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Sandra pushed open the office doors.
The three mercenary types turned to look at her. The Professor, seated behind his gigantic oak desk, looked up from his terminal.
“Did you know-” She began.
“Excuse me,” the Professor said. “We are in the middle of a meeting. You might have noticed.”
“That’s nice. There’s a gigantic ship that just-”
“Later, please.”
“It’s the Family- did you know about this? Is this something you-”
“Later. Please.”
They stared at each other.
“You’re an asshole,” Sandra said.
“And you’re interrupting my meeting. Go and wait in the sitting room, if you like. Or go about your business, and I will call you when I am finished here. Does that meet with your approval?”
She felt her hands bunching into fists. She thought about her automatic pistols, still lying on her kitchen table in her apartment, and she remembered something Liam had said about letting the weapon do the thinking for you.
She turned, without a word, and stalked out of the room.
Standish was outside, peering at his little handheld terminal. He raised his eyebrows as she strode out of the office.
“Did our esteemed benefactor say anything?”
“No.” She scowled. “He was taking a meeting. Apparently.”
“I see.”
“He sent me away.”
“Oh dear.”
She took a deep breath. “Excuse me for a moment, Standish. I’m going to do something very un-ladylike.”
“Just as you say...”
She walked over to the far wall, lifted one foot, and kicked out heel-first. The plaster smashed inward under her boot, leaving a crater the size of a watermelon.
Sandra stepped back and considered her handiwork. “I feel better already.” She turned to Standish. “I’m going back to my apartment and prepare for imminent death. Call me if anything interesting happens.”
Earlier:
Cass walked into the meeting room wearing her neutral ‘meeting big brother’ face. She was followed by Devi, who appeared to be wearing her ‘just bit into a something unpleasant’ face. She was carrying a half-empty bottle of champagne.
Alex was standing in the center of the semicircle of oak tables, hand pressed to his ear in that unconscious way so many comm users seemed to adopt. Beth was sitting at the far end of the tables, her eyes puffy and dazed. A pile of dead tissues lay in front of her. Constantine sat on the other end, arms folded over his chest. His blonde hair screamed up from his scalp, apparently terrified by something going on in the brain beneath.
Alex turned toward them, his face losing that blank listening-to-a-recording look. “Cass,” he said. “Devi.” He looked at the bottle in her hand. “I see you brought your breakfast with you.”
Devi made a face. “S’right,” she said. “Some assehole thought it was a good idea to have a meeting at an hour when the gods themselves are still in bed. What gives, big brother?”
“I’m getting to that. Have a seat. One of the servants will be around in a moment if you want any real breakfast.”
Cass and Devi looked at each other. They looked at the semicircle of tables. They looked back at each other.
“Flip you for it,” Devi said.
Cass sighed. “I’ll sit next to him.” She crossed the room and took the table nearer to Constantine. A servant in the high-collared blue-on-black livery of the Family materialized from an arched doorway and leaned over to take her order.
Devi sat nearer to Beth, who still appeared dazed and half-asleep. She had a tissue in one hand, held danging in the air halfway to her face. She seemed to have forgotten about it. Her hair hung in tangled ringlets around her shoulders.
“All right,” Alex said. “Let’s get this started. Minutes begin here. Let the record show that Alexander Stone is chairing this meeting, with Cassandra Stone, Devianora Stone, Bethany Stone, and Constantine Stone in attendance.” He paused. “Right. Does anyone have any old business?”
No one said anything.
“Okay. Thanks for coming. I’ve called you all here, as some of you might have guessed, because Bethany’s husband has been murdered. As you know, he was on business in Knightsbridge at the time, and evidence shows he was killed by a group of mercenaries working in the city, though the reason for this is not yet clear. Yes, Devi?”
“Does the rest of the Family know about this?”
“No. That’s why I’ve called you here. Family tradition requires us to exact vengeance on the killer or killers.” He sighed. “And, more likely than not, anyone who knew them, or might have been around at the time, or we don’t much like, or anyone who just doesn’t seem like ‘our kind of people’.”
“Ooer,” Devi said. “Our brother doing sarcasm. Times’ve changed.”
Alex glared at her. “You know what I mean. Give the Family half a reason, and it’ll start a war or take over a city in the name of ‘retribution’. And that’s not about honor, it’s about greed.”
“It’s about business,” Cass said. “Same as always. You know the mantra. ‘Business is business-”
“’-and business runs in the Family’. I know. Any of you think that’s the way forward? In this day and age?” He looked at them all. “Beth? Constantine?”
Constantine scowled. “That’s your business, big brother. You know me.”
“I know you,” Devi said. “All you need is someone to hit, and you’re happy.”
“Yeah, I am.” Constantine stared at her. “Least I found something I’m useful for, didn’t I?”
“Sure,” Devi said. “A bomb’s useful for blowing people up. Doesn’t mean anyone respects it.”
“They should.”
“Enough, both of you.” Alex turned to Beth. “Thomas was your husband, Bethany. What do-”
“Mellow,” she said, still not looking at him. “His name was Mellow.”
“I’m sorry. Ah. Mellow was your husband. What would you have us do in his name?”
“I don’t know...” She was rocking back and forth a little now. “I think...I don’t know.” She looked up at him, then. “There are avenging angels, aren’t there?”
Alex blinked, taken aback. “Wh- are you all right, Beth?”
"I need to know. Are there avenging angels?"
"I...I don't know. Some of the gods..." He raised his hands and shrugged. "I don't know, Bethany."
"I think there are," Beth said. "I think there are angels who wield swords. And who love."
"I think," Devi said. "Someone's been at the medicine cabinet this morning."
"Devi!"
"What?" Devi glared at Cass. "She's not even on this plane right now. I know her husband just got killed and all, but that's not grief. She's out of her head on something."
"Well," Constantine said, his meaty arms still folded. "You would know."
She turned on him. "Yes," she said. "I would. So why don't you all listen to me for once?"
"I'm not crazy," Beth said.
Devi sighed. "Beth, I never said you were crazy-"
"And don't think I don't know you, sister. Your hands are unclean."
"...but I'm thinking of revising that opinion."
"Devi," Alex said. "Leave her alone. She's allowed to be off-balance right now." He turned to Cassandra. "Cass? What do you think? Should we share this information with the rest of the Family?"
Cass raised one immaculate, lacquered eyebrow. "Honest opinion?"
"Of course."
"No. Absolutely not. Under no circumstances. I assume this room is hushed, big brother?"
Alex raised one of his own eyebrows. "I'm not an idiot, Cass."
"Everyone can be forgetful. But, no, even if I agreed with their slash-and-burn policies, I'd advise against sharing this with them. The second we do that, it becomes their business instead of our business, and you know how eager the Cursons and Vandeventers are to wind you up."
"Believe me, I know." Alex laced his fingers together and cracked his knuckles. "All right. Since we're all in agreement, more or less, that we handle this ourselves, we need to act as soon as possible. This kind of information has a short half-life. My contact in Knightsbridge claims he can bring at least one of them in, if we send a representative down to talk. We've got a strong reputation for brutality, even out there, and he says they're shaking in their boots. Now, we've got access to an airship with voidspace navigation, and we can probably make the calculations in an hour or two. Devi, I want you on the ship- I'll give you crew, a team, and bodyguards- and down in the city as our official representative. I think you should talk to them."
Devi stopped in mid-drink. "What?"
"I want you to be our voice down there. You're-"
"How is this anything remotely resembling a good idea? I'm not a diplomat, Alex-"
"Good. I don't think a diplomat is what we need here. If these are mercenaries, they'll distrust a diplomat from word one. What we need is-"
"What I was going to say was: I'm not a diplomat, I'm a lush. You told me I was a mess, Alex. You said those words. With your mouth. Remember that?"
"This will be a good chance to do something with yourself, then. And it's outside of the circles you seem to despise so much. No high society bullshit- words that came from your mouth, by the way- to get in the way."
Devi rubbed at the bridge of her nose. "It's not like I have a choice here, is it? You're the head of our Line. You tell me to poo on the carpet, and I have to take my trousers down, right?"
Alex looked bemused. "Since when did you ever say 'poo'?"
"You know what I mean."
"And you know I don't like to work that way."
"Even though you get off on being in control?"
"I don't think this is the right place to have that conversation, little sister."
"Story of my life." She sat back in her chair. "Why don't you send Cass? She's better at talking to people."
"Cass is our liason with the other Lines, not to mention basically single-handedly managing business for our little corner of the Family. I can't spare her."
"And the Brat won't come back from his holidays?"
"No. And he deserves his time off."
Devi looked at Beth, then at Constantine, then back at Alex. "I see your problem. It has to be one of the Family?"
"For any settlements to be official, yes."
"And you can't go?"
Alex sighed. "Look. This business with Knightsbridge..." He shot a glance at Beth, who had gone glassy-eyed again. "It's important, but it's not the only important thing happening right now. I've still got to contend with four other ancient and venerable families who would, in a casual way, be happy to see me dead if they could find a profit in it. And anyway, it'd look suspicious if I wasn't around to pretend to laugh at their jokes and attend their parties. I'm afraid it's on you, little sister."
By way of response, Devi drained the rest of the bottle.
------
"Quit this world, quit the next world, quit quitting!" -Sufi proverb.
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Take Me Back to the Garden of Love - 14
