Gabriel's Ghost (44 page)

Sully anticipated Philip’s next swing, jerking away before the blow could connect.

My fingers dug into Sully’s shoulder. I grabbed Philip’s arm with my other hand, tugging and pushing at the same time. My feet tangled with Philip’s legs. I lost my balance and fell onto the low sofa table.

Thad shoved by me, grabbing for Sully’s arm. I blocked him, catching him in the stomach with my elbow. “I said, stop it! All of you!”

I plowed in between Sully and Philip, braced one arm against the back of the couch. Thad sank down on the low table, clutching his midsection, breathing hard.

Philip glared up at me. Behind me, Sully’s breath rasped.

“We had to know,” I told Philip. Another no choice situation. Like on the bridge of the
Karn
. I pushed myself upright and faced Sully.

His arms were clenched at his sides. His chest heaved. A reddish bruise had blossomed on his jaw.

“Power down. Both of you,” I said.

Philip sat up, raked his hands through his hair.

Thad was back on his feet. “She needs your help, Philip. I’m not any happier about dealing with… him than you are.” He slanted a glance at Sully. “But Burke threatened to kill her before. He will now. Unless they stop him, first.”

Philip took a deep breath as if to center himself. “Tell the whole story, from the beginning.”

I did. I told him how jukors were breeding and Takas were dying. And other Takas were taking revenge, raping and killing human females. How Berri Solaria was working with Lazlo, and had uncovered Sully’s plans through her friendship with the Takan monk, Brother Verno. Who had risked his life to save us, and a Stolorth, Brother Ren Ackravaro.

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Sully spoke tersely, gave Philip facts, figures, what names he knew. He showed him the datatabs, their information now on the way to Guardian Drogue.

“I’ll need a copy of that sent to the
Loviti
,” Philip said.

Sully hesitated. “I’m not sure I trust official Imperial channels right now.”

“For good reason.” Philip’s expression looked suddenly pinched. I had a feeling what he’d heard didn’t surprise him as much as I thought it would. “And I’ll make sure those official Imperial channels don’t see it. But there are people, people I know, who need to.”

He did know something. “Philip?”

He slanted a glance at me. “Later. I’ll explain later. Thad?”

My brother sat behind his desk, stared at his hands and told how Burke had threatened my life when he’d confronted him with the jukor data. He admitted that my ship’s logs had been falsified, my trial, manipulated. My sentence on Moabar was a warning to Thad to cooperate.

Philip exploded in anger. “Damn it, Thaddeus! Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Burke owns people—”

“A Guthrie? Me?”

“My first priority was keeping her alive. I didn’t have time to find out who I could trust.”

“So you hired him?” Philip pointed dismissively at Sully, leaning against the edge of Thad’s desk.

“Nobody hired anybody,” Sully said, tiredly.

Thad leaned back in his chair. “I thought he was dead. Like you did.”

Philip regarded Sully as if he were some sort of specimen. “
Ragkiril
. And a human one. A genetic rarity. But immortality isn’t one of their attributes. Even if he is a
Kyi
.”

Sully straightened slightly.

“Didn’t think I’d know that, did you?” Philip appeared clearly satisfied with the impact of his words. “I know what you are, what your kind can do. My family researched
Ragkirils
during the war.
Ragkirils
and jukors. It sounds as if your cousin wants to make sure you stay dead this time.”

“Few people know what I am. Hayden’s not one of them. And yes,” Sully continued as Philip started to speak again, “Chasidah knows.”

“Only a
Kyi-Ragkiril
can read without touching a subject,” Philip told me, as if to make sure I knew what Sully was. “Watch his eyes, the way they seem to go totally black. He’s monitoring my thoughts, probably yours and your brother’s as well. So don’t think for a minute he doesn’t know we’re all afraid of him. We have good reason to be. He can do a lot more than just see what we’re thinking.”

“She knows,” Sully repeated, tightly.

“That she’s working for a shape-shifter?”

A sharp silence followed his words. I’d told Dorsie that if there were shape-shifters, someone in Fleet would know. Someone had. The Guthries. But only them? I shook off questions we didn’t have time for and stepped forward. “We need off Marker. Will you help?”

“If it were just him, I’d tell him to find his own damn way off. But there are other issues here, issues you don't know about. So, yes, Chaz, I’ll help.” He motioned to Thad. “I’ll need to use your deskscreen.”

My brother vacated his chair and exchanged a brief, startled glance with Philip. “Shapeshifter?”

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“Ever seen the paintings in an Englarian temple?” Philip asked as Sully shoved himself away from the desk.

I didn’t bother to watch for my brother’s affirmative nod. I felt Sully’s annoyance, felt him keep his reactions in check. Philip’s knowledge, and confidence, clearly bothered him. He took a seat at the conference table and swiveled away from Thad and Philip.

I was glad for once I couldn’t read rainbows. A distinct edginess hung in the air. Considering what we faced, it was counterproductive. I decided to lead by example, a tried and true Fleet method.

I sat next to him. “What’s Ren’s status?”

“There’s a worker bar on Fourteen. Mostly Takas. They’ve been able to stay there for awhile.”

“Any chance of getting back to the
Karn
?” Sully and Philip on the same ship for any length of time wasn’t going to be a workable situation. And it would take the
Loviti
awhile to reach Dock Five, or Dafir.

He angled toward me, his hand opening as if reaching for me then he closed his fingers into a fist. He stared at them. “Guthrie still thinks of you as his wife.” His voice was quiet.

I glanced at Philip. His concentration was on the desk screen, and the conversation he was having with his ship.

“We don’t have time for personal issues, not his, not yours, not mine.”

His hand opened again. “You’re not his wife, Chasidah.”

“I know that,” I said. His eyes snapped briefly to infinite darkness.

Mine
. Then the harsh tone in my mind softened.
Chasidah-angel. Philip says to fear me. Do
you have any idea how afraid I am of him
?

“My private shuttle will be at Access Bay Seven Blue in twenty minutes.” Philip tabbed off the deskscreen and leaned back in Thad’s chair. “We’re going to run into the security stops. Do you and your friends uplevel have ID?”

Sully swiveled slowly around, leaving emptiness, longing, and warmth in my mind. His sensations hovered around my confusion.

“Ren and Verno have Englarian clearances on file. Get me any two cards,” he said to Thad, standing behind Philip. “I’ll get Chasidah and myself through from there.”

Philip scowled openly. But Thad agreed. “I’ll need my desk back.”

Philip grabbed the back of the chair next to mine, sat. He leaned his elbows on his knees, clasped his hands together. He deliberately ignored Sully as he moved by and chose instead to study me for a long moment. “I want you to consider something. I have no idea what your plans are after we get out of Marker. But with this information on Burke I can go to Tage’s office, clear your name. A captaincy could be yours, again. It will be, because I’m on the Admirals Council now. The Chaz Bergren I’ve known most of my life would never turn that down. Not even to work as a pilot for a smuggler, a
Ragkiril
, a rare human one at that, who might yet end up being one of the wealthiest men in the Empire.”

“I’ve got two cards.” Thad’s voice cut between us.

Philip shoved himself to his feet. “Think about it.”

* * *

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Thad drew me into a very un-Thad-like hug as we got ready to leave his office. He would stay behind, run interference through his access into the security system and work on the copies of the data Sully had left him. He’d be in touch, through a private comm tran I could access.

I feared for his safety, knowing what we did of Hayden Burke.

My big brother was more concerned for mine. “Philip’s appointment on the Council should halt most questions.” Unless Burke had people in places higher than a Guthrie could go. There weren’t many. He squeezed my hands. “Be sure… of what you want to do,” he said softly.

Sully was a few feet away, waiting in the outer office.
“Trust Philip,” he added.
I bussed his cheek. “Watch after Willym for me.”
Sully checked his Carver, adjusting his jacket around the weapon. I did the same with my

Stinger. He had both ID cards in his pocket. “Ren and Verno will meet us at the bay at Seven Blue.” He touched my arm.
I need a constant link with you
.
Agreed
. I pushed away my unease at Philip’s warning about
Kyi-Ragkirils
. If there were problems, Sully, scanning, reading, would know before anyone else. I wanted that knowledge. Two stripers in the corridor watched us approach—Philip and Sully, with me in between.

They saluted. “Everything all right, captain?” “Optimal.” But we were still on Fleet property. The security checkpoints were in Marker’s public areas.

The stripers there might be less intimidated by the Guthrie reputation. The security droid at the checkpoint we’d passed through earlier now had a human

companion. “Lieutenant Halpert. Do you need to see my ID again?” “No sir, Captain Guthrie. But we had reports of a problem. I’ll need to check the others’

IDs.” Sully gave Philip a barely perceptible nod as he fished in his jacket for the ID. “We’re on Admirals Council business,” Philip continued. “I don’t want to be delayed

through a misidentification. I need clearances sent from here through to Seven Blue.” “Very good, sir. I still need to log them in to do that.” Sully held the cards out to Halpert. “For my wife and myself.” I knew Philip heard, but his only reaction was to clasp his hands behind him, rock slightly

back on his heels. A sign that meant he was holding his temper. Halpert scanned the cards, frowned. “I’m sorry, but—” Sully’s hand grasped his shoulder in a casual manner. “A problem, lieutenant? I think the

system’s just running a little slow right now.” “A little slow.” Halpert took a deep breath. “Sometimes this happens.” Sully removed the cards from the slots. “We’re clear to go.” “You’re cleared.” A second barely perceptible nod. This time from Philip, to Sully. An acknowledgment of

what he knew Sully could do. Change what someone thought, what someone saw. Just as Gregor had said.

I toyed with questions while we walked. It was early evening, station time. Less work uniforms, more civilian clothing on the clusters of people passing by. But I wasn’t thinking of Marker 2 at the moment.

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Why didn’t you do that when we got to Moabar Station
? I remembered how my card had read out an error in Berri’s medical files. Drogue, Ren, Sully and I had all crowded around the scanner.

Takas get suspicious when touched by humans. I had to wait for the M.O.C. officer to focuson the screen before I could ‘show’ her the file was clear
.

He’d brushed against her, I thought. Or touched her. Changed what she saw.

In the core, why didn’t you make me see something else? Or forget
?

I felt a small twinge of pain. He was remembering my fear, as I was.

Besides the fact I’d have no explanation of how we’d arrived uplevel
?

So it’s not like a zral, or
… I didn’t want to say the other word.

It’s more like a distraction. A sleight of hand. It has to be consistent with the situation
.

That’s why I saw energy, not wings, on the bridge of the
Karn
. I still saw Sully doing something. Only how he appeared to me was slightly changed.

I don’t like when I have to do that, Chasidah. It’s a decision I make, it’s something I do onlywhen I have no other choice. When lives are threatened. On the Karn, I was concerned about the
crew. The mission. If you and Gregor and the rest of the crew found out what I was then,
everything was in jeopardy
.

A group of people waiting at the lifts talked excitedly. I thought about Sully’s answers as I watched the group. I had to watch all the stationers moving around us, toward us. Berri and Lazlo were out there. But so were others, others I wouldn’t recognize. We had to get to Blue, halfway around from where we were in Green.

Two stripers on patrol nodded, but said nothing. Sully flashed mind-pictures over his link to Ren. They were moving cautiously, Verno’s short rifle concealed, wrapped in his jacket.

Philip slowed, his hand rising slightly. “General checkpoint ahead. You can read if there’s problems from this distance, can’t you?”

On the left side of the corridor were a portable scanner and three stripers, two female, one male. All human. That was a good sign. No Takas who didn’t want to be touched.

Sully’s eyes darkened. Philip watched him. I wondered what his family’s files on
Ragkirils
, on
Kyi-Ragkirils,
had told him. Enough that he’d known what Sully was after he’d scanned him. Enough to be angry at the intrusion. Enough to state we all had very good reasons to be afraid.

“They’re hungry,” Sully said after a moment. We picked up our pace. “Bored. Nothing interesting’s happened. If Halpert sent through our clearances from the Fleet checkpoint, we should be fine.”

“If he hasn’t, he’ll find himself sitting a few rather unpleasant duty shifts.” Philip squared his shoulders, held his ID out to the tall woman security officer, read the name off her tag. “Cortez. We’re on Admirals Council clearances. My ID should suffice.”