“Fifty kilometers from a twenty-person settlement, three hundred from one with twenty thousand.”
You couldn’t hide among twenty people.
“They might not be after us,” Chaudry said.
It wouldn’t matter. As soon as they got close enough to see the aircar, they’d stop it because no one went anywhere without a tracker.
“Maybe we should ask Han’s family to pay Redmond off,” van Heel said. “Since they’re so ready to butt in.”
“That was uncalled for,” Radko said. “Especially since I was the one who asked for it.”
“My family would help,” Chaudry said. “If they could.”
“We don’t need amateurs,” van Heel said. “Not from anyone’s family, and I’m pleased to say that mine wouldn’t. I haven’t spoken to my mother in years, anyway.”
“Clearly you don’t move in the circles I do,” Han said. “We ask each other for favors all the time.”
He was right. Life was one massive game of requests and counterrequests.
Radko ignored the conversation going on behind her as she decided the odds.
The only weapon that might be of any use against another aircar was the Pandora field diffuser. They were designed for use in space, placed on the outside of ships to destroy tiny dust particles and meteor clouds before they got close enough to damage the ship. Radko needed a stable surface to concentrate the beam and to have something large to aim at. A diffuser at its normal setting could destroy micron-sized particles but nothing larger.
“Keep going for the moment,” Radko said. “Head toward the larger town.”
Van Heel changed course.
The aircraft behind them changed course, too.
Radko blew her breath out in a hiss. That wasn’t triangulation. “They’re tracking us.”
Van Heel checked. “The tracker is disabled.”
“Something is emitting a signal. Change course to the smaller town. Then see if you can find what it’s using to track us.”
Van Heel reset the course. The aircars followed. She rummaged through her bag of technology. “I’m sure I brought—” She pulled a small meter out triumphantly. “I did.”
She set it up rapidly.
“Han, Chaudry,” Radko said. “Check your weapons. I want them ready to use.”
Han’s would be fine, but Chaudry wasn’t used to going armed, and she didn’t want to single him out. Not at the moment.
“Got it,” van Heel said triumphantly.
Her mobile tracker pointed directly at Han.
“Han,” Radko said. “Empty your pockets.”
“I really didn’t think this day could get worse.” Han pulled everything out of his pockets and dropped the contents onto the seat he’d been sitting in earlier. Among them was his personal comms, which he’d pulled out to check on Radko, back while they’d still been in the apartment.
“You left your personal comms on. I should toss you out of this car.” In a way, she was as much to blame as Han because Han had shown her Renaud trying to call earlier. She should have insisted he turn it off. Of course, Redmond would intercept calls to or from Lancia. They were the enemy. The comms must have been transmitting ever since.
“Yup. It just got a lot, lot worse.” Han picked it up to turn it off.
“Wait,” Radko said. “Anyone else’s comms on? No? Good. Don’t switch it off yet. We might be able to use it. Continue toward the settlement, van Heel.”
She made her take the aircar low, near ground that looked less rocky. “As close as you can,” she told van Heel, “and override the door for me.”
Van Heel did.
Radko opened the door, leaned out, dropped the comms, then leaned back and wrestled the door closed again.
CHAPTER TWELVE: DOMINIQUE RADKO
“That might fool them for a few minutes,” Radko said. And it seemed it did, for their pursuers didn’t change course again.
“I apologize for getting us into this mess,” Han said stiffly.
“Don’t take all the credit, Han. Mistakes happen. We deal with it. Let’s concentrate on staying alive now. Make for the town, van Heel.”
If they were lucky, they’d get all the way there. It was simpler to hide in a town of twenty thousand people than it was to hide in the rocky terrain they were flying over.
“I’m glad it was you and not me,” van Heel said to Han. “Being the first to muck up on a job stinks.”
“I’m glad it was you, too,” Chaudry said. “I’d have been devastated.”
They could have made it worse by berating him, or by not saying anything at all. Instead, they tried to help although Chaudry’s help could have done with some finesse.
They were fifty kilometers away from the town when van Heel said, “They’ve resumed following. A classic sector-search pattern.”
“All of you, keep a watch for some cover where we might conceal the aircar.”
“Have you looked at the terrain down there?” van Heel said. “We’ll be lucky not to crash.”
Rocky terrain made it harder to hide. Unless they could find overhanging rocks. “Put us behind something that will block our heat signature and get us down fast.”
“Right.” Seemingly seconds later, van Heel said, “Strap in. I’m going down fast.”
Han would pull through, but it would be good to give him something else to think about. Except she didn’t need to, for Han was watching Chaudry’s white-knuckled grip on the seat.
“You’ve never crashed before, Chaudry?”
Chaudry’s grip became tighter.
Van Heel pulled up in a hard reverse thrust only meters from the ground. “I’m not that bad.” They hit the ground with enough force to bounce. “She said go down fast.”
“You know they have antigrav stabilizers,” Han said. “You won’t die, Chaudry.”
“The force of the antigrav kicking in can cause more damage than outright impact. Because it kicks in so fast, it can cause trauma, cardiac contusions and atrial ruptures, asthma, traumatic iritis, and even orbital fractures.”
“You know I only understood the first part.”
Van Heel had brought them down in the center of a rocky outcrop. If they’d had something to cover the roof of the aircar, it would have been perfect.
“Nicely done, van Heel,” Radko said.
“It was, wasn’t it.” If van Heel sounded smug, who could blame her? “Let’s see what we’ve got out here.”
They had to pop the emergency top for Chaudry to exit because the door didn’t open far enough for him to squeeze out. Even then, it was a tight fit.
It took the three of them to boost him up, with Han doing the bulk of the work, grunting as he did so. “Lucky you’re not fat, Chaudry.”
“Fat is less dense than muscle.”
Outside, Radko took time to appreciate just how cleverly van Heel had landed. They had cover from the rocks around them. The only thing that could get to them was a direct, overhead shot. She turned her attention to the Pandora field diffuser and started assembling the components.
“You know,” Han said, “they set those things up on the outside of ships to destroy small particles. If you’re thinking to use it to protect humans, it needs a stable surface. Holding it won’t work.”
Radko tapped the top of the aircar. “Define stable. Meantime, you and Chaudry take a quick look around to find enough shelter for all of us. If we bring an aircar down, it will fall right on top of us.”
“Shelter. Right.”
“Keep together and keep in constant comms.”
“What’s she doing?” Chaudry asked, as they moved off.
“I don’t know, Chaudry. But that’s a Pandora diffuser. She probably plans to use it after they’ve blown us to bits, to destroy any evidence we’ve been here.”