“The hell does that mean?”
OK. Enough of this. Time for straight talk.
Thomas eliminated his disarming smile.
“Human subtraction.” He waited for the Earther’s pale features to whiten. They did. “Black Star never employed me; it didn’t exist in those days. My client was a man of considerable means. An influencer, one might say. Still is. Yet here I am. A lawman of great repute who’s only mission in life is to keep this station safe.”
Niles regained his composure in a hurry.
“Yeah. Well. Good for you. Are you going to say something I care about, or should I bug off?”
“No. Please. Stay with me. Hear me out.”
Thomas threw open a holo with the highlights of Niles’s profile.
“You have led a colorful life. You squandered your inheritance on a ridiculous series of investments and found yourself excluded from your distinguished family circle. Fortunately, you fell into a great opportunity six years ago.”
Thomas scrolled to the most intriguing part of his research.
“You joined a smuggling outfit in the Perseus Cluster. Detained once by the UNF’s interdiction fleet. Released for undisclosed reasons. Married a woman on Indonesia Prime. Huh. That bit surprised me. Says here she died in a raid several months later. My sincerest condolences.”
Thomas didn’t look for a reaction. Instead, he clobbered the man with details.
“Fortunately, as recompense, you found your best smuggling job yet. Black Star was new and expanding. It set its sights on Earth. And what do you know? An Earther came ready-made. You opened a golden door. Earth’s introduction to Motif.
“Two years later, you applied for a position on Amity. Strange. You’re a wealthy man, Niles. So much so, your contacts in Black Star paid off the right people to scrub your history and whitewash your profile. And now, for reasons I can’t fathom or frankly even care to know, you clean washer fans.”
He closed the holo and turned to the target, who didn’t bother with a reaction.
“There’s much more, of course,” Thomas said. “It took some doing to uncover the financials, but we’re very good in the DSP. The details are shocking. The sheer audacity to place someone of your ilk here speaks to how highly your superiors value a foothold on Amity. You’re our most prominent find. Thoughts?”
Niles did not exhibit the disappointing grin that said the jig was up. Nor did he twist his face into a rage-filled picture of guilt.
“What now?”
Not the response Thomas expected.
“No passionate denial? No righteous indignation over a case of mistaken identity?”
Niles sighed long and deep. Thomas heard relief.
“What’s your play, Quinlan? If you were going to detain me, there’d be deputies.”
Ah. Good. We’ll get to the gist faster than predicted. I’ll be back in time for lunch.
“Correct. I’m not here to arrest you. Although, your time on Amity is effectively at an end. You see, I can’t bury this profile for long. Our department just received three new agents from SI. We’ll finish scouring the station end to end within twenty days. I can protect you for eight to nine days. By then, you’ll need to be gone.”
“Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why warn me?”
“Terms of our deal.”
“What deal?”
“The one you’re going to make with me right here, right now. It will change your life.”
Niles burst into laughter.
“You must think I’ve lost my mind. Work with a DSP deputy on the take? No thanks, Quinlan.”
Thomas raised his hand like a stop sign.
“I’m hurt, Niles. Genuinely. I’m also the only hope you have at the moment. One tap of my wrist pad, and I send your profile forward. You’ll be arrested before you reach a ship. Consider the alternative. I make your dreams come true. I make you a hero to Black Star’s upper management. No more of this air recycling nonsense.”
What choice did the man have?
“You’re trying to lay a trap. I’m not an idiot.”
“No, Niles. Definitely no idiot. Which is why I have something of staggering import to show you.”
Thomas flipped open his pom.
“Amity,” he said. “It’s all here. All the secrets. Corporate, political, diplomatic. Every access point. Security parameters. Customs rotations. Residential histories. Black Star would pay a right fortune for this data and the tool I used to acquire it.”
Niles stared at the hand-held device, which Thomas had yet to activate. He resembled a starving man gazing at a full plate, yet unsure whether it was too good to be true.
