Tanderon (42 page)

“Teddy, when you’re back in good condition I want you to do me a favor,” I said at last in a tone filled with self-disgust. “I’ll bend over, and you kick me as hard as you can. Talk about stupidity!”

“You know where it is!” she all but breathed, still not moving but now trembling with excitement.

“I don’t know exactly where it is, but now I know where to look,” I answered, turning toward her with excitement. “It’s so obvious it’s ridiculous. We know it has to be here, but I’ve checked all the club buildings and can’t find it. We know someone has it, but none of the club members is talking about it. It can’t be that just one club has it because they could never keep it a secret. They’d have to brag about having it, and they aren’t. I’ve even checked out the police, but they don’t have it either. Who does that leave?”

“No one,” Teddy replied, shaking her head. “There’s no one besides the club members and the police.”

“Exactly,” I said in satisfaction. “The small number of no-ones who slink around the streets trying not to be noticed. It doesn’t sound very likely, but that has to be it.

How much of the night is left?”

I got my feet again and went to look out the dirty window. By figuring out when I’d started, how long I’d stayed out, and guessing how long I’d been back, I estimated less than four hours left till dawn. That wasn’t much time, but I still decided not to waste it.

“I’m going out again,” I told Teddy, turning back to her. “If any of them come back before I do, hold on. We’ll be out of this place before you know it.”

“Hurry,” she whispered, no longer looking at me. Rather than say anything more to her, I left the room and got the clothes I’d stashed. I also made sure that I still had the vial of dye Ralph had given me, which had survived being hidden in my luggage by not being found or broken. I didn’t know if it would do for what I had in mind, but it couldn’t hurt to take it.

Using the club building as a center, I began to search every non-club area in a radiating pattern. Virtue may be its own reward, but intelligence gives more tangible results. About an hour after I’d started, the bracelet on my wrist started to vibrate very faintly. The closer I got to a deserted warehouse, the more it vibrated.

The warehouse was so far away from the club buildings that I’d never been anywhere near it on my previous trips. When I got really close I saw that it was locked tight, but that was no problem. I quietly broke in from the back, then stood just within the small doorway to let my eyes get used to the deeper gloom. That was when I grew aware of soft breathing, and in another moment was able to make out the shapes of sleeping people. They were scattered all over the floor, leaving just enough room for someone to pass among them.

I let the bracelet guide me to one sleeping form, and I searched him without thinking about him or looking at his face because I didn’t want him to wake up. When I located the vial in his shirt pocket I removed it, then after a brief hesitation replaced it with the vial of dye. I couldn’t tell what the contents of the special vial looked like, but the longer it took for these people to discover that the vial was gone the better chance Teddy and I had of getting clear.

I put the special vial away carefully, then exited the way I’d come in. Cleaning up the few traces my breaking in had left didn’t take long, and then I was able to go back to where Teddy waited. I got some clothes for her before returning to the room, but when I walked in I found her shivering violently on the mattress. I began to hurry over to her, but after no more than two steps the door slammed closed behind me. I turned fast to see what had caused that, and found Wiger standing there.

“Where you been, bitch?” he snarled, his broad, ugly body blocking the door.

“Nobody leaves here lessen I say so, and I din’t say so. Now you can get outta them clothes an’ lay down. She din’t do me no good, so it’s yer turn. I ain’t never tried you yet.”

“How many did he bring with him, Teddy?” I asked, keeping my eyes on Wiger while ignoring what he’d said.

“I – I think he came alone,” she managed to force herself to say, obviously trying to keep her teeth from chattering.

“I don’t need no help with you two!” Wiger spat, his pig eyes now blazing. “I told you t’get outta that stuff!”

“Do you still want him, Teddy?” I asked, smiling unpleasantly at the slime pretending to be a man as I tossed the armload of clothing aside.

“You got it!” she said just before her voice caught. “Please, Diana, help me up. If I don’t do it I won’t be able to live anymore!”

Wiger stood staring back and forth between us, but when I turned to Teddy he woke up and moved fast to grab me. He pulled me close and forced my head back with a handful of hair, but I just reached out and drove a knifehand into his middle. I made sure that the blow landed just under his heart and he dropped like a stone, almost taking me down with him.

I had my balance back in a second though, so I got one of the dirty beer glasses and smashed it. Taking a big, jagged piece of the broken glass over to Teddy, I helped her up and over to Wiger’s unmoving form. She leaned heavily on me until we reached him, and then she dropped to her knees beside him. Her movements were jerky and clearly filled with pain, but she used the piece of glass I’d given her to saw back and forth across Wiger’s throat.

It didn’t take long before Wiger’s blood began to spurt, and the satisfied look on Teddy’s face was worth seeing. Happily, she hadn’t noticed that the blood should have spurted much higher, which meant she didn’t know that Wiger had been dead as soon as he hit the floor. I had the vial but still had to get it back, and so couldn’t afford to take any chances. After she was done with Wiger, I got Teddy into the clothes I’d brought for her, and then we left.

When we got to the edge of town the going was easier than sneaking along the dark and treacherous streets, but we still had to be very careful. The club members were starting to come back from their nightly games of ambush with each other and with the people from 2, and they were all keyed up. If they’d even spotted a shadow, we would have had a bad fight on our hands. I carried Teddy on my back because she couldn’t move well enough for safety, and the farther we got from town the harder I had to try to keep from hoping.

Just how early did the people from 2 call it quits and go home these days? I’d been out a couple of times until just before first light, but I’d also gone back early a time or two. If some of our own people weren’t around to give us some help, I wasn’t sure I could make it all the way without collapsing…

We were a good distance from Flowerville and I had begun to stumble where I walked next to the edge of a deserted highway, when I stopped still and then got us both down to the ground. I couldn’t be completely sure, but I thought I’d seen a slight movement in some bushes up ahead.

“Stay here and don’t move,” I told Teddy in the softest of whispers. “I’ll be right back.”

After she nodded I forced myself mostly erect again, then did my best to melt into the landscape. That let me circle the spot where I’d seen the movement in order to come at it from the back. When I got close enough to actually see who was there, I also got lucky. The man lying in wait turned his head, and the hook-nosed profile was one I recognized from the class I’d taught.

“Tag you’re it, Taylor,” I called softly, and Taylor spun around while he brought up his longbow to train on me. No one at 2 ever goes hunting with a modern weapon; that would be cheating.

“What are you doing here?” Taylor asked after a moment, lowering the bow once he’d peered closely at me. “I haven’t see you since that last day in infiltration class.”

“Teddy Hughes and I went sightseeing,” I told him, moving away from the bush I’d stood behind. “It was a fun time, but we got bored so we decided to come home.

Now I need you to give me a hand.”

He followed me warily back to where I’d left Teddy, but when he saw her he put his bow down and knelt next to her.

“Remind me never to ask you to take me sightseeing,” he remarked, touching Teddy’s face carefully. “Good thing my hopper isn’t far from here.”

He picked Teddy up and I followed him, fetching his bow and watching in all directions just in case. We got to the hopper without any trouble, though, and I squeezed in behind the two seats. Teddy sat all folded up in the co-pilot’s seat, just as if she’d lost all her bones on the way, and Taylor wasted no time in getting us to Blue Skies.

By the time we’d gotten Teddy turned over to the doctors at Blue Skies, Ringer showed up. He must have been sleeping when we arrived, but he was wide awake as he watched Teddy being taken away. Taylor looked at Ringer, then at me, then he headed back to his hopper. I watched him go, wondering if he’d reconsider becoming an agent. What he’d seen was the end of a successful operation.

“Present for you,” I said to Ringer, handing him the vial. It was amusing to see that whatever was inside was only slightly different in color from the dye I’d substituted for it. I wondered what the no-one’s had planned to do with it… “If you’ll buy me a cup of coffee, I’ll tell you the funniest joke I’ve heard in a long time. It’s all about how the big, bad club members were innocent victims of malicious slander.”

“I’ve already heard that joke,” Ringer growled, taking the vial. “They located the rest of Masterson’s records. I’ll buy you that cup of coffee and fill you in.”

We went to a doctor’s lounge, and I stretched out on a couch while Ringer went to pour two cups of coffee. During the wait I took the detector bracelet off and tossed it into a nearby chair. It continued to vibrate because of how close the vial still was.

“Masterson sold a complete plan to the non-club members,” Ringer said as he came back with the coffee. He handed me my cup, then took a chair near my couch.

“Masterson knew the vial contained something deadly, so he teased his ‘clients’ with the idea of getting even with all the club members together, then taking off in a big ship all their own. He waved the security plans of Blue Skies at them, and added step by step directions for taking over the liner to Faraway.

“By the time the liner was missed they’d be able to disappear, he told them, and all he wanted in return was a few of the chunks of gold still available in the old mines.

What he and they didn’t know was, if they’d used this vial they wouldn’t have had time to get to the orbital station to catch the liner that’s due in late this afternoon. I still don’t know what’s in the vial, but the lab people tell me that it spreads more quickly than most people would believe. The whatever-it-is spreads so quickly, in fact, that no one would have been left alive on this planet twenty-four hours after it had been added to the Flowerville water supply. You got to it just in time.”

“‘Better late than never’ hardly ever applies in this business, does it?” I commented, sitting up to drink some of my coffee. My limping mind waited until I’d taken the third sip before it put all the information together, and then I groaned with feeling.

“What’s the matter?” Ringer asked quickly, leaning toward me. “Are you hurt?”

“Not hurt, hurting,” I corrected with pain. “Have you done anything about guarding the orbital station shuttle?”

“No,” he replied with a frown. “Putting a guard on the shuttle wasn’t necessary. If you hadn’t gotten the vial, the guards would have gone with everyone else. Since you did get the vial, there won’t be anything for those people to run from.”

I put the coffee cup down on the floor and wearily buried my head in my arms. Me and my big ideas about playing for extra time.

“What happened?” Ringer asked heavily, his tone saying he already knew there was something.

“Remember that vial of dye Ralph gave me?” I asked, lifting my head just a little. “I didn’t want those people to cry when they found the vial gone, so I left the dye in its place.”

Ringer took the vial out of his pocket and looked at it, then got up and went to a

‘phone.

“I’m getting this back to the lab people before I lose my temper and do something stupid,” he said. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen so much trouble over such a small package.” He called for the lab people, then came back to stare down at me. “Just how bad off are you really?” he asked. “You look like hell.”

“You’d better watch that, Ringer,” I said, pushing my tangled hair back with one hand. “I’m a sucker for pretty compliments and you know it. If I had a few more hours of sleep behind me, I’d probably attack you.”

“Is sleep all you need?” he persisted, ignoring the rest of what I’d said. “I want to know if you can finish this.”

“What do you have in mind?” I asked, curiosity beginning to poke at me. Ringer’s finishes are never dull. Involved, maybe, but never dull.

“I’m going to give those people a chance to take over the liner,” he said, folding his arms. “The way things stand now, if they show up at the shuttle port all we can do is turn them away. There’s no Federation law against dyeing a town’s water supply then taking a liner ride, but once the piracy bug bites you never get rid of it. If we stop them from going now, they’ll surely try it again some other time when we aren’t ready for them. And don’t forget that piracy’s punishable by immediate execution. The Council’s still convinced that if we start to arrest anyone it will encourage even more malcontents to try, so don’t bring any of them back. There shouldn’t be more than a dozen of them, so I don’t think you’ll have any trouble.”

“Okay,” I said, planning the operation as I reached for my coffee again. “But get me a suppressor. There’s no sense in taking unnecessary chances.”

“You’ll have it,” he agreed with a nod. “Anything else?”

I was about to answer him when the lounge door opened and Ralph came in. He walked over to the couch and sat down next to me, then rubbed his eyes with one hand.

“She’ll be all right, at least as far as her physical condition goes,” he said in a tired voice. “Aside from that Joanne will have to have some sessions with her. That was a rough one for first time out.”

“They’re all rough,” I told him, trying not to feel my own end of it. “I know what she went through, but Dr. Jo will take care of it. I think Teddy has what it takes to make it.”