Anton

After he finished studying the police forensics report, Anton rose from the console and moved over to the window overlooking the city. He was oblivious to the view, however. Which was probably just as well, since the “picture window” in his relatively inexpensive apartment simply had a view of another enormous residential complex across the boulevard. If he craned his neck, he might catch a glimpse of the busy street far below.

But his eyes were not focused on the sight. His mind was turned completely inward.

“Jesus Christ,” he murmured. “I knew this wasn’t a Peep operation, but I wasn’t expecting this.”

From behind, he heard Robert Tye’s voice. “You know the identity of the culprits?”

Zilwicki nodded. “The Sacred Band,” he growled. “The ‘Scrags,’ as they’re sometimes called. The genetic markers are unmistakable.” He turned away from the window and stared down at the martial artist. “You’ve heard of them?”

“They’re supposed to be a fable, you know,” replied Tye. “An urban legend. All the experts say so.”

Zilwicki said nothing. After a moment, Tye chuckled dryly. “As it happens, however, I once had one of them as a student. Briefly. It didn’t take me long to figure out who he was—or what he was, I should say—since the fellow couldn’t resist demonstrating his natural physical prowess.”

“That would be typical,” murmured Zilwicki. “Arrogant to the last. What happened then?”

Tye shrugged. “Nothing. Once his identity became clear, I told him his company was no longer desired. I was rather emphatic. Fortunately, he was not quite arrogant enough to argue with me. So he went on his way and I never saw him again.”

“One of them works in this building,” said Zilwicki abruptly. “His profile leaps right out from the rest of the employee files. The bastard didn’t even bother with plastic surgery. The bone structure’s obvious, once you know what to look for, even leaving aside the results of his medical exams. ‘In perfect health,’ his doctors say, which I’m sure he is. The man’s name is Kennesaw and he’s the maintenance supervisor. Which explains, of course, how he was able to circumvent the apartment’s security.”

His eyes moved back to the window, and again grew unfocused. “And it also explains why the Scrags selected Helen as their victim. Opportunity, pure and simple. Almost a random choice, given that they must have wanted someone connected to the Manticoran embassy.”

“And why that?” asked Tye. “What does the Sacred Band want with your people?”

Zilwicki shrugged. “That’s still a mystery. But if I had to guess, I’d say that they’re working for Manpower Inc.”

Tye’s eyes widened a bit. “The Mesan slave-breeders? I didn’t realize there was a connection.”

“It’s not something Manpower advertises,” chuckled Anton harshly. “As much effort as those scum put into their respectable appearance, you can understand why they wouldn’t want to be associated in the public mind with monsters out of Terran history. Half-legendary creatures with a reputation as bad as werewolves or vampires.”

“Worse,” grunted Tye. “Nobody really believes werewolves or vampires ever existed. The Final War was all too real.”

Zilwicki nodded. “As for the Sacred Band itself, the attachment to Manpower is natural enough. For all that they make a cult of their own superhuman nature, the Scrags are nothing more today than a tiny group. Manticoran intelligence has never bothered to investigate them very thoroughly. But we’re pretty sure they don’t number more than a few dozen, here in Chicago—and fewer still, anywhere else. They’re vicious bastards, of course, and dangerous enough to anyone who crosses them in the slums of the city. But powerless in any meaningful sense of the term.”

He shrugged. “So, like many other defeated groups in history, they transferred their allegiance to a new master and a new cause. Close enough to their old one to maintain ideological continuity, but with real influence in the modern universe. Which the Mesans certainly have. And, although Manpower Inc. claims to be a pure and simple business, you don’t have to be a genius to figure out the implicit political logic of their enterprise. What the old Terrans would have called ‘fascism.’ If some people can be bred for slavery, after all, others can be bred for mastery.”

“But—” Tye squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. “Oh, for the simple problems of the dojo,” he muttered. Then: “I stilldon’t understand. Why is Manpower doing this? Do they have some personal animus against you?”

“Not that I can think of. Not really. It’s true that Helen—my wife—belonged to the Anti-Slavery League. But she was never actually active in the organization. And although not many officers go so far as to join the ASL, anti-Mesan attitudes are so widespread in the Navy that she didn’t really stand out in any way. Besides, that was years ago.”

Slowly, his mind ranging, Anton shook his head. “No, Robert. This isn’t personal. The truth is, I don’t even think Manpower is at the bottom of it. I wasn’t kidding when I said they bend over backward to appear as respectable as possible. There’s no way the Mesans would have gotten involved in something like this unless someone offered them a very powerful inducement. Either in the nature of a threat or a reward.”

He clasped both hands behind his neck and spread his elbows. The gesture, which was simply a means of inducing relaxation, also highlighted the captain’s immensely thick and muscular form.

After a moment, realizing what he was doing, Zilwicki smiled slightly and lowered his arms. The smile bore a trace of sadness underneath. His dead wife, Helen, had often teased him about the mannerism. “The Zilwicki maneuver,” she’d called it, claiming it was a subconscious attempt at intimidation.

Yet, if he relinquished that form of projecting power, the cold grin which came to Anton’s face probably served the purpose even better. “But now that the Scrags and Manpower have entered the picture, I think I’ve found the angle I need to get around Young and Hendricks. And, if I’m right, it’ll be pure poetic justice.”

Once again, Zilwicki sat down before the console. “This will probably take a couple of days, Robert. Unless those two are even dumber than I think they are, their security codes are going to take some effort to crack.”

“Can you do it at all?” asked Tye.

Zilwicki chuckled humorlessly, as his thick fingers manipulated the keyboard with ease. “One of the advantages to looking the way I do, Robert—especially when people know I used to be a ‘yard dog’—is that they always assume I must be some kind of mechanical engineer. As it happens, my specialty is software. Especially security systems.”

Tye’s face crinkled. “I myself shared that assumption. I’ve always had this splendid image of you, covered with grease and wielding a gigantic wrench. How distressing to discover it was all an illusion.”

Anton smiled, but said nothing in reply. Already, he was deeply engrossed in his work.

By late afternoon, he leaned back in his chair and sighed. “That’s as much as I can do for the moment. The next stage is pure numbers-crunching, which will take at least twenty-four hours. Probably longer. So we’ve got some time to pay a visit on Kennesaw. But first—”

The look which now came over Zilwicki’s face made Tye think of someone who’d just seen a ghost. The intelligence captain’s expression was almost haggard, and he seemed a little pale.

“What’s wrong?”

Anton shook his head. “Just something I can’t postpone any longer. I’ve been able to block it out of my mind so far, but now—”

Again, his fingers began working at the keyboard. Tye rose to his feet and padded over. Some sort of schematic diagram was filling the screen. None of it meant anything to the martial artist.