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CHAPTER THIRTEEN

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Five minutes later, Selene located the spot where Tirano had left our current route and headed into a side tunnel back toward the outside world. Two minutes after that, we emerged onto a ledge through an opening that Braun confirmed was the one he, Lukki, and Willie had normally used when sneaking into the Loporr tunnel system on earlier missions to snatch Vrinks.

“Only one problem,” Braun said. “This ledge leads around the side of the mountain and back to our footbridge.”

“That is a problem?” Scarf demanded. He’d taken back the piece of his scarf that I hadn’t burned and tried to wrap it back around his neck in its original knot pattern. But with only half the length left for him to work with, it looked rather shabby. One more reason, probably, that I got the stink-eye every time he looked at me.

“It’s a problem,” Braun told him with strained patience, “because it also passes through the grassy area where the colony is currently preparing their meal.”

“And getting through all those milling Loporri without touching any of them will be well-nigh impossible,” I concluded. “Terrific.”

“It’s not as bad as it sounds,” Braun said. “The Vrink scent should have faded enough by now to put us in the clear. Once they finish eating and go back inside, we’ll have a straight shot.”

“How long?” Scarf asked.

Braun shrugged. “No idea. We’ve never hit them in the middle of a meal before.”

“And we’re more at the beginning of a meal than the middle,” I pointed out. “They were just starting to dress the kill.”

“I suppose,” Braun said. “Still, it shouldn’t be more than a few hours.”

Scarf turned to his fellow Ylps, and even with the wind sweeping past us I could hear the ultrasonics as they discussed the situation. “Very well,” Scarf said when they finished. “While we wait, you will obtain our package for us.”

“Afraid that’s not going to work,” Braun said. “I’ve got a way to get hold of them without triggering the kind of riot we just saw, but we can’t just hold onto them that way for long. An hour, maybe an hour and a half, and that hold will be gone.”

“Then you must estimate when we can leave and plan accordingly,” Scarf said.

“While we work out the logistics, how about we wait back in the tunnel?” I suggested, shivering as a gust of cold breeze blew past me. “At least we can get out of the wind.”

“I’d prefer to wait out here,” Selene said. “Some of the airflow is coming from the meal area, so I’ll know when the cooking fire is out.”

“Well, you’re not staying out here all alone,” I said, throwing some resignation into my voice as I studied her pupils. The campfire smoke wasn’t the real reason she wanted to stay, I could see. But whatever was going on, she clearly wanted to talk to me about it in private. “You know what happens when you do that.” I gestured to Braun. “You four go get warm. We’ll join you in a bit.”

“Yeah,” Braun said, eyeing me suspiciously. “Because you wouldn’t make a break for it and leave us here alone, would you?”

“Where would we go?” I countered, pointing to my left. “That way runs us into Loporri”—I pointed to my right—“that way takes us deeper into the wilderness”—I pointed down—“that way is a sheer drop”—I pointed up—“that way—”

I paused, peering at the scraggly bushes and grasses above the tunnel mouth. Half concealed behind them was an additional, narrower ledge. “Actually, that way might be doable,” I said thoughtfully. “At least for a short distance. Though it looks like it peters out just around the bend, and I don’t see anything above it that would take us any higher.”

“There isn’t,” Braun said, looking up briefly, and then peering down at the drop-off below us. Probably studying the plants down there and wondering if they would support human weight. “We checked out everything about this place before our first score.”

He straightened up and once more gave me a threatening look. “Just remember that Bilswift isn’t very big, and vengeance lasts forever.”

“I’ll add that to my list of aphorisms,” I said. “It’s just like something my father might have said. If you want to freeze out here, you’re welcome to join us. Personally, if I were you I’d be more worried that Scarf and his minions might do something stupid than that Selene and I might make a desperate run for it.”

“There’s that,” he said sourly. “All right, fine. But stay here at the tunnel mouth where I can keep an eye on you.”

“Fine.” I looked over his shoulder at the Ylps. “Meanwhile, your charges look like they’re thinking about doing some exploring.”

“Serve ’em right if they get themselves killed,” he growled. “Don’t wander off.”

I waited until he’d joined the Ylps, had a brief and inaudible conversation with them, then headed back farther into the Loporr warren. “Well, here we are,” I said as I sat down on the ledge in front of the tunnel. “Shall we talk?”

“Yes,” Selene said, sitting gingerly down beside me and pointing off into the distance. “You see that over there? I think it’s another footbridge.”

I looked in the direction she was pointing. Sure enough, I could make out a short section of footbridge planks through the trees. “Yes, I see it,” I confirmed. “Probably one of the others from Seven Strands.”

“I agree,” Selene said. “But it started me thinking. Darnell Javersin said there used to be a Loporr village around the Strands, didn’t he?”

“Yes, I remember.”

“But the Loporri live here, in this mountain warren,” she said. “Why would they also have a village out in the open?”

“The usual reason for setting up that sort of thing is if you want a trading post for dealing with other locals,” I said. “But you hardly need a whole village for that. You think the village was someone else’s?”

“I do.” She turned to me, a quiet dread in her pupils. “Gregory, I think it was owned by the Icari.”

I looked across the forest at the footbridge. That suspicion had also been poking at the edges of my mind, but up to now I’d had more immediate things to worry about. But now that Selene had said the magic word . . . “Okay,” I said. “Why?”

Her pupils took on a bit of puzzlement. “What do you mean?”

“I mean why would the Icari come here?” I amplified. “Granted that Alainn might have been more impressive ten thousand years ago before they all disappeared, why would they have come here to the Bilswift forests?”

“Perhaps for the silver-silk.”

“Could be,” I agreed. “Could very well be, actually. But there are seven footbridges radiating from the once-upon-a-time village down there. Why the other six?”

Selene turned back to the distant footbridge. “There must be other things they wanted here,” she said slowly. “The one over there—maybe it goes to another Loporr colony. The one that leads southward down into the valley . . . I don’t know. Fruits? Vegetables?”

“Could be crops of some sort, yes,” I agreed. “What about the others?”

“The one pointing to the river would be for water,” she said, the words starting to flow faster as she got into the rhythm of the logic. “Two other bridges into the mountains for more Loporri or other resources. And then—”

She looked back at me, her pupils startled as she hit the critical point. “One to the portal?”

“That’s my guess,” I said, nodding. “More interesting from our immediate point of view, if it runs high enough above the ground—and if it’s still there—it may be our best way to sneak past the Patth fence.”

“Yes,” she breathed. “Yes.” Her eyes went wary. “How long have you known?”

“Not very,” I assured her. “Maybe ten or fifteen seconds longer than you. We were mostly working through the logic here together.” I nodded in the direction of the Seven Strands. “Except that I don’t think it was the Icari themselves who were camped here. I think it more likely it was another of their client species like—” I broke off, suddenly realizing I was charging headlong toward a touchy subject.

Too late. “Like the Kadolians?” Selene asked softly.

I winced. As my father used to say, Better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool than to say the wrong thing and have someone shut it for you. “Or someone else,” I said. “I just don’t see the Icari sitting around in a primitive village. And it was primitive—we know the kind of ruins a proper Icari community leaves behind. And footbridges to resources and water are the sort of things you’d set up for a more primitive society.”

“So the Icari moved in here,” Selene said, her pupils going thoughtful as she picked up the logic trail again. “They found the Loporri and silver-silk, set up a client species to harvest it for them, and then . . . what? Just left?”

“Or were destroyed, or whatever the hell happened to all the rest of them,” I said. “Their clients here may have held on a little longer, but eventually they must have died off or left, too.”

“You two are awfully chatty out here,” Braun’s voice came from somewhere behind me.

I turned to see him walking toward us along the tunnel. “I thought you were watching Scarf and his buddies,” I said.

“I thought you were supposed to be sniffing for wood smoke,” he countered.

“Smelling is air coming in; talking is air going out,” I said. “They’re really quite compatible together. Seriously, what did you do with the Ylps?”

“Don’t worry, I found a side chamber where the Loporri are storing some of their mushrooms,” he said. “They’re still nagging me to find some Vrinks for them, so I told them to stay put while I went hunting.”

“Sounds dangerous,” I warned.

“Not as much as you think,” he said. “There should be some adaptation chambers nearby.”

“Do you really have a way to prevent kidnapped Vrinks from warning the rest of their people?” Selene asked, her pupils going a little ominous. There were a lot of things in the Spiral she didn’t like, and slavery and kidnapping were pretty high on that list.

“Yeah,” Braun said. “It’s kind of iffy, but yeah. A chemist Lukki knew put together a plant-based spray-on patch we can put on sections of a Vrink’s arms and legs. Sort of like a transparent bandage. It gives us spots where we can pick them up or lead them along. Since the stuff registers as if the Vrink bumped into some plants, it doesn’t trigger any of the warning scents.”

“I hear an unless in there,” I said.

He scowled. “Unless we try to leave the stuff on too long and it rubs off, or if it gets rained on, or if we miss the patch and grab some section that isn’t covered up, or if the Vrink squirms and we drop him.”

“I’m guessing hitting the ground sends out a call for the medics?” I suggested.

“Something like that,” he said. “And like I said, if you bump them, it brings the boys with the crossbows. Neither of those has happened yet, but it only takes once.”

“Let’s try not to make today that once,” I said. “Assuming you still want to go through with it.”

“You want to get shot by the Ylps?” Braun asked bluntly. “I don’t. Our buddy Scarf came all the way across the Spiral to get some Vrinks, and I don’t think he’s ready to call it quits and go home. Even if he was, I doubt his boss would be.”

“His boss? Oh, right,” I said as a memory clicked. “The Ylpea ship Perrifil said was on its way. I was wondering what was going on there. So Scarf came here to pick up the package, and the incoming ship has some major honcho aboard who’s supposed to take delivery?”

“Yeah, and he’s either high up in the Ylpea government or in their industrial network,” Braun said. “Either way, not someone you want to mess with.”

I grimaced. “I seem to run into a lot of people like that.”

“I don’t doubt it.” Braun raised his eyebrows a little. “Don’t forget that I’m one of them.”

“Not likely to do so,” I assured him. “So how many Vrinks have you and Lukki kidnapped?”

“What, you writing a book?” he demanded. “Or just trying to figure out what kind of bounty to ask on me?”

“I’m retired from hunting,” I reminded him. “Besides, you already said we were up for aiding and abetting. What’s a little kidnapping history between fellow conspirators?”

“They’re thefts, not kidnappings,” he corrected stiffly. “Kidnappings are for sapients. Vrinks aren’t sapients.”

“Even better,” I said. “Especially since no one actually owns them. Almost impossible to prosecute someone when there’s no one around to claim loss.”

“You sound like Lukki,” he growled. “She was always spouting legal jarg like that.”

“A good entrepreneur knows all the ins and outs of the business,” I said, nodding. “So how many thefts did you and Lukki do?”

“Why do you care?”

“Because we’re interested in getting Tirano out of the indenture you and the Javersin brothers had him in,” I said. “It would help if we knew how deep he was into your operation.”

For a couple of seconds Braun just looked at me, maybe working through his responses and the associated consequences, maybe wondering if he could get away with dropping us both off the ledge. “This last one, the one with the missing package, was our sixth with him,” he said. “Don’t know if you want to count today as his seventh or not. And after pulling this crud, he’s not going to get an eighth. Not with us or whoever he’s working for now.”

“What makes you think he’s working for anyone?” Selene asked, an edge to her pupils. “Maybe this crud, as you call it, is him bringing you and the Ylps here so the Loporri can exact justice.”

“Maybe you’ve got a big mouth,” Braun warned. “Maybe we really don’t need you.” His eyes shifted to me. “Either of you,” he added. “It’s a long way down, and there’s nothing at the bottom except predators and scavengers.”

“Lucky for us, you do still need us,” I told him, watching his gun hand out of the corner of my eye. So far he wasn’t making a move toward the weapon, but if I waited until he did he’d definitely get there before I could stop him. Under some circumstances, my best move would be to preemptively go for my own plasmic and hope I won the race.

Deliberately, I raised my right hand and scratched idly at my cheek. Braun didn’t strike me as the type who would kill two people in cold blood, not even to cover his tracks. But he did strike me as someone with a very healthy survival instinct, and if he thought I was going to try to beat him to the punch he might well overreact. Best I not do anything to encourage such thoughts. “So tell me how it used to work,” I continued. “How did you get the Vrinks to market? So to speak.”

Again, Braun seemed to turn the question over in his mind. “By boat,” he said. “Lukki has a boat she would take up the river to an old dock no one uses anymore.”

I nodded. “I think we may have seen it.”

“Yeah? Anyway, Willie, Tirano, and I would come in here and find a couple of Vrinks, walk ’em out and back to the Strands, shove ’em in the van, and drive ’em down to the boat.”

“Why didn’t you use the footbridges the whole way?” I asked. “It looks like there’s one that goes straight to the river.”

“Yeah, you try to get a Vrink to move along a footbridge when he doesn’t want to,” Braun said sourly. “Wasn’t worth the effort, and the van was faster. We usually timed it so that it would be dark by then, and we’d just float ’em back to Bilswift.”

“Where you put them aboard the buyer’s ship?”

“If the ship was already there, yeah,” he said. “Usually there was enough slosh in the timing that we had a day or two to wait. In that case, we locked them up near the river, either in Tirano’s place or another house Lukki owns farther upstream. When the buyer’s ship got in, we’d put the package back on the boat, run them over to the spaceport, and put it aboard.”

“And collect your money.”

“The back half, yes,” Braun said. “Lukki already had the front half.”

“Nice and efficient,” I complimented him. “I assume you’ve already checked Lukki’s other place to make sure the original package isn’t there?”

“’Course we did,” Braun growled. “Also looked at Tirano’s. The package wasn’t either place.”

“So let’s assume this is just another score,” I said. “You seem sure that Tirano isn’t working alone, but from your description it sounds like he could bring a Vrink or maybe even two out by himself, without any help from anyone.”

“He couldn’t have any help,” Selene said before Braun could answer. “I told you he came in here with me, and we came alone.”

“Who says he didn’t send someone in ahead of him?” Braun countered. “You saw that anthill—lots of places someone could wait in there for him to show up. The only thing anyone needs him for is to find the Vrinks.”

“And how would they get the Vrinks out through the crowd?” Selene shot back. “If we’re stuck here, they should be, too.”

“They could have gone back into hiding.”

“Tirano can’t hide from me.

“Then he got out before the hunters came back.”

“Then how did he hit the Vrink that started everyone running toward us?”

“Let’s all calm down a little, shall we?” I put in quickly. This whole conversation was still mostly speculation, and as my father used to say, If you’re going to speculate out loud, speculate in the direction that gets you into the least trouble. “Selene’s right, Braun. If Tirano was still in here she’d be able to smell him. She’s also right that someone had to hit the Vrink to pin us down until the party out there got into full swing.”

I raised a finger for emphasis. “Which means you’re right about him having an accomplice in this operation. Any idea who it might be?”

“Not a clue,” Braun said, glaring at Selene. “We don’t have any competitors. No one else knows about the Vrinks and silver-silk.”

“No one that you know of,” I pointed out. “In that case, maybe another buyer—”

I broke off as the pieces suddenly fell into place. Tirano—Galfvi—Lukki’s murder—

“What is it?” Selene asked, her pupils gone uneasy. She’d picked up my sudden change in scent, and knew what it meant. “You have something?”

“I have everything,” I ground out. “Damn it. We’ve got the whole thing backward, Braun. Tirano’s got allies, all right, but he didn’t bring any of them in here. He didn’t need to. All he needed was to get us trapped for a few hours, and all he needed to accomplish that was to whap a Vrink on the arm and then nip out along the ledge before the lunchroom back there got too full of Loporri for him to get out.”

“What does he need us trapped for?” Braun asked, puzzlement and anger vying for top spot in his voice.

“Because he’s working with Galfvi,” I said. “And Galfvi knows where Lukki stashed your original set of Vrinks.”

“The missing paper from Lukki’s apartment,” Selene said suddenly. “The other property she owns.”

“So what’s he going to do with them?” Braun asked, still clearly trying to keep up.

“You already pointed to the answer,” I said. “You said Scarf is the Ylpea advance team, with the pickup ship coming in after the Vrinks are secured. Only there’s another ship about due to land at Bilswift.”

“The Patth?” Selene asked, her pupils looking suddenly stricken.

“The Patth,” I confirmed. “With Galfvi as their inside man, and Kiolven and Venikel as their advance team.”

“What the hell?” Braun snarled. “You saying those Patth are the ones who killed Lukki and Willie?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “But you said Willie’s killer was wearing a Patth robe. Those two and Galfvi are the only Patth I’m aware of in Bilswift.”

Selene’s pupils went suddenly grim. Maybe those three were the only Patth in the city proper, but we knew there was another group of them beating the bushes out in the forest east of town.

More significantly, at least to Selene and me, there was one non-Patth in town who also had a Patth robe available to him.

Once again, a speculative road had led us straight to Tirano.

“Son of a—” Braun clamped his mouth shut. “Let me see if I’ve got this straight. Tirano gets in here, waits until we’re too deep to get out, hits a Vrink and gets us trapped.” He threw a black look at Selene. “Or he gets us killed. He slips out before he gets stuck in here with us, hightails it back to Bilswift . . . maybe steals your car—”

“I still have the keys,” Selene said, tapping one of her inside pockets as she pulled out her info pad.

Braun grunted. “So Galfvi followed us in another car and waited for him at Seven Strands. Or maybe he brought Lukki’s boat up the river and Tirano was supposed to meet him there. Either way, they get back to town, collect the package, and take it to the spaceport.”

“And do they then load the Vrinks aboard the Patth ship?” I asked Selene.

“Not yet they don’t.” Her pupils winced as she peered at the info pad display. “But soon. Perrifil was apparently able to get two of the other parked ships to leave. The Ylpea ship is already on the ground, and the Patth is scheduled to land in three hours.”

Braun breathed a curse. “We have to get out of here,” he said. “We have to get back and stop them.”

“The Loporri are still out there,” Selene warned.

“We have to risk it,” Braun said. “If the Ylps lose their package they’ll have our skins on a drying rack.”

I felt my stomach tighten. Maybe that Narchner song wasn’t as out-of-date as we’d all hoped. “I thought you said we could just grab more for them.”

“You don’t think the Ylps at the spaceport won’t see the package—a package whose characteristics they were very specific about—being trotted over to another ship?” Braun snarled. “You don’t think they’ll see that and figure we’re pulling a fast one on them?”

“Can’t we have Scarf call and tell them the new plan?” I asked.

“Quote: Three Vrinks, no older than two years, no fewer than fifteen implanted silk beetles each,” Braun said. “Like I said, very specific. Most Vrinks have between eight and twelve beetles—it took us four hours of searching before we found three with fifteen, and then it was a nightmare pulling them from their different adaptation chambers and getting them out of here. Like I said, the Ylps on that ship will think we took a better offer for their merchandise, and there’s nothing anyone can say that’ll convince them otherwise.”

“I guess we’ll just have to stop the Patth, then,” I said. “Okay. Bring the Ylps back here and all of you get on that ledge above the tunnel mouth. Selene and I will join you in a few minutes. Got it?”

“Yeah,” Braun said, his voice heavy with suspicion. “What are you going to do?”

“See if I can clear out the lunchroom,” I said, starting back down the tunnel. “Come on, come on—time’s wasting.”

“What if Scarf doesn’t want to cooperate?” Braun asked as he and Selene caught up with me.

“Then he gets left behind,” I said. “I don’t much care either way. Selene, you’re with me.”

We reached the main tunnel and Braun turned off toward wherever he’d stashed the Ylps. “Where are we going?” Selene asked.

“To find the nearest Vrink,” I said. “Keep your fingers crossed that this works.”

“So this is one of those plans?”

I grimaced. As my father used to say, A clever operator always has a Plan A, B, and C. A wise operator knows he’ll probably end up needing a Plan D. “Yes,” I conceded. “It’s one of those.”


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