A Dark and Hungry God Arises (9 page)

The Bill's face seemed to stretch as if he were feigning surprise.

'She's a cop - and she's intact, ' Nick articulated softly.

'If that were all, she would be worth a fortune out here.

The things she can tell you are priceless. But there's more.

'She's a cop, she's intact, she's gorgeous - and she has a zone implant. The control comes with her. '

The shirting of the shadows on the Bill's face began to make his surprise appear more genuine.

Think about it for a minute, ' Nick urged. He'd already promised Morn to the Amnion, but that didn't hinder him. They were after Davies: Morn was just 'restitution'

for their inconvenience. Nick would be able to find some other way to satisfy that requirement. 'Her id tag alone is precious. It'll give you all the codes the cops use to access their own computers. And you won't even have to break her to get the rest. All you have to do is turn her on and let her spill everything she knows.

'But here's the best part. ' Are you listening, Morn?

When you're done with what she knows, she's still priceless.

'I tell you, she's gorgeous. And that zone implant makes her the most effective piece of female flesh you'll ever see.

I know from experience. She'll make every other woman here look like a dry hag. In the end, you might get more for selling her on the cruise than her information and codes are worth. ' The idea of selling Morn into sexual slavery almost restored his sense of being sure and unbeatable. The truth is, she's a hell of a lot more valuable than that fucking brat. Except to the Amnion, because they don't fuck women - and they don't know she's a cop. But she's about the only thing I've got left to bargain with. For the sake of surviving what you call my "escort", I'll trade her for that kid. '

'Interesting. ' The Bill twisted his lipless mouth. 'A tasty offer - apparently. Of course, I accept your glowing picture of her worth unreservedly. But simply out of curiosity - do the cops know you've got one of their ensigns to sell?'

Curiosity, shit. 'Sure they do. Her name is Morn Hyland - she came to me off Angus fucking Thermopile's ship after Com-Mine Security arrested him. They probably think she's still working for them - they don't know about the zone implant - but that doesn't mean they haven't already taken precautions. Some of what she knows is out of date by now. Pieces of her information have been changed. She's still priceless. '

Then why, ' inquired the Bill, 'haven't you simply sold her to the Amnion and solved all your problems that way?'

'Because' - Nick glared straight into the Bill's bright gaze - 'I don't want to solve that many of their problems.

I'm like you. I do business with them for what I can get out of it, not because I'm trying to help them. '

Remember that. I'm warning you. I'm like you. If you mess with me, I'll burn your heart out.

The twisting of the Bill's mouth became a grimace.

He looked down at his readouts, tapped a key or two absent-mindedly. Etched by light, he ran his fingertips along the edges of his boards.

When he lifted his head again, he was smiling like a corpse with an orgasm.

'Captain Nick, I don't trust you. You're playing some kind of game with me - perhaps the same game you're playing with the Amnion. Why else did you divert your ejection pod here, instead of letting Tranquil Hegemony have it?'

Before he could stop himself, Nick protested, 'Morn did that. '

When he realized his mistake, he swore at himself viciously. How had she done him so much damage? How had she reached so far inside him with the knife of her treachery?

'And you expect me to believe, ' the Bill retorted as if he were pouncing, 'she did it without your connivance?

No, Captain Nick. You planned that with her. Or else the picture you paint of her is decidedly - shall we say, decidedly optimistic? In either case, I can be sure of only one thing. If I trade for her, what I get will not be what you say it is.

'Haven't you heard the rumors about you, Captain Nick? Don't you know people think you're a pirate who supplements his income by doing odd jobs for UMCPDA? Perhaps this entire exercise is an elaborate charade designed to plant your pet ensign on my installation.

'I'm afraid my answer is no. ' He sounded as happy as a kid who'd won a game of marbles. 'If you can't pay me, Captain Nick, we really have nothing further to discuss. '

Nick sagged as if he were beaten.

But not because the Bill had refused him.

Oh, the loss he felt was real. So intensely that it made his groin ache, he wanted to force Morn into prostitution on Thanatos Minor. As revenge that would have pleased him more than giving her to Amnion. It would have fit the way she'd hurt him.

Nevertheless his show of dismay was a ploy. He allowed himself to appear defeated in an effort to conceal the true nature of his desperation.

'All right, ' he said like a groan, 'all right. I'm helpless here, you know that. If I weren't, I would see you crawl before I did any more business with you. But I'm stuck.

You won't honor my credit. Without repairs, I can't run.

And you won't give me that brat you rescued. If I don't turn him over to the Amnion, they'll do worse than kill me. ' He recited all this in a deliberate display of prostration. The Bill liked to see people prostrated; liked it so much that he might believe it. 'You haven't left me any choice.

'I've got one last thing to trade. '

'Ah. ' The Bill gave a sigh of expectant gratification.

His eyes watched Nick keenly.

'I've got-'

Abruptly a light flashed on one of the Bill's boards, distracting him. He touched a key, glanced at a readout; his long, delicate fingers tapped in instructions.

Listen to me! Nick wanted to shout. You're right - I sometimes do jobs for Data Acquisition. That's why I've got an immunity drug for Amnion mutagens. Hashi Lebwohl gave it to me. To test for him. That's why I went to Enablement. To test it. And it works. Otherwise I wouldn't be here now.

I'll give you some of it if you give me Davies.

But the words died inside him as the door swept open, and a woman with a slight stiffness in her stride came into the strongroom.

'Captain Nick, ' said the Bill with his usual incongruous eagerness, 'do you know Sorus Chatelaine? She tells me you haven't met, but you may recognize her by reputation. It was her ship' - his grin was obscene - 'that salvaged your "property". '

The light seemed to contract around Nick. The woman was all he could see as she approached. Baffled by surprise and old terror, he stared and stared at her while she greeted the Bill, then shifted her stance to study him with an air of detached amusement. The stiffness in her limbs suggested that she disliked even the rock's lesser g.

'As it turns out, ' she said in a low, vibrant tone, 'I was wrong. Captain Succorso and I have met after all. He was using another name at the time, as I recall. That's why I didn't make the connection. '

Sorus Chatelaine, the Captain of Soar. He hadn't made the connection, either, of course he hadn't, like her ship she'd had another name then. And she was much older now. Lines and tired skin marred the structural handsomeness of her face; the light made the gray in her hair look white. Yet he recognized her instantly, absolutely, as if she'd stepped out of a recurring nightmare.

She was the woman who'd put the scars on his cheeks, the wounds on his soul.

'I see the surprise is mutual, ' she added archly, as if he were still only a helpless boy in front of her.

Fear and rage knotted his muscles, twisted his face. An instinct for survival stretched as thin as thread was all that kept him from hurling himself at her throat.

With a confident smile, she dismissed him and returned her attention to the Bill. 'You've been busy. ' Her voice still had the contralto richness which had once wrung Nick's heart when she made love to him; when she laughed at him. 'You may not have had time to pick up the latest bulletins. I wanted to discuss them with you - and Captain Succorso may have something to contribute.' She was laughing at Nick again, secretly but unmistakably.

He couldn't stop staring at her. His muscles were so tight with strain that he could hardly breathe.

'Your timing is unfortunate,' the Bill chided cheerfully.

'Captain Nick was about to make what I'm sure is a most unusual offer. However, that can wait for a moment.' He looked at his readouts. Which bulletin did you wish to discuss?'

'Operations,' Captain Chatelaine replied promptly,

'has just had contact from what appears to be a UMCP

ship. A Needle-class gap scout, presumably unarmed - if her id is honest. She calls herself Trumpet. She's about eighteen hours out, and requesting permission to approach.

'According to her first transmission, she has two men aboard.' Sorus paused for effect, then said, 'Angus Thermopyle and Milos Taverner.

They claim they stole her.'

Nick seemed to feel the air being sucked out of the room. Nailed where he stood by contracting light and too much stress, he feared for a moment that he was going to pass out.

Torn between spotlights and murder, anoxia and fear, he reeled internally. He seemed to experience the crash of lightning, the blaze of thunder, but they were all inside his head; secret; unreal. She'd left him with tears of humiliation and ruin streaming through the blood on his cheeks, and now his scars burned like streaks of acid under his eyes. If he could have drawn breath, he might have moaned.

Caught and fixed by the light, Nick Succorso went a little crazy.

Before he broke, however - before he killed himself by trying to kill Sorus - a name came to him like a spar to the hand of a drowning man. Milos. He clutched at it, clung to it, recited it. Milos Taverner. It was rescue and hope and a kind of madness inextricably tangled together, but it was all he had.

Milos Taverner was coming to Billingate.

Slowly the pressure in his chest eased, and he began to breathe again. The light loosened around him like a cut noose; he could see the walls again, dim through the enshrouding shadows. The feral grimace let go of his features. By degrees he recovered his grin.

Somewhere he'd come undone. He was no longer the Nick Succorso who never lost. But he could still grin and face his tormentors and wreak havoc.

Milos was coming.

He'd been silent, struggling with himself, too long.

When he looked at the Bill and Sorus Chatelaine again, he saw that they were both watching him expectantly.

The Bill held his fingers poised over one of his boards as if he were braced to call for help - or to shoot Nick himself. But Sorus appeared to fear nothing. Her gaze was amused and clinical, as if she enjoyed her effect on him and wanted to know how far it would push him.

'God, I'm tired, ' he murmured in a probably futile effort to explain away his reaction. 'If you think it's pleasant being harried all the way here from Enablement, you haven't tried it recently. ' Then, because craziness was just another form of inspiration, he added, 'Do you know what those bastards did to me?' He no longer needed outrage. He was calm now, almost clinical himself. His grin showed how calm he was. They sold me sabotaged gap drive components. I damn near blew up in the gap.

If my engineer hadn't panicked and tried to abort tach, I wouldn't be alive now. '

And you wouldn't know how treacherous your hosts can be.

'I wonder what you did to provoke that' Sorus mused.

Nick ignored her. From now on he was going to ignore her. Until he was ready to finish her.

For the present he concentrated on the Bill.

In the Bill's eyes, he could see the lean man's efforts to guess what had produced this change in him.

After a speculative pause the Bill asked, Were you expecting Captain Angus? You seem pleased to hear of his arrival. '

'Not particularly, ' Nick answered with some of his old, casual readiness. Even a crazy man could understand how dangerous this moment was. The Bill had to be deflected from the truth. 'I was thinking about something else.

She' - he rolled his eyes at Sorus - 'probably didn't tell you I've got an old score to settle with her. A very old score. There was no reason for her to mention it, of course. She didn't know it would be relevant. But it's sure as hell relevant now. When she first walked in here, the only thing I could think about was butchering her on the spot. Then it occurred to me' - his grin felt malign and gratifying against his scars - 'that I've got better options. This could turn out to be a lot of fun. '

Let her believe him as much or as little as she chose.

He didn't care. The Bill's reaction was all that mattered.

The truth is, ' Nick went on, 'I don't give a shit whether Captain Thermo-pile is here or not. He's got nothing to do with me. But if you want my advice, this is it. Don't let him come in. Something stinks about all this, and it isn't me. '

The Bill pursed his mouth reflectively, then flexed his ringers like a dismissal. There is cause for concern, certainly. Fortunately we have plenty of time to consider the situation. The thought of time reminds me, however, Captain Nick, that you were interrupted. As I recall, you were about to make me a new offer. '

Nick shrugged. 'Never mind. ' No matter how undone he was, he could be as dismissive as the Bill. We'll talk about that later. I've got other things to think about. For now, a visitor's berth sounds like a good idea. Unless' —

he tightened his grin - 'you're planning to revoke all my money, not just that one credit-jack. '

'Captain Nick, ' the Bill said in a tone of good-humored reproach. Shadows played in and out of his mouth as he spoke. 'Money is money. Please spend as much of it here as you wish. I'll be delighted to honor your credit-jack as well - as soon as your other difficulties are resolved. '

'Good, ' Nick drawled. 'In the meantime, take good care of my property. I don't want to have to worry about what you're doing to that little sonofabitch. '

Without a glance at Sorus Chatelaine, he turned and strolled toward the door.