He and French rode up in the elevator together with two other characters in the same tan overalls. One of the characters nodded in a routine way to Gibson. "How you doing, Zwald? Heard you went out sick."
Gibson fought down panic and nodded back. "I must have ate something that didn't agree with me."
"That's a bitch, ain't it. You still look a bit under the weather. You want to take it easy."
Gibson grinned. "I'll sure do that."
To Gibson's relief, the two men got out on four and he and French continued to the sixth floor on their own. As soon as the elevator door closed, Gibson let out a long sigh. "I could have done without that."
"You're doing fine, just hold it together."
Gibson blinked. As far as he could remember, it was the first time that he'd ever heard French utter an encouraging word.
They emerged from the elevator, turned right, and went through the fourth door they came to. As French had predicted, there was nothing behind it apart from a large dusty storeroom containing a half-dozen or so empty boxes. French immediately went to the window and looked out; then, apparently satisfied that all was as it should be, he turned to Gibson and pointed at the radiator against the wall. "Look down behind that radiator and see what you can find."
"The radiator?"
"Just do it."
Gibson gingerly reached down the back of the radiator. He had once heard a story about how, in Australia, they had something called the funnel web spider whose bite could kill a grown man in a matter of seconds. Since the coming of modern civilization, the funnel web had taken to living behind radiators in hotels, factories, and apartment buildings. He hoped there was nothing similar in Luxor. His fingers touched wrapping paper. A package of some kind was hidden down there, long and narrow. When he lifted it out, he could feel its hard metallic contents: it contained either curtain rods or a broken-down rifle.
"Is this Zwald's gun?"
French nodded. "It's been hidden there for over a week."
"You want me to unwrap it?"
"No, come and help me with these boxes."
French was walking a packing case over to the window. As Gibson brought more, he arranged them into a low wall in front of the window so they formed a perfect sniper's nest. Gibson scratched his head. He didn't know if it was a side effect of the hero serum but the modest exertion had made him sweat. "Did we really need to do that?"
French was pushing up the window. "Got to make it look right."
Gibson moved over to the window and looked out. Crowds of spectators were already lining the motorcade route where it passed through the square of sooty green that was called Craven Plaza. On the right-hand side of the square, there was a low rise dotted with scrawny trees and, at the far end, a bridge that carried the monorail tracks over the streets. Motorcycle cops formed knots on every corner, and patrolmen on foot were strung out all along the route. The sinister, black, armored police cruisers were prowling up and down like grim headwaiters making final adjustments to the place settings before a banquet. Gibson gave thanks for the hero serum, which was keeping him from imagining every law-enforcement officer that he could see storming up to the sixth floor of Crown Electric to get him.
French was tearing the wrapping from the rifle. It came in five basic parts, clean, brand new, and covered in a thin film of gun oil. He quickly snapped together the barrel, the trigger mechanism, and the skeleton stock. He'd fitted the scope sight and banged in the clip with a final flourish, and then, to Gibson's horror, he knelt in the firing position and experimentally sighted the rifle out of the window.
"For Christ's sake don't do that, someone will see you."
French shrugged and lowered the gun. He placed it on a packing case beside him. "You worry too much."
Gibson shook his head as though he couldn't quite believe French. "Damn straight, I worry. How long do we have to wait here?"
French took the pistol out of the pocket of his overalls and placed it on the packing case beside the rifle. Now both weapons were handy for use.
"Lancer isn't due for another hour."
"Jesus. What if someone comes up here?"
"I locked the door behind us."
Gibson's mouth was very dry. "I think maybe this hero juice is wearing off, I'm starting to feel a little jumpy."
"I'll give you another shot in about forty-five minutes so you don't falter when the moment comes."
Gibson lit a cigarette. "It's going to be a long hour."
While Gibson chain-smoked, French sat cross-legged on the floor in front of the window with one hand on the rifle. There was something almost Zen about his level of calm, as if he had the ability to just turn himself off until he was needed.
In the plaza below, the crowds were growing larger and the cops had completely closed off the streets along which the motorcade would pass and those feeding into them. A loud metallic clack made Gibson start. French had jacked a round into the breech of the rifle.
Gibson dropped his latest cigarette onto the floor and ground it out with his heel. "What do you need to do that for?"
"Just force of habit."
"Now I'm so far in, how about explaining something to me?"
"What's that?"
"How does all this, the plot against Lancer and everything, fit into the battle against Necrom? How does it help?"
"It's a matter of stability."
Gibson was quite suiprised that French was willing to talk to him. He supposed that with all the preparation complete, there was nothing to lose. "Stability?"
"The waking of Necrom will produce an era of violent chaos across the dimensions. Our only hope is to maintain the maximum areas of stability that we can sustain. Behind the combination of Lancer and the current oligarchy in Hind-Mancu, this dimension is already drifting toward chaos."
"So Lancer has to go."
"It would seem so."
"Will Raus be any better?"
French shook his head. "I doubt he'll even weather the scandal of the assassination. A junta composed of police and military officers will be in power inside of two months. Then we'll have some stability."
"The Kamerians aren't going to like that too much, are they?"
"That's hardly the point, is it?"
This seemed to end the conversation, and Gibson turned back to the window. Something about the plaza below had started to bother him, a nagging feeling that somehow it seemed familiar. After worrying it around for a while, he dismissed the thought. It was probably the effect of the drug. Wasn't it time for another shot? He put this to French, and the streamheat produced a small junkie kit in a flat stainless-steel box. Gibson normally hated needles but in this case he would make an exception. The hero serum really did make the fear go away. French filled the syringe and indicated that Gibson should roll up his sleeve. "You know that this stuff can be highly addictive if used for an extended period?"
Gibson sighed. "All I need is a brand-new drug habit."
French smiled. "I wouldn't worry about it. After today, you won't be able to get any more, so you can crave all you want but it won't be more than a wistful memory."
French's tone led Gibson to suspect that he was speaking from personal experience.
Gibson lit yet another cigarette. The first of the two packs was almost empty. "Shouldn't Lancer be here by now?"
French nodded. "He's late. Lancer's famous for being late. He'll probably be late for his own funeral,"