The Agent Gambit

by Sharon Lee

  He sighed. "You should trust me because Miri sent me here. You must judge whether she would do so-besotted as she must be with my beauty-were I a danger to you."

  She laughed. "A little temper, is it? You'll need it." She sobered abruptly. "What kind of trouble's she in, she needs to send you at all? Why not come herself?"

  "It is not the kind of trouble it is safe to know by name," he said carefully. "It is only . . . trouble."

  "Ah. So we all get in that kind of trouble once, now, don't we?" There was no particular emphasis; he thought she spoke to herself. Yet she continued to stare at him until Val Con wondered if he were growing another head.

  "You're going with her when she leaves? Eh? To guard her back? She called you her partner."

  "Eldema, when we go, we go together. I think it very likely that we will outrun the trouble. Lose it entirely." There was no flicker of the Loop, giving the lie to this piece of optimism, for which he was grateful.

  She nodded suddenly, then reached to the overflowing table at her side and produced a black lacquer box from amidst a pile of tapes. It was a double hand's width of his small hands wide and twice that long-too odd-shaped to fit comfortably into pocket or pouch.

  Liz frowned and fumbled further on the table, locating a less-than-new cloth bag with a drawstring top. She slid the box inside, drew the string tight, and handed him the sealed package.

  He stepped forward so claim it, slipping the string over his shoulder.

  "Thank you." He bowed thanks. When it became apparent that she had no more to say to him, he turned to go.

  He was nearly to the hall when she spoke. "Liaden!"

  He spun in his tracks, quick and smooth. "Eldema?"

  "You take care of Miri, Liaden. None of your damn tricks. You just take the best care of Miri you can, as long as you can."

  He bowed. "Eldema, it is my desire to do just that."

  He turned on his heel and was gone.

  Liz sighed. She had had nothing else to say, except-but the girl knew that. Didn't she?

  She heard him work the lock; heard the door open and close, gently.

  After a while, for old times' sake, she went to make sure he'd locked the door on his way out.

  MRS. HANSFORTH WAS EXCITED. It had been years since she'd received a ship-to communication, but still the circuit was as she remembered it: a little scratchy, with occasional odd delays and the constant feeling that the mouth wasn't quite saying what it looked like it was saying.

  Of course, it was disappointing that the beam wasn't meant for her, but disappointment was outweighed by the excitement of the event and the chance to gossip.

  Yes, she told the dark-haired and serious young lady in the screen, she knew Angus quite well. A nice boy, not given to wild parties or exceptional hours. And his fiancée was a lovely girl. It was really a shame he wasn't in town to receive the message himself . . . .

  Where? Oh, with the students off at the University, he and his fiancée had taken several weeks to go to Econsey. They'd wanted some time alone and hadn't had the calls forwarded. Surely, they couldn't have been expecting . . . .

  Hadn't known she was going to be in-system? Oh, such a shame . . . But Mrs. Hansforth got no further; after all, this was ship-to, and such things were fabulously expensive. The serious young lady said something about some research Angus had done in his traveling days. Well!

  Mrs. Hansforth asked the young lady to leave a message, and was so sorry to find that she'd only be on planet for a few hours. The chance of reaching Angus in that time did seem very small . . . .

  Perhaps on the return trip there would be time, Mrs. Hansforth heard. Or perhaps Ms. Mylander would be able to beam ahead next time. But research-you know how it does take one about . . . .

  Mrs. Hansforth agreed, though she'd never been off-planet, herself.

  When the connection was cut, Mrs. Hansforth was sorry. But, still, a ship-to! Why, Angus must be more important in his field than she had realized. Imagine!

  MIRI LEANED BACK in the chair, flipping switches and smiling slightly. Engineering the delay hadn't been hard at all-simply a matter of bouncing her signal off seven different satellites and across the single continental landline about three times. Her new partner had called the unit "adequate." She wondered if understatement was his usual style.

  Now, sipping some exquisite coffee, she considered the information gathered. Not much, but maybe something. Flipping another series of toggles, she tapped "Econsey" into the query slot.

  The door cycled at her back and she was up, spinning, hand on the gun in her pocket, as Val Con entered, a blue drawstring bag slung over one shoulder. He stopped just inside the room, both eyebrows up and a look of almost comic horror on his face.

  She pouted and took her hand off the gun. "You don't like my makeup!"

  "On the contrary," he murmured. "I am awestruck."

  He slid the string off his shoulder and held the bag out. She nearly snatched it away from him, plopping crosslegged to the floor by the 'chora. The box was out in a flash, and she ran her pale fingers rapidly over the shiny black surface before cradling it in her lap and looking at him.

  "How'd Liz do?"

  "On the whole, I'd say she came off better than I did," he returned absently, staring at her as he drifted forward to sit on the 'chora's bench.

  The hair. Was it really possible to twist, torture, and confine one head of hair into so many unappealing knobs and projections? But for the evidence before him, he would have doubted it. She'd also smeared some sort of makeup on her face, imperfectly concealing the freckles spanning her nose, and done something else to her eyes, making them seem larger than usual, but exquisitely lusterless. The color of her cheeks had been chosen with an unerring eye to clash with the color of her hair, and the blue on her lips was neon bright. Every piece of jewelry-and there was far too much of it-vied with the other for gaudery. He shook his head, lost in wonder.

  She caught the headshake and smiled a ghastly smile that consisted only of bending her sealed lips and creasing her cheeks.

  "You do think I look nice, doncha?"

  He folded his arms on top of the 'chora and nestled his chin on a forearm. "I think," he said clearly, "that you look like a whore."

  She laughed, clapping ring-laden hands together. "So did the woman at the collection firm!" She sobered abruptly, slanting lusterless eyes at him. "Your face was wonderful! I don't remember the last time I saw somebody look so surprised." She shook her head. "Don't they teach you anything in spy school?"

  He grinned. "There are some things that even spy school cannot erase. I was raised to be genteel."

  "Were you?" She regarded him in round-eyed admiration. "What happened?"

  He ignored this bait, however, and nodded toward the comm. "Murph?"

  She sighed. "On vacation with his fiancée in some place called Econsey-southern hemisphere. That's what I know. I was gonna see what else the comm knew when you came in and insulted my hairdo."

  "Econsey is situated on the eastern shoreline of the southern hemisphere," he told her, singsonging slightly as he read the information that scrolled before his mind's eye. "It sits at the most eastern point of a peninsula and is surrounded on three sides by the Maranstadt Ocean. Year round population: 40,000. Transient population: 160,000, approximate. Principal industries: gambling, foodstuffs, liquors, hostelries, entertainment, exotic imports." He paused, checking back, then nodded. "Juntavas influenced, but not owned."

  Miri stared at him; whatever expression may have been in eyes and face was shielded by the makeup.

  "Mind like that and it's all going to waste."

  Irritation spiked from nowhere and he frowned. "Will you go wash your face?"

  She grinned. "Why? You think it needs it?" But she rolled to her feet, box in hand, and headed for her room. Behind her, Val Con flipped open the cover and touched the keyboard plate.

  In the bathroom, Miri stripped the rings from her fingers and the bobs from her ears
, jangling them along with the necklet and hair jewelry into the valet's return box. A glance at the readout showed that her leathers were at long last clean and the jumpsuit joined the gaudy jewelry. She closed the lid, hit the return key, and turned to the sink.

  It took longer to scrape the gunk off her face than it had to put it on-the eyeshadow was especially tenacious-but a clean face was eventually achieved and, moments later, a braid was pinned in a neat crown around her head.

  Her leathers slipped on smoothly, sheathing her in a supple second skin; she stamped into her boots, tied the knot in the arm-scarf, and carried the belt with its built-on pouch back to the sleeping room.

  Sitting on the edge of the tumbled platform, she picked up the lacquer box and spun it in her hands like a juggler, hitting each of the seven pressure locks in unerring sequence. There was a click, loud over the soft drift of 'chora music from the other room. Miri set the box down and raised the lid.

  Opening the belt-pouch, she pushed at the back bracing wall until she coaxed the false panel out, and laid it aside.

  From the box she took a key of slightly phosphorescent blue metal, a thin sheaf of papers, a badly-cut ruby the size of a Terran quarter-bit, a loop of pierced malachite, and a gold ring much too big for her finger, set with a cloudy sapphire. She stowed each item in the secret space in the pouch. Then she removed the last object, frowned, and sat balancing it in her hand.

  The room's directionless light picked out a slash of red, a line of gold, and a field of indigo blue. She flipped it to the obverse, and light skidded off the polished metal surface, snagging on the roughness of engraving. As she'd done a hundred times since she'd gotten the thing, she ran her finger over the engraving, trying to puzzle out the alien characters.

  In the room outside her door, the comm unit buzzed once . . . twice.

  Miri dumped the disk among her other treasures, sealed the hiding place, and was on her way to the door, threading the belt around her waist as she went.

  VAL CON WAS ON HISFEET and moving as the comm buzzed a second time. He touched BLANK SCREEN and GO.

  His eyebrows shot up as he saw one of his four captors of the night before standing in the lobby below, a squad of six ranged at his back, and he shook his head to banish the feeling of creeping déjà vu.

  "Mr. Phillips?" demanded the man he recognized.

  "Yes," Val Con said, taking the remote from its nesting place atop the comm.

  "Mr. Connor Phillips," the leader insisted. "Former crew member on the Salene?"

  Val Con strolled across the room to the bar. "It would be useless to deny it," he told the remote. "I was Cargo Master on Salene. To whom am I speaking? And why? I left instructions that I was not to be disturbed." He set the remote on the shiny bartop and activated the refreshment screen.

  "My name is Peter Smith. I'm working with the police in the investigation of the explosion that took place at Terran Party Headquarters last night."

  Val Con dialed a double brandy from the selection list "I am unenlightened, Mr. Smith. Unless I understand you to say that I am suspected of causing an explosion in-where was it? Terra Place?"

  "Terran Party Headquarters." There was a real snarl in that correction, then a pause, as if for breath. "We're looking for a man named Terrence O'Grady, who caused the explosion and disappeared. We're asking everybody who's come on-world during the last fifteen days to answer a few questions about the-incident. Refusing to assist in a police investigation, Mr. Phillips," Pete said, with a very creditable amount of piety, "is a criminal offense."

  Val Con dialed another brandy. "I am chastised."

  Across the room, the door to Miri's bedroom opened and she came out, buckling her belt as she walked. She paused briefly in front of the comm screen before continuing on to the second bedroom.

  "Mr. Smith," Val Con said, dialing yet another brandy. "It is really of no interest to me whether or not you catch this-individual-who blew up these headquarters. However, since you have already disturbed me, and since I have no wish to be treated as a criminal, you may as well ask your questions."

  "That's fine," Pete said. "Now, if you'll tell the receptionist to let us up, we'll just take a few minutes of your time-"

  "Mr. Smith, please. I said you may as well ask your questions. I did not say that I would welcome you into my home. The presence of a police representative would place me in a very awkward negotiating position at this moment."

  Miri laid his gun silently on the bar and was gone, vanishing into the kitchen. Val Con dialed a brandy, clipped gun to belt, and waited.

  After a pause, Pete's voice came again. "Okay, Mr. Phillips, if that's how you want it. Where were you last night between 10:45 p.m. and midnight?"

  Miri reappeared, raised her brows at the row of brandy snifters on the bar, and passed silently on to survey the comm screen.

  "Last night," Val Con said easily, "I was engaged with friends. There was a party, with fireworks and conversation." He dialed another brandy.

  "I see. You can, of course, supply the name and address of your friends," Pete said. In the lobby, he jerked his head and two of his squad moved toward the elevators. Miri walked back to the bar.

  "I can," Val Con was saying. "I won't. But I can."

  "I see," Pete said again. "Mr. Phillips, do you know a man named Terrence O'Grady?"

  "No." Val Con handed two brandies to Miri and waved toward her bedroom. She stood still, frowning; he reached into the depths of the bar, produced a flamestick, and tucked it in her belt. Enlightenment dawned with a grin of delight, and she departed on her mission.

  "Mr. Phillips, I'm going to have to insist that I see you."

  "Mr. Smith, I'm going to have to insist that you produce a legal document giving you the right." Miri was back for two more brandies, which she carried into the other bedroom. Smoke was beginning to waft from the doorway across the room.

  "Have you any other questions?" he asked Pete.

  "Why did you leave your post on the Salene?"

  "It was not as profitable an association as I had hoped for, Mr. Smith. But I fail to see what that has to do with your problem. Salene did not ship explosives. I met no one there named O'Grady. I have met no one named O'Grady since I have been on Lufkit. I doubt if ever in my life I have met anyone named O'Grady, but I give you leave to explore the possibility." Smoke wisped sweetly from his former bedroom to billow with the smoke from Miri's.

  He stopped dialing brandies and splashed the contents of one of the remaining snifters on the carpet around the bar. Miri appeared, picked up two more glasses, and carried them to the comm chair and the sofa, touching the flamestick to the cushions.

  "Mr. Smith?" Val Con asked the remote.

  Miri came back for the remaining snifters and began to splash the carpet.

  "What?" Pete snapped.

  "Have you other questions? I really must return to my own business." He held up a hand, stopping Miri from igniting the carpet.

  "Any other-yeah, I do." Pete took an audible breath. "Are you a geek, Mr. Phillips?"

  "Are you a horse's ass, Mr. Smith?" Val Con hit DISCONNECT. Miri touched the flamestick to the carpet.

  Somewhere within the building, bells began to ring; a hiss of water striking flame came from Miri's bedroom as the sprinkler system activated itself. There were shouts from the hallway.

  Miri and Val Con were already through the kitchen escape hatch. He slammed it to, twisted two knobs, and spun to find her shaking her head.

  "Real genteel."

  He grinned. "Thank you."

  Then they were moving without haste down the small service corridor, toward the larger world beyond.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  HE WAS MALE, though that rarely mattered to him. Indeed, he was hardly male at all, in the sense of lyr-cat, bearded Terran stud, or mouse. What mattered more to him was his name, which might take up to three hours of introduction when spoken to humans and, spoken fully, might consume nearly twelve hours. For purposes of the visas
and other official papers that hasty humans required of one, there were several short forms of his name, which pleased him.

  He was regal, as befitted a T'carais and a being more than nine hundred Standard Years old, though among his race he was known for his occasional hasty action. On visas he was thus: Twelfth Shell Fifth Hatched Knife Clan of Middle River's Spring Spawn of Farmer Greentrees of the Spear-makers Den, The Edger.

  Some few of the Clans of Men-Terran and Liaden separately they named themselves-knew him reasonably well as Edger. He enjoyed this informality; it reminded him of those early days of learning his trade and life role.

  With him now traveled other functionaries of his Clan: The Handler, The Selector, The Sheather, and, off-planet, The Watcher. Most of the Clan was home, growing knives in the cold, beautiful caverns of Middle River. His group of five had been sent by the Elders out into the wide universe to discover what knives were required. "Market research" his visa named this vast adventure, though Edger himself thought of it more fully as "Education." After all, one had to discover the uses and users of a knife before one could know what blade to grow, what edge to encourage, what handle to smooth, what sheath to mold. He never doubted that knives were needed, or that knives from the Knife Clan of Middle River were needed most of all.

  So far, they'd been seven years on this hectic trip. Edger felt confident that another seven would yield all the information the Elders required.

  Being relatively young, Edger did not regard himself as large; his twelfth shell had been still dangerously soft when they'd begun their journey, and even now was barely set. Yet people not of the Clutch regarded him with awe, for few of the working class traveled, and his four-hundred-pound bottle-green frame was fully one-third larger than the svelte and speedy persons the Ambassadorial Clans sent to human worlds.

  Being young, Edger was fond of entertainment. In fact, it was for this purpose that he and his three companions were now moving with ponderous haste down the wide walkway of a neighborhood consisting of very tall, pastel-colored buildings. There was a piece of music to be performed in a building just a little farther down this street and then somewhat farther down the next. One could have argued that the briefness of the piece-barely longer than the speaking of Edger's full name in Terran-hardly justified walking such a distance at such a pace. But Edger's delight in music was well-known to his kin, and they were disposed to accompany him to this pleasure.