CHAPTER FOURTEEN
The nearest Vrinks, fortunately, were only a couple of minutes’ walk away. They were nestled together in a clump of seven, apparently still undergoing the spin-beetle implantation process. All seven had some lumps under their skin, but unlike the Vrinks we’d already seen some of the bulges were the same gray-white as their skin, others an angry red, while still others ran a range of coloration between those two extremes. The Vrinks themselves were also wider and heavier than the more mature ones, a couple of them approaching the rotundity of the regular Loporri. Apparently, inviting that many beetles aboard caused a serious drain on the host’s metabolism and physiology.
“It’s horrible,” Selene murmured as we eased gingerly into the chamber.
“No argument here,” I said, studying the Vrinks as they lounged around, oblivious to our presence, busy getting eaten alive from the inside. That one, I decided, zeroing in on one of the larger and therefore probably newer models. “Or else the Vrinks like it for some reason. There are certainly humans and aliens crazier than this.”
“I suppose,” Selene said. “It’s still horrible.”
“I agree,” I said. “Ready to run?”
She nodded. “Please don’t hurt them.”
Any more than they already are? “I won’t,” I promised, drawing my plasmic.
It was a gamble, I knew. Braun had said that contact with non-Loporr animals triggered the danger reaction that brought the hunters running, and I had no idea just how sensitive Vrink skin was. If a few molecules was enough, this plan could go sideways very quickly.
But we had no choice but to risk it. If Tirano and Galfvi got to the spaceport with Lukki’s last group of Vrinks, a semi-oblivious Loporr attack would be the least of our problems. Out-humaning humans; and humans as a species were very bad at tolerating bald-faced theft of our stuff.
Bracing myself, I stepped over to my chosen target and tapped the plasmic’s muzzle gently against his shoulder. “Selene?” I prompted.
Selene fluttered her eyelashes a moment, then nodded. “His scent has changed,” she confirmed. “And it’s not the same one I smelled before.”
“Good, I said, backing away from the target. A nonanimal, non-vegetable, non-Loporr contact. Hopefully, that would be interpreted as one of their proto-Vrinks having fallen or otherwise gotten a boo-boo. “Fingers crossed that it’s the one that brings the medics and other concerned citizens and not the hunters. Let’s go.”
I could hear the rustling of Loporri movement in the distance as we got to the side tunnel where we’d sent Braun and the Ylps. I didn’t know if the approaching crowd would stick to the tunnels or also utilize the ledge outside as they hurried to the supposedly stricken Vrink’s aid, but my guess was they’d use every route available to them. If Braun hadn’t persuaded Scarf to my plan, it was going to get ugly out there. Selene and I reached the tunnel mouth and stepped out onto the ledge.
To see a solid mass of Loporri waddling along the ledge, barely thirty meters away and coming straight toward us. I grabbed for my plasmic—
“Here!”
I looked up. The rest of our group were there, spread out along the short overhead ledge where I’d told them to be. Braun was standing beside two of the Ylp bodyguards, all three of them crouching down and extending their hands urgently toward us. “Hurry!” Braun snapped.
“Take her!” I snapped back, pushing Selene underneath Braun as I stepped into position beneath the Ylps. Selene was lighter than I was, easier for a single person to lift. More importantly, if Scarf had decided to get a head start on some vengeance, better if Selene was in the hands of a human I still trusted not to kill in cold blood.
Fortunately, no one was interested in dealing out death, at least not here and now. Five seconds later Selene and I were standing with the others, all of us holding as still as we could while the Loporri filed by beneath us.
Braun had drawn his Blackman 4mm as soon as he’d gotten Selene steadied beside him and was pointing it warily down at the parade. But again, none of the aliens seemed to even notice us, let alone attach any suspicion to our presence. I guessed that Loporr hunters alerted to an imminent threat would have more global awareness, but my carefully designed attack had given them no reason to suspect danger.
And so they passed us by, disappearing into the tunnel. As my father used to say, Every person and species has blind spots filled with hidden dangers and missed opportunities ripe for exploitation. Figure out theirs; don’t let them figure out yours.
“Now we go?” Braun asked as the last of the Loporri disappeared into the tunnel.
“Now we go,” I confirmed. “I doubt everyone has left the lunchroom, but it should be clear enough for us to get through without bumping anyone.”
“I hope you’re right.” Carefully, Braun dropped onto the lower ledge, holstered his Blackman, and offered his hand to Selene. With only a slight hesitation she took it and let him help her down.
The Ylps didn’t offer me any such assistance, and I didn’t ask.
Three minutes later, we reached the lunch area. The cooks were still at their jobs, and there were still a fair number of Loporri and Vrinks standing or sitting around watching them. But as I’d hoped, there was plenty of room for us to weave our way safely through them.
And now that I knew to look for it, I spotted the glint of silver-silk threads wrapped around the hunters’ wrists and crossbows.
The terminally fashion-conscious of the Spiral probably considered silver-silk to be a vital part of their lives. They didn’t have a clue as to how vital it could genuinely be.
“You know the way better than I do,” Selene said to Braun as we headed along the ledge section on the lunchroom’s far side. “You should probably take point.”
“Good idea,” he said, though I suspected his agreement was less a matter of him being a better trail guide and more a matter of him hoping there was still a chance of catching up with Tirano and Galfvi. He slipped past her, drawing his Blackman as he did so. Scarf was right behind him, clearly not interested in letting someone who might be a thief and traitor get too far ahead. His three minions were likewise not going to let their boss get too far out of their reach. Thirty seconds and a lot of line-shuffling later, Selene and I found ourselves at the back of the row.
Which I was pretty sure was the formation Selene had been trying for in the first place.
“Well?” I asked quietly as we followed the others.
“The scent I noticed when we first left the Ruth,” she murmured back. “Remember? I thought it was some kind of cooking, but I didn’t recognize it.”
“I remember,” I said. “So: Loporr cuisine?”
“I think so,” she said. “The spice and fungi mixture they’re using back there is a little different from what I smelled, as if some ingredient was missing from the Bilswift version. But the spices that both scents have in common are in the same proportions.”
“And proportion, as every great chef knows, is the key to true professionalism,” I said with grim satisfaction. “You think you can track down this scent?”
“Yes,” Selene said. “If they start cooking again, I can find them.”
“Great.” The hunt and subsequent mass gathering that had blocked our way out of the Loporr colony had nearly torpedoed the whole day. But as my father used to say, Every defeat has the germ of a different victory buried inside it. Just make sure you get to that victory before the other guy does. “Let’s keep this little tidbit to ourselves until we find an opportune moment to trot it out.”
“Understood.” Selene hesitated. “Gregory . . . you don’t really think Tirano is working with Galfvi to give the Vrinks to the Patth, do you? That was just to keep Braun and Scarf from blaming us, right?”
I sighed to myself. As my father used to say, Seeing is believing, unless the other guy doesn’t want to believe. “I don’t see how it works any other way,” I said. “Tirano clearly is connected with someone here, and Galfvi’s the only one I can fit into that role.”
“You don’t believe Tirano could have been trying to deliver justice?”
“Do you and I deserve any of that justice?” I countered. “Because he knew full well we were going to be in there, too.”
She looked away, but not before I saw the reluctant agreement in her pupils. “No, you’re right,” she said quietly. “You’re right.”
“Besides, Lukki and Willie were shot with plasmics,” I reminded her. “If Tirano has access to one, and if he was out for justice, he could have shot Braun and the Ylps anywhere along the way. There were at least a dozen places where the footbridge was wide open to ambush. Did Tirano bring Galfvi’s robe to Lukki’s, by the way? I never got around to searching the whole apartment, and I forgot to ask you about it.”
“Yes,” she said, almost too softly for me to hear. “He’d hung it up in the shower to dry.” She shook her head. “I’m sorry, Gregory. I . . . I’m supposed to be better at reading people. Especially other Kadolians. But I can’t get a feel for Tirano at all.”
I shrugged uncomfortably. “Changeling.”
The last time I’d attached that name to Tirano out loud, Selene had gone out of her way to remind me that that question was still up for debate. This time, she remained silent. “But that doesn’t mean all is lost,” I went on. “If he was coerced into working for Galfvi and the others, that could be a mitigating factor. If he was threatened or blackmailed into it, even better. If he’s willing to testify, we’ve got ourselves a hat trick.”
“But only if there’s someone here he can testify against,” she said. “If they all get on that ship . . . ” She took a shuddering breath. “I don’t know, Gregory. Between the walk back to Seven Strands and then the drive to the spaceport, we don’t have much of a buffer. Maybe no buffer at all. If that Patth ship is truly here for the Vrinks, and if Galfvi is ready to deliver them, we may not be able to get there in time to stop them.”
“And you think Galfvi and the others will walk aboard behind them?”
“I would,” Selene said. “Kadolian changelings are damaged and broken, Gregory, but that doesn’t mean they’re stupid.”
“I never said they were,” I soothed. “And you’re right, we might not be able to beat them to the spaceport. But you know what?” I smiled tightly. “For once, I don’t think we need to.”
* * *
Braun didn’t want Selene and me driving off on our own. I was equally adamant that Selene wasn’t going to drive our rental alone, not with Tirano and three armed and possibly murderous Patth on the loose. We compromised by letting Selene and me drive the rental, with one of the Ylpea bodyguards taking the seat behind us. A Ylp, Scarf took great pains to point out, who would have his Kreznir 2mm close at hand.
Braun also took our phones, lest we secretly call Detective-Sergeant Kreega along the way and bring the wrath of her badgemen down on all of us.
And then, argument over and logistics sorted out, Braun and Selene took control of their respective vehicles and drove like maniacs down the twisty mountain road, toying with an even more certain death than any Ylp could ever threaten us with.
It was going to be close, I knew. If Selene’s numbers earlier were right, and if all the numbers worked in Galfvi’s favor and against ours, we would miss the Patth liftoff by a good twenty minutes, and its slice into hyperspace by at least two. A call to the badgemen might buy us some time, but even Patth civilians carried a lot of political clout, and without any evidence to back up our charges Kreega might not have any choice but to let them go.
And even if we found the ship still on the ground, if the Vrinks were already aboard and out of sight we would still have lost. Kreega almost certainly wouldn’t be able to get a search warrant for their ship, certainly not on our unsubstantiated word.
I sympathized with Selene’s anxiety, and was justifiably wary of our resident Ylp’s impotent fuming. But my hope was just that, a hope, and I didn’t want to raise any expectations that might end up having that much farther to fall if and when they were dashed.
Finally, with everyone’s nerves no doubt cranked to full breaking point, we skidded to a halt at the spaceport entrance. I opened my door and was climbing out of the car when Braun, sprinting up from the van now parked behind us, grabbed my arm. “Come on—snap it up!” he barked. “They could take off any second.”
“How are you going to get aboard?” I asked, fighting to keep my balance as he all but hauled me bodily out onto the pavement. “We don’t have a warrant.”
“Don’t talk stupid,” he snarled. “If the package is aboard—”
“Relax,” I interrupted. “It isn’t.”
“How the hell do you know?”
“Because of him.” I pointed at the dark blue ground car parked twenty meters from the Ruth’s zigzag ramp. “The gentleman in that vehicle is Badgeman Zilor, mandated by Detective-Sergeant Kreega herself to watch our ship and report on all comings and goings and anything suspicious he might happen to see.”
I watched as understanding and a degree of cautious hope filtered through the anger and apprehension in Braun’s face. “But he’s watching your ship, not the Patth.”
“I get the impression that Badgeman Zilor is very good at his job,” I said. “And with four murders in town in the space of a week, I’m guessing Kreega made it clear that her badgemen are to watch everything.” I shrugged. “And seriously, now—even if he was half asleep, I doubt you could march three Vrinks past him without him noticing.”
“So the package isn’t aboard?”
“Not unless Galfvi’s a magician,” I said. “Unless he and his accomplices are complete idiots they’ll have checked out the area before moving the package, spotted Zilor, and called a quick abort. They’re all probably sitting around somewhere right now trying to figure out a Plan B.”
“Yeah.” Braun’s eyes flicked to Selene as she got out of the car. “And she can find them?”
“In theory, yes,” I said. “As a practical matter, she’ll probably need to go door to door until she finds the right scent.”
“So we start her at the most likely doors,” Braun said. “And we need to get moving on this before the evening rain gets here.”
I looked to the west. Sure enough, there were already dark clouds forming on the horizon. “We won’t have time to get very far,” I warned. “But we can at least make a start. Let us park the car and get a couple of things from the ship, and we’ll be right with you.”
“Fine,” Braun said, his voice going a little darker. “Just remember there’s one fast and sure way of getting that badgeman away from your ship.”
I felt a knot form in my stomach. “Killing him?”
Braun snorted. “Don’t be stupid,” he said. “Badgemen are like killer ants. Stomp on one and you have the whole hill climbing up your legs. I was talking about someone killing you.”
“I was afraid that was where you were going with this,” I said heavily. “We’ll just have to hope that they don’t want to risk spreading any more carnage than they already have.”
“I wouldn’t count on that.”
“Yeah. Neither would I.”
* * *
We parked our rental in its usual spot by the runaround stand, sent Zilor a cheery wave as we passed him—getting a neutral stare in return—and climbed the zigzag to the ship.
“What’s the plan?” Selene asked when the entryway was closed and deadbolted behind us.
“For now, we go along with Braun’s walking tour of greater Bilswift,” I said. “A waste of time, but it could be instructive to see which places he thinks are worth checking out.”
“Plus there’s safety in numbers?”
I winced. I’d hoped she hadn’t heard that last exchange between Braun and me. “It can’t hurt,” I said. “Lukki and Willie were alone when they were killed, and the Javersin brothers were out of public view in a closed shop when they were taken down. That tells me the killer is at least not reckless, maybe even edging over toward cautious. Even with stacks of commarks doing their best Lorelei impression, I’m guessing he’ll think twice before taking on a group that includes six armed people.”
“So he’ll wait for you and me to be alone?”
“If he’s smart,” I said, frowning across the dayroom. Something had been nagging at the back of my mind all day, and all this talk about murder had roiled it up to the surface. “Selene, help me run through this, will you? Start with the assumption that someone wants Lukki out of the Vrink and silver-silk business, either because they hate slavery or because they want to move in on her operation.”
There’d been a flicker of something across her pupils when I mentioned slavery, but she merely nodded. “All right,” she said.
“So the people in the way are Lukki, Willie, Braun, and maybe Tirano,” I said. “Those are the ones who need to be eliminated. Right?”
“Right.”
“So why kill the Javersin brothers?”
I watched as thoughtful puzzlement come into her pupils. “Maybe they were involved with Lukki and the others?” she suggested doubtfully.
“Maybe,” I said. “But I’m having a hard time seeing how. Lukki didn’t need them for tracking, transport, or muscle. What else is there?”
“Cover for Tirano?” she suggested. “A proper job for him so no one would be suspicious?”
“Okay, but Lukki could give him that cover without having to let the Javersins in on the gag.”
Selene shook her head. “I don’t know. But you’re right, it doesn’t make sense.”
“Yeah,” I said. If my bounty hunter instincts were fading, at least Selene’s were fading, too. “Scenario two: Kiolven and Venikel aren’t here to find Galfvi’s alleged killer, but to find Galfvi and bring him back to his family, like in the Narchner song Zilor mentioned. In that case, they might have gone to the Javersins to interrogate them, decided for whatever reason they couldn’t let anyone know they’d been asking questions, and ended up killing them.”
A shiver of revulsion ran through Selene’s pupils. “What could they possibly have been asking that they thought required murder?”
“Some leading question, maybe,” I said. “Or maybe they didn’t want Galfvi hearing about the conversation and didn’t have enough imagination to come up with a better plan.”
“It’s horrible,” Selene said, her pupils again going thoughtful. “But if they’re looking for Galfvi, why kill Lukki and Willie?”
“Exactly,” I said. “We’ve got four solid murders—five if Galfvi is actually dead—and I can’t come up with a theory that fits them all together.”
“Could there be two different killers, then?” Selene suggested. “The Javersins killed by one and Lukki and Willie by the other?”
“And both killers decided to surface in Bilswift during the same week?”
“That does seem unlikely,” she agreed. “We must be missing something.”
“I have the feeling there are a lot of somethings we’re missing,” I said sourly. “But right now, Braun and the Ylps are probably missing us, and we don’t want them to get nervous. Grab some spare meal bars—we told Braun we were picking up a few things, and we need something to show him.”
“Yes,” Selene said, heading toward the dayroom. “What about you?”
“I’ll be exercising my fingers,” I said, heading the other way to the Ruth’s engine room.
After way too many run-ins with people who insisted on taking our weapons and phones, I’d started stashing spares of both items around the ship. The engine room, specifically, was home to a four-shot DubTrub 2mm derringer and two phones. I grabbed one of the latter and started punching in numbers.
When Admiral Graym-Barker first sent us here he’d assured us he was also sending backup, which would be accessible by phone as soon as they were in Alainn’s communications system.
Time to see what that backup consisted of.
Graym-Barker had given us six emergency phone numbers. Connecting with any of them required the receiver to be on the same planet with us, of course, as a StarrComm connection was needed for any interstellar communication. I punched in the numbers for Jordan McKell, his partner Ixil, and the four general alert numbers that would theoretically connect to any of the Icarus Group’s limited collection of operatives who happened to be nearby. I even punched in Tera C’s number, which I wasn’t supposed to have but did anyway.
None of them connected. None of them prompted me to authorize a relay to an orbiting station or incoming ship. Wherever the admiral’s backup was, it hadn’t yet reached Alainn.
Selene was waiting at the entryway when returned. “Did you get through to them?”
“No,” I said, trying to filter out my uneasiness. Graym-Barker could be a pain in the neck, and there was a lot about my methods he loudly disapproved of. But when he said he was going to do something, he always followed through.
“Yes,” Selene murmured, her nose picking up the changes in my scent, her own pupils responding with an echo of my own uneasiness. “Hopefully, they’re just late.”
“Hopefully.” Bracing myself, I hit the entryway release. “Okay. Time to take the Braun and Ylp show on the road.”