Dead Man on the Moon (31 page)

Because someone was hiding them. All Noah had to do was figure out—

Noah smacked himself on the forehead with the heel of his hand. Idiot! He had been overlooking an obvious lead.

Before running back to Security, however, Noah forced himself to finish processing the crime scene, checking for fingerprints, DNA, and other trace evidence. He didn't find anything of interest. The concrete tanks were too rough to accept fingerprints, and there were too many DNA traces left from hundreds of workers, maintenance people, and general passersby to be useful. Indigo's DNA might be here somewhere, but Noah wouldn't be able to figure out which bits of genetic material belonged to him.

Noah did find several hairs on the edge of the tank where Viktor had drowned, and they turned out to belong to Viktor. He also found Bredda's DNA in the form of skin flakes left on the lip of the concrete. More proof of Bredda's involvement in Viktor's death.

Noah packed his kit, left the crime scene boundary up in case he thought of something else to look for, and headed back to the Security office. Carefully he refilled the crime
scene kit, then went to the weapons room, where he signed out another ink pistol, a needle pistol, and a can of Sticky-Foam. Noah slid the three weapons into an equipment belt around his waist, then gritted his teeth and went in to see Gary.

"I need backup," he said without preamble. "I have an arrest to make, and I'm pretty sure I know where the perps are."

"Pretty sure?" Gary echoed. "Pretty sure doesn't get you very far, pretty boy."

Noah stared at him. "Are you going to get me backup, or are you going to make me call Linus about it?"

At that moment, the main door opened and Deputy Valerie Marks came in, her acne-scarred face looking serene and calm beneath her buzzed hair. "Hey, Gary. Sorry I'm late, but you wouldn't believe what just happened to the Chief. I'm here now, though, so you can go—"

Gary made frantic shushing gestures.

"—on walking duty," she finished. "What's wrong?"

Noah closed his eyes for a long moment. If Gary was on walking duty, he was the number-one candidate for backup. "Okay, Gary," he said. "Let's get this over with. And try not to get shot in the ass."

A long, silent train ride later, Gary and Noah were standing in front of an apartment door. Birds sang merrily among scented blossoms, unaware of the police action just below them. Noah rang the bell, and a moment later, the door slid open to reveal Crysta Nell. Her expression froze for a moment before forcibly relaxing.

"Did you find Bredda and that guy yet?" she asked, a little too brightly. "I still haven't seen either of them, not since that little party we had with your roommate."

"Didn't your mommy teach you it's bad to lie?" Noah said. "Especially to a policeman."

The bright tone left her voice. "Fuck you."

"That wasn't nice, either. May we come in?"

She planted herself firmly in the doorway. "No. Not without a warrant. And I know you don't have one because you'd have shown it to me already."

"We don't have a warrant," Gary said. "We don't any right to search this nice lady's apartment, Skyler. Let's go."

Noah, however, was looking hard at Crysta's right hand. "Ms. Nell, is that a fleck of orange paint I see on your hand?"

Crysta whipped her hand behind her back.

"That's the exact shade we police use to mark criminals who flee a crime scene," Noah said matter-of-factly, "and it abrogates the need for a warrant. Step aside, or I will move you aside."

Crysta face changed from defiant to frightened to defiant again. Still she didn't move. Noah stiff-armed her and she stumbled backward into the apartment, her feet backpedaling in midair for a long moment in the low gravity. Gary followed Noah inside.

"Don't blow this, Gary," Noah said. "It's a collar for you, too."

"Fuck you," Gary muttered. He was already handcuffing Crysta. Noah pulled the can of StickyFoam from his belt and kicked the bedroom door open. He wasn't the least bit surprised to find Bredda and Indigo inside. Although their clothes were clean, various parts of their skins were blotchy with orange dye. They had a raw, scrubbed look, as if they'd tried to remove the dye with sandpaper. Bredda had dyed her hair a fake-looking black, but the dye was designed with this possibility in mind, and orange streaks were showing through the dark color.

Bredda screamed when Noah burst in, and Indigo swore. Noah aimed the can at Bredda, who was closest, and pressed the release. White foam gushed out of the can in long strings, covering Bredda with tentacles that clung to her body, her clothing, the floor, and to the wall behind her. The foam set in less than a second, becoming slightly flexible but unyieldingly sticky. Bredda screeched and clawed at the foam, but she couldn't tear free of it.

Indigo, meanwhile, surged toward the door. He managed to shove Noah aside and make it into the living room, where Gary stood guard over the cuffed Crysta.

"Don't let him get away!" Noah shouted, scrambling for balance in the wretched gravity.

Gary shot Noah a hostile look, then grabbed for Indigo. He managed to get his arms around Indigo from behind. Indigo struggled for only a split-second before breaking free and leaping for the apartment door like a superhero. Swearing, Noah snatched his needier from its holster and loped into the hallway. Indigo already had a good lead, and he ignored Noah's order to halt. Noah aimed and fired. The pistol snapped a barrage of needles at Indigo's retreating back. Several went wide and shattered harmlessly against the corridor walls, as they were designed to do. Several more, however, embedded themselves in Indigo's back. He twitched, managed a few more steps, them stumbled to the ground in a drugged haze. Noah cuffed him and dragged him back into the apartment, where Gary was still standing over Crysta.

"That was deliberate!" Noah snarled. "You let him go on purpose, you son of a bitch!"

Gary shrugged. "No such thing, Skyler. Guess I just need to hit the gym a little more. Too bad you'll be up to your eyebrows in paperwork now that you've fired on a civilian."

Noah set his teeth, then used his obie to call for a pickup. A few minutes later, an electric wagon glided up to the door and two deputies got out. They sprayed the cursing, snarling Bredda with an enzyme to dissolve the Sticky-Foam, cuffed her, and put her in the wagon along with Crysta and Indigo. Gary smirked at Noah.

"See you down at the station for the paperwork," he said, and vanished out the door.

Noah stood there in the empty apartment for several moments. Then he buried his face in the crook of his sleeve and howled until some of the rage subsided. That done, he calmly sealed the apartment and boarded a train back to Security. It was blessedly uncrowded for once, and Noah actually got a seat. When he was settled, he pulled his monocle around.

"Obie," he murmured, "access Security personnel database."

His eyes tracked as he read for several minutes. Then realization dawned on his face. He reread the information to make sure it wasn't a mistake, then severed the link and rode the rest of the way to the station in thoughtful silence.

At the station, he found Gary at a desk in the main room, tapping madly at a computer. Bredda and Indigo sat in separate chairs, their hands still cuffed behind them. Indigo still looked woozy. Valerie Marks was talking to Crysta in a low voice. Noah slipped down to the storage area and grabbed another spray can, this one marked
Peel Adhesive.
Gary was still typing when Noah came back upstairs. He looked up when Noah approached the desk. The hostile smirk was still on his face.

"Shame about that lousy collar," he said.

Noah hooked a foot under Gary's chair and yanked. For once, the moon's light gravity made something easier. The chair came up and Gary flew backward with a yelp. He fell slowly, landing flat on his back. Before he could react further, Noah hosed the front of his shirt with the contents of the spray can. Valerie, Crysta, and Bredda all stared. Indigo drooled. The chair continued upward, hit the ceiling, and drifted back down to the floor like a wooden feather.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Gary screamed.

The liquid in the can formed a clear, flexible film over Gary's shirt. In a single sharp gesture, Noah grabbed one edge of the film and jerked. It tore free with a Velcro ripping sound. Threads and tiny bits of fabric clung to the other side. Noah checked to make sure the film was dry, then rolled it into a translucent scroll like a medieval monk with a precious parchment. Gary scrambled to his feet.

"I said, what the fuck are you doing?" He was panting, his face red with outrage.

Noah favored him with a tight smile. "Let's go see Linus."

Linus tried to wedge his fingernails between the airlock door and the seal, knowing it was futile, having to try anyway. Beside him, Karen beat with frantic fists on the ceramic. Panic gripped Linus's throat, and he had to choke down a scream. Somehow he kept his head long enough to punch frantically at the control panel next to the door. It didn't respond.

A faint hissing sound slid through the room like a cobra, and Linus's ears popped. The air was evacuating from the chamber. Karen's eyes went wide with terror. The analytical part of Linus's mind told him that in a few short moments, the air would be gone, the opposite door would open, and he and Karen would have perhaps ninety seconds before they died. Between ten and fifteen of those seconds would grant them useful consciousness. Linus desperately tried to remember where the closest emergency airlock was. Could he reach it in less than fifteen seconds? Ten? What about Karen? Already the air was growing thin, and Linus couldn't draw a full breath.

"If you're going to make a run for it," Karen gasped, "don't hold your breath. Let it out or you'll rupture your lungs like our John Doe."

He reached out and grabbed Karen's hand. She squeezed it gratefully. Linus had never been so glad to feel another human being, and he had never been so glad it was Karen.

"Karen," he panted. "Karen, I—"

"Don't!" she interrupted. "Not now. Just don't. Let's exhale and run and hope."

Linus didn't have the air to respond. Ahead of them, the outer door started to roll aside. A crack of bright sunlight appeared, and Linus's heart almost stopped. He'd forgotten about the sun. If the vacuum didn't get them, the radiation would. But he had to
try,
dammit. Karen's hand was cold as iron in his. Linus forced himself to exhale, let the life-giving air out of his lungs before the tiny molecules shredded the delicate tissue like a billion tiny needles. Terrible pain lanced his head as both his eardrums burst, and his remaining air rushed out in a scream of pain. The crack around the outer door widened, letting in more deadly radiation, indicating the vacuum in the airlock was complete. Linus thought of Robin and Vicky, and he wished he could talk to them for just two seconds, or even one. How would they hear of his death? And when? What were they doing right now, while he stood dying in an airlock forty-four thousand miles away? Would Vicky even understand what had happened? Black spots danced in front of Linus's eyes, and he leaned forward, ready to run despite the pain, despite the radiation.

And then a blast of wind caught him from behind. It nearly knocked him over. Abruptly he could breathe again. He sucked in a gulp of air and spun around, Karen still at his side. The door to the shuttle behind them had rolled halfway open. Adrienne Miao, a red licorice whip in her mouth, stood in the doorway. Wind whipped her short hair around her head. Alarm lights flashed, but Linus couldn't hear the klaxon. Adrienne clung to the doorway with one plump hand and held out her other. Karen lunged for it.

Adrienne hauled her out of the airlock. Linus managed to take another breath. It was like standing upwind in a hurricane. Abruptly his feet slipped out from under him and he was both falling forward and flying backward. He tried to scream and couldn't tell if he had succeeded.

A steel-hard hand grabbed his. Karen. She had Adrienne's arm hooked through hers, and Adrienne maintained a death grip on the doorjamb. Linus wavered in the wind like a frantic flag. With excruciating slowness, the two women hauled him out of the airlock. At last, all three of them were inside the main door. Adrienne slapped a button, and the door rolled shut. Linus collapsed, panting, on the floor. Every breath was sweet as new honey. His ears continued to throb, and he could already see the bruising on his skin from blood cells yanked out of their vessels to burst in the low pressure. He and Karen would both be black and blue by morning.

Karen, on the floor next to him, sat up and moved her mouth. Linus couldn't hear her. A wave of panic swept him, and he forced himself to calm down. Ruptured eardrums were easy enough to fix, an hour or two at most. Linus pointed at his ears and shrugged. Karen abruptly flung her arms around him. Her body shook, and he realized she was crying. Linus put his arms around her and held her until the storm subsided. It was a long moment that Linus wished would last until the sun went dark. At last Karen pulled away from him. She held him at arm's length and said something else Linus couldn't make out. He managed a weak smile. His arms felt limp, though whether from the ordeal or from the embrace he couldn't tell. To his consternation, he discovered he was hard.