Last of the Immortals (The Jessica Keller Chronicles Book 3) by Blaze Ward Page B

into an inner pocket of his jacket and pulling out a twenty Lev note to hand to the man. Again, enough to guarantee good service, not so much as to stick in the man’s mind. “Thank you.”
    Upstairs in his room, Sykes inspected the note. There was nothing more to it, except a phone number to call, once he was settled. Her voice was breathy when she answered.
    “Hello?” she said.
    “Mistress Lemieux, this is Mister Sykes, returning your call,” he replied. They had passed the stage where everything was of necessity choreographed, so he was free to let the conversation wander where it will. “I would greatly appreciate the opportunity to take you out to dinner to discuss the tome you have located, but I am unfamiliar with Ithome. Perhaps you could recommend a restaurant where we might dine. On me. I have a very nice budget for this quest.”
    “In that case,” she replied, suddenly much brighter, “let me call in a favor and get us reservations at McClaren’s, atop the Sandy Head Tower. Will eight o’clock work for you?”
    “That would be perfect, madam. I look forward to dinner.”
    Step one complete.
    Sykes glanced out the window at the southern sky. Alexandria Station was just about to pass below the horizon.
    You’re next.

Chapter IX
    Date of the Republic May 30, 394 Ladaux
    The office was small, and completely devoid of character. Just a desk with a hard chair, two slightly more comfortable chairs in front, and a side–board with nothing on it. No art marred the walls, no decoration, nothing.
    Loncar assumed that Brand had requisitioned the room at some point, but had obviously left no personal touch. No fingerprints. And Brand had been a fixture among the fixers of the senate, the men and women in the shadows who smoothed the surface, for decades.
    Nothing the man did left any impressions on anyone, except for his shaved head. That was Brand’s only affectation.
    “Thank you for joining me, First Fleet Lord,” he began. “This won’t take long, and then we can return to our respective needs.”
    Loncar sat in the nearer chair. Brand wouldn’t offer anything to drink. These meetings never lasted. Only the strategy dinners that Loncar hosted in a private room at his clubs ran long enough.
    “Go on,” Loncar said, a low rumbling sound almost a growl. Keller had still left him unsettled.
    Brand opened a drawer in the desk and withdrew a small folder. It had the crimson cover of a fleet intelligence summary, such as the First Lord’s office regularly produced for the politicians, and it was sealed with a white ribbon, as was custom when the document was in public.
    He rested it on the desk without opening it and placed a proprietary hand on the cover.
    “This just came in from my sources this morning,” Brand began. “Jessica Keller is currently en route to the Ballard system for an expected engagement with Emmerich Wachturm of the Fribourg Empire Navy.”
    “ Ballard ?” Loncar asked, fuzzy on his cartography. It was an older sector of the Republic where he rarely visited. “College, or something?”
    “Correct,” Brand answered. “The University of Ballard is famous for its pre–hiatus library. According to the report I have skimmed, Keller apparently said or did something to provoke Wachturm and the Fribourg Empire into launching an assault on the university, and the First Lord dispatched her to stop him.”
    “Blackbird?” Loncar asked.
    “I beg your pardon, First Fleet Lord?”
    “Wachturm, you said,” he replied. “Does he have the Blackbird with him? IFV Amsel ?”
    “Ah,” Brand smiled tightly. “Of course. Yes sir, he does. The battleship Amsel and the ship’s usual compliment of escorts are expected to accompany it.”
    “Hmph. Keller take anything besides the squadron she left with yesterday?”
    “No,” Brand replied with a slight, evil smile. “Just Auberon , Stralsund , and the two destroyers. Plus the escort and whatever forces are at Ballard when they