The Blood of Queens

Chapter 48

As the Cabinet dispersed throughout the spacious hallway inside the Capitol building, Zoe found tracking and following the demure Minister of Energy as hard as herding a frightened cat. Of course, such evasiveness only strengthened Zoe's suspicions.

"Minister Mayer," she called out, loud enough that the thin and demure woman had to respond.

She stopped mid stride and turned around with a puzzled face. "Yes? And you are?"

Zoe presented her military ID. "Major Zoe Kruger. I've been tasked by the President to investigate a possible Angleyan spy who's been implanted in the Federal government."

"Oh my." Mayer looked genuinely startled.

Combined with her mousy face and hunched little shoulders, Zoe was almost tempted to believe the act was real. Almost. "You're not a suspect, of course, but as a ranking Cabinet member I'm sure you have to know something that could further my investigation."

"Of course."

Zoe pointed toward an empty conference room which, like every room in the Capitol, would be completely soundproof once the door was locked. "This way."

Marie Mayer tapped her foot on the floor much like a nervous woman would. Her eyes darted from one corner of the small conference room to the next. Zoe cleared her throat to return the Minister's attention back to her.

"I've been investigating the Kohler Corporation for the past week now," she said.

"Oh, of course. How stupid of them to try assassinating you minutes after meeting with one of its executives."

Zoe raised an eyebrow. "I take it you found a copy of the police report? I don't think the timeline has been publicly disclosed yet."

"Well, as a member of the Cabinet, I do feel obligated to stay aware of current events before the media butchers the details."

Zoe shared a hearty laugh with Minister Mayer over that. She nodded in agreement. "Then you probably know where I'm going with this conversation."

Mayer's expression fell back into a nervous grimace. "You think Kohler Corporation has connections with agents of the Angleyan government. Them trying to kill you so shortly after meeting with their Vice President just makes it look worse."

"Yes. But here's the thing that puzzles me. Kohler Corporation has been getting a lot of generous contracts from the Federal government to build plants in annexed territory to the north. How does that do anything good for the Angleyans? And don't you think sending assassins after me that soon after a meeting wouldn't raise a few eyebrows? Yours included."

Mayer quirked her head in confusion and leaned back in her chair. "You think it isn't them?"

"At the very least, it's not just them. Someone wants to make them look like criminals. Some under the table deal gone bad perhaps?" Zoe suggested.

"Well, that's beyond me Major."

"Of course." Zoe paused and tapped her fingers on the table between her and Mayer. The silence was punctuated only by Zoe's nails clattering against the wooden surface.

Minister Mayer cleared her throat and rapidly shifted her gaze around the room.

Zoe was pleasantly surprised by how little time was taking to break her. "Still, I'm more curious about the person who called the police at just the right time to come right when the assassins would have killed me. If I had to take a guess, she was most likely the real perpetrator of the attacks.

Mayer guffawed and leaned back for a split second before she set herself upright again. "What? Where would you get an idea like that?"

"Sorry, my head's still ringing a bit. It's just that listening to the 9-1-9 call left me a little confused is all. It sounded too..." Zoe left her mouth open and waved her hand around, goading Mayer to finish the sentence.

"Premeditated? I assure you it was not." Mayer's lips puckered tight and her eyes went wide as the scope of her gaffe set in.

"Really?" She pulled out a pistol and put it on the table. "Well this is a pleasant surprise. The President's going to be very interested in what you'll have to tell me in the next minute."

"I don't know what you think you heard..."

"Think? Oh I don't think you stuttered at all Minister Mayer. I said nothing about it being premeditated until you told me and you assured me about it as if you knew." Zoe pulled a black, fist sized recording device out of her jacket pocket and held it up for the Minister to see. "If we stop now, it will be my duty as a Commissioned Officer to sentence and execute you for crimes against a member of the military. Of course, plea deals aren't unheard of should the defendant provide useful information." She put the device back in her pocket and slid the gun around the table. "So. Do you consider yourself as having useful information?"

All semblance of calmness escaped Marie Mayer's waifish frame as she crumpled into a quaking, nervous wreck. "I did what I had to for the stability of the country. You have no idea the underhanded things that company would have done just to make a quick Mark."

"I don't. You're right. So tell me, and maybe your sentence won't be execution by a Military Officer's gun." Zoe placed a hand over her pistol, running her index finger over the trigger.

"It's true. The government has been compromised and done a lot of things the people probably wouldn't be happy about if the news got wind of it. But what we did, what President Fritz had all of us do, was for the future of Dan."

"Go on."

"Ana Hauser was a security risk. She meant well but she was getting old and senile. She would have sold all our state secrets just for a temporary peace. Worse, we had an intelligence report that she was meeting the Angleyan Queen herself. That was too much. Even if it forced us to go to war, we had to make sure both women were dead before anything serious could happen."

Zoe tightened her lips and nodded. "Hmm. So you, and the President, are ultimately responsible for the thousands who've died in this otherwise unnecessary war? Useful information, but if anything this makes the entire situation worse. I don't know if any Senators even remember how Impeachment proceedings for a President are supposed to go."

"Nothing we did was illegal! It was all for national security!" Mayer bolted up but Zoe picked up her gun and pointed it at the woman's forehead.

"Please. Sit down ma'am. I haven't executed a political appointee in a while, and my trigger finger's developed quite the itch."

All defiance deflated out of Mayer and she sat down meekly.

Zoe grinned. "As I was saying, even if assassinating an Ambassador for the Federation wasn't illegal per se, it was evidently shameful enough for the government to bend over backwards once Kohler Corporation started blackmailing you with it. Is that right?"

Mayer nodded.

"Do you have anything else to say?"

"That's the whole story. I swear."

Zoe stood up and grabbed her pistol, sliding her index finger onto the trigger. "No need to be so adamant. I believe you." She looked up at the corner of the ceiling to the left of the door. The camera was running. "Marie Heinz Mayer I, Zoe Kruger, as a duly commissioned officer of the Federal Army of Dan, sentence you to die for the crimes of assault against a military officer and murder of an honorably discharged veteran and Hero of the People."

"What?! I-"

Zoe didn't let the woman finish. She put a bullet right between her eyes, killing her instantly. After the body had thudded to the ground, Zoe holstered her weapon and picked up her phone.

"Captain Schmidt? Yes, have your mother evacuate the Capitol Building. Tell her I've executed the first suspect."