Tarlo
Names: TarloChief
First appears in Book 1: Pandora's Star, chapter 3 (TWO)
Appearances
What you know
Book 1: Pandora's Star
- Ch 3Police officer who had watched the dealership for three weeks and insisted he saw arms go into the warehouse.
- Ch 7Tarlo is an eighty-two-year-old Directorate Investigator from Los Angeles who looks like a teenage surfer and enjoys covert operations.
- Ch 7An SCD Investigator who suspects something is wrong with the Guardians case, wondering whether memory edits or inside knowledge explain their long luck.
- Ch 7He was on Velaines with Renne, where an operation run strictly by the book still tipped off the Guardians.
- Ch 20Tarlo is Paula's deputy on the operation; his laid-back California attitude fits in with Venice Coast.
- Ch 22Tarlo leads Paula's surveillance box team; he thinks Stig spotted him leaving the washroom, and he was also on the Venice Coast operation.
Book 2: Judas Unchained
- Ch 1Tarlo is Renne's partner, a handsome naval officer who flirts with witnesses and dismisses her suspicions as conspiracy thinking.
- Ch 2Hogan's lieutenant who leads Squad H; he is baffled how the assassin slipped past them.
- Ch 2Renne's colleague who reveals that their boss is receiving all their case data, to Hogan's irritation.
- Ch 2Tarlo argues the Mars operation must be investigated immediately and is tracing the assassin's wetwired equipment.
- Ch 3Tarlo stays on Boongate to gather source, route and finance data on the shipment while Renne returns to Paris.
- Ch 4Tarlo requested a warrant to trace a hundred thousand Earth dollars sent from Shaw-Hemmings on Tolaka into Kazimir's account.
- Ch 4Tarlo's tag glows brighter on the LA Galactic simulation, and Paula is troubled by the thought he may be the double agent.
- Ch 6Tarlo is Hogan's deputy, enthusiastic and unintimidated, and Wilson prefers him; he drives the transRover.
- Ch 6Tarlo visited Mars; forensic teams found the encrypted data in the Reynolds arrays was all meteorological sensor data from across Mars.
- Ch 8Tarlo reports that money in the Shaw-Hemmings case came from DRNG government bonds issued thirty years ago and delivered by hand to a finance company on Tolaka.
- Ch 8Tarlo is a young officer in a navy uniform who spends his nights at a Paris club and is loyal to Paula on the surface.
- Ch 8Paula asks Tarlo to review Cox Educational accounts on file in the Paris office, and he agrees to do so tomorrow.
- Ch 10Tarlo leads a navy team investigating Robin Beard, making the case a priority and threatening the local police with suspension for failure.
- Ch 10Tarlo secretly warned Bernadette Halgarth by encrypted message that she was under observation; Paula concludes he is a Starflyer agent.
- Ch 10Tarlo brutally punched the arrested mechanic Robin Beard in an interview room and prepared to inject him with a painamp drug.
- Ch 10Tarlo intimidates Beard with a pain-enhancing infuser patch and a broken nose, forcing him to arrange a meeting with the Agent.
- Ch 10Tarlo is unmasked as a Starflyer traitor by Paula Myo; he warned Bernadette Halgarth that Renne's team was watching her, then escaped the arrest attempt.
- Ch 10Tarlo has served over two decades in the Paris office and has unregistered armament wetwiring, with which he fought off the arrest squad.
- Ch 10Tarlo is a Starflyer agent with dangerous capabilities who may show up at the Agent meeting; force field suits are advised against him.
- Ch 10Tarlo, a traitor in an armor suit, spares Alic but flies off with the Agent's severed head.
- Ch 13Tarlo is wanted by a Commonwealth-wide police alert, described as heavily wetwired and extremely dangerous.
- Ch 13Tarlo arrives at Boongate station in a stolen limousine containing a man whose neck was snapped.
- Ch 13Tarlo, taken over by the Starflyer and heavily wetwired, is at Boongate's Far Away section seizing its defense systems and force field.
- Ch 13Tarlo is a traitor and double agent who tried to kill Hogan on Illuminatus; Hogan claims he is a Starflyer agent.
- Ch 14Tarlo is a confirmed traitor, a navy officer found on Boongate, who could prove or disprove the Starflyer legend.
- Ch 14Tarlo is a rogue navy intelligence officer in the Paris office, who was on Illuminatus, is a critical Starflyer agent, and is on Boongate.
- Ch 14A Starflyer agent reported by Edmund Li as having taken over the whole Far Away section at Boongate station.
- Ch 14Tarlo shoots Edmund Li in the head with an ion pistol after Edmund fails to disable the generator.
- Ch 14Tarlo's shots at the generator accidentally struck the power injector Edmund was meant to hit, shutting down the force field.
- Ch 14Tarlo took the head of the Agent on Illuminatus, including its memorycell, giving the Starflyer a database on Adam's activities.
- Ch 14Tarlo says his part is over and the Starflyer within him is waiting for Vic to kill him.
- Ch 14Tarlo claims the Guardians getting through to Half Way was his success, and that Qatux has already gone through.
Connections
- member ofIntersolar Serious Crimes Directorate
- ally ofMaggie Lidseyfellow officers
- ally ofRenne KempasaDirectorate partners
- member ofPaula Myoserves as her deputy on the operation
- led byPaula Myo
- member ofAlic HoganLieutenant under Hogan
- related toAlic Hogansubordinate investigator
- leadsGwyneth Russell
- leadsJim Nwan
- ally ofLucius Lee
- member ofStarflyerPaula Myo says he works for the Starflyer
- enemy ofPaula Myo
- enemy ofAlic Hogan
- enemy ofEdmund LiEdmund hides from Tarlo, a wanted dangerous man
- related toStarflyertaken over by the Starflyer
- enemy ofVic Russell
Key moments
- Book 1 · Ch 3Paula briefs Tokat police
Paula Myo arrives on Velaines and sets up surveillance on Murphy and Elvin with Tokat detectives, aiming to catch the arms exchange.
- Book 1 · Ch 3Failed warehouse raid
Police tactical squad storms Rachael Lancier's warehouse expecting arms and Adam, but finds only staged crates and a toast; the taxi is empty. Maggie realizes they were deceived.
- Book 1 · Ch 7Investigators reach Port Launay
Tarlo and Renne travel with a forensics team to Nzega after a case breaks, drive to Port Launay, and Tarlo talks the local police into letting them through past reporters.
- Book 1 · Ch 7Interview with April Halgarth
Renne and Tarlo interview April at the beach cottage on Nzega, learning how Alberto Rasanto seduced and drugged her and how the Guardians used a memory edit and hack to steal her certificate.
- Book 1 · Ch 7Tarlo voices doubts about the Guardians case
Outside, Tarlo suggests the Guardians' long luck is unnatural and may involve memory edits used on the Directorate; Renne dismisses it, and they bet ten dollars on whether forensics will find a clue.
- Book 1 · Ch 20Surveillance of the Nystol Gallery
Paula and Tarlo sit at a café reviewing the target, a gallery fronting arms dealer Rigin's purchases of restricted components matching Adam Elvin's shipment pattern.
- Book 1 · Ch 22Stig shakes the box and ditches the software
Warned by Gareth's signal, Stig evades the navy surveillance, flushes the memory crystal in a washroom, retrieves his emergency bag and takes a taxi.
- Book 1 · Ch 22Paula's team tracks Stig to Del Rey Marina
Paula arrives at LA Galactic and coordinates a CST, navy and LAPD team following Stig through LA to the Del Rey Marina, while Senator Burnelli calls with news.
- Book 1 · Ch 22Target escapes through Venice marina
Paula's target jumps into the water at the marina; the police launch a large search, but Stig later reaches Kazimir's house exhausted.
- Book 2 · Ch 1Investigating the Daroca victim
Renne and Tarlo interview Trisha and her flatmates about Howard Liang, a Guardians operative, and arrange forensic sweeps. Renne senses the setup repeats earlier Guardians cases.
- Book 2 · Ch 1Paula Myo removed
Back at the Paris office, Admiral Columbia dismisses Paula Myo, who leaves with her belongings while staff look on stunned. Columbia then calls in Commander Hogan.
- Book 2 · Ch 2Assassin escapes the Carralvo junction
After killing Kazimir, the force-field-suited assassin flees, aided by a kaos attack that cripples the network. Navy squads and CST teams chase him onto the tracks but cannot find him after a two-hour search.
- Book 2 · Ch 2Paris office tensions
A day later, in Paris, Renne and Tarlo discuss Baron's leak and learn that their boss is watching all case data.
- Book 2 · Ch 2Progress meeting on the Guardians case
Alic chairs a meeting where his team reports on the unidentified assassin, the Mars data, Cufflin and McFoster's finances; he promises a warrant and asks the observatory to contact the Mars station.
- Book 2 · Ch 3Suspicious shipment found on Boongate
Renne and Tarlo visit the Boongate freight warehouse and find crates of farm machinery with heavy-duty superconductors, some records missing; Tarlo stays to investigate while Renne returns to Paris.
- Book 2 · Ch 4Hogan presents Rowden theory
Hogan, citing Cortese's facial match, declares the assassin Francis Rowden a Guardian enforcer; Renne privately doubts it.
- Book 2 · Ch 6Expedition returns to Mars
Wilson, Anna, Nigel and a navy team pass through the old CST gateway to Arabia Terra. Wilson sees the wrecked Eagle II and cargo landers, and searches for the lost flag.
- Book 2 · Ch 6Hogan reins in Renne
At lunch Hogan orders Renne to stop pursuing Isabella Halgarth and assigns her and Tarlo to investigate the meteorological data from Mars.
- Book 2 · Ch 8Hogan and Tarlo discuss leads
Tarlo reports a lead on DRNG bonds used to fund the Guardians; Hogan will ask the Admiral's office to request treasury records.
- Book 2 · Ch 8Paula tests Tarlo at the club
Paula finds Tarlo at a Paris club and asks him to check old Cox Educational accounts, citing a tip-off and Baron's possible involvement, asking secrecy. She is secretly testing his trustworthiness.
- Book 2 · Ch 10Navy team pressures Tridelta police
Tarlo, Gwyneth and Jim meet Marhol and Lucius, confirm Beard fits the car thief, make it a priority navy case, and coerce Marhol into revealing where his informant drinks.
- Book 2 · Ch 10Paula's team detects Tarlo's warning
Hoshe reports that Tarlo sent an encrypted warning to Bernadette after Renne's call; Paula decides to monitor both and arrest Tarlo later.
- Book 2 · Ch 10Tarlo interrogates Beard
Tarlo breaks Beard's nose in an interview room and prepares to drug him with painamp while Lucius watches uneasily.
- Book 2 · Ch 10Tarlo coerces Beard
Tarlo threatens Beard with a painful infuser patch, forcing him to cooperate and set up a meeting with the Agent on Illuminatus.
- Book 2 · Ch 10Attempted arrest of Tarlo
Paula Myo's team attacks Tarlo's room next to Gwyneth's; Tarlo fights back with plasma, wounds Gwyneth and escapes.
- Book 2 · Ch 10Standoff and ambush at Treetops
Alic's team confronts the Agent in a standoff. Three jetpack-armored attackers blast Treetops apart with plasma, kill the Agent, and Tarlo escapes with the Agent's head.
- Book 2 · Ch 13Tarlo arrives at Boongate station
Edmund Li, watching the broadcast, sees Tarlo arrive in a limousine with a murdered man inside and hides.
- Book 2 · Ch 13Tarlo found at Boongate
Edmund Li reports Tarlo seizing control of the Far Away section; Alic promises rescue and plans to petition the Admiral.
- Book 2 · Ch 13Hogan wins approval to pursue Tarlo
Hogan convinces the Admiral to open the Boongate wormhole so his team can arrest Tarlo, on condition of secrecy and staying behind if wrong.
- Book 2 · Ch 14Columbia briefs Oscar
Admiral Columbia tells Oscar he now believes the Starflyer threat and sends him to ask Nigel Sheldon to open the wormhole for an arrest team after Tarlo.
- Book 2 · Ch 14Oscar's request approved
Nigel Sheldon agrees to let an arrest team go through the Boongate wormhole to capture Tarlo, on the condition of secrecy and that memory data goes through his operation.
- Book 2 · Ch 14Edmund Li killed, force field falls
Edmund reaches the generator but has lost his pistol. Tarlo shoots the generator, dropping the force field, then kills Edmund.
- Book 2 · Ch 14Gateway destroyed and Tarlo killed
After the Guardians pass, explosions wreck the wormhole generator. Vic confronts Tarlo, who says the trap succeeded, then shoots him dead.