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He scanned the beach where it broke out from the Islander settlement on the coast and flattened to a grassy plateau at the village perimeter. Security gathered there in their black personnel carriers, waiting for the crowd to tire before it was their turn to work them over. A bloody frenzy this close to the perimeter, and relatively open to beach and bay, might bring in dashers. The sight of a hunt of dashers would disperse the crowd, then security could take down the dashers and hardly wrinkle a crease in their fatigues.
Rico’s visual and electronic sweep of the area detected no signs of security on the pier itself. He had nothing that would detect the high-power listening devices that the Director favored lately.
Crista stared straight ahead as they walked, eyes widely dilated, and Ben took her elbow.
“Tell them before we go that they are all one. Make them understand that they are all the same being and if they cut off their arms and legs they’ll die …”
Ben gripped her elbow and gave it a shake. Rico saw her eyes as she turned to face him. They went from wild, wide and unfocused to normal. Rico noted that Ben was careful and didn’t touch her skin.
“We’re going to Port Hope,” he lied, talking quickly as they walked. “The lake there is beautiful this time of year, and even with the altitude you will find it warm at night. The older Islands are too vulnerable. We have strong loyalties among the Mermen but you can’t move freely in their settlements down under. Our immediate danger is security. The Director’s got spotter planes up all along the coast, particularly near the Preserve. Of course, there are his Skyhawks. At sea we are vulnerable to the kelp,” he paused, and when Crista looked his way he nodded, then continued, “and the Director’s new fleet of foils, some of which he conveniently sold to Vashon security. Of course, we also have his spies among us.”
Rico was relieved. What Ben had said was for the benefit of listening devices, not for Crista Galli. He was sure, by her blank stare, that she had not understood a word.
She shuffled on through the shouts and cries along Pier Four as though she heard nothing. Rico saw that there were more boats burning now, maybe a dozen, and firefighters were trying to push them away from the others. One of the Vashon Security Forces power foils steamed full-tilt toward the blaze from the Preserve side of the water.
The Flying Fish, HoloVision’s private foil, was within sight at the end of the slip. Rico felt the tease of adrenaline in his belly. He hoped that Operations had briefed Elvira, pilot of the Flying Fish. She didn’t much care for sudden changes of plans, and she really didn’t like encounters with Vashon Security.
Elvira was the toughest pilot that HoloVision had ever hired. No one inconvenienced Elvira. To Rico’s knowledge she had no politics, no hobbies, no friends and no religious convictions whatsoever. Her sole passion was to pilot the hottest hydrogen-ram foil in the world as often and as fast as possible. In surface mode she was highly competent; in undersea mode or flight she had no equal in the world. She had flown Ben and Rico in and out of more hot assignments than he could count. This would undoubtedly be the hottest.
Ben caught Rico’s gaze and raised a quizzical eyebrow, nodding toward the girl.
Rico scratched his two-day beard. Crista turned to stare past him at the crowd that now had worked its way up the pier, gathering bodies and momentum, and was now fanning out into the streets of Kalaloch.
Everyone who was to remember this event recalled that the morning air split with a crack like summer thunder, or a whip. No echo, not a breath of breeze. Even a cluster of fussing children nearby silenced themselves in their mother’s skirts.
Rico touched a fingertip to each of his ears, acutely conscious of the scratchings at each contour, each follicle and fold. If a shock wave had hit his ears, they’d still be ringing.
She did that in my … in our minds!
Crista felt the sudden clap of stillness crack with her anger. She was glad that Ben and Rico were the first to recover, though what she saw in their eyes was clearly fear. The mob had stopped, momentarily stunned and looking about for a weapon, then it boiled anew at the onslaught of the truckloads of Vashon Security that came to meet it.
Crista spun away from them and boarded the Flying Fish, still affecting the wide-beamed walk of the largely pregnant. She stood on the deck, beside the cabin hatchway, hugging herself and looking out to sea. The children started fussing again, stunned villagers rubbed their ears and began to move. Rico noticed that the boat fires had spread to the pier itself and some of the shops. Both ferries at the slip had submerged, empty, for safety. Rico approached Crista at the rail while Ben cast off the lines.
“This was coming for months,” Rico said, “you could tell by the feel in the streets. They’ve had enough. It’s too soon, and they’re not organized. It will fail, for them. Some will be drawn out after us. Some, to the harbor. Others, to the attack that is inevitable inside the settlement. That will leave the Preserve weak …”
“It’s too well-protected,” she said, her voice matter-of-fact. “They will fail.”
She fixed Rico with those striking green eyes. He noticed, once again, that they were dilated in spite of the sunlight.
“I know how you felt now, back there, when you were so afraid of my touch.” She smoothed the dress over her makeshift belly. “What I know of the Shadows and what you know of me are the same. I only know what Flattery told me. I don’t know whether you should fear my touch. Do you know whether I should fear yours?”
When he didn’t answer she turned and shuffled into the cabin of the HoloVision foil in silence.
Chapter 13
Evil is in the eye of the beholder.
—Spider Nevi, special assistant to the Director
Lights had been suitably dimmed in the Director’s holo suite, and one tight spotlight illuminated his face from below. This effect accentuated Flattery’s height, nearly a head taller than the average Pandoran, and it added an imperiousness to his stature that pleased him.
An empty holo cassette teetered across the red armrest of his favorite recliner. One fluorescent orange sticker on the cassette read “For Eyes Only,” and under that was handwritten: “TD, S. Nevi only.” Under that was stamped in black: “Extreme Penalty.” Flattery smiled at the euphemism. At his direction, all those who violated the “Extreme Penalty” sanction became the homework of Spider Nevi’s apprentice interrogators. Messy business, security.
“Mr. Nevi,” he acknowledged, with a nod.
“Mr. Director.”
As usual, Spider Nevi’s face was unreadable, even to Flattery’s expert training as a Chaplain/Psychiatrist. Nevi had been prompt, unhurried, arriving in a snappy gray cut of a Merman lounging suit right at the first blood of dawn.
“Zentz hasn’t found them,” Flattery said. His voice was clipped, betraying more anger than he wished.
“It was Zentz who lost them,” Nevi countered.
Flattery grunted. He hadn’t needed the reminder, especially from Nevi.
“You find them,” he said, and jabbed a finger at the air between them. “Bring back the girl, wring what you can from the others. Save Ozette for a special occasion. He’s at the bottom of
this Shadowbox and they’ve got to be shut down now.”
Nevi nodded, and the agreement was struck. Bounty would be worked out later, as usual. Nevi’s terms were always reasonable, even on difficult matters, because he liked his work. His was the kind of work that might go unpracticed if it weren’t for the Director.
Every art has its canvas, Flattery thought.
“The airstrip is secure,” Nevi said. “There were preparations for them there, including a half- dozen collaborators, so we have cut them off. Solid intelligence. Zentz’s men are turning the usual screws in the village. They will be forced to move the girl soon. Overland is out, that would be insane. It would have to be by water, and under diversion to get out of here. My guess would be Victoria. It would pay to wait and make as big a sweep as possible, don’t you think?”
“You have the docks under watch?”
“Of course. The HoloVision foil is bugged, a precaution. Your sensor system is now keyed into it.” Nevi glanced at the clock on Flattery’s console. “You should be able to tune them in just about any time.”
Flattery shifted slightly in his command couch, betraying his uneasiness at this loss of control. Nevi was second-guessing his moves, and he didn’t like it.
“Well,” Flattery said, splitting his face with a smile, “this is magnificent! We will have them all—and you will be rewarded for this. Zentz grumbles that you steal away his best men but, dammit, you get the job done.” He slapped his palm on the tabletop and held the smile.
Spider Nevi’s expression did not change, and he said nothing. His only response was the barest perceptible nod of his horrible head. The shape of it was more or less normal, except for the mucous slit where the nose should be. Nevi’s dark skin was shot through with a glowing web work of red veins. His dark eyes glittered, missed nothing.
