Ianthe addressed herself to Giantprick, trying to ignore the argument between Pete and the boss' android retinue. She slid into a chair.<span style="color: mediumturquoise">"As I mentioned when I called, the explosive was 'Big Bang'. There's two interesting things about that. First, it's discriminating: the charge was just big enough to bring down a building without a lot of collateral damage. That suggests the bomber was somebody who <i>just</i> wanted to take out the target, and avoid injuring or killing innocents. They wanted to take out the research facility, but nothing else."</span><br/><br/><span style="color: mediumturquoise">"Second,"</span>she went on, after pausing briefly to let the first point sink in,<span style="color: mediumturquoise">"Big Bang is hard to come by. Short of stealing it from the military, the Syndicate is the best source of the stuff; the Pirate Queen prefers to deal in gene-mods than explosives. That tells us two things. For one thing, that your bomber probably acquired the explosives from you, which is why I asked to for your lieutenant. I want to know who he's been selling to, lately. I want to know whether any of your inventory has gone missing, and who might have taken it. But it also tells us that your bomber is smart enough to use a device that's going to get traced back to you by anybody who does her homework. Somebody who didn't want to just rely on the Pirate Queen's knee-jerk reaction, in case they value this peace as much as you do."</span><br/><br/>She held up a hand to forestall a response to any of that.<span style="color: mediumturquoise">"But there's something else. The bomb was on a remote detonator. According to my expert, that makes it more likely the bomber was a woman. And whoever it was, she didn't want to rely on a timer: she was there, watching the facility, waiting for just the right moment to set the bomb off."</span><br/><br/><span style="color: mediumturquoise">"So."</span>She leaned back in her chair, folding her arms across her chest.<span style="color: mediumturquoise">"Do we know anybody who fits the bill? A woman, probably someone with a fierce grudge against the Syndicate, who wants to get some revenge by setting you up for starting a gang war -- but who doesn't want to hurt innocents along the way. Somebody who begged, borrowed, or stole some Big Bang from you recently. The only person I can think of is your bartender, who pointedly warned me that your people might try to rape and murder me, and then when I asked her who might be responsible for the bombing pointed me in about a thousand different useless directions. Could she have gotten her hands on some of this stuff, and then managed to sneak it inside that building?"</span><div class="messageTextEndMarker"> </div>