Programmed To Protect (The Tau Cetus Chronicles) (20 page)

“That’s my guess.”

Theus blew out a rough breath. “Insane. I know how dangerous Carron is, but this is beyond reason. He must know that for safety reasons alone the five council members are never together in the same location.”

“I told Carron as much, but he insisted that I make it happen or they’d destroy Ginger.”

“Destroy
her? How? You have possession of her now. How could they destroy her?”

“The programmer Titus Veraine says there’s a self-destruct sequence built into every robot they make. He claims it’s to prevent the sophisticated technology of the soldiers from falling into enemy hands, but he intimated it was built into Ginger as well. Into
every
machine.”

“I’ve run a self-diagnostic but can find no trace of such a program, Sir Theus,” Ginger supplied.

Theus looked at Wyatt. “If Veraine is telling the truth, can we hack into their system and remotely use this self-destruct feature on the soldiers ourselves?”

“I doubt it. The safety protocols involved with the program would undoubtedly be ironclad. But I have Zan Talesin subtly questioning Carron’s man in Terra Acer to see if he can discover how to work it from there.” Wyatt paused, then frowned. “Although… It may be complicated to isolate only those machines we want to disable. And we may tip off Carron in the process if Zan presses too hard.”

Theus steepled his fingers thoughtfully. “Well, then. If Carron’s plan is to assassinate the members of the Council, we simply assassinate him first.”

“I’ve thought of that, too,” Wyatt admitted. “But we’ll need someone who knows how to keep the robots under control after Carron’s gone.”

“One of his employees, perhaps, who would prefer life over a traitor’s death?”

Wyatt nodded. “Titus Veraine made it clear to me that he’s an ambitious man. He’d like to replace Carron, but I don’t know if we can trust him not to tell his boss if we try to approach him about disabling the machines. Remember, Carron is in a powerful position. He has a robot army of five-thousand men, each with a particle disrupter weapon provided by Callex Industries. There’s nothing we can do to defeat a force like that if it turns against us. I just can’t say for certain whether Veraine would choose Carron, or gamble on a potential chance to become the High Council’s right hand.”

Theus leaned back in his chair. “Give me other options, then.”

“Here are my thoughts. First, we need to keep that army in Terra Acer, far away from here. Make up some excuse – establishing the new border after Egidia’s surrender, or maybe have the soldiers patrol as a show of force to deter other neighbors who may have entertained similar takeover ideas. Give them a big job to do. Something. Anything. Just keep them there.”

Theus nodded.

“And then we give Anson Carron exactly what he wants. A meeting with the High Council.”

Theus smiled grimly, a tight, determined line. “You mean a High Council of phonies.”

“Exactly. Everyone on Tau Cetus knows your names: Zelonis, Troian, Alon, Reigh, Theus. You are all legendary, but no citizen has ever seen you.”

“That’s for security reasons, as you well know. But Carron has seen
me.
I took a very personal interest in torturing him after he shot Marque Callex and your partner, Miss Turner.”

“That’s why you’ll be here. To lend authenticity to the panel.”

Theus’ smile stretched a little tighter. “Not to be killed?”

“No, sir. Not to be killed.”

“And how do we ensure that?”

Wyatt indicated the woman next to him. “That’s where Ginger comes in. She knows how the machines can be shut down in a way Carron will never anticipate. She’s our best chance at getting through this crisis.”

“Let’s hear it.”

“I’ll show you instead.” Wyatt turned to Ginger and smiled. Now that he knew her sentience was not at risk, he had no qualms about turning her off. “May I demonstrate for the premier how to shut down your fellow machines? Don’t worry, I’ll be quick.”

Ginger blinked, then smiled back at him. “Certainly, Leith. I trust you. Although, I must admit that I hope you don’t plan to do this too often. It’s a vulnerable feeling.”

Wyatt laughed at her response. Could she be any more human-like in her nervousness? He wanted to lean in and kiss her, to reassure her that he would never turn her off again,
ever
, after this crisis was over, but perhaps it wasn’t smart to show the depth of his feelings for her in front of Theus just yet. For right now, he stood, and then helped her to her feet as well.

Wyatt cleared his throat in an effort to wipe the smile off his face and concentrate on the task at hand. He glanced at Theus. “The switch is here.”

The premier leaned forward in his chair to watch as Wyatt ran his hand down Ginger’s left side and stopped just at her waist.

“There’s a slight indentation just above her hip. Ginger tells me it’s in the same spot on every machine.”

“It is, Leith,” Ginger confirmed.

Wyatt pressed gently. Odd. It was a little harder to isolate and depress the switch through the material of her camouflage jumpsuit. He’d have to make a note of that. Carron’s robots would be wearing clothes during their meeting with the Council. It would make Wyatt’s task all the more difficult.

He looked up. Ginger had gone completely still. Wyatt hated that blank look in her starburst eyes, the frozen stillness indicating that all the life had gone out of her.

Theus stood, and came around from behind his desk. He waved a hand in front of Ginger’s eyes, getting no response. “Fucking hell. Is it that easy to disable them?”

Wyatt grimaced. “Remember, we’ll have to get this close to them in order to do it. That will be the trickiest part. And they won’t exactly hold still while we’re attempting to shut them down. But I have an idea how to deal with that.” Wyatt paused, then nodded toward Ginger. “Do you want to turn her back on?”

Theus seemed to hesitate. “First, I want to apologize to you, agent Wyatt.”

“Excuse me?”

“To all of Tau Cetus, actually, but you’re the only one present to hear it.” Theus raked a hand through his jet black hair and took a deep breath. “In my ten years as premier of the High Council, I’ve kept this planet safe.
By whatever means necessary.
Sometimes those means haven’t been the most noble, but I’ve always put the protection of our people as my top priority. We both know this planet couldn’t survive another Great War.”

Wyatt thought briefly about that awful time, when nearly half the population of Tau Cetus had died, including his own parents. “That’s my goal as a police agent as well, sir. Peace on the planet.”

Theus shifted uncomfortably on his feet, and sighed. “I should have killed Anson Carron when I had him in custody after the shooting of Marque Callex. We wouldn’t be in this situation now if I had. It was hubris that led me to believe that keeping my enemy close would allow me to control him. That, and my greed. Carron’s robot soldiers are a powerful weapon. I wanted that asset in my arsenal of peace. Yes, I am to blame for this current crisis. I hope for all our sakes we can find a way out of it.”

“We will, sir,” Wyatt assured him. “The alternative is unacceptable.”

Theus barked out a short laugh. “I certainly got the right man for this case, agent Wyatt. Thank God for you. Now, where’s that switch?”

Wyatt guided Theus’ hand to Ginger’s side. With one push from the premier’s finger, Ginger was reactivated. She seemed surprised to find Theus standing in front of her.

“Ginger? From now on, I want you to call me Theus. Not Sir Theus. Just Theus.”

The Beautiful Doll nodded. “Yes, Theus.”

The premier gave her a small smile, and headed back behind his desk. They all sat.

Wyatt leaned forward. “With your permission, sir, I’ll go ahead and tell Carron he’ll get his meeting with the Council, but that it will take two days for all the members to travel to the Council headquarters. During that time, you can organize the impersonators, and I’ll train our men in how to shut down the machines, using Ginger during our drills. We’ll need the practice; we’ll only have one chance to get this right.”

“Chess,” Theus murmured.

“Pardon me, sir?”

“This. It’s a game of chess. Strategy. Outthinking your opponent. Staying one step ahead and being prepared for any alternative. Our plan is a gambit, but right now, it looks like it’s our only option.”

Not for the first time, Wyatt was grateful that Theus seemed to be a chess
master
. “That’s my opinion, too, sir. And now that we’ve settled on our next move, I’ll call off Zan Talesin in Terra Acer so he doesn’t tip our hand.”

“Very well.”

Wyatt frowned, hesitating. “There’s one other thing...”

“Fucking hell,” Theus sighed. “There’s more?”

Wyatt shrugged. “This may not be important, but I want to make sure you know everything. Yesterday, diamonds were smuggled into Terra Acer inside the mouths of five of Anson Carron’s robot soldiers.”

“What?”
Theus grabbed the armrest of his chair.

Wyatt arched an eyebrow. It was true that diamonds were considered contraband on Tau Cetus, but smuggling the pricey rocks was far less of an offense than attempting to assassinate the entire High Council. Why had Theus reacted so strongly?

Maybe this information was important after all.

“Titus Veraine claims the diamonds belong to Anson Carron. He says Carron wants to ensure a comfortable retirement for himself if you should one day, um,
tire
of his services.” Wyatt glanced at the premier. “We both know that part of Tau Cetus is still fairly lawless; it’s a good place for Carron to be able to disappear.”

Theus nodded, and Wyatt continued.

“Veraine collected the diamonds when we got to Terra Acer and passed them to a man he said was a contact of Carron’s there. Veraine made sure I personally witnessed the collection of the from the robots’ mouths as well as the handoff. But I don’t know if Veraine was telling the truth, or if the whole thing was a setup by Veraine in order to provoke you to oust Carron.”

During Wyatt’s story of the diamonds, he’d noticed that Theus’ face had gone more and more white. The contrast now with the premier’s black hair was stark.

“How big were these diamonds?”

Wyatt shrugged. “Not big. Maybe half-a-carat each. Easily converted to currency on the black market.”

“Half-a-carat. Are you sure?”

“That’s my best guess. Why?”

Theus ground his teeth. “Carron stole one particular diamond from me, agent Wyatt. Ten carats in size. It’s even more imperative now that we apprehend him.
Alive.”

#

Anson Carron hated waiting. Ten years he’d been planning this move, and now here he was, waiting again.

He’d been checking his personal communication device every five minutes in case there was a message from agent Wyatt. Hell, in order to relieve some of his pent-up nervous energy he’d even come to Titus Veraine’s laboratory to watch the programmer work on the assassination protocol for the robot soldiers.

I’m going to rule all of Tau Cetus.

Carron felt like rubbing his hands together in glee. His biggest dream was finally going to come true.

A shiver of anticipation ran up his spine and he laughed out loud. Next to him, Titus Veraine paused at his computer keyboard and gave him a troubled look.

Carron ignored it. Nothing could ruin this euphoria he was feeling.

When he took control of Tau Cetus, Carron would put this entire planet under his thumb. There would be no more of the warring, aggressive factions in the south, offset by the more peaceful union of the northern territories. No, none of that. The High Council should have been abolished long ago. Tau Cetus needed the iron grip of one single leader, not the diplomatic negotiation of five council members trying to keep peace in the north, while struggling to maintain the delicate power balance of their unruly neighbors to the south.

When I’m in charge, things will be different.

He wasn’t a patient man, true, but he probably should have at least waited for the five robot soldiers on his factory floor to be completed before he’d given agent Wyatt his ultimatum for a High Council demo.

“Do you think Theus will try to kill me?” he mused aloud.

“If I was him, I would,” Veraine answered gruffly.

Carron laughed again. This was going to be so much fun. “Let him try.”

“It’s no joke, Carron. Theus might order Leith Wyatt to do the job when he’s here.”

“You doubt agent Wyatt’s loyalty to me, even with our threat to harm Ginger? The man’s obviously in love with her.”

“I’m not convinced
where
his loyalty lies.”

Carron shrugged. “No matter. Wyatt is disarmed at the factory door.”

“But every Tau Cetus police agent is trained in Zavian street fighting moves, as well as several other martial arts. He could kill you with his bare hands,” Veraine pointed out.

“Then we make sure he never gets that close to me.”