Read Online Law of Survival by Kristine Smith - Free Book Online Page A

Nema’s plan for the universe or Cèel’s distrust of us. They do, however, possess a deep and abiding respect for a signed contract. Karistos needs Haárin technology, and the Family-affiliated businesses are worried enough to try to upset the deal by defaming Nema. It all boils down to money, gentlemen, and it’s going to take a hell of a lot more than one jazzed precis to convince me otherwise.”
    â€œJazzed?” Lescaux’s face flushed. “You mean faked, don’t you? If you’re saying that Her Excellency—”
    Jani held up her hands in mock surrender. “I’m not saying who, Peter. I’m just saying what.” She picked up The Nema Letter. “This arrived, I assume, with the rest of the contract documents in the regular diplomatic pouch from Karistos?”
    Derringer bit down on a breadstick—it crunched like brittle bone. “Yes.”
    â€œDid any of the other docs in the pouch show the same faults? McGaw’s report doesn’t mention supplementary testing.”
    Lescaux hesitated just an instant too long. “No.”
    Jani nodded as though she believed him. You didn’t check. You found one anomaly and ran barking to Derringer, who got so jacked about the prospect of placing a mole in the idomeni embassy that he didn’t run any confirmation either. “To prove definitively that this document is what you claim, you’d need an idomeni to scan it with their scanpack and prove the chips aren’t simply damaged or faulty.”
    Derringer shook his head. “We don’t want any of them to even know this exists. Couldn’t you just load an idomeni chip in your unit?”
    It was Jani’s turn to respond in the negative. “Chips are designed to operate in unison with the thought processes of the brain matter that drives the ’pack. Idomeni brains and human brains function differently in several key areas. An idomeni chip wouldn’t work in a human scanpack.”
    â€œNot even yours?” Derringer didn’t quite manage to keep the slyness out of his voice.
    This time, Jani counted all the way to ten. “The brain between my ears may change over time. The brain in this ”—she held her ’pack up to his face—“is a self-contained unit—it won’t change unless I do a refarm-rebuild.”
    â€œI suppose I could have our labs analyze the chips.” Lescaux’s voice sounded tight—the accusation that he peddled a fake document still rankled.
    Jani waved him off. “This is a diplomatic-grade document. Therefore, if you attempt to remove the chips from the paper or try to analyze them with anything other than a scanpack, they will self-destruct. The only way you will ever know for sure if an idomeni assembled this document would be to get one of the embassy examiners to scan it.”
    â€œI thought you could just ask he who wrote it.” Derringer plucked another breadstick out of the basket and snapped it in two. “During our embassy visit today, just before you ask him whether there are any other useful tidbits of information he thinks we should know.”
    Jani looked at Lescaux, who looked away. “What?”
    â€œYou heard me.” Derringer pressed the two breadstick halves together lengthwise, and broke them again.
    The noise around Jani faded. The babble of conversations. The clatter of plates and cutlery. The rustle of the breeze through the trees. “You want me to spy—”
    â€œNo. Tsecha’s doing the spying. You just need to ferry the information from him to us. He wants to help us. We only have to provide him the opportunity.” Derringer grinned. “You were the first person I thought of when this fortuity presented itself.”
    Lescaux tossed his napkin on his plate and rose from the table. “I need to clean my teeth.” He held out his hand to Jani. “The precis, please.” A look passed