Putting her mug down, Simani popped a single nimki into her mouth. “They say that about every feather refinery in Ragah, though. Tej Enterprises is hardly special. They’ve all been subject to those same rumors, ever since the feather mafia came into the limelight last year.”
“True enough. But not every refinery had a direct connection with the new senior secretary of defence,” Vikram pointed out. “Who was actively working to protect the Qawirsin. Going so far as to block the Hunter Corps from interviewing one of their smugglers. Or have you forgotten about Farid?”
Ruban and Simani looked at each other, but said nothing. Vikram’s logic was hard to dispute.
“What’s more, it explains the cults. Particularly HAVA, and how it’s able to bankroll its operations.” Vikram reached for another handful of nimkis. “Legally, most of these cults have registered themselves as nonprofit organizations. If the rumors about Tej Enterprises collaborating with the mafia are true…” he smirked. “Well, all that black money had to go somewhere. And donating to these ‘nonprofits’ is probably as effective a method of money laundering as any other.”
Ruban hummed, mulling that over in his head. “It might also explain how Kushal Mayiti was able to sink his claws into Siyal. The Central Ragah Division deals frequently with Tej Enterprises. But what I don’t get,” he paused, draining the last of his hot chocolate. “Is how you came to connect Dhriti with Kushal Mayiti, in the first place. I’ve been scouring the internet for any mention of their familial relationship. And none of the major websites or news portals make any reference to it. A few obscure forums and chatrooms are the only places you can find any information. And that’s probably not very reliable information, anyway.”
“Yeah, somebody exerted a huge amount of effort,” Simani said. “To scrub the internet of any and all references to the connection between Kushal and Dhriti.”
“I wasn’t the one who thought of it.” Vikram shrugged. “It was Ashwin. It’d never have occurred to me to look for that photo archive if Ashwin hadn’t put the idea in my head. I just did the research to confirm his theory.”
At once, three pairs of eyes turned on Ashwin, their gazes inquisitive.
After a few seconds, the Aeriel sighed, dropping his eyes to the empty mug in his lap. “Dhriti Pathak visited me. On the third day of my…” he hesitated. “On the third day I was being held in the custody of the IAW. She told me she could get me out that very night—”
“She what!” Ruban exclaimed. “The nerve of that woman—”
Simani placed a hand on his knee, willing him to calm down. “What did she want in return?” she asked Ashwin bluntly.
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“She insisted I admit, before the media, that Vaan’s offer of an alliance was deceitful from the very start. That my sister wants simply to lure humanity into a false sense of complacency. To make it easier for us to conquer and subjugate earth when the time comes.”
Vikram gave a huff of disbelief. “And she actually thought there was any chance you’d agree to those conditions? Now I want to know what the woman’s been snorting.”
A ghost of a smile flitted across Ashwin’s face. “She thought I’d yield to blackmail more readily than I did. But that’s not what matters.” He traced a finger along the rim of his mug, frowning slightly. “She said something odd. When she was trying to convince me to turn on my sister. She said she understood…how hard it was to turn your back on a sibling. Even temporarily. Especially one who so desperately needs your help. But that in time I’d realize why this was the best outcome for both earth and Vaan.”
“Well, that’s a pile of bullshit,” Simani scoffed.
“It was,” Ashwin agreed. “And she was very longwinded about it, too. But Ruban wasn’t the only one who’d researched Dhriti Pathak’s background. I’d looked into every person who’d attended that meeting after the Kanla Park incident. And all my research had told me that Dhriti was an only child. She didn’t have any siblings.
“Of course, there was the possibility that she was simply lying. Telling me what she thought would make me empathize with her, give in to her demands. But there was something about the way she described this sibling. Something very specific, almost visceral. She’d spent hours lying to me, I had no doubt about that. But somehow, every time she mentioned her sibling, I couldn’t bring myself to disbelieve her.” He held up his hands. “You could call it an intuition, I suppose. But I was sure that that was the one thing about which she was telling the truth.”
“But even if she was,” Simani said, frowning. “That sibling could be anyone. What made you suspect it was Tej Mayiti, in particular?”
“Oh, I didn’t suspect anything of the sort,” Ashwin countered. “I’d no idea who Tej Mayiti was, or that he even existed. All I knew was that Dhriti had recently been appointed to the board of a media trust under Tej Enterprises. I’d discovered that when researching her and the other attendees before the meeting.
“I simply told Vikram everything I knew of Dhriti and her background. And asked him to check if she had any connections to the owner of Tej Enterprises. Since a feather refinery might have a vested interest in controlling the price of Aeriel feathers, which would be hard to do once the alliance is completely settled and finalized. So it’d be natural for the owner and stakeholders of a refinery to not be too thrilled about the alliance. Particularly if a substantial portion of their revenue currently comes from the black market.”
Kneading her fingers into her forehead, Simani grunted her assent. Over the last couple of hours, the dark circles under her eyes had become increasingly more pronounced. “The alliance will drive down the price of black-market feathers, there’s no doubt about that,” she said tiredly. “Nobody’s gonna pay extra to buy them illegally if they’re abundantly available from the government. But wouldn’t that also mean Tej Enterprises will be able to pick up bigger contracts from the IAW itself?”
“The mafia offers better profit margins than the government,” Vikram pointed out. Gathering up all the empty mugs from the coffee table, he walked over to the kitchen.