Part Two: The Real Story (or, Let's Hear From People Who Know What's Really Going On)

The old, suited bastards leave the glass-box conference room one after the other, leaving another man at the table looking traumatized, like everything around him is coming apart. This is Russell Choi, in his early forties, and the fifth executive board member of the very successful weapons conglomerate New Horizon Arms. The three men who just left are led in particular by a grey-haired prick called Barney Maness; all three are board members themselves, and, even more damning, together form a deciding majority.

Maness has just told Choi what's going to happen in a couple days, and that there's nothing he can do to stop it. It's very cordial, and Maness seems apologetic because he likes Choi and sees him as a son or something but it's "just not your time, Russ," he said. "We'll try again in a few years, when things are back to normal."

Again in a few years if NHA is even still around. The repercussions are kind of fuzzy and undefined as of yet. At least they were blunt with Choi. They said they're in a tricky spot and they don't have any other option but to come to a decision and put it to a vote that will have already been decided.

In short NHA's being blackmailed. They told him it was an unfortunate situation from history—dirty baggage like anyone else has got, necessary then to get NHA where it is today, to have kept it afloat in the cutthroat climate of the wartime defence contractor game. It's not important that he knows what that previous fuck up is exactly because they're going to keep it buried with this vote. The only damage will be financial—everyone will just need to "weather the storm."

Maness will probably be okay, but this surprise acquisition without a doubt will leave Choi in a good deal of trouble.

"We're about to get fucked, we're about to get fucked, we're about to get fucked," Choi proclaims as he storms into the office of Parker Conway, NHA's Chief Financial Officer.

She glances up from her salad and wipes her mouth with a napkin. She looks like she wants to disappear because has a guilty look on her face when she says, "I know."

"You... know?" Choi says. "You... Do you know what I've been doing the last 15 months, Parker? Lubricating buttholes. Yeah. For nothing."

Parker goes slightly limp in her chair. "They're torpedoing Kinetech. Shit. I'm sorry."

"I had them, Parker. We were a month away from signing. Tops," Choi says. "Who the hell is Annex Global?" He digs into his chatter: "Give me everything on AXGL." It twitters and complies.

While he flicks at his device, Parker says, "How much are we projected to lose on Annex? Did they say?"

"I don't know but Maness said to hold onto our collective dick and balls," Choi says without looking up. "Our plowback's going to take a hit in the acquisition alone—we're going to have to move money around to even do this thing. Then there's going to be panic. I don't know how bad but you remember the guy running Kaiserreich? His very sudden and equally tragic foray into mega-seed?" Parker grimaces and Choi says, "He thought it was a good idea up until they imploded."

"Of course he turned out to be right all along."

"Yeah, well, he jumped off the Defenders' Memorial knowing everyone thought he was a deluded idiot way before then. That isn't the case here—this is coercion and there's no good way to spin it. I'd take the scandal over this shit. At least we'd bounce back. A move like this is... Shareholders won't think about sticking it out and potentials won't even want to dip a toe in the water, thirty percent undervalue or not."

"Thirty? They said thirty?" Parker asks, eyes wide.

"That's conservative."

"We can—I don't know—buy market research. Make a case and try to retain."

"Market research that doesn't exist and won't. Maybe the only thing it does show is that it won't work, and others have tried. And failed. Because it looks like what it is: a fucking terrible, fucking stupid, nonsense decision. What arms giant initiates a takeover of a... a... landscaping company?!" Choi stares at the screen in his hand, dismayed.

Parker feebly corrects him: "A growing industrial venture that just signed an MOU with the government. They're about to scoop up a hundred billion dollar contract."

"That we won't see a cent of, Parker. We're not getting the contract. UEG stipulation—legal barrier in place that says plainly we couldn't funnel those specific funds into any arms development whatsoever. They're gonna send in an army of auditors and watchdogs. We're going to be selling that thing off—we'll have to. If we're going to survive the next quarter we're gonna need to strip Annex down for parts. Same with the rest of our LLCs... They're making us gut ourselves," Choi says. "Bastards planned this."

"You think it's one of our competitors? Or Annex's?"

"There's a dozen companies gunning for that contract. It'll be impossible to find out who's behind this—whoever's got dirt on us."

"So we do like Maness says. We buckle up."

Choi goes all quiet for a moment. Then he says, "Do you remember when I said Kinetech was gonna be our personal Jesus? This was some time ago."

Parker cocks her head. "Russell, you didn't."

"All in. Serena's savings, Anthony's trust fund..."

"Oh, fuck me. You need to sell," Parker says. "Today."

"You know we've been taking hits."

"Still better than later."

"It might be all over for me already. I've been taking out loans the last two years..."

"Shit." Parker sighs. "At least you know you can always crash on my couch."

"Don't fucking joke about that." Choi scowls. "Everyone's going down. A decision this bone-headed, how's that gonna play? Parker, they're gonna look at you. Whether you had anything to do with it or not. Davey Thibault just made the cover of Fortune and is too fucking pretty to throw under the bus—they'll keep him on as CEO. Maness sure as hell won't own up to it. I'm surprised they haven't tried to bribe you into..." Choi pauses, studying Parker. She's silent, and she wants him to finish that realization. Her sullen face is telling him he's right so he does: "They're fucking buying you out. The rest of your contract."

Parker says, "They told me it's the best option I have."

"They gave you options? Like what? How hard they fuck you? Slower? Faster? Between the tits? Are you kidding me, Parker, you're gonna take their money?"

"They gave me a figure, on top of everything. It's a good amount."

"No amount is a good amount. They're gonna assassinate you!" Choi says. "What are you gonna do? The Sun's gonna want an exclusive A-1 on you, and you don't want to sit down with the Sun, those fucking hacks. I'll tell you now it'll be about how you singlehandedly tanked one of the most prolific arms companies of our time, and you're gonna have to come up with that reason. They're gonna want tears, Parker."

"Then I won't sit down with them. No press. No interviews."

"That won't be part of the deal, though. Guarantee you, they're gonna get that story, and until Jonathan the summer intern hand-delivers it to Maness himself, you're not getting your money. They'll get a lawyer to make sure of that. It's show business at this point."

"Then I don't care," Parker says. She sets her jaw. "I just need the money."

"Parker, I need money. You can tell Maness to fuck off."

"I was in front of a judge. Last week, Russell," Parker says. "Stephen's cleaning me out."

Choi stops pacing and very carefully takes a seat on the edge of her desk. He says, "I never liked him."

"My own kid called me a fucking deadbeat and she's 13 years old."

"How is the scamp?"

"She's... you know, she's 13. We're going to get pizza later, you want to come? You she actually likes."

"Yeah, alright," Choi says. He looks around her office. "Parker, this company strangled your marriage to death. They owe you more than this."

"I'm fine with it, whatever's coming. It's this or next to nothing that I get. You're the one who's going to get hit the hardest." She leans forward and puts her hand on his. "What are you going to do, big guy?"

They're both startled when there's a chortled ring as Parker's office line fills the room. Parker takes back her hand, as if they've been caught out, and answers the phone: "Hello? Hi, Ginger. Yeah, he's here. Hold on."

Parker puts the call on mute. "It's for you. It's Ginger."

Choi looks confused. "My Ginger?"

"What the hell is she doing calling me? How does she know to look for you through me?"

"She's very intuitive."

Parker gives him a glare. "Russell."

"You might feature pretty heavily in my dayplanner."

"Russell!"

"She covers for me. When Serena calls the office." He wags his finger between the two of them. "This doesn't happen without Ginger. Ipso facto she's my everything." He puts the call on conference and says, "Ginger, whatever it is you want I don't have time for it."

"Did you call Mr. Wyman back?"

"I don't know who that is."

"So no?"

"So God no."

Ginger lets out a noise that sounds hushed and judgmental. She chides, "He called you last night. He told me it's very important he reaches you."

"How important?"

There's a knock on Parker's door and her assistant Tina comes in. She says to Parker, "Sorry, Ms. Conway, there's a man here to see Mr. Choi?"

Still on the line, Ginger says, "Important enough for him to track you down. That'll be him."

Choi groans. "Ginger you're supposed to keep them waiting. You're supposed to stonewall. That's why your position exists."

"He got to me, Russell. He's very attractive. And he's such a charmer. He has the dreamiest smile I've ever seen, Russell. The whitest teeth."

The older, white-haired man who strolls through the door despite Tina's objections (and who is everything Ginger described) says, "Ginger, my sweet, my muse, you need to leave something to the imagination. You'll ruin my entrance."

Ginger begins to babble her apologies and Choi says to Parker, "Hang up on her."

All he gets back is a distracted, wide-eyed "Hmmm?" She's not much more helpful than Ginger.

Choi leans over and does the deed himself and his chirpy assistant abruptly vanishes from the room. He says, "You're Wyman?

"I am if you're Russell Choi."

"I'm Parker," Parker cuts in, smiling like she's in a daze. She can't take her eyes off him.

Wyman says, "Hello, Parker—"

"Hi."

"—this is a very nice office you have. Very tidy. You mind if I steal Russell from you?"

Choi says, "Regarding what?"

"NHA's bumpy monster of a pickle. Impending doom?"

Tina looks up and adjusts her glasses, puzzled.

"Tina, get out." Choi points to the door. After she leaves, to Wyman he says, "What do you know?"

"I know you're all about to make some really bad decisions. I know NHA is in serious trouble. And I know why," Wyman says. "I'm here to talk options."

"I'm listening."

"Not here. And only with you. You should come with me for a ride."

"Parker's in this too. Whatever you say to me you can say to her. We're both in the dark on this," Choi says.

"Well, I'll tell you what I tell you, and you might decide it's just not appropriate to pass along. Or you might. Wait and see. I'm not going to make that call," Wyman says. "Parker, dear, if you love him, you'll let him go."

For a moment, the two are silent. Choi finally asks, "Who are you?"

"Frank Wyman. ONI Section Two. I'm retired now," Wyman says. "Yeah. NHA is having one of those days, kids. So come on, Russell, my guy's double parked. You hungry? Let's go grab a sandwich."

#

"What did Barney Maness tell you?" Wyman asks Choi. Wyman pays for a hotdog from a cart and the two sit on the winding seawall while cyclists and joggers go by.

"He said it was about something NHA did during the war," Choi says. "Shady practices. Guess someone found out."

"Isn't that suspicious."

"It's corporate espionage, is what it is. These things happen."

"Well I wouldn't be here if that was simply the case, Russell."

"Why are you here?"

Wyman says, "I wanna present to you a couple of options. One's doing nothing, the other's doing something considerably... more. Before I do that, though, I'm gonna educate you. Maness said it was something NHA did."

"Yeah."

"Didn't say it was something he did."

"Well I gathered."

"It was. For the record," Wyman says. "He was the man to be back then, during the war. I say that facetiously. He was the head guy but nobody would've been envious of his position. NHA was in dire straits for a while there. You can trust me on that. They were this close to folding."

"But they didn't."

"But they didn't, because here you are pal. No, they pulled themselves back from the brink. Now they're one of the greats. One of those legacy corporations. And it was all because of Maness, Meyers, and Grant, from way back. And together they form—"

"A majority, I know."

"I was going to say a triumvirate, but your thing is a lot more relevant. Yeah they're the majority vote they're going to call in a couple days—and easily pass—because they're all pretty guilty."

"Of what? What do they want buried?"

"They bribed a UNSC admiral to push forward NHA ingenuity during numerous navy budget powwows. Kaito Onomori, is his name."

"Bribery's a bad deal but how do you prove it?" Choi thinks about this. "And even then that's not a secret you tear apart the company over. That's just your average scandal," Choi says. "Maness is a rich fuck. His attorneys will say it's not a crime to spoil an old friend with a round of golf, a seafood dinner, and a very expensive hooker. If that hooker midthrust just happens to scream out she likes big, black NHA guns... well, then Popeye was inspired, not bribed. Hate to say it, but that's just fair play."

"But you don't know the extent of their bribery. Because if you did, you'd know that it changes things. Pretty drastically. Russell, your company got him to agree to negligently commit resources—human lives and equipment—in order to get the edge over their competitors."

"Okay, holy shit."

"During the war, you remember the invasion of Sigma Octanus IV?"

"It was breaking news," Choi says. "I was getting out of college."

"What you might not know—and this is classified so you probably don't—was that we knew about the attack beforehand. ONI did."

Choi says, "SO-IV never fell, so they did their job? They're intelligence. I'm confused."

"ONI let Troy and Harmony and countless other colonies fall before that. Did you know that? Sigma Octanus IV is one beautiful but bumfuck, out of the way place. I mean, Cote D'Azur only had a population of about 300,000, rest their souls, but I've seen inner-city projects with about that many people all crammed inside tenements. So why roll the dice? Why take the kind of losses that come with a naval engagement over a place like that? It's not like they knew they had a clear advantage, either: reports say the destroyer Iroquois forced Naval Command's hand—because her skipper pulled off a hell of a manoeuvre and didn't end up wreckage in space they decided to make a stand.

"But let's go back a few days July something, in another system, distant, but relatively nearby: Sigma Octanus II. The Covenant battlegroup that came for SO-IV came from somewhere... they were parked in this system. Prowler Corps noted it, logged it, and it was business as usual because sometimes Naval Command acts on intel and sometimes they don't. The fact that they didn't says to me they were willing to let SO-IV burn, but that's beside the point.

"Our good friend Admiral Onomori took notice of this report and signed off on a mission for a vessel to divert and check out this anomaly. That's the story the crew was fed—the UNSC Boxer and all hands were lost shortly after arriving. But whatever, it's what happened to Vostok and Arabia, hundreds of recon missions that go south. That's usually enough to close an investigation, right? The thing is, there was a sole survivor."

"How's that possible?"

"A Marine. Can't remember his name. He made out okay and was picked up sometime later by a passing vessel before the Covenant hit Mombasa. He told his story. It never made news of course and the actual report got buried, but his testimony contradicted what the investigators had said. A little discrepancy that proved that the official findings were either speculation or straight up fiction."

"What was the word?"

"That the Boxer was passing through."

"And what'd the Marine say?"

"That they were heading into a fight. That they knew there was an invasion fleet coming, and they were expecting friendly vessels to link up with them here."

"So they were given a rally point."

"One that no other ship nearby or otherwise ever received. But I believe the crew of the Boxer believed it. The way this Marine told it, they never tried to escape—the ship captain went straight on in but not before evacuating non-essential personnel and they barely made it to the surface. But it sounds to me like nobody was supposed to get out of that alive."

"He doesn't know personally they were ordered to stay. No less by Onomori," Choi says. "He's a ground-pounder. What good's his account?"

"It's not too damning, is it? Especially if he's a man who came out looking rough as hell. Yeah, it didn't seem like he was totally put together—there are medical and psych records that go with this report because it's a take-what-you-will kind of deal. He has no credibility to speak of. But he doesn't need to have any. It's odd enough this incident wrapped up so cleanly. When you're a spy you tend to focus on the guy who smiles too much, who tries to convince you that everything's better than fine."

"The investigators themselves."

"Someone at ONI thought the same, that it was odd and really convenient, their final review. Because he was the person who passed the original Prowler report to the UNSC—a mid-level analyst called Addison Seager. Best-and-brightest kind of recruit. He'd been following this piece of intel since it first landed on his desk. Call it good hunting instinct.

"So alarms go off in this guy's head. What does he know about this ship, the Boxer? Well he finds out for the two months before its destruction, she and her crew were out doing some kind of classified testing. Navy does this a lot—nothing suspicious. But they suddenly drop everything and cut straight to SO-II when it's way out of their flight path? And they're just passing through? Doesn't add up. So what were they really doing? It might seem unconnected: they were field-testing a new armament manufactured by Misriah. A weapon guidance system that cut down on shipboard power usage by some something-percent. Back in the day, when a few percent meant the difference between firing the vessel's MAC cannon and not, R&D gurus would have unanimously agreed that's a big deal. This is all according to someone who gets too chatty after working out on the drydocks around the clock, by the way. He let slip that Misriah and the UNSC had sunk millions into this hardware already. And listen up, because here's where it gets relevant. This weapon guidance system was supposed to replace a proprietary one that was already in place fleet-wide, manufactured by NHA, and this was a transition months in the making. Onomori was present at every single meeting."

"You think the admiral told Maness what was happening—what they intended to do."

"It's possible, leaning towards probable. A few weeks after the Boxer goes down, NHA comes back rejuvenated. They've got new merchandise to peddle. They undercut Misriah at made-in-China, rollback prices, and Onomori makes his recommendation and it comes down to the numbers. Misriah suffers maybe embarrassment—they're still a heavy hitter on just about every other front so they shrug this one off, never speak of it again. It's a deal that never made it out of closed-doors, after all. And it's interesting to nobody else but Seager. He digs around and finds it's not the first time Onomori's bailed NHA out. Nor is it the second, or third...

"Take their patented-and-designed 120mm cannon mounted atop the Sphinx MBT—you remember that beast? No? Well it was short lived; when one blew up on the assembly line, which I might add took out six factory workers, two tankers, and a visiting army general, NHA specifically was cleared of any wrongdoing. I mean the UNSC-commissioned review went out of its way to make sure that that fact was sourced, referenced, repeated ad nauseam at the top of every hour—these things don't come loaded with ammunition, NHA was never going to be part of the discussion, but still..."

Choi says, "When a scandal breaks, you get vindication or you get smeared in the shit."

"I suppose you'd know how fickle investors can be. This is your area of expertise, after all," Wyman says. "Really puts things into perspective, when you think about it. A warmachine like that's made up of a hundred different systems, a million moving parts—the ultimate camel. It's truer for more things than you know—we're all just dependent on another guy, and that guy someone else. What happens when all those parts suddenly turn on each other?"

"What did Onomori do for NHA?"

"He insisted the UNSC keep the review internal. That's not to say he did or didn't pay anyone off, but it made Seager curious," Wyman says. "These were all breadcrumbs. And fifteen years ago, this little monkey put these bits of inconsistencies together until he was convinced he had the tale of an illicit series of deals between Maness and Onomori. A great and terrible—and wholly profitable—love affair spanning decades.

"And there's another, darker implication, too, regarding the Boxer. If it came to light that Onomori really did give the order to investigate and engage a hostile battle group knowing the eventual outcome, it can be said that he was the one who forced the Covenant into accelerating their plan, attacking Sigma Octanus IV and the Iroquois before Naval Command could quietly evacuate citizens like they did at Troy. Those 300,000 people? The ships lost in the second battle in orbit over SO-IV? Not a ball and chain you want to lug in with you before a tribunal, true or not.

"More than likely they'll want to try to prosecute in a civilian court as well—if some crusader wants to drag this out into the light. A case like this... career-maker. And not just for him: the journo who breaks this and walks away with a pile of awards, the lobbyist who's against big defense, the up-and-coming populist all for greater UEG autonomy next election, for change—martial law never again...

"The funny thing is, I'm not sure Seager actually had solid proof, that he had a named source within NHA or Onomori's staff who could testify or provide something tangible, but he brought his suspicions to his supervisor—the proper channels. He was a patriot. He loved his government—they were fighting a goddamn important war. He didn't want to go to prison for treason. And that was his big mistake. See, it didn't matter if he had something concrete or not—whoever was receiving passed it on, and somebody else passed that on, and on and on until it made its way to Onomori himself. Onomori flipped his shit. Seager was a chance he couldn't take, so he jumped the gun. He had friends in the intelligence community, and with their help he was able to present an effective appeal to a very special, very private committee hearing. In 10 minutes flat he was able to convince them that Seager was an enemy of the state and needed to be eliminated. And so the order was passed back down through channels on and on down and down and ended up in the bowels of ONI black-ops. Seager must die, was the word."

"So they killed him?"

"They tried. It didn't work. And this was Onomori's greatest fuck up. At the end of it, all anybody involved knew was that they'd been set up on a dirty op, planned and executed with bad, unverified intelligence that had been—"

"Passed on down and down..."

"Five stars, pal. The kill order was rescinded, and Seager was relocated with ONI's blessing. The catch is, Seager made sure ONI and NHA knew that in the event of his death, some very esteemed journalists would go public with, first, the NHA-Onomori connection—even if he just had his basket of breadcrumbs, his speculation, it'd be enough to do real damage all over the place—and second, the details of his attempted assassination by ONI. He was thorough with this one. He had the evidence to back up the existence of this black op that went oh so wrong."

"If that leaked it'd turn pretty much everyone against ONI."

"ONI would look bad, yeah. Another image nightmare for the image makers, and Seager's evidence just highlighted another one of its numerous black on black programs," Wyman admits. "But the last time I checked, as of this year there are dozens of ethics sub-committees mulling over 43 separate cases: incidents of confirmed UEG citizens murdered by ONI since at least Trebuchet. So is one dead whistleblower news? Not really. It's that heads tend to roll after a leak of that magnitude... even the good spies, the least deserving of us. Fear of that happening—no end of the war in sight at that time—and it led to one more deal: ONI threatened to dump anything they had on Onomori—and I believe their threat wasn't an empty one... they've got dirt on just about every top soldier you can call to mind—if Maness and NHA didn't foot the bill in making sure Seager was surrounded by armed protection all hours of the day, for the rest of his life. Or, at least until they could get a handle on who needed to be prosecuted after all this.

"Don't ask how long but they eventually decided it wasn't worth the effort—that this brinkmanship could exist as the status quo. A band-aid solution: everyone keeps their mouth shut, and Seager gets to live a cushy life of leisure. By the time Seager dies from, you know, human mortality, Onomori and Maness will be long gone from this world. Not too bad a deal, if you ask me.

"Just one issue," Wyman says, "Seager's gone missing."

Choi's jaw goes slack. "You're kidding."

"Right from under Maness's nose. He's not dead yet, or you would've felt the shockwaves. Floor collapsing. Be thankful for at least that."

"How do you know this?"

"People talk, Russell. You know what Ginger told me just today?"

"Nevermind. I don't want to know."

"I do have my sources. Good information pays for itself. Like you and Kinetech," Wyman says. "It was going to be a good one. Tough break. So I hear."

"Okay, so the take away of this story is we're not just screwed, we're really fucking screwed."

"Don't feel too bad about it, though. None of this is your fault at all. You came into NHA blind—most everyone did. You just walked into it like it was a very intricate cartoon trap waiting to spring. Or like a rake, when you step on the tines..."

"Are you telling me this is my best option—taking a loss? Shutting up?"

"For Maness it is. Not you. You saw how fast he scrambled after the threat came through? They folded immediately. Not a good precedent to set. They know they have no other option, nothing to fight back with. And you know how blackmail goes," Wyman says. "Added to the fact they've been funnelling money into an account specifically set up as Seager's protection fund and allowance—they're not stingy, either. So they're misappropriating funds and skimming from shareholders, again, as far as a jury's concerned. If somebody really digs, who knows what other dirt they've got."

"I have a feeling you do, though."

"Yeah I might."

"Fuck me."

"There is a reason I wanted to talk to you. You still have power as a board member."

Choi shakes his head. "The vote's as good as done."

"What if it wasn't?"

"Well it is."

"It's not. Not if we lock it," Wyman says. "Has Maness talked to—what's her name—Gupta?"

"Who, Virgin Mary? Maness won't go anywhere near her with a deal. She'd blow apart NHA herself if she caught wind of this. She was always going to be the odd one out."

"So she's a no. And you're a no."

"Meyers is a yes, Grant is a yes, and Maness is a big fat—"

"Abstain. He doesn't show. Doesn't come to work that morning, or any other morning."

"How do you propose we get him to do that?"

"We kill him, Russ," Wyman says. He makes a face like it's the most normal conclusion to arrive at. "Don't worry. He's old—it'll be really easy."

"You're a fucking loon," Choi says. He looks around to see if anyone's overheard them. He hisses, "What is wrong with you?"

"Hey, Kinetech isn't dead. Not yet, at least. It will be if NHA acquires Annex Global. And as fucked as NHA is, it'll end up fine. Maness will end up more than fine. Parker will be a pariah, but, you know, fine. You on the other hand..." Wyman lets that linger for a beat. Choi hasn't left and he doesn't think he will. "Let me help you. Let me make sure NHA refuses the deal, and on top of that, stays untouched by this scandal. Fight back. No compromise. That is your best option. And as far as they go I'm promising you pretty much the goddamn world."

"So what do you want?"

"I'm gonna need a little cash. That's all."

"Assuming you're not one dedicated fucking grifter, remember how you said yourself I'm on the verge of losing everything? Nothing changed in the last thirty seconds."

"That's a probable outcome that we're trying to make not happen," Wyman says. "I'm like a time traveler telling you how to not fuck up your life. That, or Moses. You're at a point where you still have something to your name. Don't you dare tell me otherwise."

Choi begrudgingly says, "I can free up something. Maybe. Not a lot."

"I respect your penny-pinching, but it does no one any favours. If I were like a father to you I'd say keep it up, sport, but this isn't really a DIY project, you understand. You gotta hire out," Wyman says. "You think I'm dropping by the hunting section of the AllMart and waiting the Mandatory Two? Submitting to the background check? That's not how this works. Hand to God I'm not trying to gouge you."

"Make me understand, first, because I've been trying: what do you get out of all this? You're not doing it for nothing. Not doing it for fun."

"Russell, look, I'm getting old," Wyman says. "That's no secret, right? I'm getting old, I wanna buy a yacht so I can put it in a marina. Live on a yacht. I want to be a yacht person but it's too bad I'm a pensioner. So you do the math. But I will say I'm no stranger to smart investment, not at all. If you do what I say, and I do what I say, we're going to make both Kinetech and NHA very, very rich. Instead of the opposite, if you sit on your hands and do nothing and let Maness have his way. So what do you think?"

"I think I need to make a call."

"If it's to Parker Conway, no matter what she says, think hard about what's best for her. She's a good woman. Doesn't deserve what Maness's got in store for her."

Choi nods. They watch the oil tankers drift in and out of the bay for a while.

Wyman gets up and says, "One more thing. These guys who are blackmailing NHA. They leave a calling card? They kind of hands-on?"

"Something like that."

"Well that's good news, buddy. This is gonna go great."

#

They meet in a ballroom in the city. It's a grand, old lounge that's been invaded by a hipper sort of crowd. There's a grizzled group on stage filling the hall with brassy shrieks and a bassline that climbs the stairs. The crowd is into it, bobbing along, calling out at the end of the nastiest, dirtiest riffs. Above everything Rachel Wells stands on the upper level, a hand on the railing. She is here because of two things: one, Barney Maness from New Horizon Arms is dead. He was found that way, but Rachel knows he was killed. It wasn't even subtle. It was an alleyway kind of killing, the kind that slips into the second or third page of the newspaper because really Maness is a rich nobody. But it's news that drew Rachel out; she fell for a trap.

Yesterday she sent a young woman called Clara B. to set NHA straight, to underline the necessity of giving in because Seager was still Rachel's, and she met with whoever in an isolated place that she shouldn't have ever been in alone. Clara B.'s missing, and that's reason number two why Rachel's here in this jazzy club listening to someone's blues. She has no other choice. She's been specifically requested by name, number, and street address.

From behind she hears a handsome-smooth, "Hello, Doctor."

She turns to see a snowy-haired man who's sidled up to her. He's aged well, his wrinkles really appearing when he beams and he does this a lot. Rachel says, "I know you."

"Frank Wyman. We've probably met. I imagine we run in the same circles, you and me," he says. "You can bet I was surprised to learn it was you behind all of this. Masterminding things. It's a different shade on you, isn't it? I kinda like it."

"What did she tell you?" Rachel is to the point. She knows Wyman is behind Clara B.'s disappearance. She has no idea what she is doing here with him tonight and has long-past given up this sexy give-and-take kind of conversation.

Wyman becomes equally blunt. He says, "She sang, Rachel. She told me everything you told her. She gave you up and I didn't even ask her to. There's things she doesn't know, that I suppose you kept from her, but this right here is all that matters—this meeting. Glad you came."

"You weren't asking," Rachel says. "So why am I here?"

"I could turn you in. I have the power to do that—the right cards in my hand," Wyman says. "Or I could let you twist. Let you burn out, spinning. But I won't. Who wins if you're out of this? Not me, that's for sure."

"You're the one who took out Maness, aren't you? You just killed any chance of leverage I had. I don't possibly see how I can be useful to you, unless this isn't about that."

"It absolutely is still about that. You have Seager. The man must be a wealth of information."

"I don't know. That's not my concern."

"It should be. Because I'm going to propose a deal I want you to consider and accept. Before you leave here, ideally," Wyman says. There's that bubbly forcefulness again. "What you need to do before anything, however, is take your claws out of New Horizon Arms completely. That ship sailed when Maness checked out."

"The entire play revolves around NHA—how scared they are of getting taken down," Rachel says. "Despite Maness, like you said, I still have Seager. I could make a call and have him snuffed tonight. If I'm killing this thing, I want everyone who's going down with me to know they had their chance. Wartime conservatives are diehards—military worship's a scary thing. I'm sure you know this. Some bad press, and nobody will invest in NHA again. Extinction of the human race, a war that big, nobody's forgetting for a good long while, maybe ever. You do not fuck with the men and women in uniform. You do not. It's political and social suicide. Always has been."

"I know, Rachel, and you have my complete attention. Seager is one hell of a bargaining chip, no mistaking that. But I know what you're after. You want that big reconstruction contract. What if I told you I could deliver it right into your hands?"

"I'd then ask how you plan on doing just that."

"Enticing, isn't it?" Wyman says. "That's the simple part, Rachel. I'll call in some favours, get it done. I'll do it, Doc, I'll move Heaven and Earth for you. The effort you put into this, you deserve it. I'd almost have liked to see you pull it off. But I got a horse in this one. Can't afford to let you do things your way. So we'll do it mine, and all of us will get what we want. You, me, NHA."

"What's the payoff for you?"

"It's power. Power over a few within ONI. I might be retired but there are benefits in having that kind of control. You get results. You get favours. Information is a currency, right? Especially to people like us. I happen to know there's a very important and delicate meeting between delegates of the UEG, UNSC, and ONI that's going to occur in a couple of weeks. Budget concerns, if memory serves. There's going to be cuts, there's gonna be all kinds of upsets. Honestly, I can't wait. Because I have to think there'll be a few participants who'd really appreciate it if the Onomori files were to suddenly turn up and become an impossible to ignore talking point—and more than a few who won't."

Rachel stares at him. It all sounds so shockingly petty, but she rides no high horse. Wyman knows this. If anyone would go along with this, she'd be the one.

"It's all just leverage," Wyman continues. "Something you're intimately familiar with. If I recall, you realized the power of a secret 15 years ago. Back when you were the Auctioneer. When the order came down and Auction took a run at Seager and failed spectacularly. Blew the whole op. Made you look bad, made Auction look bad. You folks never really recovered from that one. Yeah I did my research on you. This info, sealed records, not so easy to come by, but see? Leverage in action. It just works. Fifteen years ago you got played, but you used it to your advantage in the end. You sat on the secret for all this time and it would've paid off."

"If it wasn't for you."

"If it wasn't for me. But again, I'm turning this into something greater for not only me, but you as well. The only loser here is Maness," Wyman says. "Because he's dead. Forget him."

"What do you want me to do?"

"Seager knows things, right? We can agree on that. See, I want to control this leak. Get a lid on this whole thing. You planned for a shitstorm. I can't. We have to be smart about this now. Surgical," Wyman says. "I want those journalists. The leakers to be."

"You're sending me on a fucking goose chase?"

"Nice try. We both know he kept this small. It's too sensitive to dump or leave in the hands of would-be anarchists and egomaniacs, and Seager knew that. He's only alive because of it. That secret is his lifeline. He's a dead man walking if there wasn't complete trust between them."

Rachel keeps her face straight but Wyman is correct. She knows all of this. She already knows all of the names of the leakers, except for one.

Wyman says, "We can lean on them, control what gets out and what doesn't. But we can't do that if we don't know who they are exactly. So get to work on Seager, and get me names. All of them. We can't afford to have a wild card in the bunch that could fuck everything up. We're doing what ONI should have done years ago. This time around, we'll be the ones on top of this thing and we've got nothing to lose. But you need to get me those names, Rachel. So how about it?"

Rachel already has her phone in her hand when she leaves because she said she'll do it, whatever he asked of her. She doesn't know what to make of Wyman. She knows better than to expect he's being straight with her because they are alike, deceitful by profession. But she's also a little shaken. Before she left she asked about her middleman Clara B. but Wyman shook his head and told her she was never part of the deal. Rachel didn't ask again and with that bluntness from him she fully understood what a man like Wyman is capable of. He's someone you don't fuck with because of what they might do to you or people in your life. Behind his stunning looks and likability there is something that scares her more than it should. A different kind of ruthlessness, that's casual and has an oblivious family and commutes to work. She knows what it is because she is the same. She has been him to so many others—she and him are wired the same way and both have decades of experience at this deception game. And with this experience of hers she knows how these things usually end for people in her position.

She'll get Brooke to start interrogating Seager because there is a chance he knows everyone he sent his material to but she is not hopeful. In truth he wasn't responsible for that. It was someone else who saved his life, who made sure ONI never touched a hair on his head, who knew all of the names including the one she doesn't.

He was a rogue asset who botched the hit and who had been one of hers: Jeff Benson. He died on Reach in 2552.