Murphy nodded.
"We've hesitated up to now to send some ferrets in there because we don't know what their alarm systems are like. It's entirely possible we could tip the whole show by doing it, but I don't see any other way. We're going to send two in late tonight and see what we can see anyway, but we'll have a small team ready to go in if things go bad. You've already had a run-in with our Sunday suits, as we call them. Turns you into the spirit in a hurry. If I don't move, that thing'll make me look just like whatever I'm against. We've got the same kind of AI camouflage on the ferrets, small as they are. They're quiet, fast, and efficient, but the fact is that ferrets still make noise and they still put out electrical fields. There's no such thing as a perfect ferret any more than there's a perfect disguise for anybody, but we are damned close. Morrie? You got them tuned up?"
A small tech with a round face and hawk nose looked up from his data screens and nodded. "Any time you need 'em, Chief."
"Well, then, as soon as we're sure they've settled down, we'll go. I don't like the fact that there's a landing pad out front of the grounds there. They could go any time." He looked eager for action. "Now we'll give them a little taste of their saint right back at 'em."
Murphy grinned. "And it's sure that you know who that patron of this world and that society really is?"
"Not particularly. Nobody in the small databank we have with us, anyway."
Murphy's grin widened. "Phineas T. Barnum. 'There's a sucker born every minute,' he once is said to have proclaimed. The trick is to know which is the sucker and which is the Barnum."
"But this whole world's named Barnum!"
"Exactly. He also ran the biggest and greatest circus in the world. And when he quit being a showman and a con man, he became a politician. Got elected, too. Con men and circus men and politicians. All one and the same."
"And you're sure that's the Barnum of this world? And the saint this society says?" Maslovic wasn't convinced.
"Oh, yes. It's even in the bloody information line in the phone directory. I think the old boy would have loved this place, and the idea that it was named for him. He'd like these ferrets, too. All the more because they're such clever machines."
"Chief, I think we got a problem," the tech at the control screens said without taking any eyes off the displays.
Maslovic turned quickly. "What?"
"Company coming over there. I think maybe we waited too long."
On the full scanner they could see the identification symbol and blip for a private transport headed down towards them, and a corresponding ID line from it to the Order's front lawn that it was following like a glide path to the landing pod there.
"Might not be for the girls," the tech said hopefully.
"You know it is!" the intelligence agent snapped. His hand went to his chin and his eyes fixed on a spot on the wall as he tried to decide what to do next.
"You gonna follow 'em out, Sarge?" Murphy asked.
The other man shook his head. "No, no, not necessary. They're going to be traceable over the whole damned world for several more days yet. We don't have everything here until the ship arrives, and I wouldn't want to bring them down blind in that jungle. No, if they're going, let them go. Broz, get a ferret over there on the double. At least we should see who the hell is on the thing."
"Rolling now," another tech said in back of them.
Murphy turned and saw a chunky woman remove a small cylindrical object from a specialized case, then go out to the back door area. In half a minute she was back and said, "It's off. Pick it up on Control One."
Although various ferrets were common throughout the colonies for a vast number of jobs, ones of this sophistication were rare. The military model was damned fast, and smart enough to think a bit for itself, at least insofar as carrying out its primary directives. Added control by cybernetic link or by simple voice or typed commands was possible from the control panel.
Several local flying things seemed interested in the speedy little unknown as it raced across the street, up the wall and over it, and down into the garden area inside the compound, but the ferret was too smart for them. When one predatory insect the size of a large bird swooped down on it, the little robotic probe simply stopped, then used the millions of control pixels that made it look covered in fur to match the purplish grass it was on. Without motion, scent, or distinguishing color, the ferret went instantly invisible to the predator, who seemed a bit confused but broke off and flew away into the distance.
On the control screen, they had a very nice three-dimensional "window" seeing just what the ferret was seeing. Smaller, two-dimensional windows across the top and bottom showed views of what was in back of it and what was above it.
"Observe from above, position and freeze," Broz told it, and the ferret scampered most of the way up the front of the large house or lodge or whatever it was and then stuck there, looking back at the landing pod. It was nicely positioned before the aerobus landed and settled with just a deep whine.
A door slid back from the center of the small craft and two women got out, both wearing medical blue uniforms.
"Doctors? Nurses?" Maslovic wondered.
"Midwives, like as not," Murphy responded. "I'd put 'em as nurses overall. Neither of 'em have that command swagger you'd get from a doctor in this kind of position."
"No matter. It's pretty certain now that they're gonna take them out of there," Maslovic commented.
"Door's opening," Broz noted.
Out of the doorway came two people, a man and a woman, both dressed in rather too clean and clichéd tropical clothing, from khaki shorts to pith helmets and wearing heavy-duty boots. The angle didn't give too good a look at the faces, but they both seemed middle-aged and plump, perhaps a bit dowdy or dumpy, and they moved almost like they were playing a game. Some sort of adventure, perhaps.
"Georgi Macouri and his companion Magda Schwartz," Maslovic said, filling Murphy in. "He's the spoiled rich idiot playing at devil worship and she's even more into the play than he is. Don't underestimate them, though. The local police files suspect him of being behind some disappearances, mostly young women, and she's formerly employed by Crossline Shipping as their security director and knows all the gimmicks and tricks."
"Disappearances? You mean he…?" The captain's voice trailed off as he thought of the unpleasant possibilities.
"He could indeed. Human sacrifice wouldn't be beyond him if it was part of the ritual and gave him a thrill. He's spent most of his life being incredibly bored and now he isn't bored any more."
"But-the girls! You don't think he'd…?"
"He might, but I doubt it. They're not innocent in this and they're not for sacrificing, at least not right now. Too much was invested in getting them here to just do to them what he's probably done to poor locals. It looks like we may be in a little luck here, though. The way they're dressed and taking charge, it sure looks like they intend to go on the bus."
"Right at sunset," Broz noted. "Good timing."
"Earlier than I'd expected, though. It complicates getting the girls, but it does allow us the opportunity to see just what the hell's inside that place. Ah! Here come the girls!"
Their angle, again, was overhead and offset, but there was no mistaking the three of them. Each had been cleaned up, their hair was nicely fluffed and brushed, and each wore a robe whose color roughly matched the colors of the three Magi stones they had. None seemed to be very comfortable walking even the short distance, and it seemed to Murphy at least that they hesitated as they reached the aerobus's open doorway, but each in turn ducked down a bit and entered. The medics or midwifes, whatever they were, then got back in and, finally, the two from the house started to enter the vehicle as well. Then Macouri stopped, turned, and asked Schwartz in a voice that sounded sinister and gravelly, "You have secured the place, my dear?