Timothy Zahn - Cobra 03 - Cobra Bargain

by Cobra Bargain(lit)

  So what was she? Innocent victim as she claimed? Or agent sent in by someone to cause trouble? The facts fell almost visually into neat organization in front of

  Daulo's eyes... without doing any good at all. The Knot remained tightly tied; and the only fresh conclusion he could find at all was that, totally against both his will and his common sense, he was growing to like her.

  Ridiculous. He snorted, the sudden change in his steady respiration pattern bringing on a short fit of coughing. It was ridiculous-totally, completely ridiculous. Without position, she was at the very least beneath his own social status; at the very worst, she might be coldly using him to try and destroy everything he held dear.

  And yet, even as he gazed mentally at the list of points against her, he had to admit there was still something about her that he found irresistible.

  Just what I needed, he groused silently. Something else about Jasmine Alventin that won't unknot. So what could it be? Not her features or body; they were pleasant enough, but he'd seen far better without this kind of threat to his emotional equilibrium. It certainly wasn't her upbringing; she couldn't even make a simple sign of respect properly.

  "Good evening, Daulo."

  Startled, Daulo twisted around on his cushions, blinking through the haze to see his father walk quietly between the hanging curtain dividers. "Oh-my father," he said, starting to get up.

  Kruin stopped him with a gesture. "You weren't at your customary place at evening meal tonight," he said, pulling a cushion toward his son and sinking cross-legged onto it. "I came to see if there were some trouble." He sniffed at the air. "A hypnotic, my son? I'd have thought that after a full day a sleep-inducer would be more appropriate."

  Daulo looked at his father sharply, the last remnants of the hypnotic's effects evaporating from his mind. He'd hoped he could rid himself of this obsession with Jasmine Alventin before anyone else noticed. "I've been rather... preoccupied today," he said cautiously. "I didn't feel up to a common meal with the rest of the family."

  "You may feel worse tomorrow," Kruin warned, waving a finger through one last tendril of smoke and watching it curl around in the eddy breezes thus created.

  "Even these mild drugs usually have unpleasant side effects." His eyes shifted back from the smoke to Daulo's face. "Jasmine Alventin asked about you."

  A grimace passed across Daulo's face before he could stifle it. "I trust her recovery is proceeding properly?"

  "It seems to be. She's a very unusual woman, wouldn't you say?"

  Daulo sighed, quietly admitting defeat. "I don't know what to think about her, my father," he confessed. "All I know is that I'm... in danger of losing my objectivity with her." He waved at the incense burner. "I've been trying to put my thoughts in order."

  "And did you?"

  "I'm... not sure."

  For a long moment Kruin was silent. "Do you know why you're living in this house, my son? Amid this luxury and prestige?"

  Here it comes, Daulo thought, stomach tightening within him. A stern reminder of where the family's wealth comes from-and the reminder that it's my duty to defend it. "It's because you, your father, and his father before him have toiled and sweated in the mine," he said.

  To his surprise, the elder Sammon shook his head. "No. The mine has made things easier, certainly, but that's not where our true power lies. It lies here-" he indicated his eyes "-and here-" he touched his forehead. "Material wealth is all very good, but no man keeps such wealth unless he can learn how to read the people around him. To know which are his friends and which his enemies... and to sense the moment when some of those loyalties change. Do you understand?"

  Daulo swallowed. "I think so."

  "Good. So, then: tell me what form this lack of objectivity takes."

  Daulo waved his hands helplessly. "I don't know. She's just so... different.

  Somehow. There's a... perhaps it's some kind of mental strength to her, something I've never before seen in a woman."

  Kruin nodded thoughtfully. "Almost a if she were a man instead of a woman?"

  "Yes. That's-" Daulo broke off abruptly as a horrible thought occurred to him.

  "You aren't suggesting-?"

  "No, no, of course not," Kruin hastened to assure him. "The doctor examined her when she was brought in, remember? No, she's a woman, all right. But perhaps not one from a normal Qasaman culture."

  Daulo thought that over. It would go a long ways toward explaining some of the oddities he'd observed in her. "But I thought everyone on Qasama lived in the

  Great Arc. And besides, she claimed to be from Sollas."

  "We don't live strictly inside the Great Arc," Kruin shrugged. "Only a short ways outside it, true, but outside nonetheless. Who's to say that others don't live even further? As to her claimed city, it's possible that she was afraid to tell us her true home. For reasons I can't guess at," he added as Daulo opened his mouth to ask.

  "An interesting theory," Daulo admitted. "I'm not sure how it would stand up to

  Occam's Razor, however."

  "Perhaps an additional bit of new information would save it from that blade,"

  Kruin said. "I've been thinking about the accident Jasmine Alventin claimed to have been in, and it occurred to me that if it happened near Tabris someone there might have either heard the crash or found one of her companions."

  "She couldn't possibly have come that far," Daulo objected. "Besides, we checked all the way along that road."

  "I know," Kruin nodded. "And I trust your findings. But in such a case as this I thought extra confirmation might be a good idea, so I sent a message there this morning. Someone did hear a sound like a large and violent crash... but not near the road or village. It was far to the north, several kilometers away at the least. In deep forest."

  Daulo felt his mouth go dry. Several kilometers due north of Tabris would put the accident anywhere from five to ten kilometers from the place where Perto had found her on the road. The suggestion that she might have made it from Tabris proper-a full twenty kilometers of forest road-had been ludicrous enough, but this-"She couldn't have survived such a trek," he said flatly. "I don't care how many companions she started out with, she couldn't have made it."

  "I'm afraid that would be my assessment, as well," Kruin nodded reluctantly.

  "Especially through the heightened activity the bololin migration a few days ago probably stirred up. But even if we allow God one miracle to get her out alive, there's an even worse impossibility staring at us: that of getting a car so far into the forest in the first place."

  Daulo licked his lips. This one, unfortunately, was obvious. "So it wasn't a car that crashed. It was an aircraft."

  "It's beginning to look that way," Kruin agreed heavily.

  Which meant she'd lied to them. Pure and simple; no conceivable misinterpretation about it. Anger and shame welled up within Daulo's stomach, the emotions fighting each other for supremacy. The Sammon family had saved her life and taken her in, and she'd repaid their hospitality by lying to them... and by playing him for a fool.

  Kruin's voice cut into his private turmoil. "There are many reasons why she might lie about that," he said gently. "Not all of them having anything to do with you or our family. So my question for you, my son, is this: is she, in your judgment, an enemy of ours?"

  "My judgment doesn't seem to be worth a great deal at this point," Daulo retorted, tasting bitterness.

  "Do you question my judgment in asking for yours?" Kruin asked, his tone suddenly cold. "You will answer my question, Daulo Sammon."

  Daulo swallowed hard. "Forgive me, my father-I didn't mean impertinence. It was just that-"

  "Don't make excuses, Daulo Sammon. I wish an answer to my question."

  "Yes, my father." Daulo took a deep breath, trying desperately to sort it all out. Facts, emotions, impressions... "No," he said at last. "No, I don't believe she came here for the purpose of harming us. I don't know why I think that, but

  I do."

 
; "It's as I said," Kruin said, his cold manner giving way again to a gentler tone. "The Sammon family survives because we have the ability to read others' purposes. I've tried since childhood to nurture that talent in you; the future will show whether I've succeeded." Moving with grace, he got to his feet. "At the meal tonight Jasmine Alventin announced that it was her belief she'd recovered sufficiently from her injuries to return to her home. She'll be leaving tomorrow morning."

  Daulo stared up at him. "She's leaving tomorrow? Then why all this fuss about whether or not we can trust her?"

  Kruin gazed down at him. "The fuss," he said coolly, "was over whether or not it would be wise to let her out of our sight and control."

  Daulo clenched his teeth. "Yes, of course. I'm sorry."

  A faint smile touched Kruin's lips. "I told her we would give her transportation as far as Azras. If you'd like, you may accompany her there."

  "Thank you, my father," Daulo said steadily. "It would also give me the opportunity to discuss future purchases with some of our buyers there."

  "Of course," Kruin nodded, and Daulo thought he saw approval on the elder

  Sammon's face. "I'll leave you to your sleep, then. Goodnight, my son."

  "Goodnight, my father."

  And that's that, Daulo thought when he was once again alone. Tomorrow she'll be gone, and that'll be the end of it. She'll return to whatever mysterious village she really comes from, and I'll never see her again. There was some hurt in that; perhaps even a little bit of anger. But he had to admit his primary reaction was relief.

  If a Gordian Knot couldn't be unraveled, after all, the next best thing was to send it out of sight.

  Chapter 20

  An hour, Daulo had thought as he and Jasmine drove off down the winding forest road toward Azras. We'll have one more hour together, and then I'll never see her again.

  But he was wrong. They were on the road together considerably less than an hour.

  "This is insane," he fumed as the gatekeepers swung the heavy north gate of

  Shaga village closed behind them and he let the car coast to a halt at the side of the road. "There's nothing here you can possibly want."

  "How do you know?" she countered, fumbling for a moment before she was able to get the door open. "I thank you for the ride, Daulo Sammon-"

  "Would you for one minute listen to me?" he snarled, getting out on his side to glare at her across the car roof. "You're a stranger in this part of Qasama,

  Jasmine Alventin-you've admitted that yourself. I assure you that Shaga is no closer to your home than Milika was."

  "Sure it is-ten kilometers closer," she retorted.

  It was a long time since anyone had talked to Daulo like that, and for a moment he was speechless. Jasmine took advantage of the pause to retrieve from the back seat the small shoulder bag Daulo's mother had given her. "All right, fine,"

  Daulo managed at last as she closed the door and slipped the bag's strap over her shoulder. "So you're ten kilometers closer to Azras. What does that gain you?-especially since no one here is likely to offer you a free ride even as far as Azras? So enough of this nonsense. Get back in the car."

  She gazed across the roof at him... and again, it wasn't the kind of look he was accustomed to receiving from a woman. "Look, Daulo Sammon," she said in a quiet voice. "There's something I have to do-by myself-and I have to do it here.

  Please don't ask me any more. Just believe me when I tell you that the less you have to do with me, the better."

  Daulo gritted his teeth. "All right, then," he bit out. "If that's how you want it. Goodbye." Feeling his face burning, he got back in the car and started off, continuing on toward the center of the village.

  But only for a short way. Unlike Milika, Shaga had been haphazardly constructed, its roads curving and twisting all over the place, and Daulo hadn't gone more than a hundred meters before the woman's image in his mirror disappeared behind a turn in the road. Another hundred meters brought him to a cross road, which he took; and less than two minutes later he'd circled his way back to where he'd dropped her off.

  There was no reason why she should suddenly decide to stay in Shaga; which could only mean that it was what she'd intended all along. Either she was planning to double back to Milika by unknown means-and for equally unknown purposes-or else she was meeting someone here. Whichever it turned out to be, he had every intention of keeping track of her while she did it.

  But whatever her purpose, it didn't seem to involve the center of town. Even as he drove cautiously to within sight of the north gate he spotted her walking briskly away from him, paralleling the wall. He eased the car forward a bit, taking care to stay well back of her. There were few buildings in this part of

  Shaga, and while that meant he could keep watch on her from a reasonable distance away, it also meant he would be easier for her to spot.

  But she apparently had no inkling that anyone might be watching. She never once looked over her shoulder... and as she continued on, Daulo noticed she was angling toward the wall.

  Was she going to try and climb out? Ridiculous. It would get her out of Shaga without being seen, perhaps, but then where would she be? Out on a forest road, that's where, he thought sourly, with razorarms and krisjaws all around her. And ten solid kilometers to anywhere safe.

  And yet she clearly was headed for the wall. Daulo gnawed at his lip, wondering if perhaps his original assessment had been right, after all. Perhaps she was simply a feeblebrained scatterhead.

  Right by the wall, now, she paused and glanced around her. Looking for a ladder, probably. Daulo tensed, wondering if she would notice him sitting in this parked car-

  And an instant later she was standing on top of the wall.

  Daulo gasped. God above! No climbing, no running start, no leaping up to grab hold of the top with fingers-she'd simply bent her knees and jumped.

  To the top of a wall over a meter taller than she was.

  She took the anti-razorarm mesh just as casually, grabbing the top with one hand as she jumped to deflect her body into a tight-moving arc that dropped her onto her feet on the other side. An instant later she was gone.

  For another five heartbeats Daulo just sat there, dumbfounded. She was insane, all right... insane, but with an athletic ability that was totally unheard of.

  And she's getting away.

  With a jerk, Daulo broke his paralysis and swung the car back toward the gate.

  She was already out of sight by the time he was back on the road, but with forest hemming them in on both sides there were only two directions she could have gone. And since she'd already turned down a free ride on to Azras... Trying to keep an eye on both sides of the road at once, Daulo started back toward

  Milika.

  For several painful minutes he wondered if he'd guessed wrong. With no more than a three-minute head start, there was simply no way she could have gotten this far ahead of him, even at the deliberately slow speed he was making. He was just wondering if he should turn around when he caught a glimpse of someone just around a curve ahead.

  It took another few minutes of experimentation to find the speed that would let him get a glimpse of her every couple of minutes but yet not get him too close.

  It turned out she was every bit as phenomenal a runner as she was a high jumper.

  Hang with her, he told himself grimly, teeth clenched with tension at this unaccustomed trick driving. She can't keep up this kind of pace for very long.

  Just hang with her.

  She did hold the pace, though, and for considerably longer than he would have guessed possible. It was only as they passed the halfway point back to Milika that she began to slow down; and it was pure luck on his part that he happened to get a glimpse of her heading off toward the tree line paralleling the road a dozen meters to the west.

  He pulled over quickly, wincing at the sounds of crunching vegetation beneath his wheels as he eased off the road and stopped. But presumably she was making at least as much
noise wading through the undergrowth of the forest. At any rate, she didn't turn around, but merely dropped her shoulder bag behind a large thaurnni bush and kept going.

  Straight into the forest.

  No, was his immediate thought. She's not really going into the forest. She's cutting through a bit to throw me off her track. Or-

  But even as a part of his brain tried to think up safer alternatives he was digging under the seat for the quickfire pistol holstered there and climbing quietly out of the car. There was only one thing out there that could possibly be worth risking the razorarms and krisjaws for.