I propped my elbow on the table, rested my chin on my thumb, and curled my fingers in front of my mouth. “As long as your information proves true, and no other evidence starts pointing back to you, I will not share the information with our parents.”
“I will send the file directly to your com. With the silencers, there’s less chance it will be intercepted, as long as you are sure your com is secure.”
“My com is secure,” I said with a faint smile.
She transferred the file and I saved it in a secure quarantine. I would open it later. I was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt, but I didn’t trust her completely.
“Find him,” she said, “please.” She swallowed and her mask slipped a tiny bit. I caught the anguish in her eyes. She was either the universe’s best actress or she truly cared for Ferdinand. “I am searching, too, but I must be far more cautious. Still, if you need anything, you now have my secure address. I will do my best.”
“Thank you,” I said.
“I’m sure you know this, but do not contact me at public events. I’m already putting myself at risk meeting you today.”
“Of course,” I said. “I appreciate your candor. You are not what I was expecting, either.” I stood and inclined my head. “Farewell, Lady Evelyn.”
“Farewell and good luck,” she said.
I clicked off the silencer and returned it to my purse, then turned for the entrance. Ian scowled from the edge of the cleared three-meter circle, not even attempting to look anything but impatient and intimidating. He silently followed me from the shop.
Ian escorted me to my transport. He waited until we were inside before he questioned me. “Well?”
“She said House Rockhurst isn’t responsible, and for now, I believe her.”
“Why?” Ian asked.
I shrugged. “Just a feeling,” I said. “Have you found any surveillance video from the attack?”
“I’ve requested assistance from House Yamado. I tracked Lord Ferdinand to the edge of their quarter, but all of the surveillance I’ve been able to dig up has a ten-minute loop in it.”
I blinked at him in surprise. I hadn’t caught the looped video when I’d been digging for information. I could blame it on exhaustion, but Ferdinand’s life was on the line—I needed to do better. “You think House Yamado is involved?”
“I don’t know,” he said with a frustrated noise. “I hope they just have a spy in their security team because otherwise it means they are throwing in with House Rockhurst against us.”
A war on two fronts would be grueling for House von Hasenberg. The war with House Rockhurst had barely begun to ramp up. So far, both Houses were pouring military resources into the distant, uninhabited Antlia sector because it seemed to be the only place to find alcubium, the rare resource that powered House Rockhurst’s new, faster FTL drives. But it was only a matter of time before the war turned bloody.
Our scientists were trying to reverse-engineer the FTL drive in the Rockhurst prototype ship as quickly as possible, but production was still months, if not years, away.
We could only assume that Rockhurst hadn’t outfitted their entire fleet with the new drives yet, or they would’ve tried to wipe us out with hit-and-run tactics we couldn’t counter. We outmatched their traditional fleet, but if they added House Yamado to their side, we would be overwhelmed.
“Let me know when they reply,” I said. Ian raised an eyebrow. “Please,” I tacked on belatedly. “He’s my brother.”
“It would be better if you stayed out of it,” Ian said, “and let me do my job.” He sighed and rubbed his face, and it occurred to me that he looked tired. Ian never looked tired. I’d seen him work for forty-eight hours straight without a single sleepy blink, but today he looked worn.
“Are you okay?” I asked gently. I couldn’t help myself. Ian had the uncanny ability to sneak under my armor, even when he wasn’t trying to.
His face smoothed into a pleasant mask, wiping away the hint of vulnerability. “I’m fine,” he said.
The sting of rejection was a familiar hurt, but it still stole my breath. Outwardly, I smiled and nodded, as placid as a lake. I glanced out of the window, trying to determine our location. “Are we returning home?” I asked.
“You are,” he said.
He looked like he expected me to argue, but I just inclined my head in agreement. I needed to look at the file Evelyn had given me. And at this point, I was far more effective at finding information virtually than by dashing around the city. With Ian working on finding footage of Ferdinand’s kidnapping, I could switch to figuring out who could have actually pulled it off. I doubted it was the same group who had ordered it, but one might lead me to the other. Or Ferdinand. I would call that a win, too.
Ian’s expression turned serious. “I don’t have time to chase you all over Serenity, not if you want Ferdinand found. Every minute you waste is one your brother is missing. Are you going to stay put?”
Anger almost loosened my tongue, but I shoved it down at the last second. “Yes.” Until I have more information. Then I am going to get Ferdinand with or without you.
Ian still did not look convinced, but I just smiled serenely and let the conversation lapse into silence, already planning where I would start my search. If I wanted someone kidnapped without it tracing back to me, I’d go to the Silva Syndicate. There were a few other options, but the Silva family ran the largest underground crime organization in the ’verse.
And unlike the black market on APD Zero, the Consortium very much wanted to wipe the Syndicate out, mostly because they refused to give the Houses a cut of their profits.
Because they were targeted by the RCDF, the Syndicate leadership was distributed on several enormous spaceships that were constantly on the move. Occasionally the RCDF would get lucky and catch one, but like a hydra, two more would spring up to replace it. I’d visited one of their ships just once, back before my marriage, when I was still doing active assignments for House von Hasenberg. It had taken a lot of very fast talking and massive amounts of money to walk away unscathed.
But they’d also delivered exactly what they’d promised.
I was pulled from my thoughts when our transport settled outside the House von Hasenberg family entrance. Ian gestured for me to stay put as he slid the door open and stepped out. He glanced around at the security personnel in place, then reached in to help me from the transport.
“I know you are plotting something,” he said quietly as he escorted me to the entrance. “Do not leave the building without letting me know and taking a full security detail. Do you understand?”
“I plan to spend the day researching Ferdinand’s disappearance,” I said.
“That didn’t answer the question.”
“No, it didn’t.” I smiled as I slipped into the building and left him scowling on the doorstep. One day he would learn that I responded far better to requests than demands, but that day didn’t appear to be today.
Chapter 5
On the way to my suite, I checked our sibling group channel, but no one had heard from Ferdinand. Ada had chimed in that she was okay and hadn’t been attacked. Everyone was speculating on who could be behind the attacks, but no one had any solid leads and no ransom demands had been made. I wasn’t the only one who thought the Syndicate might be involved, though.