Joreth looked at each of them in turn with his beady brown eyes and I knew right then that we were done. There are some citizens so cemented in their ways that nothing’s going to change their mind. Nothing short of a terrorist attack. ‘There is no reason for us to be targeted, among the tens of thousands of facilities on Compass. The human boy who blew up the bank was a Blued-Up freak demanding drug money.’ Katherine’s shoulders tensed. ‘Having your metalheads parading around a museum will drive away the very community we wish to help. Bad for morale. No offence.’
‘None taken.’ Kowalski didn’t even try to sound pleasant about it. I’ve observed it’s people deciding what is and isn’t a matter of offence who are often the ones doling it out.
‘It’s taken years of work from Compass, the Alien Embassy, our homeworld and generous donations from a multitude of species to establish this museum. We’re the only one of its kind run by my people,’ Joreth followed up. ‘We’ve received threats from pro-human establishments before. And yet we’re still standing. I won’t see its reputation destroyed because of chatterboard gossip. Harmony can’t control or protect their own Reapers. What makes you think you can protect us?’
I’d thought the looks he and his staff were giving Harmony – us – had been of cold fascination. Now I realised it was distrust. The House of Suns had already succeeded in driving a wedge between Harmony and the common people. Having an armoured presence, with Harmony’s current reputation attached, would do him no good.
Of course, having his building become a smouldering pile of rubble would do him even less good.
‘You’re welcome to scan the building, quickly,’ offered Joreth, as if he were doing us the favour. ‘But I believe you’ll be wasting your time.’
Turned out he was right. Four hours later, the minesweepers, infrared, thermal, subsonic sweepers, bio-hazard detectors and sensor-scanners revealed nothing, as I’d known they would. The House of Suns were too smart to leave their fingerprints lying around. They hadn’t launched their attack. But they would. Soon.
‘You heard him,’ Kowalski said. ‘There’s nothing to be done.’
‘And we’re listening to Joreth?’ I asked. ‘He couldn’t find his own arse in the dark. We don’t need his permission to investigate.’
Out of uniform and back in our storage unit, Katherine was sitting next to me and wore a loose cream shirt under a grey jacket, a cherry-red scarf slung around her neck. Her hair was wet from a recent shower and smelling of something pleasantly sweet. ‘Actually, we kind of do. It’s against the Galactic Common’s constitutional rights. In case you’ve forgotten, Harmony isn’t too popular.’
‘That’s nothing new.’
‘It is since the terror attack happened. Strong-arming a xenomuseum director isn’t going to help much with our reputation. I wish we could force our way in there and insist on installing a full security operation, but it’s not going to happen. Until we’ve got concrete evidence of a planned terrorist attack, our hands are tied. There are other angles we can cover, but not this one. Backs are to the wall, boys.’
‘Harmony can’t,’ I said with a smile.
Katherine shook her head. ‘No. No lone wolf antics, Vakov.’
‘Who said I’d be alone?’ I leaned forward, all business. ‘Look, you guys can’t get in. Bad for PR, I get it. But I can. Let’s say they are planning something in the xenomuseum. They’re going to have to break in and set themselves up, right? They’re too diligent to leave anything to chance with a quickpatch job. We know there’s nothing in place now. So, if I’m right, all the materials are still to be delivered. We get the manifesto of upcoming deliveries and trace it back to their munitions storage base, and from there …’ I squeezed my hands together.
‘Okay,’ Katherine said slowly, as if hesitant to commit. ‘So we just need the museum’s delivery schedule. And you understand the risk if you’re wrong and get caught? Not just to Harmony, but to you?’
Sitting so close together, I could see the concern lining her face. I wanted to reach out and reassure her. But the runnels of blue stripes along my arm wanted to pull me back. I could almost feel the tendrils worming into my muscles, tearing them apart.
‘You’ll need me on the other end,’ Grim said from his seat. ‘Someone’s got to make sure you don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.’
‘Oh, good,’ Katherine said. ‘That’s reassuring.’
‘I’ll be careful,’ I promised. ‘But we have to do this. Especially with her involved.’
‘Speaking of which, you might want to see this.’ An holographic image grew around us. A figure, clad in a tightfitting suit. Slim, athletic, female. Her face obscured by a space helmet that resembled a black oval, the edges ridged with splinter-like serrations, swept back by the force of an invisible wind. I recalled the voice on the phone and mentally stitched it together with the image. ‘This was taken by a Harmony correspondent early in the Reaper War. Look familiar, Grim?’
‘Yeah.’ His voice was carefully neutral. ‘Yeah, it’s her. The Killer Chemist.’
It was maybe the only known image in existence. It was good news. But not the kind I needed right now. ‘You said we have to work together,’ I said to Katherine. ‘Well, this is me trying. We’ve tried it your way. Now let’s get this done. Before that museum is a smoking ruin.’
I couldn’t read her. Was she weighing the risks? Weighing the consequences if I fouled this up? Or maybe weighing how much danger she’d be putting me in. If I was caught again, they’d kill me. But only
