Chapter 22
Dirty Jobs
Near the Soochian-North Malvina Border
29th of Sixthmoon, 6 Charles 9
Root showed his ID card to the armorer, along with the order signed by Captain Carloman. It was one thing for him to check out his weapon when they were going ashore, but they were still underway at the moment. That could only mean that he might have occasion to use it here onboard. The armorer was quite reasonably unsettled and read over the order at least three times before complying.
Root girded himself with the pistol belt before putting his sidearm in its holster and tucking the box of extra ammo into the ammo pouch. Although he tended to float somewhere in the agnostic spectrum, he hoped to God he wasn't going to need this.
After him, a squad of Lieutenant Dubois' Fusiliers armed up as well. They would be coming along for insurance, in case this thing was much worse than Root imagined. The four MAs dispatched by the Captain ought to have been more than enough, but you can never be too careful. Root wasn't taking any chances. He was tempted to deploy the whole damn platoon of Fusiliers, but that was surely overkill even in the worst-case scenario.
Once the Fusiliers were ready to go, they set out for their first destination. They got some looks from the few deckhands they passed along the way. Then they arrived at the office Sir Armand was using. Root signalled for the MAs to come with him while the Fusiliers posted outside.
Sir Armand was given an office normally reserved for division-level officers and up, which meant there was a small waiting room with a reception desk. Sir Armand's secretary, Trenton Pollux, was sitting at the desk. If it had been just Root, he might not have thought anything was out of the ordinary, but the sight of the MAs immediately put him on edge.
"Colonel Maartens, what is this about?" he asked, trying unsuccessfully to hide the unease in his voice.
"Is Sir Armand in?" Root asked.
"Ye, yes, sir."
Root went on ahead to the door. Pollux quickly rose from his seat and began to protest, "Sir, you can't—"
One of the MAs swiftly moved in between them and Pollux shut right up, meekly sitting back down as Root opened the door.
Sir Armand was surprised at first.
"Colonel Maartens, what—?"
His eyes went to the sidearm on Root's hip and the MAs behind him. Composing himself, he settled back into his seat and folded his hands.
"You know why I'm here, Sir Armand?" Root asked.
"I'm sure that if I did, it would all be over for me," Sir Armand replied calmly.
Root couldn't get a clear read on him. He was playing it too cool, whether he knew or not. Root was going to have to offer up more bait.
"A plot against the King was uncovered," Root said.
"His Majesty faces many plots," Sir Armand replied. "Many more now, I would imagine. I take it there's something about this one that brings you here with a gun on your hip and armed guards at your back."
"The goal of the plot was to overthrow the King and drive out the people loyal to him."
Sir Armand arched an eyebrow.
"A full-fledged coup then? We haven't seen that since, well, since His Majesty drove his sister from the throne."
"That wasn't a coup," Root said.
"It was at His Majesty's behest that the Household Troops withdrew from the Queen and suppressed the Blackamoors. Of course, Parliament later gave their blessing to his actions before recognizing his claim to the throne, but if even one regiment had opposed him, would it be seen as anything other than a rebellion?"
"Are you saying you liked it better when Mad Mal was running the show?"
"You would have to be madder than the late, unlamented Sir Malvolio to think that, Colonel. I simply believe that history should be viewed with a dispassionate eye."
He wasn't going to make this easy, was he? Either he was being this cagey because he was guilty or because he was innocent and didn't want to give Root anything he could use as a pretext to string him up. Sir Armand started his career right in the middle of the Grand Dux's reign of terror, so he had to have been good at not saying or doing anything to incriminate himself.
Root decided to go for broke.
"There were some pretty big fish that got caught up in the net," he said, "like the Army Chief of Staff. General Haviland. Your brother."
Sir Armand remained stonefaced for a moment, as if the revelation didn't affect him, but then he let out a sigh and bowed his head.
"That damned fool..."
Was this real or just an act? Root needed to play it out further.
"Are you saying this is news to you?"
"Yes, Colonel," an exasperated Sir Armand replied, "it is news to me. Do you have any siblings, Colonel?"
"No."
"Well, some siblings get along just fine. In fact, I hear people say it's a bond unlike any other. I wouldn't know. I never got on with my brother and it only got worse when I left the Navy to join the Civil Service. I've barely spoken with him in the past twenty years. That sort of relationship doesn't make for a very good co-conspirator."
"So you're denying any involvement in this plot?" Root asked.
"If I wanted to sabotage His Majesty's diplomacy, I would be doing a poor job of it."
Root was starting to lose his patience.
"Dammit, man. Just tell me straight."
Sir Armand looked Root square in the eye and said, "If you want to shoot me, shoot me. If you want to throw me in the brig, then throw me in the brig, but I had no part in this plot."
Root didn't think Sir Armand had the stones to make a bluff like this and if he did, Root was fairly confident he could see through it. No, Sir Armand was telling the truth.
Root relaxed his arm. It was a subtle movement, but one that didn't go unnoticed by Sir Armand.
"That's it?" he asked. "No roughing me up? No sticking razor blades under my fingernails to get me to confess?"
"No," Root said. "That's not my thing. I trust you, Sir Armand."
"And His Majesty trusts you enough to leave this to your judgment. If I were in your place, I would have at least confined me to the brig until we got back to Saintcharles."
"Then be glad I'm not you," Root replied. "Besides, if you're in the brig, then I'm the one that's gotta play diplomat with the damn Malvinans. No damn thank you to that."
Sir Armand chuckled.
"I would hate for this mission to be jeopardized just because you don't want to do my work."
"It's like you said, if you were trying to sabotage this mission, you're doing a piss-poor job of it."
Sir Armand smiled.
"I'll take that as a compliment."
"You should. That's how I meant it."
Sir Armand shook his head, then pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Well, Colonel, what now?"
"I've gotta make the rounds, make sure everyone else is clean."
"The whole ship or just the people in foreign service?"
"I'm pretty sure the average swabby isn't in much of a position to do much harm to the mission."
'"Well, you do what you have to do. So as not to tamper with the proceedings, I will remain here until you have finished."
"I appreciate that."
"I would say 'Happy hunting,' but I'm hoping you come up empty-handed."
"Me too," Root said. "Me too."
The casual observer might have thought Root was being rather cavalier leaving it at that, but he trusted his instincts and he was fairly confident in his ability to catch a liar. Most importantly, it was exactly as Sir Armand said. If his purpose was to sabotage this mission, then he would have found some way to undermine negotiations with the past three countries they went to. There would've been some clue and even if Root didn't catch it, someone like Azuki would, or...
Lieutenant Juliard.
Just as Root was thinking of her, there she was waiting for him in the hall (passageway).
"May I have a word with you, Colonel?" she asked.
"I'm right here," Root replied.
She glanced over her shoulder at the MAs and Fusiliers and said, "Alone?"
Root motioned for her to follow him back into Sir Armand's office. He raised a hand so Pollux would stay put while he went on in.
As he opened the door, he said to Sir Armand, "Mind stepping out a bit? Someone wants a word."
"General Boyer's pet kitten," Sir Armand replied, nodding to Lieutenant Juliard. "So long as you don't have anything else in mind, you are quite welcome to use my office. Mr. Pollux could probably use some talking down about now anyway. Poor boy has such a nervous disposition."
"Thanks," Root said.
Sir Armand nodded again to Lieutenant Juliard as he walked past, closing the door behind him.
"So what've you got for me?" Root asked.
Lieutenant Juliard held up a finger to tell him to be quiet, then she opened the satchel hanging off her shoulder. She fiddled with a few dials, then pulled out some sort of handset on a cord and extended the antenna. The device made this dull buzzing sound as she went waving the handset around all over the office. Some sort of bug sweeper, apparently.
When nothing set the thing off, she powered down the device, put the handset back in the satchel and closed it.
"Looks like we're clear," she said.
"Glad to know the walls don't have ears," Root said, "but I hear the corn does."
Lieutenant Juliard rolled her eyes at the bad joke, then handed him a strand of ticker tape and said, "General Boyer requested that I accompany you, Colonel."
Root looked at the ticker tape. It was a childish code but so simple that no one would think much of it.
B say Send J C say yea
Once he had read it, the Lieutenant took the ticker tape and swallowed it. She made a bit of a face as she did. Root didn't imagine it tasted particularly good.
So General Boyer wanted Lieutenant Juliard tailing him and King Charles agreed to the request. Root didn't have much of a problem with it, but he never felt comfortable around people from Second Bureau, even when they came in a decent-looking package.
Lieutenant Juliard recoiled a bit self-consciously with a faint flush appearing on her cheeks.
"You're picturing me naked, aren't you?"
He wasn't, at least not until she said it. Her arm went up to cover her chest. As if that would do anything to stop a man's imagination.
"I think things are going to go a lot smoother if we don't think too much about what we saw back in Gandoh," Root said. "So let's set aside the funny birthmark on your ass and get down to business."
"I, I don't have a funny birthmark on my a—, ah, on my, on my buttocks."
"You sure 'bout that?"
She blushed more as she was giving serious thought to whether or not Root was telling the truth.
"Lieutenant."
She was so lost in thought he actually startled her a little.
"Ye, yes? What is it, Colonel?"
"Business."
"Oh, yes, right," she said. She cleared her throat. "You're checking the foreign service personnel for potential co-conspirators in the Burgundy Plot."
"The Burgundy Plot?"
"Several of the leaders would meet to plan in the Burgundy Room. That was where they were caught."
"Okay, so you want to tag along. You'll be outed as Second Bureau. You fine with that?"
"If I was going undercover, Colonel, I wouldn't be using my real name."
"Is that your real name?"
"Yes, Colonel. I see you've already paid Sir Armand a visit. Are you sure about him?"
"Yeah, I'm sure."
"Is that what you intend to tell His Majesty? 'Yeah, I'm sure'?"
"Look, he's not in on it."
"How do you know that? What did you do?"
"I told him about his brother getting picked up and saw how he reacted."
"That's it?"
"There's a lot you can tell from a man when you tell him his brother's been arrested for plotting against the King."
"He could have been acting. He might be trained for something like this."
"He's not."
"How do you know?"
"Gut instinct."
"Your gut instinct?" Lieutenant Juliard asked, disbelieving what she heard. "You're going to let the fate of this mission rest on your gut instinct?"
"There's more to it than that. I know you've been watching him. Has he given you any reason to suspect him?"
"No, but that's no guarantee."
"There are no guarantees in life, Lieutenant. This is your first time out of Byrandia, isn't it?"
"Well, yes, but I—"
"And you've never seen combat?"
"No, but I—"
"Well, I have. I've been some bad places where men'll cut your throat for a couple centims. I've fought alongside men who'd put a bullet in your back if they thought the enemy would be too busy hacking you apart to go after them. You learn real quick how to judge a man or you don't last too long, so when I say I can trust Sir Armand, you can trust that. The King does."
He'd managed to unnerve her a little. She swallowed uncomfortably and gathered her nerve, saying, "Well, I want to ask a few questions to the other eight."
"Six," Root corrected. "Remember that we lost two in Gandoh."
"Oh, right..."
She paused.
"What about Her Highness?"
It was little surprise Anne's secret had been exposed. It was one thing for her to be relatively inconspicuous in uniform with her head covered, but after Gandoh... Anyone who had seen the newsreels or read the magazine articles about the Queen Marguerithe Games knew what Anne looked like in a bathing suit, so seeing her in less left her with nothing to hide, as it were. She could try to play off being a coincidental dead-ringer for the Princess, but that excuse wasn't going to get too far with someone like Lieutenant Juliard. There was no point in poorly trying to keep up the farce, especially when it was just the two of them.
"Sir Willem stays close as much as he can and I've got Azuki watching her too," Root said. "I don't know if anyone else knows, really knows, but so far no one's made any moves on her."
"Has she made any more moves on you, Colonel?" the Lieutenant asked.
"What, are you jealous or something?"
"Wha? M, me? Jealous? No!"
How did someone so easily flustered get into Second Bureau?
Regaining her composure, Lieutenant Juliard said, "I know you two have a history, but she's the King's daughter. And you're a married man. And... how much older are you?"
"Nineteen years," Root said. "I'm well aware of all that. You don't see me going along with it, do you?"
"All it takes is one slip-up."
"You wanna be our chaperone? Be my guest, but right now, don't we have more pressing concerns, like the possibility of conspirators looking to overthrow the King, foil his efforts at diplomacy and get us all killed by the Empire?"
"You're right. We need to focus on the task at hand."
"Thank you."
With that settled, Root went for the door. As he did, Lieutenant Juliard said, "Speaking of the Empire, what's the story with you and that Gandohese woman they have?"
"God Almighty..."