Robert Charrette - Arthur 01 - A Prince Among Men (29 page)

But what if Reddy wasn't there?

Direct access to the medical files was beyond Holger; he didn't have the time or skill to hack past the security. He needed a more oblique method to confirm the target. He checked the building facility records. Yes, the labs showed increased power draw at about the right time. So did a number of other sections, including the executive suite, which wasn't surprising. If Mitsutomo's commitment was great enough to send a hit team, they'd have a honcho riding herd on the operation. What was surprising was the continuing power draw from one of the guest suites. Holger ran a cross-match, searching what files he could for something that related to the guest suite. He found a delivery receipt for medical equipment, signed by one of the Medinet team.

He'd found the patient.

Now, if only it was Reddy.

Thinking it the best shot they had, he decided to take it. Getting to the room was relatively easy; ACE didn't have high-security protection on the living areas of the facility. Maybe they thought their perimeter measures were sufficient; maybe they expected the boss suits to bring their own security. Holger didn't know and just now he didn't care; he was content to take it the way it was.

The corridor connecting the guest suites did have a camera on watch, so he flashed it with his laser transmitter and moved to the door they sought. Bear slipped along behind him, watching for anyone who might interfere.

The door was locked and operable only from the outside. That was actually a good sign. Only certain kinds of "guests" would be locked in.

Holger took out his magnetic pick and slipped the probe into the lock's slot. There wasn't a lot of time. He hated having to pick a lock under a time limit Fiddling with the tuner, he got the general pattern in thirty seconds. With a minute and twenty seconds left, he let the expert system take over.

One minute left: the readout gave a 50% probability of match.

Forty-five seconds. The probability had risen only eleven percent.

Thirty seconds. The readout clicked over to 79%.

Too slow. He tapped in a guess at the frequency. 78%. Again. 77%. Damn! Again. 85%.

Fifteen seconds. 92%.

Ten seconds. No more time.

He hit engage with only a 95% probability.

The lock disengaged.

He opened the door and was through instantly, Bear sticking to him like a shadow. He got the door closed with two seconds to spare.

The room was sparsely furnished, more like a hospital suite than a guest suite. The console monitor station at the side of the bed that dominated the room furthered the impression. That bed held a single figure, long and thin. Holger noted the silvery hair. In the low light, the profile looked like Reddy's. The boy lay very still, but all the lights on the monitor station were green. The traces on the screen suggested normal sleep.

"Reddy?"

He didn't stir.

With unspoken coordination, Holger moved to one side of the bed while Bear went to the other. They each took an arm while Holger put his hand over Reddy's mouth to forestall any exclamations. The boy jerked at their touch. Finding himself held, he strained under their grip. They held on. Reddy tried to bite Holger's hand.

"It's all right, Jack," Bear said urgently. "It's Bear and Kun. Friends, Jack. Friends."

Shit! Didn't this guy know about bugged rooms? No, he probably didn't. At least the kid had stopped fighting them. To minimize the damage done, Holger whispered, "Keep quiet, Reddy. We don't know who's listening. No more names, okay?"

Reddy nodded agreement, and Holger removed his hand. To Holger's amusement, Bear looked around, searching for listeners or their hiding places. Sorry, old man, no arrases to hide behind, but then today's lurkers don't need them.

"You used
my
name," Reddy complained.

"They already know who you are. Can you walk?"

"Yeah," he replied.

"Run?"

"I can try."

"Good boy." Holger handed him a bag. "Get dressed. We're going to get you out of here."

Reddy stripped out of the hospital-style gown and drew on the clothes they'd brought for him. Bear paced the room. Still looking for listeners? Reddy's voice was muffled by the turtleneck sweater he was pulling on.

"What about Trashcan Harry? They've got him, too."

"He'll have to look out for himself," Bear said without stopping his prowling.

"We can't leave without him," Reddy said.

"We're going to have to," Holger said. "We haven't got more than twenty minutes left before they find out we've penetrated their security, and we have no idea where they're keeping him. There's no time to go looking for him. He might not even be here."

"How did you know I was here?"

"Spae had some luck locating you. She couldn't find him. Said everything around him was a jumble."

"Forget him, Jack," Bear said.

Reddy shook his head. "I don't think we should leave him."

"You want to stay here?" Holger asked.

"No."

"Then we go now."

Kun went through the door first, pointing a gun at something down the corridor. He looked to be aiming at the vid camera, but nothing happened that John could see. Kun waved Bear and John on out.

A frantic, familiar presence engulfed him when he stepped into the corridor. Faye!

John, I'm so glad you 're safe! I couldn't get in there. They had something that kept me out. When they took you, I was so worried! They had something then, too. That's why I didn't know they were there until it was too late. I'm so sorry! I helped Holger, though. I showed him what they used on you. And I helped Dr. Spae find you. She said you were all right. You are all right, aren't you? I couldn't get near you!

Whoa, slow down. You can tell me about it later, when we really
are
safe. We've still got to get out of here.

Bear gave John a push to get him moving after Kun. John stumbled into motion.

Are you going to leave Trashcan Harry?

John stopped. He's here?

Downstairs. He's hurt.

"Reddy, stop talking to yourself." Kun sounded annoyed with him. Too bad.

"I'm not ta— Never mind. Harry's here. He's downstairs."

Bear looked at John suspiciously. "How do you know that?"

"Does it matter? I know. We've got to get him before they do worse to him."

"We're leaving," Kun said.

"I'm not. Not without Harry."

"I can drug you and have Bear carry you out." "Some rescue." John looked beseechingly at Bear. "How i an you abandon him? I mean, I know you don't like him, hut he helped us when we were in trouble."

"We're wasting time," Kun said impatiently.

Hear stared into John's eyes. His expression was hard, closed. Finally he asked, "Is he guarded?"

No.

"No."

Bear turned to Kun. "Much as I hate to say it, we should

try."

Kun looked as if he wanted to kill something.

It wasn't in the plan. It wasn't in the schedule. But they were doing it anyway. He could hear Spae's voice insisting that they had to keep the sleeper's goodwill. It was the reason for the whole expedition to ACE. For goodwill, I lolger told himself over and over. For goodwill.

It would take more than goodwill to get them out of the facility if they didn't find the old bastard and get him out soon.

Following Reddy's directions, they avoided two guard posts and a roving patrol. The room Reddy said held Black was locked, as his had been. But having opened Reddy's lock, this one was easier. The lock snicked back and they entered.

The room stank of sweat and excrement and fear. And chemicals. Familiar chemicals. From behind a perspex barrier, a single bulb burned mercilessly down on the huddled lump in the corner. No bed here, no bedside monitor. Nothing but a lump, lying in a puddle of his own waste.

"Harry?"
Reddy sounded appalled.

The lump stirred at the sound of the kid's voice. A bloodshot eye appeared among the twisted swathes of the threadbare blanket. Groaning, Trashcan Harry uncoiled and sat up. The man looked as though he'd gone four rounds with a heavyweight trash compactor.

"Jack?"

"And B—- And friends. You okay?"

"Didn't tell," Black mumbled. "Didn't tell 'em nothing, Jack."

Unlikely. But Holger didn't think this was the time to make an issue of it.

"Come on, Harry." Reddy helped the man to his wobbly feet. "We're getting you out of here."

To Holger's surprise, they were as good as their word.

They'd been on the road for half an hour, but it wasn't until they took the long curving exit from Route 128 to 1-95 South that John had any idea where they were going. It hadn't bothered him until then; he had been happy to be away from that place, where he had apparently spent several days that he couldn't remember. Bad enough what they'd done to
him;
that still might have had a rational, reasonable explanation. Certainly Martinez had sounded rational and reasonable. But seeing what they had done to Trashcan Harry made John question everything they had told him. How could people do what had been done to Harry?

"We going back to the safe house?"

Without taking his eyes from the road, Kun shook his head. "Couldn't take the chance that it had been compromised. We've moved."

"Another safe house?"

Kun nodded. "One of the advantages to working for a big organization."

Wherever this new haven was, it was in the general direction of the last one, since they were headed south. Direction didn't really matter as long as they were headed away from Boston and the Mitsutomo torturers.

Of course, they were headed away from Worcester, too, away from where his mother was. According to Bennett, though, she was just the woman who had raised him. But wasn't that what a mother was? Certainly he didn't know any other mother.

She was still under Mitsutomo's coldhearted shadow.

But he didn't see what he could do about it. They'd be watching her, waiting for him to try to reach her. He didn't have any illusions that he could sneak by the sort of net they could cast. Kun could do it; he'd proven that by getting John and Harry out of Mitsutomo's clutches. But Kun, like everyone else tugging on John, had his own agenda; and rescuing helpless people didn't seem to be part of it.

Maybe he could be tricked into helping?

Worth a try. Got any ideas how?

Not yet.

Me neither. Let's think on it.

John thought all the way down to Providence without success. He just didn't know enough about Kun and Ms organization to guess at their real motives. They headed east on 1-195, cutting off almost immediately onto Route 44. Still, John couldn't think of a handle to use. Their surroundings began to shift from concrete and brick to clapboard and trees. It seemed that this safe house was going to rely more on isolation than on camouflage.

Kun headed down a side road that had no name John could see. Several turns later, he pulled off to the side of the road, stopping just before a gravel track that led into the trees.

"Why are we stopping here?" John asked.

"I'm not getting a handshake from the security system." Kun sounded worried.

"what's that mean?"

"Someone has disabled it."

"Mitsutomo?"

"How could they have beaten us here?" Bear asked.

"Any number of ways," Kun replied. "Let's hope it's not them. It may just be a glitch in the system. Sit tight while I try something."

He punched a number into the car phone. The number he reached rang five times before someone picked up.

"Hello?"

"Is this the Jones household?" Kun asked in a voice that didn't sound much like him at all.

"No, it's—" The person on the other end paused. "Kun, is this you?"

Kun sighed. "Yes, Doctor."

Spae's voice was recognizable more by tone and content than by sound as she snapped, "What do you want? Did everything go all right?"

"I'm fine, Doctor. How about you?"

"Are you feeling all right, Kun? You don't usually worry about my health."

"Have you checked the security system recently, Doctor?"

"Didn't I get it back on?"

"You turned it off?" Kun sounded more exasperated than surprised.

"Of course. How else do I let someone in?"

Kun's head snapped up. "You have someone with you?"

"Yes. A very interesting gentleman, but I don't think you'll like him."

"Why is that, Doctor?" he asked warily.

"You'll see."

"Did you put out the cat, Doctor?"

"Put out the— Kun, you know what I think about your foolish word games. I'm a mage, not a spy. I'm telling you, I'm fine. The house is fine. Everything's fine. Better than fine, actually. We're going to make Magnus eat our shorts."