Moon, Elizabeth - Vatta War 02 by Moon Elizabeth

Author:Moon, Elizabeth [Moon, Elizabeth]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2012-07-15T23:26:17+00:00

MarqueandReprisal

“I see. So . . . do you consider Rafe trustworthy?”

“Before the latest revelations, I would have said that Rafe stays bought if you pay his asking price, and that he’s reliable in partnership agreements. After all, I turned my back on him this time. But I’m not sure now . . . if he’s really Dunbarger’s son, and really a permanent ISC agent, then he’ll be with us—or anyone he contracts with—only so long as it doesn’t cross ISC.”

“I’m not planning to cross ISC,” Ky said. “And they should be pleased with me, after the Sabine thing. So with those circumstances, what about partnering or hiring Rafe? And which would be better?”

“Partnering,” Stella said. “And yes, I think he’d be a good asset, though . . . though I’m still peeved that he never told me . . .” She cocked her head at Ky. “But what use am I, Ky? What can you do with me?”

“I don’t know yet. We may have use for an agent of our own, when we come to someplace where you aren’t known and won’t be an instant assassin magnet. Meantime, you were home more than I was, the last few years. You may know a lot about recent developments in the company that I didn’t know.”

“And I can scramble eggs,” Stella said, grinning. “I’m not trained for ship’s crew, but some of my skills will transfer.”

“That’s good. Besides, you’re family. And there’s little enough left.” That black weight bore down on her shoulders again; Ky struggled not to break down.

“True,” Stella said. She looked sad. “I don’t—there’s not been time to grieve, really. It all happened so fast. Though at least I had the time on the courier to myself. It must be worse for you, being out of touch when it happened.”

“I don’t know,” Ky said. “It still seems unreal. They’ve always been there . . . parents, aunts, uncles, corporate headquarters, the house. I can almost pretend they’re still there, but you can’t.” And neither could she, for more than moments. She could not make the right decisions if she clung to the wrong data.

“Reality bites,” Stella said. She stretched. “Well. You’ve got Toby settled; that’s a good thing.”

“Unless someone blows this ship,” Ky said soberly. “I do think about that. We should find him a safer place; he’s our future. Stella, do you—does Aunt Grace—have any idea why the government turned on us?”

“She wasn’t sure if someone had outbid us, or scared them silly. When I left she was planning to find out and see if she could correct their thinking, as she put it. I would not like to be the President, with Aunt Grace after him.” Stella drew her finger across her throat.

Ky debated for a moment and took the plunge. “Stella, there’s a very odd thing. Before this happened, someone had sent me a message here to be held for my arrival. I have a letter of marque from Slotter Key—”

“But nobody does that anymore!” Stella said, eyes wide.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.