“Gah. Control your spawn, Mish.” Cody spared them a disgusted look, then turned to the group. “All of you seem to have forgotten thatthisis a rock in the middle of dead space. You’ll find another place to live.”
“You sabotaged our water supply,” Sam said. His voice was very low. “You endangered everyone on this station.”
“No one was hurt,” Cody said dismissively. “I knew what I was doing.”
“The flooding could have killed someone,” Holly said.
“But it didn’t.” Cody’s eyes were flat. Bored. “And none of this matters, anyway. You can’t touch me. No one on this station is with Galactic Enforcement, so no one has the authority to hold me here. You don’t even have a prison.”
“We never needed one,” Sam muttered.
“Complete Respite has legal resources you can’t imagine,” Cody went on. “Their attorneys will tie this up for years. I’ll walk away with my commission and you’ll be sitting in a courtroom until your grandchildren are old.” He smiled, and it was the mostgenuine expression Holly had ever seen on his face. “That’s how this works. The big companies win. The little stations lose. It’s been happening for centuries and it’ll keep happening long after your moon is host to a Complete Respite way station. And by then, I’ll be long gone.”
Forty-Six
Holly watched Rasker. He stood with his arms at his sides and let Cody finish, absorbing the threats and the contempt and the ugly confidence, without interrupting. Without flinching. She had seen excellent negotiators during her time at Sol-Arc. She’d watched people work a room with expert patience and control, and she recognized what Rasker was doing now. He was letting Cody talk himself into a corner.
“You’re right that Complete Respite has significant legal resources,” Rasker said when Cody had run out of air. His voice was calm, as if he were just laying down cards. “What you don’t know is that I’ve been sharing everything I’ve learned with my client, Rest ’N Recharge, since I suspected what you were doing.”
Cody’s expression flickered.
“Obviously, Rest ’N Recharge is Complete Respite’s main competitor,” Rasker went on. “They are also, despite their hideously designed stations,” a murmur of grim amusement from the crowd, “a legitimate operation. They don’t sabotage. They don’t blackmail. They don’t plant operatives to destroy independent stations from the inside, but they are happy to expose corporations that do, especially if it means eliminating a competitor in their tight market.”
Rasker swiped his d-pad. A new set of documents appeared on the holographic display.
“Three days ago, Rest ’N Recharge filed an official grievance against Complete Respite with Galactic Enforcement and the Commission of Balanced Systems, alleging corrupt acquisition practices, deliberate sabotage of independent infrastructure, and conspiracy to manipulate Way Station Registry’s inspection process. The grievance cites Moone’s Landing as the primary case, supported by the evidence I’ve just presented. It also references the three other stations I identified, whose owners now have grounds to reopen their cases.”
Holly stared at him. Every disappearance. Every day he’d been gone without explanation, every time she’d watched him leave with his d-pad under his arm and wondered what he was doing.This.He had been doingthis.
Cody’s posture changed. The arrogant confidence slipped, just slightly, like a mask that had been bumped.
Rasker grinned, cold as a shark. “You’re incorrect about Galactic Enforcement’s jurisdiction, by the way. With the Saga-1 station being built, Enforcement added a team to cover this corridor. They’re eager to keep this sector clean and tidy.” He gave a meaningful glance at Harry, who looked down at his shoes with an expression that was not remotely innocent. “Complete Respite is cooperating, from what I’ve heard, and Enforcement officers will be arriving here within two days. I wonder what they’ll find in room four of the hotel.Yourroom, Cody.”
The mask slipped further. Cody’s jaw tightened. His gaze darted to the hotel.
“You told Holly that Complete Respite’s lawyers would tie this up for years,” Rasker said. “You may be right. Corporate litigation is slow. But Galactic Enforcement investigations are not, and the Commission of Balanced Systems has the authorityto freeze Complete Respite’s assets during the investigation, which they have decided to do. Which means the company that’s supposed to protect you won’t be able to. You’re an operative who just confessed, in front of two dozen witnesses, to every crime you were paid to commit. Luv, you recorded all that?”
“I did, Rasker,” the Homeboti replied.
The square was very still.
Cody looked at Holly. The contempt was still there, but beneath it, for the first time, she could see something else. Fear.
He turned to her with a snarl contorting his face. “This isyourfault.” His voice shook, stripped of its studied cool. “You should have sold. You should have taken the money and left. But you had to play house on this rock, and now look where we are.”
“Whereyouare,” Holly corrected. Her voice was quiet, but it held. “I’ll always regret not kicking you out after firing you.”
Something snapped behind Cody’s eyes. He lunged forward, faster than expected from a man who moved through life like he was made of liquid, and he was coming for her.
He didn’t reach her.
The residents of Moone’s Landing moved as one. They had decided, collectively and without discussion, that this person was not going to touch one of theirs.
Holly’s parents pressed close to her. Harry stepped in front of Holly, his broad frame blocking Cody’s path. Mish moved to his left. Alyce to the right. Tyer, who had been watching the scene unfold with studied disinterest, straightened and placed himself between Cody and the crowd with the fluid grace of someone who had once known how to fight. Even Orba and Sula shifted forward, their opalescent skin catching the light, their presence suddenly less serene and moreimmovable. In front of them all, forming a wall unto himself, was Sam.
Cody collided with Sam’s chest and bounced off it like he’d hit a wall.
Sam cocked his head. While Cody was still dazed, Sam seized him, spun him around and lifted him as though he were handling a sack of carbohydrate powder. Sam tucked him under one arm.
