Part 22 (2/2)

”Good for you,” Han said, still not really paying attention. Why did every droij feel the need to b.u.t.tonhole him and yammer on about its specs and capabilities?

”And good for you, too, Master Solo,” Q9 said. ”I do think you would be well advised to take what I am saying more seriously.

”And why is that?” Han said.

”Because you are being watched.”

That got his attention. ”If you mean the CDF agents-”

”Please, Master Solo. I am no addlebrained protocol unit. Give me some credit.

No. In fact, judging by her behavior, I believe the watcher in question is doing her best to stay out of their sight, more than she is worried about hiding from you or your family. ' ”She?” Han asked.

”Yes, sir. There is just one, a human female, and she appears to be on her own. At least I have spotted no one else working with her. She has stationed herself in the empty villa a short distance from here. She watches from an upstairs window, doing her best to conceal herself. I might add that she is probably all but invisible to normal human vision.

The window transparency is thick, the room she is in is dark, and she has been quite skillful in keeping a low profile. However, I managed to record a few low-resolution flat-image shots of her in polarized infrared before the rains blew in earlier this morning.”

”Let's see.” Han had expected Q9 to project a fuzzy holographic image on the wall or something. lnstead, there was a quiet whirring noise, and a flat-image photo rolled out of the printout slot in Q9's chest. Maybe there was something to be said for a droid that upgraded itself. ”Most of the time, of course, the macrobinoculars conceal her,”

Q9 went on.

”This is the highestresolution image of her face that I have secured. The quality is still quite low, although I have run it through all the appropriate enhancement routines.”

Han took the photo from the slot and looked at it. It was rather grainy and extremely contrasty, and the image itself was a bit blurred.

But there could be no mistake. It was Kalenda, the NRI agent, caught in the act of lifting the macrobinoculars to her face. Somehow, Han was not all surprised. She was just the sort of person who would pop up out of nowhere, light-years from where he thought she was.

She had a worried look on her face, and she looked gaunt and worn.

But it was her, all right. There could be no mistaking those disconcertingly wide-set eyes. He thought back to what Leia had said, about her sense of being watched at the s.p.a.ceport. Yes. It all fit.

But what did it all mean? What the devil was Kalenda doing here, and if she was here, why hadn't she tried to contact Han? The only answer he could come up with was that she didn't trust the CDF either.

”Have you told anyone else about this?” Han asked.

”No, sir. It seemed to be that I should come to you first.”

Han thought for a moment. ”You have done very well, Q9,” he said.

”This is vital information-but I must order you to tell no one-no one else about it. Not your master, not my wife, not anyone. It will be bad enough having me wandering around pretending not to know I am being watched. If the whole house had to pretend, someone would make a slip.”

”Then this watcher is an enemy, sir?”

”No, no. A friend. I don't exactly know what she intends, but she is on our side. The problem is that we are not at all sure the CDF is friendly. It might be that she is there trying to protect us against the CDF in some way. If their a”gents discovered her, we could lose a very useful a.s.set.

”Useful for what?”

Han shook his head. ”I don't know yet. Before I could tell you what we'll need her for, I'll have to figure out what game we're playing.

But she's there, and the people we don't trust don't know it.

That might be useful.”

”Shall I attempt to signal her in some way?” Q9 asked.

”By some means that the CDF agents could not detect?”

”No,” Han said. ”Not yet. Not until I know more. The situation is complicated enough without introducing a new variable. And the CDF might have a few tricks up their sleeve we don't know about.”

”Very well, sir,” Q9 said. ”The situation is rather serious, is it not?”

”More so than any of us thinks, if you want my opinion,” Han said.

He handed the photo back to Q9. ”Destroy this,” he said. ”Keep a very low-key eye on our friend.

And do not discuss this situation with anyone. Not even with me, unless I bring up the subject, or unless the situation changes. Is that understood?”

Quite well, sir.”

”Thank you, Q9. You may well have just done the most important work in your life.”

Q9 backed away, and dipped down on his repulsors a bit, doing a pretty fair simulation of a bow. ”So far, at least,” he said, without a trace of humor. ”So far.”

Han watched the droid leave, and swore under his breath.

Something was going to blow. Something. Things could not hold together under all this pressure for long.

And meanwhile, all they could do was play tourist and pretend they knew nothing and that everything was fine.

Han hated politics.

Outside, the rain thundered down.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN Sightseer he rain continued into the next day, but by that time, everyone had had quite enough of being cooped up in the house. Rain or no rain, they piled into a hovercar the governor-general had loaned them, and took off, with Han at the controls. He reached for alt.i.tude as quickly as possible, punching through the gray misery of the driving rainstorm, bouncing and bucking the hover car's way through the storm clouds themselves, and then up into the clear blue gleaming skies above.

It was remarkable what a change the sight of blue skies made.

Everyone's mood lifted, even Chewbacca's, shoehorned though he was into a copilot's seat not nearly large enough for him. The bickering children suddenly went quiet, and forgot the sulky arguments about who was crowding whose seat. All at once they were pointing out the cloud tops below to each other, and telling each other what monsters and aliens the clouds looked like.

Han felt better, too. Getting out from under the rain was part of it, of course, but it was also the idea of getting away-far away-from Coronet, if only for a while. There was something to be said for playing tourist if it kept you out of town.

* * * Kalenda watched the family hovercar with feelings of relief and fear. It was impossible for her to follow them. She could rest, at least for a while. However, it didn't seem as if they had taken a great deal of luggage. Probably they were only heading off on a day trip. But that would be enough for her to wash up a bit, get a decent meal, and catch some sleep. Of course, there was always the chance that the opposition would take advantage of their absence for some sort of skulduggery. But she could set the macrobinoculars on time-lapse record while she slept, and play the recording back later. If there was any hanky-panky, she could still catch it on the recording and take action in time.

The situation was no better, and she knew that she was not likely to do anyone any good anytime soon. But she could think of no activity more worthwhile than staying close to the chief of state's family.

She would figure out what to do next later.

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