"Sure enough, the Najik arrived in force and prepared to open the ship thehard way. And there Everett's second stroke of bad luck came in: Chort returned tothe ship about the same time and decided they shouldn't go in without thecaptain being there. So he blocked their path; and no one in the Spiral goesout of their way to irritate Crooea. The Najik were probably in the process ofdiscussing protocol with their HQ when the third and final bit of bad luckarrived."
"You?" Nicabar suggested.
"Me," I confirmed. "Ryland knew how far across the city he had sent me for theborandis, and figured the whole thing would be over and done with long beforeI could make it back. What he didn't know was that the sky was going to open upand rain small mammals, and that as a result I would hire a cab instead ofusingthe more anonymous public transports the way his employees are supposed to. Atany rate, I got back in time to bluff the Najik out of a real search, and wewere off again."
"An amazing bit of deduction," Everett commented, shaking his head in feignedwonderment. Apparently, he still wasn't ready to give it up. "Seriouslyflawed, of course, but still interesting to listen to. Tell me this, then, Mr.
Detective: If I was so determined to get you or Ixil, why did I risk my lifeto help get you away from the Patth on Palmary? To the point of even gettingshot, as you may recall?"
"Oh, I recall, all right," I said with a nod. "And the reason is simple, evenif the rest of the details are a little murky. You didn't hurt Ixil or me becauseby then you knew just how valuable the Icarus really was and that Ryland woulddefinitely want to get hold of it himself. You needed a pilot to get off theplanet; hence, the selfless volunteer work."
With my free hand I gestured to Nicabar. "Revs, however, was a different andmore serious matter entirely. You needed a pilot and an engine specialist toflythe Icarus; but with Ixil and Revs both around, you had two enginespecialists.
Under other circumstances you probably would have been happy to have theduplication; but sometime in the preparation for my rescue Revs must have letit slip that he was an ex-EarthGuard Marine. That was great for getting me out, but not so great when you looked further down the line.
"And so, when Ixil left you in the main club room as rear guard, you proppedupone of the dead Iykams in a likely position behind some of the tables, pickedout a spot nearby, and then shot yourself in the leg."
"He shot himself?" Chort whistled. "But why?"
"Two reasons," I said. "First, because he needed an excuse for why he was outof sight when Revs and Ixil brought me in from the back room. Remember, he had toshoot at Revs from concealment near where he'd set up the dead Iykam, thenmove a couple of tables away from there and shoot the corpse in the back if it wasto look plausible. The only possible reason he could have for lying down on thejobwas if he'd been shot."
I shrugged. "As it happened, he wasn't as good or as lucky as he'd hoped, andwas only able to wound Revs instead of killing him. Still, for putting himmore or less out of action it was good enough."
I was looking directly at Everett as I spoke; and so it was that I caught theflicker of relief that crossed his face just before the quiet andall-too-familiar voice came from the archway behind me. "Very clever, Jordan," the voice said. "Very clever indeed."
I took a deep breath as the rest of the people around the table once againbecame stunned marble statues. "And the second reason he shot himself," Iadded, letting the breath out in a resigned sigh, "was that he wanted an excuse tostayaboard the Icarus after the rest of us came up here to the lodge. ThatStarrComm call he'd made, you see, wasn't to any doctor friend."
With my free hand, not turning or even looking around, I gestured to thearchwaybehind me. "May I introduce you all to Johnston Scotto Ryland."
CHAPTER 24
"I'M IMPRESSED, JORDAN, really I am," Brother John said, his voice accompaniedby the sound of measured footsteps coming toward me across the wooden floor.
"So that's why you were sitting on the portico all afternoon, was it? Waiting tosee if I'd show up?"
"Not really," I told him. "No—don't try it," I added, shifting my aim towardNicabar as he began to ease one hand toward the edge of the table.
"Yes, do listen to the man," Brother John agreed. "At least, if you want tolive. You can put your gun down, too, Jordan, there's a good boy. So youdidn't expect me to show up?"
"Not while I was watching, no," I said, laying my plasmic on the table andonly then half turning to look around behind me. Brother John was standing in thearchway, beaming with apparent ease in our direction, as six of the biggestand meanest-looking thugs I'd ever seen strode purposefully toward us. Their faceswere without a doubt those of casual killers; the large black guns they werepointing at us made my plasmic look like a toy in comparison. "I assumedEverett was watching the cliffs behind the lodge, waiting for you to arrive."
"Don't be absurd," Brother John said. His voice was still cheerful, but therewas a sudden undercurrent of menace beneath it. "You don't really think I'dhave let you get here ahead of us, do you? We've been waiting in the back wing ofthe lodge for almost a day now. No, I think you were waiting for Everett to gettired of his vigil and come inside."
"What exactly is going on here?" Tera asked, her voice trying hard to be calmbut not entirely succeeding.
"I should think that was obvious," Brother John said, his gaze still on me.
"We're taking the Icarus and its alien stardrive off your hands."
"I'm afraid I hadn't gotten to that part yet," I said apologetically, turningback to the table. The bodyguards had reached us now, and as four of themstood watch the other two hauled Ixil and Chort to their feet and began a quick butthorough frisking. "Everett was told to lure us here with the promise of asafe haven. Mr. Ryland and his people were, we know now, waiting in hiding here inthe comfort of the lodge. As soon as the rest of us were inside out of theway, the plan was to sneak out to the ship and take off, leaving us stranded."
The thugs found no weapons on Ixil or Chort, pushed them back down into theirchairs, and moved on to Tera and Shawn. "I'm surprised they didn't just lineus up and shoot us," Tera bit out, glaring ice-shredders at Brother John andignoring as best she could the hands moving over her body.
"You underestimate Mr. Ryland," I told her.
"Yes, indeed," Brother John seconded. "After all, you already owe me yourlives once over. It was my people on Palmary who stood guard over the spaceportduringyour mad rush off the planet. As well as in the control tower, I might add."
"I wondered why we got away so easily," Nicabar murmured. "The least the Patthshould have done was lock down all departures."
"They tried," Brother John said, beaming some more. "Indeed they did. Thepressure was applied, and the governmental authorities had given the orders.
Somehow, though, the controllers were able to see through to a better and moreenlightened reasoning."
"We do owe him that," I agreed. "But when I said you'd underestimated him, Tera, I was referring to something else entirely. Mr. Ryland would never think ofkilling us here. Not when he can make a little extra money by turning us overto the Patth."
Tera stared at me, her mouth dropping open. "Are you saying—?" She looked backat Brother John. "You are a slime."
"I'd warn your lady friend to be quiet, Jordan," Brother John said, amid-November chill in his voice. "Particularly since the value of your liveshas decreased markedly in the past three minutes."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Nicabar asked calmly. The thugs had relievedTera of her pepperbox shotgun pistol; and now it was Nicabar's and my turn.
"He means he wasn't planning to sell us to the Patth just to pick up a littlespare change," I explained, wincing as the searching hands ran afoul of myassortment of sore muscles and joints. "It was mainly to buy him more time toget the Icarus out of here and bury it somewhere. Since none of us would knowwhat had happened to the ship, the Patth could interrogate us until Junewithout learning anything that would do them any good."