High Flyer - Michelle Diener Page 0,7
to look up at him.
The eyes watching her were knowing, with a little uncertainty mixed in.
That didn't compute with what she knew of Iver Sugotti. The head of Verdant String Coalition operations on Faldine was the person in charge of the whole planet.
She'd never seen Iver Sugotti unsure in the six months she'd worked for him.
“It doesn't make sense.” She wasn't really avoiding the question--more than one thing was wrong, and her reaction to Sugotti was only one of them.
He kept his gaze on her steady.
“Even if Lancaster is involved with the rebels, all he had to do was go interview the person you asked him to check out, or tip them off to hide before he could get there. Someone else will follow up on that report eventually, even if they had managed to kill you.”
“And you. Don't forget, they tried to kill you, too.”
She blinked. Iver sounded pretty pissed about that. More than he was about their attempt on him.
There was a moment of silence before he finally nodded.
“The key word in what you said there is 'eventually'.” Iver spooned up some of his dyr.
“You think it's time sensitive?” She considered that. Nodded. “It would explain the amateur hour search team.”
“You're being unfair.” Iver tipped his head at her. “They didn't think they'd need a search team. They used three missiles against us. They had no idea how good a pilot you are.”
“Lancaster did.” As she said it, she realized that wasn't quite true. Lancaster knew she was good, but no one really knew how good. She tried hard enough to hide it.
Linnel . . . well, Linnel seemed to know better than anyone.
Iver shook his head. “He didn't fly with you often, and getting a resume saying you're the best isn't the same as understanding just how talented you are.”
She hunched her shoulders. That was true. Even she didn't understand quite how good she was. The line on what was possible had blurred for her in the years since her accident. That's why she'd wanted to go to the Spikes. To find some explanation.
“What is it?” Iver touched her cheek, slowly turning her head to face him full on. “You seem to withdraw whenever your skill comes up.”
She closed her eyes. “I don't deserve praise for being able to do what I do.”
She had worked hard to be a good pilot, but so had all her colleagues in the war. They'd certainly had enough practice.
The thing that pushed her over the edge to great was nothing but a stumbling, horrifying mistake.
She opened her eyes when Iver dropped his hand, and she turned back to look at the fire.
She cleared her throat. “So you're saying it could be that Lancaster needed to stall the questioning, so he decided to kill you? Don't you think that would bring too much attention on him? After all, we already suspect him. Whoever Arkhor would send to investigate your death would take a hard look at him. He could just as easily have delayed you some other way.”
“Unless it was make or break. But you're right.” He conceded her point with a nod, stretching out his legs and leaning forward on forearms corded with muscle.
“What else are you involved with right now?”
He glanced at her. “Confidentially, we're about to start a trial of the sky lane between Touka and Permeo. I was going to Touka today to sign off on the construction phase.”
She tapped her fingers on her knee. “What happens after you sign off?”
“We announce the project, and surveying in the Spikes starts in a few days.”
“And if you were dead and couldn't sign off on anything?”
He leaned back, tilted his head to look at the sky. “Then it would be chaos for a good few months.”
“Did Lancaster know about the project?” Unable to resist, Hana leaned back to look at the stars as well.
“In a general sense.” Iver looked over at her. “But even I only got the green light for the trial from the VSC yesterday. Because I'd done work setting things up ahead of time, I was able to pull it together right away for a quick start, but Lancaster only found out it was imminent when I asked him to arrange for you to pick me up last night.”
“What could he be hiding in the Spikes between Touka and Permeo?” she asked.
He sighed. “I trusted him. I've got no idea what his motivations are.”
Suddenly the darkness lit up, dancing with the greens, reds and blues of the