Undercover(48)

“Long enough. I ate this morning before I went downstairs.”

“Now that we’re here, you’ll take care of yourself.” Brandt said it in the way of a man totally sure he’d be obeyed.

She laughed and patted his hand. “Two things. It’s very sweet you two want me to take care of myself. I like that. But I don’t bottom outside the bedroom. Got it? I’m not saying you were ordering me to take care of myself as my top, but I just wanted to be clear on it.”

Ash laughed, a deep, masculine sound that made her smile in response.

Brandt shook his head as he drank the last of his juice. “I’d figured that. It’s enough work—and pleasure—to top you sexually; I need to get my strength back when we’re not fucking. Truly, I respect your independence. As long as you’re on your knees in the bedroom, you can stand tall everywhere else. You were made to.”

She cocked her head at Brandt. “You’re very smooth. Sexy. Thank you for that. What you just said.”

Ash snorted. “Show-off. All right, let’s clean this up and head down to the data room. We can go over everything there.”

“Afterward, we’re heading into Mirum to get the marriage taken care of. Right?” Brandt stood, and they all cleared up and headed downstairs.

“Yes, all right. If you two are absolutely sure, I’m still willing.”





Brandt stood in the doorway of the room filled with fancy electronics and nearly sighed with happiness. What a space!

“It’s pretty impressive, isn’t it?” Sera caught the gleam in his eye and grinned.

“Gods, you’re the perfect woman.” He pulled her to him, kissing her soundly.

“Come and sit here, let me open up the files, and I’ll show you what I’ve found.” Sera motioned them over to a table with several stacks of hard copies neatly lying on top.

She opened one up. “Shall we just get to the worst stuff first? Things I can prove clearly?”

“You may as well. The comandante is quite clear on wanting to eradicate this threat now. Any way we have to.” Ash leaned in.

“All right.” She pointed to the screen. “Paul was able to get past the encryption and unlock the data, I um, liberated. Together with what we found elsewhere and with what Rina gave me, this is what I’ve got.” She took a sip of kava and looked back at the data. “This is the basic sketch of the ring of communication. Owen Alder is involved with Imperial credit schemes up to his neck. You can see here, he’s been communicating with Supreme Leader Fardelle himself. Here’s also a transfer of credits from Edge banks to Alder’s accounts. Each time has been between three standard weeks before to right until the attacks on the different outposts and then immediately afterward. But technically, he’s an Edge citizen, so this isn’t entirely illegal for him.”

“Just the part where he was instrumental in the deaths of Federation citizens and aiding our enemies. Where did you get this information?” Brandt asked.

“I gave you an overview. Do you really want to know the specifics? I can’t say anything that would potentially harm anyone who aided me at extreme risk.” Sera waited for his reply.

“We’ve got an emergency powers waiver. I assume you used channels however you did to gain information on this investigation. Anyone aiding you is protected, as you are. Where you got it isn’t an issue. Not officially, anyway.” Brandt tapped the papers. “This stuff is beyond what we could get hold of before.”

She sighed. “We cracked into Family networks. Several of them. This is partly from Owen Alder’s own comm unit and his banking records. He didn’t make much of an effort to conceal any of it. But for corroboration, I also managed to get into the banking networks. I’ve tracked and logged it all.”

“Who else, Sera?” Ash asked.

Sera chewed her lip a moment, and Brandt was suddenly afraid of the answer but waited anyway.

“I’m sorry, but Perry is involved and has been for the last standard year. He’s made a considerable sum of credits and at key points after outpost attacks, he’s been paid. He was also in receipt of an influx of credits immediately after Giles Stander’s murder.” She paused and touched his arm briefly. “I’m sorry. There’s no doubt he’s part of it. And there’s more. Your uncle . . . Ash, your uncle has had communication with Giles Stander and then Owen Alder quite a bit. I don’t know if he’s been trading information, but it stands to reason your cousin doesn’t have enough power to get this high-level information on his own.”

“Have you found any communication between Perry and anyone else in the military or governmental corps? Any place he could have gotten the information he sold to Alder?” Ash’s voice was flat, but Brandt knew he was upset.

“I checked. We did an exhaustive search, looked through a lot of inane banter between Perry and his man on the side. Don’t think Kira knows about that, though.” She shrugged. “I need to get a list to the comandante, because there are military people who appear to be helping, but they are not ranked high enough to do much. They shouldn’t be allowed in the system regardless.”

“Get me the list now, I’ll send it to him. We can’t have these people roaming free,” Brandt said.

Sera nodded to Brandt, and he saw just how seriously she took the job, not for the first time. “Go to that terminal; the list is on the screen. Everything in here is secured.”

“Ash, fill her in on what you learned, since I’ve already heard it. I’ll be back in a moment.” Brandt moved to the terminal and looked at the list with shock. “This list is two screens long.”

Sera moved to sit next to him, and Ash joined them. “Next to each name are links to the evidence I gathered. Communications, meetings, in some cases credit transfers. As far as I can tell, the credit transfers were in exchange for access to low-security sites where the suspects are stationed.”

“How did you know about the meetings?” Brandt asked while he typed out the message to the comandante.

“Communication trails, entry and exit logs, in a few cases, vid footage. Not a whole lot isn’t in a network or on a screen these days.” Sera shrugged.

“Why would they take such risks?” Ash asked.

“Please don’t be offended, but Family members are pretty untouchable. You control everything. You run the government and the military. That can lead to a very heady state of invincibility. Family network communication is protected, so why even worry about it? In this case, that behavior was the key, because it provided us with screen after screen of incriminating evidence.” Sera’s voice was calm, but Brandt knew she was right.

“Okay, sent. Kira?” Brandt turned back to face Sera.

She chewed her lip a moment. “I just don’t know. There was some activity in her personal comm channel, but as much as I hate to say this, I don’t think she’s smart enough to have orchestrated this. What I could find looked a great deal like Perry’s signature. It is damning. But I don’t know for sure. The majority of her communications are ridiculously inane. Beyond stupid and irrelevant. Filled with commentary on clothes and the cost of homes and other status markers. I find it suspicious that she’d be so stupid one moment and suddenly vicious and bloodthirsty the next. Not that I’m rescinding my opinion that she’s an evil, venomous creature or anything. But I’m not convinced she’s as culpable as Perry is. She is involved, and it’s fairly certain she understands what she’s doing is illegal. That makes her a criminal. But I don’t know if that makes her a traitor.”

Relief poured through him. Brandt couldn’t imagine what it would do to his father to have his child be a traitor. But more than relief for his family, he was relieved his woman was so professional, so righteous that she’d protect his sister when Kira would not do the same for her.

“So, we’ve got Perry Walker involved, Owen Alder involved, this list of military corps and some government corps people involved. My uncle looks like he’s involved, and Kira may or may not be involved. Anyone else?” Ash rubbed his palm over his head.

“Several members of the Stander Family have some fairly obvious ties to Owen Alder. I’ve got that, too. Military corps had some of this already, but without all the key pieces I was able to get through back channels, it wasn’t complete enough to see the big picture.” Sera closed the folder.

“In sum, there’s a conspiracy aided by several of the most powerful Families to aid and abet the Imperialists to destabilize our governance and take over. Is my father involved? My uncle, yes, I see all the evidence, and I think he should be tried. Anyone else in my family?” Ash asked.

“Kendal, your youngest brother, the one closest to Perry’s age. He’s accompanied Perry and Kira to Nondal and Edge ’Verse several times. He’s been in the Family network trying to break into your father’s accounts.”





Ash deflated a moment, hanging his head. Pain, sadness, and then rage rolled through him at this entire situation. “I can’t believe this. My own family? Why? We have plenty of credits. We control huge chunks of ’Verse space. Kendal is a recognized son of my father’s mistress. He has an empire of his own. I don’t understand.”