"So, this investigation is back to being wide open," Ryland concluded as the aerocar arced away from Vandsen's building. His fingers skimmed over the dataplate containing the milipol report. "I shouldn't be surprised. A homicidal 'mad bomber' isn't an unusual plot in mystery thrillers but not in real life."

"It isn't impossible, though," Lyon warned.

"Yes, but most ordinary citizens had to undergo compulsory psych-screening before joining Pioneer 2. I'm sure that there are any number of sociopaths in high government positions—"

"It's almost a job prerequisite," Lyon noted cynically.

"—but we're talking about ordinary employees of Diamond Drive Deliveries, people who don't get special perks or exemptions from those kind of routine tests."

"That is a good point."

"The only think I can think of is that somehow information came into Braden's hands that required her immediate removal, before it could be passed through normal Administration channels—but no, that doesn't make any sense."

Lyon had spotted the flaw, too.

"Not when the murder method was so dependent on it being a particular date. That doesn't sound like urgency to me."

"No." Ryland exhaled sharply, a frustrated-sounding noise. "No, more like a long-term strategy being put into effect. Someone would have to gather intelligence, plan ahead."

"Could it be something personal? A reprisal from a rival faction for doing something?"

"No, not even Black Paper is stupid enough to pick that kind of fight with the Administration. Covert operations battles take place in the field, not against administrative personnel. I suppose I could have been right the first time and that whoever killed Braden had been prepared for an assassination attempt, choosing one of several options that was suitable to the time and place. Or maybe there was a symbolic reason. Maybe one of the hunter missions Braden ran resulted in someone or something being destroyed in an explosion."

"We need more data to properly judge that," Lyon pointed out.

"What we need," Ryland said, "is to get a look at Braden's job requests."

~X X X~

"You do realize that what you're asking is impossible, not to mention inappropriate." Irene no longer looked friendly or amused.

This time the meeting wasn't a casual one in a public place. Ryland was with Lyon this time, and they were looking across Irene's desk in the Administration meeting room. There were actually three desks, all of them outfitted with computer consoles capable of projecting data on multiple holoscreens. The central one would be Principal Tyrell's, if he were there, with a second empty station to Tyrell's right where Lab representatives were usually stationed during mission briefings. Irene's desk was to Tyrell's left.

The room itself was on the highest spire in the city, very close to the dome itself, and had been designed by some avant-garde architect with transparent walls. Lyon believed the room had originally been intended to be the Principal's primary office on Pioneer 2, but Tyrell had found it both uncomfortable and pretentious and only used it when he wanted to impress people with the importance of a meeting's subject.

"That can't really be true, can it? The impossible part, I mean. Resource Oversight surely must keep comprehensive records."

"I don't think you're helping, Ryland," Lyon advised her partner.

"Those records are confidential," Irene told him. "Moreover, they're also classified."

"Lyon and I are both A rank hunters, cleared to take part in classified government missions."

"Yes, but you're not on a classified government mission."

Ryland grinned broadly.

"We could be."

"Ryland, what are you talking about?" Lyon asked.

"If we'd been employed by the Administration to investigate the murder of Arca Braden, we would naturally be entitled to access Resource Oversight records that might be relevant to the matter."

"That was your big plan? To ask for a job—moreover, one that we've already been hired to do by someone else?"

"Yes, that was my plan."

He still had the grin on his face, and if smugness was capable of emitting energy he'd have been bathing the room in it. Clearly, there was something he'd thought of that Lyon was missing.

At least Irene was apparently missing it, too, so it wasn't painfully obvious.

"Okay, then, Ryland; enlighten us."

He turned to Irene.

"May I assume that it's the Administration's policy that it is unacceptable for the assassination of a bureau director to go unsolved?"

"Of course."

"And yet here it's been two weeks and the investigation has apparently stalled. The police have not been able to establish the weapon used, the means by which the weapon evaded Diamond Drive's security measures, the motive for the crime, or any suspects. Moreover, as you yourself mentioned to Lyon, the investigation has been hampered by the political infighting between the military and the Administration. Bluntly, the milipol is being denied access to information they need for their investigation because of your counterespionage measures, which you need to maintain because of the factional strife."

Ryland pressed the tips of his fingers together.

"What you need is to commission an investigation from someone to whom you can allow access to the data. Now, I'm sure there are people in the Administration's bureaucracy who might be able to handle the job, but the truth is that you've outsourced most of your security functions to the Hunter's Guild. With the fall of 32nd WORKS, you're starting to rein in the military, but by no means is it finished in that respect. If you were to use us as the hunters in question, you wouldn't waste any further time posting a request with the Guild, vetting the applicants to make sure they're not in bed with Black Paper or some other group, briefing the team, and having them cover the same ground everyone else already has."

In spite of herself, Irene was starting to smile.

"And what about the problem of vetting you—someone who has already formed an association with someone else in this matter?"

"Someone else whose interests run parallel to the Administration's, not against it. Diamond Drive Deliveries only wants a public resolution to the matter. They don't care about the who or the why of it, and certainly have no interest in secret missions or backroom politics. As for vetting, you wouldn't have told Lyon as much as you already did if we were on any kind of suspect list."

"You have thought this through," Irene said, her smile growing. She tapped a key on her console. "As have I. I just sent an official request to the Guild requesting your services in this matter."

"You had it set up in advance?" Lyon asked.

"I'd been considering it since we talked this morning. We'd have preferred you to solve the case on behalf of Diamond Drive alone, giving us the benefit without having to act openly, but since official action will be necessary to give you legitimate access to the data you need, official action it is."

Lyon shook her head, hopefully conveying a "dazed and bewildered" impression.

"I will never understand politics."

A moment later Ryland and Lyon's PDLs beeped simultaneously, indicating incoming simple-mail. It was the Guild, passing on Irene's request.

"Only five hundred meseta each?"

"Given that this is essentially a favor to you so you can continue the investigation you're already being paid for, Mr. Ryland, I'd say we were being positively generous—not that I blame you for trying."

"You really have thought this through," Ryland echoed with a chuckle. He and Lyon both signaled their acceptance of the job to the Guild.

"This is a serious problem and we treat it that way. Just because some members of the government seem to see Ragol and the issues surrounding it as a game to be played for their private amusement doesn't mean we all see things in that light."

"It's nice to be reminded of that, sometimes."

~X X X~

The Resource Oversight offices were only a single step away from the meeting room, since the warp platform could be tuned to connect to any of the government sections. Not long after, Lyon and Ryland were seated in the office of Acting Director Hans Kohlfield, running through Braden's job reports. Just outside the office were two armed soldiers. Because the building is on security lockdown following the assassination? Lyon wondered. Or in case two freshly-hired hunters turn out to be security risks?

Her touch receptors weren't actually capable of an itch, but that was still how she'd describe the sensation between her shoulder blades that government jobs gave her.

"What exactly are we supposed to be looking for?" Kohlfield asked. A slight, spare man with a raspy voice, his reactions since their introduction had been a curious mixture of hope and scorn.

"Motive," Lyon said.

"Anomalies," Ryland clarified. "Jobs left open-ended, jobs which led to conflict with one faction or another, jobs which led to more questions instead of resolving them."

The Resource Oversight computer wasn't a true AI like the Lab's Calus, but as a high-grade nonsentient was capable of tremendous processing power when properly directed. Several holoscreens were open, one for the master list of Resource Oversight jobs, two for open files being examined, three more for priority lists of examined files. Thus far the sorting wasn't for likely, unlikely, and maybe, but for possible, unlikely, and negligible probabilities. "Maybe" was as good as they were getting.

The speed at which Lyon processed the data—she was much better than an organic at thinking about multiple tasks at once—was far better than Ryland or Kohlfield could have managed, but that apparently didn't keep the Acting Director from complaining.

"Shouldn't she be plugged in directly to process the data more efficiently?"

"Yes, but then I couldn't get you organics' opinions on the data as easily. My function is largely mechanical here; you're offering your subjective judgment." Not to mention that she would connect herself to a computer as powerful as the Administration mainframe only in a life-or-death situation.

"Show me details on 0198B," Ryland cut in, stopping any further argument before it got started. The file tag pulsed on one screen and the report opened on another.

"Expedition to study Photon present on Nebula Montana, Gal De Val Island, jointly sponsored by the Lab. Fieldwork carried out February 2nd-4th. Results inconclusive. Think the Lab is stalling on the details?"

"Could be, but it's unlikely to be relevant. Anything like this is cleared to the highest levels. No point in killing Braden."

"All right." Lyon filed it as unlikely.

"How about 0199A?"

"Surveillance of military operations in No Man's Mines carried out February 8th. That sounds promising."

"Not likely," countered Kohlfield. "This was purely routine, as you can see. Those code flags indicate the surveillance turned up only low-priority data."

"0201B is flagged as 'failed—file closed.' What does that mean?"

"That the mission objective was not achieved, but the Administration has determined that a follow-up is not advisable," Kohlfield explained. "It's usually shorthand for 'someone else's hunters got there first.'"

"Let's see the details anyway," Ryland decided.

"Screen three," Lyon said even as she was filing 0200C and 0202A as negligibles.

"That sounds interesting," Ryland said. "Retrieval of data recorder from seabed research facility sublevels, Section L49. I thought investigation of the Seabed was under Lab jurisdiction?"

"After the WORKS incident, access was renegotiated. The Administration can send teams directly although the Guild is still not permitted to investigate on behalf of private clients without Lab approval."

"That's why Gal De Val quest postings can only be accepted in the Hunter's Guild offices in the Lab section of the ship!" Lyon realized.

"Exactly."

"Oh-oh," Ryland said. "This wasn't a 'someone else got there first' failure. Take a look."

"The hunter died in the attempt," Lyon read. "The body was retrieved by transponder beacon but resuscitation was determined to be impossible by the Medical Center February 14th at 937.04."

"Happy Valentine's Day," Ryland said bitterly. Lyon felt some of the same emotion herself. The situation reminded them both of the very real risks that went along with being a hunter.

"So why was the file closed?" Lyon asked. "There's no indication that the data they were after was compromised, no transmissions from the hunter that third parties were on-site." She scrolled rapidly through the file until locating what she wanted. "Here's an appended note from Director Braden in explanation."

"Her determination was that the risks of pursuing this operation outweighed the purely speculative value of the information that might be gained, and therefore there was not to be a follow-up attempt," Ryland summarized. Three confused people stared at the screen.

"Like hell," Lyon concluded succinctly. "I've never heard of any facet of the government ever coming to the conclusion that anything about Ragol could be outweighed in importance by the risks of retrieving it."

"Short of bringing back a live Delbiter, I'd have to agree," Ryland said.

"There must have been some reason," Kohlfield insisted. "The original intelligence reports which gave rise to the mission probably detail what we hoped to find."

"I don't see any links to any external files. The details are pretty sketchy."

"That can't be. Let me see that." He all but shoved Lyon out of the way and began frantically operating the console, but regardless of what he tried was unable to answer the question. "It doesn't make sense. I can't find any links or references to what set this mission off in the first place!"

"I'd have thought a director's clearance would cover that."

"Acting Director," Lyon corrected.

Kohlfield gritted his teeth at that.

"She may be right," he admitted. "I'm sure that my clearance is only increased in those areas necessary to function in this position. Past records and intelligence data relating to a closed case might well be hidden until my position becomes official."

"I think I may know why Ms. Braden closed the case," Lyon said. "Does the name of the hunter who died look familiar, Ryland?"

"Rich Deacon. Wait, you mean—?"

Lyon nodded.

"Exactly. I think it makes sense that she would close a file down as excessively risky if she'd lost her lover trying to resolve it. My own emotional subroutines would assign a higher degree of danger when performing a risk assessment on something that cost the life of someone I cared for versus someone I did not. Likewise, while the natural response would be to seek vengeance, this type of fetch-and-carry job, with ordinary monsters as the obstacles, leaves no target for anger or revenge."

"So she essentially shoved the mission into an electronic hole and tried to move on."

"I think so. Only, nothing was resolved. The mission remains incomplete and the data unrecovered."

"Meaning that this is a very good candidate for the unfinished business that led to Ms. Braden's murder."

They went through the last month of files quickly, yielding nothing better than a couple of unlikelies. That left 0201B as the most probable avenue for investigation—indeed, the only significant lead from among the Resource Oversight files.

"All right, then," Ryland said. "Acting Director Kohlfield, please keep working on digging up the groundwork on this file. If we can learn how Resource Oversight generated this job in the first place, it might point to who'd want Ms. Braden killed."

"And what will you be doing while I'm researching for you?" the bureaucrat asked a bit scornfully.

"We'll be doing our best not to add to the body count this mission has already generated," Lyon said, "while we're down in the Seabed facility."