‘I doubt he knows,’ Volta said. ‘He’s little more than a freelance assassin, and to judge by what you’ve told me, he wouldn’t even ask why. I think we can assume this is the elusive Debritto we’ve caught whispers about. The style’s right, and he’s supposed to work out of the Bay Area. Did you notice that he said his instructions were simply to foil the bomb being planted? And yet when Annalee saw him on the rooftop and began running – which indubitably foiled the diversionary bomb, and thus the attempt on the plutonium – he tried to shoot her, tried to shoot her knowing her son was in the car. He’ll be punished.’
‘Ah,’ Jack nodded, ‘now I understand why you wanted to see me. You have a personal problem.’
‘I’d like to think it was because I value your advice. My appreciation of your company is sharpened by the realization you came very close to being killed tonight merely because I feel I’ve earned the privilege of seeing this Diamond, though for no reason beyond my own personal satisfaction. When the Star Council found out about the Diamond, I’m the one who argued we should commit our full resources to wrest it from government control and return it to the elements. I argued that its possession, especially by a government, might be a disaster of the spirit. And that well might be the case. However, Daniel somehow managed to steal it, so in fact the mission has been accomplished. I never once mentioned to the Star that I personally wanted to see it. But I did tell Daniel. Daniel knew and understood that in exchange for my help in his training and the Alliance’s aid in resources and planning, he and I would return the Diamond together. You see––’
Smiling Jack held up his hands. ‘Stop. I see. You want to know if it’s honorable for you to trade his mother’s killer for the Diamond.’
‘Exactly,’ Volta sighed. ‘Except I wouldn’t have said honorable – I would have used fair. Is it fair?’
‘Yes,’ Smiling Jack said without hesitation. ‘More than that, if this Diamond has overwhelmed him somehow, it might bring him back to earth.’
Volta said, disgust and sorrow in his tone, ‘There are better reasons than revenge.’
Jack shrugged. ‘I would have used the word justice.’
‘Touché.’
‘Maybe just being forced to make the decision will bring him around.’
‘One hopes,’ Volta agreed.
‘We’ll hope together. But we should also be thinking about what we’ll do if he chooses to keep running with the Diamond.’
‘What can we do but let him go?’
‘I meant about Annalee’s killer, this Debritto.’
‘We’ll send a Raven to see him. Justice was your word, so you can set it up.’
‘Hey, be fair,’ Jack said. ‘You said punish.’
‘Precisely my point.’
Jack was distracted by another idea. ‘Volta, I got it. If Daniel doesn’t want to revenge his mother’s death, let’s offer it to Shamus. He’s crazy with grief, thinks you and Daniel conspired somehow to kill her. Who knows? Maybe justice would be cathartic.’
‘No. Shamus isn’t capable of the necessary judgment, either moral or strategic. Besides, like Daniel, Shamus really wants the traitor, the one who tipped the CIA.’
‘And you don’t think this Debritto guy knows?’
‘I’d bet on it. However, perhaps Mr Keyes can find out for us.’
‘You want me to call him and ask, or do you want to do it?’
‘You do it. Pay phones only, short conversations, and you always call him.’
Smiling Jack frowned. ‘Well yeah, I understand basic security, but should I just ask him to please tell me, or should I try pretty please with mustard on it?’
‘I wouldn’t say please at all until you’ve exhausted your leverage.’
‘That’s what I’m missing – leverage. If I tell him I was listening at the door they’ll know that we know the code was compromised, and then we can’t set them up for a dummy transmission. The way I see it, our strongest asset is their ignorance that we heard one word of what went on inside that room.’
‘True,’ Volta said. ‘But you might say you worked as a consultant to Dredneau, that he’d summoned you to the hotel for a briefing, and you just happened to see a man leaving with Dredneau’s valise. You hurried to the room to find Dredneau dying. His last act was to point to the room key that had fallen from his smoking jacket and to hold up two fingers. From which you finally deduced Keyes. Tape residue on Dredneau’s thigh led you to believe he’d been interrogated by polygraph. You ran a profile of the hit through your computer, and you’re fairly certain the assassin was Gurry Debritto. Explain that you’d come to detest Dredneau, because you and your computer wizardry did the real brainwork, while Dredneau hogged all the glory. Then trade your silence for the name of the informant on the Livermore plutonium attempt. Keyes will want to know why. Tell him you need the information to collect a large fee elsewhere. This is your test of his good faith in establishing what might be a mutually useful working relationship. If he refuses, intimate that Mr Debritto might make a more understanding partner. I assure you he doesn’t want Debritto to even suspect they’ve been linked, because Debritto’s only protection would be to remove Keyes from the chain of connection. On the informant, we want something concrete, verifiable – a taped call, a letter, or at least the name of the person who received the Livermore tip. They very well might not know who the informant was, but at least we’ll find that out.’
‘They can just say they don’t know,’ Jack said, ‘that it was an anonymous call just like mine.’
‘Perhaps. But it’s sometimes surprising how pressure elicits candor. And even if it was anonymous, maybe we can find out if the voice was male or female, adult or child.’
‘Uh-huh. I’m slow this morning. You’re afraid it was Daniel. Because when you tell him we’ve discovered his mother’s killer, he might figure if we have that, we have the snitch: him. And then he’d really run. And you’d go and find him if it took the rest of your life.’
Volta looked at Jack squarely. ‘No, I wouldn’t. A year ago, maybe. Not now. And I don’t believe he betrayed his mother, or only inadvertently if he did. Daniel’s in jeopardy. I intend to help him to the extent of my powers.’
‘And the Diamond? You don’t care about seeing it?’
‘Jack,’ Volta said passionately, ‘I can’t tell you how much I want to stand in its light. But it’s the nature of such things that you must let them go. I haven’t yet, but I’m trying.’
Transcription:
Denis Joyner, AMO Mobile Radio
Like wow, I just dropped down out of the Sierras tonight and cruised into the lovely Apan Valley. I don’t know what it is about coastal California – maybe that literally pacific ocean out there imposing its wavelength on mine – but every time I pass through on my spiraling circuit, I get this totally awesome feeling of cosmic mellowness. Blissed out, instead of my usual pissed off. Damn near tempts me to trade in this old funky-junk van and buy a Mercedes; maybe put a hot tub in the wine cellar. Viva est magnum, mama, especially if you’re holding the magnum, but I guess if you’re serious about racing the other rats, you want a comfortable ride.
You know who I’m talking to if I’m not talking to myself this sweet April night. Yea verily, you do know who I’m talking to, baby, vibing through silence into the whorls of your ear, but you don’t know why. Let me tell you: One perfect mind isn’t nearly as good as two imperfect minds.
Spin that around your cranium while I get down with some ID, though I haven’t got a cold fucking clue who, Miss Owl, who-who I am. But I can tell you that this is KAMO Mobile Radio, somewhere between snake-eyes and boxcars on them tumbling dice, and I’m rolling right along with it all, flying at you high and alive, done in and turned out. Yes! It’s the redoubtable DJ, and tonight he’s doubled up: Dream Joker and Diarrhea Jaws, too. So, if you don’t know what to believe, hey, stick with me. And if you don’t like what you hear, call the sheriff. Call the whole fucking posse, for all I care. Give the FCC a jingle while you’re at it. Ring up the National Guard, too, and the Air Force, and whoever else you think can save your poor doomed ass. But whatever you do, don’t touch the dial, because I just clocked the time and Mickey has both arms straight up, surrendering to the moon, which means it’s time to tuck you in with a bedtime story. Snuggle down while I light a pipe of killer to clear my golden throat.