Page 35 of House Divided
“Please, would both of you just start calling me Madeline?” she asked, then added, “Just not Maddie.”
She thought she heard a rumbling chuckle, deep in Enoch’s chest, but his face betrayed nothing.
Deliberately avoiding eye contact with Enoch, she asked, “So where are we going?”
“We have a building in an industrial park that we’re using as a command center,” replied Aurelian. “Fortunately, our opponents are not nearly as well organized as they would like to be. Their takeover attempt has been bloody and heavy-handed, but they’ve had almost as many failures as they’ve had successes. We think that they launched their attack before they were actually ready.” He glanced at Enoch. “I believe that we have you to thank for that. Your sudden arrival threw them into a panic; they had no idea who you were or why you had appeared out of nowhere. They thought that it had something to do with them.”
“Aurelian, do we even have any idea whotheyare?” pressed Madeline.
He nodded. “I’ll go over things in more detail when we get to the command center, but here’s the gist: Rachel Gentry”—Aurelian almost spat out the name, and Madeline suddenly remembered that he had his own history with the rogue executive—“secretly allied herself with the most conservative elements in the Tarma Planetary Defense Force. In particular, a commander named General Branko. Between the two of them, they’re attempting a takeover of both the PDF and the Pleasure House. Effectively, that’s a takeover of the planet.”
“Branko,” muttered Madeline reflectively. “Okay. If I’m thinking of the right guy, he’s the one who kicked up a fuss in the press last year about the House. Something about the House corrupting traditional Tarmese values, all that nonsense.”
“That’s the guy,” affirmed Kait. “Real charmer. I’ve been digging into his past since this all kicked off. He was almost booted out of the PDF back when he was a major because he sent troops in to break a textile workers’ strike. There were several deaths.”
“Sounds like the Alliance I know,” muttered Enoch, low enough that only Madeline could hear. She chose to ignore him and kept her attention on what Kait was saying.
“Got it,” said Madeline, nodding. “The Uxbrid Massacre, I remember. They called him Branko the Butcher. Good grief, I thought the PDF got rid of him.”
“That was the plan, apparently,” replied Kait. “Court martial, discharge, whole thing. But then things took a turn: an intervention by powerful friends, everything was delayed until the media lost interest, then quietly covered up. Branko continued up the ladder, eventually making general.”
“Powerful friends,” echoed Madeline.
“It took a lot of research and some leaps, but I got there in the end: Rachel Gentry and Harold Dawes,” confirmed Kait.
Madeline leaned back against the wall of the transport carrier. “Son of a bitch. They pulled his ass out of the fire and bought themselves a loyal ally in the PDF. And when Rachel whistled, Branko came running.”
Kait spread her hands. “That’s the best that I can figure. Rachel Gentry, along with Harold Dawes—before his very timely death—have been laying the groundwork for this takeover for a while.”
“Don’t worry, Miss…uh, Madeline,” assured Aurelian. “They knocked us down, but they didn’t put us out the way they planned to. And now we’re going to ruin their party.”
“That might practically be my motto,” murmured Enoch.
The carrier slowed to a halt. They heard the cab crew get out then a knock on the back doors before they were pulled open.
“We’re here, sir,” said one of them, before stepping out of their way.
“Thank you, gentlemen,” replied Aurelian as he and Kait stepped out. “End of the line, everybody out!” Kait rolled her eyes then yelped as Aurelian gave her a firm smack on her bottom.
“A man after my own heart,” observed Enoch approvingly as he left the back of the transport carrier and stretched his legs.
“Gods, don’t encourage him,” retorted Kait then yelped again at Aurelian’s subsequent smack.
Madeline left the carrier and took in the scene before her. The building had the same busy industrious energy of an anthill, albeit on a larger scale. Security personnel in the uniforms of the Pleasure House moved to and fro, frequently accompanied by men and women in the uniforms of the PDF.
“Those are soldiers,” observed Madeline. She turned to Aurelian. “Aurelian, why are there PDF soldiers here?” It wasn’t that she suspected Aurelian of betraying them; it just didn’t make sense.
“Branko’s takeover of the PDF was far from complete,” replied Aurelian. “Instead, his attempted revolt has split the PDF into a number of different factions. Some of them are holed up in bases, trying to decide what to do. Some of them have joined with us. The ones you see here are under the command of General Marwan, who has allied herself with us. You’ll meet her in the briefing room, if I’m not mistaken.”
They followed Aurelian through the wide cargo bays toward an office section, which narrowed into hallways and smaller rooms.
“Sorry about the lack of elevators,” he said as they scaled their second set of metal stairs. “The complex is a bit, uh, rudimentary.”
“Minimal power signature,” observed Enoch.
“I had forgotten, you must have some experience at this,” admitted Aurelian. “Any tips come to mind, feel free to share.”
Enoch nodded.
