Part 13 (2/2)
”Nowhere in particular. I've got the car set for random turns. Anyone starts following us, and I may be calling on your weapons expertise to save my hide.”
”What about yours?”
”Ten-for-ten at twenty-five feet. But I have never had to actually shoot a man.”
”Lucky you,” Kris said, dryly.
”I believe so. Now, the cause for our peripatetic journey is some good news for you. And, as is the custom around you, some bad news.”
”And as is my custom, I'll take the good news first.”
”Higher-ups have decided that we should grant you a temporary license to carry arms and a special protective contingent. That particular stunt yesterday of mixing your team with those guarding Mrs. Tordon was quite brilliant. With some of your Marines guarding her, she already having a permit, and then switching off guarding you, it might well result in a plea that they had a weapon on her detail and got switched so suddenly to your detail that they didn't have time to return their arms to the armory. A brilliant sleight of hand. But then, General Trouble is also your great-grandfather.”
Kris considered relieving the inspector of his illusion, but thought better of it. Once in a while a good deed should get the kind of reward it deserved. The Marines had taken it upon themselves to stand up a guard for their general's woman with not a second's thought. If it now got them the freedom to shoot back when shot at in the cause of protecting his great-grandbrat, well. Good for them.
Kris felt good for all of three seconds, then remembered the lead-in to this little chat. ”And the bad news is...?”
”Since this is a temporary permit, any security used that is not already under license by the Personal Security Administration of Garden City, such as your Marines, will have to use only nonlethal protection devices.”
Kris considered that for a long moment. Then said, ”I am going to produce my weapon, since it is now, I a.s.sume, legal.”
”It is legal. I will not feel any obligation to confiscate it. a.s.suming it shoots nonlethal darts.”
”There is that issue,” Kris said, bringing out her Browning automatic. ”This little puppy was given to me by, well, never mind. It chambers a 4-mm dart, either from the right magazine, which loads Colt-Pfizer's highest-quality sleepy darts. Or, at the flick of a switch, armor-piercing rounds from the left magazine. I a.s.sume if I and my Marines promise to always keep the selector on the right side, you won't be all that concerned if the left magazine is not empty?”
”It could complicate an investigation,” the inspector said, but he didn't contradict her.
”You are aware that with enough of a propellant charge a sleepy dart will smash flesh, bone, and skulls?”
”Oh, it can? I hadn't heard” didn't reach the usual level of conviction that Kris had come to expect in the most two-faced of diplomatic exchanges.
And Kris suddenly felt very tired of playing guessing games and ”Thimble, thimble, who's got the thimble,” where the thimble probably wasn't anywhere within a day's drive.
”Inspector, you and I both know that my exit from Hotel Landfall a few days back was not by the normal route. And I left a rather high body count on the pavement between there and the emba.s.sy. Yet none of that made it into the papers; none of the bodies showed up at the morgue. You want to tell me where they went? More important, if my Marines need to put a similar number, or more, of such optimists down hard, will their bodies do a similar disappearing act or be used as evidence against me and my Marines in a court of what pa.s.ses for law on Eden?”
”Why don't you ask your maid?”
That answer from deep in left field knocked Kris off her stride. ”What does Abby have to do with this?”
”Yesterday afternoon, she visited the hood where most of those shooters were hired. She met with the gang bosses, at least one of them. She spent quite a bit of time with several members of the gang and even gave one of them a computer and bought supper for him and his girlfriend.”
Kris felt like she'd launched herself for a skiff drop from orbit...but forgot the skiff.
NELLY, DID YOU TRACK ABBY'S WHEREABOUTS YESTERDAY?
NO, KRIS, SHE THROTTLED HER SQUAWKER. SHE SENT A MESSAGE TO HERSELF WITH A CC COPY TO YOU FOR OPENING LATER LAST NIGHT, BUT SHE ERASED BOTH WHEN SHE GOT IN. I DID NOT OPEN IT AND HAVE NOTHING AVAILABLE TO LOOK AT NOW.
NELLY, I'M VERY UNIMPRESSED WITH YOUR WORK PERFORMANCE.
I KNOW, KRIS. BUT YOU ALWAYS KNEW THAT ABBY WAS BUYING THE TOP-OF-THE-LINE ENCRYPTION SYSTEMS. AND SHE CHANGES IT TOO OFTEN FOR ME TO CRACK IT.
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT THIS LATER. ”Inspector, can you share with me where my most loyal maid went yesterday? Royal courtesy or what have you?”
”I shouldn't,” he responded, but he was clearly enjoying being ahead of Kris on something. A map of Garden City suddenly reflected off the sedan's front window. A line appeared in red, with various other colored lines intersecting it. Sometimes they merely crossed. Other times, they went quite aways together.
KRIS, THE MESSAGE WAS SENT FROM THERE. And a green X appeared along with the red and black line late in the day. It was on Kris's vision, not something the inspector could see.
”Well, Inspector, it appears that you know something I don't know-ah, didn't know. I will need to look into this.”
He grinned proudly.
”Oh, and could you tell me why you're the one letting me know about my new permit? Shouldn't Lieutenant Martinez have delivered it?” That put a dint in his grin.
”Your case has been elevated. I'll be handling all your issues for the time being.”
And thus keeps me from talking to someone who can't vote and might give me an interesting perspective on your planet.
Kris gave the inspector the empty-headed socialite grin she occasionally got away with. Clearly, she had a lot on her plate at the moment. And the inspector had played his distraction game very well.
Kris made a mental note. There had to be something in the fine print that would leave her with a question or two. A question that she really didn't need to bother a full-fledged inspector about.
But first, matters close to home. Why was Abby talking to the people who had done their best to kill Kris?
20.
Nelly, TELL JACK, ABBY, AND PENNY I WANT THEM IN MY QUARTERS NOW! Kris thought as she marched into the emba.s.sy. TELL THEM FIVE MINUTES AGO WOULD BE EVEN BETTER. OH, AND TELL PENNY SHE CAN BRING HER THUMB SCREWS.
YOU ARE JOKING, KRIS?.
JUST TELL EACH OF THEM WHAT I TOLD YOU TO TELL THEM.
YES, YOUR HIGHNESS, MA'AM, BOSS.
Kris found Abby already in her quarters.
”You got a command performance, baby duck,” she said, removing Kris's cover and running a testing hand through her hair. ”Amba.s.sador says there's this charity art show that you just must make an appearance at. Oh, and he suggests that you spend some of that Longknife money buying some of this art...for goodwill sake.”
Kris stepped away from her maid. Was this for real, or was Abby just doing another one of her Oh-we're-so-busy-no-time-to-talk song and dances?
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