Connor winked and pointed toward the humidor.
“Sure, bruv. I’ll tell you how I earned this jewelry after you tell me who you screwed over to get this job. First, light up.”
Trevor wasn’t about to pass on that deal. He also hadn’t forgotten Mau’s last words. He fired up a cigar but limited his beverage to water. The brothers sat across from each other, smoke streams rising.
“It’s not a long story,” he told Connor. “Murrill was a corrupt piece of shit. Haas wanted me. She forced him out. He challenged me. I blackmailed him and sent him home. He screwed himself out of this job. Amity’s a better station now.”
Connor kicked up on the ottoman.
“Blackmail? My brother, the law and order man, playing outside the box. I love it. Sounds like both of us grew a spine.”
“My hands aren’t clean, but I don’t regret my actions. You know what this station means to me.”
“Sure do.” Connor dropped his smile and pulled on the cigar. “I was there when you boxed up Hoshi Oda.”
With your help, brother.
“You didn’t have a problem at the time. Not after I explained why we needed to contain the situation.”
“I’ve had months to reflect. Sure, Hoshi was a killer. Working for the enemy. At least so far as you saw it.”
Trevor laughed.
“What in ten hells are you implying?”
“Just working it out from her point of view. See, Hoshi might have thought she was doing the right thing. Reckon she reported to a chain of command, just like you did. Like I do now. Maybe she was a good soldier doing her bit. Ever wonder what happened to her?”
Interesting. Why does he care after all this time?
Telling the truth compromised little.
“She was tortured. Several months back, she escaped from a place SI calls the dark room. She killed Bien Thet. SI never tracked her down – or the people who sprung her.”
Connor offered no reaction beyond a single smoke ring.
Trevor added: “She’s a dangerous woman. More than either of us realized at the time. Curious as to how I know?”
“Not hard to decipher, bruv. It also don’t change a damn thing. She’s a soldier fighting for what she believes in.”
Mau Ping replied an instant after the floaters converged.
“The bag already knew. He is deceiving you.”
About what? Hoshi?
“Many things. He is ... new.”
New? The hell does that mean?
“No. The Enzathi seeks a better word. Difficult to translate.”
Try.
“If you don’t mind, Connor, I’d rather not waste time on Hoshi. She’s long gone, and we’ve been ferreting out other enemy agents since you left. Shireena heads a program called Shadow Gambit. It allows us to probe everyone’s background and associations. Soon, we’ll have a station free of enemy collaborators. The safest place in the galactic sector.”
Connor tossed back his whiskey and laughed under his breath.
“Huh. You still send the guilty to SI?”
“They’re expelled from Amity. No other punishment – unless the law back home goes after them.”
“Reckon that’s better than the dark room.”
Mau returned:
“New word. Polished. The bag has been polished.”
You’re talking in gibberish. Try again.
“The word is correct. The Enzathi says the bag’s brain has been polished. It is old made new.”
Trevor recalled his own instinct after a few minutes with Connor.
Shit. Can you read his thoughts, too?
“No. The Enzathi feels the essence of his aim.”
Connor interrupted a conversation he couldn’t have known about.