“So, we have to disguise our decks. That means a little reconfiguring. The Lord Protector’s Office makes sure licensed decks have very identifiable internal ID codes. We have to change that by fooling around a little with the licenses, like putting fake plates on a car.” Rani grinned, getting the gist immediately. And we have to operate somewhere else. Oxford should do it. I can get my leg fixed there, too, no questions asked. Old college friend of mine”
“Which college?” Francesca asked perkily.
“Didn’t I ever tell you?” he asked. She shook her head. Peterhouse, My father’s doing. I’m afraid.”
I seem to remember someone telling me the only way to get in there was if you were Catholic, or gay, or both.”
He frowned at her. “Not these days. Hell, they’ve even started admitting women.”
Francesca let the jibe pass. Oxford and Cambridge were said to be great centers of learning, but the twenty-first century hadn’t changed them much. She knew that from dating their chinless upper-class graduates.
“That may get us somewhere. At the same time, I can put the Kellys through the mincer.” Geraint winced the moment the words were out, regretting the unfortunate expression. “If we get someone who looks plausible, we can give the police an anonymous tip.”
“Something else. Serrin, your visa runs out at the end of the month, doesn’t it?”
“Yep. ‘fraid so.”
“Wouldn’t you like to go abroad for a couple of days? Look, I know it sounds weird, but here’s the form. You want an extension to the visa, it takes six months for the Aliens section to get around to even considering it. No chance.”
“However, due to one of those weird technicalities that makes British justice the envy of the world, the powers that be will automatically add the days to your visa if you come up with an amazingly good excuse for disappearing abroad, like an illness or death in your family. Maximum of seven extra days. If you make it three, it’ll give us the extra time we need. After all, we’re expecting another killing on the thirtieth. If you have to fly off on that date it’s going to make anything we plan very difficult. Could you get a friend over the Pond to fax notification of a serious family illness to you?”
Serrin was bewildered, but he wasn’t the first person to be startled by the intricacies of British immigration law. “Yeah, sure. For how long?”
Say you go tomorrow, get back Wednesday evening? That’ll give us enough time out of town and a margin of time after the thirtieth.”
Suddenly an old recollection stirred at the back of Serrin’s mind. He'd thought at once of Manhattan, visiting acquaintances, maybe testing the waters for work when this madcap chase was over. He thought of a contact, then he remembered something about a crazy. He began to mentally plan a schedule for his time.
“Yeah, it’s a good idea. I might even be able to get something for us over there. There are always people I can talk to.” His face betrayed concentration as he chewed at his lower lip.
“Now, Rani.” The noble turned to face her, realizing she’d been left out of things so far. “We’d like to find these men, Smith and Jones, the scum who've made fools out of Serrin here and cost your people their lives.” He was aware that he had no leads on them, and that troubled him, but he needed to appeal to a common ground. Can you do some things for us? I can give you money and some equipment if you need it.”
“I’ve got a gun, and ammunition for it, and a good knife. I’m fast, I got wired reflexes. My brother paid for them, to protect me.” She was almost asserting her self-esteem; he smiled and made it clear her competence wasn’t in doubt. “Wish I had the Predator, though. Shouldn’t have sold it, really.” Then she had a flash of insight.
“Hey! You know, they gave my brother a gun. a Predator Mark II, and some armor-piercing ammo. Hard to get, a weapon like that. I sold it to Mohinder-he’s street samurai. Hard man. Needed to get information from him. That was before I met the Uridercity people and everything.”
Serrin’s eyes glinted. “Predator Mark II? They’re not easy to get outside of corporate contacts. They all have IDs in the barrel mechanism and in internal nanochips. At least, the export models do.”
Francesca leaped on that. “You mean, if we could get the thing back we might he able to check the ID? Find out where it comes from?”
“Maybe.” Serrin was unsure. “Good corporate guys might be able to dosh the ID around, erase the barrel marker, maybe alter the chip. But if we had it in our hands, we could check it out, at the very least.”
“Reckon you could buy it back, Rani?” Geraint’s voice was urgent. “I can give you money.”
She balked at the thought of trying to persuade Mo-hinder to part with the weapon so soon after selling it to him. But, what the heck, if she offered him double what she’d sold it for, it would be a big profit in a short time. “I can try. He gave me fifteen hundred for it, though. He’d want a lot more to part with it again.”
“Not a problem. As I said, I can give you what you need. Also, maybe you could check out the area where Catherine Eddowes was killed. Look for anything, anything at all. Maybe pay some kids to do some sniffing around. Can you do that?” Her nod said money could buy that, too.
“And, last thing. In a week’s time we might be in a place where a fifth murder’s going to be committed. We might need every advantage we can get. That means, for a start, muscle and firepower. Last night we ran up against an automatic weapon and a combat mage. Next time, who knows? What about those brothers you've mentioned? Can you get street samurai, spies, people we can trust? Again, I can pay. We’re going to need them.”
Rani realized that getting the gun back from Mohinder could be easier than she thought. Especially if these people only wanted to check the ID. Pay Mohinder enough and he can have half of Spitalfields out on the street. She nodded determinedly at Geraint.
“Great. And for us, I’ll set wheels in motion. Weapons and armor are no problem. Surveillance equipment I can rustle up. Slap patches are a little low, so I think I might renew my acquaintance with Edward while I’m in Oxford.”
He pronounced the name with a curious emphasis, deliberately inviting Francesca’s puzzled query.
“Oh. Edward? Professor of biochemistry and neurobiotics. Boy genius. He’s the man I talk to when I have a need for high-grade drugs”
The Indian girl had never seen so much money in one place in her life. She was astonished that he trusted her with it, and said so.
“Rani, you had family die, yes?” Geraint asked. They were in the hallway, out of earshot of the others.
She shrugged, as if to say, what’s it to you?
“When I was a kid, my best friend died. I was an only child, and at the time I had no other friends, really. He was a nobleman’s son, too. When he was twelve, he transformed. It happened while we were out fishing, him starting to scream and me thinking he was having a fit. I ran for help and when I got back with his father, he was beginning to change his form. I’d only seen pictures of orks, but I knew what was happening to him. We were out on the edge of the Dragon Lands, that’s in Wales, west beyond London, Rani.” He could see that she had no idea where the hell Wales was.
“A long way off. When we got him back to his father’s castle, his home! he was almost fully changed. Less than six hours. I gather that’s pretty fast, yes?” She nodded. remembering how long her own agonies had been.