“Let’s go to the meeting room and start looking through it while we wait for the committee to arrive.” She looked like a hunter on the scent.
He gave a nod and let her lead the way, as he had never been in the Planetary Administrative offices before.
There were already people waiting for them in the room, though, so he tucked the package behind him and took up position against the wall, near where Velda took a seat.
Velda deflected questions until everyone arrived, and Ethan noticed he was getting quick, nervous looks from everyone in the room.
“Do you all know Commander Ethan Hyt of Demeter Special Forces?” Velda asked, when the last person sat down.
Only a few of them nodded, and Ethan didn’t know if he’d met them in Demeter at a function or if they recognized him from comms, because he’d swear he’d never seen them before.
“He and I have traveled up here to question Commander Ferris Harden of Nanganya’s Special Forces, as well as your colleague, Henry Nostrada.”
As Velda laid out the plot, Ethan watched the committee members and their reactions.
Most seemed astonished and horrified, but there was one who kept her eyes down, and didn’t react at all.
The door to the conference room opened, and Pamela Ingot stepped in. The room went quiet, and she froze for a moment.
“Commander Ingot.” Velda turned and then pushed back from the table and stood. “Do you want to speak privately?”
Ingot gave a nod and reversed out, and Ethan wished he could replicate himself so he could stay in the room and observe the ripple effect of Ingot’s arrival as well as speak with the two women outside.
He followed Velda out. “This about Nostrada?”
Ingot shook her head. “As expected, Nostrada was in the apartment, but he likely died last night or early this morning—the blast didn’t kill him.”
“Then what is it?” Velda asked.
“It’s Harden. We found footage of him entering Nostrada’s building late last night. I was on my way to talk to him about it when it was discovered he was gone. Someone helped him escape.” Ingot looked like she wanted to find that person and throttle them. “One of my own people helped him escape.”
“Do you have any idea who?” Ethan asked.
“There are only four people in the frame.” Ingot compressed her lips. “I’ll be questioning them myself.”
“Where could he have gone?” Velda asked.
“I’m looking into it,” Ingot assured her. “I’ll tell you as soon as I know.”
Ethan watched her as she strode away. “You didn’t tell her about the package.” He looked over at Velda.
She lifted her shoulders. “She’s dealing with a lot, and obviously she has problems in her unit. Not everyone there is clean, obviously. I’d prefer to keep it to just you and me, right now.”
Ethan nodded. “Who’s the woman sitting three down from you on the left?”
“Georgi Valk?” Velda looked up at him, expression interested. “She’s in Trade Relations. Henry Nostrada was in Border Control.”
“Huh.” That made sense. If anyone wanted Planetary Admin blind when it came to Aponi’s borders, these were the two they would need to turn or control.
Velda turned and walked back into the room.
“What’s going on?” One of the committee members, someone who Ethan had noticed was annoyed by being hauled into a meeting without notice, snapped as soon as she sat down.
He leaned back against the wall to see how Velda would deal with it.
She tilted her head and studied him for a beat. “I think maybe we’ve all gotten too used to calm waters,” she said at last. “We have had it very good for a very long time, but times change.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” another of the group asked. “What did Commander Ingot have to say?”
