The next day the hospital commed to say they were releasing Nual, and when Taro arrived to collect her he found her talking to a heavyset man dressed in a garishly patterned shirt and shorts. She turned to Taro and said, ‘This gentleman has kindly paid my bill.’ In his head, she added:
The gentleman in question beamed a smile. ‘You must be Taro,’ he said. ‘Would you two care to join me for a short drive?’
‘Where to?’ Taro noted that the man hadn’t offered his name.
‘Oh, just around,’ he said with a disarming shrug.
Nual said, ‘I think we could do that, although we would like to know with whom we will be riding.’
‘Of course.’ The man didn’t appear to take offence. ‘You can call me Patai.’
Patai’s ride turned out to be one of the locals’ distinctive ground-cars, a high-topped vehicle with an open pen for stashing luggage in the back. It was wide enough for the three of them to sit side by side in the front.
As they got in Patai said, ‘That was quite an adventure you two had out on Ipitomi.’
Taro gave a noncommittal grunt.
Nual said, ‘I suspect you are not here to talk about the diving incident.’
‘No, you’re right. I’m not with the holonets.’ He pulled away from the hospital, driving slowly and carefully. ‘I represent a third party. One who would be interested in hiring you for a job.’
‘What sort of job?’ asked Nual.
Taro kept silent; best let her handle this.
‘The sort that needs the advantage of your unique talents.’
Taro thought,
Nual responded,
Out loud she said, ‘I see. Precisely which aspect of our unique talents would your third party be interested in?’
‘Your ability to fly, mainly.’
‘What is the nature of the job?’
‘We would like you to get someone out of a secure facility.’
‘Can you be more specific?’ she asked.
‘At this stage, not really. I can tell you that the person you will be removing wishes to leave the facility, and that the security there, whilst normally very tight, will have been compromised by the time you arrive on the scene. Oh, and I am authorised to offer a generous remuneration.’ He named a sum that was nearly as much as the Minister had given them when they left Khesh. ‘It would be ten per cent up front, the remainder on completion.’ Patai turned down a minor road. ‘I imagine you’d like to discuss this in private. I thought I might drop you at the east gate of the park. I will drive round to meet you on the far side. Normally I’d allow longer, but time is of the essence in this case. Will that be acceptable?’
‘I believe so,’ said Nual.
They carried on in silence. Taro resisted the urge to chat mentally with Nual. He was enjoying being let into her head again, now the whole love/addiction problem was sorted. But they needed to stay focused on business.
The park was the largest green space in Stonetown, with neat lawns shaded beneath palm trees. Flowers spilled from planters next to carved wooden seats. After Patai dropped them off they strolled in the dappled shade.
‘I think we should take him up on this offer,’ said Nual.
‘The pay’s top prime for sure,’ said Taro, ‘though it ain’t exactly Angel work.’
‘The money would be useful, but that’s not why we should do it. This involves two of the three hi-tech
ngai
.’
‘Really? Which ones?’
‘I do not know yet. Patai is merely a broker, so he works for whichever
ngai
pays at the time, but the sense he has of this job is that it is connected with the conflict between those three. To find names and specifics I would have needed to go deeper into his head, which would be unwise at this stage.’
‘So, you gonna read him fully once we’ve agreed to take the job, then make him forget he ever met us?’
‘That would be a mistake, given the organisations he works for. And though he may have useful information, I doubt it is what we are after. But by doing this job we may get access to just the kind of hidden hi-tech facility being used to create the transit-kernels; perhaps while we are there we might take a look around. By making ourselves useful to the
ngai
that hires us, we may additionally gain a way into their confidence.’
‘Right. It’s just . . . I’ve never done anything like this before.’
‘Do you wish me to carry out the job alone?’
‘No, of course not.’ He wasn’t going to leave her without back-up.
‘Are you sure? Taro, I know that you have killed only in self-defence, and you are not used to combat. If you do not want to come on this mission, you do not have to.’
‘I got the implants, and the conditioning,’ he said. Then, with more confidence than he felt, he added, ‘And who said anything about combat? All we gotta do is lift some cove who wants to leave anyway.’
‘Then we had better give Patai his answer.’
CHAPTER TWENTY
It was a good job Taro was up for it, because the mission needed both of them. They had to infiltrate the island facility where the mark lived, find their man, then fly him out to a modified aircar which would be submerged just offshore. Once he was safely on board, they’d earned the rest of their pay.
Patai’d said time was of the essence because a massive storm was due to hit the island in two days’ time. Another team would be going in under cover of the storm to do some smoky stuff of their own. ‘You don’t need to worry about Team Beta,’ Patai told them. ‘The only thing you need to know is that they’ll be acting as your diversion.’
The job didn’t sound so hard, Taro thought - and it got better: Patai’s employer wanted Taro and Nual on top form for the mission, so they’d been installed in a suite in a downtown hotel.
The only less-than-prime thing was the weaponry, or rather, the lack of it. Nual, asking if there was any chance of getting their gun out of customs, was told that wasn’t ‘appropriate’. Patai’d issue them with tranq-pistols, and they were to stick to non-lethal force. Apparently the
ngai
had some sort of honour code against taking lives. The man had a point, Taro admitted: an x-laser wasn’t exactly designed to subdue opponents.
The suite had a large living room, and two double bedrooms off it. Taro had previously only seen the like in the company of well-heeled punters able to pay for the room - and for him; he’d not had much opportunity then to admire the luxurious surroundings. He sat on the bed and bounced up and down experimentally. ‘I could get used to this,’ he called through the open door to Nual. ‘Did Patai say we could use room service?’
Nual stuck her head in and smiled. ‘He said, “Whatever you need, within reason.” I assume the
ngai
is paying for these rooms so we do not have to plan our mission in the hostel.’ Her smile faded. ‘But they have given us little information to plan with.’
‘I s’pose not. What d’you think they’d have done if a pair of Angels hadn’t happened to show up?’
‘Hire others – Iimagine there are always those who can make themselves useful in the conflicts between the
ngai
. No doubt they have access to stealth air vehicles, perhaps even personal gravharnesses. However, we come already equipped with the ability to fly - plus, being offworlders, we are deniable.’
‘Yeah, that’s true. You sure this ain’t some sort of set-up?’
‘Yes,’ she said, looking a little doubtful, then qualified her statement. ‘At least as sure as I can be without using my abilities so explicitly that I would give myself away.’
‘That’s good enough for me.’
Another smile, warmer this time, and suddenly Taro saw what a bastard he’d been, how badly he’d hurt Nual by making this all about his own pain. He’d been acting like what she felt didn’t matter.
‘What is it, Taro?’ she asked gently. ‘Are you all right?’
She could find out easily as snapping her fingers; she just had to read him to know what he was thinking. But he’d told her to stay out of his head, and she had, other than to share the stuff they needed for the mission. She was giving him respect and distance and consideration. All he’d given her was anger and blame.
‘Yeah—No—’ He tried again. ‘Listen, Nual, when you—When you
undid
what you did to my head, did it work both ways?’
‘You mean, when I broke your love for me, did I also break mine for you?’
‘Yeah, that.’
‘No. I did try but—’ She stopped, then continued softly, ‘It appears I can influence the emotions of others far more easily than I can control my own.’
‘Shit and blood, so you still feel—? Shit! I’ve been a total fuckwit, haven’t I?’
She raised an eyebrow. ‘That would be one way of putting it.’
‘Is that why you went off with the spirit-rays? Because you wanted . . .’ He couldn’t say it, couldn’t say out loud:
did you want to kill yourself
?
‘Perhaps – I was befuddled by the
ahuatai
, it is true, but I would not have allowed them to affect me so deeply had I not been trying to run away from my pain. Letting myself be drawn into their simple unity was stupid and cowardly. Though I told myself it was for the best, I was taking the easy way out. I will always be grateful to you for risking your life to save me.’
‘No worries, that’s what friends’re for.’ He stood up. ‘Can I—? Would you like a hug? Just a hug - for friendship?’
Nual looked surprised at Taro’s offer, but she smiled wanly. ‘I would, yes. Very much.’
He held her close, and it felt right. Just a hug, like he’d said, between friends.
Their coms chirped simultaneously.
Nual stiffened, and Taro let her go.
He glanced at his hand to see a message telling him his credit balance had just shot up. Patai had sent the down-payment; they were committed to the mission now.
He looked up as Nual swayed on her feet. Her eyes were glazed and her face looked drained.
‘What is it?’ he asked. ‘Are you all right?’
She put a hand out and staggered backwards. Her throat worked and for a moment he thought she was going to throw up. He reached for her, offering his support and she let him catch her hand.
She dipped her head, swallowed hard, then said, in a voice as quiet and still as death, ‘I think we may have made a terrible mistake. ’
‘What d’you mean?’ Taro steered her to the bed and she sat down heavily. He kept hold of her hand.
‘This mission . . .’ She swallowed again and shuddered. ‘I think something bad will happen.’
‘I don’t understand. I thought you said Patai ain’t setting us up?’
‘He isn’t. At least he doesn’t think he is. But . . .’ She raised her head, but wouldn’t meet Taro’s worried gaze. ‘Do you know what prescience is?’ she asked softly.
‘Nope. Sorry.’
‘It’s the ability to see the future.’
‘Is that something Sidhe can do?’ Though he knew of shysters back on Vellern who’d claimed to read tourists’ fortunes, it hadn’t occurred to him that anyone - not even the obscenely powerful Sidhe - could genuinely know about stuff that hadn’t happened yet.
‘To an extent, yes: because I’m sensitive to the minds around me I sometimes know what someone is going to do an instant before they act. It can make me more dangerous in combat, but any skilled human fighter can develop their own version of this ability. There is something else though, a very rare talent. It’s like a vision—no, that’s not the word. It’s more like - let’s say, a
certainty
. Like sudden and overwhelming intuition.’