Free The Water Knife by Paolo Bacigalupi Page B

brow knitted. “Carver City had investors that Braxton’s due diligence didn’t turn up. An eco-development project was leasing Carver City’s water rights. Earthship sustainable arcology. Vertical farm, integrated housing, eighty-five percent water recycling—sort of a low-rent version of a Cypress development. It turns out that a lot of people were invested.”
    “
People
, huh?”
    “Connected people,” Case said. “A senator from back east. A couple of state reps.”
    The way she said it made Angel glance over, surprised. “State reps?” he asked. “You mean
Nevada
state reps? Our guys?”
    “Montoya, Kleig, Tuan, LaSalle…”
    Angel couldn’t stifle his laughter. “What the hell were they thinking?”
    “Apparently they thought they knew where we stood on Carver City.”
    “I’ll be goddamned.” Angel shook his head. “No wonder Yu looked so surprised. Motherfucker thought he’d bought himself some solid-gold insurance. He had our people in his pocket. When I was down there, he kept saying I was going to piss off powerful people.”
    “Everyone’s hedging these days,” Case said. “Right after Carver City’s water plant went down, I got a call from the governor.”
    “He was in there, too?”
    “God, no. But he was fishing for information, trying to know if we were planning any other hits.”
    “Where’s he invested?”
    “Who the hell knows? He’s too clever to say anything over a line where he might be recorded.”
    “He’s still backing you, though, right?”
    “Well, he doesn’t get votes if Vegas goes dry. As long as I keep delivering his water, the Southern Nevada Water Authority has carte blanche. We can tax, we can build—”
    “We can cut.”
    “—and we can plan for Nevada’s economic future,” she finished over Angel. “But still, every time I turn around, I run into some…
asshole
…hedging his bets. You know there are actually bookies who will take bets on what town’s going to lose its rights next?”
    “What are the odds?”
    She gave him a sardonic glance. “I try not to look. I’ve got enough conflict-of-interest lawsuits on my hands with the Cypress developments.”
    “Yeah, but I could make some real money.”
    “The last time I checked, you weren’t exactly underpaid.” She squinted out at the dead suburb. “I used to think I could at least trust our own people. Now I’m either looking over my shoulder for some redneck with a rifle, or I’m dealing with a mailroom clerk who’s leaking our ag water bidding strategy in return for a residence permit in Los Angeles. You can’t trust anyone anymore.”
    “Braxton’s the one who missed all these state reps, right?”
    “So?”
    “Just saying he don’t normally miss things.” Angel shrugged. “Didn’t used to, anyway.”
    Case glanced over sharply. “And?”
    “Just saying he didn’t used to screw up.”
    “Christ. And you think I’m paranoid.”
    “Like you say, it only takes one bullet.”
    “Braxton didn’t screw us.” She gave Angel a warning look. “And I don’t need my top water knife feuding with my head of legal.”
    “No problem.” Angel grinned and held up his hands. “Long as Braxton stays off my back, I stay off his.”
    She made a noise of annoyance. “This job used to be easy.”
    “Before my time.”
    “Not that long before. It used to be that if you negotiated a water-swap project with San Diego and JV’d on a desal plant, you looked like a genius. Now?” She shook her head. “Ellis is saying that California’s running guardies all the way up the river into Wyoming and Colorado. He’s seen their choppers on the upper Green River and the Yampa.”
    Angel glanced over, surprised. “I didn’t know Ellis was working that far upriver.”
    “We’re trying to figure out who’s got senior rights up there. In case we need to start making new buyout offers.” She made a face. “And California’s already there, grabbing Upper Basin rights ahead of us. We