How Firm A Foundation – Snippet 34
         “God gave Man free will,” Cahnyr said. “That means some men will choose to do evil, and the innocent will suffer as a result. You can’t judge yourself guilty because you were unable to stop all the evil Clyntahn and others chose to do. You stopped all it was in your power to stop, and God can ask no more than that.”
         She stared out the window for several more moments, then drew a deep breath and gave herself a visible shake.
         “You’re probably right, Your Eminence, but I intend to do a great deal more to those bastards before I’m done.” She turned back from the window, and the steel behind her eyes was plain to see. “Not immediately, because it’s going to take time to put the pieces in place. But once they are, Zhaspahr Clyntahn may find wearing the Grand Inquisitor’s cap a lot less pleasant than he does today.”
         Cahnyr regarded her with a distinct sense of trepidation. He knew very few details of her current activities, and he knew she intended to keep it that way. Not because she distrusted him, but because she was one of the most accomplished mistresses of intrigue in the history of Zion. That placed her in some select company. Indeed, she’d matched wits with the full suppressive power of the Office of Inquisition, and she’d won. Not everything she’d wanted, perhaps, and whatever she might say — or he might say to her — she would never truly forgive herself for the victims she hadn’t managed to save. Yet none of that changed the fact that she’d outmaneuvered the Grand Inquisitor on ground of his own choosing, from the very heart of his power and authority, and done it so adroitly and smoothly he still didn’t know what had hit him.
         Or who.
         The woman who’d contrived all of that, kept that many plots in the air simultaneously without any of them slipping, plucked so many souls —  including Zhasyn Cahnyr’s — from the Inquisition’s clutches, wasn’t about to begin letting her right hand know what left hand was doing now unless she absolutely had to. He didn’t resent her reticence, or think it indicated any mistrust in his own discretion. But he did worry about what she might be up to.
         “Whatever your plans, my dear,” he said, “I’ll pray for their success.”
         “Careful, Your Eminence!” Her smile turned suddenly roguish. “Remember my past vocation! You might not want to go around writing blank bank drafts like that!”
         “Oh,” he reached out and touched her cheek lightly, “I think I’ll take my chances on that.”
* * * * * * * * * *
         “Madam Pahrsahn! How nice to see you again!”
         The young man with auburn hair and gray eyes walked around his outsized desk to take his visitor’s subtly perfumed hand in both of his. He bent over it, pressing a kiss on its back, then tucked it into his elbow and escorted her across the large office to the armchairs facing one another across a low table of beaten copper.
         “Thank you, Master Qwentyn,” she said as she seated herself.
A freshly fed fire crackled briskly in the grate to her right, noisily consuming gleaming coal which had probably come from Zhasyn Cahnyr’s archbishopric in Glacierheart, she thought. Owain Qwentyn sat in the chair facing hers and leaned forward to personally pour hot chocolate into a delicate cup and hand it to her. He poured more chocolate into a second cup, picked it up on its saucer, and leaned back in his chair, regarding her expectantly.
         “I must say, I wasn’t certain you’d be coming today after all,” he said, waving his free hand at the office window. The previous day’s gray skies had made good on their wintry promise, and sleety rain pounded and rattled against the glass, sliding down it to gather in crusty waves in the corners of the panes. “I really would have preferred to stay home myself, all things considered,” he added.
         “I’m afraid I didn’t have that option.” She smiled charmingly at him. “I’ve got quite a few things to do over the next few five-days. If I started letting my schedule slip, I’d never get them done.”
         “I can believe that,” he said, and he meant it.
The House of Qwentyn was by any measure the largest, wealthiest, and most powerful banking house in the Republic of Siddarmark and had been for generations. It hadn’t gotten that way by accident, and a man as young as Owain Qwentyn wouldn’t have held his present position, family connections or no, if he hadn’t demonstrated his fitness for it. He’d been trusted with some of the house’s most sensitive accounts for the last five years, which had exposed him to some fascinating financial strategists, yet Aivah Pahrsahn was probably the most intriguing puzzle yet to come his way.
Her primary accounts with the House of Qwentyn had been established over two decades ago, although he wouldn’t have said she could possibly be a day past thirty-five, and her balance was enviable. In fact, it was a lot better than merely “enviable,” if he wanted to be accurate. Coupled with her long established holdings in real estate and farmland, her investments in half a dozen of the Republic’s biggest granaries and mining enterprises, and her stake in several of Siddar City’s most prosperous merchant houses, that balance made her quite possibly the wealthiest woman Owain had ever met. Yet those transactions and acquisitions had been executed so gradually and steadily over the years, and spread between so many apparently separate accounts, that no one had noticed just how wealthy she was becoming. And no member of the House of Qwentyn had ever met her, either; every one of her instructions had arrived by mail. By courier, in point of fact, and not even via the Church’s semaphore system or even wyvern post.
It had all been very mysterious when Owain finally looked at her accounts as a whole for the first time. He might not have noticed her even now if the somnolent, steady pace of her transactions hadn’t suddenly become so much more active. Indeed, they’d become almost hectic, including a series of heavy transfers of funds since the . . . difficulties with Charis had begun, yet despite the many years she’d been a customer of his house, no one seemed to know where she’d come from in the first place. Somewhere in the Temple Lands, that much was obvious, yet where and how remained unanswered questions, and the House of Qwentyn, for all its discretion, was accustomed to knowing everything there was to know about its clients.
         But not in this case. She’d presented all the necessary documentation to establish her identity on her arrival, and there was no question of her authority over those widespread accounts. Yet she’d simply appeared in Siddar a month or so ago, stepping into the capital city’s social and financial life as if she’d always been there. She was beautiful, poised, obviously well educated, and gracious, and a great many of the social elite knew her (or weren’t prepared to admit they didn’t know Polite Society’s latest adornment, at any rate), but Owain had been unable to nail down a single hard fact about her past life, and the air of mystery which clung to her only made her more fascinating.
         “I’ve brought the list of transactions with me,” she said now, reaching into her purse and extracting several sheets of paper. She extended them across the table to him, then sat back sipping her chocolate while he unfolded them and ran his eyes down the lines of clean, flowing script.
*sits back with popcorn*
Money? Check.
Skill? Check.
Long view? Check.
Security awareness? Check.
Influence? Check.
A Goal? Very check.
The Will to do what is necessary for that Goal? oh yes…
heh, You forgot sharp, pointy daggers……Check!
Knowledge of where bodies are buried… and where to bury future ones? Check.
I’m suddenly reminded of Edmond Dantes arriving in Paris in the Count of Monte Cristo.
Shit’s about to get real.
Next line
“Oh, my.”
(next line)
“Oh, my.”
I forsee Merlin making a separate pact with her through the other ‘seijin’ to help her where and when he can. Not as direct as in Charis though. I see her sowing the seeds for other kingdoms to question the CoGA because of their past documented deeds and intrigues. I see her successfully getting Irys and the entourage free. I see… She is much better at this than any other spymaster we have met.
Joseph et al, you missed probably the two most important qualities a truly accomplished ‘agent’ (though that’s not quite the right word) would need, which is 1) the ability to motivate the people she has to depend on and to win their loyalty, AND 2) the ability to tie all of those undeniably vital attributes you have listed together effectively.
I am a strong believer in the idea that no truly great accomplishments can ever be achieved by one person alone – even if a contribution consists only of providing regular meals to the person/s whose imagination, skill and talent ultimately originated and made possible that accomplishment. After all, if not for those regular meals, the ‘driver’ of the effort would soon suffer from hunger and start to develop health issues, which would most likely impact negatively on achieving the desired outcome in the end. That being the case, the cook is as important as the innovator.
And THIS cook is preparing a heaping helping of ice cold payback…
PeterZ, YOU are to blame for getting me started! But then again, there is the issue of Free Will…
Ahnzheleyk a madam from Zion
Had a scheme that she thought she would try on
With her Siddermark stash
She’ll deploy so much cash
That the Gang O’ Four soon will be cryin’!
(Maggie runs to avoid flying tomatoes, eggs, spit-wads…)
Thank you, Maggie. That was pleasant present to wake up to. We can get into the elements of free will if you wish. Yet someone so obviously the recipient of grace as you displayed in your wondeful poetic efforts would argue for Determinism. Well, at least for those gifts God chooses to give.
This snippet ushered into my heart fear for our lovely Lady Ninian. A named character that David Likes shall perish in this book and Ninian is emerging from obscurity in the eyes of too many people. Her personas step forth from the shadows in turbulent times while other persona disappear. The timing of these occurances corespond closely enough for inqusition agents to link. She has ermerged onto in the parlance of our hacking friends “the grid”.
we use to have a saying when I was in NAM payback is a med-avac this lady is pissed!
Next line, two guesses
* * * * or Chapter
alternative
“The House stands ready to carry out your directives as soon as possible,”
I am not as fearful as you, PeterZ that Ninian is DW’s next target for assassination. I do think, however, that being in Siddar city is a great risk for both Ninian and Cahnyr. The agents of the church would have to be extremely stupid to miss the correlation here and they may be many things but stupid isn’t one of them.
At the moment, Siddarmark is still allied with the CoGA and a Temple “request” for the seizure of Ninian, her assets, and Cahnyr would set up an interesting dilemma for the Republic. This would, of course, not happen immediately since word of their arrival must travel back to Zion and then orders must flow in the opposite direction.
No doubt Ninian chose Siddar for its proximity to the Temple lands (and for Cahnyr, his archbishopric). Communications is a bit of an issue in Safehold. Little does she know of what capability she might have …
So far, the Temple doesn’t know *what* we know about her.
Yes, first somebody in the Inquisition needs to connect some obscure dots to even figure out that Angelique is important. And at the moment, with the way she connected to Clyntahn’s business operations, there’s a good chance that anyone who uncovers anything about her will decide she is actually working for the Inquisitor!
True, oh beneficient Dragon, but such trails are becomming more discernable to the trained detective/counter intel type. That’s all I am saying.
One of her business personas was connected with Clyntahn but IMO it is very likely that there’s no trail that would lead from that persona to her current persona.
I suspect that she is very good at hiding “money trails” let alone “paper trails”.
Of course, we’re not in a world where photo ids exist, finger printing exists, etc.
Now somebody who met her “main” persona in Zion would know her if he met her in Siddarmark, but very few in Zion even knew about her other personas in Zion. All he’d know is that she’s the former Madam, not the person who aided people to escape the Inquistition.
I tried posting this once before, and I lost my Internet connection briefly. I’ll try again.
At present, from the text evidence, it is extremely unlikely that anyone from the Temple can connect the dots from Anzhelyk to Ninian and figure out that she is an intelligence operative working against the Temple. However, Ninian has to be perfect in concealing her trail at every step of every operation. The Temple’s intel/counter-intel group can screw up quite a bit and get lucky once and snag Ninian.
The text doesn’t suggest this, but Ninian ought to be working to identify the CoGA spy network in Siddarmark and then monitoring the network so that she is always ahead of them or even moving to neutralize the network by coopting them or terminating them.
@19 Robert
I suspect that a group of snarks have the CoGA’s Siddermark spy network well penetrated. It is also clear that the lady has her eggs in many baskets, and tracing the money flow will be the last thing the Temple thugs will think of. Her means will be too sophisticated to be detected by people used to direct action and who see every problem as something to be fixed by killing someone.
19 Perhaps she needs to find the spy network in Siddarmark. Perhaps she needs to make sure that they continue to be well paid by her.
“Connect the dots”? Let’s see. Just as there is a big roundup of Vicars, the most popular madame (with those selfsme Vicars) in the city disappears. At the very same time a great many people who weren’t supposed to disappear. I don’t think there is a whole lot of “dot connecting” to do. Not much more than “A+B=C”, and Clyntahn is more than paranoid enough to make that leap.
On the other hand, connecting her to this particular person might be a little bit of a stretch.
The general impression the books give is that the Inquisition keeps it’s head down in Siddarmark. The lease of Charisian ships to Siddarmakr and the ongoing hidden trade trade between Siddarmark and Charis does not seem to have come to the attention of the Inquisition – at least not back in the temple lands.
I doubt that her activities will come to the inquisition’s attention anytime soon. Clyntahn and the inquisition just are not used to the idea of trade being important. It does not register on their mental horizon. I wonder if there is a Safehold equivalent of the stock market? Not like we have today but something like the 18th century Lloyds of London. She could probably manipulate a primitive stock market to create a crash. Indeed, they would not know what hit them.
JeffM, I don’t think so.
The good madame was a part of the Zion social scene and plenty of Clyntahn’s “allies” would also be “connected” with her.
Clyntahn is paranoid *but* to suspect non-clergy as being part of the “conspiracy” seems unlikely.
Clyntahn is very likely in the same position as a paranoid noble seeing enemies among his fellow nobles *but* ignoring possible enemies outside the nobility.
In addition, IMO somebody like the good madame lacks the apparent power to be a threat to his power and plans.
He would be focusing on people with power either in the clergy or in the secular leadership.
Also, even if he noticed that she retired and left Zion, IMO he would be more concerned about people directly (ie related to) the clergy who left Zion not this woman who’s only apparent connection with the clergy was that she provided a welcome service.
Well, there isn’t a trail of breadcrumbs yet.
Still, a mysterious lady appears in Siddermark. She is wealthy, not very well known in the area but has a paper trail 2 decades long. That sounds to me like one of a national spy network’s ready made personas. Why is such a persona being activated now? Siddermarkian counter intel will begin looking closely if for no other reason than precautionary. Inquisition agents will begin looking to ensure that something Stohnar may be planning does not catch them by surprise.
Such dots may not be connected but will spark a counter intel type to begin looking or asking questions. I doubt Rayno or Clyntahn will place unimafinative fools in Siddermark of all places.
@25 – PeterZ
Which is why I suggested @19 that Ninian ought to identify the CoGA intel/counter-intel group in Siddarmark and either neutralize them by coopting them or terminate them. She could also feed them (the CoGA spies) disinformation that will play hob with military planning, stoke Clyntahn’s paranoia to ever greater heights, or result in diplomatic mis-steps between the Temple and the loyal kingdoms. At the same time, she could infuriate the general population of the Temple Lands by the simple expedient of leaking the truth about all the dirty deeds the Temple leadership has done over the previous many decades (or longer).
@21 – George Phillies
The problems with buying a spy include (a) keeping him bought, and (b) making sure that he or she doesn’t turn again, becoming, in effect, a triple agent. It would be better if Ninian could identify the disaffected and disillusioned spies the Temple has placed in Siddarmark and coopt them in other ways (play on their affections and emotions, or show them that their duty to God means turning against the Go4). If she finds a spy venal enough to want to be bought, she should just make sure that he dies quickly and quietly in a back alley in a seedy part of Siddar City, an unfortunate victim of crime.
@26 Robert H. Woodman
Whoa, when did Ninian become an assassin? I can’t believe that she would want to employ the same kind of methods that she condemns Clynton for.
This is also not an approach that Cayleb, Sharleyan or Merlin would approve of. They had detailed knowledge of individual spies years before and Merlin could have taken dozens out across a wide swath of the entire planet of Safehold in a single night if that were what they wanted to do.
What is the point in taking out an evil if, in the process of doing so, you become that evil?
RT
First, Robert is talking about killing a spy that wants to be “bought” because Robert thinks he couldn’t be trusted to stay bought. That’s different than just killing spies who are spying on you.
On the other hand, I disagree with Robert. Once a spy has been ‘bribed’ to become a “double agent”, then you have a hold on that spy. Of course, a smart person would keep an eye on him to make sure he stays bought.
I’d also note that David Weber has had characters using double agents. Prince Nahrmahn had bribed the Inquisition agent who was spying on him (likely Prince Nahrmahn had tested him carefully).
Besides the moral aspect, history is full of people using double agents with “good” results.
A bribeable spy can be worth more than the money you pay him so killing him *just* because he lets you know he’s bribeable is foolish.
There are five kinds of spies to be used: native spy, inside spy, converted spy, expendable spy and surviving spy.
When you use the five kinds of secret agents simultaneously, the enemy cannot know the principle of their operation. It is divinely intricate and becomes the greatest magic weapon for the sovereign to defeat the enemy.
Native or local spies are those employed from among the enemy’s villagers. Inside spies are those employed from among the enemy’s officials. Converted spies are those employed from among the enemy spies. Expendable spies are our own secret agents, who are deliberately give some false information of ours to report to the enemy. Frequently they would be caught and put to death. Surviving spies are those who come and go between the enemy and us, and return safely with the enemy’s information.
(ps. I’m assuming people realize I’m not trying to claim that is original text!)
You must ascertain those enemy spies who have been sent to conduct espionage against you. Bribe them, exhort and release them to serve you. At last they will become converted spies and work for you.
Through these converted spies, you can obtain information about the enemy and recruit native spies and inside spies. In this way, your expendable spies may convey the false information about your army to the enemy. In the same way, the surviving spies you sent to the enemy may return on schedule and give you information.
A sovereign must know how to use the five types of spies. Such knowledge is necessarily derived from the converted spies, so converted spies should be rewarded generously.
Sun Tzu thought double agents were especially important. I’m sure he would have loved to have had an enemy who refused to use them.
Those in the know (taps nose with forefinger) have access to Machiavelli and presumably Sun Tzu is also in the library computer core to which OWL can refer. So when are we going to see a strategy devised from a Terran model?
@26 Robert
Wow! Ninian as Anisomovna. Wow!
No way!
@27 – Random Thoughts
As Drak said, I’m not advocating assassination willy-nilly just because there are spies in Siddarmark. Double agents (again, as Drak pointed out) have a long and useful history in warfare, and assassination is almost always a poor moral decision.
@28 – Drak
My concern with agents that “want to be bought” is not just that they won’t stay bought but that they may become triple agents, or they may be intentionally seeking to work as a mole within a spy agency. History has shown that moles and triple agents do exist and do create severe problems for the side against which they work. World Wars I and II, the Cold War, and even the ongoing war in Afghanistan have all seen triple agents and moles in operation. The American CIA had a severe problem with the mole Robert Hansen, and the British during the Cold War did as well.
It would be plain foolish of Ninian not to keep an eye on any spy she turns as a double agent, but it would be even more foolish to entertain the advances of a Temple spy who acts as if he or she wants to be bought.
Just my thoughts. Feel free to disagree. :-)
Robert H, how did Prince Nahrmahn know who was the Inquisition spy watching him?
While Nahrmahn is smart enough to “figure out” on his own who the spy is/was, with the corruption within the Church’s ranks the spy might have hinted that he was open to bribery.
Mind you, Ninian is in a different situation from Nahrmahn.
Nahrmahn’s position made him a more reasonable target for Inquisition spies than IMO Ninian would be.
Ninian’s concern would be “is this a real spy and/or why is the Inquistition concerned about me”.
In that situation, killing the “spy” is the last thing she’ll want to do.
Mind you, if he’s a “fake” spy, killing him may be the reasonable thing to do. [Wink]
If he is really working for the Inquistition, she’ll need to get info from him about any possible slip-ups on her part.
So while immediate “trust” will be foolish, just killing him would be even more foolish.
@36 – Drak
I agree generally with you. If Ninian has good counter-intel going, she should be able to figure out who is a real spy and who is a mole or a triple agent. She can then deal with the moles and triple agents (and even double agents from her network who turn for the Temple). On the other hand, the Temple will not put idiots into place for their own counter-intel, which means that Ninian’s counter-intel might not ferret out all the bad actors. And, as I said in an earlier post, the CoGA can screw up repeatedly, but if they get lucky just once and are thinking about what they are doing, Ninian is a dead woman.
That’s why she should have zero trust of anyone who really wants to be bought. Pretending to be a venal, corrupt member of the Temple in order to penetrate Ninian’s spy network as a supposed double agent would be one way to work as a mole inside an enemy spy organization.
Of course, Ninian’s network first has to come to the attention of the Inquisition, but I doubt that any spy network can remain perfectly hidden for the entire life of its operation. Therefore, I believe that eventually Ninian’s network will come to the CoGA’s attention even if her spies manage to remain hidden.
Science News has an article on it that says that giving away the ending to a story helps readers appreciate the story more. The story is at:
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/333505/title/Spoilers_freshen_up_stories
Drak, do you think that this might cause DW and EF to loosen up that snerk collar a bit?
…
I didn’t think so.
:-)
Well Robert H, I’m not going to risk it. [Very Big Grin]
Seriously, on another site I read about some serious flaws in that study.
#38 My experience there is that I skip to the end when “The Book” is badly written and I am just interested enough to want the ending but NOT to read all the crap to get there. When I do that I DO NOT read the whole book.
Is it even possible that she may be aware of the truth to a limited degree ?. After all, she has a paper trail longer than her age would reasonably allow, or so we guess. So perhaps she has had life prolongation treatment. Or, even more possible is that she is the current holder of a name/title or role that was set up many years previously by someone who may have known more than they were supposed to ???.
Any takers !.
Sorry, but IMO Peter, you’re reaching.
Remember, we have text evidence that another character knew her as a baby and that character wasn’t extremely old by Safehold standards.
The “thirty-five” age mention in this snippet was an opinion and she could be closer to forty.
Plus, a woman who’s former profession depended on her looks could use “tools” to make her look younger than she actually is.
We do know that she is good at changing her appearance.
In _A Mighty Fortress_, Merlin marvels at how “different” some of her other personas look from her “Ahnzhelyk Phonda” persona.
Among other things, she is a great actress and actresses/actors have been very good at making themselves appear differently even without high tech.
Clearly the greatest apparent threat to Ahnzhelyk is that someone who knew her as the madame in Zion will recognize her. Let’s not forget she’s EXTREMELY accomplished at “small talking” anyone, so I expect she could easily defuse such a situation.
I imagine it would go something like this:
(Random Vicar, Bishop, etc.) “Madame Ahnzhelyk, what brings you to Siddarmark? Did you bring your lovely ladies with you?”
“Alas, with the current situation in Zion business has taken a turn for the worse,” she explained, taking him by the arm and leading him to a secluded corner. “So I resigned my position and here I am.” (Nice how she presents herself as just a front for the brothel.)
“I’m sorry to hear that. I have fond memories of my visits to your establishment.”
“I’m sure you do!,” she noted, her silvery laugh emphasized by a playful swat on his arm. “But those days are sadly in my past.”
“So what will you do now if I might be so bold,” he asked.
“Socialize of course! It’s what I always enjoyed the most when I was ‘Madame Ahnzhelyk’ You’ll do me the favor of not mentioning my previous employer, won’t you,” she asked, fluttering her eyes and adding an intimate smile.
“Of course Ahnzhelyk, God holds no one accountable for what she must do to survive as long as it hurts no one, and your girls certainly brought me many happy evenings in my times of loneliness!”
“I KNEW I could could on your discretion,” she smiled, patting his arm yada yada yada…
Ahnzhelyk left no paper trail, no trail of bread crumbs. Lots of innocent people are undoubtedly getting out of Zion these days. She WASN’T a target of the inquisition in Zion, and there’s no reason to automatically assume she will be here. Should that happen she’ll simply escape to Charis where she’ll be welcomed with open arms and quickly added to the inner circle.
Let’s not forget, the ONLY ones who know she has a 20 year history in Siddarmark are bankers whose livelihood depends on utter discretion. So although it looks like she’s taking a severe risk by becoming the new social butterfly, she’s merely expanding her contacts in a new country while stabbing those bastards in Zion in the back by spreading documentation of their corruption in the temple lands and probably in Siddarmark. (Behind appropriate levels of concealment of course!)
Nimitz13, one correction in your likely conversation.
Any of her former clients would not call her by her old name until they went to that quiet corner.
They would likely be masters of discretion in general and once they recognized her, they wouldn’t want to “reveal” her former self at least not until they heard her story.
Other than that, I agree with your points. [Smile]
Nimitz13, EVERYONE those bankers completed deals with for her also know her. All the property she bought, investments she made, deals her wealth help finance etc. have to have some paper trail. They would have to have one to ensure that tithes are paid accurately.
I hope that our dear Ninian will not find herself at the recieving end of an inquisition special. I simply suspect that she appears to be rising too closely to visible light and she may be “outed” by a freak coincidence. Her situation is simply too similar to what a cover identity for a spy might be not to inspire inquiry. I would feel much better if after these arrangements are finalized she skeedadles on to Charis and coordinates better with Cayleb, Sharley and Ahbraim.
PeterZ, why would her counterparties know her by either name or face? She surely does business pseudonymously, and it’s all conducted through the bankers anyhow. You don’t really *have* to have both parties physically present to close the deal; her representatives do it for her, and if anyone were so uncouth as to inquire as to the identity of the counterparty, they’d be gently notified that the bank is guaranteeing the deal and that they don’t need to worry about such matters.
I was thinking in terms of the tithe police. Documentation would have to be maintained so that the CoGA could make sure that all parties paid their tithes. I suspect that if the people don’t know her, they would still know her “name” from the transfer papers or deeds and the like.
Not saying that bribes couldn’t be paid. I suspect bribes were paid, but that means someone or ones other than the counter parties know about the transactions. Her paper trail means that she transacted with someone and an official record of it exists somewhere. Otherwise an unscupulous banker could easily steal from his customers or hide his customer’s wealth from the CoGA/secular government.
Re 47
If she’s reasonably adept, she can have been using sufficient shell corporations and such that her real identity is thoroughly masked, with plenty of red herrings salted into the paper trail to cause inquisitors to suspect various transactions really belong to various vicars – who, remember, are exempt from taxation! It could be that what really trips her up is the Go4’s decision to tax the Knights of the Temple Lands (the vicars). This will cause much paperwork examination all over the place – and some of those overturned rocks could produce evidence leading to her.
Exactly so, Peter. However, as I said earlier, I don’t think there is a trail of breadcrumbs leading to her new identity. I only suspect that her movements make discovery more likely. Which is not to say likely at all, only more so than when she worked out of Zion.
David Weber hasn’t given us any info on how the “tithe police” operate but it is possible that they don’t care who the “persona” really is as long as the tithe is paid.
Somebody might have 20 or more different business personas but each persona “pays” the “tithe police”.
Remember that from what little we know, the percentage “tithed” doesn’t increase based on a person’s worth.
So the “tithe police” have no vested interest in finding out who’s behind the business personas.