Fated Blades (Kinsmen)

Why does it even matter? Why do I care about what a Baena thinks of me?

“We won’t find Cassida,” she said. “Most likely her father stashed her away in some safe house filled with his private guards armed to the teeth. They’re maintaining a complete blackout, because they know the moment we notice any activity, we’ll descend on their hidey-hole with weapons hot and seco out.”

“Of course.”

“I don’t think Varden Plant will be that cautious. He and the other two Vandal officers we watched on Davenport’s recording have bulletproof Dahlia IDs, and they think like soldiers, not like spies.”

Matias nodded. “The Vandals will act as a unit. They will take over a hotel, some place they can secure, and once they do that, they will start patrolling the exchange site.”

She smiled. “Festival hotel prices are insane. People make reservations a year in advance. Forty Vandals applied for the asylum. We killed sixteen. So, we’re looking for twenty-four newly minted asylum seekers staying together and paying premium rates.”

“Shouldn’t be too hard.”

“They’ll stick out like a sore thumb. Once we find their reservations, following them will be a snap. People at the festival are happy and carefree. These guys will be the opposite of that. We’ll have seven days to learn everything we can about them.”

He frowned. “I always found it ridiculous. Perfectly reasonable people become tourists and suddenly decide that nothing bad can happen to them. It’s like a switch is flipped. Suddenly they’re drinking too much and stumbling through dark streets with their implants unsecured. They walk into traffic. They hang off the rails next to signs expressly forbidding it. They think every stranger is a friendly local.”

She shook her head. “Matias, do you ever relax? Do you even know what that word means?”

He smiled. “I do. I have even been known to allow myself a sensible chuckle on occasion.”

She squinted at him. “My family had you under loose surveillance since you were born. The only time I ever saw you laugh was when you stabbed Drewery’s career through the heart.”

“He deserved it.”

He did. Matias had been married for three years. It must’ve grated on him the entire time. Having met Drewery, she had no idea how he had endured for so long.

“I’m relaxed right now,” Matias said. “This is it right here. You’re watching it happen.”

“I feel so privileged.”

“You should.”

“Since you’re so relaxed, perhaps you could clear something up for me,” Ramona said. “I seem to recall an article I read about a month ago regarding that Monroe chemical spill. The provincial special prosecutor had filed a formal inquiry with the federal government requesting access to certain sealed records. Now why would he do that after two years?”

Matias shrugged.

“The article hinted that new information had come to light.”

Another shrug.

“It was you. You leaked it to the prosecutorial office.”

He sighed. “It bothered me.”

“Matias! An upstanding, conservative kinsman like yourself getting involved in politics. How brazen of you. What will the people think?”

Teasing Matias Baena. Like playing with fire.

“It’s not politics. It’s justice.”

Ramona hid a smile. Kinsmen like them didn’t get involved in government. It was a tradition as old as Rada itself. They occupied a special niche in the society, and like Drewery, they recognized that they didn’t represent an average citizen. The families lobbied to look after their business interests, and some were related to politicians through marriage, but if any kinsman ever ran for office, they would be shunned by their peers. If Drewery had bothered to pay attention, he would’ve realized that Matias would never break that tradition.

“Most of Drewery’s sins involve theft on a corporate level,” Matias said. “He defrauds taxpayers. It’s wrong but faceless. This one had specific people attached to it. Families. Children. There were images of the bodies in the file.”

“How did you do it? Drewery’s server security would’ve alerted him the moment you copied the files.”

“I memorized the contents during a particularly excruciating Rada’s Settlement Day party. I’ve been diving into his server for the last four months during every family function. It was like swimming through a sewer.”

“I’m glad you leaked it. What Drewery did, it’s just not done.”

“Yes,” Matias agreed. “It’s not done.”

A spot of turquoise two shades lighter than the canopy caught Ramona’s eye. A smooth dome, crisscrossed by strands of glittering white, all but smothered by the stranglers and obscured by evaner branches. A First Wave temple. They dotted the planet, footprints left on Rada by the failed attempt at first settlement centuries ago.

Matias settled deeper into the seat and closed his eyes.

Ahead the storm loomed, a wall of gray under angry dark clouds. Wind buffeted the aerial. She executed a smooth turn to the south, keeping the storm and the wind on her left.

The aerial jerked. The console went dark. Every system, every display, everything died in an instant.