A Dark and Hungry God Arises (26 page)

With an abject shudder, the woman tightened her grip on the knife. Milos took the nic out of his mouth and clamped his teeth onto one of his knuckles as she put the knife against her skin and began cutting off her right breast.

Blood sprang from the incision, swarmed down her belly; more blood burst from her lip as she bit through it to keep herself from screaming. When her right breast flopped to the stage, she started on the left.

Shaking, Milos turned his chair, put his back to the stage. With both hands he lifted his glass to his mouth and emptied it. Then he replaced his nic, sucked smoke deep into his lungs.

'Go away, Nick, ' he breathed as if he'd just suffered a wound — or had an orgasm. 'Go away and leave us alone.

You're completely crazy. We don't have anything to talk about anymore. '

Angus didn't want to think about Morn: he couldn't bear it. Nick was perfectly capable of selling her to the Amnion. Then she would be lost forever. And there was nothing he could do about it, nothing he could do about it, even Min Donner hadn't been able to get his datacore rewritten to let him help Morn. Paresthetic fire flushed along his arms until his zone implants quenched it: rage stung his heart until they denatured it. Morn, he thought, oh, Morn! But he could do nothing; show nothing. His programming held him, as cruel as the dimensional gap.

Nearly paralyzed by rage and protest, he watched the woman on the stage out of the corner of his eye while he continued to study Nick. He'd seen self-mutilation acts before. After she finished her left breast, she opened her belly and let her guts spill down her legs. At first she bled like a pig; but now he understood what her implanted equipment was for. The nodes he saw were pressure-clamps. When the initial dramatic rush of blood was over, the clamps closed on her major arteries so that she wouldn't lose too much fluid; wouldn't die before someone took her back to the surgeons. Once they healed her, she would be ready to perform again.

As the spotlights went out, a few people applauded.

Somewhere in the bar, someone retched.

- a crime against your soul.

Without warning, a window in Angus' head opened -

the dark interface between his mind and his datacore. He seemed to fall into the gap between what he understood and what he could do as if he were going into tach; a black rush of possibilities and compulsions seemed to translate him to a whole new state of being.

It's got to stop.

Entirely without volition, he put his palm down like a promise on the table in front of Nick and said, 'It's a deal.

We'll get Davies Hyland for you. You give us Morn. '

As if he were lost in the dimness which the spotlights left behind, Milos cried out, 'Angus, you bastard!'

Nick rolled his eyes and cackled with laughter.

If he could have laughed or cried out himself, he might not have been able to hold back. Everything seemed to come at him at once. Behind the false stoicism of his zone implants, he was shaken to the core by inferences, dismay and hope.

Morn!

He wanted to rescue Morn. Even to protect his heart from Nick and Milos, he couldn't pretend that wasn't true. Yet the decision wasn't his: his promise to Nick had come out of his mouth without one iota of free will behind it.

But Hashi Lebwohl had made it unmistakably clear that Angus wasn't programmed to risk his mission for Morn-This was why Warden Dios you bastard! you fucking sonofabitch! had switched his datacore. So that Angus could try to rescue Morn, when everyone in UMCPHQ

had written her off. Dios had some reason for pretending that he didn't care what happened to her. He'd prepared his instructions in secret, plugged them into Angus secretly, in order to conceal his true intentions from the people around him.

He wanted her back.

It's got to stop.

Unfortunately he hadn't foreseen that she could be saved by mere money. The simple expedient of buying her from Nick with Milos' credit wasn't available.

Even Lebwohl had been kept in the dark. And Milos certainly hadn't been let into the secret. His face was gray and lost, as if he were in the grip of an infarction, and his eyes rolled with panic, trying to look in all directions at once, measure the extent to which he'd been betrayed.

No one knew the truth.

I'll give you what you came for.

Except Nick Succorso?

How had Nick known Warden Dios' secret?

No, stop it, Angus told himself harshly, don't panic.

All Nick knew was that Morn was UMCP - and Trumpet had come from UMCPHQ. The rest was just a lucky guess. When he laughed like that, the stark pallor of his scars under his wild eyes made him look crazy enough to have guessed anything.

Why did Warden Dios want to keep what he was doing hidden from his own people?

Who was the real target of Joshua's mission?

Angus wanted to laugh at Milos' consternation, and at Lebwohl's. Those motherfuckers deserved to be cornholed like this.

And he wanted to cry out like a stricken child because none of the decisions were his.

We'll get Davies Hyland for you.

You give us Morn.

Those words meant the exact opposite of what Milos so obviously believed about the purpose of their mission.

But he had no choice in any of this. The link to his computer gushed like a conduit: commandments and data flooded him.

A man in the sterile suit of a medtech wrapped the performer in pressure bandages, then carried her off the unlit stage. Apparently Ease-n-Sleaze considered her good enough for a return engagement. A scrub robot followed the medtech to clean up the blood.

'Shut up!' Angus grated at Nick and Milos. 'Both of you. We haven't got much time. If we give the Bill a chance to send more wires in here, we may never get to talk again.

'We have two problems. We don't know where the kid is. And the Bill is going to raise total hell when he finds out what we're doing. We need to make decisions fast.

Then we need to do it. '

Nick stopped laughing as if he'd thumbed a toggle inside himself. 'Captain Thermo-pile, you amaze me, ' he drawled in a tone of casual danger. 'I thought I was going to surprise you, but you don't sound surprised. You sound like you already have the whole thing figured out. '

A biting retort came to Angus' lips: his datacore quashed it. Instead he said, The way to handle the Bill is, force him to suspect the wrong person. That's you, Succorso. ' His programming gripped him so tightly now that he couldn't insult Nick. 'First you're going to get us the information we need. You'll do it in a way he can't help noticing. Then we'll arrange an alibi for you. ' Angus grinned like a grimace. 'Hell, we'll use the Bill himself for an alibi. '

Nick started to ask a question, but Milos pushed himself forward. His face was a knot of fear and fury; sweat made the splotches on his scalp gleam like the marks of a disease. 'Angus, ' he hissed, 'this is wrong. I thought you understood. It isn't why we're here. I don't care what he says. It isn't why we're here. I don't want this kind of trouble.

'I'm warning you, Angus. Don't force my hand. '

His threat was as plain as a Jerico priority command.

Stop this, or I'll override your programming. I'll show everybody here which one of us holds the real power.

Just for an instant Angus faltered. Dread crawled through his belly. Milos could stop him; could doom Morn. Dios would be helpless to save her if Milos said the right words -

But then Nick would hear them. He would see their effect: he would guess what they meant.

And then nothing Milos said or did or wanted could prevent Nick from simply killing him and taking control of Angus for himself. Even if Milos ordered Angus to defend him, Nick would probably succeed: the restrictions which protected UMCP personnel from Angus probably applied to Nick as much as to Milos. And Milos on his own was no physical match for Nick Succorso.

Angus saw all this in the furtive, involuntary glance Milos flicked at Nick. So quickly that his datacore had no time to compel him, he decided to call Milos'

bluff.

'I told you to shut up, ' he returned. 'You're my second

- you take my orders. As far as I'm concerned, you've already done the only thing I needed you for. If you don't like the job, I can replace you without leaving the bar. '

Milos opened his mouth; a rush of blood darkened his face as his anger gained the upper hand. But a second or two later he dropped his gaze, and his passion drained away.

'You're going to regret this, ' he muttered. 'I swear to God you'll regret it. '

Nevertheless he lacked the courage to carry out his threat in front of Nick.

'You two spaceshits ought to go on the stage, ' Nick sneered. 'You're at least as much fun as the rest of the

"entertainment" here. '

Angus' attention snapped back to Succorso. 'You'll have more fun in a minute, ' he growled sourly. That woman's still here. ' He nodded toward the table where the Bill's wire sat. 'She looks like your kind of meat. '

Softly, distinctly, he outlined what he wanted Nick to do.

While Angus spoke, Milos' expression changed from defeat to disgust, and then to a look of settled nausea.

He'd been pushed too far: he was beginning to reach decisions. Angus saw that look and knew what it meant.

The next time Milos made a threat, he wouldn't back down.

The knowledge gave Angus a nausea of his own, which his zone implants concealed for him.

Before Angus finished, Nick objected, This is some deal. I can see why everybody likes to work with you so much. Why should I trust you? What're you going to do while I take all the risks? So far you haven't given me any reason to think you won't just go back to your ship and laugh your fucking head off. '

'You should trust me, ' Angus returned, 'because you haven't got anything to lose. ' His tone was cold and bitter. 'You're already in as much trouble as there is. It can't get any worse. ' Then he lowered his voice. 'Besides, you're covered. You'll have an alibi - one of the best. '

He consulted his chronometer, named a time. That's about three hours from now. You'll go see the Bill, tell him you want to talk to him. Don't be late - you won't have much of a window. Tell him you're ready to buy back the kid. All you have to do is agree on the price.

'Every log and bugeye he's got will tell him you were with him when Davies disappeared. If that doesn't cover you, nothing will. And Milos and I'll be in the clear.

That's important to you. If the Bill knows we snatched the kid, he'll storm our ship and grab him back. The whole thing'll be wasted. But even if we can't pull it off, you're covered. '

Quietly Angus repeated, 'You really haven't got anything to lose. '

Nick consulted his hands as if he wondered how much strength - or sanity - they still held. In a voice full of mixed intentions, he asked, 'Why are we in a hurry? Why does the timing have to be so tight?'

'Because, ' Angus answered heavily, 'if we don't catch the Bill off-guard, we won't catch him at all. It won't do any good to just break Davies out. We have to take him someplace the Bill won't look for him. '

Milos puffed smoke at the ceiling as if he fed on nic.

Nick let out a fragmentary laugh like a croak. Then of course you'll have him. What the fuck makes me think you'll hand him over when I need him? Never mind - it, doesn't matter. If I'm crazy, so are you. I've got my own insurance. ' Complex purposes seemed to pull his scars tight against the bones of his skull. 'I can always tell the Bill where he is. '

Abruptly he got to his feet. 'I'll do it. '

Angus nodded. Instead of sneering, Sucker! he said, Tour twelve. We'll be waiting. '

Succorso ignored him. Facing Milos, Nick asked,

'Aren't you going to reassure me before I go? We've worked together for years. You should at least promise you'll back me up, even if you don't mean it. Send me off to my execution with a good taste in my mouth. '

Milos didn't glance at Nick. His eyes were focused on the smoke streaming from his mouth. Quietly he said, 'I would tell you to go to hell, but you're already there. We all are. You two are supposed to be desperate illegals, full of hate and cunning — and too smart to be caught. But I think neither one of you has the vaguest idea what's going on here. '

'Maybe not, ' Nick snorted. 'But you don't either. That I guarantee. '

Snarling at Angus and Milos, he moved away between the tables.

Here it comes, Angus warned himself. The new hard-ness gathering beneath Milos' pudgy features conveyed a guarantee of its own. The decisions he'd made were going to be expensive.

Tell me something, Angus, ' he murmured past his nic.

'How do you know the Bill isn't already studying a copy of this conversation?'

Angus would have kept his mouth shut; but his datacore saw no reason to avoid this question. 'That woman is the only wire in this end of the bar, ' he replied. 'She's out of range now. And I cut the power to the bugeyes.

The Bill has a blind spot right where we're sitting. '

At once Milos shifted his weight forward. Dull heat sprang to fire in his eyes. 'In that case, Joshua, ' he said without shifting his nic, 'I have instructions for you.

Jerico priority. Forget all this. Forget Nick - forget Morn Hyland. They aren't why we're here. You're pushing me into a corner for nothing. '

When Milos said the word Joshua, buried commandments took hold of Angus. He sat still, unwillingly passive, while the link in his head prepared itself to receive and enforce Milos' orders. As Milos invoked Jerico priority, Angus' brain seemed to shut down: zone implants and programming controlled every neural flicker and muscular contraction while his datacore registered Milos'

orders and compared them to its prewritten exigencies.

His heart beat once or twice, and his lungs drew a shallow breath, but he remained blank and helpless, like a computer with no operating system. During that brief interval, Milos could have killed him, if Milos had known what was happening inside him — if Milos had wanted him dead.

At the table occupied by the wire and her companions, Nick had taken a position which kept her back turned to Angus and Milos. His eyes shone at her; a smile like a barracuda's bared his teeth. As he talked, he leaned slowly closer and closer to her, covering her with his sexual magnetism.