Shadow of the Hegemon, the - Book 2 (Ender)

did not want them to see him frustrated and helpless. When he caught her and could drag her into the room and shoot her dead in front of them, then he could face them.
    And as long as that didn't happen, there was a chance Virlomi was alive.
    Stay that way, my friend. Run far and don't pause for anything. Cross some border, find some refuge, swim to Sri Lanka, fly to the moon. Find some miracle, Virlomi, and live.
    MURDER
    To:Graff%[email protected]
    From:Carlotta%[email protected]/
    orders/sisters/ind
    Re: Please forward
    The attached file is encrypted. Please wait twelve hours after the time of sending and if you don't hear from me, forward it to Bean. He'll know the key.
    It took less than four hours to secure and inspect the entire high command base in Bangkok. Computer experts would be probing to try to find out whom it was that Naresuan had been communicating with outside, and whether he was in fact involved with a foreign power or this gambit was a private venture. When Suriyawong's work with the Prime Minister was finished, he came alone to the barracks where Bean was waiting.
    Most of Bean's soldiers had already returned, and Bean had sent most of them to bed. He still watched the news in a desultory fashionnothing new was being said, so he was interested only in seeing how the talking heads were spinning it. In Thailand, everything was charged with patriotic fervor. Abroad, of course, it was a different story. All the Common broadcasts were taking a more skeptical view that Indian operatives had really made the assassination attempt.
    "Why would India want to provoke Thai entry into the war?"
    "They know Thailand will come in eventually whether Burma asks them or not. So they felt they had to deprive Thailand of its best Battle School graduate."
    "Is one child so dangerous?"
    "Maybe you should ask the Formics. If you can find any."
    And on and on, everyone trying to appear smart-or at least smarter than the Indian and Thai governments, which was the game the media always played. What mattered to Bean was how this would affect Peter. Was there any mention of the possibility that Achilles was running the show in India? Not a breath. Anything yet about Pakistani troop movements near Iran? The "Bangkok bombing" had driven that slow-moving story off the air. Nobody was giving this any global implications. As long as the I.F. was there to keep the nukes from flying, it was still just politics as usual in south Asia.
    Except it wasn't. Everybody was so busy trying to look wise and unsurprised that nobody was standing up and screaming that this whole set of events was completely different from anything that had gone before. The most populous nation in the world has dared to turn its back on a two-hundred-year-old enemy and invade the small, weak country to its east. Now India was attacking Thailand. What did that mean? What was India's goal? What possible benefit could there be?
    Why weren't they talking about these things?
    "Well," said Suriyawong, "I don't think I'm going to go to sleep very soon."
    "Everything all cleaned up?"
    "More like everybody who worked closely with the Chakri has been sent home and put under house arrest while the investigation continues."
    "That means the entire high command."
    "Not really," said Suriyawong. "The best field commanders are out in the field. Commanding. One of them will be brought in as acting Chakri."
    "They should give it to you."
    "They should, but they won't. Aren't you just a little hungry?"
    "It's late."
    "This is Bangkok."
    "Well, not really," said Bean. "This is a military base."
    "When is your friend's flight due in?"
    "Morning. Just after dawn."
    "Ouch. She's going to be out of sorts. You going to meet her at the airport?"
    "I didn't think about it."
    "Let's go get dinner," said Suriyawong. "Officers do it all the time. We can take a couple of strike force soldiers with us to make sure we don't get hassled for being children."
    "Achilles isn't going to give up on killing me."
    "Us. He aimed at us this time."
    "He might have a backup."
    "Bean, I'm hungry. Are you hungry?" Suriyawong turned to the members of the toon that had been with him. "Any of you hungry?"
    "Not really," said one of them. "We ate at the regular time."
    "Sleepy," said another.
    "Anybody awake enough to go into the city with us?"
    Immediately all of them stepped forward.
    "Don't ask perfect soldiers whether they want to protect their CO," said Bean.
    "Designate a couple to go with us and let