“We made it,” he said, foolishly, and Heikki could not stop herself from laughing.
“We made it,” she agreed, and started toward the main exit, walking like a woman in a dream.
CHAPTER 10
They passed through Customs’ usual cursory check without difficulty, without even attracting the full attention of the young man on duty at the residents’ gate. After the struggle to get off EP4, Heikki found it hard to muster the strength for fear, and could see from Galler’s face that he was feeling equally numb. The sights and sounds of the main concourse roused her a little, let her shake off the lethargy that had closed around her, and she caught at her brother’s arm to hold him back from the jitney line.
“Let me call Santerese first,” she said.
“You’re expecting trouble?” Galler asked, and Heikki shook her head.
“No, but there’s no harm in being careful.” She hesitated, but could not resist adding, “You stirred up enough trouble on EP4; it may have spread by now.”
Galler made a face, and did not deny it. Heikki left him slumped on a bench in the orbit of one of the concourse’s grand mobiles, staring at the intricate exposed clockworks that sent tuned spheres bouncing through a maze of nuglass and chiming crystal, and went in search of a public combox.
She found an empty one at last, half a level below the main concourse, on the mezzanine overlooking the floater platforms. She settled herself in the booth, latching the door behind her, and fed her personal card into the machine. The system considered it for a moment, matching numbers and credits, and flashed a clear screen. Heikki punched in the callcodes, and waited.
It took a few minutes for Santerese to respond to the summons—an unusually long time, Heikki thought, and sat up straighter on the hard bench, frowning at the screen. Then the picture cleared, and Santerese’s broad face looked out at her.
“Heikki.” There was something in her tone that was not quite right, and Heikki’s frown deepened.
” ‘Shallin. I’m back, with what I went for.” The evasion came out smoothly, almost without thought. “How’re things at home?”
“All right.” Again, there was an unfamiliar note in Santerese’s voice, a hesitation that was not normally there, almost, Heikki thought, as though she were choosing her words for an offscreen listener. “I’m glad you were successful, doll. We’ve had—a bit of a time here.”
“What do you mean?”
Santerese grinned, but it was a shadow of her usual smile. “I told you there were questions about our working methods? Well, the investigation is official now— nothing’s showed up, nor is it likely to, but it’s been expensive, and a hassle. I’m glad you’re back.”
“So am I,” Heikki said. The story was plausible enough, and would certainly account for Santerese’s harried look, but…. They had set up codes, check phrases, long ago, the first time they had worked apart on a politically restless planet; over the years, the system had come in handy more than once. “What does that do to the Morgan job?”
There was a moment’s pause before Santerese answered. “I thought we could hand it over to Penninzer, if worst comes to worse.”
That was the countersign, the signal that everything was all right. Heikki relaxed, and said, “Good enough. But I hope we won’t have to.”
“Me, too,” Santerese answered. “Are you coming straight here?”
Heikki nodded.
“Take a jitney,” Santerese said, with a ghost of her usual manner. “This is no time for you to be cheap, Heikki.”
“I’ll do that,” Heikki said, relieved, and broke the connection. The screen faded to neutral gray, waiting for her next command, but Heikki sat still for a moment longer, staring past the screen at the floater platforms half a level below. Even as she watched, one of the bubbles rose past her, carried on the invisible beam, its riders distorted shapes against the transluscent plastic. She fixed her eyes on it as it rose out of sight, then waited until it began its leisurely descent toward the receiving station on the far side of the station’s open central volume. It was not like Santerese to be so quiet, not like her to worry—in fact, Heikki thought, it would be more like her to be fighting back, with suit and countersuit. Something simply wasn’t right. Heikki shook herself then, annoyed with her own imaginings. She had asked the code question, and Santerese had answered: nothing could be wrong. No one else knew their system, not even Djuro. Nothing was wrong.
A prompt question had been flashing on the screen for some time now, Heikki realized suddenly. She touched the keys that closed down the system and retrieved her card, and then levered herself out of the narrow box. Nothing is wrong, she told herself again, but caught herself looking over her shoulder more than once as she returned to the concourse where she had left Galler.
“What kept you?” Galler looked up from his lapscreen, scowling irritably.
“It took me a while to find an empty box,” Heikki answered. “Come on, will you?”
Galler’s eyebrow rose in a mocking question, and
Heikki glared at him, daring him to speak. After a moment, it was Galler who looked away. Heikki allowed herself a grim smile, and took her place in the line of people waiting for jitneys.
Most of the crowd from their train had already found transport, and it wasn’t long before a jitney pulled up to the platform. Heikki fed it her cashcard, wondering morosely just how much this rescue was going to cost her before it was over, and gave the machine her address. The canopy sprang up instantly, and Heikki climbed in. Galler followed, tugging the canopy closed behind him, and the machine slid smoothly away from the platform.
EP7 had only one major connector, a massive corridor known as the Artery that ran along the central spine of the station. The jitney swung wide around the open volume at the center of Pod One, then turned onto a spiral ramp that carried it up and into the traffic of the Artery. It was not crowded at this time of the Exchange Point’s day, and the mix of traffic, mass carriers on the lower levels, private vehicles, jitneys, and the like in the upper lanes, was moving almost at the permitted maximum. Heikki’s mood lifted a little, seeing that: not long, she thought, not long at all until we’re home and we can finally start fighting back.
The jitney deposited them at the top of the stairwell that led down into Pod Nineteen. Heikki stopped at the security booth to identify Galler to the bored-looking securitron, then led the way past the lowered barriers and down the spiralling stairs to the suite of rooms that was both office and flat. As she stepped off the stairway, she noticed that the heavy curtains had been drawn across the narrow window. Stepping closer, she saw that the red bar was lit above the concierge plate: Business closed.
“I would’ve thought your partner would be working today,” Galler said, at her shoulder.
Heikki shrugged. “Things happen.” She turned toward the alleyway that led to the private entrances, and Galler caught her shoulder.
“This isn’t right, Gwynne. There could be something wrong.”
Heikki made a face, debating whether she should tell him, then shrugged. “Ever since we stopped working for Lo-Moth, people have been asking questions about our past methods. The Marshallin says we’re under investigation. That’s why we’re closed.”
“Damn.” It was unlike Galler, ‘pointer to the bone, to swear, and Heikki stopped to look at him, startled. He gestured apology. “I’m sorry. But if they’ve started to investigate you—what is it, illegal procedures, things like that?”
Heikki nodded.