A Dark and Hungry God Arises (46 page)

Most of the nearby tables were vacant. From where her people had been sitting, they could only have overheard one particular pair of spacers: a man and woman talking alone with their heads together as if they were telling secrets.

On one screen, the man looked nervous. A streak of dirt on his upper lip may have been a mustache. From another angle, the woman appeared grim and competent, as if she could have had her companion for breakfast.

Sorus didn't know either of them.

She pointed them out to the Bill. Swiftly he stabbed open an intercom to Operations.

As soon as the duty officer answered, the Bill demanded, 'I want id on a man and woman. They're sitting together lower right. ' Distinctly he recited the location, time and monitor codes displayed on the bottom of his screen.

'Give me a minute, ' the duty officer replied.

'Do it faster than that, ' the Bill retorted. 'I haven't got a minute. ' Snapping off the intercom, he glared at Sorus.

'What is this going to prove?'

'How should I know?' she countered. 'You know more about what's going on here than I do. '

His scowl made him look like murderous as he turned to peer at the screen again. 'God knows I'm supposed to, '

he muttered. 'Right now I'm not so sure. '

The Operations intercom chimed almost immediately.

The Bill toggled it hard. 'Yes?'

'I have id, ' the duty officer reported. The man is Sib Mackern, data first, Captain's Fancy. The woman is Mikka Vasaczk, command second, also Captain's Fancy. '

Brandishing his teeth as if he were inarticulate with rage, the Bill silenced the intercom.

Sorus' guts knotted. 'So it was Succorso. ' She spoke softly, controlling her desire to curse. 'I told you he was dangerous. '

But she couldn't do it; couldn't contain her visceral panic and anger. She should have killed him when she had the chance. The satisfaction of cutting him, humiliat-ing him, hadn't been worth what it was going to cost her.

'God damn it!' she raged, clenching her voice between her teeth, 'I told you he's up to something!'

'Sorus -' The Bill seemed to flinch away as if her ferocity frightened him. 'It wasn't him. Whatever else is going on here, he didn't snatch that brat. '

Still shouting, still clenched, she demanded, 'How do you figure that? Didn't you tell me he seduced one of your wires so he could find out where Davies was being held? Didn't Davies tell us Succorso has an immunity drug? Didn't he say Succorso and Hyland are in this together? It all fits!

'Succorso and Hyland are working some UMCP plot.

They let you have Davies to plant the idea of an immunity drug. Then they took him back. Now they're starting rumors about me. For confirmation. And to make me into a lightning rod, so when the blast hits it'll be aimed at me. '

The Bill overrode her. 'No. That's not it. He was here.

Captain Nick was right here, trying to talk me into restoring his credit, at exactly the same time Davies Hyland was taken. '

Sorus opened her mouth; closed it again. For a moment her brain went numb.

Succorso was here? He couldn't have done it?

What in hell was going on?

'Then' - she took a deep breath so that she wouldn't shudder - 'it must have been Angus Thermopyle. Him and that Com-Mine Security asshole, Milos Taverner.

Where did they go from Ease-n-Sleaze?'

'I'm glad you asked that. ' Manic and conspiratorial, hiding his fright, the Bill beckoned her to another terminal, another bank of screens. 'I've been trying to make sense out of it myself.

They had rooms. ' His long fingers were unerring on the keys; he could have run his command center blind-folded. 'After they talked with Captain Nick in the bar, they went up to Captain Angus' room. It's all recorded. '

Fighting to shove the confusion out of her head so that she could concentrate, Sorus stared at Angus Thermopyle and Milos Taverner in a hopeless little room which could have been in any bar-and-sleep that fed on the less afflu-ent prey of the cruise.

Angus sat in a chair tilted back so that it leaned against the wall. 'Make yourself comfortable, ' he mumbled like his mouth hurt. We haven't got all night, but you can probably count on at least an hour. You've got that long. '

Smoking furiously, Milos checked the room's data terminal. Then he took the other chair and sat down beside Angus.

'You know something about this, Angus, ' he said.

'Something you haven't told me. Maybe something you heard from Dios. '

He didn't appear concerned about being overheard.

'I know a lot of things I haven't told you, ' Angus retorted. 'I know a lot of things I haven't told myself. I wouldn't share them with you if I could. '

'Well, let me guess, ' Milos replied. 'Saying we're here to destroy the Bill is just a trick. ' The Bill's hand shook as he pointed an accusing finger at the screen. The real reason is because of me. And Morn Hyland. That doesn't sound very plausible - until you think about what she and I have in common.

'She's been to Enablement. To the Amnion. '

Angus' voice was strangely thick. 'Don't guess. It just shows you don't know what you're doing. '

'Oh, I know what I'm doing, all right, ' Milos promised. 'Open your mouth. '

While Sorus stared, Milos dropped his burning nic into Angus' mouth.

Angus chewed and swallowed it. His face was black with rage and nausea, but he didn't refuse or resist.

'Shit, ' Sorus breathed involuntarily.

'Listen, ' the Bill hissed.

'It's my neck in the noose, ' Milos continued, 'and I'm not going to let you or anybody else hang me.

'I suppose you really can't tell me what you know. And it probably isn't much anyway. You're just an incidental victim. From that point of view, you're worse off than I am.

'We all need somebody who's worse off than we are.

Or who can be made worse off. '

After that both men fell silent..

Milos went on smoking continuously.

Angus ate each of his nics as he finished it.

Sorus watched him in a state that resembled horror.

Dios, she thought numbly. Warden Dios. Saying we're here to destroy the Bill -

Suddenly she believed everything Davies had suggested about Succorso and Hyland.

'That goes on for about an hour, ' the Bill commented.

He hit a key to speed up the playback. 'Just like Captain Angus predicted. Then the chronology gets interesting.

'In another room Captain Nick finishes browbeating my wire. He gets what he wants out of her. After that he sends a message to his ship - coded so I can't crack it. Then he leaves, goes back to Captain's Fancy. Eventually he comes to see me.

'But at the same time - well, almost - we have this. '

He returned the playback to normal.

Thickly, his mouth full of pain, Angus abruptly said,

'Try it now. '

As if he rather than Angus were in command, Milos got up and went to the data terminal.

'What's he doing?' Sorus asked. 'Talking to Succorso?'

'No such luck, ' the Bill returned. 'He's retrieving messages from Trumpet. Coded, of course. ' Answering her next question before she could ask it, he went on, We don't have any way of knowing if Captain's Fancy and Trumpet talked to each other. '

Almost sadly Milos murmured, 'Looks like it's here. '

Despite his characteristically bloated expression, taut with malice, Angus looked sallow and defeated as he said, 'You're the one who knows the code. Is it time to go?'

Milos studied his message for a moment before he replied, 'I guess. '

'And that's it, ' the Bill announced. He blanked the screen. They pick up their messages - by some wild coincidence just a few minutes after Captain Nick sends a message to Captain's Fancy - and then they leave. '

'Where do they go?' Sorus inquired as if her head were full of chaos.

'They don't. They vanish. '

She blinked at him idiotically.

'I mean they manage to lose themselves. ' The Bill made a hawking sound of disgust. 'I mean we lose track of them. Once they get out into the cruise and the lifts, the recordings are so full of people that the computers haven't been able to focus on those two. I don't have any idea where they are. '

'Then, ' she said slowly because she didn't know what else to suggest, 'they could have snatched Davies. '

'I thought of that myself, ' the Bill sneered. 'I'm not completely comatose yet. But if they did, they didn't take him back to Trumpet. That I would know. '

'Unless they have a refractive jamming field and got past your bugeyes. '

'Which isn't possible. '

New ideas: she needed new ideas. Nothing made any sense; but if she didn't stop floundering soon and begin to understand she was going to be sucked down.

Clutching at straws, she offered, 'Or unless they have the kind of help that lets them get into the infrastructure'

- which also didn't make sense because it failed to account for the way the guards were killed - 'and from there go EVA to their ship. '

'What kind is that?' the Bill countered trenchantly.

'Captain Nick and Captain Angus have just arrived. What kind of help do you think they could organize in the amount of time they've been here?'

He didn't add, Unless they're getting help from the Amnion. He didn't need to.

'How should I know?' Sorus objected. 'I'm just guess-ing. A portable refractive jamming field isn't possible.

Neither is sneaking into the infrastructure, killing your guards without being seen, and going EVA back to Trumpet.'

Grimly she glared at the Bill. 'I don't know where the Amnion stand in all this - but I also don't know where else to look for answers. '

He blinked back at her. For a moment his long face was stretched with loss.

'In that case, ' he said softly, 'we're all finished. '

Not me, she gritted in return. If you think I'm going down with this ship, you're out of your goddamn mind.

To cover her silent promise, she asked, 'Are you watching for Taverner and Thermopyle?'

'Sure. ' The Bill sounded as frightened as a boy. 'Of course. The guards have orders to report but not accost. '

He swallowed so hard that his larynx jumped. 'Just in case the Amnion are involved. I don't want to give Calm Horizons an excuse for a surgical strike. '

'And where, ' she pursued, 'is Succorso now?'

He snorted. 'You'll love this. He's on Trumpet. God knows why - he's there alone. But he went there from here. Apparently Captain Angus gave him the codes to let himself aboard. '

Sorus felt pressure writhing like nausea in her abdomen. To herself she growled, Aboard Trumpet. That makes perfect sense. Why didn't I think of it myself? But she'd come to the end of what she could endure without taking action. If the Bill wanted to stand here and dither while his world crumbled, he would have to do it without her.

Pulling away abruptly, she left the circle of equipment and strode into the dimness toward the door.

As she moved, she said over her shoulder, Tell Operations I'm leaving dock. '

'No, you aren't. ' The Bill's tone was as soft as the slither of a snake. His fright was gone, sloughed away. 'Not until you tell me where you're going. And why. '

She swung back to face him. 'I'm going to get us some answers. First I'm going to put Soar in firing range of Calm Horizons. Just to remind them they've got something to lose. Then I'm going to make them talk until I start believing them. '

Bright as an auto-da-fe in the concentrated light, the Bill studied her for a long moment. When he finally spoke, he sounded as fatal as a fanatic.

'Good. '

The word was a threat as well as a commandment.

Before she could turn away, one of his intercoms chimed.

He hit the toggle. At once the Operations duty officer said, 'Sir, we've got Milos Taverner. '

With her hand on the strongroom door, Sorus froze.

'Where?' the Bill snapped.

The duty officer was hesitant. 'He's just left Trumpet. '

In a rush he added, 'I know it's impossible. I can't explain it. But he must have been there all along. '

The Bill's gaze clung to Sorus as if he were begging for help.

Harsh as a cutting laser, she articulated, 'That's where Succorso is. '

The Bill hammered his forehead with the heels of his palms; he might have been trying to kick his brain into motion. Then he asked Operations, 'Where's he going?'

The intercom gave the duty officer's voice a flat, metallic timbre. 'Sir, he looks like he's headed for the Amnion sector. ' After a pause the man asked, 'Should we stop him?'

'No!' the Bill jerked out convulsively. 'Let him go. If the Amnion are involved, we don't know what's at stake.

This may not have anything to do with us. '

Without transition he broke into a roar of anger and alarm. 'Just don't lose him! If he doesn't go straight there, grab him!'

Then he regained his self-control. Quiet and deadly, he continued, 'Put a team together. Get aboard Trumpet

- cut your way in if you have to. Bring me everybody you find. ' His teeth chewed out the words like hunks of raw meat. 'Except Nick Succorso. I want to see what he does with his freedom. He can go wherever he wants -

but not back to Captain's Fancy. Do you hear me? Bar him from his ship. I don't care how many guards it takes.

I'm going to put pressure on him until he cracks. Then I'm going to toast his testicles and make him eat them.

'Don't fuck up!' he warned the duty officer. 'Don't dare. If you do, you won't have to worry about what I'll do to you. The Amnion are going to devour us all. '

Stabbing off the intercom, he faced Sorus again.

Through the gloom surrounding her, he said, 'Go.

Fast. You may be my only hope. I want you out where your guns can do some good before this mess gets any worse. What I need is answers. But if you have to start shooting I'll back you up with everything I've got. '

Sorus Chatelaine nodded sharply. She was finished here anyway: Billingate had become as dangerous as a pit of vipers for her. Once Succorso's rumor had a chance to spread, she wouldn't be able to set a foot on this rock without risking her life. Eventually the Amnion themselves would come after her.