Part 15 (1/2)
”With stealing Grant, you mean.”
”With anything. With Kruger. Rocher. Anybody.”
”And Ari was going to let this happen.”
It did not sound reasonable. Trap, he thought. She let it happen. Maybe she hoped he'd get through. Maybe- She let it happen. Maybe she hoped he'd get through. Maybe- -maybe some other reason. She was mad about it. She was- But you never know with Ari. She plays reactions like most people use a keyboard.
”I think we'll ask the rest of the questions under probe. Unless you have anything else you want to tell me.”
”Who's going to do it?” There were technicians and there were technicians, and it made a difference who he was going to be spilling his guts to. ”Giraud, if I go on record, Ari's not going to like it. Does she know where I am? Does she know-” G.o.d, is this some politics between Ari and Giraud, has he s.n.a.t.c.hed me up to get something on her? G.o.d, is this some politics between Ari and Giraud, has he s.n.a.t.c.hed me up to get something on her? ”I want to talk to Ari. I'm supposed to meet with her. She's going to be asking where I am. If she doesn't hear from me she's going to start-” - ”I want to talk to Ari. I'm supposed to meet with her. She's going to be asking where I am. If she doesn't hear from me she's going to start-” -start after Jordan, maybe do something even she can't undo. They're going to tell him. Giraud will tell him. Maybe Administration wants something on Jordan, maybe this is some team action Ari and Giraud are running, her on me and Giraud on Jordan. O G.o.d, O G.o.d! what have I walked into? ”-Start asking where I am. Hear me?” ”-Start asking where I am. Hear me?”
”I don't think so. And I'm going to be asking the questions myself. You want to walk down to the room or are you going to make trouble about it? It'll go worse if you fight it, in all senses. You understand that. I just want to make sure you remember it.”
”I'll walk.”
”Fine.” Giraud got up, and Justin sat forward and got up on shaking legs. He was halfway numb with cold, and the thoughts that had tumbled one onto the other lost all variety, became just a circle without escape.
He walked out the door Giraud opened for him, walked ahead of Giraud and the waiting guards, down the hall to a place he had heard about all his life, a room very like the rooms over at the hospital, in that wing where azi came for tape-adjustment, green walls, a plain couch. There was a camera-rig in the corner.
”s.h.i.+rt,” Giraud said.
He knew what they wanted. He peeled it off and laid it on the counter. He sat down on the couch and took the shot one of the azi had ready for him, tried to help them attach the sensors, because he always did his own, with tape; but his coordination was shot. He let himself back in the hands that reached to help him, felt them lift his legs up onto the couch. He felt them working with the patches. He shut his eyes. He wanted to tell Giraud to send the azi out, because what he had to say involved Ari, and the azi who heard that-would be in for selective wipe, there was no else about it.
Giraud asked him questions, gently, professionally. He was aware of the first ones. But that slipped. He could have been in the hands of one of the techs, but Giraud was the best interrogator he could have hoped for-quiet and not given to leaving an emotional load behind him. Professional, that was all. And if Giraud was checking the truth, Giraud was at least trying to find out what it was.
Giraud told him so. And under the drug it was true.
Giraud would not be shocked at what Ari had done. He had lived too long and seen too much. Giraud was truly sorry for him, and believed everything he said. A young boy of his qualifications, in Ari's vicinity-he had to understand this was not the first time. That Ari would try to work leverage on his father, of course. Who could doubt it? Jordan had surely known.
No, he argued, with a flash of white ceiling and bright light: he came that far to the surface. He remembered Giraud touching his shoulder.
You really took care not to have your father know. Of course. What do you suppose he would do if he found out?
Go to the Bureau.
Ah.
But he didn't know.
You can sleep now. You'll wake up rested. You can let go. You won't fall. Something was still wrong. He tried to lay hold of it. But it slid sideways, out of his vision. Something was still wrong. He tried to lay hold of it. But it slid sideways, out of his vision.
”I don't think there's much doubt,” Giraud said, looking at Jordan from across his desk. At forty-six, Jordan was far too athletic, far too capable physically to take a chance with; and they were careful, for other reasons, not to put a bruise on him. The restraints they used were webbing: no psychprobe, to be sure: Jordan Warrick was a Special, a national treasure. Not even the Bureau of Internal Affairs could do anything that might damage him, in any sense.
A Special was charged with murdering another Special. It was a situation that had no precedent. But Jordan Warrick could murder a dozen infants in Novgorod Plaza at noonday, and they could neither ask him why nor remand him to probe nor give him as much as the adjustment a public vandal would get.
Jordan glared at him from the chair Security had tied him to. ”You know d.a.m.n well I didn't do it.”
”What will you do? Ask for a probe to prove it? We can't do a thing to you. You You know that. You knew it when you did it.” know that. You knew it when you did it.”
”I didn't do it. Dammit, you haven't even got an autopsy yet.”
”Whatever she died of, the cold was enough. The pipe didn't just break, Jordan, you know it and you know why it broke. Save us all the trouble. What did you do? Score the pipe and fill the lab tank is my guess. Fill the lab tank to capacity, then stop the main valve and turn the backflow pump to max. That'd blow the line at its weakest point, wherever someone damaged it.”
”So you know how to do it. You seem to know the plumbing a h.e.l.l of a lot better than I do. I do my work with a computer, Gerry, a keyboard. keyboard. I'm sure I never cared where the pipes run in Wing One lab. I don't understand the cryogenics systems and I never cared to learn. There's one other thing wrong with your theory. I haven't got access there.” I'm sure I never cared where the pipes run in Wing One lab. I don't understand the cryogenics systems and I never cared to learn. There's one other thing wrong with your theory. I haven't got access there.”
”Justin does. His azi had.”
”Oh, you're really reaching. Grant's in hospital, remember?”
”We've questioned your son. We're starting to question the azi. Yours and his.”
Jordan's face settled into stony calm. ”You won't turn up a d.a.m.n thing, because there isn't anything to turn up. You're going to have charges up to your eyeb.a.l.l.s, Giraud. You had better plan on it.”
”No, I won't. Because I know your motive.”
”What motive?” motive?”
Giraud punched a b.u.t.ton on the office recorder, on a pre-loaded clip.
”He pa.s.sed the mess to you, Gerry. So did Denys. We're not talking about a d.a.m.n records problem. We're talking about a scared kid, Gerry.”
”Another week-”
”The h.e.l.l with another week. You can start by giving me a security clearance over there, and get Petros to return my calls.”
”Your son is over there right now. He's got absolute clearance, G.o.d knows why. He'll take care of him.” Pause. ”Look, Jordie, they say about another week. Two at most.”
”Justin's got clearance.”
End tape.
”What in h.e.l.l has that got to do with anything?”
”That's when you went down to see Ari. Isn't it? Straight down there, right after that conversation.”
”d.a.m.n right. You couldn't get off your a.s.s.”
”No. 'Justin's got clearance,' you said. That surprised you. A, Justin hadn't told you something he should have told you. B, Ari never gave away her advantages. C, you know Ari's habits. Right then, you guessed something you'd picked up on all along, right when you got onto the deal your son cut for Grant.”
”Sheer fantasy.”
”Your son tried to blackmail Ari. It was really quite a scheme. You thought he'd held Ari off. You let him run with it. But when Ari hauled Grant home, Ari had all the cards. Didn't she? All All of them. Your son went to Ari for help, not to you. And your son got a favor out of her you couldn't get for all your threats. I wonder how.” of them. Your son went to Ari for help, not to you. And your son got a favor out of her you couldn't get for all your threats. I wonder how.”
”You have a h.e.l.l of an imagination. I never suspected it of you.”
”You confronted Ari, Ari either told you or you already knew-what your boy'd been doing for his tuition. And you killed her. You jammed a valve and turned a pump on, no no great amount of time involved. Everyone in Wing One knew about that door. It was supposed to be an accident, but then you had to improvise.” great amount of time involved. Everyone in Wing One knew about that door. It was supposed to be an accident, but then you had to improvise.”
Jordan said nothing for a moment. Then: ”It doesn't work.”
”Why not?”