Into Everywhere Read Free Page A

morning here. The alert came straight to me, and I see no need to disturb your sister.’
    Tony pictured Opeyemi in his bare room up in the west tower of the Great House, some four thousand light years away. A slender unsmiling man with a shaven skull and deep-set eyes and a steady gaze. He would be sitting at the edge of his military cot, or perhaps he was standing at a narrow window, looking out at the tumbled roofs of the town stretching away in darkness to the cold dark iceberg-flecked sea. After the great betrayal and the deaths of Tony’s parents, Opeyemi, a lieutenant colonel in the Commons police, had resigned his commission and taken charge of his brother’s orphaned children, serving as acting head of the family until Ayo had reached the age of majority. Tony had often rebelled against his uncle’s exacting discipline, still resented the influence he wielded, and flinched now from the admonitory sting in his voice. It was exactly like all those times when he had been called to account for some minor transgression. The hot flush of shame and impotence. Trembling anticipation of his uncle’s minatory gaze.
    He tried to assert himself, saying, ‘Perhaps you should disturb her anyway, uncle. After all, she signed off this deal. She deserves to know that it has gone bad.’
    ‘You did not think to trouble her yourself.’
    ‘I was planning to tell her as soon as I had the situation in hand.’
    ‘You like to think you are an independent operator,’ Opeyemi said. ‘You are not.’
    ‘You have made that abundantly clear.’
    ‘And you will not risk the ship, a valuable family asset, by making a stand against these claim jumpers. If that is what they are.’
    ‘The idea never crossed my mind,’ Tony said.
    He had played endless games of Police v. Red Brigade when he was a kid, setting up ambushes in the courtyards and corridors of the Great House, staging skirmishes in the fields and plantations, but the frigate effortlessly outgunned
Abalunam’s Pride
, and he wasn’t as crazy foolish as some of his family believed. Reckless freebooters did not last long.
    ‘We will get our revenge when we’re good and ready,’ his uncle said. ‘You are neither the arm nor the instrument. Round up the wizards and make a straight run for the mirror. If these claim jumpers see that you are abandoning the prize, they will not waste their time trying to stop you.’
    ‘Absolutely.’
    Tony had his own idea about how to evade the claim jumpers but he was not about to run that past his uncle. The crusty old fucker would probably forbid it.
    ‘Bring the ship home,’ Opeyemi said. ‘The wizards too.’
    ‘I thought I should head back to Dry Salvages first.’ Hopefully without the G-class frigate on his tail, but he would deal with that if and when. ‘I want to have a hard conversation with Raqle Thornhilde about how this claim jumper found me.’
    ‘You will do no such thing,’ Opeyemi said. ‘You have no proof that the broker is to blame. And if she is, she will be expecting you to come after her, and you would be meeting her on her territory, on her terms. No, it is too dangerous, and I will not allow you to endanger the family’s reputation out of some reckless notion about revenge. What you will do instead is bring the wizards to Skadi, where they will complete their work with the help of Aunty Jael, as already agreed.’
    ‘An agreement that Raqle Thornhilde will have invalidated if she told someone else about the stromatolites.’
    ‘We will make enquiries about that. Meanwhile, we will keep to our side of the bargain.’
    ‘This is something I must discuss with Ayo,’ Tony said.
    ‘She will tell you the same thing. Good luck and Godspeed. We will talk again very soon,’ Opeyemi said, and cut the connection before Tony could think of a riposte.
    That was only the beginning of his humiliation.
    The broken latticework spire of the Ghajar landing tower appeared off to the west; Tony saw a huddle of blue tents