“Who’s she?” Heikki asked.
“Happily married—to a freighter tech, I believe—with two kids,” Victoria answered.
Heikki laughed. “I hadn’t seen her before, that’s all.”
“You haven’t been in recently,” Victoria answered. “Lord, my dear, I think it’s been two months.”
“I’ve been working,” Heikki said again, and added, before the other could ask, “All routine.” She took a sip of her gin, and leaned forward. “And I’m afraid it’s partly business that’s brought me now. Is Jack Nkosi here tonight? Or Sten?”
“Sten’s not in yet, if you’re meeting him. Jock’s upstairs.” Victoria lifted painted eyebrows. “Flirting with the waitresses. Do you want him?”
“I’ve got some business with him,” Heikki answered. She started to stand up, but Victoria waved her back.
“I’ll send a message. He’ll be distracting them all night, else.”
“Thanks,” Heikki said, and waited while the other fingered his bracelet again.
After a moment, Victoria nodded. “He’s on his way. You don’t know how glad I’ll be when I can finally retire, dear, and let someone else take over.”
“There’s no one else like you, and you know it,” Heikki began, but Victoria continued as though she had not spoken.
“You know what I’m really looking forward to? Not having to put on this damned corset every night.” He gave an impish smile as a warning buzzer sounded, and reached out to hit the monitor’s override button. “And I will say what I want in my own place, thank you very much.”
Heikki returned the smile, but Victoria’s eyes were already on the staircase that curved down from the bar’s upper floor. “And here he comes, looking like a cat in cream.”
Heikki turned on her stool, and couldn’t restrain a laugh. Nkosi was a big man, made bigger by the bulk of the leather coat he wore slung across his shoulder, its color and textures dulled by the rich brown of his skin. Two of the waitresses—and one of the waiters, who should have known better—were hanging over the railing, the younger girl calling something that Heikki could not hear. Nkosi lifted his hand in laughing answer, and moved toward the bar, arms spread in greeting. Heikki, who did not as a rule like being touched, submitted to being lifted off her stool, whirled in a dizzying embrace, and set neatly back where she belonged.
“And that is also a mighty fine jacket you have now,” Nkosi said, as though their last meeting had not occurred five standard months ago. “Tree-wool? Yes—”
“Now, dear,” Victoria said, and he was smiling, “I can’t have you assaulting the customers as well as corrupting my staff.” He slid a tall drink across the counter toward the newcomer.
“Have there been complaints?” Nkosi asked, with a grin.
“I’m not waiting for the paternity suits, dear,” Victoria retorted.
“Outrageous,” Nkosi said. “I always take precautions, do I not, Heikki?”
“I wouldn’t know,” Heikki answered, and Nkosi continued as though she had agreed with him.
“One would think you were jealous, Victoria. Most unworthy of you.”
“I could be jealous,” Victoria said, “if you ever paid any attention to me.”
“If I thought there was a chance you would consider me, Vickie, I would be on my knees in an instant,” Nkosi answered.
Victoria shook his head, smiling. “Someday, dear,
I’m going to take you up on that offer, and then where will you be?”
Heikki laughed. “Sten said he ran into you about a ten-day ago, and you were looking for work?”
“And I still am,” Nkosi answered. “The job he mentioned came?”
Heikki nodded. “I’m just waiting for the contract to go through our lawyer. It looks as though it will be pretty much a standard air search and wreck analysis— it’s been long enough since the crash that even if it was sabotage or hijacking—”
“Sten did not say that that was a possibility,” Nkosi murmured.
“—there shouldn’t be any problems, and there’s a danger bonus built into the contract in any case,” Heikki finished. “Yeah, there does seem to be a good chance it was one or the other. Does that make a problem?”
Nkosi shook his head. “Not in the least. It should add spice.”
Well, that’s typical, Heikki thought. She said aloud, “I can offer you union rates, plus your share of the bonus if we earn it. How does that sound to you?”
Nkosi didn’t seem to hesitate. “I am willing, the pay sounds good. Yes, I will go. What are the atmospheric conditions like?”
That was also typical, act first and think later, Heikki thought, and suppressed a grin. “Do you know Iadara, Sixth Precinct?”
“No.”
“It’s semi-tropical, in the settled areas, with a bad weather pattern through the interior—”
“Which of course is where we’re going?”
“Of course.” Heikki smiled, rather thinly this time. “It rates about a four on the Antraversi scale, up to a six in the storm season.”
“Not bad.” Nkosi nodded. “We can handle that, no problem. When do you want to sign papers? And when do we leave?”
“I’m waiting for the contract to come back from the lawyer,” Heikki answered.
“Heikki?” That was Djuro’s voice, and Heikki repressed a start. “Sorry I’m late,” the ex-engineer continued, “but I got a call from Malachy. He’s cleared the contract.”
Nkosi beamed down on the little man, and Heikki said, “That’s good news.”
Djuro nodded, and edged forward between two of the tall stools to lean easily against the bar. “I checked the shipping schedules, too, and there’s a freighter leaving for Iadara in six days.”
“So.” Heikki paused, considering. “If the money comes through from Lo-Moth in time, we’ll reserve cabins. You did say a freighter, Sten?”
“Yeah. I doubt there’ll be any trouble getting space.” Djuro paused for a moment, frowning, but then seemed to think better of his objection.
“That’s settled, then,” Heikki said firmly. “Jock, come by tomorrow morning, we’ll draw up an agreement and I’ll give you copies of the information that we have so far.”
“Excellent,” Nkosi said, and nodded to Victoria, who had withdrawn discreetly to the far end of the bar. “Then if you will all excuse me, I will return to what I was doing.”
“God help us,” Victoria said, and put his finger on the override.
“You’re not happy, Sten,” Heikki said quietly.
“I just—I’ve got a bad feeling about it, that’s all,” Djuro said. “But I’m not backing out on you, don’t worry.”
“I didn’t think you were.” Heikki forced a smile, pushing away her own sudden unease. “Come on, I’ll buy you dinner,”
CHAPTER 3
The money arrived as promised, within ten hours of Lo-Moth’s receiving the signed contract, and with it came the survey tapes from Foursquare. Heikki raised her eyebrows a little at the unusual promptness, but reserved passage on the freighter and on the connecting trains for herself, Djuro, and Nkosi. Together, the three reviewed Foursquare’s data, and by the end of the week, Heikki had decided that the tapes were essentially useless.
Djuro, scanning the figures on his own workscreen, nodded. “Yeah, the numbers just don’t match. We’ll have to do it all over again.”
“Which won’t hurt us any,” Heikki answered mildly. “Don’t worry, I took that into account when I made the bid.”
Djuro grunted, acknowledging the hit. “Still, it’s a pain not to be able to trust their work.”
Heikki shrugged, and Nkosi looked up from his own board—which displayed a complicated game pattern— long enough to say, “No problem. We’ll just fly a few extra passes—up near the mountains, that should be exciting.”