“That almost sounds plausible,” Fiona said.
“Almost?” Baruke tilted his head in question.
“I arrived in Distani two days ago, hoping to meet with you. Yesterday, I went to the market out in the industrial area, and bought several of the custom parts Paxe had ordered, off a table of spares in an open warehouse.” Fiona found the chair she was sitting on too uncomfortable, all of a sudden, and stood, walking around the bed to look out of the window.
It was still dark outside, and she could feel that she needed sleep soon. If she were to guess, it was already way past midnight.
“You’re not joking?” Baruke asked.
She turned. “I’m not. I bought numerous items, and Eazi organized to have them taken straight to the space port and up to Larga Ways. They’re already there, I think, and exactly what was ordered.” She studied Baruke’s face and decided he really didn’t know anything about it.
“Did you find out where they came from?” Baruke was starting to look pissed off.
“We think they came from a company called Grimwell Materials. Its head office was destroyed a couple of months ago, and its manufacturing arm on the outskirts of the city seems to have disappeared into thin air.”
“I was informed about the destruction of a large building in the city, obviously.” Baruke slowly lifted himself higher on the pillows. “I was told Security and the building commission were going to look into the cause, but I don’t recall ever seeing the report.”
“I’m only guessing, but if they were ordered to stop supplying us, and they continued, that might be why they were destroyed.” Fiona wondered what had happened to the business owners.
“You’re sure those were Paxe’s parts you bought?” Baruke asked. “And they were from Grimwell?”
“I’m positive they were his parts. Whether they were from Grimwell or not, I can’t say.” She paused. “But there’s more to this.”
“More?” Baruke closed his eyes. “The explosion yesterday?”
“Yes.” Fiona leaned back against the window. “What do you know about it?”
“I was informed there was an explosion in a warehouse, and that’s all. I didn’t have time for a more thorough debrief before the dinner.”
“It wasn’t an explosion.” Fiona glanced at Hal, and they exchanged a quick look.
“Well, what was it?” Baruke was starting to sound testy.
“Someone shot at me with a laser cannon. As it turns out, the laser cannon designed and commissioned by Paxe for his Class 5.”
Baruke’s jaw went slack. “Obviously, you’re fine.”
“The cannon malfunctioned, and instead of killing me, killed the person trying to operate it.” She wasn’t going to talk about her deflector. That was something Baruke didn’t need to know about.
“Why did they shoot at you? Was this the same warehouse where you bought the parts?”
“No. Eazi arranged for a courier to collect the parts we’d bought at the market, and have them sent to the space port. Just after the courier had sent the items off, while I was walking toward him, a runner pulled up, grabbed him off the street, and took him away.” Fiona realized she was walking a fine line, not mentioning Natta and Trayla, but she would keep them out of it as long as she could.
“You are saying he was kidnapped?” Baruke looked up with narrowed eyes.
“I could see he was kidnapped, I watched it happen.” Fiona held his gaze. “Fortunately my runner was close, and I was ableto follow the runner that had taken him to a warehouse about five minutes away.”
“And they shot at you with the laser cannon?” Baruke sounded like he thought the story very unlikely.
“I went in through the front office,” Fiona kept her patience as she spoke. “I was shot at initially with a standard shockgun, but fortunately, I was wearing shockgun protection. I was able to get into the warehouse itself, and it was then that someone tried to shoot me with the laser cannon. When I realized they had harmed themselves, I found the courier, injured and tied up in another room, and got out of there. But not before I noted several other parts that should have been delivered to Paxe, and which I was told were not available.”
“What are you suggesting?” Baruke asked.
“I’m not suggesting anything.” Fiona’s lips twisted. “I’m saying what it looks like is that someone is going around buying the parts meant for Paxe. Stopping anyone who’s continuing to supply parts to Paxe, and storing what they can get in a warehouse.”
“For what purpose?” Baruke looked between her and Hal.
“It’s obvious, isn’t it?” Fiona asked. “Someone is trying to build their own Class 5.”
