Sweet Starfire (21 page)

“So you let him run mail with you?”

“He was good at it. Very determined. Once in a while I let him take a ship out alone while I made deliveries and arranged contracts here on Renaissance or on Lovelady. He liked going to
QED
by himself with just Fred along for company. Said it gave him a lot of time to think. I knew I should have insisted he go to Clementia for training, but he kept resisting the idea and I just didn’t have the heart to force him. He got killed because of my lousy judgment.”

“Was he killed on that red plain? The one you light-painted on board ship?”

She might not be a Harmonic, but there were times when the lady was too damn intuitive. “He went straight into the ground answering a distress signal in a
QED
sandstorm. Nothing that flies can survive one of those storms. The only thing a pilot can do is run from them. But Jeude didn’t run.” Severance felt his hand clench into a fist under the sleeper cover. Very deliberately he forced himself to flatten out his palm. “Fred survived. The rescue crew found him wrapped around Jeude’s leg when they arrived. The ship was destroyed, pieces of it scattered over a wide area. They never did find all the cargo.”

“I’m so sorry, Severance.”

“I know.” He didn’t doubt it for a moment. Cidra’s compassion was as real as her ability with Moonlight and Mirrors. Sweetness and light were her inner core of strength. He shook off the brooding feeling as he thought about the conflicting image. “It’s in the past, Cidra. I wish I hadn’t mentioned it.” Severance rubbed his eyes wearily, thinking that he hadn’t talked about Jeude to anyone for a long time.

She didn’t press him. Her hand slipped back into her sleeper, and she turned on her back to stare at the low ceiling of the tent. Another distant clanking sound echoed in the night, and a small scream split the air close to the camp.

“Overcash is right. Renaissance is somewhat overwhelming,” Cidra said quietly.

“Frightened?”

“No, of course not. I understand about the security systems and the deflectors and all. There’s nothing to worry about.”

“Cidra…”

“Too bad they haven’t come up with some way of blocking out some of the night noises, though. It’s very hard to sleep with so much jungle racket.”

Severance said again, “Cidra.”

She ignored him again. “I hope Fred is enjoying his stay with Desma. He certainly seems to like her. He’ll be in for a shock if he wanders into the lab, though, won’t he?”

Severance unfastened the opening of his sleeper. “Cidra, come in here with me. There’s room for two.”

Her head snapped around. “Severance, no, I don’t think that would be a very good idea.”

On one level he agreed with her. But he couldn’t spend the rest of the night listening to her tension. “Then relax. I’m not about to fight my way through those trousers you’re wearing. I’m just offering a little human comfort.”

“I’m not a child.”

“Did anyone ever hold you until you fell asleep when you were a child?”

There was a long silence. “Harmonics don’t touch each other, except when they’re in full telepathic communion. My parents were never able to experience that kind of bond with me.”

He heard the careful explanation and then reached across to unfasten her sleeper. “Come here, Cidra. I’ll hold you until you fall asleep.”

“Really, Severance, that isn’t necessary. I’m just fine the way I am.”

He sat up and pried her gently out of the sleeper. She resisted slightly at first, and then, with a warm, scrambling rush she was inside his sleeper, curved against his body. She lay still for a moment, and then he felt her begin to relax. The distant clank of zalon armor sounded again, but this time she didn’t flinch. The lumbering warriors continued to fight their battle in the darkness while Cidra gradually ceased to be an unwilling audience.

Some time later, when he was absolutely sure that she was asleep, Severance allowed himself to cradle Cidra more intimately. His hand drifted to her breast and rested there as he yawned deeply. She felt good nestled into him this way, her firm buttocks tucked against his thighs. He liked the relaxed way she was finally sleeping. It made him feel good to have her trust him, even on an unconscious level. She was so concerned with trust, so convinced that she could never establish it completely with a man until she was a Harmonic.

Cidra wasn’t born to be a Harmonic. Severance knew that with a certainty that burned deep. He wondered how long she would pursue her fruitless quest. It wasn’t in her to acknowledge defeat. The only thing that would deflect her from her goal was if she, herself, changed her mind. And from what he knew of her that wasn’t likely. She was a stubborn woman.

He allowed himself the luxury of resting his hand on her breast and decided that he could be just as stubborn as any false Harmonic. With that, Severance finally slipped into sleep himself.

It wasn’t the clanking of zalons or the screams of another jungle denizen, but the sound of human voices and the hum of a river skimmer that awakened him the next morning. For a moment Severance lay still, considering the coincidence of another skimmer having chosen this tributary to travel. It wasn’t very likely an accidental event. According to what Severance had been told, only the ExcellEx field camp lay along this tributary, and Overcash was the only skimmer pilot supplying that base. He yanked on his trousers.

Overcash’s greeting boomed out over the water. “Hey, come ashore for some hot coffade. We’re just about to eat.”

“Sounds good,” came the response. “I’m coming in.” Severance heard the answering voice and reached for his pulser holster.

“Severance?” Sleepily Cidra blinked and looked up at him.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing yet.” He finished strapping on the pulser and slid out of the sleeper.

“Then why are you.?”

“Racer’s here.”

“Racer!”

She sat up, startled. Her face was flushed, and her braid half undone as she stared at him in astonishment. Severance wished he had the freedom to get back into the sleeper with her and conduct an intimate discussion on the merits of human comfort. But that option wasn’t open to him.

“It’s one renegade hell of a coincidence that he’s running the same river with us. I don’t trust him any farther than I can ship him without postage.”

Severance stepped out into the dawn to find that Racer was already on shore, his skimmer bobbing lightly behind him on the water. The man’s blue-green eyes followed Severance as he emerged from the tent.

“Spend a pleasant night teaching new tricks to the Harmonic, Severance?” Racer smiled and lifted the pulser in his hand until it was pointed at Severance’s bare chest. “Maybe before this is all over I’ll take the opportunity to add to her education. But for now, drop the pulser, Severance. I’m here to do a little business. Bonus business.”

“What’s the matter, Overcash? ExcellEx bonus money not good enough for you? Think Racer’s going to pay more? You’re in for a surprise. Racer’s not all that reliable. Take my word for it. I’ve had firsthand experience.”

Inside the tent Cidra listened in shock to Severance’s cool, contemptuous voice. She shoved aside the feathery light sleeper. As she struggled with the awkward boots that went with her new outfit, she could hear the three men very clearly. Their rough, tense tones sounded infinitely more lethal than the noises of the jungle morning.

“Shut up, Severance,” Racer said. “We’re just going to conduct some business. After which we’ll leave you in peace. Where are the sensors, Overcash?”

“In the skimmer’s cargo hold.”

“Get ‘em out. Load them onto the skimmer I brought.”

“But why?”

Overcash sounded honestly confused. “I thought we were going to take both skimmers back with us.”

“I’ve changed the plans slightly.”

Severance interrupted mildly. “He does that a lot, Overcash. Racer’s changes of plans have a way of leaving a man holding a lockmouth by the wrong end.”

“I’ve told you to shut up, Severance. Call the little Saint out of the tent. You can’t hide her in there forever.”

Cidra was already stepping through the iris diaphragm opening. She spoke very softly. “I’m here, Racer. There’s no need to shout.”

“Stay where you are, Cidra,” Severance ordered without turning to look at her. “Don’t come any closer.”

Obediently Cidra halted, taking in the scene with a quick glance. Overcash was transferring the carton of ExcellEx sensors from his skimmer to a second craft that had been made fast alongside. While he labored Cord Racer kept a pulser trained on Severance. The pulser Severance had been wearing was missing from its holster. Racer had taken it.

Severance stood with his customary ease. If there had been a chair nearby, he probably would have sprawled in it as usual. Nothing except the contempt in his expression gave any indication of his tension. But Cidra sensed the leashed fury in him so clearly, she thought for an instant that she had almost read his mind. The sensation was disconcerting.

Racer showed his tension much more visibly. It radiated through his body as he faced Severance. His eyes were narrowed, and the hold he had on the pulser seemed far too tight. When his gaze flicked briefly to Cidra, she knew he had already dismissed her as a source of trouble. She knew that in his mind she occupied the status of a “harmless Harmonic.” And at the moment she did feel harmless. The frustration was enough to push aside some of her fear and allow anger to take its place. But as she stood silently beside the tent Cidra kept all of her emotions sheltered behind a serene facade.

“We’ll make this short and sweet, Severance,” Racer said. “Wouldn’t want to take up too much of your valuable time. You’re going to need it to try to walk out of this jungle by sunset.”

Overcash finished loading the cargo and jumped to the bank. “There’s no way he can walk out by sunset. I made sure we came far enough yesterday to make that impossible for anything but a zalon. Want me to collapse the tents?”

“No need,” Racer replied. “They won’t do him any good. That lightweight armor isn’t enough to do any more than keep the bandini off him. And I don’t want to waste time. We’ve already wasted too much as it is.”

Severance looked at him with idle interest. “Those were your men at Lovelorn? The ones who posed as port security?”

Racer shrugged. “A couple of incompetents. But I didn’t have time to be too choosy. Quench moved unexpectedly when he commissioned you to make the run with the sensors. I’d been expecting him to delay for another few days. As it was, I barely got word of it in time to make any kind of try at all. I’d like to know what you did to those guys, Severance. They were almost incoherent when I finally found them.”

“You should have told them that coming aboard Severance Pay without an invitation wasn’t going to be a simple slide-in, slide-out job.”

“I figured two of them could handle it. Especially with you running around Lovelorn trying to pick up some extra credit from one more patron. A good postman like you couldn’t resist just one more commission, could you?”

Severance nodded. “I wondered about that deal at Lovelorn.

Especially yesterday, when I couldn’t find the man who was supposed to be waiting so eagerly for the case.”

“Good help is hard to find,” Racer drawled. “And getting harder all the time. Didn’t have much luck with the renegade I hired to pick up Cidra the other night, either. After I met her at the Bloodsucker it occurred to me that she might be a handy sardite chip. Thought if I had her, you might be more amenable to a little bargaining.”

For an instant Cidra felt her outward control slip. “That was your man in the lab? The one who hurt Desma?”

Racer gave her a short, wry glance. “He wasn’t after Desma. But he figured she would head for the lab when she got the malfunction alarm. The idea was that you would be alone in the house. Easy pickings.”

“But she followed Desma to the lab instead,” Severance said.

Racer shrugged. “It still would have worked if one of those bugs Desma keeps as pets hadn’t gotten loose. The way Payne told it, he was lucky to escape alive. This time I decided I’d better handle things myself. My clients are getting impatient.”

“I’ll just bet they are,” Severance murmured. “You’ve missed twice so far. What makes you think you’re going to have any more luck this time around?”

“In case you haven’t noticed, Severance, my luck is running very high today. Thanks to some advance planning.” Racer spoke over his shoulder to Overcash. “Is the skimmer I brought ready?”

“All set. I’ll take the deflectors.”

“No, we’ll leave those behind along with the tents. The screens have already been used all night, haven’t they?”

“Sure, but…”

“Then they haven’t got more than a few hours’ charge left. Without the skimmer’s fuel cells there’s no way to recharge them.”

“What are you going to do with the skimmer I brought?” Overcash demanded.

“It’s going to be in a severe accident. And that’s what this whole scene will look like in a couple of days. An unfortunate, but not untypical, Renaissance river accident. Skimmer sinks and the crew is left on shore with failing equipment. By the time another skimmer heads up this far, there won’t be much left. Renaissance will see to that for us.”

“You’re a fool, Racer,” Severance said wearily.

Overcash moved uneasily, his hard face knotting into a frown. “I don’t know, Racer. Might be better to make sure of ‘em before we leave.”

Racer shook his head. ‘Too much chance another skimmer will be along in a couple of days. If we use the pulser, there’ll be evidence. I’ve heard too much lately about that renegade named Quench who runs ExcellEx. He’s trying to build a reputation as a company owner who looks after his own. If he hears that his handpicked mail pilot got shot trying to deliver the sensors, he’ll demand an investigation. And he’s getting big enough to force one. Hell, he’ll pay for it out of his own pocket if he gets really mad. No, this has to look like an accident.” A terrifying screech sounded from the jungle followed by a bitten-off scream. Racer smiled. “Come on, Overcash. We’re not leaving anything to chance. No one spends a night in a Renaissance jungle without equipment and lives to tell about it. Everything will be over by morning.”