Read Online Contact Imminent by Kristine Smith - Free Book Online

empty glass back and forth. “Eamon DeVries. The third man in the Neoclona triumvirate. He used to be my physician when I worked for Exterior Minister Ulanova. I think he’s the one who augmented me, but I was never able to determine it for sure. He’s been spending more and more time away from Earth these past few years. Some say he attends to Minister Ulanova when she’s in residence at Exterior Main on Amsun, but I know for a fact that she’s had another personal physician for the last two years because I ran the woman’s security screening myself.”
    Silence fell once more as everyone pondered Lucien’s information. He’d been Anais Ulanova’s lover for over ten years, from his early teens up to the previous year, when he met Jani—no one felt inclined to argue with him regarding his knowledge of the Exterior Minister’s medical issues.
    â€œSo what’s Eamon been up to if he hasn’t been seeing to Anais?” Jani twisted a length of orange peel into a tight knot, then dropped it back in her glass. “Don’t you two check up on him?”
    â€œOf course we do.” John massaged his forehead. “We have a contract—call it division of labor—”
    â€œWe stay out of the gadget business, Eamon stays out of the gene business.” Val got up, glass in hand, and walked across the room to the bar. “We felt it would be better for all concerned if we each stuck to our specialties.” He saw to his own refill, then poured out a splash of bourbon and carried it over to John, all the while ignoring Lucien’s empty glass.
    Jani waited for Val to return to his seat. Waited for a frustrated Lucien to push to his feet and get more vodka for himself. Waited, all the while sensing John’s eyes on her as she nursed the feeling that the past never died, but simply bided its time until it saw the chance to insert itself into the present. “There are people out there who felt you should have been imprisoned for the hybridization work you performed on me all those years ago. But if every person who broke thelaw during the last idomeni civil war was sent to the Lunar shipyards, we wouldn’t have anyone left to run the government. Or the NUVA-SCAN business conglomerates. Or the Service. So, after the Commonwealth reopened relations with the Shèrá worldskein, a few deals were made to calm troubled waters. People went away, or went into other lines of work. Was this contract Neoclona’s deal? Did Eamon officially take the fall for all of you?”
    John tossed back his drink in a single swallow. Val ran his finger along the edge of his glass and stared at the floor.
    â€œLooks like he may have gotten a little of his own back, doesn’t it?” Jani stared across the room at John, who eventually raised his eyes to meet hers. “Am I correct in assuming that you’d like me to look into this while I’m in the area?”
    â€œNo.” John swung his legs off the couch and sat up. “I want to accompany you.” He leaned forward, elbows on knees, looking as gangly as the figure in the image. “If Eamon is involved…his dispute is with me, not Val. Matters have accrued between us for years. Now’s as good a time as any to sort them out once and for all.” He rubbed his chin. “And if he isn’t involved, he may know who is. He always did have a nose for the nasty.”
    Jani hoped she didn’t look as uncomfortable as she felt. Just me and John . In the close confines of a ship. For the next six weeks . “I don’t see how it can work,” she said too quickly. “It was hard enough getting the dispensation for me to travel on an Haárin craft, and you’re not me.”
    â€œWe can always travel on a Neoclona ship. We do have one or two to spare.” John sat back slowly. “It does offer advantages. It’s less official-looking—that should serve