When I walked into the Egg I stopped where I had before and just stopped breathing. I wanted to see how long it would take before I was noticed and Alba was sent for. I didn’t want to appear concerned or anxious, so I wasn’t going to look at my watch. I just held my breath and waited for the burn.

Of course, an added benefit of this method of timing was that I didn’t have to breathe in there. I thought at first that the whole sewer backup thing might have been the source of the problem, then I recalled that it was only the west side that was affected. A shortage of washing-up water could have explained some of it, too, but we were nowhere near the Heights.

I can’t say the tension was palpable, but the nervous stink was. The pilots there were irritated. Worse yet, they were bored. A chance comment could have started a brawl that would have wrecked the place. It wouldn’t improve the decor, and I doubted it would do much for the stench.

After a minute and a half Alba arrived from a back room and smiled at me. “I was wondering when you’d be back.”

“I was asking about, as you suggested. I’ve seen the opposition.”

She nodded. “Follow me.”

I did and she led me through a side door and up some stairs. Down a hallway and to the left we entered a small office that had been supplied with Clan War surplus and likely hadn’t been painted since before the Blakist uprising. In fact, the newest item in the place sat on her desk.

It was a small holoprojector and hovering eighteen centimeters high was an image of yours truly, slowly rotating. She followed my gaze, then looked up and smiled. “It was given to me by someone who wants you very dead.”

“What’s the price?”

“Fifty K.”

“I’ll beat it.”

Alba shook her head, then sat, and waved me to the chair opposite her desk. “Don’t bother. I’m a warrior, not a hit man.”

I sat. “Has to be Bernie. Teyte would do the job himself.”

She smiled carefully. “You’re insightful. I can’t tell if you know or you’re bluffing, but I’ll confirm neither.”

“But we’ll find out soon enough since someone downstairs let the contract issuer know I was here. Actually, you made the call, otherwise I’d just be a body waiting for delivery.” I stretched. “I wonder how we could pass the time until they get here.”

“Profitably, but not the way I might prefer. We have twenty minutes.”

“Not enough time, I agree, so why don’t I tell you why I came here.”

“Please.”

“Since this comes from a security Tri-Vid from the Palace, you know I’ve met Emblyn. He’s taken credit for something I did and, therefore, he is a jerk and has earned my ire. He must pay, and I know exactly how that can be accomplished.”

I proceeded to tell Alba all about LIT. I stressed the focus on targets that are a serious capital loss to the owner. Unlike the Cat, the former Lament grasped the philosophy immediately and saw the possibilities behind it. She nodded sagely as I showed how a government couldn’t fight it.

Her eyes narrowed. “The one vulnerability here is an ancient one. Hannibal used it against the Romans. He fought on their territory. The only way to make someone like Emblyn stop is to make victory too costly for him. The government has obvious targets to hit, but he does as well—and he has no established constituency. If he were to be hit he might get some initial sympathy, but people will be reminded how rich he is, and that is seldom an endearing trait unless his money is being spent on you.”

Her gaze flicked to the doorway, giving me a moment’s warning. Even as Bernard surged through the door with hands outstretched and fingers clawed, I was up and out of my metal-frame chair. With a snap of my wrist I spun it into his path. He barked his shins on it, stumbled and went down hard.

I whirled and my right leg snapped out in a kick that caught Teyte on the left side of his head. The laces cut his cheek and tore at his earlobe. The kick snapped his head around. He smacked hard into the door jamb, then staggered back. He tripped over Bernard’s legs and crashed down. He struck his head on the floor and sprawled there, unconscious and bleeding.

I grabbed Bernie by the collar and dragged him into a chair. “Sit. Stay, or you and your cousin will be comparing kicks to the head.” I righted my chair and pulled it back where I could watch all three of them.

Bernard snarled at Alba. “You bitch, you ambushed us.”

Her nostrils flared dismissively. “It was self-defense. You picked a fight with someone who has already kicked your tail, and you just got it kicked again. It’s a good thing he did it, too, because if he hadn’t, I would have been forced to.”

“Do you know who you’re talking to?”

“Very well, thank you. And you’re talking to the person you’ve hired to make certain you will inherit your father’s throne. Mr. Donelly has just given us the means to fight against your enemy and, curiously enough, to deal with others who might come along. He’s told me everything the other side is doing and we have a way to fight it. Judiciously managed, the whole crisis might also prompt your father to step down in your favor, far sooner than you ever expected.”

Bernie looked from her to me and back again. “Him? But he’s working for Emblyn.”

“Which would somehow make me immune to the fact that he’s a conceited jerk?” I snorted at him. “Of course, I think the same of you, but you were born to it. He’s no better than me, but has airs and that just doesn’t go down well. Besides, what I skinned from you is more than he’ll ever pay me, and he’s probably scheming to get it back from me now.”

“That’s true. There isn’t a credit that’s passed through his hands that doesn’t have his thumbprint etched on Stone’s cheek.” Bernard rubbed at his shins. “How is it that we get to Emblyn?”

I held my hands up. “First thing you do is tell me how much you’re paying me.”

“I’ve already given you a lot of money.”

“And I earned every pebble of it. We’re talking more. I’ll earn it, too.”

“You’ll get paid.” Bernard’s sneer returned. “Once I’m running Basalt, you’ll get yours.”

I glanced at Alba. “You working on promises?”

“No, but I do think the guarantees that have been banked with ComStar have put Lord Germayne here in something of a liquidity crisis.” She gave me a nod. “I promise you a quarter of what I’ve already got against anything he offers you.”

“Done.”

Bernard stopped rubbing his shins and rubbed his hands together instead. “Tell me, how do we get him?”

“Okay, look, Alba already knows the plans Emblyn’s people are working. You can leave the details of all that to her. You don’t need to know, and you don’t want to know. Also, I’m not going to ask you what resources you have or anything like that. I’m just going to suggest things and if you have the stuff you need to make it work, just make it work. If I don’t know logistics and timetables, you can’t blame me if something screws up. Alba, I have scouted some dead-drops and we’ll set up a servicing plan for them. If I hear anything that will interfere with plans I’ve suggested to you, I’ll let you know.”

“Good, I was going to suggest that.”

Lord Germayne frowned. “Yap, yap, yap, just like some little Kurita mutt. How do I get Emblyn?”

“Here’s the whole package. It comes in two parts. First, Emblyn’s people have not claimed credit for either the sewers or the fire. They’ve hesitated because governmental critics are playing up the conspiracy angle and that makes the government look bad. Once some group pops up to claim credit for things, the government’s assertions are proved true and the citizens will realize their government is under attack. So, step one, you have people create some sort of anarchist group that issues some manifestos and claims credit for the attacks. You promise more attacks to come in the future.”