The Devil's Eye (26 page)

Hollinger asked me to be patient for a minute and went away. Eiglitz came back and tried to engage me

in conversation. Nice weather. He was sorry there was so much trouble. Could he get anything for me? Finally, a Wexler hologram appeared.
"Chase,"
he said, mustering all his considerable charm.
"I'm glad you came by. We've been looking all over for you."

"I know. Where's Alex?" Wexler glanced over at Eiglitz, who got up, left the room, and pulled the office door shut behind him.

"Let me see him."

"This conversation goes no further until I see him. Where is he?"

"The Callistra story is an hour and a half from going to the world. Show me Alex."

I stared back at him.

I shrugged. "Then we don't have anything to talk about, I guess."

"Wexler, why would I believe anything you have to say?"

"I guess not. Can't sell off property if people know the world's coming to an end."

"Sorry. It's all we've got."

"Okay. I'll bite. Why'd you keep it quiet?"

"And not even those if you don't try."

"That's why you lied about the Mutes. And probably even put out the rumor about the rift."

"Forget it. You're not that good an actor."

"Look. Chase. For God's sake. We were trying to save as many people as we could, and we needed a cover story. Something that wouldn't cause a worldwide panic."
He stood for a long moment, facing me. He looked hesitant, but I watched him come to a decision.
"Look, I know we could have handled this better. But the honest truth is, when Carpenter came to us with this story, and we checked it out and found it was true, we didn't know what to do."

"Who's Carpenter?"

"Rasul Carpenter. He's a physicist. Greene figured out what was happening. I assume you know that. She went to him for confirmation. He came to us."
"You mean
you
."
"Yes. Me. Within a day we knew it was true. End of the world. How the hell was I supposed to deal with that? Sure we kept it quiet. And a few of us took advantage of the knowledge. Sell off and get your family out of town. What would
you
do differently?"
"And you screwed up Vicki's head."

"Did they know what the bad memory was?"

"So you set things up so you could dispose of your property, and take your family out, while everybody else got left."

"Chase, it would have been different had there been something we could do. But it's not like that. This thing is still three years away. But we're helpless. You go ahead and tell the media, and all you'll do is create worldwide panic. Salud Afar will become a living hell."
He looked tired. Scared.
"These people still have three years of their lives left. I don't know how much longer we can keep this quiet, but once it gets out, it's over. We'll have taken those years away. And we have nothing to offer in return. No vast fleet to take them somewhere else. No way to hide more than a handful of them."

"Where's Alex?"

"Where is he?"

"In a place similar to Corvex. The place you managed to escape from. You were very clever about that, by the way."
He paused, expecting a response. When he didn't get one, he continued:
"He's on an island."

"How long's it going to take you to produce him?"

"I'll wait."

"When I'm able to talk to him. And if I'm satisfied with what I hear."

"I want Alex back."

He needed about forty minutes. Then he reappeared in the office.
"I believe we have him now."
He bent his head and listened to someone I couldn't see. Nodded. And returned his attention to me.
"Stand by, Chase,"
he said. Then Alex was in front of me. He was on a beach, a placid sea at his back.
"Chase."
His eyes widened.
"What's going on?"
Technology is what it is. I was looking at a hologram, but I didn't know if it was actually Alex, or something generated by a software system. "Alex," I said, "we visited Atlantis recently." He saw what was coming.
"Yes. Excellent trip."
"Who was with us?"

"What's your favorite joke, Alex?"

"Okay," I said. "Wexler, are you there?" Wexler reappeared.
"Satisfied?"
"Get him back here."

Alex glanced off to one side. He wasn't alone. Krestoff casually walked up behind him. She was carrying a scrambler. And she allowed me to watch as she reset the weapon. To
lethal
. Wexler sighed.
"Chase, I don't like having to resort to this. But the stakes are too high, and you're not leaving me any choice."

A door opened behind me. Bong came into the room. He looked at me with relish. I saw no weapon. He obviously didn't think he'd need one. I suspected he was right.

"Now, let me tell you how you may save Alex's life and your own. I want to know where we can locate the transmission you spoke of. And you will delete it."
He paused to make sure I understood

what would happen if I declined.
"When that is done, you will, I'm sorry to say, have to remain under our jurisdiction for the time being. I'll add that, should a duplicate transmission turn up, some fallback precaution you might have taken, that I'll feel obliged to kill you both."
Bong closed the door, and I was alone with him. Alex looked uncertain. Finally, he shook his head.
"They'll kill us anyhow, Chase. Don't cooperate."
Krestoff must have gotten a signal from Wexler. She raised the weapon and pointed it at the back of Alex's head. "Forget it," I said. Wexler studied me for a long moment.
"You're sure?"
"I can offer a compromise." She did not lower the weapon.

"Release us both. Then I'll rewrite the message. And remove everything from it that points to you. And I'll hold it until tomorrow. That'll give you and your thugs time to get out of town."
Thugs.
Krestoff's eyes locked on me. She didn't say anything but I got the message. It was the same as before:
I'd like to meet you alone somewhere.
Wexler sucked on his lower lip.
"I'm sorry. That's not acceptable."
My heart was pounding so hard I thought it was going to break loose. But I kept my voice calm. "Then do what you have to." He nodded.
"All right. If that's your last word."
He gave me a few moments to change my mind. Then he turned to Krestoff.
"Kill him."
"If you do," I said, "you'll get nothing from me. And the media will have the truth about Callistra within the hour. I wonder if the voters will be upset with you?" He raised a palm to stop Krestoff. And stared at me. I smiled at him. I've never in my life done anything harder than getting that smile up and running. "Pack your bags, Wexler. She pulls that trigger, we're all dead." Krestoff waited. Alex stood motionless. Bong circled around to get a better angle on me. And Wexler stood in his faraway location and just sucked in air. I picked up a lamp with a weighted base. It wouldn't have been much of a weapon against Bong, but it sent the right signal. Wexler sighed.
"How do I know you'll pull my name out of the story?"
"You'll have to trust me." Another long pause. Somebody tried to get into the office. Then I heard raised voices in the corridor, and the noise went away.
"Okay."
Bong growled his disappointment. Alex took a deep breath.
"You can use the AI in the office. Please cancel your report."

"I'll use my own AI. And I'm not canceling anything. I'll move it back. In case you change your mind. How long do you need to bring Alex here?"

"I really care about that."

"I'll do that."

"You have until midnight tomorrow. Local time."

"Alex, how far are you?"

"Get him here by three."

"Well, I can be reasonable. I'll give you an extra two hours. Have him here by close of business." I was still watching Bong. "Would you get that creep out of here?" Bong's disappointment morphed into anger.
"Shelby,"
said Wexler.
"Wait outside. And see that Ms.

Bong delivered one more frustrated stare. Then he left. "There's something else I want." Wexler looked trapped.
"What?"
"Mr. and Mrs. Ivan Sloan. He's the pilot who took me out to the asteroid."

"You have him, too. I want him turned loose also." He shrugged.
"Okay. Sure, we've no reason to hold him."
"And there's somebody else."

"Haley Khan."

"Vicki's pilot. I want them all back."

"Not that I don't trust you, but I'll be in touch with them within the hour. If they're not free, all three of them, the deal's off."
"I wish,"
he said,
"you had some notion of the damage you're going to cause."
"Whoever's in this with you, Doctor," I said, "will probably throw you to the wolves. You and the administration have wasted several months. That thing's a lot closer now than it was when you first found out about it. And you've done
nothing
. Except move money and real estate around."
"That's not so, damn you. We've been creating shelters. Storing supplies. Getting ready as best we can under extremely difficult circumstances."

"Circumstances, hell. Look, Wexler, I'd be willing to bet Aramy Cleev learned about this thirty years ago."
"Yes,"
he said.
"That's probably true."
"He's the guy you led a revolution against."
"He was a monster. And if you're trying to compare him to me-"
He stopped, his jaws clamped. "It's hard to see a difference," I said.

They delivered Alex to me in the middle of a public park. Kids rode swings, birds chirped, a cluster of guys were playing the local version of chess. Alex took me into his arms. "You were beautiful," he said. "You okay?" "Yes. Still a little rattled, but I'm all right. How about you?" "I'm good." "They won't tell me anything. I take it the big light was missing." "Callistra? Yes." "I'm sorry to hear it." "They've got three years." We sat down on a bench. "You knew all along, didn't you?" "I suspected it from the time we heard about Jennifer's comment." "That it didn't matter whether the wedding had a religious element?" "Yes. That and the Calient business and the math." "Ah, yes," I said. "The math."

We were sitting on top of a tidal wave, but at least we saw no reason to hide any longer. We checked back into the Blue Gable, where we'd stayed when we first arrived in Marinopolis, and took over the penthouse suite. It had a broad balcony and a magnificent view across the top of the city. Ivan called.
"They let us go."
"Good. You guys are okay, right?"

"Glad to hear it. You hear anything from Khan?"

"Supposed to be. Anyhow, I guess I'll be seeing you back on Rimway."
"I don't know,"
he said. "Are you going somewhere else?"

"And- ?"

"Oh."

"I'm not surprised."

"Even if they did, I'm not sure they'd go. This is their home."
"So what are
you
going to do?"
"I'll let you know."

Twenty minutes later I got a call from Khan. He said thanks.