Law of Survival Read Free Page A

as she searched the gold-bordered documents for a ministry ID code and didn’t find it. She flipped back to the face page and read the summary header. “Commonwealth White Paper. Security Risk Evaluation—Jani Moragh Kil—” She fell silent as she found herself looking at a list of dates and page numbers arranged like a table of contents. Next to each date was the name of a city, or a settlement, or a station. The first page contained years one through five of her eighteen years on the run; the second page, years six through twelve; the third, years thirteen to the present.
    â€œThere’s a data wafer tucked into a pocket inside the slipcase,” Niall said. “It contains the full report. Names of companies you worked for, in what capacity, what sorts of…business you engaged in. Interviews with coworkers, acquaintances. Ex-lovers.”
    â€œI—” Jani swallowed a curse as her stomach cramped. She’d been doing so well on her new enzyme therapy—it hadn’t ached for weeks. “I guess I should have expected this. I just didn’t think it would turn up so soon.” She tucked the papers back in the slipcase. “When do you need it back?”
    Niall shook his head. “Keep it. There’s plenty more where that came from.”
    Jani tucked the slipcase in the pocket of her jacket. “It’s in general circulation?”
    â€œIn the various upper reaches, from what I could gather. PM got a copy. All the Ministers and their deputies. Security chiefs. It’s been out for a week or so. Took a while to filter down to me, seeing as I’m on the second team.”
    â€œSo the Admiral-General’s office got one?”
    â€œOh, yeah.”
    â€œMako have anything to say?”
    â€œAbout what you’d expect.”
    Jani watched the dapple of sun on water. It calmed her enough to make her feel that things weren’t as bad as they seemed. Almost. “I ran because I couldn’t afford to be interviewed, not by trained criminal investigators. You know the drill. First would have come the encephaloscan, which would have revealed my Service augmentation. That would have given them just cause to call in a physician to perform a phys exam. After they’d found my animandroid arm and leg and all my other unique identifiers, they’d have assumed ‘deserter’ and moved on from there. Before I could whistle the first verse of The Commonwealth Anthem, they would have uncovered the Service warrant for my arrest.”
    â€œYou could have stalled them.”
    â€œYou think so? I don’t know if you recall the last time we both met with Mako, but I don’t interview particularly well.”
    â€œReally?” Despite the mood, Niall grinned. “Bit of a smart aleck, are you?” The expression wavered when Jani didn’t respond. “Well, like you said, you expected it. How do you plan to counter?”
    â€œDepends how bad it gets, and it could get pretty bad. I falsified shipping and receiving records. Stole scanpack parts. Reset credit chits. An entire host of Level A Registry offenses, any one of which could get me deregistered. Then there’s my bioemotional restriction. If some psychotherapeutician decides my past behavior is an indication of future problems, they’ll try to stick me in some type of permanent wardship. At the very least, they’ll maintain the operational restriction—I won’t be able to carry a shooter or drive a skimmer for the rest of my life.” Jani stood and stepped to the edge of the breakwater. It was a short drop into the cold churn, only a couple of meters. The drops were always shorter than you thought.
    â€œMaybe it’s not as gruesome as you think.” Niall’s voice sounded rough comfort. “Read it first, then figure out what you need to do.” Service tietops scraped on scancrete as he joined her at the edge. “I’ll help