“Well, yes, I surely do.” A tall, lanky man had been standing behind Natalie’s chair. He came around into view, smiling thinly. “We want to know, for instance, how many spies and saboteurs you brought up here with you.”
“I don’t, unlike your crony here, hang around with spies and such,” Natalie assured him. “I happen to be an accredited reporter for Newz, and as I’m sure you must be fully aware, you people have seriously violated my rights as—”
“What about Jake Cardigan?” asked Dr. Danenberg.
“Last I heard, he was in London,” the reporter answered. “I do now and then, not by choice I can assure you, bump into his boorish partner, a fellow named Gomez, but truly, I have no official connection with the Cosmos Detective Agency whatsoever.”
Pettiford inquired, “Didn’t this Gomez come along with you to the Caribbean Colony?”
“I’m afraid I’m not exactly clear as to who you are.” Natalie frowned. “Which of the lunatic groups do you—”
“Well, yes, I can fill you in. I’m a Senior Knight First Class in the Excalibur Movement,” answered the lanky man. “That means I’m one of the heads of the whole—”
“That’s fine. Maybe I can interview you sometime.” Natalie attempted to stand. “As you ought to know, my sole and only reason for coming up to this tacky paradise was in order to prepare an interview with the self-proclaimed King Arthur II.” She was managing to stay on her feet. “Since you Excalibur people presumably support him and his claims, I would have thought you’d be grateful for any publicity I provide him. Instead, you seem intent on keeping me a virtual prisoner and—”
“We’ve had more than enough of your inane babbling.” Angry, Dr. Danenberg reached out and slapped her.
Natalie cried out and took a few steps away from her chair. “Smacking a newsperson is not a—”
“Who came here with you?”
“I came alone.” Natalie, legs shaky, crossed to where her disabled robot lay. “Of course I was accompanied by Sidebar. But since he’s a robot and not a person, I don’t imagine you want to count him. So ... She brought up a hand to her forehead, swaying. “Darn, I’m a lot dizzier than I thought.” Dropping to her knees, she slumped across the robot.
Slipping one hand unobtrusively across the robot’s chest, Natalie tapped the button that opened the compartment concealed in his side. There was a compact stungun stowed there.
“We already frisked your cameraman,” said Dr. Danenberg, impatience sounding in her voice. “We have the stungun, dear.”
“That’s okay, amigos,” announced Gomez as he came in by way of a side door. “I have one of my own.”
37
DAN DIDN’T CRY.
But as he stood there, lips pressed tight together and fists clenched, he was very close to tears.
His mother came farther into the suite. She held the lazgun firmly. “Don’t try anything, Jake,” warned Kate. “Please—I don’t want to have to ... to kill you.”
Jake remained where he was. “So you are involved in all this mess, huh?”
“Sure,” she admitted. “Isn’t that what you’ve always suspected?”
“Yeah, but I guess I’ve been hoping—”
“It’s too late for hoping,” his ex-wife told him. “You’ve screwed everything up.”
“Kate, you were the one who contacted me,” he reminded. “Pleaded with me to find Dan.”
“I know, yes, but I ... I didn’t think Danny would end up here,” she said. “Or that you’d be able to trace him all this way.”
“You should’ve realized that, since Dan and Nancy were brought here on orders from Sands’ partners.”
“Yes, I’m aware of that now, but it’s too late.”
“Mom,” said Dan, struggling to control his voice, “I didn’t want to believe it when Nancy told me that you were working with her father. But ... but it’s true, isn’t it?”
“Yes, Danny. It’s true,” answered his mother. “But you have to understand why I—”
“They killed people,” he said. “They murdered Tek Kids and ... and I don’t know who the hell else. And you ... you’re part of the whole damn thing.”
“You simply don’t comprehend what’s going on,” insisted Kate. “This is a multimillion-dollar venture.”
“I comprehend that you’re collaborating with killers and Tek-runners,” said her son. “I comprehend that you screwed up my life and that you’ve told me lies for ... shit, for years.”
“But, Danny—our share of this will give us financial security for the rest of our lives.”
“Dad was innocent,” said Dan, pointing at Jake. “Completely, wasn’t he? It was you and that bastard Bennett Sands who set him up, framed him. You got him sentenced to the goddamn Freezer—and all along you knew that he was—”
“Nancy, don’t let him talk about your father that way,” cautioned Kate, deep frowns touching her pale forehead.
“My father is a rotten bastard,” said Sands’ daughter. “When I found that out, I ran away. Unfortunately, that just caused more trouble for Dan.”
“Please, both of you—you have to stop talking to me like this,” pleaded Kate. “You must see that I’m trying to help you.”
“Oh ... and Dad, too?” asked Dan.
Jake’s former wife slowly shook her head. “There’s nothing I can do for him,” she said. “But, trust me, no harm will come to you or Nancy. You were brought here so that you couldn’t tell anyone about what’s going on.”
“You’re standing there telling me that your damned lover is going to kill my father!” shouted Dan. “And you expect me to be grateful to you?”
“Danny, don’t yell at me,” said his mother. “You don’t understand ... you don’t want to understand ... that whatever I’ve done, it was for you as well as for myself.”
“That’s great, Mom. I hadn’t thought of it like that, no,” said her son. “Every time you jumped in the sack with Bennett, why, it was really to help me.”
“You have no right to—”
“Yes, I do. The things you’ve done give me the right.”
“Danny, don’t keep on like this.”
Dan started walking toward her. “I’ll tell you something else,” he said. “I’m going to take that lazgun away from you.”
“Danny, don’t try it!”
“And the only way you can stop me,” he told her, “is by shooting me down.”
Gomez, stungun in hand, came strolling into the room where they were holding Natalie. “Are you in passable shape, chiquita?” he asked her.
The reporter was still kneeling beside the disabled Sidebar. “I’m not in the best shape I’ve ever been in, but I’m functioning.” Carefully, she started to rise.
Gomez allowed himself to be briefly distracted by her wobbly efforts.
Noticing that, the lanky Pettiford lunged, grabbed up the metal chair the young woman had been sitting in, and hurled it straight at Gomez.
Most of the chair legs caught Gomez in the chest. He fell backwards, sitting hard. His gun hit the floor and spun away.
Dr. Danenberg made a dive for the skittering weapon.
Natalie, on her feet again, ran. She jumped, landing on the stooping doctor’s broad back.
While the two women were struggling for possession of the fallen stungun, Gomez devoted his attention to the Excalibur leader.
Pettiford had followed the chair and was grappling with Gomez, attempting to twist the detective’s arm up behind his back.
Jerking free, Gomez rolled and then kicked up.
His boot toe connected with the diving Pettiford’s chin.
“Unk,” he said, dropping flat.
Gomez got to his knees, grabbed the man up, and delivered three short jabs to his jaw.
Pettiford sagged. Gomez let him sink to the floor and into unconsciousness.
“Bueno,” he commented, standing up and looking around.
Natalie, brushing back her hair, was straddling the fallen
Dr. Danenberg. The stungun was firmly gripped in her right hand. “Don’t think I don’t appreciate your daring attempt at a rescue, Gomez,” she said, a bit breathlessly. “However, should we ever find ourselves in a similar situation at some future date, I do hope you won’t be quite so clumsy.”
Bowing, Gomez smiled at her. “Your gracious thanks are most gratefully accepted, linda,” he said. “And now I suggest that we have a little chat with the good doctor.”
Kate kept the lazgun aimed at her son. “Danny,” she said, “don’t do this.”
He was only a few feet from her now. “Give me the gun,” he said and held out his hand.
“I can’t.”
“Well, you’re not going to use it to kill my father. So either shoot me or—”
“Please, Danny, try to understand why I—”
“I understand.” He reached out, closing his fingers over the barrel of the lazgun.
Kate, starting to cry, let go of the weapon. She turned, angry, toward Jake. “He’s ... he’s just like you.”
Dan slipped the gun into his pocket. “Nancy, Dad, we can go now,” he said.
They moved single file along the hotel corridor. Dan was in the lead, followed by Nancy and then his mother. Jake brought up the rear.
“You’re not going to make it out of here,” warned Kate.
“Once we get to the service passages we’ll be okay.”
“Bennett’s in this hotel,” his former wife said. “He’s at a meeting. As soon as that ends, he’s planning to meet me at the kids’ room. When he finds them gone, he’ll mount a search of the entire satellite.”
“Dan, we want that blue door on the right.”
“Okay, Dad.” Slowing, Dan approached the door. He opened it, slowly and carefully, and entered the blank-walled corridor beyond.
Kate said, “Bennett will kill you.”
“He’s tried before.” Jake urged her into the passageway.
“If you simply give up, turn the kids over to him, then you have a chance.”
“We’ll travel in silence from here on.”
“I’m trying to help you, Jake, to save your damn life.”
“It’s funny, Kate. Somehow I find it tough to trust you.”
Near the end of this section of corridor was another blue door.
“Do we want this doorway, Dad?”
“Yeah, and then take the down ramp on the left.”
Before any of them reached the door, it came snapping open.
Bennett Sands, a lazgun in his hand, stepped into the hallway. “Well, Jake Cardigan,” he said, smiling. “Just the man I was hoping to meet.”
38
THE LEFT SLEEVE OF Sands’ jacket hung empty. He was a pale man, puffy-faced, and he continued to smile in a smug, self-satisfied way. “As I recall, Cardigan, you invaded my privacy once before.”
“Down in Mexico, yeah.”
“Thanks to you, and your IDCA friends, I lost an arm.”
“Hello, Father.” Nancy took a few steps away from Dan.
Not looking directly at his daughter, keeping his attention centered on Jake, Sands said, “I’ll be talking to you later, young lady. You’ve caused me one hell of a lot of trouble.”
“It’s mutual,” she said.
“We’ll discuss all this later, Nan.”
“After you murder Jake Cardigan, do you mean?”
“That’ll be quite enough,” he told her. “Now, Cardigan, I want you to walk over here to me.”
“Danny, don’t!” Kate suddenly cried out. She rushed at her son, throwing both arms tight around him. “Bennett—he’s got my gun.”
“Danny, I’m surprised at you.” Sands moved his lazgun so that it pointed at the boy. “Why, I’ve been a second father to you.”
“I still have my first father.” Dan let go of the lazgun he’d been trying to slip free of his jacket pocket. “I don’t need you, Bennett.”
“Wait—don’t try it, Cardigan.” Sands returned his attention to Jake.
Jake had been reaching for the stungun inside his coat. “You’re not too popular with the younger generation,” he remarked, putting both his hands, palms out, in front of him.
“When I get time, I’ll brood about that.”
Kate retrieved her weapon from her son’s pocket. “Don’t, please, try anything like that again, Danny.”
Jake asked, “You’re going to be running the SuperTek operation, are you, Sands?”
“I’m going to be one of several equal partners, rather.”
Nodding, Jake said, “And is Professor Kittridge one of the other partners?”
“Oh, yes,” replied Sands. “Yes, Cardigan, your current mistress’s father is in with us.”
“And you’re also active in this Excalibur Movement, huh?”
Laughing, Sands said, “Lunatic funds are as good as any,” he said. “They’ve financed a substantial part of things thus far.”
“Including your escape.” Nancy moved over beside Dan.
“Please don’t interrupt the conversation, young lady,” cautioned her father. “But, actually, now I think of it, the conversation’s over. Cardigan—very carefully hand over the weapons that you’re carrying.”
“He’s got a stungun,” Kate informed him. “I don’t know what else.”
Sands said, “All right, Cardigan. Let’s have the stungun—” He stopped speaking and his eyes went wide.
A red door across the corridor had suddenly opened. Richard Lofton, carrying a stungun and a lazgun, stepped through the doorway.
“It’s been a long time, hasn’t it, Bennett?” he said.
Dr. Danenberg touched her right palm to the recplate on the office door and it slid open. “In here,” she said in a sour, disgruntled voice. She remained standing in the chill corridor.
“You’re certainly grouchy,” observed Gomez, urging her into the room ahead of him and carefully scanning its interior as they crossed the threshold.
Three of the walls were of gray metal and the fourth was of one-way seethrough plastiglass. Out beyond that stretched a large lab, where roughly two dozen robots, a dozen androids, and seven or eight humans were all at work at long white tables.
“Bueno,” commented Gomez as the door whooshed shut behind them. “We’ve finally found the Teklab that we’ve been seeking, chiquita.”
Natalie walked up close to the seethrough wall. “I wish these dreadful nitwits hadn’t incapacitated Sidebar,” she said ruefully. “Some footage on this clandestine Tek chip factory, coupled with my usual insightful description of things, would make a darn nifty news segment.”
“Sit down in that chair yonder, doc,” suggested Gomez, gesturing with his stungun. “Fold your hands sedately in your lap, por favor.”
“I’m truly sorry it was your leg and not your neck that you broke.”
“Let’s see if we can’t maintain the chummy relationship we’ve had thus far.” He rested his backside against the edge of the rubberoid desk. “I take it that you and Prof Kittridge didn’t really split up?”
“You can assume any damn thing you wish, Mr. Sanchez.”
“Gomez,” he corrected, smiling. “I already know that you’ve been popping up to NorCal and sneaking visits with him. I figure somehow he managed to slip you some handy tips on how to manufacture SuperTek.” He pointed at the busy lab with a thumb.
Folding her arms, the doctor said nothing.
Natalie said, “Your interviewing technique, if you don’t mind my saying so, isn’t as smooth and efficient as it might be.”
“I know, si,” he admitted. “Sometimes, in my overzealous quest for information, I start slapping people around. It’s a definite character flaw, but there you are.” He smiled more broadly at Dr. Danenberg. “Now then—about Kittridge?”
“Yes, he is involved,” she answered in a low, tight-lipped way. “The idea for SuperTek is his. He and Sands were already planning this even before all that mess down in Mexico.”
“Muy triste.�
� Gomez shook his head slowly. “It’s sad to think that a man of his capabilities could be tempted by vast sums of loot to sell out his species.”
“Are we going to loiter hereabouts all the livelong day while you pontificate in Spanish?” Natalie turned away from the see-through wall.
“Patience, chiquita. A little moralizing now and then is good for the old alma.” Gomez eased over to the vidphone alcove. “I note they have a bugproof phone here. I’ll put through a satcall to the London office of the International Drug Control Agency and report our findings. They, in turn, will dispatch a paddy wagon up here to this den of thieves.”
“But can we trust the IDCA?”
Gomez replied, “I know an hombre in the London branch who’s true blue.” He sat down facing the phonescreen. “Soon as I finish, we’ll go rendezvous with Jake.”
“How do we determine just exactly where he is at the moment?”
“Dr. Danenberg is going to tell us,” he explained. “Or rather, she’ll inform us where Dan and Nancy are being kept. Jake should be somewhere in the vicinity.”
39
RICHARD LOFTON SMILED AS he moved, slowly, closer to Sands. “I haven’t changed much over the years, have I, Bennett?” He held both guns aimed at him.
“No, not much at all, Dick.” Sands’ lazgun was pointing at the newcomer.
“Don’t try anything funny, Cardigan,” warned Lofton, glancing quickly at him. “I look just like I did when you ordered me killed, don’t I, Bennett?”
Sands shook his head. “You know I had nothing to do with any attempt on your life.”
Lofton laughed. “Sure, you did, Bennett,” he said. “Hell, the guys you hired for the job told me all about it, right before they killed me. Did they report back to you? Give you all the details? See, what they did—and it amused the shit out of them when they told me their plans—they cut my body up into pieces. Out in the fucking jungle this was, you know, Bennett, so you can imagine—”
“What the hell are you talking about, Dick? You’re still alive and—”
“I’ve been making quite a name for myself, Bennett,” he said. “Lots of people, you included, thought I wouldn’t amount to much. But, shit, I’m famous.”
TekLab Page 18
