Within moments of arriving on Amazon, Master Smuggler Sophocles Errant is witness to a brutal murder. But he ' s an off-worlder, a cyborg, and a man- guilty until proved innocent as far as the ruling party is concerned. He ' s got big secrets to hide, and it ' s not just his life at stake; things will get much worse if those secrets get out. It ' s just days before the election, and Sophocles- and whether or not he ' s the real murderer- become a hot potato political issue.
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Things heat up further when his lawyer ' s family complicates matters- her grandmother is the retiring Prime Minister, her mother ' s the candidate for the party that wants to see him dead, her aunt ' s planning a coup, and her cousin is a psychopath. She ought to be conflicted, but Melia Dawn is serious about getting her client the justice he deserves, even if the entire corrupt justice system is stacked against her.
In fact, she thought it was quite likely a Warrior. A young one, too young to have seen an arena battle, too young to realize what her weapon would do in a real situation, too young to understand what all the blood would do. " Kid probably panicked," she said.
The problem was that this could blow up into a full-fledged scandal, and even more of a scandal because that idiot Carter had tried to cover it up. She tapped the plaz again and waited for the Police Commissioner ' s icon to start spinning.
" Arlene," she said.
" Prime Minister!"
" Care to tell me why you stepped in shit just before the election?" Hippolyta watched as Arlene made frantic shooing gestures and heard a door close somewhere in the background.
" I thought we agreed Warrior Caste crime was bad in the polls?" Arlene asked, frowning.
" You bungling a cover-up of Warrior Caste crime is worse. What the hell are you doing?" Hippolyta asked.
" What? You know what? No. Ask Barbara why she was so interested in this one. I ' m in this up to my ass because of her, and I ' m in over my head!" Arlene said, then her image abruptly went dark.
" Interesting you ' re so flexible, Arlene, but I always suspected you had your head up your ass," Hippolyta said to the empty screen but tapped out the code for her daughter ' s office.
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