Holden’s panel beeped at him.

“Shit, I know why they were careful,” he said after reading his screen. “The Rocithinks those were standard light-cruiser engines built by the Bush Shipyards.”

“They were Earth ships?” Naomi said. “But they weren’t flying any colors, andc Son of a bitch!”

It was the first time Holden had ever heard her yell, and he understood. If UNN black ops ships had killed the Donnager,then that meant Earth was behind the whole thing. Maybe even killing the Canterburyin the first place. It would mean that Martian warships were killing Belters for no reason. Belters like Naomi.

Holden leaned forward and called up the comm display, then tapped out a general broadcast. Miller caught his breath.

“That button you just pressed doesn’t do what I think it does, does it?” he said.

“I finished Kelly’s mission for him,” Holden said.

“I have no idea who the fuck Kelly is,” Miller said, “but please tell me that his mission wasn’t broadcasting that data to the solar system at large.”

“People need to know what’s going on,” Holden said.

“Yes, they do, but maybe we should actually know what the hell is going on before we tell them,” Miller replied, all the weariness gone from his voice. “How gullible areyou?”

“Hey,” Holden said, but Miller got louder.

“You found a Martian battery, right? So you told everyone in the solar system about it and started the single largest war in human history. Only turns out the Martians maybe weren’t the ones that left it there. Then, a bunch of mystery ships kill the Donnager,which Mars blames on the Belt, only, dammit, the Belt didn’t even know it was capableof killing a Martian battle cruiser.”

Holden opened his mouth, but Miller grabbed a bulb of coffee Amos had left behind on the console and threw it at his head.

“Let me finish! And now you find some data that implicates Earth. First thing you do is blab it to the universe, so that Mars andthe Belt drag Earth into this thing, making the largest war of all time even bigger. Are you seeing a pattern here?”

“Yes,” Naomi said.

“So what do you think’s going to happen?” Miller said. “This is how these people work! They made the Canterburylook like Mars. It wasn’t. They made the Donnagerlook like the Belt. It wasn’t. Now it looks like the whole damn thing’s Earth? Follow the pattern. It probably isn’t! You never, neverput that kind of accusation out there until you know the score. You look. You listen. You’re quiet, fercrissakes, and when you know, thenyou can make your case.”

The detective sat back, clearly exhausted. He was sweating. The deck was silent.

“You done?” Holden said.

Miller nodded, breathing heavily. “Think I might have strained something.”

“I haven’t accused anyone of doing anything,” Holden said. “I’m not building a case. I just put the data out there. Now it’s not a secret. They’re doing something on Eros. They don’t want it interrupted. With Mars and the Belt shooting at each other, everyone with the resources to help is busy elsewhere.”

“And you just dragged Earth into it,” Miller said.

“Maybe,” Holden said. “But the killers diduse ships that were built, at least in part, at Earth’s orbital shipyards. Maybe someone will look into that. And that’sthe point. If everyone knows everything, nothing stays secret.”

“Yeah, well,” Miller said. Holden ignored him

“Eventually, someone’ll figure out the big picture. This kind of thing requires secrecy to function, so exposing all the secrets hurts them in the end. It’s the only way this really, permanently stops.”

Miller sighed, nodded to himself, took off his hat, and scratched his scalp.

“I was just going to put ’em out an airlock,” Miller said.

  BA834024112 wasn’t much of an asteroid. Barely thirty meters across, it had long ago been surveyed and found completely devoid of useful or valuable minerals. It existed in the registry only to warn ships not to run into it. Julie had left it tethered to wealth measured in the billions when she flew her small shuttle to Eros.

Up close, the ship that had killed the Scopuliand stolen its crew looked like a shark. It was long and lean and utterly black, almost impossible to see against the backdrop of space with the naked eye. Its radar-deflecting curves gave it an aerodynamic look almost always lacking in space-going vessels. It made Holden’s skin crawl, but it was beautiful.

“Motherfucker,” Amos said under his breath as the crew clustered in the cockpit of the Rocinanteto look at it.

“The Rocidoesn’t even see it, Cap,” Alex said. “I’m pourin’ ladar into it, and all we see is a slightly warmer spot on the asteroid.”

“Like Becca saw just before the Cantdied,” Naomi said.

“Her shuttle’s been launched, so I’m guessin’ this is the right stealth ship someone left tied to a rock,” Alex added. “Case there’s more than one.”

Holden tapped his fingers on the back of Alex’s chair for a moment as he floated over the pilot’s head.

“It’s probably full of vomit zombies,” Holden finally said.

“Want to go see?” said Miller.

“Oh yeah,” Holden said.

Chapter Thirty-Four: Miller

  The environment suit was better than Miller was used to. He’d only done a couple walks outside during his years on Ceres, and the Star Helix equipment had been old back then: thick corrugated joints, separable air-supply unit, gloves that left his hands thirty degrees colder than the rest of his body. The Rocinante’s suits were military and recent, no bulkier than standard riot gear, with integrated life support that could probably keep fingers warm after a hand got shot off. Miller floated, one hand on a strap in the airlock, and flexed his fingers, watching the sharkskin pattern of the knuckle joints.

It didn’t feel like enough.

“All right, Alex,” Holden said. “We’re in place. Have the Rociknock for us.”

A deep, rumbling vibration shook them. Naomi put a hand against the airlock’s curved wall to steady herself. Amos shifted forward to take point, a reactionless automatic rifle in his hands. When he bent his neck, Miller could hear the vertebrae cracking through his radio. It was the only way he could have heard it; they were already in vacuum.

“Okay, Captain,” Alex said. “I’ve got a seal. The standard security override isn’t working, so give me a secondc toc ”

“Problem?” Holden said.

“Got it. I’ve got it. We have a connection,” Alex said. Then, a moment later: “Ah. It doesn’t look like there’s much to breathe over there.”

“Anything?” Holden asked.

“Nope. Hard vacuum,” Alex said. “Both her lock doors are open.”

“All right, folks,” Holden said, “keep an eye on your air supply. Let’s go.”

Miller took a long breath. The external airlock went from soft red to soft green. Holden slid it open, and Amos launched forward, the captain just behind him. Miller gestured to Naomi with a nod. Ladies first.

The connecting gantry was reinforced, ready to deflect enemy lasers or slow down slugs. Amos landed on the other ship as the hatch to the Rocinanteclosed behind them. Miller had a moment’s vertigo, the ship before them suddenly clicking from aheadto downin his perception, as if they were falling into something.

“You all right?” Naomi asked.

Miller nodded, and Amos passed into the other ship’s hatch. One by one, they went in.

The ship was dead. The lights coming off their environment suits played over the soft, almost streamlined curves of the bulkheads, the cushioned walls, the gray suit lockers. One locker was bent out of shape, like someone or something had forced its way out from within. Amos pushed off slow. Under normal circumstances, hard vacuum would have been assurance enough that nothing was about to jump out at them. Right now, Miller figured it was only even money.