Stormblood, стр. 15
I weighed up how much to tell Kowalski as I ordered. I was a long way from being friendly with Harmony. But my brother’s rejection still stung and something was off about his behaviour. To Kowalski, he was a lowlife suspect, a drug trafficker. I kept that in mind as I related our conversation, his refusal to talk, and my own theory of him being blackmailed. She folded her hands under her chin, taking a few quiet moments to process this new information.
‘If he’s involved with the theft and sabotage of Harmony property,’ she said finally, ‘even at a minor level, we need to take action.’
‘You don’t know that he’s involved in anything bigger. Not for sure. Not completely.’
‘Which is why we’re having this conversation. You’re as much at risk as anyone else.’ She flipped open her palmerlog and glanced at a newsfeed. ‘While we’ve been here, a Reaper Blued Out a few floors up, right in the middle of the town square at rush hour. She was in rehab, taking our suppressors.’
I almost didn’t want to ask. ‘What’s the damage?’
‘Bad. She killed four pedestrians, one a husband in front of his wife and kids, before she went down.’
‘Oh, hell.’
‘Yeah. She’d already shot and injured five more. Worse, one of them was an offworld Torven, not native to Compass. So the Alien Embassy’s become involved. They say she tried to blow her own brains out in the end, but she started convulsing with a seizure before she could finish the job.’ Kowalski eyed me over the flickering, membrane-thin screen. ‘No kid should have to see their parent murdered in front of them. I want this plague stamped out of my city, out of my asteroid, and I want it done now.’
‘And you think this incident is connected to the other deaths.’
‘I don’t see how it could be a coincidence. Even if it isn’t connected, it’s doing the same damage to people, and to Harmony. These deaths have been escalating, occurring more and more in public places and harming civilians. It’s deliberate. Vicious. Because the Reapers will get their suppressors, and the skinnies and party-goers are going to get their fix either way. If the Reapers don’t trust us, they’ll turn to the streets. And that stuff is lethal, unregulated, cripplingly addictive.’
‘Let me hazard a guess: stormdealers and other drug-trafficking syndicates are your top suspects.’
‘We don’t want to jump to conclusions, but it’s hard to imagine anyone benefiting more than them.’ She drummed her fingers on the table. ‘We captured a mule a little while back. He’d crammed five phials of stormtech down his throat. His stormdealers had a sharpshooter take him out within minutes, clean through the heart. This isn’t just about saving Reapers; it’s a war against drugs from a source that’s not even human. And we’re losing.’ She rubbed her eyes, bloodshot with the residue of too many sleepless nights. ‘We can’t even call it a war.’
‘Why’s that?’ I asked.
‘Wars end.’
‘No, they don’t. Wars last as long as there’re people to remember them.’
The awkward silence was only broken when an octodrone brought our steaming food over. Its gangly electromuscles, thick as my arm, served our ramen while our chopsticks autoprinted.
‘Even for a guy your size, that’s a heavy serving.’ Kowalski nodded towards my bowl, filled with karaage ramen, boiled eggs, spring onions, and sides of tempura and gyoza.
I sprinkled chilli seasoning on my meal. I’d never much liked the stuff before the stormtech, but now I had a perpetual craving for it, along with acids, sodium, spices, dairy. Anything with a kick, and the stormtech liked it.
I pointed with my chopsticks to the knots of stratospheric cerulean climbing down my arms. ‘I’m eating for two. The blue boys need fuel. It’s like being pregnant for ever.’
‘Very funny.’
The food wasn’t up to New Vladi standards, of course. But the chicken karaage was juicy and the ramen soup was filling enough. The green tea Kowalski had ordered melted into my stomach with a pleasant, warm glow.
When our bowls were scraped clean, Kowalski leaned towards me again. ‘So. What’s the plan?’
‘Artyom won’t talk to me,’ I told her.
‘Reapers are dying every day, Fukasawa. And Artyom is the only lead we have. The only reason he’s not in a Harmony interrogation cell right now is because we’re giving you a shot. We know he’s not acting alone. Arresting him will tip our hand. You’re our best shot at doing this cleanly.’
‘You have an idea who’s behind this, then?’
‘I’ve told you about the mule we picked up. We’ve also picked up stormtech distributors, xenochemists, even top dogs among the more dangerous stormdealer syndicates, the ones who control the trade and practically own floors. So we know a little about their security. The low-key guys get installed with a bioleash. It messes with their brain chemistry, makes them activate a suicide trigger in their molars if they’re caught. Sometimes that’s combined with a smelter-bomb wired to their vitals. They like taking a few of us out too, if they can.’
A sour knot tightened in my gut. ‘And you think Artyom’s wired with one.’
‘We’d be naive not to assume it’s a possibility. It might explain his reluctance to talk. Even assuming we take Artyom by force, and assuming he makes it into interrogation alive, there’s no way in hell they won’t be tracking him. The moment he’s compromised, they’ll pack up and vanish. Our only lead disappears and Artyom needs armed protection for the rest of his life. We’ve played this game too many times not to know the rules. We’d risk grabbing him if there was no other choice. But now we’ve got you, and you being a Reaper means there’s a chance to fix this.’ A steely look came into her eye. ‘Every minute this problem exists on Compass, more people get hurt. We’re gambling a lot