Cobra Slave-eARC Read Online Free

“You’re not serious,” he said.
    “Why not?” Lij Tulu shot back. “I can have MindsEye disassembled and brought down here by twenty-two-hundred tonight. We make sure Lorne sticks around overnight, maybe tell him we need another round of hearings tomorrow. If we work through the night we can have everything reassembled and recalibrated by oh-six-hundred. We take him from his quarters, plug him in, and see what we get.”
    “What we’ll probably get is a dead Cobra and a furious local government,” Barrington said darkly. “Commodore, you can’t seriously consider such an action.”
    “Because your patron wouldn’t approve?” Lij Tulu countered.
    “Because it isn’t necessary,” Barrington said. “Not yet. We’re not ready to move yet anyway. There’s time to explore other avenues.”
    “Such as?” Lij Tulu demanded. “Don’t misunderstand, Captain, I’m all for doing this the easy way if possible. But you can count on one hand the number of people on Aventine who’ve ever been to Qasama, or have traveled to Qazadi aboard a Troft ship. They’re all the same fingers, and they’re all in the Broom family.”
    “Maybe there’s something we haven’t thought of,” Barrington persisted. “Regardless, it wouldn’t hurt to wait a little longer before doing something that drastic.”
    “In theory, I agree,” Santores said. “But if and when Gendreves is able to force Chintawa into putting the Brooms on trial, we’ll lose even short-term access. The family will be put into detention under Capitalia’s control, and we won’t be able to borrow one of them even for six hours.”
    “We will once the trial’s over,” Barrington persisted.
    “Only if they’re acquitted,” Lij Tulu countered. “Even if they are, a trial could take months. We can’t afford to wait that long.”
    For another moment the room was silent. Barrington forced himself to take deep, slow breaths, thinking furiously. The thought of bringing his patron a report of the deliberate destruction of one of the Moreau family…
    But Lij Tulu was right. Santores wanted Qasama, and the only people who might be able to get him there were the Brooms.
    And Barrington was sworn to obey his commander’s orders, and the laws and statutes of the Dominion of Man. He could try to talk Santores into a different course of action. But if that failed there was nothing else he could do.
    “You say you can have MindsEye ready by morning?” Santores asked.
    “Yes, sir,” Lij Tulu confirmed. “Provided I give the order within the next hour.”
    “Then do so,” Santores said.
    “My patron would object strenuously,” Barrington said, trying one last time.
    “Were he here,” Lij Tulu said pointedly.
    “Were he here,” Barrington conceded. “In his absence, I wish to go on record as protesting this course of action.”
    “So noted,” Santores said. “I presume, Captain, you’ll want to start with Lorne?”
    “Yes, sir,” Lij Tulu said. “As I said earlier, his parents in deeper emotional debt to the Qasamans and will therefore have more resistance.” He looked at Barrington. “And of course, his younger age will give him a better chance of surviving the procedure.”
    “We know where he is?” Santores asked.
    “At his great uncle Corwin Moreau’s house, that little estate thing they call the Island,” Lij Tulu said. “Colonel Reivaro has a car watching him. Shall I have them go in and bring him out?”
    “No,” Santores said. There was some reluctance behind his eyes, Barrington could see. But his voice was the rock-solidness of a man who’s made his decision. “No, we’ll let him have a final good meal with his family. Just have the car follow him back to the Dome—” He broke off, shaking his head. “I can’t believe they had the gall to actually name this place the Dome. As if it could ever actually compare. At any rate, have the colonel’s men follow him back here and make sure he settles in.”
    “He