CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
“Set down your weapons,” Kiolven said, his voice quiet, his manner that of someone fully in control. “There’s no need for any of you die today.”
“Roarke?” Kreega bit out, her GovSev pointed unwaveringly at Kiolven. “Talk to me.”
“Do as he says,” I said, an edge of bitterness in my voice as I laid my plasmic on the mesh and added the one I’d taken from Galfvi. “Those are the weapons that turned Venikel into charcoal. You really don’t want to get shot with one.”
Kreega hissed out a curse, but lowered her weapon to the floor. Selene had already laid down her own plasmic.
“Thank you,” Kiolven said as, one by cautious one, the three Iykams climbed over the cusp and came down into the launch sphere. “Arms straight out to your sides.”
I did as ordered, feeling uncomfortably like I was being set up for an impromptu crucifixion. Distantly, I wondered if any Narchner songs mentioned that especially nasty part of Earth’s history.
Fortunately, all Kiolven had in mind was a search. He handed my backpack to one of the Iykams to paw through, then went through my pockets and clothing very thoroughly, even finding and checking the small hidden slots in my jacket. It was just as well, I reflected, that I hadn’t followed my original plan of putting the note I’d written into one of those. When he was done, he did the same with Galfvi, Selene, and Kreega. The detective-sergeant glared fire at him and the Iykams the entire time, but endured the search in stoic silence.
I did note with interest that one of the items he confiscated from Galfvi was a small AuVid display of the sort used for remote monitoring of bugs. I wondered if Kreega had ever had time to check out Lukki’s booth at Panza’s, decided this wasn’t the time to ask.
“My apologies,” Kiolven said when he’d finished. “But Mr. Roarke is clever enough to have brought along a small transmitter or recorder, and we don’t want our conversation today to be made public.” He cocked his head at me. “Speaking of cleverness, it appears that you expected me. I gather you weren’t equally prepared for my associates?”
“No, the vac suits were a terrific idea,” I complimented him, my brain racing furiously to revise my plan. I had expected Kiolven, all right, and I was ready for him. The Iykams, though, were a complete surprise.
Though in hindsight I realized they shouldn’t have been. Kreega had told me three Patth freighters were currently on Alainn, and I knew each Talariac-Drive ship had at least three Iykams guarding that ship’s pilot. I didn’t know where Kiolven stood in the Patth hierarchy, but if he was high enough he’d have the authority to borrow those guards as long as the ship was in port.
And with Venikel having been violently and unexpectedly taken off the game board, it made sense for him to call in whatever backup he could get.
Great for him. Terrible for me. My plan didn’t accommodate this many extra opponents, especially ones carrying corona weapons. I would have to improvise.
And as my father used to say, Improvisation is typically one part inspiration and nine parts desperation. If you hope to pull out anything better than a draw, you need to seriously improve that ratio.
“Hardly a perfect idea, though,” I continued as one of the Iykams collected our weapons and stuffed them into my backpack for safekeeping. “Selene was still able to pick up their scent, either from the exteriors or from you where you’d touched them before they suited up.”
“Ah, yes,” Kiolven said, eyeing Selene interestedly. “Expediter Huginn warned me about her remarkable abilities.”
“I assume that was when you and Venikel met with him at Panza’s?” I asked.
He frowned at me. “How did you know about that? I saw you as we entered, but your angle wasn’t adequate for you to identify him. And you left before he did.”
“Process of elimination,” I said. “Though you’re right, I would have preferred to confirm it visually. Unfortunately, Willie showed up before I could arrange a walk-by. You have anything to do with his appearance, by the way?”
Kiolven shook his head. “No.”
I shifted my attention to Galfvi. “You?”
“No,” he said softly, his eyes and face holding a graveyard look. All his efforts to elude Kiolven had come to a screeching halt, and he was fully aware of the consequences of that failure.
“So that was Willie on his own,” I said, turning back to Kiolven. “So all you did was follow him out of the café and kill him.” I raised my eyebrows. “Or rather, before Venikel killed him. He was the muscle of your little team, wasn’t he?”
“You have an amazing imagination, Mr. Roarke,” Kiolven said. “But you substitute fantastical theories for reality. Neither I nor my late partner had anything to do with any deaths, either here in Bilswift or anywhere else.”
“Really?” I asked. “A witness to Willie’s killer told me he was wearing a Patth robe.”
“I don’t doubt it,” Kiolven said, turning a stern gaze on Galfvi. “I’m sure you’ve already surmised that Galfvi killed Lukki Parsons. It’s obvious he wished to eliminate the rest of her organization, as well.”
“Maybe,” I said. “But he’d already given his robe to Tirano.”
“And you believe each Patthaaunuth has only one?”
“Okay, fine,” I said. “You suggest he was taking out Lukki’s gang. What was his motive?”
“That remains uncertain,” Kiolven said. “I would suggest he was driven by the Patthaaunuth attributes of justice and friendship. His Kadolian friend Tirano had been enslaved by these humans. He was merely attempting to right that wrong.”
“Murder is a lousy way to go about doing that,” I pointed out.
“I didn’t say the plan was a good one,” Kiolven said. “You merely asked for a motive.”
“Well, it’s an interesting theory,” I said, scratching my head thoughtfully. “But you see, there are a couple of problems with it. I know of at least three members of Lukki’s group who are still walking around, people I saw or talked to last night. If Galfvi was so eager to kill everyone, how did he miss them?”
“I presume he merely ran out of time.”
I shook my head. “Sorry, but no. Because that’s the other problem. The dinghy he used to sneak into the fenced-in enclosure out there was already gone when Braun was killed. Galfvi couldn’t have done that one.”
“Unless he came back to continue his string of murders,” Kiolven said. “There is, of course, a simpler explanation. As I said, the killings were from a desire for justice. Who else but Tirano had an equally strong desire and therefore equally strong motive?”
I looked at Selene, saw the flash of anger in her pupils. “So you’re saying Galfvi killed Lukki and Willie, and Tirano killed Braun?”
“That is the likely conclusion.”
“I suppose.” I paused. “So where did Tirano get the plasmic Braun was killed with?”
Kiolven nodded toward Galfvi. “From him, no doubt.”
I shook my head. “Sorry. Your Iykams have the plasmic Galfvi took from Lukki.”
“Stolen from your ship, then.” Kiolven smiled. “I’m told you keep a store of backup weapons.”
“Told by Expediter Huginn, I assume,” I said. “One problem: All our backup weapons are still aboard. I checked them last night.”
“He could have used it against Braun and then replaced it.”
“It would have carried his scent.”
Kiolven looked at Selene. “You raise questions for which I unfortunately have no answers,” he conceded. “Perhaps when Detective-Sergeant Kreega has completed her investigation those answers will be forthcoming.”
“Actually, I think those answers can be forthcoming right now,” I offered. “If you’re interested in the truth, that is.”
For a moment he studied me. “Certainly,” he said. “This truth pertains to Galfvi, I presume?”
“Actually, it pertains mostly to you,” I told him. “You see, the problem isn’t just who shot whom and where everyone was at the time. The problem is also the pattern of the murders. You suggested the killer was trying to wipe out Lukki’s organization. But as I already pointed out, that doesn’t hold water.”
“I also suggested the killer ran out of time.”
“No,” I said firmly. “Because there’s also the hippo in the hamper we haven’t yet addressed: Bicks and Darnell Javersin. They weren’t connected in any way to Lukki, so why were they killed?”
“Perhaps they were connected to her,” Kiolven said.
“No,” I said. “They weren’t connected to Lukki. They didn’t have to be.” I pointed to Galfvi. “Because all that mattered was that they were connected to Galfvi.”
Out of the corner of my eye I saw Kreega turn toward me. “They what?” she muttered. “Are you saying—?”
“That Galfvi killed them?” I shook my head, keeping my eyes on Kiolven. “No. Actually, the whole repulsive mess is pretty straightforward once you get through the utter childishness of it.”
Kiolven had good command of his face and stance. But like everyone else, he had no way to control his scent. And hearing his people’s ancient rituals labeled as repulsive and childish was apparently more than he could take from an upstart alien. “Yes,” Selene murmured her confirmation. “There was a reaction.”
Kiolven jerked his head around toward her. “You dare—?”
“You invited me to tell the truth,” I cut him off. “You want me to spell it out, or don’t you?”
He shifted his glare to me. “You merely wish to brag of your cleverness.”
“You’re the one who said I was clever,” I reminded him. “Anyway, isn’t bragging basically what you were doing when you popped in with your escort? You certainly looked like you were gloating.”
He stared at me another moment, then gave a small shrug. “Expediter Huginn was right about you. Very well. Enjoy your moment in the sunlight.”
“Thank you,” I said. “Actually, there were two points that put me on the right trail. The first was a Narchner song that one of Detective-Sergeant Kreega’s badgemen told me about.”
“Zilor,” Kreega muttered. “He told me he’d had a chat with you.”
“Right,” I said, suppressing a grimace. Under the circumstances, I’d hoped to keep Zilor’s name out of this. “He told us about a song that spoke of Patth families sending operatives to find wayward kinsmen and bring them home. The song further claimed that those wayward sons would be tried, exiled, and erased from family records.”
“Sounds rather drastic,” Kiolven said evenly.
“That’s the problem,” I said. “It isn’t drastic. Certainly not drastic enough for a Narchner song about another species. Those are always bloody and nasty and demonstrate how good the Narchners are compared with everyone else. What Zilor missed was that it wasn’t just the family memories and records that were purged. The family’s goal was to eliminate all memory of the troublemaker.
“Which meant killing everyone who knew him.”
“What the hell?” Kreega said, staring sandbagged at me. “You can’t be serious.”
“Selene?” I invited.
“No reaction,” Selene confirmed quietly. “It’s the truth.”
Kreega looked at Kiolven, her expression sending a shiver up my back. “You killed all of them because they knew Galfvi?” she asked quietly. “No other reason? Because they knew Galfvi?”
“Our culture is not your culture,” Kiolven said calmly. Maybe he wasn’t very good at reading human expressions. More likely he saw the death in Kreega’s eyes perfectly well and simply didn’t care. “Humans have participated in activities others would deem equally horrific. You cannot judge us without inviting judgment upon yourselves.”
“We’ll see what a court of law has to say about that,” Kreega said. “You want to kill your own people, fine, I can’t stop you. But not mine. Not mine.”
“A Patthaaunuth court of law might deliver equally harsh verdicts over human atrocities,” Kiolven said. “But this discussion is pointless. As in all things, strength is always the deciding factor, and the strength lies with me.”
“Does it?” I countered. “Because I’m pretty sure Expediter Huginn gave you a direct order to stay away from Selene and me and anything we got involved with.” I waved a hand at the Iykams. “Yet here you are.”
“Expediter Huginn offered suggestions, not orders,” Kiolven countered. “I chose to ignore them.”
“In my experience, suggestions from Expediters are orders.”
“Your experience doesn’t include the political power of the—” He broke off, giving me a small smile. “But we aren’t here to bore you with the internal workings of Patthaaunuth society.”
“Fine by me,” I said, gesturing toward Kreega. “But since you bring up Patth society, it’s my understanding that the Patth Director General is as opposed to killing badgemen as everyone else in the Spiral. What makes you think you can get away with that without consequences?”
“That part will perhaps be a challenge,” Kiolven conceded, eyeing Kreega. “I didn’t expect Mr. Roarke to pull you into this.”
“You committed murder in my town,” Kreega said coldly. “I was already in. You said there was another point besides the Narchner song, Roarke?”
I nodded. “It was something Kiolven asked me early on, when we interrupted their planned torture interrogation of Tirano. He asked me how well I knew Galfvi and his family.”
“So he’d know if he should add you to his list.”
“Exactly,” I said. “Luckily for us, we’d never met Galfvi and I told them so. Otherwise Selene and I might be in your morgue right now along with Lukki and the others. But let’s get back to the question of shooting badgemen. You said, Kiolven, that explaining that would be a challenge. What if I could show you how you could avoid the whole situation?”
“The law of the family is clear,” Kiolven said. “So are the requirements of the ancient decrees.”
“I’m sure they are,” I said. “But what if I were to suggest an alternative?”
“There are no alternatives.”
“There are always alternatives,” I said firmly. “Let’s start with the bottom line. How much is Galfvi’s family paying you to bring him home and clean out his backtrack?”
“That information is not to be shared.”
“Why not?” I asked. “You’ve already decided to kill all of us anyway, haven’t you? Or at least Selene and me. Why else would you have had Venikel leave such an obvious trail after he caught Tirano and took him to that warehouse? You wanted us to follow them to a nice secluded place where you could kill us.”
“A killing that clearly did not take place,” Kiolven said, his voice going dark. “How did you escape his trap?”
“We’ll talk about that later,” I said. “Right now—”
“We will talk about it now,” Kiolven cut me off. “Tell me what you did.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Or what? You’ll kill us? But let’s not live in the past.”
“Roarke—”
“You said before that strength is always the deciding factor,” I went on. “But as my father used to say, Having strength on your side is good. Having economics on your side is better. So again, how much are they paying you?”
“Four hundred thousand cesmi,” Galfvi spoke up quietly.
I frowned at him. “Come again?”
“Four hundred thousand cesmi,” Galfvi repeated. “The equivalent of eight hundred thousand commarks.”
“Never heard of them,” I said, a sudden shift in Selene’s pupils catching my eye. If I hadn’t heard of cesmi, maybe she had? “Private Patth currency, I assume. Regardless, four hundred thousand of anything is a tidy sum.”
“Not at all,” Galfvi said contemptuously. “That is the minimum established price for this task. My family is led by misers.”
“On that we agree,” Kiolven said with some of Galfvi’s own disdain. “Sadly for their preferences, while four may be the traditional minimum, eight is my minimum.”
“And they paid it?” Galfvi asked.
“They did.”
“See?” I said. “You’re more important to your family than you thought. That must warm your heart. But never mind that. A tidy sum, Kiolven, as I said. But what if you could trade that eight hundred thousand cesmi for a larger number? Say, a billion?”
Kiolven made a contemptuous sounding noise. “You seek to bribe me from my responsibility?”
“Oh, please,” I said scornfully. “Do I look like I have two billion commarks on me? No, I’m talking about something far bigger, something far more important to the Patth than one wayward son, no matter what he’s done or how annoying he might be. Something for which the Director General will hand over a freighter full of money without a second’s hesitation.”
I waved my hand around the launch module. “This.”
Kiolven made another rude noise. “Again, you spin fantasies.”
“Do I?” I countered. “Why do you think Expediter Huginn gave you such strict orders to stay away from us? Because he knew we were looking for this thing, too, and he didn’t want you chasing after us and accidentally blundering into it. It’s incredibly, incredibly valuable, and he has no interest in sharing the acclaim and rewards when it’s handed over to the Director General.”
I lifted a finger. “But here’s the thing. Right now, it’s not working. That’s because it’s missing several key components. Without them, its value drops from a billion cesmi to whatever scrap metal goes for on your home planet.”
“Then why do you waste my time with this fantasy?”
“Because I can run it straight back up to a billion for you.” I gave him a sly smile. “Because I’m the one who has those missing pieces.”
For a long moment the launch module was silent. I kept my eyes on Kiolven, carefully avoiding looking at Selene. She knew that was a complete lie, but she also knew not to derail whatever angle I was working.
Finally, Kiolven stirred. “You lie,” he said flatly. “You seek merely to bargain back your life with morning dew.”
I gave a theatrical sigh. “Fine. You want proof? I’ll give you proof.” I gestured toward one of the Iykams as I took off my jacket. “You mind asking him to take a step back? I need to get into the equipment bay he’s standing on.”
His eyes still on me, Kiolven gestured to the Iykam. I waited until the alien was out of the way, then walked over to the bay and knelt down beside it. I pulled off the loosened cover and looked up at Kiolven. “As the magicians say, watch very closely,” I said.
I rolled up my left sleeve and opened the compartment at the elbow of my artificial arm. “As you see, we humans are full of surprises,” I added as I pulled out my souvenir cable and connector. “Watch closely.”
Leaving the elbow compartment door open, I knelt down and fastened the cable and connector back into place. “And as they also say, hey, presto,” I finished. Gesturing at the bay, I stood up and got a grip on my elbow compartment’s door.
And with everyone’s eyes now focused on the equipment bay, I deftly plucked out the folded piece of paper I’d hidden under the cable and shifted it to a concealed position in my right palm. “That was a free sample,” I told Kiolven. “You want more, you have to deal.”
Slowly, he raised his eyes. “Where are the rest of the components?”
“Locked away in a very secure place,” I assured him. “But easily accessible. The key’s aboard the Ruth, whenever you’re ready to go get it.”
“Where is it?”
“I’m sorry; I was apparently unclear,” I said. “I meant whenever you’re ready for us to go get it. All of us.” I looked at Galfvi. “Including him.”
“The family wishes him disposed of.”
“The family will have to wait their turn,” I said. “He killed a human on Alainn, and there are going to be consequences for that. Anyway, right now you have more important things to do. Shall we get the key, or would you rather see if Huginn finds this place first? I can deal with him just as easily as I can deal with you.”
“Not if you are dead.”
I shrugged as casually as I could. Appealing to greed was all well and good, but accidentally crossing over into wounded pride territory never ended well. “If your professional pride is worth losing a couple billion commarks over, I suppose I can’t stop you. Though there would still be the fallout over killing a badgeman to deal with. But it’s your call.”
From my point of view, the scenario I’d painted for him should have been a no-brainer. But apparently he was the type who had to weigh every decision. For another moment he stared at me and pondered.
But in the end, the lure was too strong to pass up. “You will ascend first,” he said, gesturing to the rope bridge leading into the receiver module and the hanging rope beyond. “Then the Kadolian, then the badgeman. Do not linger.”
“Don’t worry,” I said, letting out a silent sigh of relief. The first crucial hurdle had been successfully passed.
Now all I had to worry about was all the rest of them.
* * *
I’d wondered why Kiolven would risk sending me up first, ahead of him or any of his Iykams. I found out as soon as I reached the top and found three more of the corona-armed aliens standing guard there. Clearly, Kiolven was the type who didn’t want to let his opponents even know how many cards he had in his hand, let alone how he intended to play them.
Fortunately, so was I.
I waited until Selene appeared, her hands fumbling uncertainly at the edge of the hatchway as she made a show of trying to make the transition from a vertical climb back to a horizontal crawl. As she struggled, drawing most of the Iykams’ attention, I surreptitiously dropped my note into the collection of sod sections that had once been much better camouflage for yesterday’s exit hole. Now, with the area looking less like professional landscaping and more like a child had tossed some dirt clods onto a sand-sifter, it should be more apt to draw attention.
I could only hope it would attract the right attention.
We reached Kreega’s patrol car to find the van I’d seen following us from the spaceport parked behind it. I offered to stay in the van with Kiolven and the Iykams if he allowed Kreega and Selene to drive back in Kreega’s car; Kiolven ignored my suggestion and instead loaded all of us into the van.
The vehicle was a twelve-passenger model like the one Braun had used to take us to Seven Strands. I ended up in the rear right-hand seat, the same one Braun and Scarf had put me in during that earlier trip. The geometry of its position made it the most secure and escape-proof of the twelve seats, and the fact that I was put there instead of Kreega presumably meant Kiolven considered me more of a threat than she was.
I wasn’t sure whether or not that was a compliment, but decided I might as well treat it as one.
The midday Bilswift traffic was out in full force, and as Kiolven maneuvered us through the streets I wondered if he would reconsider his plan to go straight to the Ruth and instead take us someplace where we could hole up until after dark when things eased up a little. But either he was anxious to get his hands on his billion cesmi or he really did believe that Patth could do whatever they wanted without consequences. He drove the van right up to the Ruth’s zigzag and piled us out again.
Three minutes later, we were gathered in the dayroom. “We’re here,” Kiolven said, his eyes steady on me. “Where is the key you spoke of?”
“It’s very close,” I assured him, looking surreptitiously at Selene. Reflexively, Kiolven followed my gaze.
And with his attention pointed the wrong direction, I popped open the wrist compartment in my left arm and thumbed out one of my knockout pills.
Most of the time, I used those handy little pharmaceuticals against enemies, opponents, or occasionally even badgemen who were inconveniently in my way. This was not one of those times.
“And I’ll get it for you,” I added, “just as soon as I wake up.” Giving him a smug smile, I popped the pill into my own mouth.
He was fast, all right. I’d barely gotten my mouth closed again when he was on top of me, trying to pry my jaws apart. But he was too late. I’d already swallowed the pill, and I’d seen on many occasions just how fast the things were.
His fingers were still digging at my lips when the universe went black.