Tanderon (15 page)

The security man’s question was a fair one, especially since I stood quietly where I’d stopped, oozing youth and innocence and helplessness. Val was suddenly amused by the confusion I added to, but Ringer was about as far from amused as you can get. He knew as well as I did that the four guards would be useless unless he found it possible to convince them that they had a real job in hand. He glanced at me angrily, almost in accusation, then gave the sergeant his attention.

“Listen to me carefully,” he told the man, pulling his credentials out of his pocket.

“My name is Ringer, and I’m Chief of Agents for the Federation Council. Do you believe me?”

He held up his credentials for all the men to see, and the four took turns nodding.

“We know that,” the sergeant assured him, beginning to look skeptical – probably about Ringer’s intelligence or sanity. “The captain checked carefully when you first spoke to him.”

“Good,” Ringer said, his nod encouraging. “Now that you know who I am, let me introduce you to the young woman standing behind me. Her name is Diana Santee, and she’s one of the best Special Agents I have. I would not need armed guards to watch a little girl, but four of you are barely enough for a Special Agent. She intends to go in a direction I don’t want her to go in, and if you don’t believe she’s a Special Agent then you’re worse than useless to me. You can either convince me you believe what I’m saying, or I’ll call your captain and have you replaced.”

Ringer shoved his credentials back in his pocket, took one step back from the security men, and just waited. The four security guards had their eyes on me again, but this time their expressions were thoughtful as they weighed Ringer’s words. The sergeant studied me carefully, his gaze moving all over me, and then he purposely locked gazes with me.

Now, I’m not used to backing down under a stare, and being off assignment tends to make me sloppy in professional matters. That’s why it was a good ten seconds before I realized I shouldn’t have met the sergeant’s stare, but it was too late. Ten seconds is a relatively short period of time, but it turned out to be more than long enough for the man to make up his mind. He pulled his gaze away from mine, and glanced at his men.

“There’s no doubt about it,” he told them, nodding his head at me. “Those curves of hers are distracting, but the muscle tone underneath is obvious enough once you look for it. And look at the way she stands… Sexy as all hell, but with a fighter’s balance. And those eyes. I met a Special Agent once, a few years ago, and he had the same look in his eyes. I’ll bet she could take out two or three of us without half trying.”

His men had agreed with him until he got to his final conclusion, but he obviously knew more about Special Agents than they did. One of them snorted in disbelief over the contention that a girl could take two or three men their size, and the sergeant turned to regard the man thoughtfully.

“Mr. Ringer,” he said, not taking his eyes from the doubting Thomas. “I wonder if you would tell us the young lady’s rating in unarmed combat.”

Ringer had been leaning against the doorjamb with folded arms, watching the proceedings, and he smiled faintly.

“Her rating is nine, Sergeant,” he supplied in the mildest of tones. The sergeant nodded his thanks, all the while studying his man and seeing the surprise appear when my rating was mentioned.

“How about you, Gedner?” he pursued, rubbing at his chin with one hand. “What was the rating you just qualified for?”

The man named Gedner hesitated, moved his eyes to me, then shook his head.

“I just got my three, Sergeant,” he admitted, a faint worry showing in his eyes. “You think we ought to go back for disruptor rifles?”

Ringer and Val laughed out loud at that, the sergeant grinned and shook his head, and I turned away in disgust while muttering nasty things under my breath. The sergeant’s three men were now looking at me the way they’d looked at Val earlier, and the change in attitude wasn’t even good for the ego.

“Now that that’s settled, I think we can get back on schedule,” Ringer drawled in satisfaction. “Let’s go, Diana.”

I looked at the doorway again to see Ringer and Val already out in the corridor. My escort was waiting warily for me to join the group, and playing stubborn wouldn’t have been worth the trouble it would bring. The Council wanted me on Tanderon and Ringer wanted me on Tanderon, and neither of them would have minded if I arrived there unconscious from a stunner dose.

Stunners are considered humane weapons when compared to disruptors, but that opinion was not shared by anyone who had ever been stunned. At least with a disruptor you didn’t wake up with frazzled nerve endings that took a while to quiet down. I shrugged to myself in temporary resignation, walked to the door and through it, and took my place in the parade.

The hall corridor was deserted, and we headed for the elevator with Ringer and Val leading the way, two of the guards following them, then me, then the last two guards.

After a very short wait the elevator doors opened and we all moved into the car.

The elevator doors opened again up on the Station’s main level and Ringer led the way again, this time to the left, away from the docking area and toward the dining room and amusement areas. There were a lot of people around, some moving through the area, some going in and out of shops. Some were using the various gambling and skill machines lining the entire right wall of the corridor, and most of all those people either stopped or turned around to stare at our parade. It wasn’t hard to see who the guards were for, and it isn’t every day you see someone being escorted around a station – most especially not a harmless-looking girl. The security men were very aware of the stares, something that wouldn’t have bothered them with another prisoner, and that helped me decide to see how my luck was running.

We moved down the center of the corridor, other pedestrians shifting to left or right to get out of our way. Just ahead and to the left, between two richly decorated shop windows, was a modestly plain door with a sign that read “Private. Please do not enter.” The sign was specifically worded so as not to be a challenge to anyone looking for an argument, but I happened to know what the door was for. It led to the restricted area beneath the station’s main level, and even had a branching that exited in the docking area.

I waited until we were a few steps past my target door, then pretended to stumble slightly. The natural reaction of a person stumbling over something unseen is to look back and down at whatever caused the misstep. When I did just that, I found the two security men behind me looking in the same place.

I hadn’t hoped they’d be inexperienced enough to follow the pointing finger, so to speak, but you learn to take whatever residual luck you happen to run into. Without the least hesitation I kicked the one on the left in the stomach, then immediately gave the one on the right a fist in his solar plexus. They both folded up with groans and I was off and running toward that door we’d passed, people jumping in all directions to get out of my way amid gasps and screams of shock.

I was across the corridor in five strides, almost to the door, when I heard a shout of

“Halt!” behind me. That meant I had a good three to five seconds before any shots were fired, so I put them to use. I made it to the door, grabbed the knob, then twisted it right-left as I threw a shoulder into it. The damned door took no notice of any of it, showing that it was locked tight, and there was nothing left to do but spin away from the door and try for the docking area by way of the corridor.

I turned fast, took one step, then froze in place when I found myself looking down the barrel of a stunner. The sergeant had put himself between me and the docking area, three paces out of reach, his body braced, his arm and weapon pointed straight at me. His face held no expression, but his eyes showed he was more than ready to do what had to be done. I’d never get past him unless I went over him, his stance making that perfectly clear. For a brief instant I was bitten by the “why not?” bug, remembering all the times I’d done exactly that, but then I was forced to remember I wasn’t on assignment. I took a deep breath to regain control, straightened up, then looked around.

A second security man stood to my left, weapon held in both hands, a grim look pasted on his face. He wasn’t nervous enough to pull the trigger by reflex, but he backed away half a step when I looked at him, the movement turning his expression peculiar. Just behind the second guard was Ringer, his hand relaxing away from his jacket, an odd relief on his face. Somehow I felt sure he’d seen me debating whether or not to take out the sergeant permanently, and I knew he’d been prepared to neutralize me if I slipped that far from reality. I shivered slightly, fleetingly thinking of ward K, and knew I’d rather have it that way, from Ringer, than be allowed to go on if I slipped over the edge.

Crowd noises in shouts and demands were rising all around us, and I saw Val over by the two guards I’d dumped, checking them over and then helping them to their feet. Additional security guards were filling the area, and it took a few minutes before the wounded were helped away and fresh security men had replaced them. I stood leaning against the door I’d tried for, my arms folded and my ankles crossed, but the people all around were still pointing at me and staring as though I had two heads. It was nothing I wasn’t used to, so when Ringer approached me it wasn’t hard to ignore the stares. He passed the two security men who still had me covered, and stopped right in front of me.

“Not a bad try,” he admitted, folding his arms as he examined me thoughtfully. “If the door hadn’t been locked you would have made it.”

“There’s an old saying about ‘if,’” I commented, returning his thoughtful stare. “If I’d been on assignment, it wouldn’t have made that much of a difference. Would you like to tell me the purpose of this tour around the station? If you’ve changed your mind about Tanderon, all you have to do is say so.”

Ringer snorted faintly, but he wasn’t amused.

“I haven’t changed my mind,” he assured me. “What I’ve done is set my heart on something, and I’m going to have that something even if I have to go back for that shackle. You and I are going to share a last meal before we part company, one that you’ll remember almost as well as I remember the last one we shared.”

So that was it. His sharp black stare bored into me, undoubtedly seeing the small frown I’d developed, knowing satisfaction that I was finally getting it. Not only hadn’t he accepted what I’d done to him with the Glue, he’d decided on a means of evening the score a little, implementing it in spite of the risk of losing me. Guards or no guards, he knew how chancy walking me around the station was, but he must have reached the point of not caring.

When he saw I had nothing further to say, he backed off a step then turned and walked away to find the security guard captain. I watched his back moving away from me, thought about how close to irrational his actions were, and only then realized I’d gone too far with him. If there’s one trait all Special Agents share, aside from luck, that trait is pride. And I’d managed to hit Ringer in his pride.

The crowds were still trying to mill around and stare, but the security people were beginning to send them on their way. I knew it wouldn’t be long before our parade was formed again, so I gave up thinking about pros and cons and admitted I owed Ringer one. He’d pulled my chestnuts out of the fire often enough over the years, so the least I owed him was a little satisfaction. If he wanted our last meal together to be as embarrassing for me as the one before had been for him I’d let it happen, but only because Ringer was Ringer. There are damned few people in this universe I’d do that for, but Ringer did happen to be one of them. I glanced again at Ringer’s back, looked away from him with a small sigh, and waited for the rest of the excitement to die down.

Five minutes later we were on our way again, but this time the order of march was different. Ringer and Val still led the way, but the two replacement guards walked right next to me, one on either side, their eyes on me rather than where we were going. The sergeant and his other man followed along behind, close enough to be effective, far enough away to be out of easy reach.

All four of them were alert and edgy, and although they’d holstered their weapons it wasn’t likely I’d find another easy opening. I slouched along in the middle of my escort, projecting a faint impression of defeat, but the four guards didn’t fall for it.

They didn’t relax and they didn’t take their eyes off me, and then we were leaving the amusement area for the softly lit dining area.

When we walked into the dining room the conversational hum died for a minute, then came back up to its previous level. Most of the well-dressed travelers in their softly padded armchairs knew nothing about what had happened just a few minutes earlier.

That was why they chuckled at the sight of a young girl in cadet uniform being escorted by six large males, then went back to their meals.

But the maitre d’ who approached Ringer while sending several nervous glances in my direction obviously knew exactly what had happened. So it was with a good deal of relief that he hurried back to his post when Ringer waved him away. Ringer knew what sort of table he wanted, and he led the way right to it with no more than a brief, preliminary glance around the room. I would have bet that he’d take a table right next to a wall to put my back to, but boxing me in wasn’t in his game plan.

The table we stopped at stood right in the middle of the large room, and the other tables around us were all occupied – with distinctly amused diners. One of the room’s many crystal chandeliers was directly above the table, the gleam of it setting up an echoing gleam in the Illian lace of the top tablecloth. Ringer and Val each chose an armchair and sat and, after a very brief hesitation, so did I. The security men, however, stayed on their feet, ranging themselves two behind me and two behind Val and Ringer. The four men, of course, had their eyes directly on me, just as they obviously thought they should.