Broken Vision Read Free Page B

You don't think she's mixed up in any of this, do you?"
    Alerik propped himself on the edge of the table and picked up a saga ball. He began to toss
it idly from hand to hand. "We don't know what the extent of 'this' is yet, but for her parents' sake, I
hope not."
    "What a mess that would be." Sharm pulled two bottles of Mariltar blue ale from the
cabinet.
    More of a mess than Sharm could possibly know. Alerik accepted a bottle of ale and, once
again, debated sharing a piece of information with the man who had had his back since they had
met in pilot training at the academy. Not yet. Sharm would have to know soon and Sharm, being
ever the conformist, would without a doubt have vociferous objections.
    "Why did she drop out?"
    "The transcripts don't give a reason, but her father says she left to come to Pallas Four to
work with her uncle in Janas Corporation."
    "Where's the uncle now?"
    "Off on an extended tour of the Voton Galaxy, leaving his niece in charge." Alerik tipped
the bottle back and took a long swallow of ale. It slid down his throat, smooth, familiar. He waited
for the kick. "I want you to assign Corenna and Drakal to Pallas Four."
    Sharm's brows shot up. "Yes?"
    "Specifically to watch Maegan Shale. I want to know her every movement when she's not
inside Janas Corporation."
    "You think she was that pilot?"
    "Maybe. Tell that to Corenna and Drakal. It'll give them some incentive. Nothing like a
score to settle to improve attention to detail."
    Sharm set his bottle down. "She's also an attractive woman, Alerik, and you know Corenna
and Drakal. They should be made aware she's a hereditary candidate for your team, otherwise she'll
pose a challenge for them in another way as well."
    He was counting on it. "No, I don't want them to have that information yet. My Soron slice
axe to your Taragon pike she'll squash them anyway." In a twisted sort of way, he was counting on
that too.
    * * * *
    Maegan rubbed her eyes. This wasn't working. Numbers, symbols and letters were all
running together. She was too tired. She had to take a break.
    She closed off the vid screen and pushed herself to her feet, then had to hang on to the
table edge as a familiar attack of dizziness seized her. When the world was normal again, she
headed for the private room attached to her office. As she pulled off her dress tunic and reached for
a pale green exercise suit, she reflected on the double bookkeeping system that Janas Corporation
maintained. Its architect, Morgon Trion, her uncle, had set up a seemingly foolproof
arrangement.
    She sincerely hoped it was. So far, she hadn't been able to find a flaw, but she still had
several more files to examine before she was satisfied. The deadline for turning the corporation's
private financial records over to the audit committee was four days away.
    Curse Alerik Mariltar!
    Curse him for being appointed governor of Grogon and for his high and mighty
     rule-of-law-or-nothing policy.
    The Coalition of the nine primary nations of the Crestar System had crafted an inflexible,
stifling legal structure. Governor Meelor had his own loose way of interpreting it. Governor
Mariltar wouldn't interpret it at all. He'd follow each directive with unshakeable tunnel vision.
    Aargh! She was giving herself a headache.
    She slipped her feet into padded exercise slippers and checked to make sure her hair was
secure in its tight knot. Then she headed out of her office and down the stairs that would take her
past Coryon's work station.
    Coryon was on a vid conference, so she merely waved and pointed in the general direction
of the beach. Her assistant widened her eyes and pretended to faint across her console. There was
no reaction from the other participants on screen. Coryon must have placed herself on privacy
screen. She was learning.
    Maegan chuckled and stepped into the express lift tube to the outside entrance of the
complex. She rarely used it, preferring instead to walk through the halls of the corporation to greet
the