They exited the medical center and walked a ways in silence, Tan and Gretchen following a bit behind. It was still cloudy outside, and the light lay heavy with gloom beneath the trees. Kendi smelled rain coming. After a while they passed a playground on a wide platform. A trio of children were jumping rope, and they chanted with every jump.
Miss Irfan married Danny, and Danny went insane.
He stole her wealth and children, he ruined her good name.
He ran away to Othertown and tried to start a war.
He met up with some Silent and killed them by the score.
How many Silent did Dan Vik kill? One, two, three, four ...
Kendi looked at them as he passed. He had heard the rhyme a thousand times but hadn’t really paid close attention to it until now. A little gory. He supposed that’s what made it attractive to children.
“Do you think I’m evil?” Ben asked abruptly. “Or that I’ll go insane?”
“What?” Kendi started. “No! Why on earth would you think such a thing?”
Ben shrugged. “Daniel Vik was my father, and like those kids said, he went insane.”
“Not all historians agree with that assessment,” Kendi said. “And anyway, you’re you. Not Daniel Vik and not Irfan Qasad. Ben Rymar.”
“Insanity is sometimes inherited,” Ben insisted.
“No risk factors showed up on the genetic scans,” Kendi said. “Did your doctor ever say anything?”
“No,” Ben admitted.
“There you go.”
“It’s still creepy,” Ben said gloomily. “My dad was a genocidal maniac and my mother was a saint and they both died a thousand years ago.”
“It’s probably for the best that they’re dead,” Kendi said. “I mean, imagine what it would be like for me if they were still alive.”
“For you?”
“Sure. Irfan Qasad as my mother-in-law. I’d
never
get the house clean enough for her to visit.”
This time Ben’s laugh was real. In the middle of it, Kendi’s data pad beeped and a message flashed across his ocular implant.
“Whoops,” Kendi said. “I forgot—we were supposed to meet Keith for some male bonding time today.”
“Who’s we?” Ben said.
“I made the invitation on both our behalves,” Kendi said, “and then forgot to tell you about it. Can you come? Please? I’m trying to bring Keith out of his blue funk. We’re going to take part in an ancient Australian Aborigine ritual.”
“What ritual would that be?” Ben asked warily.
“Drinking our lunch. Come on.”
Kendi told Tan and Gretchen what was going on, and the women continued following the two men. The four of them made their way across several walkways, down a pair of staircases, and along a public promenade. Multiple shops, stores, and restaurants were stacked on top of one another in the trees, connected by lifts and stairs. Several of the shops were boarded up, and only a handful of humans and Ched-Balaar browsed among the open ones. Panhandlers sat among the dead, damp leaves that littered the walkways, begging from passers-by in dull, monotonous voices. Eventually, Kendi caught sight of Keith, who was wandering aimlessly back and forth on a narrow rope-and-plank bridge between two balconies. His hands were in his pockets. Every so often, he glanced at his fingernail, checking the time. Kendi called his name and waved, but Keith continued pacing.
“He can’t hear me,” Kendi said, heading for the bridge.
“Funny. Everyone else did,” Ben grumbled.
Keith had his back to them and had reached the other side of the bridge. Kendi trotted ahead of Ben to catch up to his brother. He was halfway across the bridge when a shower of wood chips cascaded over him and he smelled something burning. A terrible cracking noise groaned above him. Kendi glanced up and saw a branch the size of a support beam rushing toward him. Then something hit him and he was flying through the air. He landed hard. “ll the air burst from his lungs and his head smacked something solid. A tremendous crash tore the air. Several people screamed, and the noise mingled with panicked Ched-Balaar hooting. Kendi lay stunned for a moment, then sat up.
He was lying on the platform he had been trying to reach. Behind him lay a torn bridge and a stomach-turning drop. Gretchen was stretched out at the rim of the platform. The lower half of her body hung over the edge, and she was clawing at the remaining boards in an attempt to regain solid planking. Her face was pale. Kendi scrambled over to help her, trying to ignore the pounding in his head. He seized her arm and helped her up.
“Are you all right?” he demanded.
“I’m fine,” she said. “You?”
“My head’s going to ring for a while, but I’ll survive. What happened?”
“That.” Gretchen pointed up. A bare spot in the talltree above showed where the branch had broken off. It had fallen onto the bridge and demolished it. A raw stump showed pale wood. Kendi looked down and saw the wreckage of a second bridge. Far below, he could just make out the branch lying on the forest floor. From here looked like a twig.
“I saw the branch start to go,” Gretchen continued, “and shoved you. It almost got me.”
“Kendi!” Keith said behind him. “God, are you—?”
“I’m fine. We’re fine.” Kendi scrambled to his feet, his heart suddenly pounding hard. “All life! Where’s Ben? And Lewa?”
“You’re welcome,” Gretchen said.
Kendi caught sight of Ben and Tan on the other side of the bridge. He waved at them and activated his earpiece.
“I’m all right,” he said before either of them could answer. “Gretchen saved me.”
“
I’ll give her a raise,
” Tan said. “
Wait right there. We’ve already called the Guardians.
”
“
I can’t breathe,
” Ben said. “
God, are you
sure
you’re all right, Kendi? When that branch fell—
”
“Don’t go all panicky, Ben,” Kendi said. “Gretchen said she’d protect me and she did. Everything’s fine.”
“
Not until I get over there, it isn’t
.”
Ben and Tan circled around on another bridge and arrived on Kendi’s platform at about the same time the Guardians did. A mixed crowd gathered in the meantime, but fortunately no one seemed to have been hurt. The lower bridge had been unoccupied when the branch hit. Keith stared over the edge into the hole as if transfixed. Kendi had a sudden fear that Keith was planning to jump and he pulled Keith away.
“We don’t want another accident,” he muttered.
“Why do you have wood chips in your hair?” Keith asked.
“Father Kendi?” It was a Ched-Balaar who wore a blue head cloth on her head and a silver medallion around her neck. Silver for Guardians. “I’m Inspector Ched-Theree. If you and your companions could answer some questions?”
Kendi went off with her alone except for Lewa Tan, who refused to leave his side. Gretchen stayed with Ben. Ched-Theree’s first question, of course, was “What happened?” Kendi explained events as best he could remember, and it was during the retelling that he remembered the chips falling on him from above.
“Our technicians are inspecting the branch and keeping me updated by vocal transmission,” Ched-Theree clattered. “They are nowhere near finished, but they tell me even a novice could see this event was planned. Preliminary examination gives them to think some sort of directional incendiary device cut through the branch.”
“An explosive?” Kendi said.
Ched-Theree ducked her head in acknowledgment. “One whose force went entirely inward, toward the wood. This rendered the explosion nearly silent so you would not hear it and be warned.”
“All life.”
“Furthermore,” Ched-Theree continued, pressing a hand to the side of her head and listening, “the explosive was set off by remote control, not a timer. In other words, your potential killer was watching while it happened.” She paused. “Father Kendi, who knew you would be in this place at this time?”
Kendi’s mouth was dry. “I’m not sure. Me. Ben. Keith. Maybe my sister Martina, if Keith told her. Lewa Tan and Gretchen knew, but I only mentioned it to them just before we headed over. They couldn’t have told anyone in time for them to set up a...a trap like this.”
“We will, of course, speak with Mr. Rymar and Brother Keith,” Ched-Theree said.
“It wasn’t them,” Kendi said hotly.
“They may have spoken to someone about your meeting, Father Kendi,” Ched-Theree said. “And we must speak with all those involved in any case. They may have seen something important.”
“Right.” Kendi rubbed a tired hand across his face.
“The Guardians have been reading the death threats you forward to us,” Ched-Theree continued. “Our psychologists have so far informed us that the senders are ultimately harmless, though we shall certainly look at them more closely. Do you have other enemies, Father?”
“A long list, I’m afraid,” Kendi said ruefully. “I’ve stolen slaves from half the slavers in this part of the galaxy. I’m sure they’d love to see me squashed under something heavy. And I’ve been campaigning for Senator Reza lately, so one of her enemies might want to see me dead. More recently a bunch of us really pissed off a whole truckload of people at Silent Acquisitions when we destroyed one of their pet projects. Maybe they hired an assassin.”
“We can narrow the field,” Tan said, “by taking into account who knew you’d be on that bridge at that particular time. When did you contact Keith to set up the meeting time?”
“Two days ago,” Kendi said. “I sent him a text message and he replied the same way. Ben keeps my messages scrambled better than a chef’s eggs, though, so I can’t imagine anyone would have intercepted my mail.”
“Whom did you tell you were meeting your brother?” Ched-Theree asked again. “Please consider carefully.”
Kendi thought. “No one I haven’t already mentioned. I didn’t even write it on my calendar—just set my message program to remind me of it in case I forgot, which I did.”
Ched-Theree had Kendi go over the events leading up to the attack twice more before Kendi finally begged off, pleading hunger and fatigue.
“Very well,” Ched-Theree said. “I will give you my contact codes. If you remember anything, anything at all, let me know immediately, even if it is the middle of the night.”
To this Kendi agreed. He turned to leave—
—and found himself facing a phalanx of reporters. “Father Kendi, can you comment on what happened here today?” “Father Kendi, was this an assassination attempt?” “Father Kendi, what impact do you think this will have on Senator Reza’s foundering campaign?” “Father Kendi—” “Father Kendi—” “Father Kendi—”
Kendi blinked at them. He had been concentrating so hard on his report to Ched-Theree that he hadn’t even noticed their arrival. A holographic “Keep Out—Guardian Scene” border hastily erected by the uniformed Guardians had kept them out of Kendi’s face, but now they were blocking the only bridge leading away from the crime scene.
“Father Kendi has no comment for you vultures,” Tan bellowed. “Now move it or I’ll move you!”
Gretchen, Keith, and Ben appeared, released by their own inquisitive inspectors, and they joined with Tan to form a wedge that plowed through the crowd with Kendi in the middle. Free-floating microphones buzzed and flitted around his head as the reporters continued calling out questions.
“Father Kendi, who wants to kill you?” “Father Kendi, was this more than just an accident?” “Father Kendi, can you comment on the recent lifting of the mining restrictions?” “Father Kendi—” “Father Kendi—” “Father Kendi—”
Kendi felt his shoulder and neck muscles tighten like screws. He didn’t need this right now. He wanted to shout at them to leave him alone, to stop taking his picture and quit their questions. But he said nothing, forcing himself to move at Tan’s pace. Twice she shoved aside a reporter who refused to give ground. Gretchen, meanwhile, tripped a human and elbowed a Ched-Balaar hard in the ribs. Ben raised a fist to one man, who shied away when he saw the thick muscle in Ben’s upper arm.
Finally they broke free of the crowd. They trotted across a bridge with the reporters in hot pursuit. Once Kendi reached the other side, Tan turned and blocked the end of the bridge. She drew her pistol.
“Go the fuck away,” she growled.
“You won’t shoot us,” one of the front-runners said.
In answer, Tan aimed at one of the four support ropes holding up the bridge. There was a flash of light, and the rope thumped to the wood like a dead snake. The bridge swayed. Tan aimed at a second rope. “s one, the reporters turned and fled.
“Nice,” Keith said.
“Let’s move,” Tan said.
“You wouldn’t have cut the bridge out from under them,” Ben said.
Tan shrugged. “The safety net beneath would catch them. One or two would have broken something, I’m sure. Would’ve been fun to see.”
They made it back home without further incident. Harenn was waiting for them, and she gave Kendi an uncharacteristic hug.
“The story has already flooded the newsfeeds,” she said. “I am glad to see you well.”