A Secret Man of Blood

Chapter Seven

"Have we shared this information with The Commonwealth or our allies on The Continent?" Elizabeth asks.

"No. We don't want to spark a panic," Brigham Clay replies, turning to Squad. "Until we get new leads on Scipio, I think it's best you investigate this potential Scrovengi-Jade Empire conflict. You can be my eyes and ears."

*

Ambassador Kamenev of the Scrovengi stands on the balcony and evening descends in a pool of quiet. Chatter and merriment are barely audible from the banquet hall, but he detects a sliver of movement closer than that, his warrior's body taut as a drawn bow.

He takes a sip of his drink and calmly turns around. "Who is it?"

From the shadows emerges the human businessman Gelson Musk, owner of Paradigm Research, the biggest private company in the world. Kamenev's government has thoroughly investigated Musk but can never go back beyond a certain point in the man's timeline; it's as if he appeared from nowhere and became an instant success. This makes Kamenev, and the Scrovengi government, suspicious, and there are theories that Musk either works for The Spider, head of the Samarian Intelligence Service, or that he is The Spider. Kamenev isn't sure about those conclusions but he knows the man has an eagle mind.

Musk joins Kamenev at the balcony's edge, looking out over the city. "Beautiful," he remarks. "So many people joined together in one place. Their activities staining the world and exulting it." Kamenev feels Musk's glance taking him apart, like an interesting machine. "Some think that people, all people, are just different expressions of the same being: that the universe breaks itself apart and walks about in measured shares of hope, pain, happiness and suffering."

They can see the garden far below, the moon growing in its flowers. Kamenev's eyes burn beneath his rock-like brows, challenge dripping from his tone. "Does it make it easier, to kill people knowing that they're all part of the same cosmic system, that if one nation falls another will rise to bring order to the system?"

"I wouldn't know," Musk smiles enigmatically. He turns his body to face Kamenev. "Your people fascinate me. An Elder Race that, many times over the millennia, could have used their martial prowess to advance and conquer, but you didn't. What is it you want?"

Unsure whether to be affronted, Kamenev continues to face the cityscape but angles his head towards Musk, meeting his gaze fully. "What do you mean?"

"You're a military people without an enemy."

"We've kept the Kresh contained in The Black Jungle for millennia. I campaigned against them myself in my younger days."

Musk shakes his head and Kamenev, still poker faced, feels tense. Could the human know about their new understanding with the Kresh? Kamenev only discovered the truce when it was at an advanced stage and no one outside of the Scrovengi government, apart from whatever the Kresh have for a ruling body if such a thing exists, knows that it's even being discussed.

"You're no longer fighting the Kresh," Musk states bluntly. "Your ceasefire with them came into effect a short time ago. Negotiating it without informing the international community could be a small mistake."

"A small mistake?" Kamenev thinks to himself. "Give me an example of a big mistake!"

"Letting people find out about it," Musk says out loud.

Kamenev turns sharply. Could the man have read his mind? None of the intelligence reports mention that Musk is a mind-breaker, if he is, and it's considered bad form for a mind-breaker to scan another person's thoughts without permission, either explicit permission from the person themselves or some sort of authority; besides, Kamenev has been trained to detect and counter mind-breaking, and he didn't feel anything.