Commander Brocius?”
I had used so many false identities over the last few years that it took me a moment before I remembered coming into Golan as Commander Brocius.
“Is there any chance that Halverson flew back to Earth with Huang?”
“He did not,” the colonel said. “Huang left before Klyber. I have a feed of the passengers boarding. Do you want it?”
“No,” I said. “But I would like to see any video you might have from the summit.”
“Good joke,” the colonel said.
“I’m not joking.”
“Yes, you are. You seem like a bright guy. You cannot possibly think I would have a feed from a high-level summit. And even if I did, you cannot possibly think I would throw away my career by giving it to you.”
“The highest-ranking officer in U.A. Navy just died on your watch,” I said, trying to sound calm with just a hint of menace. I was bluffing, of course.
“Military intelligence is going to be all over this, Harris,” the colonel said. “They’ll get it sorted out.”
“Yes, they will. And they are going to blame it on you.”
“How’s that?”
“Follow the trail far enough and you’ll see that Admiral Huang was behind this. When it comes to somebody taking a fall, who do you think they are going to go after, you or the secretary of the Navy?”
The colonel laughed. “You think Huang killed Admiral Klyber?”
“I can prove it,” I said. “Do you have a video feed from the summit?”
“No,” the colonel said.
“Good,” I said, not believing him. High-level meetings like the summit were always recorded, and McAvoy was the man with the recording equipment at the Dry Docks. “Klyber and Huang will have gotten into a hot debate. Check out their brawl, then watch the feed of the maintenance team …and check out the short, bald guy.”
“I should have shot you while I had the chance,” the colonel said. “Suppose I just say you planted the cable …”
“Your own video record proves that I never went near Klyber’s ship,” I said. “Are you planning to doctor your records?”
“Get specked,” the colonel said.
“Look, Colonel, if you have access to the summit records, and we both know that you do, I suggest you view them. Once you’ve done that, send it to me, and I will try to help …”
“And you think I trust you?” the colonel asked.
“If you don’t want my help, that’s fine. The best of luck to you. You’re going to need it.”
“If you’re right and there’s something there, I’ll get you that feed. If you’re lying to me, Harris, I’ll have you hauled back to my station for an immediate court-martial,” the colonel said. “How do you like that deal, Liberator?” With this, he ended the transmission.
I did not like that deal. I sat in the cockpit of the Starliner, stared out into space, and stewed. As the fleet admiral’s security officer, I felt duty-bound to find Klyber’s killer. As a Liberator, I felt an almost pathological need for revenge. Beyond that, the evidence suggested that Admiral Huang murdered Klyber and just thinking about putting a bullet between his eyes made me feel happy.
Killing Huang …killing Huang. A simple bullet in the head would be too easy. A gun, a bomb, or maybe a knife so that he would know it was personal. Our eyes would meet in the last moment, and he would know who killed him and why.
McAvoy contacted me within an hour. He did not call or write a message. Instead, he sent a virtual delivery. A massive, encrypted file and the key with which to open it.
“Klyber’s death is all over the Link,” Freeman said on my mediaLink shades. Judging by the ugly furniture and plain room behind him, he was staying in a cheap hotel. “The Navy says it was a tragic accident.”
“If you call sabotage an accident,” I said. “Otherwise it was a tragic murder.” I was still out in space, still a few million miles from the Golan Dry Docks. I had spent the last four hours viewing the summit and had more to go.
“You think it was murder?” Freeman asked.
“Yes, and Huang was behind it,” I said.
“Can you prove it?”
“No.”
Freeman was sitting on a bed. The shape of the mattress turned from a square to a funnel under his weight. “What do you have?” he asked.
“I have a security tape showing the maintenance team that cleaned Klyber’s transport. There was an Adam Boyd with them.” I paused to see how Freeman would react.
He raised an eyebrow, and said, “That’s it?”
“Huang created those little speckers.”
“Was Thurston at the summit?” Freeman asked.
I remembered seeing him on the video feed and nodded.
“The only Boyd clones I’ve ever seen were assigned to one of Thurston’s ships. Maybe he did it.”
It was true. To the best of my knowledge, every last Adam Boyd clone had been transferred to the
“You can’t prove Huang has anything against Klyber.” Freeman replied.
“Get specked,” I said, knowing that Freeman was right.
“The only thing you have is a picture of an Adam Boyd clone boarding Klyber’s ship. Is that right? You can’t even prove he did anything to sabotage it.”
I nodded. “He was carrying a toolbox,” I said. “And he was on the ship for eighteen minutes and thirty-two seconds.”
“Was he alone?”
“Some of the time. He got on first.”
“So you are saying he had the opportunity to open the broadcast engine and place the cable even though the rest of the maintenance crew was coming?”
“Must have,” I said. “How did you know about the cable?”
“That’s how you sabotage self-broadcasting ships.” Freeman said. “Do you have anything else?”
“I’ve got a security feed from the summit. You should have seen the sparks. Klyber and Huang really hated each other.”
“The way I see it, we can either drop this or go after the Boyd,” Freeman said. “That’s the best we can do until we can tie Huang to the clone.”
I knew the Adam Boyd clones were trained on Earth, on an island called Oahu. I stumbled into one of them while on R and R on that island. I knew that their base of operations was now the U.A.
“Guess I’m headed to Earth to have a look at their farm,” I said. “You coming?”
Freeman nodded. “The only time I’ve ever seen Boyd clones was after you got through with them. It’d be interesting to see one that is still breathing.”
PART II
THE INVESTIGATION
