In this Night We Own (The Commander Book 6) Read online

  Keaton pushed her face up to mine. “You aren’t telling me anything I don’t know already.” It wasn’t often these days that I annoyed Keaton enough to feel her spittle. “Focus Frasier isn’t the only Focus who’s mysteriously vanished over the years. Some of the disappearances I’ve already pinned on the ruling first Focuses. Powerful Major Transforms are behind these events, and they have years on us. Have you ever given any thought to the idea that looking into each and every little picayune curiosity might just be a little dangerous?”

  “Are we going to let the enemy have the initiative here, ma’am?” I fought back dirty and let my anger show. Somewhere in the house, Haggerty dove into a closet and closed her ears.

  “Fuck you, Hancock! I figured that all out while you were setting up camp in Chicago. I’ve been doing things, lots of things. I just haven’t told you, because you would fuck it up.”

  “The salt mine?”

  “Fuck the salt mine! There’s only so much one Arm can do at any one time!” An admission. She would take this more seriously. “What the hell are you doing to contribute? I need that goddamned army. Get off your ass and do more recruiting, dammit!”

  She took her anger out on me with a little nighttime outdoor sparring, coupled with some inventive groveling she forced me through every time she won. I came out wounded and murderously angry. I hadn’t thought I had issued a real challenge, but Keaton had her own opinion, and her opinion was that I needed a fresh lesson in who was dominant in our little pack.

  She didn’t figure out about Tom.

  Chapter 5

  No Crow enjoys even the most minor stress.

  “The Life of Crows”

  Gilgamesh: September 3, 1968 – September 9, 1968

  “Carol?”

  “Uh huh?”

  “I’m having a Crow ethical dilemma,” Gilgamesh said, through the phone.

  “Let me guess,” Carol said. She sounded distracted, busy with other work. “The spying I asked you to do crossed the line about interference in other Major Transform affairs, didn’t it? Ever since you left I’ve had a bad feeling I pushed too far.”

  “I didn’t realize what was involved until I got the information and started to put things together. Then I realized how much interference I’d volunteered for.” He swiveled Shadow’s desk chair around to where Shadow sat, on his couch, knitting together an elaborate dross construct to place into a tennis ball. Practice, Shadow said. One of the things Shadow did was learn what his students discovered, so he could teach the tricks to others. “It’s too, um, personal.”

  “I’m sorry,” Carol said. Her words sounded…diplomatic. Her tone suggested the opposite. Perhaps now would be a good time to visit Lori again. “I shouldn’t have sent you off to do this. Can you at least send along anything that has to do directly with me and my organization?”

  “There wasn’t anything, Carol,” Gilgamesh said. He watched as Shadow tried to attach his dross construct to the tennis ball. He compressed the dross correctly, but the attachment failed. Shadow worried his lip and stared at the tennis ball as if it was an enemy. “In the week I watched, she spent no time at all working on anything to do with you or your organization.”

  “Well, if she’s not going to respond to my bomb note, and you can’t pass along the information you collected because of Crow rules, then I’ll just have to come up with something else. I don’t have the time for this. I’m actually running short on sleep from all the work I’m doing.” Definitely a hassled Tiamat.

  “I’ve got a suggestion,” Gilgamesh said. “What you want from Focus Biggioni is a public apology, isn’t it? And for the Focuses to stop interfering in the Arm hierarchy?” Tiamat barked an affirmative grunt. Gilgamesh suspected she wanted more than that, but she had offered to accept the public apology if the Focuses quit interfering and would stand by the offer. “I’ve just learned Shadow has been in communication with Focus Biggioni, off and on, since he tried to talk her out of telling the CDC how to break you. He’s not happy with Focus Biggioni’s recent life choices and wants to get her to go back to being the relatively reasonable Focus she used to be.” Shadow’s comments did make Gilgamesh wonder about his Guru, if he thought Hera had been a reasonable Focus at any time. Ever. “Would you mind if he tried to talk her into apologizing?”

  Carol laughed. “You’re going to give Shadow the information you collected, so he can use it as a goddamned blackmail lever? I like.” Shadow, easily able to overhear the conversation, turned slightly pink at Carol’s words. His latest attachment attempt blew up, inadvertently activating the dross construct, filling Shadow’s office with the sound of hundreds of chirping birds and sending Gilgamesh skittering around to the safe side of Shadow’s desk. Shadow grimaced, and tossed and caught the tennis ball several times, staring off into space.

  “That’s not the way to look at this,” Gilgamesh said. “Blackmail is too panic-inducing and just plain wrong for any Crow I know to contemplate. I view this as something far more political: if Focus Biggioni retaliates or refuses to cooperate, Shadow might decide to release the information to you anyway.”

  “I see.” Pause. “I certainly wouldn’t object, no matter what name you and Shadow decide to call it.” Carol paused again. He felt a chuckle in her voice. “So how are you holding out, personally?”

  “I’ve had better trips out east,” he said. They chatted for fifteen minutes, Carol going on lustily about some new top-end recruit of hers while Gilgamesh relayed several panic-inducing moments he had suffered while spying on Hera. By the time he hung up Shadow still hadn’t managed to master the attachment process.

  “Will this work for you?” Gilgamesh said, to Shadow. He had come here to talk about the ethics of what he had been doing. He thought Shadow’s suggestion to talk to Hera an ingenious compromise.

  “Perfect,” Shadow said. “Before I make my presentation to Hera, I’m going to need to go over the details of what you’ve collected. If I need to ask questions, where will you be in the coming days?”

  Gilgamesh smiled. “I’m thinking it might be a good time for me to spend a few weeks in Boston, coordinating the Crow contributions to the Rizzari rebellion.”

  “You think your Tiamat is going to be a bit peeved with you over this?”

  “I’m certain she will.”

  ---

  “I’m afraid I don’t understand, Lori,” Gilgamesh said. The bright September sun warmed the air to a temperature Bostonians considered swimming weather and Houstonians would consider almost winter. He sat at a circular plastic table beside the household pool, where innumerable teens and younger children splashed and made merry. Lori sat on one side of him, Sky on the other, and the Inferno household leadership sat opposite in an unhappy row, Tim Egins, Sadie Tucker, Ann Chiron and Connie Yerizarian. “I’m not trying to excuse Carol’s behavior, as I wasn’t there, but I don’t understand your reaction.”

  He had apologized as best he could, but still he got the stony face response from everyone but Sky. “All Transform households have their own strong house rules, my young Crow Hero,” Sky said, being Sky. “The ‘no sex but consensual sex’ issue is important in Inferno because it’s the only sex rule. Unfortunately, the rule predates the appearance of Major Transform sex in the household, which I’ll have you know has caused me far too many problems. Our fine women may be forward, but any Major Transform tricks that interfere in any way, even something as innocuous as a dross construct saying ‘don’t fear me’, can cause problems.”

  For the life of him, Gilgamesh couldn’t make this make sense. “But you weren’t in Inferno at the time,” he said. “Nor had you been, for a long time.”

  “It was rape, regardless,” Tim said. He radiated fierce today, as bad as Echo with a severe case of ethical indigestion. “Sky might not have physically been here, but he was under our protection. Until he got kidnapped.”

  Gilgamesh scratched his head. The irrationality of this hard-held position linked the leadership team, and Lo
ri, as one. His feet wanted him to run away.

  Perhaps coming to Inferno hadn’t been such a good idea. Perhaps another visit to Enkidu. Perhaps he could negotiate an alliance without having the Law crammed into his aching mind.

  A small child ran by, chasing a wet beach ball. A laughing mother followed a couple of steps behind, glanced at the dour crew at the table, snatched up her child and headed away from them. Gilgamesh turned to Sky. “So you think what Carol did was wrong?”

  “No.”

  “Do you think what you did was wrong?”

  “No to that, as well,” Sky said. Gilgamesh had the urge to pound the table and command Sky to make sense for once. Sky caught Gilgamesh’s emotions and shrugged. “There was no right or wrong, just an Arm and a Crow making the best of a bad situation. I’m not the one judging Carol, they are.” Sky reeked of exasperation. Gilgamesh understood the exasperation, although he wanted to smack Sky himself for his distancing. This mess hurt the Cause as well as the rebellion, dammit.

  “We have to,” Lori said. “Among other things in this rebellion, we’re standing up for the rights of individuals as individuals and the rights of households as households. The Arms need to respect these implied rights as well, if they want to integrate themselves into the Transform community.”

  If Lori was playing any charisma games and dragging her household along with her involuntarily, Gilgamesh couldn’t tell. He guessed much the opposite, as if Inferno was dragging her along. He didn’t understand what Lori meant by her comment, save the emotional stew surrounding him felt like they wanted to set up Inferno as the shining light upon the hill, the one beacon of hope in the darkness.

  Their utopian ideals stank of hubris, though. They invited disaster. “I’m sorry, but I must respectfully disagree,” Gilgamesh said. “Major Transforms can’t abide by the same ethical rules as household Transforms in their dealings with each other. We’re too different.”

  The look Sky gave him was priceless, a ‘this never works when I try this argument’ look. Gilgamesh hoped he hadn’t gone too far.

  “Why not?” Tim said. “We’re all people. Rights are universal.”

  “I’m sorry,” Gilgamesh said. “But you’re wrong. You already recognize that Transform society is different than normal society, for one.”

  “Of course.”

  “Then it shouldn’t be too much of a leap to realize that Major Transform society is different than household Transform society.”

  His comment got him stony glares from all the Transforms. “You’re too few, percentage wise, to have your own society,” Ann said. “You’re monads, inventing personal rules and trying to fob them off as group rules to justify your own personal foibles and behaviors. There are no tribes of Focuses or Crows; you don’t exist outside of the general society of Transforms save as lone wolfs. The pack, the tribe, is what defines us. You even recognize this yourself, although you won’t admit it, when you look at the Hunter society and see ‘enemy’.”

  Blech. Gilgamesh looked at Sky, who signaled to him to drop his argument as a lost cause. Sky had a good point. Until, somehow, he or Sky could properly educate the Anthropologist about her mistakes, her viewpoint would hold.

  Gilgamesh turned to Lori instead. “Lori, regardless of the ethics and ideals involved, cutting yourself off from Carol is a mistake.”

  “The mistake was when I thought I could befriend an Arm,” Lori said. “I’d rather deal with Keaton; she makes no bones about the fact she’s an immoral monster. From her I expect the worst and I get it, giving us the distance necessary to do business. Unlike the Council, I’m fully willing to recognize the Arm organization as separate from the Focus organization, as the Arms wish. I’ll deal with Keaton when I need Arm help.”

  “You’re no longer willing to deal with Carol directly?”

  “No,” Lori said. “I’m not even willing to talk to her anymore.” She paused and gave Gilgamesh a pained look. “I’m sorry. I’m not blaming you for anything Carol’s done, or trying to come down on you or your choices. I’m hoping we can still be friends.”

  Friends. Last time he visited she was edging toward being lovers. Now, finally, he understood what the Good Doctor meant when he referred to Lori as ‘the soap opera Focus’.

  Perhaps he could entice Enkidu into giving him a tour of the Hunter civilization, just for the amusement value. Anything had to be better than this.

  ---

  “I take back absolutely everything I ever implied or said about you lacking brass and bravery,” Sky said. They had driven to the north end of the Boston area, to talk to the Crows and watch what appeared to be a group of nasties camped near Focus Ackerman’s household. Now they walked past the brick steeple of the Old North Church under barely broken clouds, dimly lit by city lights. The air smelled of Canada and the first breaths of Fall. Tourists still wandered the area, looking for the Paul Revere House, Copp’s Hill, and a good Italian restaurant. “Staring down the Inferno leaders from the outside is never easy.”

  Sky was correct. Gilgamesh still felt like Inferno had run him through the ringer. “Am I on the outside?”

  “Well on the outside,” Sky said. He couldn’t hide his preening from Gilgamesh. Sky was on the inside, despite his break-up with Lori. “They don’t know what to make of you. Then again, does anyone know what to make of you, save the Commander?”

  “Kali thinks she understands me. She’s wrong, but she thinks she does.”

  “Kali? Miss hubris-until-proven-otherwise? She’d make a great standard Crow. Or member of the Inferno leadership team.”

  “Ouch!”

  “Shh.”

  Two Crows approached along Moon Street, along with one Noble. Gilgamesh recognized the glows of Viscount Sellers and the Crow Nameless, but didn’t know the third. They too had been casing the group of unknown nasties. Never feeling comfortable around any Beast Men, Noble or not, Gilgamesh stuck two of his rotten egg dross weapons in his left hand.

  “Gilgamesh! So the Queen has you on patrol?” Viscount Sellers said, once he rounded the corner into North Square. Now there was an interesting viewpoint well divorced from reality, as typically Noble as his bellow. Gilgamesh and Sky approached through the quiet streets of the square to meet the others in front of a small Italian restaurant. Café chairs and tables stood optimistically on the sidewalk, but no guests braved the chilly evening.

  “Crow Sky wanted to have me look at what’s going on with Focus Ackerman’s household,” Gilgamesh said, relaxing. Nobles didn’t do treachery, though you had to be aware of the chance of loss of self-control. If a Noble was friendly, he meant it. “It’s nice to see you again, Sir,” Gilgamesh said, reminding himself to be polite. The Noble was in his man-form, tall, dark and dour, and laden with heavy weaponry. “You, too, Nameless.” He turned to the third. “I’m Gilgamesh, and this is Sky.”

  “Coriolis, here,” the other Crow said. He hung back, hiding behind Sellers. “I’m awestruck to have the chance to make the acquaintance of you two legends. Guru Shadow has said so much about you.”

  Gilgamesh nodded, embarrassed. Shadow was recruiting again; Coriolis wasn’t even a part of Gilgamesh’s extended letter circle. He made up for that omission by exchanging addresses with the youngish Crow. Coriolis had light brown skin, black hair, small jug-handle ears, and a quick smile. Gilgamesh took a liking to him immediately.

  “We’re all worried about that team,” Nameless said. “One of them, the leader, carries a tiny bit of dross on him, enough to illuminate the directed withdrawal scarring in his mind.”

  Interesting. Gilgamesh studied the normal in question, a mile away, and after far too much study finally verified Nameless’s observation. “That’s one of Scar’s people, then,” Gilgamesh said.

  “Scar? Wicked Focus Schrum, you mean?” Viscount Sellers said.

  “Yes.”

  The Viscount growled, enough to raise hackles on Gilgamesh’s arms. “She’s been sending teams out, her own and those of another loca
l Focus she has well under her thumb, to lean on our Queen’s own Focuses to defect. This would be the fifth we’ve seen, but the first not to have any Transforms involved.”

  “That isn’t what’s going on,” Sky said. “They’re too well armed for a simple parley.” Unfortunately, there wasn’t a Crow or Noble who could verify that bit of Sky-ish metasensing, which did give all of them pause. Gilgamesh didn’t think Sky was pulling their legs. Would he, about something this serious?

  Gilgamesh couldn’t answer ‘no’, unfortunately.

  The Viscount turned to Gilgamesh. “Should we intervene?”

  Right. Shadow’s work had left Gilgamesh as the coordinator of this mess. If he was here. And he didn’t give orders, just suggestions. And stay unfailingly polite to all the élan hungry Beasts. “Intervene in what?” Be polite! “Sir.”

  “Whatever they’re going to do,” Sellers said. “If we take them out before they cause any harm, then this will save us all a lot of trouble.”

  The Viscount’s comment elicited a short chorus of panicked ‘we?’s from Nameless and Coriolis. Predictable. At least they hadn’t run. Yet. Sky called this panic reduction the ‘Noble Effect’ in his letters. This was the first time Gilgamesh had seen the ‘Noble Effect’ in person. He studied Nameless and Coriolis’s emotions closely, liking what he saw.

  “Let’s get closer,” Gilgamesh said.

  A quarter mile closer, in a cozy neighborhood of small row houses, he turned to Sky, who had been lost in thought, not paying attention to the situation. “Sky? Is it my imagination, or is there something bad going on inside Focus Ackerman’s household?”

  Sky stopped, put his fingers to his forehead, and made a show out of a simple metasense scan. “Marde!” he said, a moment later. “I’d say we’re needed. The inside negotiating team’s grabbed a ten year old kid.”