Odd Girl Out

I frowned. "That's absurd. Mr. Veldrick isn't connected to Hardin Industries."

"He's the local head of Crown Rosette, which is now a subsidiary of Hardin Industries," Aksam said. "That makes him the local Hardin representative."

"Hardly," I said. "And certainly not for this. Even actual, official Hardin managers have no authority over security personnel."

"You're welcome to come down to the courthouse and argue your case," Aksam said. He had his hand resting on his own holstered sidearm now "But until a judge rules on the question, public safety overrides all such concerns. You will surrender your weapon."

I looked at McMicking. He had a sour look on his face, but he gave me a small nod. "Fine," I said, pulling out my Glock and handing it over. "But I'm holding you personally responsible for the safety of this weapon."

"Don't worry," Aksam said, taking the Glock and handing it to Lasari, who tucked it into the back of his belt. "I understand you're staying at the Hanging Gardens?"

"That's right," I said. "Feel free to drop by when you have a proper warrant for a proper crime." I raised my eyebrows. "I'm sorry. If you ever have a proper warrant for a proper crime."

A good dit rec detective would have had a sarcastic riposte ready. But Aksam must have missed that day at cop school. Sending a last glower at McMicking, he turned and stalked out, his partner trailing silently behind him.

"So much for Veldrick's next move," I commented, taking a sip of my iced tea.

"Indeed," McMicking said, stroking his lip thoughtfully. "Offhand, I'd say he's getting ready to move out the rest of his coral."

"Going to be tricky," I said. "The stuff was pretty firmly mounted in his little artificial stream. At eight million dollars for the lot, it won't take much damage to start chewing up the potential profits."

"Better a smaller piece than having the whole pie snatched off your cooling rack," McMicking said. "And if he's making his move, it's about time we thought about making ours."

I looked around the restaurant. With the impromptu floor show over, the rest of the diners had returned to their meals and conversation. "You have a plan for getting to his coral?" I asked.

"I have three," McMicking said. "Unfortunately, all of them assumed only one house that would need to be burgled and several days with which to plan the operation."

"I guess we'll just have to improvise," I said.

He inclined his head. "I guess we will."

"But first we need to get Rebekah off New Tigris," Bayta put in suddenly.

I looked at her in surprise. "Yes, we'll do that," I assured her. "But Veldrick's coral—"

"It can wait," Bayta cut me off tartly. "Rebekah's in danger. We have to get her clear."

I looked at McMicking, saw my same puzzlement reflected there. "Is she in more danger than she was two hours ago?" I asked, looking back at Bayta.

"I don't know," she said. Her cheek and throat muscles were tight as she gazed pleadingly at me. "I just know that we have to get to her. Now."

I looked around the restaurant again. Bayta got worked up like this so seldom that it was always something of a shock.

But when it did happen, it was worth paying attention to. "Okay," I said slowly. "We can't make a move against the coral anyway until we know where Veldrick's got the other pieces stashed. McMicking can handle that while you and I sneak Rebekah out of hiding and through Customs onto our torchyacht."

I looked at McMicking. "By then, you should have the coral's locations nailed down. Rebekah and Bayta will lift off and head for the Tube, and I'll come back to town to help you with your burglaries."

"Sounds reasonable," McMicking said.

"Not to me it doesn't," Bayta said. "I don't know how to fly a torchyacht."

"You won't have to," I said. "With the minuscule traffic level around here, I should be able to set up a straight autolift while we're working the preflight. I'll also set your course for a low-speed, leisurely trip to the Tube, which will give McMicking and me plenty of time to catch up to you in his torchyacht. At that point I'll come aboard with you and Rebekah and fly us the rest of the way"

"Of course, we'll also have to deal with Customs once we reach the transfer station," McMicking warned. "They'll certainly have been alerted to the coral theft by the time we get there."

"I'm sure you already have a plan for that part," I said.

McMicking shrugged. "Any suggestions as to how I go about finding the rest of Veldrick's coral?"

"There are a couple of options," I said. "How are your computer hacking skills these days?"

"Adequate."

"Good," I said. "Option one: hack into the Crown Rosette computer system. See who Veldrick's been doing business with since the Hardin rep noticed his coral three months ago."

"Paying special attention to the non-Humans on the list," McMicking said, nodding his understanding.

"Exactly," I said. "That should give you the most likely recipients. Once you've got that, hack into the city's utilities system and find out which of them had their water bills shoot up recently."

McMicking frowned. "Their water bills?"

"Modhran coral does best with cold water flowing around it," Bayta told him.

"Right," I said. "For anything long-term you'd normally hook up a closed system to cool and recycle the same water. But I doubt Veldrick's buddies had such gadgetry available."

"And even if they put something together later, there should still be a temporary spike in their water usage," McMicking said. "Sounds promising."

"Option two is we break in on Veldrick and beat the snot out of him until he gives us names and addresses," I said. 'We should probably keep that one in reserve."

"Probably," McMicking agreed. "Sounds like a plan. Are you going to need anything from me before I head back to the hotel and get started?"

"Just your comm number," I said. "We'll want to keep in touch on each other's progress." I cocked my head. "I presume you already have my number?"

"Of course," he said, and gave me his. "You might also need this," he added, shifting slightly in his seat.

Something hard settled onto my lap under the table. I reached down and found myself touching a small handgun. "I might, indeed," I said. "Thanks."

"No problem," he said. "Dual clip; left side is snoozers." Pushing back his chair, he stood up. "Good hunting."

"And to you," I said, slipping the gun into my holster. "I take it I'm paying for dinner?"

"Of course." He gave me a faint smile. "You ever hear of a lawyer who picked up his client's tab? Good hunting to you."

"And to you," I said.

He left. I paid with one of my cash sticks, and then Bayta and I also headed out into the streets. "Is this sudden-danger thing connected with how you knew where she was?" I asked her as we walked.

She shook her head. "I don't know."

"Just a hunch, then?"

She bristled. "You have hunches all the time."

She had me there. "Fine," I said, looking around. Night had fallen with a resounding crash while we'd been eating, leaving the sky a star-freckled black above us. But the streetlights were going strong, wrapping Imani City in a deceptively nice homey glow. "Any other thoughts or speculations you'd like to share with the rest of the class?"

A shiver ran through her. "Only that there's something wrong here," she said, her voice graveyard dark. "The Modhri truce—Mr. Veldrick—the coral. It doesn't add up."

"I know," I said grimly. "Let's just hope we can figure it out before we're up to our necks in trouble."

"Or even deeper?"

"Or even deeper," I said. I hated it when she came up with mental images like that. "Come on, let's find an autocab."