Odd Girl Out

Bayta took a deep breath. "All right, I'll go tell the doctors. What do you want me to do after that?"

"We get out of here as fast as we can, before the Modhri can bring in more walkers," I said. "I don't suppose that tender the New Tigris stationmaster told us about would happen to be anywhere nearby?"

"Actually, I think it's right here," Bayta said, leaning a little toward the window and peering past the passenger platforms and buildings. "Yes, I can see it over there."

I looked where she was pointing. It was there, all right: three windowless passenger cars sandwiched between two engines pointed in opposite directions. It was sitting on the second track past the passenger section, in one of the Spiders' service areas. "Then we're good to go," I said. "As soon as you get me officially cleared of the Halkas' deaths, have the Spiders collect the crate and lockboxes and put them aboard the tender. Once everything's there, you and I and Rebekah will join them, and we'll be out of here."

Bayta's lips puckered. "It sounds too easy," she said doubtfully.

"Well, the first part certainly is," I said. "You said Rebekah's in a secure storage facility, which should include dozens of crates waiting to be transferred to different trains. And of course, the Spiders are always moving lockboxes around. Even if the Modhri's watching like a hawk, it should be no trick to get the Melding coral ready to travel."

"But?" she prompted.

"But getting the three of us aboard won't be nearly so simple," I conceded. "We'll need to come up with a really good diversion to keep all those walker eyes pointed in the wrong direction at the critical moment."

"You have any ideas on how to do that?"

"Not yet, but I will," I said. "You just get me off the hook so that I don't have a mob of Halkas breathing down my neck when we make our break."

"Medical center, stationmaster's office, then back here," she said, heading toward the door. "Anything else?"

"No, that should do for now," I said. "And be careful. Some of the Halkas may have seen us together, and the Modhri certainly has."

"Don't worry," she said, pulling the kwi out of her pocket. "I'll see you soon."

She opened the door, and I caught a glimpse of a forest of Spider legs out in the corridor before it closed again behind her. Pulling out my reader, I settled down in a comfy chair by the window and pulled up a station schematic. When setting up a diversion, the first thing to consider was geography.

I'd been working for about half an hour when the door chime sounded.

I looked up, frowning. Bayta wouldn't bother ringing—one of the Spiders out there had a key, and she would have no problem ordering him to open up.

The chime came again. Tucking my reader away, I got up and went to the door.

It was the Jurian Resolver, Tas Yelfro. "Mr. Compton," he greeted me solemnly. "May I come in?"

"Certainly," I said, stepping back out of his way and wondering what the Modhri was up to this time. Tas Yelfro came in, glancing around as if making sure I was alone.

And as I watched, the scales around his beak seemed to sag a little, and the sweep of his shoulders hunched just a bit farther back, and his head straightened and then settled back into its original position.

The Modhri had taken over.

"Greetings, Mr. Compton," he said, his voice altered as subtly but as indisputably as his appearance. "I bring news and an offer."

"Do you, now," I said. "If it's anything like the last seven or eight offers you've pitched to me, I think I'll pass."

"But first," the Modhri said, ignoring the gibe, "I bring you a conversation piece." Reaching into his tunic, he pulled out something small and lobbed it toward me.

Automatically, I reached out and caught it. It was a kwi, just like the one I'd conned out of the Chahwyn.

I felt my breath freeze in my chest. No. It wasn't just like my kwi. It was my kwi.

The kwi Bayta had been carrying.

I looked up at the mocking Jurian eyes gazing at me. "Where is she?" I asked, forcing my voice to stay quiet and controlled.

"She is safe," the Modhri said. "There's no need to worry." He cocked his head slightly to the side. "Yet."

I took a step toward him. "Where is she?" I repeated, my voice quavering slightly with black anger. My brain was spinning at Quadrail speeds, trying desperately to come up with a plan.

"I said she is safe," the Modhri said, matching my tone. "For now, that's all you need to know."

"I don't think so," I said, taking another step toward him. Most people, I reflected grimly, would have started backing up about now, possibly doing a quick reevaluation on whether they really wanted to cross me or not.

But the Modhri didn't think like that. To him, Tas Yelfro was just another of his slaves, one more disposable body in his collection. If he died at my hand, the Modhri would simply find or make a replacement.

And then, as I continued moving toward him, the germ of an idea finally surfaced. A risky, shaky idea, way too heavy on speculation and suspicion and way too light on actual fact. But it was the best I had, and it would have to do. "You'll tell me where she is, and you'll tell me now," I continued, taking the one final step that put me within arm's reach of him.

His beak cracked open in a mocking smile. "Really, Mr. Compton—"

The rest of the sentence disintegrated in an explosive gasp of surprise and pain as I drove my fist hard into his abdomen.