Part 23 (1/2)

”That's what I was trying to tell you,” Margarita says, ”before I stop to say 'hi' to my amiga amiga. You've looked too hard after Jersey's stuff, Boca Blue, and now the Inst.i.tute has got a line on you and they're going to use it to reel Sarah in.”

I shrink back, my gaze darting into suddenly unfriendly shadows. In response to my fear, Athena wings out to survey the area.

”Easy, chica chica,” Margarita soothes, ”I'm more than a jump ahead of them, this time. You've got a day, maybe two before they come to take you. Plenty of time to get away.”

”How did you learn this?” Abalone says suspiciously. ”When we saw you last, you were running as fast as you could.”

”Si, I was running-or flying-but the money I made selling the bike gave me the means to clear my name”-she grins-”or at least to get the ears of the right people. I have a new employer who has set me to watch the old.”

”And while you were watching,” Professor Isabella prompts, ”what did you learn?”

”Sarah probably couldn't tell you, but the Inst.i.tute was being funded by an...economic concern called Ailanthus. They were using Sarah's talents, and those of her brother before that, to steal information that couldn't be had any other way.”

”Yeah, we had some idea from Jersey's letter,” Abalone says, ”but clearly we didn't understand just how things were.”

”The Ailanthus company is run by dangerous people, who like getting their own way, but that don't mean that they're stupid.”

Margarita perches on a rubble heap. ”They've had people checking to see if anyone was showing too much interest in Jersey's research. Kinda a long shot, but they figured that the people who took Sarah might also be interested in talking with her.”

”And then from that they were able to trace back to her,” Professor Isabella says. ”They won't stop, will they?”

”No. What she can do is worth too much money.”

I listen, my illusion of safety shattered again. Yet, I am a different person than the woman who was sent away from the Home, a different person even from the one who surrendered to let her friends escape. I may be insane, but I value my freedom, and, Jersey was right, I do value being in control of myself.

”We'll have to hide her again,” Abalone says, ”maybe even fake her death. I can give up my research for now and pick it up once the heat is off. Wouldn't make much sense to push it if Sarah isn't around to share.”

”We could go to the countryside,” Professor Isabella says, ”or perhaps back to the apartment near the park.”

I put my hand on her arm, shaking my head in blunt refusal.

”Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once.”

”Sarah, what are you saying?” Abalone says. ”We aren't running 'cause we're chicken. We're running to save you.”

Again, I shake my head.

”Why should there be such turmoil and such strife, to spin in length this feeble line of life?”

”Sarah! You can't mean to kill yourself.” Abalone turns pale beneath her paint. ”That's craziness.”

Weary with hunting for words, again I shake my head. Hearing my dragons sigh with relief, I lower my hand to scratch their heads as I search for a way to make my meaning clear.

”When the blandishments of life are gone, the coward sneaks to death,” I reply at last.

”And you're not a coward,” Abalone says. ”Right, Sarah?”

I smile and Athena comes back to my shoulder. She bites my knuckle affectionately and rea.s.sures me that, for now, the night still belongs to us. The wind through the park ruffles my too-short hair, forcibly reminding me of my captivity.

”I have not yet begun to fight,” I state firmly, my jaw set against any further protest.

”Fight!” Margarita says, her brown eyes wide with shock.

”What else can she mean?” Professor Isabella says. ”She refuses to run and she certainly won't volunteer to return to those horrendous people.”

I nod vehement agreement.

”What good will going after their mercenaries do?” Margarita asks. ”That's all they'll send after her and there are always more to be bought. Your wolfy people won't last against them, even with the choice of battlefield.”

”Into the jaws of Death, into the mouth of h.e.l.l, rode the six hundred,” I say.

”Six hundred? We're not six hundred.” Then understanding awakens on Abalone's face. ”Oh, you mean that we should take the fight to them.”

I nod. ”But be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon 'em.”

”Oh, my,” Professor Isabella says. ”Yet, this may be the way to end this madness, a strike into their black hearts.”

”Black?” Margarita shakes her head. ”No, senora senora. There's nothing as clean as blackness in their hearts. They're a messed-up swirling of all the colors of banknotes; the power at their heart is only what they can buy.”

”We have no idea where they are or what defenses they might have or anything at all,” Abalone says, but from how she toys with her pipestem I can see that she is merely listing research points, not admitting defeat.

”Some of this I may be able to give you,” Margarita says after a thoughtful pause.

”No, we cannot expect you to risk your job,” Professor Isabella says. ”You have already given us a warning.”

”She,” Margarita says, touching my arm, ”gave me my life. I want to do this thing and give her a chance to have her own.”

I smile. ”Amiga, gracias.” ”Amiga, gracias.”

”Well.” Abalone rises. ”As Sarah would say, 'If it were done 'tis best it is done quickly.'”

”Isn't that from Macbeth Macbeth?” Professor Isabella asks with a wry smile.

”Maybe once, but it's Sarah's now.” Abalone turns to Margarita. ”Are you free tonight?”

”And tomorrow,” she replies. ”I am visiting my sister and little niece and they will cover for me if anyone asks questions.”

”Good,” Abalone says. ”Let's go to one of my safe houses and start planning. Best to bring this to Head Wolf as a reasoned-through plan rather than asking for support without an idea of what we'll need.”

I nod agreement, but as I trail them to the hotel room, I resolve that support or no support, I will carry this through.

The conference proceeds smoothly-I realize that we are becoming something of old hands at this and that Ailanthus owes itself for our training. Margarita rattles off information which Abalone files. I know my Baloo well enough to realize that nothing will be taken on faith, but she has sense enough not to start cross-checking in front of our guest.

”Now, we've decided that you want the building where Dr. Aldrich has been set up. It will do you good-he stays there and does his work there and keeps his records there. The impression I got is that he is under sort of house arrest, maybe because he lost Sarah,” Margarita says. ”Not so good is that he is there because the building is in a well-guarded complex. There are a whole lotta sensors-heat and motion and plain old video. Human guards roam the place and some of them have dogs.”

”Ouch,” Abalone says, wrapping a fiery lock around her index finger. ”Not very hopeful-rules out any frontal a.s.sault.”

”Well, there is a bright spot,” Margarita says. ”The big shots, they don't want to have to deal with all that every time they come to work, so there is a way in that all you need are pa.s.s codes and prints for fingers, eyes, and voice. Then you take a capsule trolley to whatever building you want and never cross the grounds.”