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CHAPTER 6

One of the secrets to success as an investigator is building up a network of contacts and informants who will forward information you wouldn’t otherwise have access to. I started the business shortly after coming home from the war and spent most of the subsequent decade doing just that. I made a lot of connections while I was in the service and some of them have proven beneficial in my entrepreneurial enterprises.

One such connection was the Baron, a former intelligence officer named Deitrik Freiherr von Hauser. We met on Harvest, where he served as a senior field officer for the Terran Confederation’s Security Intelligence Service. My platoon spent several months escorting his team around the battlefield while they collected examples of alien technology.

We all called him the Baron because he technically held that title of nobility in the Pan-European Royal Court back on Earth. His title was nothing more than an honorific in Confederation service, and he seemed almost embarrassed to be referred to by it. Naturally, then, we insisted on addressing him that way.

It was just lighthearted ribbing. He was a good guy and we all liked him. He didn’t complain, pulled his own weight, and kept his cool under fire. He was a quiet and reserved man but was unbothered by the off-color gallows humor of the infantry. The Baron, for all the crap we gave him about his lofty title, never complained about having to live and work with us grunts. We respected him for that.

After the war he went back to Earth for a few years before “retiring” on Nova Columbia. To hear him tell it, he left his title, his lands, and his privileges back home in order to open a restaurant on another planet. Now, maybe he always dreamed of being a frontier restauranteur, but one thing I learned about the intelligence world is that there’s no such thing as a “former” spook. Once you’re in, you’re in for life, especially at the levels of access the Baron has.

That’s what makes him a good source.

As usual, I met him at his establishment, a restaurant and cocktail lounge called Bauhaus Gaststätte, on the lower north side of the city. He usually refuses to discuss anything over electronic communications, even if it’s end-to-end encrypted. If you want information from the Baron, first you have to earn his trust, then you have to meet him in person. The only way to do that is to sit down for a meal at his restaurant. The place is a little pricey for my taste, but damn, the food is good. It probably won’t shock you to learn that authentic German cuisine, prepared by a human chef, is hard to come by on Nova Columbia, so I always make the most of my visits to Bauhaus Gaststätte. Besides, he always gives me a big discount on account of how I saved his life once or twice.

After the server robot cleared the table and refilled my beer, the Baron sat across from me with a glass of wine. “How was your meal, Easy? Satisfactory, I hope?”

“I’ve never had a bad meal here, Deitrik. I’ve never even had a mediocre meal here. The Hollander schnitzel was fantastic.”

“Good, good,” he said, clearly pleased. “I’ve been training a new chef and it is she who prepared your meal.”

“Give her my compliments, then,” I said. It was late Sunday evening, near closing time, and I was the only customer in the place. “Also, thank you for seeing me.”

“You are always welcome, even if you have questions for me. What are you working on now?”

“I’m looking for a woman named Cassandra Carmichael. She and her stepfather both work for Ascension.”

“I see. Have you asked this man where she might be?”

“Not yet.”

“Do you suspect him?”

“Maybe. I don’t know yet. Her sister contacted him. In response he left a message stating that Cassandra is fine. My client didn’t believe him.”

“I suppose law enforcement was of no help?”

“They rarely are when Ascension is involved.”

“Sadly true. There are many things I love about this world, but there are some things I am less fond of. The cozy relationship certain private entities like Ascension have with the government is unfortunate. Am I to assume that you would like me to place some inquiries as to this woman’s possible whereabouts?”

“I would be grateful, but it might be more complicated than that. It seems she took an interest in whatever it is the company is doing up there in Hyperborea, near Mount Gilead.”

“I have heard of it. Supposedly it is called Site 471.”

Supposedly, he said. Deitrik never carelessly used a word like that. He was probing me, trying to see just how much I knew. I had to be careful what I divulged and what I kept to myself. I trusted him as much as you can trust anyone who works for the government, but his interests and mine didn’t always necessarily align. I wasn’t about to tell him about my contact with Arcanum, for starters. “Cassandra Carmichael was under the impression that Ascension found some alien tech up at that dig site, something they are trying to keep a lid on.”

“It would be unfortunate for Ascension’s shareholders if the company was found guilty of such a thing. It would mean the forfeiture of all company assets used to facilitate the crime and the prosecution of everyone involved. It might not be limited to their holdings on Nova Columbia, either. You suspect foul play, then?”

“It’s a possibility. The stepfather is the sticking point, though. By all accounts he had a very good relationship with Cassanda. He helped her get her job there. You would have to be a cold bastard to raise a girl from childhood, caring for her for years, only to do something like that just to protect your job.”

“Indeed, but he may well be a cold bastard, as you say.”

“Maybe. Not much in his history, at least from what I’ve been able to dig up, that would indicate that, but it seems he is involved in whatever is going on at Site 471.”

Deitrik frowned. “I see. Well, that certainly doesn’t prove anything, but it does give one pause, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah. Like I said, I haven’t contacted him yet. Not sure if it would do more harm than good at this point.”

“I will see what I can turn up. Perhaps there are some clues as to where this woman has gotten off to that might not be readily accessible to the public. Now . . . am I wrong in thinking that something else is on your mind?”

I was quiet for a few seconds. I wanted to choose my words carefully. “They’ve built a complex up there, at the dig site. Even if it’s mostly underground, it’s not the sort of thing that you could hide from a satellite. More than that, they were building a terraforming plant up there, an operation subject to government regulatory inspection. You can’t keep them out without starting a bigger investigation. The bureaucracy takes its sweet time, but eventually, somebody in the government is going to ask what you’re doing.”

“That’s a reasonable assumption.”

“Sure, you could deflect for a while. You could tie up the proceedings with lawsuits and legal battles. You could buy yourself some time, but sooner or later the government is going to find out what’s going on at the site. They’ll get a warrant if they have to. Ascension has half the Commonwealth Congress bought off, but the other half campaigned on corporate accountability. There are plenty of crusading politicians, bureaucrats, and prosecutors who would love to be the ones to take Ascension down—illegally withholding the discovery of alien technology is a serious enough crime that they’d actually be able to pull it off.”

“That is also a reasonable assumption. The penalties for such an offense would be severe. It would be the end of the company.”

“It would,” I agreed. “It would be a huge risk. That leaves me with a bad feeling that maybe the government is in on this whole thing, officially or unofficially.”

My host didn’t say anything. He just sipped his wine.

“Deitrik, we’ve known each other a long time. I know there are things you can’t tell me. I’ve never asked you to do anything that would get you in trouble.”

“But?”

“But . . . I’m afraid I’m getting in over my head here.”

“If what you have surmised is true, that seems unfortunately likely.”

“Please don’t play coy with me. I don’t want to end up in prison for accidentally uncovering some secret military project.”

He was quiet for a few moments. He sipped his wine again, his eyes darting back and forth while he chose his words. Deitrik was a deliberate man. He always said exactly what he meant to say and not a word more. “There are other possibilities that may explain the situation.”

“Like what?”

“Perhaps there is no alien technology. Perhaps the rumor was started deliberately as a way of exposing leakers’ corporate espionage assets. Cassandra Carmichael may have unwittingly gotten caught up in a ruse.”

That didn’t seem unreasonable. In fact, it sounded like exactly the sort of thing that a company like Ascension would do.

“I’m surprised that you haven’t considered this,” he said.

Truth be told, I was, too. In fact, at that moment I wanted to kick myself, not because I was certain his theory was correct, but because it hadn’t even crossed my mind. Maybe I was getting sloppy. Maybe I just let my desire to help a beautiful woman cloud my judgment. “Even if that’s the case,” I said, “the fact remains that Cassandra Carmichael is missing. My job to find her, not to bring down Ascension or expose any corporate secrets.”

“The safest course of action would be to walk away from the case,” Deitrik said. “Regardless of what illegality Ascension is or is not engaging in, they have a lot of money and a lot of power. They have ruined people before.”

“I know, but I took the case. I intend to see it through.”

My host nodded. “I respect that, Easy. Just realize that this affair could get more complicated than you might expect.” He glanced at his wristwatch, an old-fashioned mechanical one that was nonetheless designed for Nova Columbia’s twenty-six-hour day. “Ach, it’s past closing time. I’m going to have to ask you to excuse me.”

I stood up to leave, and so did he. “Thank you, Deitrik. I mean that. I’ll be on my way. I don’t want to keep you any longer. Please let me know if you find anything.”

“Of course. Watch for a dinner reservation confirmation. Then come by, enjoy a meal, and we’ll talk again.”


My conversation with the Baron was on my mind the next morning. It was Monday and I was in the office, waiting for Dante to show up. I sat in my chair, brooding, resisting the urge to fix myself a drink. Dagny was there, too, sitting in one of the chairs across from my desk, smoking a cigarette. She wore a tight black skirt that came down below her knees but had a long slit up the side. She sat cross-legged, the tattoo on her thigh barely visible beneath patterned hosiery. A well-tailored red blouse with an open collar was color-matched with a pair of platform pumps. The shirt and shoes were further complemented by bloodred lipstick and nail polish. She’d even recolored her hair highlights to a fiery red. She was striking to look at and only my professionalism kept me from gawking.

The moment Dagny walked into my office the first time, she brought a whole lot of trouble with her. There were so many pieces to this case: Dagny, Cassandra, their stepfather, Arcanum, and Ascension. The only ones who had the whole picture were myself and Lily. I didn’t tell Deitrik about Arcanum, I didn’t tell Dagny about Deitrik, and right then I didn’t trust Arcanum enough to tell them much of anything.

Being honest with myself, I had to admit that Deitrik was right—the most sensible thing to do would be to just walk away from all this. I could already picture a lot of ways that this case could end badly for me.

I sighed, knowing full well I wasn’t going to be able to do that. Despite what you might be thinking, it wasn’t because of the woman sitting across from me, all legs, looking as pretty as a picture. When I turned thirteen my old man warned me that the easiest way for a man to get himself in trouble was to do his thinking with his pecker, and I had personal experience to back that up. In this business, that kind of poor judgment can ruin you or even get you killed.

This wasn’t just about Dagny, though; it was about her sister, and the implicit promise I made when I took the case. At least that’s what I told myself. She glanced over and gave me a smile that would have melted a glacier, and then I wasn’t so sure.

A video chat window popped up on my computer screen. It was Lily, who was at her desk out front. “He’s here, Boss,” she said.

“Send him in, please.” She nodded and closed the window. I looked up at Dagny. “Follow my lead.”

She nodded and stubbed out her cigarette.

The door slid open a moment later and Dante strode in. He was dressed in black again, this time with a long coat that went down to his knees and a small messenger bag slung over his shoulder. “Mr. Novak,” he said, looking at me through those tinted smart glasses he wore. He noticed Dagny then and did a double take.

“Dagny Carmichael,” she said, using her real name. She extended a hand upward to the burly young man.

He removed his glasses, leaned down, and accepted her handshake. “My friends call me Dante,” he said, smooth as polished glass. If he was this much of a ladies’ man it was no wonder his girl was so jealous.

“Thanks for stopping by,” I said. I indicated the empty chair next to Dagny. “Please, have a seat.”

“I was not expecting anyone else,” Dante said delicately, sitting down. I could tell he didn’t want to offend Dagny. Her presence caught him off guard, exactly as I’d hoped. He held the messenger bag in his lap.

“Normally I wouldn’t bring a client into this,” I explained, “but given the situation, with you returning her sister’s effects, Dagny insisted.”

“Oh. Of course. I will, presuming that you have the data that you promised.”

“I’m a man of my word,” I said, producing an inch-long portable drive from my pocket. I reached across the desk and offered it to Dante.

“Is this everything?” he asked, taking the device.

“No, but it’s a lot,” I assured him. “Like I said, she gathered a whole lot of documentation from Ascension. A good portion of it doesn’t necessarily pertain to my case but still may be of interest to your organization.”

“I hope you don’t mind if I take a look,” he said, putting his smart glasses back on.

“Be my guest. I’ll wait.”

Dante pulled out a bulky handheld, one that looked like it was armored, and plugged the drive into it. He stared into space, his eyes dimly illuminated by the glasses. He touched his thumb to the screen of his handheld and used it to scroll. “Holy shit,” he said quietly.

“Lily wanted me to tell you that the authentication tags on all the documents are intact and that you can verify that.”

“I see them. Yeah, this looks good.” He took off the smart glasses and unplugged the drive from his handheld. “I have some friends who will be very excited to see this.” He slid his handheld back into his pocket. He grabbed the messenger bag and offered it to me.

I nodded at Dagny. “Let her have it. Whatever is in there belongs to her sister.”

“Right. Sorry.” He turned and handed the bag to my client. “Here you are. This is everything that was in her wall safe. Nothing has been taken, not even the cash.”

Dagny nodded and took the bag from him. I leaned back in my chair and didn’t say anything as she opened it and began setting the contents on my desk. It was the sort of thing you’d expect a person to keep in her wall safe—documents, a passport, a bundle of what was probably a few thousand bucks in cash, and some jewelry. I didn’t think any of it would be useful in helping us track down Cassandra Carmichael, but that didn’t really matter. This was for Dagny.

“Oh my God,” she said, covering her mouth with one hand. In the other, she lifted an ornate silver locket out of the bag.

“Everything okay?” I asked.

“Yes,” she said. “It’s just . . .” She trailed off as she opened the locket. A blue glow emanated from the pendant as it projected two small, three-dimensional holographic images, one from each side. The images were of two little girls with dark hair, one maybe a year or two older than the other. She stared at them for a few moments then closed the locket. She looked up at me, tears rolling down her cheeks. “This belonged to our mother. It was us when we were little. Our father—our real father, I mean—got this for her before he died. It . . . it hasn’t worked right in years. She must have gotten it fixed.” Dagny looked over at Dante. “Thank you. This . . . this means a lot to me.”

“I, uh, I hope we’re able to find your sister,” Dante said, awkwardly. I didn’t know that the contents of Cassandra’s safe would elicit that kind of reaction from Dagny but it couldn’t have gone any better if I did. Not only had I upheld my end of the bargain, but the young man was sitting next to a beautiful woman in need of help. Dante was a smooth operator but he didn’t strike me as the cold, detached type who uses women and tosses them aside. I could tell he was a sucker for a pretty girl, especially one in distress.

Dagny wiped a tear from her eye and gently closed the locket. She looked up at Dante again and put a hand on his arm. “She said she was working with Arcanum. Can you help us? You got what you need, right?”

“What sort of help do you need? Cassandra never even told us what she was investigating. She just used our network of contacts and informants inside the company to gather information. She would barely tell us anything.”

“You let her access your network without even finding out what she was working on?”

“It was a calculated risk,” Dante said. “She’s an Ascension insider herself, with access to high-level logistics information, which she was giving us before she disappeared.”

“Have you heard from any of the other people she was talking to recently?”

Dante shook his head. “No. Since Cassandra disappeared the rest stopped talking to us. We don’t want to put any of those people in danger, nor do we want to risk our own people. We’ve kind of set the whole thing aside for the time being.”

“It’s possible that was the intent,” I said. There was also the possibility that when they got Cassandra, they made her divulge the identities of the people she was talking to, and that they’ve gone after them, too. I didn’t say that part out loud. “That’s probably the best move for your organization. Would you be willing to give me the contact info for the informants Cassandra was talking to?”

Dante raised an eyebrow again. “What do you intend to do?”

“Follow up. See if any of them are willing to talk to me. Maybe I can get something out of them.”

“Do you really think they would talk to you when they won’t talk to us?” he asked.

“Maybe. I’m just a private eye trying to locate a missing person, not a secretive hacktivist organization famous for exposing corruption. I’m not looking to go public with anything.”

Dante rubbed his chin. “I hadn’t thought of it like that. I will have to run this by the others.”

“Come on, have I not established my trustworthiness?”

“I mean no offense, Mr. Novak, but we deliberate on all decisions.” He glanced down and rapidly tapped the screen of his handheld with both thumbs. “There,” he said, looking up. “I have forwarded your proposal.”

I sighed. “How long does this usually take?”

Dante looked down at his handheld again, then back up at me. “Counteroffer: we will share this information with you if you agree to send us anything else you uncover on Ascension.”

I only had to think about it for a moment. “Deal. Just remember, if you guys try to burn me I’ll burn you right back. Do we understand each other?”

Dante’s eyes narrowed. “I think we do.” He looked down at his handheld again and tapped the screen. “There. I sent the information to your in-box. It’s a list of the people we know of, within Ascension, who had been giving information to Cassandra Carmichael.”

Dagny put her hand on top of Dante’s and leaned in closer to him. “I can’t thank you enough, Dante.”

The kid, to his credit, was cool as ice. He slickly put his smart glasses on, then flashed Dagny a confident smile. “It was my pleasure. If you need anything, stop by the club anytime.” He stood up and looked at me. “If there’s nothing else, I’ll be on my way.”

With that, he was gone, leaving Dagny and me alone. We were quiet for a minute until I was sure that he’d left the office completely.

“You did good,” I said, grinning. “You had that kid wrapped around your finger.”

“What can I say?” Dagny said with a smirk. “I know what boys like. Between you and me, it’s kind of nice to know that I’ve still got it, even with men a decade younger than me.” I couldn’t tell if she was humble-bragging or was genuinely concerned about getting older, but to my eyes she looked amazing. Anyway, thirty-five is still young, especially these days. “Besides,” she continued, “I like to get dolled up once in a while. What’s our next move?”

“I’m going to follow up on the contacts that that young man gave me, see if any of them can point me in the right direction.”

“What if that doesn’t pan out?” There was concern on her face now.

“Then I go to your stepfather directly. I’ll hound him day and night if I have to.”

“That might be risky.”

“Somebody’s got to do it. I’m sick and tired of how Ascension can just do whatever the hell they want. Nobody should have that much power. It’s past time somebody stood up to them.”

“I didn’t realize you were so passionate about this, Easy.”

I hadn’t realized it either, to be honest. Maybe it was just the pressure I was putting myself under, maybe it was how afraid of Ascension everyone was, but I had had enough. “Maybe the problem with this world is we’re all too willing to accept an injustice because it’s convenient and safe. Sure, we don’t like it, but we tell ourselves that there’s nothing we can do, or that if we try, we’ll just make things harder on ourselves. They have all this power, all this money, and they’re in bed with the government, so we just accept it. It’s not right.”

Dagny gave me a sly smile and rested her chin on her hand. “Didn’t you just tell that young man that you weren’t out to bring down Ascension?”

“I wasn’t, but I’m starting to change my mind.”

“You know,” she said, cautiously, glancing down at her lap before looking back up into my eyes, “you don’t have to do this alone. We make a pretty good team.”

“This agency has a policy against getting the client directly involved in the investigatory process.”

“Does it now?” Dagny asked, playfully. “What’s the point of being your own boss if you can’t bend the rules once in a while?”

“I suppose it’s more of a guideline than a policy. It’s not like I wrote it down or anything.”

“Don Quixote didn’t tilt at windmills alone. He had Sancho to watch his back.”

At the time I didn’t get the reference; I went to vocational school, not university, and I’d never read much classical Earth literature. “Alright, then. There might be some things I still have to do alone, but when I can use your help I’ll let you know.”

“Thank you,” she said. “So . . . which contact should we try and track down first?”


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