The Credulity Nexus (30 page)

If Veb hadn't
made a discreet nod towards the far wall, Rik might not have
noticed the two women sitting there, deep in shadow. One was Maria,
staring at him as if he'd just come back from the dead. The other
was an older woman who, from the unnatural position of her right
arm, was probably pointing a gun at Maria under the table.

He suddenly
became very conscious of the others, bustling in behind him;
Freymann in her bright dress, and Rivers, dark and sinister, with
the two goons she had brought. As soon as Rivers realised Maria was
there, she would be on her like an attack dog, and there would be
nothing Rik could do about it.

Veb moved
casually along the bar towards the flap, looking as if he was going
to serve someone. Rik had never felt another person's presence so
comforting as he did Veb's in that moment. He moved into the bar,
staying ahead of Rivers, keeping away from Maria. If he could
distract the upload for a while, stop her looking Maria's way,
maybe he could get them all out of there again and think about what
to do.

“
Rik?” He stopped dead and closed his eyes.
It was Maria's voice, her English accent clear and crisp, even in
that one word. “Rik, over here.”

He glanced at
Rivers just as she glanced at him. She was smiling. “Wait a
minute,” he said, but she was already in motion, heading straight
for the seated women. He pulled his gun, not knowing quite what he
would do with it, and felt another gun pressed hard into his back.
He didn't have to look to know one of the heavies had him
covered.

The upload
walked across the room with the easy menace of a black panther.
“You must be Maria,” she purred.

Rik stepped
forward, ignoring the gun at his back. “If you hurt her, there
won't be a place in this system where you can hide from me,
Rivers.”

The upload
ignored him, still addressing Maria. “You're prettier than his new
girlfriend. Classier, too. I bet those lovely long legs would break
so easily.”

Maria looked
past Rivers at Rik, fear and confusion in equal parts in her eyes.
Rik took another step towards her. “Rivers, I'm warning you.”

The heavy
behind him spoke up. “That's far en-oof!”

Rik turned in
time to see the man go down and Freymann whirl away in a flash of
pastel colours to slam the heel of her hand into the other goon's
nose. Rik still had his gun in his hand, so he hammered it hard
against the first guy's skull before turning to join Freymann in
dealing with the other one. But the MI6 agent didn't need any help.
In a move that would have made a martial arts film director green
with envy, she leaped nearly two metres into the air and kicked the
goon twice in the temple. Then she fell slowly back to the ground
to land catlike and ready for more, her gossamer dress floating
around her. Rik grunted with surprise even as the victim of
Freymann's attack toppled over like a felled tree.

“
Very nice!” Rivers said.

Their heads
flicked round to her. The upload was holding Maria by the
throat.

“
I'd like the package now, Maria, or I'm
going to have to start squeezing this lovely long neck of
yours.”

Kirsty
Winters, who had watched the whole proceedings in silence, now
reached out a hand and touched Rivers on the hip. Immediately, the
upload went into convulsions. She dropped Maria – who had also
taken a shock – and staggered back, revealing the stunner in
Kirsty's hand.

Rik ran, his
only plan to get to the upload before she recovered from the shock,
but Veb beat him to it. The former bouncer grabbed Rivers from
behind, holding her by her upper arms. She recovered quickly and
struggled like a wild animal; one that knew a lot of good
expletives. She was strong and inhumanly flexible. She kicked and
writhed and yelled, toppling tables and chairs and making Veb hold
her at arms length as he flinched away from her. After a short but
frantic struggle, however, it was obvious that Veb could hold her
like that all day if he wanted to. With no pause between wild
violence and acquiescence, she relaxed and let him set her feet
back on the ground.

Maria ran to
Rik, stumbling and falling into his arms. He held her while she
sobbed into his chest, glancing across at Freymann, who was
watching him with an unreadable expression. Maria felt delicate and
frail in his arms. The feel of her body, the scent of her hair, the
way she clutched him to her, stirred deep memories within him. He
remembered how much he had loved her, how that love had tortured
him, how helpless it had made him feel. He realised that he was
thinking about his feelings in the past tense.

One of the
heavies recovered and pushed himself up off the floor. Seeing his
boss in Veb's firm grip, he made for the door and ran off. Rik
turned his attention to Kirsty Winters, who was looking shaken but
determined.

“
Who the hell are you?” he
asked.

“
I'm the one with the package,” Kirsty
said. She had her little dart gun pointing at him. “You're the one
who's going to buy it off me.”

“
You don't know what you've got there,” he
told her. “That stuff should be destroyed. Trust me.”

“
What is it?” Maria asked, looking up at
him.

“
Poison,” he said. “Mind-altering shit that
could give someone far too much power.”

Maria pushed away from him, angrily. “You
bastard. You sent that to Blake. You nearly got him killed. You
nearly got
me
killed!”

Kirsty cut
across Rik's apology. “Shut the fuck up, both of you. I want ten
million dollars.”

“
I'll give you twenty,” Rivers
said.

“
You? You're lucky to still be alive, from
what I can see.”

“
I can still work my cogplus.” Rivers
seemed to be quite relaxed about her situation.

“
Not if I ask Veb to pull your head off,”
Rik growled. “Why don't you just keep quiet and let me do the
deal?” He spoke to Kirsty again. “OK. Ten million. It's
agreed.”

“
I like her offer better,” Kirsty said.
“Make it twenty.”

Rik made a
show of looking angry, then of reluctantly capitulating. “All
right, twenty.” He was absolutely sure Lanham would pay far, far
more than that.

“
Thirty,” said a voice from the
doorway.

They all
looked to see Greet-Greet McGregor standing there.

As soon as he
saw the shabby Scotsman, something started turning in Rik's brain,
as if some ponderous machinery of deduction had been set in motion.
He had a quick flashback to a day two weeks ago in Berlin.

"So you're
what?" Peth asked. "A professional bodyguard?"

"PLEO,” he
told her. “This isn't the kind of work I normally take on."

"Hard times,
huh?"

“
Greet-Greet, you little douchebag,” he
said. “I want a word with you. No, that's a lie. I want to pound
your head on the floor until it cracks. That's what I really
want.”

“
Any advance on thirty?” Kirsty asked. Her
tone implied she thought everyone should focus on the business of
making her rich.

Rik stomped
across the bar and grabbed Greet-Greet by the scruff of the neck,
dragging him back with him to where the others stood. He was way
past caring where his next job might come from.

“
This little ferret works for Newton
Cordell,” he said, speaking to Kirsty. “Cordell is the guy who
cooked up that little stew of viral poison.” He pointed to the
package in her hand. “In case you're wondering, it's a weaponised,
highly infectious gene mod that turns people into faithful
followers.

“
But that's beside the point. Cordell now
knows, thanks to my ratty friend here, that you have it, that you
more than likely stole it, and that you've been trying to sell his
property. And that means you're a dead woman.

“
And here are a couple of other interesting
facts for you to contemplate. The psychopath my buddy Veb is
holding onto is working for the Chicago Mob. Her boss calls herself
Celestina, but you'd probably know her better by the name she used
before she died, when she was still a man: Stefano Marcello.”
Kirsty's eyes widened, and she looked in alarm at Rivers, who
smiled pleasantly back at her. “If Cordell gets the package back,
I'm pretty sure Celestina will have you spit-roasted, out of pure
pique. And Rivers here is just the gal to do it.

“
But that's not all. I'm working for
another dead guy who seems to have even Marcello under his thumb –
which is very scary, when you think about it – and my friend
here...” He nodded towards Freymann, who still had her gun trained
on Kirsty. “...is with the British Secret Service. I kid you not.
No doubt she'd like to chip in with a bid at some point. Or kill
you. Whichever is easier.”

He shook his
head, sadly. “I think you're a little bit out of your depth here,
lady. You should just put the package down on that table – very
carefully – and go. Let the rest of us sort it out. It may be the
only way you'll leave this room alive.”

Kirsty looked
from one to another of them, and finally back at Rik. “OK. I'll
take the ten mil. From you. Then I'm going.”

He didn't let
it show, but relief flooded him. He could get the package, free
Maria and get out of there, all while Rivers was being restrained.
Greet-Greet was an annoying loose end, but that didn't matter much.
After the part the Scotsman played in getting him into all this,
Rik wasn't too worried about what became of him.

They exchanged
bank codes and did the transaction without speaking a word. Then
Kirsty left the bar as fast as she could without actually breaking
into a run. Outside, she almost fell over a small boy who was
staring in through the half-open doors. For a moment, the boy's
eyes met Rik's. The dumb kid ought to get out of there and not
rubberneck where a stray bullet might find him; but there was no
time to worry about that now. He turned to Rivers.

“
Looks like an
impasse
,” he said.

The upload
shrugged as best she could with Veb still holding her arms. “Here's
the deal. You let me go, I won't kill anybody except him.” She
glanced towards Greet-Greet. “And maybe the zombie who's been
rubbing himself against my ass for the past few minutes. Having
fun, sweetie?”

Veb grunted,
but said nothing.

“
What about the package?” Rik
asked.

“
I get that.”

“
No deal.”

“
Rik?” Maria sounded nervous. “Why don't
you just let her have the package? She's working for the same
people as you, isn't she?”

“
I'm sorry, Maria, but I just quit. No-one
should be allowed to have what's in those phials. I'm going to make
sure they're destroyed.”

“
I can't let you do that, Rik,” Rivers
said.

“
Hasn't that thing got an off switch?”
Greet-Greet demanded.

“
Shut your mouth,” Veb growled, “or I'll
let go of her.”

“
Rivers?” This time it was Freymann
breaking her long silence. “Isn't there some way we can work this
so you don't upset your bosses, but we don't give them the package
either? It doesn't matter to you what happens to that shit. All you
care about is being square with Marcello, or Celestina, or whatever
he, she or it calls itself these days.”

“
Nice try, spook, but there's only one way
for me to be safe, and you know it. You think I'd go out on a limb
for you? Think again, sister.”

“
Not for me, Rivers. For
everyone.”

“
Save your breath, Fariba,” Rik said. An
appeal to Rivers' humanity was about as much use as threatening her
with a soft pillow. “Rivers is helpless. Celestina has her wired to
blow. She isn't going to do anything except what she's
told.”

The upload
glowered at him, but didn't contradict him.

“
You might be willing to clear up a puzzle
for me, though,” he said. “Why did
The Phenomenon of Man
take off again just after we
disembarked?”

“
What?”

Rik watched
her carefully, concerned to see how surprised she was. “It took off
just after we left, heading for a geosynchronous parking orbit. I
saw it on a departure board at the space station.”

“
I... It's none of your business.” Rik was
certain now that she didn't know.

“
What's going on, Rik?” Freymann
asked.

“
Some kind of double-cross, at a
guess.”

“
How could you trust a soulless demon?”
Greet-Greet said.

Rik tightened
his grip on the man's collar and almost dragged him off his feet.
“Shut the fuck up with that creepy God shit. I've heard enough of
it to last me a lifetime.”

“
I hope not, Mr. Drew. No-one should give
up on their soul when there is hope of salvation.”

Everyone
turned to look at the speaker.

Rik's heart
sank. In the doorway was a short, rotund man in a fedora,
archaically dressed and grinning broadly. Behind him stood two
elegant women, tall and athletic, who watched him with
expressionless, flawlessly beautiful faces.

“
Rik?” Maria asked in a tremulous
voice.

“
The guy's human,” Rik said, mostly for
Veb's benefit. “The two catwalk models are robots.”

“
You're kidding!” Veb sounded more
impressed than scared. But Veb had never seen the two robots in
action.