Tracker (46 page)

“Attend your great-grandmother, young gentleman. I shall advise Jase.”

Geigi stood over near the boards, and Bren went there, quickly, said, quietly. “Bjorn and Artur are safe, but Gene did not reach them, and Ogun-aiji reports rioting in 24. I need your workers to continue to search the modern tunnel all the way to its end, in case Gene has used another shelter. We need to contact Jase-aiji.”

“Sit,” Geigi said, and ordered a contact with the workers with Jase.

Cenedi and Nawari had Braddock, presumably on their way out of 23 and headed toward a lift that would get them to atevi Central. Jase and his bodyguard were moving to join up with another team, consisting of one atevi worker and two of the dowager's men, who were en route to Bjorn's residence, closest to Irene's, to extract Bjorn's parents and any of Braddock's people they found. A second such team, heading for the edge of section 24, was setting up to move in on Artur's apartment, with no translator, but with the hope of finding Artur, who
would
translate.

There
was
a third team moving toward Gene's residence at the far side of 24, a small apartment next to a section of barracks and a food distribution point, one of the sections of old station tunnels and storage areas, where distances meant more exposure of the team and more risk . . . and that was where the trouble was. That was where their lockdown hadn't prevented trouble breaking out, trouble possibly
because
of the lockdown.

And Gene, of all of them to be missing, the kid who'd mapped the tunnels on the ship.

They'd planned their action logically, by the architecture of the area, starting from 23, Braddock first, then Bjorn, then Artur, as nearest, both those very quickly.

But Bjorn's father had come to Irene's apartment looking for his son. And since Bjorn hadn't been in Braddock's hands, Braddock had known right then that one of the kids had slipped his reach. He might have gone straight for Artur and Gene at that point.

Then he'd have discovered he'd missed Artur, as well.

That would have left only Gene, the boy neither ship security nor station security had been able to contain.

Everybody
who'd made a move on the kids so far had gotten it wrong.

Only hope they'd gotten it wrong with Gene. And that Gene was as resourceful in the tunnels as Bjorn and Artur.

“Bren,”
Jase said.
“How do we stand?”

Contact made.

“We have Bjorn and Artur safe,” Bren said in Ragi. “Gene, however, was not with them, and I understand order in 24 is breaking down. I think get down to 24, meet up with Cassimi, get Gene's mother out, find out what she knows, and pick up the families in 23 when we can. I'm worried about the situation down there if we delay the reset.”

“Excellent on getting the kids,”
Jase said in ship-speak
. “Not so good in 24. Getting word of a breakout and disturbance somewhere around 18-main—some looting, traveling bands.”

Eighteenth cross-passage on the main corridor. Gene's apartment was in block C18, at 21.

“If you can get to the area—”

“I'm going. Moving now.”
Jase's voice carried, hard breathing and the sound of movement around him.
“But those apartment blocks in the twenty-four eighteens? Aren't like the ones here in the twenty-three. Worker with us says the main corridor in the twenty-fours is reskinned old construction center, two hundred years old, and they're not sure armor can get through those tunnels, because there's ladders. Apartments on our map they say are all temp paneling, bolt-to-frame, sixteen to twenty units per area. Atevi can make it but we may have to go in without armor.”

Damn. Ad hoc planning, and a scaling map.

They'd had no choice. Had none now.

“There is no cover from the freight access to that address,” Bren said, “but you could go in with armor. That's tunnel's got to be a level run.”

“We've got disturbance in the eighteens, there.”
Jase was breathing hard, still moving.
“Getting that word from the door watch. Freight access is good, but we've got a hundred, hundred fifty meters of exposure from the freight access to Gene's address. It's right in the middle of the disturbance. We don't want to use weapons.”

Listen to your aishid, Tabini had said. And his aishid had strong words for him when he involved himself in tactical matters.

Tell Jase to turn back? Give up on Gene—who probably would have taken cover? Braddock's people were no more likely to find Gene than Jase was.

“Keep going,” Bren said, and turned and looked at Cajeiri. Beckoned.

A word to his great-grandmother and Cajeiri started toward him at a run that turned into a fast walk.

“Young gentleman,” Bren said, “Jase says Gene-nadi's residence is not like Irene's. There is trouble in the area. The place is not secure. What would Gene-nadi do, if he could not get through the tunnel?”

“He would hide, nandi. He would hide. Gene's access—there is no lock. There is a panel. Where the conduits come in
from
the big ones.
That
is Gene's tunnel. A very little one.”

“We need the official map,” Bren said. “Nand' Geigi.”

Geigi gave orders, and the console went to area map, the area of 2418.

“The address is number eight in 2418-A12,” Bren said, resisting the impulse to touch the display. “We are looking for a passage, an access—a service panel.”

“At the back. At the lavatory,” Cajeiri said, “in the inside wall, nadi.”

“Deeper, nandi,” Geigi said to the tech controlling it. “On the service access.” Focus went deeper, to colored lines. “The blue is potable water. The black line is recycling.”

Lines going to a larger bundle, that reached, via a symbol Bren didn't recognize, to what seemed a conduit, joined by other lines, blue, black, green, and red.

Cajeiri quickly pointed to a symbol on the display and said, “Here.”

“The hose access,” Geigi said, and reached to touch his stylus to the master diagram. “How does this join, nadi?”

“Bren?”
Jase asked, on the earpiece.

“We're working on it,” Bren said. “Keep going as you are.”

“Hose.” Geigi drew a deep breath. “We need one of the maintenance workers,” he said, and gave an order to one of the techs.

“Gene said he climbs,” Cajeiri said at Bren's shoulder. “He said once he climbs. He gets there outside most times. But he says there is this way, too.”

Vocabulary in the kids' interface was sometimes sketchy, but it was thus far bearing out. Two routes. One outside, reaching the freight access, which was somewhat more exposed.

And a second one, that was not on the chart.

“Maintenance is also looking at this map,” Geigi said, holding his own earpiece close. A red line appeared on their display, a rough stylus mark, tracing from the lavatory through several bends, and stopped. The stylus mark circled that.

“Water is pumped to section 24,” Geigi relayed the information, “from a tank in the freight tunnel, at bulkhead 18. There are such service accesses at all endmost water sources, and there is a small transverse passage for a supply hose behind the section wall, which serve various installations on this level. The area is pressurized and heated enough to prevent freezing. It comes from a meter and valve assembly
in
the adjacent freight tunnel. There
is
a service access in the freight tunnel.”

“Are such accesses locked?”

“Nadi,” Geigi asked of his remote contact, “will these have locked with the lock reset or with the general section seal?” A moment. Then: “There is no containment except the freight access lock, which is an independent system, but it will lock and unlock with the freight access lock. A freight access can unlock from the inside
if
the section seal locks are not engaged—as they are, now. It shares security, heating, and pressurization with the general area.—Nadi, a man cannot, but could a child do this?” Geigi listened, and relayed, “A child, Bren-ji. Or a human.”

“Jase. Gene's area freight access. Go there.”

“Copy that. What am I looking for?”

“Gene, if we're lucky, if he's gotten out. He couldn't get out either end, and that tunnel's not been opened since.”

“It terminates in the Mospheiran area,” Geigi said. “I can open that end with no difficulty, at Jase-aiji's request.”

“I'm doing my best,”
Jase said. He was running. Bren heard that.

He sat there, with Cajeiri at his shoulder, feeling they were so close, so very close to getting all the kids safe, at least, and the adrenaline was running out of him. He didn't want it to. He just felt it go.

And they
still
had the parents to extract. Units were moving on that . . . with no translators.

“May I talk to Banichi, nandi?” Bren asked. Geigi relayed orders, and a distant deep voice said,

“Nandi?”

“Banichi-ji. We are working to reach Gene's area. Are you able to talk to the units in 23?” Meaning those moving on Artur's and Bjorn's addresses. “Can the children translate for them, on com?”

“We are in contact, nandi,” Banichi said. “The children are providing information and words the parents will understand, and are available on com.”

“Understood.” Trust Banichi to handle the details. Wishing Guild to stay safe was itself an order, as his aishid had dinned into his human sensibilities, and he refrained from giving it. “Baji-naji, we are making progress. Ending.”

Jase's input was back in his hearing. They were moving at a steady pace, armor using its assists, by the sound of it. He didn't trouble Jase with chatter. Jase was getting directions from the workers guiding him.

And it was going to take time to get positioned, while unrest might well seek to breach that freight access as a way out.

“Go attend your great-grandmother, young aiji,” he said to Cajeiri. “Get her sugared tea if she will have it. She must be exhausted. This will not be immediate. But we are working on it. I shall advise you when we are in reach.”

“Your hand is shaking, nandi.”

“One confesses to anxiety.” It was embarrassing, to have the boy notice it. Likely everyone else did. “But not to despair. Go. See to your great-grandmother. She is far too tired.”

No reply. Cajeiri went away, and Bren sat where he was, lacking the will to get up, the coherency to assemble thoughts on what to do next. Jase kept the contact open and he sat there, hearing Jase's running footsteps and the action of the armor near him.

Then the opening of a hatch and Jase's hard breathing.
“Going to cut you out now,”
Jase said.
“I'm entering 24. I'll be coordinating with my units.”

“Got it,” Bren said, and the contact switched out.

A cup of tea arrived beside him. Geigi had ordered two. He picked it up and took a sip, and it was strong tea, sugared to the point of syrup. He winced. He hated the type. The sugar hit his stomach, a questionable moment.

“Nandi,” one of the techs said, down the row. “Nandiin, we have a variance in the kyo signal.”

Mental whiteout. Panic. He picked up the tea, took another sip, spilled some onto his hand, if not his coat. He set the cup down, a carefully controlled action.

Drew a deep, deep breath.

The brain was here. It had to be
there.
Fast. Accurately.

“Bren. Ilisidi. Cajeiri.”
It was a voice like rocks clashing.
“Prakuyo an Tep. Speak.”

“Give me contact,” he said. He was numb for the moment. His heartbeat jolted, it was that strong.

“Contact is established,” Geigi said calmly. “Proceed, nandi.”

“Prakuyo an Tep,” he said, clearing his mind of dark tunnels and lines on a chart—summoning up the mental image of a huge, gray presence, a voice that, strange as it was, held a reassuring familiarity. “Bren-paidhi.” Counting the pause, he took another sip of tea. Swallowed it with difficulty. “Come.”

He'd done it. Issued the come-ahead.
Dock. Meet us.

“What is our time lag on that,” he asked, “from them?”

About ten minutes, was Geigi's answer.

Approximate. But close enough.

Ten minutes before Prakuyo could hear him. Ten minutes, twenty, thirty . . . he was obliged to hold up, keep his wits about him,
think,
if the kyo handed him a problem.

God, the sugared tea was making him sick.

“Artur!”
he heard from across the room.
“Bjorn-nadi!”

Cajeiri had made contact of his own. But he could not divert his attention.

He was not wholly surprised, however, when a living shadow came up behind him. Banichi and Jago, Tano and Algini had turned up at his back, having delivered three of the youngsters to atevi care.

“The kyo are talking,” he said to them without looking around. Vision fuzzed, fixed on the schematic that had turned up, this time with a moving dot. Jase was there, somewhere.

He heard another approach near his seat, light footsteps, a quiet presence.

“Nandi.” Irene's young voice. “We could go to Jase-aiji. We could
help.”

Explain that the situation was dicier than that? That they weren't sure of anything? That it wasn't safe, where Jase was? Cajeiri had filled them in. Told Ilisidi, as well, what was going on.

“Bren?”
he heard from the earpiece. Jase's voice.
“Bren. Got some good news. The crew in the freight tunnel . . .”
Out of breath.
“Got him. Got Gene. And his mother.”

“Got them! Thank God. Are they all right?”

“Cold and thirsty, need medical, maybe. But they got out. They're out. They don't need me at this point. They're in atevi custody. Ship-com isn't answering. I'm on my own. So I'm delivering them to the only authority that's talking to me.”