Relentless by Jack Campbell Read Free Book Online Page A

Rione would care to repeat that to me in private?”
    “I was hoping”—Geary broke in before Rione could offer Desjani her choice of weapons—“that you could let me know if you’ve found out anything?”
    This time Rione let her gaze linger on Desjani, plainly indicating a question about her presence, but Geary just waited. He needed another set of eyes on this, another mind double-checking his own. Eventually, Rione shook her head. “What I’ve learned can be summed up in one word—nothing.”
    “Not a thing?” Geary rubbed his forehead, trying to hide his disappointment. “I know how good your spies in this fleet are, Madam Co-President. I’d hoped—”
    “Since they’re working on your behalf, you should call them agents, Captain Geary.” Rione gestured angrily. “Whoever has been behind the most recent challenges to your command and the attempts to sabotage some of the ships of this fleet has hidden their involvement exceptionally well. They’ve left no trails to follow. Even the interrogations you authorized of that oaf Captain Numos after the last attempts to insert worms into the operating systems of your warships produced nothing because Numos doesn’t have a clue who was actually goading him on. Faresa might have had some idea, but she died at Lakota. The same is true of Falco, assuming he could have managed to separate fantasy from reality long enough to provide anything useful. Captain Casia and Commander Yin can’t talk because they’re dead as a result of a convenient accident. If you’ve been underestimating your remaining enemies in this fleet in any way, stop doing so now. Whoever they are, they’re very capable and very dangerous.”
    “So are we,” Desjani said.
    Rione looked amused. “Bravado may be useful against the Syndics, but it isn’t what you need against this enemy.”
    “We know that.” Geary intervened before Desjani could fire another volley. “What about Kila? She’s grown steadily more open in her dissents.”
    Now Rione’s amusement faded to annoyance. “As your fellow officers reported and my agents confirmed, Kila is too widely disliked to have a hope of being accepted as commander of this fleet. But she’s also too arrogant, and—unlike Numos—too capable, to allow herself to be used by others. Apparently this is just her normal personality asserting itself now that she’s realized you won’t fall for the usual ways she tries to suck up to her superiors. She never tried to seduce you, did she?”
    “What?”
    “There’s indications it might have been one of her tactics for advancement, though that could also just be gossip fed by the general dislike for Kila among her peers. You’re saying she never tried that with you?”
    “No!” He could see Desjani out of the corners of his eyes, and she was looking daggers at Rione. “We haven’t even physically been on the same ship!”
    Rione nodded. “That might explain it, then. In any case, your reputation is such that she probably would have realized such an attempt would have been futile.”
    “Thanks.” Rione always seemed to know how to keep him off-balance.
    “But Kila wouldn’t work as a human shield for those pulling the strings in these actions against you and the fleet,” Rione continued. “If she were behind this, why would Kila be drawing attention to herself?”
    “If my hidden foes are as smart as we think, she wouldn’t be.” Geary shook his head. “The systems-security people are watching for more dangerous worms but can’t guarantee they know every possible back door into fleet control systems. What else can we do?”
    “I don’t know.” Rione’s frustration was easily apparent. “I understand you haven’t received any more offers to become dictator.”
    “Not in the last few days.”
    “The only thing between you and being able to do that,” Rione noted, “is the distance remaining to Alliance space and whatever Syndic forces are left to get past.”
    “And