Crossways (19 page)

Stefan took the opportunity to bolt for the door.

“Mrs. Benjamin—”

“It's
Miss
. I never married Reska's grandfather.”

“Miss Benjamin—”

“Don't patronize me. I can hear it in your voice and I can smell bullshit from ten klicks away. I haven't flown halfway around Chenon to be fobbed off with platitudes. My great-grandson, Merrick Benjamin, was in a party of youngsters from Russolta called for fast track testing at the Academy two days ago. He hasn't been seen since. His supervisor was told he'd been singled out for further tests.”

“You need to make enquiries at the Academy, then. I'm afraid I have no knowledge of any young people asked to remain.”

She gave him a look that said she'd done all that and more. “There were no further tests, Mr. Crowder. Merrick went in for his appointment and never came out again. What's going on?”

Crowder raised both hands in a nothing-to-do-with-me gesture.

“I have, of course, informed both the local police and the Monitors that Merrick is missing.”

“The natural thing to do.” Good thing Crowder had contacts in the local force.

“I know there's something going on.”

“Has Ben been in touch?” Crowder asked.

“What do you think?”

“Miss Benjamin, I've heard so much about you from Ben, may I call you Nan?”

“No, you may not. And while we're at it, why is there a warrant out for Reska on three counts of murder, terrorism,
armed insurrection, hijacking, grand theft, and kidnapping? What's he supposed to have done?”

“I'm so deeply disappointed, Miss Benjamin, but a fortune in platinum can turn the best of men.”

“Go on.” The woman's complete lack of reaction was unsettling. Crowder resisted the temptation to tug at his collar.

“Commander Benjamin was in charge of setting up a colony on the frontier planet of Olyanda for a bunch of back-to-basics Ecolibrians.”

“That much I know.”

“They found platinum, large deposits. Your grandson sold the platinum rights and forced the settlers off the planet. In the process he stole a state-of-the-art jumpship and murdered Ari van Blaiden.”

“Van Blaiden runs the Special Operations Department for Alphacorp, if I've kept up with appointments correctly.” She raised one eyebrow. “An Alphacorp official on a closed planet being settled by the Trust. Hmm. Go on. Three counts of murder, the warrant said.”

How the hell had she got hold of the warrant? It was classified, need-to-know only. Perhaps one of Ben's ex-colleagues in the Monitors had broken security for old time's sake.

“Two were here, in this very building, in a terrorist attack. My own associates. I believe I may have been the intended target, but I'd left earlier.” He found himself rubbing the dressing on his ear and shoved his hand in his pocket. “There's one more thing, an ark ship containing thirty thousand settlers in cryo has been hijacked. Thirty thousand very vulnerable settlers who would have been a huge complication to Benjamin's plans had they been allowed to land on Olyanda.”

Ben's grandmother sniffed, but said nothing. Got her on the run, Crowder thought. See how she likes the idea of her darling boy gone rogue.

“I'm so sorry to have to be the one to tell you all of this, Miss Benjamin. Obviously the Trust is doing all it can, and the Monitors have been informed, but there's a press blackout, for security reasons, you understand.”

“Oh, yes, I understand perfectly.” Her nose twitched and she rubbed it with the back of her index finger.

“I'm sorry I couldn't arrange for you to hear the news in a more gentle manner,” Crowder said. “I realize this must be an enormous shock for you.”

“Shock? Not exactly. I know what my grandson is capable of, and I know what motivates him.”

“Greed is a terrible thing.”

“Indeed, it is. I think you should know, Mr. Crowder, that I have contacts who will be very interested in Merrick's safety, powerful contacts.” She narrowed her eyes and gave him an iron stare.

“Is that a threat, Miss Benjamin?”

“I wouldn't be so crass, Mr. Crowder. It's just a statement of fact. Whatever beef you have with my grandson, the rest of the family will be kept out of it. I would appreciate your assistance to find Merrick, and would anticipate that since you have the resources, you'll be able to do that soon and deliver him safely to me. I'll be at Reska's apartment. You know where that is.”

Crowder's neck prickled. Did she have contacts or was she bluffing?

She gave him a long, steady look before turning and stalking out.

He breathed out. He hadn't even needed Stefan's intervention to cut the interview short. So why did he feel as though he was the one who'd been dismissed?

He commed Stefan. “Is Pav Danniri in place?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Good. Steer the Benjamin woman in the right direction. When Danniri has her safely confined I want to know more about Miss Benjamin—a lot more.”

Ricky checked his handpad, wafer-thin and grafted onto the back of his left hand. He'd been really proud to have it fitted on his tenth birthday, a proper grown-up model, but it was no help now. Still no comms signal. He suspected the room was shielded, otherwise they'd have ripped off his handpad, and that hurt. He'd done it accidentally once and it had bled like the very devil.

On the fourth day of captivity, just as he was getting used to a twice-daily food delivery by a silent guard, and had played Upstix and Braintease on his handpad way too
many times, Ricky heard feet in the corridor outside. The door's lock mechanism whirred. The scary woman came in first and motioned for Ricky to stand over in the far corner, then an antigrav chair floated in, operated by a thickset man. In the chair, ashen and very still, was Nan.

Ricky started forward and the scary woman caught him around the shoulders.

“Nan! What have you done with her?” He'd heard his own voice rise childishly. He fought to lower it and sound less desperate, less petulant. If there was one thing Nan had taught him it was that childish demands usually failed to get him what he wanted.

“The old woman's been in the med bay.”

“What's wrong with her?”

Silence.

“Please.”

“Her life is not in danger.”

“What's wrong with her?”

“Her leg is broken. We underestimated her physical capacity.”

“But—”

Even from across the room Ricky could see that Nan's right leg was encased in a protective fracture sleeve with the telltale indicating that she'd already had two sessions of bone regeneration. Her damaged leg stuck out straight, supported by an extension of the float chair. She didn't really focus on anything in the room, just stared straight ahead with a blank expression that was so unlike her that Ricky, who had been scared enough before, felt the bottom fall out of his world. Nan was the rock that anchored their family when Dad's moods swung between sour and mellow.

He'd never seen Nan helpless before.

The thickset guard lifted her from the chair and deposited her on the freestanding bed, then unlocked and pulled down a narrow bunk from the wall, which took up almost half of the remaining floor space. “This is yours, now, kid.”

Ricky ignored the furniture. “What have you done to her?” He tried to keep his voice strong and level but it wobbled right when he didn't want it to.

“Fixed her leg,” the scary woman said.

“What's going to happen to us?”

“Same thing that usually happens to criminals.”

“We're not criminals!”

“Helping Ben Benjamin commit murder. That's a criminal offense.”

“It's not . . . We didn't . . .”
Shut up, Ricky, before you say something stupid
.
Deny everything.
“Uncle Ben's not a murderer.”

He saw the look in the woman's eye and shut up.

When they'd gone, Ricky turned to his great-grandmother.

“Nan?”

She continued to stare at the ceiling.

“Nan?” He touched her shoulder lightly.

No reaction.

“Nan?” He shook her with a little more determination.

Nothing.

Again. Nothing. More shaking.

“You wake up, now. I need you.”

He heard himself shouting and realized he was gripping her shoulder too hard and shaking her. What was he doing? He stepped back, balled his fists, and took a deep breath.

“Okay, Nan. It's okay.” This time he patted her shoulder gently. “I'll think of something. I'll get us out of here. Don't worry.”

He looked around the room. What resources did he have? What would Uncle Ben do?

Stefan hadn't been able to find a thing on Louisa Benjamin. Crowder almost fired the young man on the spot, but assistants with discretion weren't easy to find. Sure that he could do better himself, and that Stefan would be abjectly apologetic when he did, Crowder accessed the link and found . . . nothing.

Nothing more than her basic identity, that is: name and address, the will left by Ben's parents, deeds to the farm, and her date of birth, which surprised him because she didn't look anywhere near her age, but almost nothing else of any value. In these days of information overload to have a record that was so devoid of detail and nuance was almost unheard of.

Maybe she did have connections.

He'd assumed she was bluffing, but what if she wasn't?

Oh, hell, there were two alternatives. She'd either paid a
lot of money or had a lot of influence to have her identity scraped from public view, or she'd never been anywhere, done anything, or met anybody important in her whole life. She was a farmer living off the grid.

Which was the most likely?

He began to smile.

He wasn't in the habit of waging war on old ladies, but Louisa Benjamin was fair game. Ben had never offered much detail, but it was pretty obvious that he loved his Nan. Why sit around waiting for Ben to pay him an unauthorized visit? Why not take the initiative? His grandmother and nephew would be the perfect bait for a trap.

Crowder heard voices in the outer office.

“Come in, Danniri,” he called, still finding it rather odd to be using the name of his onetime bodyguard who had died trying to take down Benjamin.

Crowder tried not to stare at Pav Danniri. She looked so much like her dead brother that it was uncanny. He had wondered whether using her to capture and guard Louisa Benjamin was a good move, since she harbored such a grudge against Benjamin himself, but she'd been completely cool and professional with both the boy and the grandmother.

Crowder waved her in. “You've done well.”

Pav scowled. “The old woman's broken leg was unfortunate, but it's responding to treatment.”

“Hardly a major disaster given that her only role in this affair is as bait in a trap.”

“Were you aware that she has a psi implant?”

“No.” Had he misjudged Louisa Benjamin after all? “What's her specialty?”

“I don't know. I put her on reisercaine as soon as I realized, so between that and the pain meds she won't have been able to get a message out even if she's the strongest Psi-1 Telepath ever. I checked her handpad. Not much on it that I could find.”

“What about the boy?”

“He's just a kid.”

“Any psi abilities?”

“Too young.”

Crowder smiled. Everything was under control.