Rogue(19)

Rollout was the same, and with the new port expansion we didn’t have to wait for docking. We unsnapped, shimmied out of those amazing couches, laughing softly at how awkward that was, stretched, and joined the debarkation line.

Surface gravity is 1.05, slightly lower than ours. The air was thicker even than Earth’s, but with comparable O2. It’s quite a nice planet, and I’d enjoyed my stint here with the embassy a lot. I knew a bit of my way around the general map of the capital. The adjusted twenty-three hour Earth day was short for me, but we’d be on an odd schedule as mission dictated anyway.

Once out, we grabbed bags, caught a “limo” that was an oversized van, ground only, and checked in at the New Raffles. A bellman in uniform took our bags and buzzed the door faster than we could get out.

“Good morning, Mr. and Mrs. Charles. How was your trip?”

“Long,” I replied. “Is there a package for us?”

“Yes, a bag arrived for you. I’ll have it sent up.”

“Thank you.”

The elevator was fast, the luggage awaited, the view was good and offered a clear field of fire across the city center.

I slipped the bellman enough bill to make him happy without being flamboyant, and he closed the door on his way out.

I felt better already. I had more space, a spare bed if I didn’t like sharing, and the bag was from the embassy, and should contain some weapons. It wasn’t marked from the embassy, of course. It was marked from a safehouse used for the purpose.

I popped it open, rooted through the packing, and found a nice concealable pistol and some supplemental tools.

Silver already had a secure link up, and was pulling an encoded intel update.

“He’s still here, as far as we know,” she said. “Faint DNA traces, and I have a map.”

“Excellent. Those will hopefully include stalk sights and recon OPs he’s using. We can narrow this down.”

We ordered food in. Their version of Chinese is not bad, though unlike anything on Earth or Grainne. I scanned maps while shoveling food.

The geography of Randall’s positions put him definitely near and in the capital. There were no concrete scans elsewhere, and the probability on those there was low. They were also unpatterned. So he was in the capital for now. He’d been here close to twenty days or more.

Based on his existing MO, I expected him to target someone within fifteen days.

That radius and timeframe, even with some leeway on both for coverage, put us down to seventeen possible targets.

There were two of us.

It was time to earn our pay.





CHAPTER 5





I shortly had a quandary on our targets.

Ten of them were going to be attending a major industry forum at the Parliament Hall. There’d be security all over the place, government, private, everything.

Now, it was possible that the forum was a useful distraction for him while he went after a target elsewhere. However, it was also possible he planned to wade right in for a target at the forum, and use the intermeshing security as a cover, and rely on them to get mixed up for additional distraction.

The good news was the ten at the conference were much easier to track, and for some matters could be considered one target. So we were down to eight.

Silver reported, “Masterson is going out to the mountains for a week.”

“He was never a strong chance anyway,” I said. “But we can pull him off the list for the week and add him back in if we need to.”

Seven.

Three of the six individuals had solid, consistent patterns and whereabouts at present. That was a bad idea from a security point of view, but indicated they didn’t feel threatened. A secondary input, but worthwhile. It also meant I could rule them out. None of the traces we found were anywhere near their routes.

So, three individuals, one group.

I was betting on the group.

For one thing, the odds did favor it being one of them, from a straight statistical analysis. There was no strategic calculus I could use at this point; it was not a military matter.

It fit, though, with the training and mindset I’d used. I’d taught him everything he knew to that point, and there was little he could pick up elsewhere that would be comparable. My plans, training and doctrine colored his.

Hell, mine were what everyone in the galaxy was going to use until something even more brutal came along. I should be proud of my legacy.

If it were me, I’d hit the conference. Lots of distractions. So much muscle in one location would make people lazy. They’d worry about protesters, press and commercial spies. They wouldn’t be looking for an assassin. It would send an object lesson to others, that nowhere was safe. It would allow peers to witness the matter, which would have psychological impact for any future threats, offers or other negotiations.