Perfiditas Read online

  ‘These are the schedules for the maximum security wing at the Transulium,’ he said, handing me several sheets. I glanced up, but his face was impassive. I studied the pattern of shift changeovers and personnel, and found one or two possibilities where the coverage was a little weaker.

  ‘The main problem is the confirmation call from the governor,’ Apollodorus commented. ‘I understand it doesn’t go to the new legate but to his deputy, the unlovely Petronax.’

  Shit.

  ‘I don’t know Governor Sentoria,’ I said, ‘but she’s supposed to be a careful individual, a bit of a cold fish, She keeps out of inter-service bickering by not cultivating anybody in any branch. Fence sitter.’

  ‘Well, we can’t all be action heroes with attitude problems,’ he teased.

  ‘So, we’re not going to have any leeway there, are we?’

  ‘No, even though she’s likely to lose her job under the Petronax regime,’ he speculated. ‘I think she’ll go by the book, especially with such a high-profile prisoner. Even Justus has nothing on her.’

  ‘So, we need to divert the call she’ll make to Petronax to somebody willing to impersonate him without that somebody being killed.’ I fetched myself a glass of water and waited until I’d drunk it all before continuing. ‘There’s one obvious candidate in place: he’s one of Conradus’s oldest friends and comrades. We’ll have to bring Albinus in on this.’ I looked straight at Apollo. ‘You’ll have to forgive the question, but can you reassure me that Albinus can be trusted one hundred per cent?’ I winced internally as I asked this.

  I saw a flare of light in his black eyes as they narrowed. His index finger touched his forehead creased in concentration as his mouth tightened in a straight line. He paused for a second or two.

  ‘How can I put this?,’ he said. ‘People in my organisation would think long and deep before contemplating a foolish step such as talking to inappropriate outsiders. The consequences would be unpleasant. And permanent.’

  ‘I knew you’d be annoyed.’

  I glanced at the luminous display on at my watch. Eight thirty. Our target trudged into view. That was weird. A strong, self-confident man, he usually strode along, clearing everything and everybody before him. He reached the door of a tasteful, but fairly modest, apartment block, slid his card into the reader and slipped inside. He must have some kind of additional security clearance under the current curfew. Justus reported earlier that evening that the authorities had “reluctantly ordered that citizens should act responsibly and stay off the streets at night”. The official line was that criminal elements were rampant. Well, that was right, but from whose angle? I’d noticed there were far more custodes around – we’d dodged several patrols on our way here.

  By now, our mark should have gotten to the apartment on the top floor. I’d give him another five minutes to settle down in a comfortable armchair with a glass of beer and start chatting to his hostess. They’d known each other for several years and were established lovers.

  Oh, well, I thought, as we hacked the entry code and followed his route up the stairs, time to interrupt their friendly pre-sex banter and ruin their evening. I knocked on the door.

  ‘Evening, Adjutant,’ I whined in my nasal Pulcheria voice. ‘Mind if we come in?’ I pushed in past him before he could object, followed by Albinus and two bodyguards.

  Shock and anger passed across Lucius’s face. For a second, he stood there, speechless, immobile. Then he recovered and took half a step towards me, but one of my bodyguards had a muzzle in his chest before he could reach me. The other one grabbed Lucius’s belt and side arm from the hall table and slung it over his own shoulder in case the adjutant felt tempted.

  ‘What in Hades do you want? Who the fuck are you?’ He moved instinctively to screen his companion from view.

  ‘Tsk, tsk, language!’ I pulled my side arm out, motioned him through the hall, away from the others into another room. I closed the door. It looked liked the bedroom. Lovely cut-work sheets, I thought. I kept my weapon trained on him and waited.

  ‘Who are you?’

  ‘Look more closely, Lucius,’ I said in my normal voice.

  Several seconds passed. He frowned but, as suspicion gave way to disbelief, his eyes opened wide.

  ‘Gods! Mitela? Is it really you?’ I gave him a cheeky smile like I normally would. I was incredibly pleased to see him. He was a direct connection to Conrad.

  ‘Jupiter’s balls! Where the hell have you been since you deserted? Give me a fucking good reason not to arrest you here and now!’

  I moved my weapon up a centimetre. ‘Look, Lucius, I’ll explain, but it’s crucial you don’t mention my name in front of the others. Or that I have any involvement with the PGSF.’

  ‘That won’t be hard, once internal security has finished with you.’ He stared at me, still looking like a sullen volcano, but past the point of erupting. ‘Gods, Carina, you’ve had us frightened stupid. Conradus hid it well, but I know he was worried shitless. Mind you, he’s got more problems right now than a renegade junior officer.’

  ‘Stop bitching, Lucius. That’s why we’re here – to get him out.’

  He looked me up and down. ‘Well, you and your monkeys out there don’t exactly look like a rescue team; more like the mob.’

  ‘Nice,’ I retorted, but appreciated how near Lucius had guessed. ‘I had no option once I was proscribed.’

  He said nothing.

  ‘And how have you been doing in your efforts to spring him?’ He couldn’t fail to hear the hard edge in my voice.

  He flinched. ‘Point taken,’ he said. ‘But I’ve been desperately trying to stop Petronax destroying us.’

  I looked closer. The shadows around his eyes were deep, an unhealthy brown. Although he thrust his chin forward, his skin was taut, showing the strain he was under.

  ‘What happened? What did he do?’

  ‘When Conradus was taken away, Petronax pulled the national security card to summon the entire unit on parade in the courtyard. To update us, he said. Of course, all our personal weapons were in the safe boxes.’ He looked away.

  ‘His private army was waiting outside. He segregated the men and made them stand separately from the women. He gave the men the option to join him in his “glorious enterprise”, as he called it.’ Lucius snorted. ‘Of course, nobody stepped forward. Petronax sneered at us, calling us ball-less. He ordered all the women to be locked up in the cells or the secure interview rooms, and the men back to their desks. His associates would be guarding us. They had enough weapons to start an arms fair. All outside comms had been cut. He told me I was answerable for any disobedience. For any breach, he’d decimate the unit, starting with the female officers and NCOs. And then, as an example, he said, he walked up to Galla, put his pistol to her head and shot her point-blank.’

  His voice had almost vanished. He croaked the last bit out, sat down heavily on the bed, and dropped his head in his hands.

  ‘Thank Mars, Daniel Stern had taken off with his group to the palace.’ He let a breath out slowly. ‘Galla should have gone with them. She’d still be alive if she had. But fucking Petronax would have chosen somebody else.’

  I turned away, grasping hold of a chair back. Sour fumes rose up my throat and I ran for the bathroom.

  I rinsed my mouth and wiped my face. I gripped the edges of the fluted porcelain basin and stared into the mirror. Blood oozed from where I’d bitten my lip. I swore into the glass I would kill Petronax, if nobody else got there before me.

  Back in the bedroom, Lucius handed me back the pistol I had dropped.

  ‘Fine terrorist you make.’

  My hand shook as I took it from him and stowed it in the holster. I dabbed at my lip. ‘Lucius, I have to ask you something personal.’

  With all his problems and the sickening brutality he was trying to contain, it might not have touched his radar.

  ‘Do you know where my grandmother and the children are?’ After Galla, I braced myself for the w
orst.

  ‘Yes, I do. They’re at home, under house arrest, but they’re safe.’

  My legs gave way. I dropped down onto the bed.

  He laid his hand on my shoulder and smiled. ‘Nothing to do with me, I’m afraid. Paulina knows a friend of Helena Mitela’s through the teacher mafia. She and Helena were supposed to meet, but the curfew torpedoed it. This friend couldn’t get anything but a voice message, so she went round to your house, but it was bristling with custodes. They said no contact was permitted with any of the Mitela women and children inside.’

  Back in the hallway, Lucius’s friend, Paulina, was frozen out of her wits at the immobile, but obviously menacing, Albinus and guards. The two bodyguards, now porting arms, watched everything without emotion or reaction. Not many teachers come across such disturbing figures in their professional lives. A few rambunctious teenagers annoying the rest of the class didn’t count in comparison.

  I went forward, holding out my hand in greeting and smiling. ‘Paulina Carca, I am so very sorry to burst into your home and interrupt your evening. If it were not for the extremely serious circumstances, I would not have dreamed of doing so.’

  She was taken aback by my top-drawer manners, completely at variance with my raffish appearance. Her middle-rank social conditioning led her to deny it was any trouble, and she asked us whether we would like any refreshment. Lucius pulled her into the bedroom, shut the door, curtly nodding his head to the rest of us to go to the main room.

  He emerged after a couple of minutes, a scowl on his face. A faint sound of quiet sobbing in the background stopped the instant he shut the door.

  ‘I should flog you, Ca— What the hell am I to call you?’ he asked, glaring at me.

  ‘Nothing.’

  ‘Sit down somewhere, but don’t make a mess.’

  The two bodyguards stationed themselves behind me, weapons ready, but Albinus sat with me.

  ‘Well?’

  I’d forgotten how formidable he could be. I took a breath and started.

  ‘We have a plan to extract the legate from the Transulium, but we need a little help from you.’

  ‘How are you—?’

  ‘You don’t want to know.’

  ‘Very well.’

  ‘What do you know about what Petronax and his friends are up to?’

  Lucius looked around at us all. ‘I can’t tell you that.’

  ‘I don’t want to be a bore, Adjutant, but we probably know a great deal more than you do,’ I said. ‘I just want to know how much I need to fill you in about the situation.’

  ‘You go first.’

  I waded straight in. ‘You know there’s a conspiracy by patriarchalists to overthrow the imperatrix, kill her female children, and put Darius on the throne with a Council of Regency made up of traitor senators?’

  His eyes goggled. ‘No,’ he croaked. His face had gone white. I thought for a moment he’d stopped breathing. I was fascinated. I’d never seen Lucius so obviously upset. It made his reaction to Aburia look like a lover’s kiss.

  ‘Once they have the imperatrix, their intention is to execute her. The legate, as the boy’s father, would naturally protect him if his mother were dead as well as be a focus for opposition, so he’s high on their hit list. They need to remove him early to pre-empt any action he might take. We’re fighting time here.’

  I took a deep breath. I was nearly reverting to Carina. Time to swap back.

  ‘That bastard Petronax finessed all your lot,’ Pulcheria’s voice gloated. ‘I mean, you have to admire him for his tactics.’

  Lucius was coming to the boil again, but he contained it.

  ‘Have you any proof?’ I could see him pleading silently with me not to have.

  ‘Shedloads. Confessions, electronic, witnesses, documentary – the lot. But before we can start drawing the loop tight, your legate has to be out of there.’

  ‘I’m in, obviously.’ Lucius started to breathe again.

  ‘We don’t want to expose you yet – you’re too useful where you are, containing the fallout from Superbus. Petronax is not stupid, so our timing has to be ultra-precise.’

  ‘Tell me what I need to do.’

  Albinus ran through the procedure with Lucius. They rehearsed it several times until they were second-perfect. Lucius would have no problem imitating Petronax’s voice: he’d entertained us several times with his impression of the latter’s ratty little squeak.

  I took Lucius aside for a few minutes to outline the next phase to him privately. He found it difficult to accept at first and grumbled that it would take hours afterward to reset everything, but of course he would be ready as soon as he received the operational order.

  ‘I trust you, Carina. You scare me shitless with some of the risks you take, but I admit you’ve never had an operation fail yet.’

  ‘I’m touched, Lucius.’

  ‘Yes, I know.’

  Later that night, we assembled in the basement garage at Apollo’s house. The troops were all ready, to be led by Flavius dressed as a senior centurion. Weird to see him back in his uniform. Well, it wasn’t his, of course. Philippus had an excellent source of military matériel. Flavius and I exchanged looks as we inspected the security vehicle. It was absolutely genuine. Somebody had a nice little operation selling off military property. This was starting to bug me; something to look into afterwards.

  I could hardly bear watching them go off without me, but I knew Flavius and his team would do it. I walked all around the house, up and down both sets of stairs, into every room. I walked around the garden twice. Apollo came and fetched me, pressed me down onto the white cushion seat in the atrium. Without saying a word, he handed me a small glass of brandy and stood over me while I drank it. He made me eat a plate of tiny, exquisite bites prepared by his chef. In the end, he sat with me and waited.

  Eighty-seven minutes after they’d left, the interphone rang. I jumped up and ran down to the underground garage. The long wheelbase came to a halt by the service door into the house. Flavius leapt out. He nodded and grinned. I ran to the back and tore at the door. I couldn’t open it. My fingers were numb. A strong hand gently removed mine and tugged the door open. Somebody brought a flashlight. A still figure lay slumped on the floor of the vehicle, light catching on the chains on his wrists and ankles. I held my breath.

  ‘No, he’s alive.’ Flav’s voice cut through the fog that had invaded my brain. Somebody brought a stretcher and Conrad’s body was gently lifted out.

  The medic hovered over him doing checks. ‘Take him upstairs to the sick bay,’ he said, ignoring everybody. I followed, determined to see and know everything.

  The medic did a more detailed examination, grunting as he read the screen on the scanner he ran over Conrad’s unconscious body. He gave him a shot and fixed up a drip. He pulled a blanket up over Conrad, turned the light out and shooed us out.

  ‘Well?’ asked Apollodorus.

  ‘He’s dehydrated, undernourished and exhausted,’ the medic answered dispassionately. ‘They’ve worked him over systematically and I would say over several days. General bruising, concentrated to kidney, stomach and groin areas. Two cracked ribs, though. I can’t find any major internal injuries. I’ll leave him to rest tonight and examine him again in the morning. He should sleep at least twelve hours. Leaving the chains on tonight won’t hurt him. You’ll disturb him more trying to remove them now.’

  I moved from foot to foot; I fidgeted with everything near my hands; I bit the skin either side of my nails. I wanted to touch Conrad, to feel he was alive. I was so wired I could have sprung on anybody. I caught a movement out of the corner of my eye as Apollodorus nodded to the medic, but it was too late to do anything about it. I felt the needle prick then fell unconscious.

  I woke up early the next morning in my own bed. My eyes struggled open in a head full of cotton balls. I shook it to clear it and reached over for a drink of water. The black writing stared out of the white paper; one word: “Sorry”.


  Sorry? I’d kill him! How dared he?

  I leapt up, threw on my clothes and rushed along to the sickbay. The clock showed just gone seven. The nurse looked startled as I pushed in. Conrad was still out cold. His skin colour had improved from grey to white emphasising the bruises. The cut and burn marks were livid, but starting to pucker. I stroked his forehead gently and kissed it. He didn’t stir. I sat by his bed, right by his head and waited.

  Somebody brought me a tray with coffee, pastries and fruit. I devoured them – I hadn’t eaten since yesterday lunchtime. Flavius looked in after nine, but there was no change.

  I felt Apollo first rather than heard him. ‘Don’t say it,’ I said between my teeth.

  Silence.

  ‘What were you playing at?’ I growled, not looking at him.

  Silence.

  ‘Well?’

  ‘You commanded me not to say it, so I didn’t.’

  ‘Gah!’

  ‘I’m sorry to have tricked you, but I knew you would have stayed at his bedside awake all night to nobody’s benefit. If you weren’t so cross, you must admit it was the logical thing.’

  I rolled my shoulders further inwards and drew my face in, my lips tightened.

  ‘Don’t,’ he said, running his finger across my cheek. ‘It spoils your face, and it wouldn’t be the best thing for him to see when he wakes.’

  I came near to hating Apollo when he was so reasonable and so right.

  A little while later, Conrad stirred. I leapt up, but he was still fast asleep. Around half ten, the medic came in. I turned my shoulder to him, trying to look offended. He just ignored me and did some checks. I must have looked desperate.

  He took pity on me. ‘Don’t worry, he’ll be fine.’ He smiled at me. ‘I mean it. Sleep is the very best thing for him right now. If he wakes, just buzz me.’ He handed me the remote.

  I was dozing when I heard a noise of stirring plus clinking of chains. Conrad opened his eyes, blinked at the light, his eyes chased around, scanning for danger. He found me and settled there. His pupils were tiny in the hazel irises.