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“A—a friend,” Scudi said. “Brett Norton.”
Gallow looked Brett over in the dim red light, then turned back to Scudi. “He looks almost normal, but he’s still a Mute. Your daddy would haunt you!” He spoke over his shoulder. “Have a look, Nakano.”
The slop-slop of wet footsteps sounded behind Gallow as Nakano turned back down the passage. He reappeared presently and spoke a single word: “Empty.”
“Just the two of them,” Gallow said. “Out for a little cruise in one of the big boats. How sweet.”
“Why do you need a doctor?” Scudi asked.
“Full of questions, aren’t we,” Gallow said.
“At least we have the foil,” the second man said.
“That we have, Nakano,” Gallow said.
Nakano pressed past Gallow into the cockpit and Brett got a full view of the man. He was a hulking figure, his upper arms as thick as some human torsos. The scarred face filled Brett with a sense of foreboding.
Gallow strode forward to one of the command seats. He bent to read the instruments. “We watched you coming in,” he said. He turned and sent a baleful glare at Scudi. “You were in one big hurry and then you stopped. That’s very interesting for someone in an empty foil. What’re you doing?”
Scudi looked at Brett, who blushed. Nakano guffawed. “Oh, my,” Gallow taunted, “love nests get more elaborate every year. Yes, yes.”
“Disgusting.” Nakano laughed, and clicked his tongue.
“There’s a watch-alert out on this foil, Scudi Wang,” Gallow said. His manner sobered too quickly for Brett’s comfort. “You stole it. What do you think, Nakano? Looks like the Green Dashers have captured a couple of desperadoes.”
Brett looked at the grotesque green dive suits on the two Mermen. Blotches and splashes and lines of green spilled over from their suits into patterns painted on their faces.
“Green Dashers?” Scudi asked.
“We are the Green Dashers,” Gallow said. “These suits are the perfect camouflage underwater, particularly around the kelp. And we spend a lot of time in kelp, right Nakano?”
Nakano grunted, then said: “We should’ve let the kelp finish us. We—”
Gallow silenced him with a flicking gesture. “We secured our outpost with one sub and a handful of men. It’d be a pity to waste such talent in the kelp.”
Brett saw that Gallow was one of those types who love to hear themselves talk—more, he was one of those who loved to brag.
“With one little sub and this foil,” Gallow said with a sweep of his hand, “we can make sure there’s never any more land than we can control. You don’t have to be in charge to run the show. Just ruin it for those who do. People will have to come swimming up to me soon enough.”
Scudi took a deep, relaxing breath. “Is Kareen one of you?”
Gallow’s eyes shifted and almost met Scudi’s. “She’s … insurance …”
“Safe deposit box,” Nakano blurted, and both men laughed in that loud way men have when they crack a crude or cruel joke.
Brett realized from Scudi’s deep sigh that she was relieved at Gallow’s bragging. Were her doubts about her father’s involvement with Gallow finally laid to rest?
“What about the doctor?” Nakano asked.
Darkness had settled over the ocean and the cockpit was illuminated only by the red telltales and instrument lights on the console. A macabre red glow filled the space around the two Mermen. They stood near the control seats, put their heads close together and whispered while Scudi and Brett fidgeted. Brett kept eyeing the hatchway where the Mermen had entered. Was there a chance to escape down there to the main hatch? But Guemes had been destroyed by a sub. These Mermen had not swum here from the Launch Base. Their sub lay nearby, probably directly beneath the foil’s hull. And they needed a doctor.
“I think you need us,” Brett said.
“Think?” Gallow asked with a patronizing lift of his eyebrows. “Mutes don’t think.”
“You have an injury, somebody needs a doctor,” Brett said. “How do you intend to get help?”
“He’s quick for a Mute,” Gallow said.
“And you’re not strong enough to go in and take a doctor from Launch Base,” Brett said. “But you could trade us for a doctor.”
“Ryan Wang’s daughter could be traded,” Gallow said. “You’re fishbait.”
“If you hurt Brett, I won’t cooperate,” Scudi said.
“Cooperate?” Gallow snorted. “Who needs cooperation?”
“You do,” Brett said.
“Nakano will break you two into small pieces if I give the order,” Gallow said. “That’s cooperation.”
Brett went silent, studying the two men in that blood-red light. Why were they delaying? They said they needed a doctor. Twisp had always said you had to look beyond words when dealing with people who postured and bragged. Gallow certainly fitted that description. Nakano seemed to be something else—a dangerous unknown. Twisp liked to probe such people with outrageous questions or statements.
“You don’t need just any doctor,” Brett said. “You want a particular doctor.” Both Mermen focused startled glances on Brett.
“What have we here?” Gallow muttered. The smile he flashed across the dark cabin did not disarm Brett in the least.
Nervous, Brett thought. Keep looking. He knew the Merman fear that Islanders had mutated into telepathy, and played on it.
Nakano said, “Do you think—”
“No!” Gallow warned.
Brett caught a bare flicker of hesitation in Gallow’s face, which did not show in the voice. The man had superb control of his voice. It was his tool for manipulation, along with his ready smile.
“That other foil should be along soon,” Nakano said.
A particular foil with a particular doctor and a particular cargo, Brett thought. He glanced at Scudi. Her tired face was clear to him in the dim lights of the cockpit.
“You don’t need us as a trade, you need us as a diversion,” Brett said. He held his fingertips to his temples, repressing an excited smile.
One of Gallow’s eyebrows lifted, a dark ripple in the smeared green of the camouflage.
“I don’t like this,” Nakano said. There was fear in the big man’s voice.
“He’s thought something out,” Gallow said. “That’s all. Look at him. Almost normal. Maybe he has a brain after all.”
“But he’s hit on—”
“Drop it, Nakano!” Gallow kept his attention on Brett. “Why would we need you as a diversion?”
Brett dropped his hands and allowed the smile. “It’s pretty simple. You didn’t know we were the ones on this boat. It’s dark out there and all you saw was a foil. Period.”
“Pretty good for a Mute,” Gallow said. “Maybe there’s hope for you.”
“You had to go forward and look at the identification plate on the control console before you realized this was the foil on watch-alert.”
Gallow nodded. “Go on.?
??
“You hoped it was another foil, a particular one,” Brett said. “The other one will have a Security force aboard. You came in armed and ready for that.”
Nakano relaxed, visibly relieved. Obviously, this reasoning had eliminated his fear of telepathy.
“Interesting,” Gallow said. “Is there more?”
“So now we’re waiting for the other foil,” Brett said. “Why else waste time with us? If the Security force jumps aboard to capture Scudi and me, that’s your opportunity.”
“Opportunity for what?” Gallow’s tone said he was enjoying this. Nakano returned to his fidgeting.
“You want someone in particular on that other foil,” Brett said. “A doctor. And you want the cargo. Now, you see the opportunity to get not only that but two foils intact. And you would’ve had to wreck the other foil to stop it because all you have is a sub.”
“You know, I might be able to use you,” Gallow said. “You want to join up?”
Brett spoke without thinking. “I’d sooner swim in shit.”
Gallow’s face tightened, his body went rigid. Nakano snickered. Slowly, Gallow’s face returned to its political best. But there was a mad light in his eyes, a red reflection that made Brett sorry he’d spoken at all.
Scudi edged away from Brett toward the command seats, moving as though she feared the consequences of his comment.
Nakano moved closer to Gallow and bent to whisper something into the Merman’s ear. Even as he whispered, Nakano shot a kick at Scudi’s hand, which had moved toward the eject lever between the command seats.
Scudi leaped back with a cry of pain, holding her wrist tight to her chest.
Brett started to step toward Nakano, but the big Merman put up a warning hand. “Easy, kid,” he said. “I just stung her. Nothing’s broken.”
“She was going for the eject lever,” Gallow said. There was genuine surprise in his voice. He glared at Scudi. Both men stood on a light seam that divided the forward part of the cabin from the rear.
