“You have a suspicious mind. I approve.”

—

Ideally they would have infiltrated slowly, sent some drones to Fedress Meadows. The drones would be followed by tactical team members arriving at neighboring commercial modules. Then Lucius would have led a three-man detainment group in. Joaquin would have been contained and taken back to the Nightingale Avenue office. If he’d proved reluctant to cooperate immediately, the portal back to security’s more secluded facilities was the first option.

Yuri didn’t have time for that. Every minute was putting Horatio deeper into danger.

Boris confirmed that Joaquin Beron’s altme was connected to block seventeen’s solnet node, and Yuri made the decision to go in hard and fast. The department’s G7Turing shut down Fedress Meadows’s network. A flock of twenty-five microdrones deployed from Nightingale Avenue, their sensors probing the area in advance of Yuri’s arrival. Five big gray four-by-four utility vehicles drove in a convoy to Fedress Meadows, which turned out to be a bleak collection of multi-role cubes able to accommodate a variety of small and medium businesses. Yuri stared at the square gray-and-black walls, inset with silvered glass, the skimped landscaping around them. The industrial park could have been on any of the non-Utopial terraformed worlds, or even the poorer areas of Earth itself. The age of cheap and easy fabrication seemed to have taken away any chance for architectural individuality. Places like Fedress weren’t somewhere entrepreneurs went to begin their mega-corporate dream. They were the Darwinist incentive that bestowed determined people with the will to improve their enterprise and get the hell out.

Yuri asked Boris for a secure link to Poi Li as they drove manually along the roads at high speed, causing automated vehicles to brake and swerve sharply. “How’s the review of Horatio going?”

“So far he’s so perfect and sweet, he’s like a puppy in human form. I might vomit,” she replied. “I’ve got some people en route to his parents. Hopefully, they’ll crack any legend. Because I can’t believe anyone this noble still exists.”

“Ever considered we might be getting too old and cynical for this job?”

“Speak for yourself. However, I am growing concerned that I don’t understand the motive here.”

“Money,” Yuri said immediately. “It’s always money in the end. I’m thinking it’s a kidnapping; there’s nothing else left it could be. Someone found out who Gwendoline is.”

“We haven’t had a ransom demand.”

“There won’t be one. Not now they know I’m on to them. I’m just praying they haven’t already tossed Horatio into the swamp.”

“Damn, that would devastate Gwendoline. Ainsley won’t like it, either.”

“Then Ainsley should keep it in his trousers.”

“I’ll pass that on.”

Yuri couldn’t help the small grin that played over his lips. “Look, I’ve got two possible ways of finding the kid. I’ll work them to the end, you know that.”

“I do. Ever considered you missed your vocation? I can recommend to Ainsley you take charge of instructing freshmeat at our training center.”