Of course, the tribunals also had the power to order executions. Four days ago, Toreth had stacked the interviewees to get the outcome he wanted. What if Carnac had done the same with the tribunal members? Had he chosen them so that Toreth would underestimate their willingness to schedule 'surplus staff' for elimination?
Toreth pulled up the lists of names of tribunal members, and scanned through it. None of them were familiar, but that was only to be expected. However, he had the authority to dig deeper — another one of Carnac's gifts.
To his surprise, he managed to get a connection to the security files on the first try. He called up the members' files and read a few at random. He found nothing in them to suggest they were of any higher calibre or any more ruthless than the members of the test tribunal. Reassuring, to a certain extent. Still, it was a puzzle, and a worrying one, because the tribunals certainly weren't something Carnac had allowed by accident.
He considered it for a while, then gave it up. It was only a matter of time before he'd find an excuse to scrap the tribunals for good, and it was highly unlikely they'd be started up again later. Once that happened, Carnac's plans, whatever they were, should be neutralised.
That thought was a worry, not a comfort, because it suggested that Carnac's plan to take down I&I — and he was still convinced Carnac had a well-hidden agenda — would have to come into play soon. There was something going on, something he knew nothing about, and with Carnac involved, that ignorance could be fatal.
How? 'How' was the big question. He doubted that anyone at I&I besides Carnac was in on it. It wasn't as if he could simply take Carnac out for a drink and ask him what he was planning.
Toreth spun himself round in the chair, the beginnings of a smile mirroring the beginnings of an idea.
It wasn't as if . . .
Sara had already gone to bed when Toreth finally let himself into the flat. He heard Bastard, scratching at the inside of the door to her room, no doubt hoping to be let out to wreak havoc. From that he deduced that McLean must be guarding bodies elsewhere — only the totally insane would try to get near Sara with Bastard in the vicinity. The animal was possessive to a disturbing degree.
Toreth was convinced that, given half a chance and a bit of cooperation, Bastard would be screwing Sara with the same enthusiasm he applied to stealing food and destroying furniture. When he'd mentioned as much to Sara, she had been unamused to say the least, which made him wonder if she thought the same thing.
He found Warrick in the bedroom, still awake, or almost so — he was sitting up in bed, a screen on his knees, his head nodding.
"Warrick?"
He jerked upright. "Mm? Oh. I was wondering where you'd got to."
"Sorry, I should've called."
While he undressed, he thought about how bloody domestic that little exchange sounded. He needed to get his own flat back, soon, before he ended up imagining that he liked it. "You don't have to wait up for me."
"I wasn't." Warrick yawned and put the screen down. "I'm trying to work out how long we can keep paying our employees if our customers use the current difficulties as an excuse not to honour their debts."
Toreth hadn't even thought about how all this might be affecting SimTech. "Is it serious?"
"Not yet. Or at least Asher says not, and I trust her judgement. I was going over the numbers she gave me, just to double-check. Two pairs of eyes are better than one." He yawned again. "Although possibly not at this precise moment."
Toreth went to kneel beside the bed, still brooding about the idea of being waited up for. Being positive, at least it meant that he knew where Warrick was when he wanted him.
"Warrick, I need a favour. A big favour."
"Ask away." Warrick ran his hand across his shoulder. "I'll do my best."
"I need the address of Carnac's hotel, and his medical records."
That woke him up. "Medical records? Why?"
"Warrick —"
"Yes, of course. And I very much doubt I want to know, in any case."
"Can you do it?"
There was a long silence, then Warrick shook his head. "The address I have, as you know, but as for the other — no, I don't think I can."
At first, Toreth thought he must have misheard. Then, briefly, that Warrick meant he wouldn't do it. "Why not?"
"They'll be in the Socioanalysis Division system somewhere, and I have no idea how to go about getting into that."
"You can get into Int-Sec, why not Socioanalysis?"
Warrick smiled. "You let me into Int-Sec originally, remember? Once you're part of the way in it's much easier. And I can get the less secure files — ordinary citizens' files, medical files from Central Medical Services. But it's unlikely that Carnac's file will be stored there."
"Fuck."
"If it's that important, I can try. But it won't be easy — or safe. I can't do it from here. I'd need to find somewhere to start that can't be traced back to me."
"No . . . no, if it's going to be that hard, don't do it." Carnac was too damn dangerous to risk attracting his attention.
"Is there anything else I can do to help?"
"No." That was it. He didn't
have
a Plan B, because he'd been so confident that Warrick would come through. "I'll have to think of something else completely."
"I'm sorry. Is there anything else I can do?"
Hadn't he just asked that? Toreth looked at him blankly, then focused on the smile in his eyes rather than his still serious expression.
"Yeah, maybe." It certainly wouldn't hurt to stop worrying about Carnac for a while and there was no better distraction than Warrick. "What did you have in mind?"
"Nothing elaborate."
Suited him — he was too tired for games. "Just a basic fuck?"
Warrick laughed. "Sometimes you're so amazingly charming. Well, come on then. Get into bed."
Ten minutes into nothing elaborate, Toreth had managed to forget I&I, Carnac, and everything else except the fact that Warrick really was better at this than anyone else he'd ever fucked. He wanted nothing more than to come in Warrick's mouth and then fall blissfully asleep before he even felt him stop swallowing.
He heard an indistinct exclamation from under the sheets.
"What?" he asked, hoping it wasn't anything important. When Warrick lifted his head, Toreth bit back a moan of protest.
"I'm an idiot," Warrick said.
Didn't look like blissful sleep was imminent after all.
"I can't believe I didn't think of it straight away." Warrick threw the sheets aside and knelt up. "Does it have to be current?"
Did what? Then he realised what Warrick meant. "Not as long as it's not too old. No more than a few years."
"How much of it do you need?"
"Biochem and metabolism, known drug reactions, genetic predispositions — nothing fancy."
"Then I can do it. In fact, I can do it right now."
Eleven minutes earlier, that would have been music to his ears. Now he wished Warrick could've thought of it a bit later. "How long will it take?"
"A couple of minutes." He took Toreth's hand, licked the palm, and placed it onto his saliva-slicked cock. "Keep yourself amused and you'll hardly notice I'm gone."
"
What
?" Toreth sat up. "And I thought you said it would be risky?"
"Couldn't be safer." Warrick was already out of bed, pulling on his dressing gown. "Carnac's been in the sim, which means that his medical file will be in the volunteer archive at the AERC. I've got a copy of that here. Just the basics, but if that's all you need . . . "
Toreth started to follow him out of the room, remembered that they weren't alone in the flat, and went back for something to wear. By the time he reached the office, he found Warrick already working.
"All the medical details are anonymized. It won't take me long to undo it."
Toreth watched for a few seconds, trying not to ask the question. Then he said, "You were thinking about Carnac?"
"Mm?"
"You were thinking about Carnac while you had my cock in your mouth?"
"Not really." Warrick didn't even look round. "More along the lines of a sudden flash of inspiration."
"You must've been."
"Well, I suppose he might've been at the back of my mind. I can think about more than one thing at once, you know, especially when one of them is technically exacting but hardly intellectually demanding."
What were you thinking about him? Toreth decided to drop it. There was no point in asking questions until you got the answer you didn't want to hear; he of all people ought to know that.
"Ah. Here we go." And then Warrick paused. "Before I give this to you, I ought to ask you to promise me that whatever you want it for, Carnac won't be harmed as a consequence."
"I didn't know you cared about him that much."
"I never said that I did." Warrick's face, reflected in the screen, was utterly serious. "But in any case, I don't need a promise because it would be suicidally stupid of you to do anything to him, and I know you're neither of those things."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence."
Now Warrick did smile, slightly, as he brought the information up. "Is that enough?"
He scanned the details over Warrick's shoulder. It was indeed just the bare basics, but it held more or less everything he needed to know.
"Can I have a copy? On paper."
"Of course. I'll take the name off, shall I?"
"Please. And don't take too long." He rested his hands on Warrick's shoulders. "How strong is this chair, do you think?"
Warrick laughed. "Go back to bed. I'll be there in a minute."
After she closed the door quietly behind her, leaving the room pitch dark, Sara nearly changed her mind. This was so stupid. But she couldn't bear to try to sleep on her own again, and she was almost ready to cry from sheer exhaustion. Even sneaking Bastard into her bedroom hadn't helped her sleep — he'd refused to cuddle, and spent his time scratching the door and sulking because she wouldn't let him out. The only other option was McLean, but after their disastrous night, she couldn't think of anything to say to him. So it was this or nothing.
Her stealthy entry didn't seem to have disturbed the occupants. She'd heard them both in the hall outside her room the second or third time she'd woken up, but that was an hour ago. Now the only sound in the room was the quiet breathing of deep sleep.
It took a few minutes' careful groping in the dark before she even found the bed. It was only then that she realised she wasn't sure which side Toreth slept on. Mostly she only saw him asleep on sofas. The right side, she guessed.
Well, if she had to make a mistake, at least it would only be with Warrick and hopefully he'd understand.
"Toreth?" she whispered. No response, so she tried a gentle touch on his shoulder. "Toreth?"
"Mm?" Movement in the dark, then, "Sara?"
Oh, shit — it was Warrick. Well, it would be. She should think of something and leave. However, exhausted as she was, should and could proved to be two different things. In the end, she said, "Sorry. I thought you were Toreth."
A pause, then he said, "Housekeeping, minimum lights."
Slowly, the lights came up to a dim glow, revealing Warrick lying on his back, propped up on his elbows, blinking up at her, with Toreth sound asleep beside him. He studied her face for a moment, then frowned.
"What's wrong?"
"It's . . . I had a nightmare, about I&I. Blood and people screaming and they were looking for me and . . . and then I went back to sleep, and it happened again. I'm so tired, and I just can't —" To her horror, she felt tears starting. "I'm sorry I woke you up. I wanted to ask Toreth to —" To make it all better, somehow. "To come and sit with me. Or something."
Warrick smiled slightly. "Or something?"
She blushed, hoping the dim light would hide it. "Let me sleep with him. Or, on the floor next to him, I mean," she added quickly, because it was Toreth.
"Would you like me to vacate the bed?" Warrick asked.
The kindness in his voice, and of the offer, brought the tears back.
"No! I mean, I don't want to throw you out, I just don't want to be alone and —" She couldn't carry on, so she looked away from him, blinking quickly until the tears subsided. This had been a stupid idea. "I'm sorry I woke you up. I'll be fine. I'll —"
"Please, don't worry about it."
Toreth moved, sighing in his sleep, then stilled again, and as Warrick turned away to look down at him, she caught a glimpse of a smile. Sudden envy chased the tears away. It wasn't fair. If Toreth woke up, Warrick would be
there
.
Then Warrick sat up. "Very well. Turn your back, please."
She did, wondering why, until she heard him get out of bed and cross the room. A drawer opened, and clothes unfolded, then he returned. When she looked round, she found him clad in a pair of dark pyjamas, blue or green in the low light, made of something silky. Silk, very possibly.
After a moment, she realised she was staring. Warrick looked quite unperturbed.
"After you would be best, I think," he said.
She probably ought to go through a few minutes of protestations and apologies. Instead, she climbed into bed and moved across, next to the still oblivious Toreth. Once she had settled in, Warrick joined her, keeping a discreet distance which must have placed him on the very edge of the bed.
"Do you want me to leave the light on?" he asked.
"No, thanks. I mean — I'll be fine without."
"Housekeeping, lights off."
Darkness again, but a different darkness. Not lonely, or full of lurking horrors. Toreth was warm beside her, his slow breathing almost a snore. Warrick's quiet breathing from her other side made her feel surrounded and secure, as if she were in the safest place in the city.
Suddenly, Warrick laughed — she felt rather than heard him.
"What?" she whispered.
"I was thinking that this will give the security team something to discuss in the morning, should they notice you coming out of here."
Something she hadn't thought of. She turned to face him. "God, Warrick, I'm sorry. I'll go. I don't want to —"