Josie felt the men in the room other than Markus was hiding something from her. She

could see it in their eyes, when they looked her in the eye.

“Does anybody want to tell me what’s going on?,” she asked.

“I think Jack will tell you soon enough,” said Vin. “You wouldn’t happen to know how

I can get a beer in this flying house?”

“No drinking until the job is done,” said Josie.

Jack and Case came into the room. Jack smiled. Case looked like he had run too much

in his armor.

“The letter was delivered,” said Jack. “I don’t know if they believed us.”

“If they didn’t, they will after this is over,” said Rickard.

“We need to head up north?,” asked Jack. “Hopefully Hax and Russ found something.”

“If he found out who is behind the consortium out on the border, that would give us

something,” said Mister Warner. “Maybe they have a filing in Star City’s tax records.”

“We can look there next,” said Rickard. “At the very least, there should be something

at Coldwater.”

“Enterprise,” said Jack. “Move us over the Shemmarian capitol. Locate Captain Russ.

Get ready to bring them aboard.”

“Affirmative,” said the machine.

“I suppose I can do a record search with my birds,” said Josie. “That will single out who

we need to deal with while we think of a way to prove it without magic.”

“It’s not like we can use a rubber hose on them,” said Jack.

“Beatings can be done,” said Glunt. “They are unreliable at best.”

“The army found that out back home,” said Jack. “They gave it up.”

“Captain Russ is located,” said the Enterprise. A marker appeared on the table to show

where she was in the central keep.

“I’ll go down and talk to her,” said Josie. “I suggest one of you be ready to tell me what

the secret is when I get back.”

“What secret?,” asked Jack. He put on his most innocent face that hadn’t worked on her

since the fifth grade.

“You know I do what the Fixx talks about,” said Josie. “I say what I mean, and mean

what I say. An ear from all of you will be just as easy as an ear from one of you.

Comprende?”

“I’m not scared of some woman,” said Jack. He waved his fingers at her in dismissal.

“You will be,” said Josie. She transformed into Zatanna. “I can make it where you can

never lie again. How would you like to be Jim Carrey for the rest of your life?”

“I don’t lie now,” said Jack.

“Russ and Hax,” said Mister Warner. He shook his head. “You two can work this out

when the job is done.”

“You are going to spill your guts,” said Josie. She cast a bird out, and used that to

appear outside the room Russ was in.

She opened the door, ready to defend herself if she had to do that. She didn’t quite trust

Hax and Four, but there could be others that she would have to deal with in the course

of things.

“Four?,” said Josie.

“We’re here, Josie,” said Russ. She peeked out from behind a shelf full of ledgers. “I

think we found something.”

“Really?,” said Josie. She let Zatanna go since she didn’t see any immediate danger.

“We have a possible list of people,” said Hax. “If we can match them with anyone on

the other side of the border, we might be able to prove they were behind the false flag

operations.”

“Do you have anything else?,” said Josie. “I think Worldy will need more than that

if he wants to keep his office.”

“We think if we can get a list of expenditures, we can prove that the consortium was

illegally diverting funds to the adventurers,” said Russ. “We would have to be in

their personal files to do that kind of search.”

“I don’t understand,” said Josie.

“In this country, it is illegal to hire adventurers,” said Russ. “If you need guards, you

would ask the administration, or the local Guard for candidates for a position. If you

did hire adventurers, there would be a fine on your business. There is only one

exception. Adventurers escorting products here can be hired to escort products across

the border where they aren’t illegal to work.”

“So anyone like this Anull you were talking about would be arrested if caught

on the job?,” asked Josie.

“And punished depending on what he was doing,” said Hax.

“Let’s see if we can compile a list a lot faster than hand searching everything,” said

Josie. “Then we can use that to target who we need to target. We’ll hit Coldwater and

raid their tax office the same way.”

“If we’re right?,” asked Hax.

“The job is to stop them from destroying the border, causing suffering, and ruining

the future,” said Josie. “Anything done after that is gravy.”

“We’re keeping control of our border?,” asked Hax.

“Why wouldn’t you?,” asked Josie. “The Society doesn’t care about that, and neither

Stolen novel; please report.

do I.”

“I’m afraid,” said Hax.

“That we’re trying to take over?,” said Josie.

“Yes,” said Hax.

“How do you feel, Captain Russ?,” asked Josie.

“My sisters trust you,” said Russ. “I don’t know why. I understand Seven since you

rescued her from being dismembered, but the others also trust you more than I thought

they would.”

“If June gets killed, your sister might have to step into that place,” said Josie. “How do

you feel about that?”

“I know that you would never let her do anything without help, and that is enough,” said

Russ. “Major, it is okay to be afraid. When I met the Society for the first time, I was

afraid too. In the end, they are trying to help us, and so are their agents.”

“I can show you the future, Mister Hax,” said Josie. “With that knowledge will come

even greater responsibility and greater fear. If you want to know what you are fighting

for, I can at least show you that much.”

“I think I will wait,” said Hax. “I think I need to look at this from a distance.”

“The offer will stand whenever you want it,” said Josie.

“Thank you,” said Hax. He took a deep breath. “I suppose you have a way to find what

we are looking for faster.”

“I can send out my minions,” said Josie. She changed and sent out enough firebirds to

cover what she wanted. Sheets of paper began to fall into her hands. The spell ran out

when the last paper fell out of the air.

She handed the paperwork over to Russ before changing back. She had no way of

knowing if the transformation stored things she picked up, and she didn’t need to know

right now.

The two officers went over the lists, conferring in low voices. They nodded at the

confirmation they had received. It would have taken them hours, maybe days, to find

everything, but the spell had copied some of what they had done and expanded outwards

sharply.

“Some of these home residences are across the border,” said Hax. “I recognize this one

as close to Coldwater, but not where exactly.”

“So you were right that people on both sides are egging this on,” said Josie.

“I wouldn’t say it was my idea,” said Hax.

“Say it is and get promoted,” said Josie. “Shall we go?”

“Colonel Hax will sound good as long as you stay out of trouble,” said Captain Russ.

“General Hax will sound even better if we can get you promoted,” said Josie.

“That will never happen,” said Hax. “You have to see frontline service to get promoted

to general.”

“But you are seeing frontline service, Mister Hax,” said Josie. “You are having to deal

with Jack. That should be enough for any promotion committee. And to speed things up,

I will be glad to have Jack come by and talk to anyone that needs it.”

“I would get demoted if I allowed anything like to that to happen,” said Hax. “Please

keep him away from any promotion investigation.”

Josie almost smiled.

“Enterprise?,” she asked the com.

“Acknowledged,” said the machine.

“The three of us are ready to come back aboard,” said Josie. “Energize.”

Josie looked at the group of men around her as she appeared in the conference room.

They were hiding something from her. She could crack the silence when this was over.

“Mister Hax and Captain Russ found a list of names we can check into as the heads of

the mineral consortium,” said Josie. “Mister Hax?”

“We found that a group of people from both sides of the border hold ownership,” said

Mister Hax. “Captain Russ looked through the book of the dead created by Madam Fox

after what is being called the Bird Attack Event. Some of the owners were on that list.”

“Bird Attack Event,” mouthed Jack. Josie frowned at him.

“Additionally some of the names on the consortium also took monies for supplying the

test subjects required by Operation Seed,” said Hax.

“Did they know that if the Goblin Trees were successful, it would wreck your country

first?,” asked Case.

“I don’t think they cared about that,” said Hax. “The accumulation of wealth and power

seems more important to them than the possible destruction of the realm where they are

operating.”

“Plus before they attracted Josie’s attention,” said Jack. “They were plundering both

countries with the thought of using one against the other and then taking over both of

them after the war was over. No one from the Society was here to try and stop them.”

“One mistake is all it takes,” said Mister Warner.

“Can I see your list?,” asked Rickard. He held out a hand.

Hax handed over the compilation. The king went through each name. Finally he

stopped. He looked up from the paper.

“Are you sure about this?,” asked Rickard.

“As far as the tax people are concerned, these are the people who own the consortium,

and have to answer questions from the committee,” said Hax. “Is something wrong?”

“Is something wrong?,” asked Josie. She stepped to read over his shoulder. He indicated

the pair of names he was interested in. “Oh, I see.”

“What’s wrong?,” said Hax.

“Both of the King’s nephews are on this list,” said Josie. “You saw one of them get

sentenced to hard labor at the hospital.”

“They are both in with the Montrose?,” asked Jack.

“If they aren’t, Illheim has bought into the consortium with his brother,” said Josie.

“We might need to talk to him about this.”

“We need to see if he has the Makeover,” said Jack.

“The others on the list?,” asked Worldy.

“Some of them were caught up in the cleaning out of Shemmaria City,” said Josie.

“Some of them were here,” said Hax. “Or across the border and in Coldwater, or estates

near Coldwater.”

“Some of this might have been in motion when Rustam and Exhua seized Caroline,”

said Josie.

“And then we showed up to introduce Caroline to her future fiancee,” said Jack.

“That was a side effect of the spring cleaning I did,” said Josie. “How do we proceed

from here?”

“We don’t have any proof they did anything wrong,” said Vin. “We don’t know if they

are in on what we found out.”

“We’re going to have to question them and deal with the results,” said Worldy. “We

can’t have a faction fomenting war for profit.”

“What do you think, Mister Hax?,” asked Josie.

“We only need to ask one man if it’s the right man,” said Hax. He held out his hand for

the lists. He glanced at the names when he had the work back. He nodded. “We need to

ask Minister Shov if he knew what was going on.”

“Why this man?,” asked Josie.

“Because he shouldn’t be on a list like this at all,” said Hax. “He works in the

administration of interior works. This is direct violation of the codes against conflicts.

And someone with his experience would know it.”

“He’s right,” said Worldy. “It would be as if I decided to take favors or money from

someone I knew to supply the Army with weapons. Or used gathered intelligence to

secure non-army objectives. The Interior Works handles the use of material for roads,

buildings, outposts for rangers, and so forth. It is almost a direct conflict of interest

for someone responsible for managing land to be in a private business where his

presence could bend the rules in the right circumstances.”

“So we want to talk to him about his involvement?,” asked Josie.

“We are going to have to do a raid and take every piece of paper he has at his home, and

office,” said Glunt. “If he is involved in this, his arrest will have to go before the

committee and the administrative inspectors.”

“We’re going to have to do the same for Illheim,” said Rickard. “I have to know how

involved he is in this.”

“He might be the brains behind this instead of Rustam,” said Josie. “He knows that

Rustam is heading for the Delve?”

“I sent him a letter with the investure of his new titles,” said Rickard. “So he knows his

brother was stripped of his titles, if not everything else depending on if he had

someone to tell him what was going on in the capitol, and at Hawk Ridge.”

“Would he know about Caroline staying with us?,” asked Jack.

“Possibly,” said the king. “Oh.”

“Enterprise,” said Jack. “Connect me to Elaine.”

“What’s going on?,” asked Josie. Maybe now someone will come clean.

Jack held up his hand to stall any questions.

“I’m here, Jack,” said Elaine. “What can I do for you?”

“I need to know if you have any of those adventurers in custody,” said Jack.

“Yes,” said Elaine. “We did take some of them alive. Russ and Emily had to kill some

of them when we made our approach.”

“Hold them,” said Jack. “We’re coming back to have a talk with them.”

“All right,” said Elaine. “I will talk to Beatrice and we’ll make some kind of

arrangement.”

She cut the call.

“Does anyone want to tell me what’s going on?,” asked Josie.

Everyone looked at Jack.