“You’ve got that right,” Sarah said, stowing her purchases back into the tote.
“Jillian, will you accompany Sarah, and see to it that she gets safely to the Residence after she finishes her tasks?” Coryn said. “Meanwhile we fellows will decide who we should invite to the planned party. And I’ll alert the Port Security to the possible threat to Sarah.”
He pulled out his communicator, dismissing the women.
*****
“I guess you still have to babysit me,” Sarah muttered, as she and Jillian exited the main office.
“After that scene outside Marika’s, I’m pleased that Coryn sent me with you,” Jillian responded. “If he hadn’t, I would have suggested it. And I’m glad that he’s alerting the Port Security. They’re very efficient, but unobtrusive, I happen to know. I’ve spent a bit of time studying their methods, and they really are good. Those two louts won’t get anywhere near you while you’re on Port property, not without being intercepted, probably before you even realize that you’ve been stalked.”
“If that’s the case, why do I need you with me, Jill?” Sarah asked bluntly.
Jillian shot her a wicked grin:
“Because I’m good at picking out wrapping for presents, and I’ve shipped lots of stuff in my life. I can help to make the gift mailing process a lot smoother operation than it might be otherwise.”
CHAPTER FOUR
The LockandKey Tavern, a Trahea Trade City drinking establishment popular with the Space Port workers was a raucous, noisy joint in the early morning hours, after the work night had come to an end but the sun was still hiding behind the planet’s bulk.
The two burly young men who completed the party of eight which met there were from the Port Security.
When Coryn had alerted the Security to Sarah’s peril, he had thought to ask if a couple of their workers might be interested in joining the group going to the bar. The idea, he had told the Official, was to turn the outing into an opportunity to retrieve from a couple of low-level Organization Hounds an object which might provide important clues to Organization activities. The woman had agreed to canvass for volunteers, and a short while later had called back to ask whether the Chief Liaison Officer was looking for brawn, or brains, or both.
“I brought up the notion of retrieving something from The Organization Hounds, and suddenly had more offers than I knew what to do with,” she had said. “Both natives and off-worlders. I told them that I’d let the guys in the Liaison Office decide who should go. If you want, you can come here, to our lunch-room, to pick out a couple of people.”
“I think that what we need is brawn,” Coryn had replied. “You know what? I’ll send the two fellows, Joe and Texi, who dreamed up this caper, to pick out from among your volunteers whomever they want. I’m going to have to sit this one out—I expect that my role will be to guard the women who’ll be with us, the best I can—since it won’t do to have the Chief Liaison Officer take part in what amounts to, at best, a semi-legal operation.”
“I hear the regret in your tone of voice, Leigh,” the woman on the other com had said, chuckling. “I think that you’ll get plenty of unofficial back-up. I’m really curious, now, and I bet all the potential volunteers will be, too.”
The LockandKey was bustling with workers who had come off shift, when Sarah, Coryn, Jillian, and Joe arrived. Texi had gone to collect Nance, and the recruits from the Port Security were supposed to meet them in the bar. Sarah tried not to feel like the ugly duckling in her shorts, a shirt, and flat sandals—the dressiest hot weather wear that she owned—while admiring Jillian’s fashionably flimsy frock and heels. Coryn, who was escorting Sarah, was also well-dressed, in an outfit which he probably had bought during his days on Space Station RES. Only Joe, besides Sarah, was in plain clothes, but he was slated for the role of one of the robbers.
Coryn played the host of a party of celebrants to the hilt. He pulled out a chair for Sarah at the table to which a harried waiter directed them, and asked for four more chairs to be brought for the rest of the party. When their drinks came he helped to pass them to the owners, and asked the waiter to run up a tab to be sent to the Liaison Office.
“Woo-hoo,” commented Jillian. “This is an official function?”
“Just announcing our presence, in case someone is paying attention,” Coryn answered with a grin.
“Baiting the trap,” Joe added with an approving grin, as he leaned back to sip on his beer.
Then Texi and Nance arrived.
Sarah nearly choked on her beer when she saw Texi’s wife—she was a black-haired beauty, lovely enough to have made Maris envious. Not much taller than Sarah, she was noticeably more curvaceous; if Sarah had not known that Kordeans did not do body-sculpture, she would certainly have suspected that Nance had indulged in that. Like Jillian, she wore a summery dress and heeled sandals.
Sarah hoped that the smile which she plastered on her face when Texi proudly introduced his wife to her—apparently everyone else at the table had already met her—looked halfway genuine.
“Oh, you’re the off-world Witch,” Nance blurted, and stared at Sarah with wide-open eyes. Then she caught herself, and reddened. “I’m sorry; Texi told me that you’d prefer that nobody makes an issue of it—that you’re in the city for a break from your lessons, and just want to relax.”
“He’s got it right,” Sarah replied, keeping her cool with an effort. “I guess because I grew up on Earth, knowing nothing about Witchy stuff, I’m having a bit of difficulty with it all.”
The conflicting emotions swirling within her made her insides ache. How she wished that she could have been like this pretty woman in front of her, with a simple life, a simple job, and a husband who loved her and, obviously, was very proud of her!
She leaned back in her seat, and gulped at her drink. So unladylike, she thought, as she swallowed. Oh well, she was not exactly the most fascinating woman at the table. Both Nance and Jillian had her beat in the looks and the clothes departments, by a marathoner’s distance.
Then she realized that Coryn was eyeing her with a conspiratorial half-smile on his face. What...?
She was saved by the arrival of the two Port Security workers who hailed Texi and Joe like old friends, and then greeted Coryn more deferentially.
“And hello to all the beautiful women,” said one of them, his eyes lingering for a moment on Nance.
Jillian obviously was familiar with him.
“We’re all taken, Kyle,” she informed him tartly, “including Texi’s beautiful Nance. So remember to keep your hands to yourself, and your thoughts out of the gutter. You may look, but that’s it.”
The waiter stopped by to take the newcomers’ orders, deflecting any response that Sarah might have made about Jillian’s bland assumption about her relationship status. Coryn reiterated that the drinks at the table went on the Liaison Office’s tab, and Kyle hooted at this.
“Does this mean that I can get drunk on your expense account, Liaison Officer Leigh?” he asked.
“No,” Coryn replied flatly. “You’re working, and therefore required to consume alcohol with care. I know that all you youngsters consider this assignment a lark, but it’s not. It could be dangerous—don’t forget that the Hounds may well be carrying more than just stunners, regardless of what the Port firearms policy is.”
“The City of Trahea has no firearms policy,” Texi added. “Which means that anyone who decides to ignore the Port, and lands his ship somewhere outside the city, could be packing anything that’s available in the big galaxy out there.”
“Including The Organization worlds,” Coryn added. “So only the women are allowed to imbibe freely this night.”
“Except that I can’t,” Sarah said. “I’m the bait, after all. When do you want me to do the luring, Coryn? Not too late, I hope.”
“We’ll have to make like we’re a bunch of carefree celebrators, at least for a short while, before we begin the action,” Coryn replied.
&nb
sp; He looked around, his eyes lighting on the small dance floor beside a set of shelves containing the heart of the bar’s sound system. He lay his beer stein on the table, stood up and bowed to Sarah.
“May I have this dance, Ms Mackenzie?” he asked her.
Sarah rose to oblige him, aware as she did so, that there were plenty of eyes following their progress to the dance floor. Female eyes, mostly, admiring Coryn. Probably wondering why he had chosen as his dance partner a plain young woman, when there were plenty of better looking possibilities in the room.
It was a slow dance, and the floor was crowded. Coryn kept Sarah close to him, smiling at her even while he smoothly avoided bumping into the couples around them. Of course, Sarah thought, as an alyen he must have had to learn to be a good dancer. He would have had to have functioned as an escort, too, not merely a bed partner.
“I haven’t done much dancing,” she said tentatively, feeling clumsy inside the circle of his arms.
“No surprise there,” Coryn laughed. “Not much opportunity at Ferhil Stones. Nor on the planet of the Amartos, or Space Station XER, for that matter. I should imagine that the last time you had the chance to step on a dance floor would have been on Earth.”
“At my cousin’s wedding,” she said. “Maris met the fellow whom she eventually married at that do. And I held up the wall, except when my uncle danced with me, and my cousin, the groom.” Abruptly she grinned. “My cousin complained that every guy present wanted to dance with the bride, and she was enjoying the attention so much that he didn’t have the heart to let her know how jealous he was.”
Joe and Jillian danced by them, Jillian smiling broadly as Joe whirled her around in a configuration unfamiliar to Sarah. Then the piece of music came to an end, and Coryn began to lead her back to the table, keeping a hand on her waist.
“We’ll have to let Jill and Joe take care of the rest of the dancing,” he said to her. “You and I need to be on top of whatever is happening around us.”
Texi and Nance had stayed off the dance floor, and were conversing with Kyle and the other fellow from Security, named Chet, when Coryn and Sarah reseated themselves. Someone had turned the holo projector in the middle of the table on; a miniature soccer game was happening, although no-one apparently had plugged into the sound.
“Nobody’s noted anything suspicious so far, I assume,” Coryn said, letting his eyes roam around the barroom. “There are plenty of big guys in here. Some of them I know for ours, but others could be trouble, for all we know.”
“Want me to do a walkabout to see if either of those dorks that followed us on Main Street are in here?” Texi asked. “I very much doubt that they’d recognize me from when I scrutinized them.”
He had explained to Coryn earlier how he had disguised himself at the time, and had earned the Agent’s approval, and a laugh.
“That’s actually a good idea,” Coryn agreed. “But I don’t want you to go alone. Take maybe Kyle with you and do a round of the place. For all we know, the word may be out, even to the Hounds, that the Liaison Office is gathering at The LockandKey, tonight. If you see them, report back immediately—in person, not via com. We don’t want us to look like a Security operation.”
“How about if Texi takes his lovely wife along on this walk?” Kyle asked, standing up. “We’re not going to be taking any action yet, right? I wouldn’t mind being seen stepping proudly beside a gorgeous woman, even if she’s married to someone else.”
“It might actually look more natural if Nance is with us,” Texi said, turning to look at Coryn questioningly.
“And she’ll draw the men’s attention to herself,” Coryn agreed with a chuckle.
He turned to Nance.
“If you don’t mind going, I’m fine with it,” he added. “However, the two fellows are charged with getting you back to this table safely. You won’t be moving too quickly in those shoes if the three of you run into trouble.”
Chet shook his head at the three departing backs.
“Kyle’s got a big mouth,” he said, “although he’s actually an excellent fellow to have on your side if there are problems. He can handle himself, and think on his feet when necessary.”
“That’s why he’s with us,” said Joe.
He and Jillian had returned from the dance floor just in time to hear Chet’s remark.
“Besides which, I thought that his presence would make us look more authentic. When you want to look like a group out to celebrate, take along the fellow who never quits spitting out the bullshit.”
Coryn grinned.
“Yeah. People forget that the guy’s a professional. I have used that trick myself, on occasion.”
“How come I’m not surprised?” asked Joe.
*****
“If there are Hounds in this bar, tonight, they’re not the ones I saw earlier,” Texi said when the threesome returned to the table.
“Do you think that there might be a few different ones in here?” Sarah asked, directing the question to Coryn.
“It’s perfectly possible,” said Kyle, throwing himself into the chair which he had vacated before the walkabout. “I saw a few big guys with that annoyingly arrogant look that The Organization fools have—although there are guys on our side who are guilty of it, too. A table of eight men by the wall, over that way—“ he pointed, “—would be a prime suspect.”
His words made Sarah feel more apprehensive. Coryn was right about what they were out to do not being a lark. Suddenly she felt guilty for having enticed Jillian and Nance to come along, instead of insisting that they stay safe at home. They were only peripherally involved in the issues involving amartos and The Organization; not smack-dab in the middle of the mess the way she was. Besides which, they had lives and husbands, and they were greenhorns to trouble—well, at least Nance was—and not survivors of gruelling adventures on a planet at the edge of the galaxy.
“The only way we can find out for certain, I believe, is for Sarah to do her Witchy thing,” Coryn responded. “Sarah, does that bother you?”
He took one of her hands into his. It felt warm, comforting; she drew a deep breath.
“I just don’t want to drag disaster down on anyone,” she said. “I feel like I just might.”
“Any disaster that might happen is not of your making, Sarah,” Coryn replied. “You didn’t ask to be put into the situation in which you are. There are five capable men at this table, and an assortment of willing bodies all around us—I have had a look around. And getting our hands on one of those infernal little gadgets has a significance far beyond anything that might happen in this bar.”
Chet turned to smile at her.
“Leigh’s right about the people around us. Just about everyone not on duty at Port Security is here, right now. And they’re packing stunners. We’re gonna outnumber the Hounds for sure. And we’ll get the item that you people want, one way or another.”
“All right.” Nevertheless, Sarah hesitated.
“It’ll take me two scans to lock into their detector,” she then added. “By that time they’ll have zeroed in on my location. So, if there are Hounds with one of those things, inside this bar, remember that there are no convenient shop doors for us to disappear behind. They’ll see me, and they’ll recognize me for who, and what, I am.”
“A lot will depend on how big a mess The Hounds are willing to make,” said Kyle. “If they want to stay on in Trahea, or come back after making their snatch, they’re not going to try to clear the bar with laser pistols or blasters.”
“They’ll want to keep this city as a port of call, believe me,” Coryn said grimly. “At least until we succeed in divesting them of any hope of furthering their galaxy-dominating ambitions by the means of marrying technology and the Witches’ Stones. So, for the moment, that ought to work in our favour.”
“And you want the thingy because you’re keen on finding out how their wedding plans are going,” Kyle deduced. “Can you do that, or can Sarah?”
“Sarah is the more likely candidate for that task: she’s an amarto sensitive, and has quite a bit of technical training,” Coryn said. He had not let go of Sarah’s hand. “Me, I bat zero in both those fields.”
His words nudged something at the back of Sarah’s mind.
“Zero,” she said, suddenly feeling very alert. “Zero-point energy. That’s the crux. But...,” and her mood slipped. “I don’t have the education to understand anything about the flow of zero-point energy. Ship maintenance doesn’t require it. And a Witch doesn’t have to understand it, only know how to use it.”
“There have got to be people in the universities of the Confederation who do have the necessary know-how,” said Jillian. “We’ll have to find us one of them.”
“Wait a second,” said Coryn. He addressed his next words to Sarah:
“What was the name of Steph’s genius friend that he talked about on the Camin? Do you remember?”
“The guy who figured out the Firedragon, you mean?”
Steph had regaled her with tales of how he had used his friend’s knowledge of that dangerous star to map out a space route to Kordea. At the time the scoutship Camin 001 had been chased by The Organization Hounds who had wanted the comatose Sarah, and the stash of amartos, both of which had been aboard it. Sarah combed through her memories.
“Jaime somebody,” she finally said. “I didn’t get a last name, I don’t think. A brilliant physics nerd, he sounded like.”
“Exactly.” Coryn sounded cautiously optimistic. “If we could persuade the august ladies of Ferhil Stones to work with him and the gadget, we might get somewhere.”
“But first we have to get the gadget,” pointed out Kyle.
He seemed to have eased up on the bullshit. Like Joe had said, he was a professional, big mouth or no.
“Which means that I take a deep breath, and get to work,” said Sarah.
But she clung to Coryn’s hand.
*****
Sarah had expected not to pick up anything with the first scan, but as it turned out she was mistaken about that. There was something—someone—very frightening, inside the bar; she took the time to pinpoint the sense of threat to a table against a wall, near the exit. She suspected that it was the one that Kyle had noted.
Love and Intrigue Under the Seven Moons of Kordea Page 7
