“You know Police Commissioner Alvarez?” Chen asked, sounding a little surprised.
“We didn’t work in the same precinct in Hubb NE, but Agent O’Sullivan is related to Governor Hannigan, and I have the pleasure of being among the governor’s friends,” Alvarez replied. A handsome, robust man in his early fifties, he had flashing dark eyes and a headful of dark, wavy hair.
Monty glanced at Burke and wondered what his captain knew about the man.
“Please sit,” Chen said. “Would you like coffee? Tea? We have black and green tea available. The green tea has come all the way from Tokhar-Chin and is sold at a small market in my neighborhood.”
They all declined the offer of refreshments, took their seats, and waited for the mayor to begin.
But Chen seemed reluctant to begin. He gave them all another gentle smile.
Greg O’Sullivan leaned forward. “May I ask a question?”
“Please.” Chen sounded relieved.
“Why were you and Commissioner Alvarez appointed to these positions?”
Alvarez looked at Chen, then addressed the other men around the table. “I support the governor, and I’m fresh blood. That’s going to make every station chief in Lakeside unhappy since, under usual circumstances, one of them would have been selected to fill the position after Kurt Wallace’s involuntary resignation. But circumstances aren’t usual. This city is vital to the health of the entire Northeast Region, and the human government here can’t afford to make any more mistakes. I didn’t support the Humans First and Last movement. That’s on record. I’m hoping that will weigh in our favor in the weeks ahead.”
“Weigh in with whom?” Burke asked.
Alvarez smiled. “With the terra indigene in the Lakeside Courtyard—and beyond.”
“I, too, did not support the Humans First and Last movement,” Chen said. “Some businesses in my council district were damaged by HFL supporters, and there were a few physical altercations that convinced the merchants who participated in the open markets to stop bringing their carts.”
A new police commissioner who supported the governor and hadn’t supported the HFL, and a new acting mayor who had people in his neighborhood harassed and even hurt by the movement. Just like some of the businesses on Market Street. Nadine Fallacaro’s bakery and café had burned to the ground. If Meg Corbyn hadn’t felt a desperate need to make a cut and if her warning hadn’t been interpreted correctly, Nadine would have died in the fire.
“Mayor Chen and I also bring an additional benefit to our respective jobs,” Alvarez said, looking at Burke. “He has family ties to people in Tokhar-Chin, and I have family ties to people living in the human areas of Felidae. We can receive news from those places and, hopefully, assist in continuing to trade with those parts of the world. Just as you, Captain Burke, have family connections in Brittania that have proved useful.”
“I haven’t heard from my cousin Shamus since early Sumor, but the assistance he provided to the terra indigene is a big reason ships are still permitted to travel between Thaisia and Brittania.”
Alvarez looked at Burke, Monty, and O’Sullivan in turn. “There is a rumor that the three of you met an Elemental that commands the Atlantik Ocean.”
“We did.” O’Sullivan shuddered. “She—at least I had the impression of female—will permit Thaisian ships to travel to Brittania, Felidae, the Storm Islands, and Afrikah, but if we try to go to what is left of the Cel-Romano Alliance of Nations, she will destroy any Thaisian ship that touches her domain. That includes fishing vessels.”
“Tokhar-Chin?” Chen asked.
“The Elemental who guards the Pacifik decides about travel between Thaisia and Tokhar-Chin, but we have no reason to believe there is a conflict between the people there and the terra indigene.”
Chen nodded. “So. We are living in a paper house, are we not? We have a city still governed by humans and land still under human control even if it is leased from the terra indigene.”
“Who can refuse to renew a lease and evict the humans living on that land,” Burke said. “The Others on the West Coast did it when there was trouble in Jerzy; they can do it here.”
“But not all at once,” Chen said. “The boundaries of the city weren’t set by a single agreement. Neighborhoods were added as more people came to settle here. When troubles started between humans and Others, I checked the land leases for my district. I was dismayed to discover how few years are left on the current lease, and . . .” He stopped and seemed to struggle with what he was going to say. “Lakeside is a city made up of neighborhoods, and neighborhoods often contain families who came from a specific part of the world. The majority of families in my district came from Tokhar-Chin. There are neighborhoods of people from Felidae and Afrikah. I think those who came from Brittania are spread out among the neighborhoods made up of people whose ancestors had come from the Cel-Romano Alliance of Nations.”
“That sounds about right,” Burke said.
“When I looked at what the city pays for those land leases—information that was not hidden but also not easy to find—I had to wonder if government officials might forfeit the lease for one district in order to ensure there was enough money in the city’s budget to pay the lease for what they considered a more worthy neighborhood.”
Monty stared at Chen. Burke swore under his breath. O’Sullivan sat back and said, “Gods above and below. Was that seriously considered?”
“I do not know,” Chen said softly. “At the time, I was one man on the city council and had little influence. Now?” He let the question hang.
Burke leaned forward. “There are four places situated at this end of Lake Etu within easy reach of each other: the city of Lakeside, the town of Talulah Falls, the village on Great Island, and a mixed community on River Road. Of those four places, Lakeside is the only one under human control. It’s the only one where the human population can do what it pleases on the land it controls, whether that’s farming or running factories or beating each other to death in the streets. At least, that’s how it used to be. As long as we didn’t interfere with the Others who were assigned to keep watch over our shenanigans, the rest of the terra indigene didn’t step in. But that’s no longer true. Humans did interfere with the terra indigene who were assigned to watch us. The Others were attacked and some were killed, and that enraged the residents of the wild country—the terra indigene that every cop who ever did a tour of duty in the wild country prayed he would never see. But they are on our doorstep now, and they are going to make sure we don’t forget it.”
“There is no safety in the dark,” O’Sullivan said. “The actions of the people in the HFL movement erased the boundary between the human-controlled land and the wild country, and there is no going back.”