“It’s a location,” Jade interrupted. “And I want it. And we’ll pay.”
“Forget it.” Trevarra waved a hand. “Whatever you’re into I don’t want any part of it.”
“You’re already in it!” Jade replied. “There’s three dead Political officers back there. No way they’re going to let that go. Like it or not, you’re in. You might’ve paid them off before, but you haven’t a hope of playing that card again. Face it, honey, your days of them looking the other way on your business are over.”
Trevarra gripped Jade’s wrist. She squeezed hard. Jade didn’t blink.
“Then what’s keeping me from finishing you off, too?” Trevarra grated. “I want to know who you are.”
Jade kept her gaze on Trevarra’s tan irises. How far could she trust the BlackHoler? “Jade Lafrey. Naval Intelligence,” she said.
Trevarra let go and leaned back. She swore. “Intelligence. Just my luck. At least I can see why you and the Politicals aren’t friends.” She sat straighter. “What’s it about?”
Jade rubbed her wrist. “Classified.”
“If Trevarra’s gonna get killed she wants to know why.”
Jade thought. “Let me say this. The location you sold to Watford has to do with the peace negotiations to end the war with the Gara’nesh.”
“Which side you on?”
“Peace.”
“Huh. War’s good for business.”
“Not if we’re losing, it isn’t.”
Trevarra lapsed into silence. The flyer ate up the kilometers towards the spaceport. Jade left the BlackHoler alone with her thoughts, hoping the woman would break down and talk.
“Why should I sell to you?” Trevarra asked finally. “And spare me mush about the future of humanity.”
“You want something more personal, then? Fine. You’re a wanted woman, Trevarra,” Jade replied. “First, for those dead Politicals. Second, somebody doesn’t want me to have that info. That means they won’t just be after me. They’ll be after you. One failure won’t stop them. Your only hope is to give it to me and let me get to the bottom of this.”
“Trevarra can take care of herself.”
“For how long?”
“As long as it takes.”
“If you don’t care about peace, that’s up to you. But if for nothing but self-interest, give me the info.”
Trevarra sighed. “Get to my shuttle and it’s straight to my ship. Goodbye to Southern Cross. I’m blowing this system. Lost a good base for business, here.”
Jade opened her mouth to speak, but Trevarra interrupted her as the flyer banked towards the spaceport.
“Nuts!”
“What?” Jade asked.
Trevarra swore vigorously. “Waiting for us. See those flyers? Politicals and local police.”
A ring of flyers clustered around the spaceport approach paths. Several more were parked near the shuttle bays and another landed while they watched.
“Go around,” Jade said. “We’ll take mine.”
Trevarra grinned. “Good thought. Guess they aren’t onto you yet.”
“No, but if we don’t hurry they will be.”
The flyer curved around the spaceport perimeter.
“Down there,” Jade pointed.
The Sunfire lay basking in the sun.
“Oh, oh,” Trevarra said. “Coming round the corner.”
A file of police trotted from one of the hangar bays.
“Drop it close and run,” Jade said.
“Got it.” Trevarra hit descent. “Hang on.”
The flyer slammed into the ground, demolishing the undergear. The cover popped. Trevarra poked her head out long enough to send the police diving for cover with a well-placed volley.
Jade hit the ground running. Trevarra’s footfalls pounded behind her. The police cut loose.
“Ouch!” Trevarra swore again as a laser bolt seared between them.
“Get the lead out!” Jade shouted. Quick on the draw, but flat footed…
Jade fired high, deliberately, making the police duck again.
“Didn’t you learn how to run?” she called as Trevarra dropped behind.
“I am running!"
Jade fired again as a policeman, bolder than the rest, stuck his head out. The shot scored the hangar bay wall a meter above his head.
“Where’d you get that pistol?” Trevarra huffed.
“Where’d you think?”
“Didn’t see you.”
“Right.”
A crackle of laser fire sizzled the air. Jade rolled and came up underneath the Sunfire. She returned fire. Trevarra dove in beside her.
The ramp from the Sunfire descended. They pelted inside.
Jade wiped her forehead as the doors slid shut. “Whew!”
Laser fire burned off the ship’s skin.
“Take more than that to get through,” Jade said. “C’mon.” She headed for the cockpit. “Let’s get off before they bring up something that can do some damage.”
“Military,” Trevarra commented, looking around.
“Yeah. Strap in.”
Jade’s hands played over the console. The Sunfire’s main drive burst to life. On the monitor, she could see the police sprinting away from the launchpad.
“Ready?”
“Hit it.”
The Sunfire roared into the sky.
Trevarra laughed. “Are you in trouble now.”
“Why?” Jade’s eyes were on the console.
“Forgot about clearance.”
Jade met Trevarra’s gaze. They both laughed.
“You’re pretty good, you know that?” Trevarra commented as the Sunfire creased the clouds. A police cruiser had fallen well astern after a short, futile chase.
“So are you,” Jade replied. "You work alone?”
“Always, ‘cept for my crew. Safer that way.”
“On payroll?”
Trevarra looked skeptical, then shook her head. “No. Too much of a free spirit. Try to avoid Politicals. But Maynard, he came offering a deal and I took it. Slime.”
Jade nodded.
“Let me use the comm?” Trevarra asked.
“Sure.”
Trevarra entered a code.
“Varra’s Venture.” A man in a nondescript jumpsuit came to life on the screen.
“‘S’me, Link,” Trevarra said. “Power her up. We’re leaving.”
The spacer looked confused. “But the cargo—”
“Now, Link. Got Political troubles. Yank all the credits you can and get set to move.” Trevarra cut the transmission. She looked back to Jade. “Thanks.”
Jade entered a course change. “Back to business.”
“No way. Told you. It’s gone.”
Jade tapped on the console. “Look, Trevarra. I need that information and I mean to get it. I’d sooner you gave it to me and we parted as friends.”
“Or what?” Trevarra scoffed.
“Or Starwind has enough firepower to reduce your freighter to scrap. After which, you end up at Intelligence for interrogation. And in case you think of killing me and running, forget it. The shuttle’s on remote from Starwind.” She pointed to the controls. “Try it if you don’t believe me.”
Trevarra contemplated the console but made no move towards it. She sucked her teeth. “How do I know I can trust you?”
“You gotta chance it.”
Trevarra glowered. “I made a mistake with Maynard and Watford. Trevarra doesn’t fool so easy twice."
“I’m not fooling. I told you who I am, I helped you get off of Southern Cross—”
“Saving your own skin, too.”
“So we’re even.” Jade rubbed her forehead. Man, was Trevarra a hard sell! “I’m going to tell you this even though I don’t want to. But if it’s the only way to convince you—”
Trevarra stuck a boot on the console and examined her sleeve where a bolt from a police pistol had singed the fabric. “I’m listening.”
“According to oth
er information Nate Watford acquired, the Gara’nesh are constructing a new and deadly weapon.”
“What kind of weapon?”
“Don’t know. But what we do know is that it will upset the balance of power. If what we suspect is correct, it could spell the end of the Hegemony.”
“I’m upset. Real heartbroken.”
“Think, Trevarra. If the Gara’nesh destroy the Hegemony, and I mean destroy, what happens to your business? No customers. Nobody will be buying pilfered Gara’nesh artwork, because there’ll only be Gara’nesh and their human slaves.”
For the first time, she saw a hint of concern cross Trevarra’s made-up face. “Serious.”
“Deadly. This thing is bigger than you, me, and anybody else. I mean it, Trevarra. Neither your life nor mine counts for anything.”
“So why are the Politicals after you?”
“Until this moment I didn’t know they were. Obviously, someone else is interested, too.”
“All right! I get it. All you want’s the info, right?”
“Just what you gave to Watford.”
“You don’t want me?”
“You can be on your ship and go anywhere you like. You want a new identity, I can arrange it.”
“So can I.”
“Then as far as I’m concerned, we never met.”
“OK.” Trevarra leaned forward and worked the Sunfire’s computer. “I’ll access Varra’s banks, and…there it is.” She yanked out a wafer.
Jade reached over.
“Not so fast,” Trevarra held the wafer out of Jade’s arm’s length. “Payment. Two hundred thousand. One hundred for what Watford owes me, and one hundred new. Make it five, for expenses.” She saw Jade’s raised eyebrow and grinned. “Got a shuttle down there I’ll have to leave behind.”
Jade nodded. “OK. But I want to know where you got it.”
“Six.”
“Got a card?”
“Put it on here.” Trevarra handed her a paper-thin card. Jade entered the amount, and inserted Maricic’s authorization. She exchanged the card for the wafer.
“The real thing?” Jade asked. “I’m going to be after you if it’s not.”
“Trevarra runs an honest business.”
Jade slotted the wafer into the computer, and routed it through Starwind’s system to her visual implant. At first glance it matched what she recalled from Watford’s original.
“So tell me.”
Trevarra nodded. “Got it when I was running a cargo out of RexCastle ‘bout six months ago.”
“That long?”
“Pretty close.”
“How?”
“Weird. I’m in this bar, having a chat with the locals, seeing if I can rustle up some business—or some company for the night if business is bad—when this off-worlder—”
“Sure?” Jade interrupted.
Trevarra scowled. “I know my accents. This guy was never from RexCastle in a million years.”
“Where, then?”
“Central world, but like he’d lived somewhere else for a long time. Weston’s World, maybe, or Clementine. Anyway, he comes over and makes me a deal. Tells me he’s got this news that’s real interesting. Picked it up somehow—don’t know exactly.”
“What kind of a deal?” Jade asked, feeling the stirring of interest.
“He’d give me this news if I could out-drink him.”
“What did he want in return?”
“That’s what’s weird. Nothing.”
“Strange.”
“You bet. Thought he was some macho whose gut was bigger’n his brain. How could I resist?”
Jade said, “And you won.”
“Didn’t last more than six rounds before he was flat out on the table. Real light-weight.”
“And then he gave it you?”
Trevarra shook her head. “No way. He was out.” She feigned sleep, closing her eyes and pillowing her head on her hands.
“So—?”
“Took it myself. Wafer was right there in his pocket. Figured I had a right to it,” she said defensively.
“He didn’t come looking for it in the morning?”
“Never saw him again.”
Jade tugged her lip. “And then Watford shows up some weeks later and you sell it to him.”
“Uh-huh.” Trevarra pulled a small case from her hip pocket and removed a make-up kit.
“How’d he come to you?”
“Don’t know. We talked about a whole bunch of things. I mentioned I had this, and he took it.”
The Sunfire cut through the last of the atmosphere and entered space.
“When did you get back to Southern Cross?” Jade asked.
Trevarra paused in the act of reapplying her make-up. “Just. Barely pulled into orbit and started getting ready to download when you came calling.”
“Pretty strange that you showed up right when I was looking for you.”
Trevarra hunched her shoulders. “Got a tip on a valuable cargo. Wasn’t far off and hurried back.”
“I’m wondering how the Politicals knew where to find me,” Jade said.
“Leave a trail?” Trevarra guessed.
“Could have. Wasn’t expecting Politicals to trail me. But know what?”
“What?”
“I think somebody was watching you. Waited for you to answer my contact and then moved in.”
“No way! Only ones knew I was heading down was me and Jacko and Link.”
“Uh-huh. And who was killed first?”
Trevarra stared.
Jade continued. “Make sense to eliminate you first, wouldn’t it? You’re far more dangerous. But Jacko takes the first shot.”
“Accident. He was just in the way.”
“Maybe. You want to bet your life on that?”
“You thought of something else?” Trevarra asked.
“Like?”
“Who knew you were looking for me?”
Jade gazed out the viewport at the stars. “Not that many people.”
With deft strokes, Trevarra applied mascara to her lashes. “Maybe you’d best worry about them first.”
EIGHT
After a rendezvous with Varra’s Venture, barely long enough to allow a business-is-completed-on-to-other-things Trevarra to bolt the Sunfire, her hurried “see ya” wafting back along the docking link, Jade plotted a course to Starwind.
Scan showed Varra’s Venture wasting no time getting underway; the aged, frequently-repaired freighter broke orbit before the Sunfire docked with Starwind.
Jade breathed a sigh of relief when the bay doors closed beneath the Sunfire.
Kuchera grabbed her as soon as the airlock cycled, barely giving her chance to step inside.
His bloodshot eyes stood out against the pallor of his face.
“Thank God you’re all right!” He wrapped his arms around her and squeezed. “I thought they’d got you at the hotel. And then at the spaceport—all we could hear was shooting, and somebody cried out, and I thought you’d been hit, and—”
Jade realized that in the confusion she’d left her transmitter on. Silly of her; she should have known better than that. Had Troy’s proximity made her careless?
She interrupted his venting, “I’m fine. A couple of scrapes from landing on the ground, but that’s all. Trevarra got a burned arm, but she’s all right, too.”
She disentangled herself from his embrace. “Pull yourself together, Troy.”
“Sorry,” he muttered, and took a step back.
Jade gave him a quick peck on the cheek. “Thanks.”
She headed forwards and leaned through the bridge door. “Take us away, Neilson.”
Neilson twisted around to face her. “Yes, ma’am. Destination?”
“Just away from Southern Cross, Lieutenant. Into position for transition.”
“Yes, ma’am.” The pilot began entering the commands.
“Anything on comm?” Jade asked.
Neilson gave a narrow smile. �
��All-channel alert for a Sunfire shuttle carrying armed and dangerous terrorists. Response from a Police cruiser on the other side of Cross. They’re underway.”
“In that case, move us out quickly. I don’t want a confrontation with the local police.”
Not that a police cruiser could threaten Starwind, but no sense in stirring up more trouble that would have to be smoothed out later.
Jade returned to Kuchera. “Get me something to drink, would you, Troy? I’ve got a dry mouth after all this.” She flopped into one of the lounge’s conformable chairs, allowing it to contour itself to her position. She pulled off her boots, dropped them on the deck, and wriggled her toes.
“Sure.” He hurried away, and returned carrying a glass. He perched on the edge of a chair and stared at the deck. “Go ahead. Tell me that I blew it.”
She started to say ‘no’. “Yes.”
He punched the chair’s armrest. “I was all set to convince Trevarra to hand over that location. I had in mind just what to say. And as soon as I opened my mouth I said the wrong thing. I knew it!” He sprang up and paced a small, agitated circle.
Jade swished her mouth with the cool water before swallowing. She held the glass to her forehead.
“You should have gone easier on her, pretended you wanted something else, first. As soon as you said Nate Watford’s information, she froze. You have to pry it out gradually from her type, get her to trust you.”
“It’s much easier when you’re writing,” Kuchera said. “You can play with your words to make them exactly the way you want. And in fiction – take it from someone who’s authored a couple of novels - if your character blows it, you can go back and fix it.”
“Not in this business. The first time is often the only chance.”
“I guess you were right,” Kuchera lamented. “I shouldn’t have come.”
Jade patted the chair next to her and touched his arm when he slumped into it. “Lecture time.”
He didn’t look up. “Basic Intelligence?”
“Lesson number one. A mark of a good agent is the ability to pick yourself up after making a mistake. You can’t afford to indulge in self pity or recriminations. You made one mistake. But that’s OK. We got what we wanted.”
“You could have been killed!”
“But not because of what you said. Trevarra was one tough piece of work—she might not have fallen for the ruse anyway. Get down on yourself and you will make another mistake. So forget about it. Besides, I wouldn’t have missed seeing you dressed like that for anything. I only wish I had a holo of you.”
Wreaths of Empire Page 18
