‘I’m following the same trail,’ said Zidarov. ‘You know how this started – I get asked to look into something, it leads to the Vidora. That leads to us going after them, and them hitting us back, and then us wiping them out. It’s all been tremendous fun, but it’s now looking quite handy for some other people. We’ve degraded the cartels so much that they’ve pulled out of something that used to earn them a lot of slate. Someone else has stepped in. Very convenient. I think we’ve been played for fools, but it isn’t over quite yet.’

Draj looked up. The hard lumens of the supply station reflected almost perfectly in his black visor. ‘You want another raid?’

‘Not on the books. I don’t trust it not to get out. And I don’t need a squad. I just need someone who knows what they’re doing with a maul.’

Draj barked a laugh. ‘No chance.’

‘You should think about it.’

‘I have done. No chance.’

‘They’re the ones who killed Rovach. They’re the ones who put Borodina under the knife.’

Draj stopped cleaning his gun. ‘The Vidora did that.’

‘We never had proof. Yuti denied it. And why would they do it, anyway? To avenge a botched raid? Come on. That was always shit – we raid them all the time.’

‘Who, then?’

‘The people who want to control cell-draining in Urgeyena. Who want to lift it off-world. Who don’t want any rivals, and want us to think that we’ve solved the problem, so we never even look in their direction.’

Now he had Draj’s attention. ‘So you’ve got proof?’ he said.

‘I’ve got a solid lead, but I don’t know who they are yet.’ Zidarov leaned forward, his elbows resting on his knees. ‘I need to get inside a warehouse, one that’s on your patch. My guess is that the operation we busted in the grade-eights is still going on in there. Or maybe just the materials. But someone’s been spending a lot of slate to push the cartels out of the suborbitals, and they aren’t going to use the space for flower arranging.’

Draj stared at him. It was impossible to tell what he made of it.

‘It’s what Borodina was on to,’ Zidarov tried, knowing that was his strongest suit. ‘She told me the balance was out up here, and no one was listening to her. If we leave these people alone, now, when things are settling again, they’ll have got away with it.’

Draj kept staring at him. After a while, the silence became unnerving. ‘Take it to Castellan, then,’ he said, finally.

‘I can’t trust her.’

Draj snorted. ‘What the fuck?’