The Knights of the Black Earth (6 page)

“Glad you’re here
to protect us, Father,” Ito said.

“And I always will
be, my son,” Xris returned solemnly, and patted Ito on the head.

They walked
without incident through the weapons detectors, headed for the lifts.

“Floor
thirty-five,” Xris said, and inserted his security card.

The lift whisked
them up, stopped. Stepping out, Xris and Ito glanced up at the briefing screen.

“Mission briefing
2122027, 0845hrs, 3506.”

“That’s us.”

The two were early
for the briefing, but they weren’t alone. Another man sat at a desk in the
back, sipping coffee and working on a portable computer. He looked up, smiled,
nodded. Xris and Ito nodded back, took their seats at the desks that made this
room resemble a classroom.

Xris was back up a
moment later, going to get coffee for himself, tea for Ito. He’d just returned
to his seat when Ito nudged him. Dalin Rowan had walked in.

“Dalin, how’s it
going?” Ito asked pleasantly.

“Okay,” Rowan
replied.

His lips jerked in
what was intended for a smile, but didn’t quite make it. And nothing sounded
less okay than his “Okay.”

He took a seat in
the center of the room, about four chairs removed from Xris and Ito. The
stranger in the back had finished his coffee, continued to work on the
computer.

“Been a long time,
buddy,” Xris said quietly. “I’ve been worried about you.” It was an apology.

Rowan glanced up.
He was pale, thin, had obviously lost weight. He attempted the jerky
pseudo-smile again.

“Sorry I haven’t
called, Xris. I .. . I’ve had a lot on my mind lately.” Rowan glanced at the
stranger in the back, added, “I’ll talk to you after the meeting.”

Xris nodded,
settled back, relieved. He and Rowan had not parted on the best of terms and he
hadn’t seen or heard from his friend in a month. All because of that damn
bitch. Xris had tried to point out to his friend what everyone else knew but
was too polite to mention: The whore was taking Rowan for a ride. A wild and
thrill-packed ride, maybe, but a ride nonetheless. An expensive ride.

You goddamn
fool! You’re thinking with your zipper, not your brains!
Xris recalled those
words clearly. They were the last words said between them.

Rumor had it now
that the slut had left Rowan. When he could no-longer pay for the tickets, the
amusement park had shut down the rides. Looking at his friend, Xris guessed
that this time the rumor was true. He wondered uncomfortably if other rumors
were true, as well. That Rowan was in big financial trouble, seriously in debt.

Well, Xris
reflected, I’ll find out soon enough.

The superintendent
entered, accompanied by an older woman wearing a flight suit. Xris and Ito
exchanged glances. They’d been right. The super was Jafar el Amadi, top man on
the Hung Conspiracy case. So that’s what this was all about.

The meeting came
to order.

Amadi opened with
a frown; but then, he always frowned.

“Agents, this
briefing will be kept short. First, I’d like to introduce your controller,
Agent Michael Armstrong.”

Xris twisted in
his desk. The man in the back acknowledged the introduction. Tall, thin, and
middle-aged, Armstrong didn’t look as if he had the stamina for fieldwork;
probably why he was assigned to the more sedentary controller role.

“Next I want to
introduce Captain Lisa Bolton, skipper of the
Vigilance,
our new orbital
control ship. All right, let’s get down to business.

“To sum up: we
have reason to believe that the Hung have infiltrated the very top levels of
the galactic government. We don’t have any hard evidence, but there are several
indications, most noteworthy being Senator Gravesborne changing his vote at the
last minute on the arms control legislation which went down to defeat last
month. Because of this defeat, the Hung were able to start up a munitions plant
on TISor 13 and a weapons factory on TISor 8. The syndicate doesn’t need these
weapons; the Hung are well supplied. Obviously, they’re not manufacturing guns
for themselves. They’re selling them. And now we think we know who’s buying—the
Corasians.”

Xris sat up
straight. Even Rowan, who had been staring listlessly at his desk, lifted his
head, his attention caught. The Corasians occupied the galaxy next door and
wanted to take over the entire neighborhood. Unfortunately, when the Corasians
moved in, they had a bad habit of devouring the neighbors. Made entirely of
energy, the fiery bloblike entities roamed about searching for food— any living
being would do, but Corasians were particularly fond of human flesh.

“This is only a
suspicion, mind you. We can’t prove anything— yet. That’s why you’re all here
today. As you can imagine,” the super continued grimly, “I’ve got the boss on
my back on this one. Chief Superintendent Robison is in my office more than I
am lately. President Robes has taken a personal interest in this investigation,
ladies and gentlemen, so let’s do this one right. I want to retire in four
years on schedule. Got it?”

They all nodded.
Xris, glancing at Rowan, was pleased to see some color in his friend’s wan
face. Work—the best remedy for whatever ailed you. Even a broken heart.

“Let’s get down to
details. Xris, you and Ito and Rowan will conduct a raid on the munitions plant
on TISor 13. Word is that’s where their central computer system is located.
Rowan will handle the computer end. Xris and Ito will find out what’s being
produced and if it’s been designed with those damn Corasian blobs and their
robot casings in mind. Once we get hard evidence, we can bust this thing wide
open.

“Xris and Ito will
land on TISor 13 first, stake out the factory. I’ve booked passage on the
IfD Lentian
for the two of you, arriving at TISor 4 in seven days. From
there, you’ll rent a spaceplane and fly to TISor 13.

“Rowan, you’ll
travel with Armstrong on the
Vigilance,
then link up with Xris and Ito
planetside just before the raid. I have no idea what sort of computer equipment
these people are running, so bring everything in your tool kit.”

Xris was
disappointed that they weren’t traveling together. Get Rowan alone for seven
days and his two best friends would have him just about back to normal in no
time.

“Excuse the
interruption, Super,” Xris spoke up. “But why not send Rowan along with us?”

Amadi was
extremely irritated at the interruption. “We’ve intercepted some coded
transmissions from the Hung. Our computers can’t crack them. I want Rowan to
work on them and he can do so only with the sophisticated equipment on board
the
Vigilance.
I trust this meets with your approval, Agent?”

Xris ignored the
sarcasm. The super was under a lot of pressure these days. “Sure thing, sir.”
He looked over at Rowan, who gave him a smile—a real smile.

“Good.” Amadi
grunted. “Now, where was I?” He peered at his notes. “Armstrong, your post will
be on the
Vigilance.
You’ll act as onsite mission commander—guide
everyone into the factory and out again.

“Now listen to me.”
Amadi rested both hands on the desk, leaned over it. “I don’t need to tell you
how vital this mission is. Everything must go according to plan. Yes, I’m
talking to you,

Xris. You listen
to the controller on this one and do exactly what he says or so help me you’ll
be back on Jackson’s Moon busting cyberpunkers. Understood?”

Xris caught Ito’s
wink and swallowed the retort that would have only landed him in trouble. There
wasn’t much he could say in his own defense. He’d been right in ignoring the
controller’s warnings two times out of three, but it was the third—when he’d
been wrong—that had nearly gotten them all killed. It was also the reason they
now had a new controller. Xris heard that Polinskai had taken early retirement.
He nodded glumly.

The super turned. “Captain
Bolton, how soon will your ship be ready to leave?”

“Six days, sir. We’ve
just finished ship’s run-up trials, and need to take on all provisions and load
the system’s computers with the operational data for this mission.”

“Very well, then,
Captain. Six days it is. Armstrong, you and Rowan coordinate with the captain
here for all transport details. You will establish contact with Xris and Ito on
TISor 13 at oh-two hundred hours on the ninth. Rowan, you’ll get a chance to
fly one of the
Vigilance’s
new intrusion shuttles. You’ll meet up with
Xris and Ito on the surface, and Agent Armstrong will guide you in from his
post on
Vigilance.
Anything else?”

Armstrong raised
his hand. “I’d like to run over the details of the plan with the other agents
after this, if that’s convenient with them.”

The super glanced
around. The others shrugged, agreed.

“If there’s
nothing else, good luck!” Amadi dismissed the meeting.

Everyone stood as
the superintendent and Captain Bolton left. When they were gone, Ito walked
over to their new controller, held out his hand.

“Mashahiro Ito. I
haven’t met you before. Are you new in the agency?”

Armstrong shook
hands. “No. I’ve been in for a few years now, working out of Central
Headquarters. My specialization is the Corasians. I’ve been acting as our
liaison with Naval Intelligence. I was due a change, so I requested a field
assignment. They figured I could be useful on this case.”

“Fed up with the
politics, huh?” Xris was sympathetic. He, too, shook hands. “Name’s Xris.”

“No one can
pronounce his surname, so we just skip it,” Ito added.

For a man with not
much muscle tone, Armstrong’s handshake was surprisingly firm and strong. “Life
in the capital
is
pretty stressful,” he said in answer to Xris’s
question.

And that, thought
Xris, is all we’ll hear about HQ. For a while, at least. Though Armstrong doesn’t
look the type to open up. Pity. It’d be nice to know if the word floating
around about disorganization and turmoil at the top is true.

Rowan shook hands
with their new controller, mumbled “Nice to meet you,” then asked abruptly, “What
time’s the briefing?”

Armstrong blinked
and answered, “Twenty-two hundred, if that’s okay with everyone? I thought—”

“Fine.”

Rowan left, moving
so rapidly that Xris fell over a desk in his effort to catch up. He caught his
friend at the door.

“Hey, buddy, I
thought we were going to talk. Look, I’ve got an idea. Come home with me to
dinner. We’ve got six hours before the briefing with Armstrong. Marjorie’s
cooking something special—one of her famous ‘welcome home’ meals. She’d love to
see you. She said she didn’t hear from you the whole time I was away. You know
how she worries. . . .”

Rowan was shaking
his head, doing his best to escape out the door. But Xris was a big man,
broad-shouldered and tall, and made a sizable obstacle.

His attempt
foiled, Rowan halted, stared impatiently past his friend into the hall. “Thanks,
Xris, but I just remembered an appointment—”

“Cancel it.”

Rowan shook his
head. “I’m afraid that’s not possible. I’ll see you at the briefing.”

He tried to step
around. Xris grabbed hold of his friend’s arm. “Goddammit, Dalin, I’m sorry—”

Rowan looked
directly at Xris for the first time since he’d entered the room.

“For what?” Rowan
asked bitterly. “Being right?”

Slender, shorter
than Xris, Dalin Rowan was wiry and agile. He feinted left, moved right, and
was out the door before Xris could stop him.

“No luck?” said
Ito, coming up behind.

“Hell no. He’s
acting strange, Ito. He could be in trouble. Big trouble. I heard—”

“Excuse me,”
Armstrong interrupted politely. He was standing behind them. “If I could get
past? I need to put together a few things.”

“Sure. Sorry.”
Xris moved one way, Ito the other.

Armstrong stepped
between them, gave them a smile, and walked off down the hall.

“What have you
heard?” Ito asked.

“Nothing,” Xris
answered. “Skip it.”

Ito shook his
head. “You heard he was on the take. I heard it, too, and I don’t believe it.”

“I
didn’t.
Until I saw him.”

“Rowan’s straight
arrow. You’ll never convince me.”

They both stood in
the doorway, watched their friend step into the lift.

Xris took out a
twist, stuck it in his mouth, chewed on the end. “Maybe one of us should ...
well . .. keep an eye on him.”

“Damn it, Xris, we’re
talking about Rowan! Dalin Rowan!” Ito snorted. “If you want to tail a man who’s
been your best friend for ten years, who’s saved your ass more than once, then
go ahead. I’m going out for a drink. You coming?”

Xris went with Ito
for that drink. But he was to wonder later— wonder over and over again—what
would have happened if he hadn’t. What if he’d tailed his friend, his pal, his
buddy? What would he have seen? Rowan meeting with the Hung. Taking their
filthy blood money. Selling his friends out.

Why? Why the hell
didn’t I go after him? Xris was to ask himself that question during the long,
pain-tormented nights. And he always came up with the same answer.

Because he was my
friend. A man doesn’t tail his best friend.

But then neither
does a man set his best friends up for the kill.

Armstrong was
already in the briefing room when Xris entered. He sat down and waited. After a
few moments, Ito wandered in, glanced worriedly at Xris, who had been moody and
morose in the bar.

Xris smiled,
nodded, indicated that he was once more in his right senses. An excellent
meal—all his favorite food—and Marjorie’s reassuring, levelheaded conversation
had eased his mind. Dalin hadn’t sold anyone out. He’d be fine. Some things a
man had to work out on his own.