She forced a smile. “Don’t leave me in suspense.”
“Muy bien. I have just had a talk with the captain, and failed to persuade him. He will not wait to take us or anyone else off from Hawaii to refuge. He’ll debark us where we want and set home immediately. I think he’s uneasy about us, and I can’t blame him. He did offer to call his comandante and let me request different orders, but that would be ridiculously risky.”
“Of course.” Kyra remembered they must watch their language. Anyplace aboard could be bugged. “We touched on this that night in Portland, but only in passing. Do you think you could take whoever might need it into hiding?”
“I told you I’m not familiar with Hawaii, it’s another area where I’ve simply been a tourist. My brotherhood has little if anything to do with the Honolulu Kings. But ... if you’ll advise me—”
“I don’t know any holes to vanish into.”
“We can talk about where you’ve been, what you’ve seen and heard. That’s information. Those other people should have more. Probably then I can keep us under cover for a while, not in any one spot but shifting about. Not a very long while if we’re hunted by professionals, and no guarantees whatsoever, but I’ll try my best.”
“We may not be in a position to renew your contract when it expires.”
His smile glistened fleetingly in the night-veiled face. Eyes and jewel caught starlight. “I’ll trust you to make it retroactive afterward.”
“Mil gracias, Nero.” Again she caught his hand, this time with both of hers and not letting go.
“Loco scheme,” he grumbled. Or, no, did he tease her? “The plug-in part, maybe, just barely. But the neosophs—” He broke off.
She noticed how her grasp clung and how softly he returned the pressure. “Don’t you see, it’s our best bet because it is wild?”
At any rate, so Guthrie deemed. “We’ve got to diddle not only the dicks but my altered ego,” he had said. “Kamehameha will be closely secured, since he knows what I’d most like is to get back into space. Therefore the smart thing for me to do is try slipping into a free country on Earth. Therefore the Sepo will concentrate on holding me inside Union borders till they can find me. Well, anti-Guthrie knows how I think and feel, but he doesn’t know how I was warned, how my escape was engineered, who my companions are, or what they’re capable of. Accordingly, chilluns, the most obvious move for us to make becomes the least obvious and gives us our best chance. It’s not the kind cf odds you could live by making book on, but we’ll play them.”
“And being wild, it appeals to you,” Valencia told Kyra. The waves laughed around them both. “Bueno, I confess it does to me also.”
She decided she’d better release his hand, and did, and wondered why. “We’ll bring it off, Nero.” The words shivered.
“Would you care to start telling me about your Hawaiian furloughs?” he asked. What was that, wariness or practicality or what?
“I suppose I can.”
“Not a briefing or a strategy session. We needn’t spoil this night.” And it might be counterproductive, or dangerous if they had listeners, she thought. Now why did that idea seem ungracious? “Only reminisce, if you will.”
Guilt left her. “Oh, dear, where should I begin?” she jested.
“Wherever you like.” He leaned elbows on sill and gazed outward. Light from sky and sea limned his profile against the dark. “Possibly at a sight like this?”
“M-m, I recall a time—” She imitated his stance. Their elbows touched, a nexus of warmth in sea-cool air. “A friend and I, we’d arranged for a ride in an outrigger canoe—”
He led her on. Sometimes he related experiences he had had; his too could be gentle. Though he asked for nothing intimate, memories welled up that she came near to sharing. She took the impulse out in discourse of blossoms, rain forest, merriments, sand and surf and the bright small lives around a coral reef. Presently she was speaking of the Keiki Moana. Why not? They were off limits to outsiders, but everybody knew of them and had seen documentaries or read books. Everybody knew as well that Fireball occasionally allowed its folk to call on its wards.
“—swimming close to the raft when a pair of dolphins— O-o-oh!”
Still full, the Moon rose aft. Sudden silver flew across the ocean to cast halos upon heads. Kyra felt herself lean against Valencia and lay an arm around his waist.
He tautened. “Ah, Pilot Davis—”
“Outrageously beautiful,” she said from down in her throat.
“Yes. M-m, can you find Alpha Centauri for me?”
“I, I think we’re too far north yet. Why?”
“Chain of association.” Guthrie.
“Who cares? Demeter, only live planet we’ve reached, yes, but primitive and doomed and all it does is make me wonder what everything means if life is so rare an accident.” Kyra drew breath. Her blood thrummed. “What it means is that it is, no? We’re here for a little while, we’re here tonight, you and I, and that can be enough. We can make it be, can’t we?” She lifted her lips toward his.
His response was not altogether steady. “Pilot Davis, I explained about relationships with clients.”
She grinned. “Suppose the client starts it?”
“Policy—”
Her spark of mirth went out. “Nero, listen, I’m not a bold buccaneer. Nor am I a coward, but down underneath right now I’m scared and lonely and in want of comforting.”
His eyes met hers. “I’m not sure whether I believe that,” he said. “I think too well of you, Kyra.”
Joy kindled anew. She brought her hands up—his hair was springy between her fingers—and tugged downward. “Besides,” she whispered after a while, “the loping of this deck underneath us is almighty sexy.”
* * * *
21
T
he man seated before the desk was gray-haired but trim as a boy, straight as a drive shaft. Pale eyes were set deep in a face seamed and craggy. Colonel’s insignia and action ribbons brightened the crisp uniform. “Subject to the vital interests of my country, I am under your orders, sir,” he agreed.
“That shouldn’t cause us any problem, seeing as how your government assigned you and your detachment to me,” new Guthrie replied. “About those men, though. I know you by reputation.” Old Guthrie would. Sayre had provided an account. “You can be trusted to do your job, do it well, and keep your mouth shut afterward. But can your men, every last one of them?”
“I chose them myself, sir,” Felix Holden told him.
“Okay, that’s good enough for me.” Perforce. “But I underline, the bunch of you have got to be discreet. Not just reliable but tactful. Or, at least, not aggravating. When my consejeros find out I’ve engaged space-trained members of the North American Security Police for special duty, the excrement will hit the blower. I’ll have to talk them out of mutinying and then smooth the collective feathers of Fireball. Don’t make that harder for me than it has to be.”
“I understand, sir. May I ask how you propose to explain our mission?”
“The simplest way. Begin with the truth, that our personnel aren’t trained in police work, never having had to do more than stop the occasional fight or nab the very rare thief, swindler, et cetera. They’ll ask me, if we need detectives to help against terrorists who’ve infiltrated us, why not borrow them from some other country than the Union—in spacer eyes, some free country? I’ll answer that it’s because your corps is the one that knows the situation, that’s actually wrestling with it, and we haven’t time to educate anybody else. I’ll say that I’m not fond of the idea myself, but in this emergency I don’t see any choice.
“I can talk my people around. Iam their jefe, the founder of this whole shebang, the figure they’ve looked up to all their lives, like their parents and grandparents and maybe great-grandparents before them. I repeat, though, your boys can make it impossible for me, and might not survive what follows. You aren’t dealing with meek taxpayers any more. Spacers are an in
dependent, stiff-necked, hot-blooded squall of cats.”
Holden cracked a smile. “I expected you’d say what you have, sir. Don’t worry. My corps aren’t the high-handed bullies of the popular stories. Por favor, credit us with more competence than that. We’ll stay in the background, speak low, and not throw our weight around unless it becomes absolutely necessary. If it does, we’ll keep our action to the minimum of what seems required.”
“Fine. Now let’s get specific. You’re our provision against the possibility that our object of search will escape into space. It’s remote, but I wouldn’t put anything past me. Should that happen, he can’t, realistically, aim for any place but L-5 or the Moon. I want a unit of yours at each facility, under an officer whom you’ll have told what to look out for. I’m assuming you have two officers who can be trusted with a secret that explosive. I’ll order the Fireball folk to cooperate with them. How soon can they and their detachments go?”
“Within an hour after I return to them from here.”
“Hoo, you really are good at what you do! I can’t arrange transport for them quite that fast. Ecuador spaceport’s always busy, you know. However, they should be at their stations tomorrow.
“You stay in Quito, Colonel, with a few men, the pick of the pick. You’ll be in reserve against the bottom-worst case, the one that’d call for desperate measures.”
Discussion became swift and incisive.
Holden rose, saluted the robot body, and wheeled about. His heels clacked on the floor.
When he was gone, Guthrie called Sayre in Futuro. “Your collie dog and I have just had an interesting conversation,” he said. “I believe we can keep things under control at my end. How’re they going at yours?”
“The quarry is still at large,” Sayre answered redundantly. After a moment: “Deep-quizzing a suspect who was brought in has established that his hiding place was the Erie-Ontario site. The suspect’s memory of events around the time of our raid was irretrievably wiped out by a drug. Otherwise the only indications we have suggest the download was spirited off to Portland, but they may be coincidental or may have been managed for the purpose of laying a false scent. Presumably he’ll try to get into Mexico, and we’re drawing the mesh especially tight along that border, but he may get past somehow.”
“Or he may double back,” Guthrie suggested.
“Yes. He’s not without resources inside the Union. He couldn’t have eluded us like this unless people helped him. By now, perhaps a number of people, some of whom have probably been told the facts about him. Any of them could at any time try to make the matter public, and might succeed.”
“Yeah. From your viewpoint, the second worst nightmare. What have you got planned to cope with it?”
“Denial, of course. Arrest them as nihilists and hold them incommunicado, or dead. You will join in the denial.”
“It’s customary to say, ‘Will you, por favor, Sr. Guthrie?’“
“I . . . apologize. The stress on me ... is considerable.”
“I may want to produce my spare self in evidence, newly awakened after his return from Alpha Cen. Is that copy ready?”
“Not quite. The software, naturally. But the hardware, an exact duplicate of something that was custom-made— Give us another two or three days. Then we’ll have him back in Fireball’s Northwest building where he was stowed before.”
“That should do. For my part, I’ll put it to the company, ‘Who’re you going to believe, me or a few homicidal fanatics and their possibly well-meaning dupes?’ Some will have their doubts, but I’m pretty sure the large majority will go along.”
“Yes, yes. We’ve threshed this out already, haven’t we?”
“Well, we haven’t taken time to consider the very worst case in any detail. What if it isn’t a matter of somebody broadcasting a story, but of my rogue self surfacing, in Mexico or wherever? Can your goons mount a raid fast enough to grab him or blast him before the damage goes beyond repair?”
“Goons? I resent that word.”
“Resent away. Can they?”
“Perhaps. I’m working on the problem of disguising their identities. The legal consequences of us carrying out such an operation in a foreign country are appalling.”
“Embarrassing, you mean, if you’re caught at it. But you know bloody well your government can stall the Federation. At most, it’d have to fire a few ‘overzealous ministers’ and promise they’ll be re-educated. However, if the loose me isn’t squashed almighty fast, I’ll face appalling consequences.”
“It shouldn’t come to that. Let’s hope not. For everybody’s sake.”
“Listen, I don’t propose to go down without a fight. I’m having a torch ship made ready for me to pilot. If my rival does break free and your commando fails to take him out, I’ll see what I can do myself.”
* * * *
22
M
auna Loa and Mauna Kea stood over the western rim of the sea like a dream, but whenCaravel reached the Big Island they were lost behind everything nearer. The hydrofoil lay to outside Hilo harbor and called a water taxi for her passengers. The captain bade them goodbye at the gangway. Kyra resented his grin and wink at Valencia. Nero went expressionless. He was a gentleman, she thought warmly.
A ground cab brought him and her, with his weapons and Guthrie in their luggage, to the hotel she had proposed. It was large and soulless, therefore nobody would pay them any special heed. It was fairly new—few commercial buildings of any importance had gone up in the Union, this past decade— and not much run down, therefore they could get a room with a capable computer terminal. Nevertheless, when the door closed behind them Kyra felt stifled. She had come from a soft breeze, the palm trees that it rustled and the boundless blue overhead. Her look sprang to the outside view. No sound from yonder reached her.
The feeling passed There was work to do. Valencia was unpacking Guthrie. His movements flowed feline. The sight set her aglow.
He put the case on the dresser. Eyestalks extended. “Well, you’re both still hale and footloose,” Guthrie rumbled. “How was the trip?”
Kyra felt the heat in her face. Did he notice? “Estupendo,” she murmured, and couldn’t stop a sidewise glance at Valencia. The man stayed impassive.
“What day is it? What time? God damn it, I’ve been in that box for what was like a week of blue-law Sundays.”
“I wondered how you’d stand it,” Kyra ventured.
“I dozed. I thought. I played mind games. I ran through memories. Especially the raunchy ones. Now brief me.”
Valencia did in economical words. “And what’s the latest news?” Guthrie demanded. The humans stared at one another. They had forgotten to tune in.
Kyra keyed the terminal for a summary. It rammed into them. Evidence had been found of terrorist cells in L-5 and on the Moon. At Anson Guthrie’s urgent request, Sepo units had been dispatched to the colony and to Port Bowen. He ordered all Fireball personnel to give them full cooperation.
“Grace and goodness,” Kyra whispered, for no profanity or obscenity would serve.
Valencia held to a bleak calm. “This throws quite a comet into our plans, doesn’t it?” he said. “Difficult enough getting you onto a spaceship and away. Now you won’t even find any safe haven there, will you? And these islands will be the devil and all to get away from. I’m sorry. I should have insisted we try for Mexico or Quebec, in spite of the guard on the borders.”
Kyra harked back to their conference that night in Portland. When Valencia brought up the possibility of escaping by sea out of San Francisco, she had cried that then they need only make for some such port as Mazatlan. He pointed out that under present conditions, the authorities would assuredly not clear a vessel belonging to the notorious Gentlemen Adventurers for any foreign destination. A pleasure jaunt to Hawaii and back was the most they would permit. Caravel would have to transmit continuous radio location, and no doubt TrafCon aerostats would also keep an eye on her from the stratosphere. If s
he deviated significantly from her allowed course, patrol craft would give immediate chase. At that, she’d been stopped along the way and searched for unregistered passengers she might have taken aboard.
Kyra shivered. The thought that a government, any government, could wield so close a control was terrifying.
“No, don’t apologize, son,” Guthrie said. “I’d have overruled you. The prospect of sailing here delighted me. As a matter of fact, I considered that my twin could make arrangements to head me off if I got into space. Sure, I hoped he wouldn’t manage it till too late—I knew he’d think of it—but as it turns out, he did. Just the same, I still guesstimate our chances are better than if we’d tried one of the other stunts we discussed.”
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