That released Digger and let the ’Mech slam back-first into a building. It crumpled, but so did the thin armor on the engines. The impact crushed the engines, causing a minor explosion that kicked Digger up about a meter, then dropped it flat on its back. Sparks flew in the cockpit and equipment shorted. My head smashed back against the command couch and I sat there, stunned.

Soon enough Constabulary officers appeared on the cockpit canopy and looked down at me. They had guns.

I had nothing.

And the day had started with such promise.

Overton

Joppa, Helen

Prefecture III, Republic of the Sphere

23 November 3132

Up to this point I had hopes I could leave one detail out of this narrative, but I really can’t. In order to appear festive and suitable for parade duty, I had worn a clown costume over my cooling vest. Consider it: white, puffy, big cuffs, lots of big, bright polka dots. You can see why I didn’t want to mention it, but since it was the object of much mirth among my captors, omitting it would leave much unexplained.

Luckily, because I had a neurohelmet, no outrageous wig or makeup was needed—unlike Falcon and Jiro. I didn’t see Falcon come in, but the way folks were coming to the interrogation room from outside, I gathered he’d been captured and was singing like something less raptorish than his name.

Reis and Lakewood handled my interrogation, and their contrasting costumes almost made my attire seem appropriate. Reis was in full Commander regalia, which was something less ornate than anything worn at Devlin Stone’s final address to the Knights. That’s taken all together, mind you. He had more medals on than the average fish has scales, and they were brighter than a school of fancy guppies.

Heck, his uniform was more clownish than mine.

Lakewood, on the other hand, looked stunning. She’d come from the Centurion’s cockpit, and so still had on skintight black leggings that ran from the tops of her knee-high boots to her bare midriff. She’d shucked her cooling vest, so she only had a bandeau top on. Over that she’d pulled a black silk robe cut to the tops of her hips and tied with a red sash. Her dark hair had been pulled back into a braid tied with a matching red ribbon.

She’d have been the picture of beauty were it not for the fire in her eyes.

Both of them, despite their anger, did look better than I did. My clown suit had been ripped open so I could be stripped out of my cooling vest. The constables had shoved my arms back through the sleeves—the left one, anyway. My right hand tore through the shoulder seam, so I had a flaccid arm hanging there. My inability to dress with their help had been taken as a sign of resistance, so I got slapped around a bit and my left eye was beginning to swell shut.

Reis’ outrage towered. “Did you honestly think your pathetic plan would succeed?”

I gave him half a glare. “I do know my rights. I don’t have to answer your questions.”

The little man backhanded me solidly, snapping my head around so that I looked at Lady Lakewood. The anger in her eyes intensified. Before she could say anything, however, Reis hissed in my ear. “What rights? Because of your action, martial law was declared. You are an enemy combatant and subject to the Uniform Code of Civil Defense Justice.”

I resisted the desire to jerk my head to the right and bash it into his face. Instead I looked up at her. “What is he talking about?”

“Local constitutions allow for the exercise of power in the event of a civil defense emergency. This includes the suspension of certain civil rights.” An edge crept into her voice. “I would remind you, however, Commander Reis, that since I apprehended the suspect, he is a Republic prisoner. This interrogation is a courtesy before I take him away.”

“Republic prisoner? Take me away?”

A smile slithered on to her lips. “Just because the communications grid is down, Mr. Donelly, don’t imagine we are not able to collect information about you from other worlds. You were lucky that when you left Acamar your trail grew cold. Your luck, however, has run out.”

I looked at Reis. “You can’t let her take me.”

The CDRF leader planted his fists on his hips and began strutting. He’d picked out the note of fear in my voice and was on it like a vulture on carrion. “I can’t? Oh, Mr. Donelly, I am powerless to stop her unless”—he let that word hang for a moment longer than he really needed to—“unless you can supply me the name of your boss.”

I had to think quickly because I was in serious trouble. I didn’t have that much to give him: Mr. Handy and a description. A wig, some contacts, a bottle of insta-tan and a raid on a thrift store for clothes and Handy would be someone else entirely. I could supply some addresses, but those places would be clean or would provide no evidence that would touch Handy.

Things got trickier than that, of course, with Falcon confessing to everything from lustful thoughts about his third grade teacher on up. He’d been with GGF longer than I had, but I’d been put in charge of our operation. From his point of view—one Reis would quickly come to share—I’d been brought in to purge that cell and then take it over for a strike pinpointed at the Constabulary. While I had been given a position of responsibility, I didn’t have the background information I should have had.

I was really given little choice in what I could do.

I looked up at him and nodded eagerly. “He was called Mr. Handy. I don’t know who he was really. I didn’t have a way to get in contact with him. Letitia, she was driving the hovertruck, she was my liaison with him. Classic cell system. All the groups in on the other attacks were from other cells.”

A feral grin drew the corners of his mouth back like opera curtains. “Other attacks?”

My stomach clenched. “Yes, yes, there were to be other attacks, while you were at the parade stand.”

“And what were these other attacks supposed to be?”

My mind was reeling. “I don’t know. Cell system. I was isolated and insulated.”

“And you expect me to believe this?” Reis barked harshly. “You’re a fool, Donelly. This is how things went down: you were the GGF’s inside man at ARU. You showed up a month before they did, after all, so you fed them information and they went to war on the company. You intended to do more damage, but I out-foxed you on the mountain. You went underground, arranged for this little outing, never figuring we’d be there waiting for you.”

“But… but…” I frowned, which hurt a lot. If Ray and Letitia hadn’t been the inside agent, then who? Jiro? Going out for coffee that day was the only time we were out of sight of each other. It was possible some covert signaling could have been done, but, if so, I missed it. But then Jiro got killed in the raid, and Reis would have been beating on me because Jiro had been one of his people.

“So, was I the only person in GGF who wasn’t on your payroll?”

“Maybe. I don’t employ idiots.”

I shook my head because a lot of things were not making sense. “Mr. Handy exists. Go ask Falcon. At Handy’s request he helped kidnap me from the Akuma Street mission.”

“We’ll see if that name comes up. So far our sources make you the leader of the group, Donelly.”

“That’s not right.” I glanced at Lakewood. “Your security people spotted me at that bistro. They had to have seen the man I was with. They have holos of him. He was in the group, too. Find him and he’ll tell you about Handy.”