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ground streaking by outside...A point of light curving in fast from over the
trees, part of the house erupting in flame...The perimeter
wall...Forest...Rising to clear hills ahead..
"Shiiit!" Murray breathed shakily beside him.
Where had the light come from? Another craft that had been following them?
Something else that had been set up from elsewhere? Hunt stared numbly as the
view ahead organized itself into the way back to Shiban, only barely aware of
the tirade of words that Nixie was directing at Scirio, or of Scirio answering
in even tones, his manner gradually unwinding from the tenseness that had
prevailed through the journey out. Murray became attentive to what they were
saying, and after a few minutes of questioning and listening, he turned his
head toward Hunt.
"The fat guy they blew away was the boss, Grevetz. He was one of 'em --
an Ent. Scirio figured that if what we'd said back at his place was true, then
he'd be on his way down the tubes along with the rest when he'd outlived his
use. So he decided he'd move first, when nobody would be expecting it. Looks
like maybe he was right."
By now, Hunt's revulsion was subsiding enough for him to start thinking again.
He followed, but was still puzzled. "Okay...but how did he know that what we'd
said was true? How did he know it wasn't just a last-ditch try from us and the
Thuriens to stop JEVEX from being switched on again? We could have made up the
whole thing."
Murray shook his head. "That's what all that stuff back at the pad was about."
He indicated the back of Scirio's head with a nod. "Did you notice how he was
acting kinda weird when we walked into his place back in town?"
"Giving Nixie funny looks, you mean? Yes, I did. What did it mean?"
"It seems he knew her, from way back -- or at least he knew Nikasha, the
person she used to be. What clinched your story was that she'd obviously never
seen him before. The real Nikasha would have run a mile, never mind go walking
back into the place cool as a penguin's ass."
Hunt blinked in astonishment. "You mean she'd been there before?"
Murray talked some more to Nixie, who talked to Scirio. "Nikasha used to be
Fatso's girlfriend -- "
"You're kidding!"
"Only Fatso also happens to have a bitchy wife, see. Anyhow, the two of them
-- the two dames, that is -- had one hell of a fight, and Nikasha tried to
wipe Mrs. Fatso out."
Hunt stared disbelievingly. "To do in the boss's wife? Her? That's crazy."
"Not her. The person who used to be her. If what you're telling me's true,
she's gone for keeps now, right? Yeah, do her in. It happened back there in
Scirio's place, where we were before. She stunned Mrs. Fatso with a Jev
shooter while she was in the pool, figuring it would look like a heart attack,
but it didn't quite work out. Fatso put her number out, and that was why she
did a vanishing act and lost herself in the city. It all happened before I
came here -- I never knew a thing about it."
The one way to be sure that Nixie was not putting on an elaborate act for some
reason would be to confront her with Grevetz in person, Hunt saw. His rage at
the sight of her had been clear enough, and her mystification in the face of
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it had been something that nobody could have faked.
"And once Scirio knew she was genuine, her recognizing Grevetz as another of
her kind was enough to spell out the score," Hunt said, nodding as it all
became clear. He was still shaking, he noticed. From a side window he could
see that they were heading back toward Shiban. "So what happens now?" he
asked.
Murray shrugged. "Sounds like it's gonna be war all over the place now, with
nobody sure who's on whose side."
Hunt wondered what that would mean. Nixie had been recognized at PAC by at
least one of the police, and exactly where they stood in the whole business
was unclear. "How safe are Danchekker and Gina back at Osaya's place?" Hunt
asked in a worried tone. "Once this news gets back, people are likely to be
going crazy everywhere. I don't like it."
Murray passed the question on to Scirio. Scirio called some instructions
forward, and one of the two men in the front seats spoke into a handset.
"He's getting them out," Murray said.
Scirio then went On to speak at greater length, in the course of which
Murray's eyes widened. Finally Murray turned to Hunt. "The way he sees it, the
first thing has to be to stop Eubeleus turning on the computer, and then let
the Terrans and Thuriens straighten things out. If they put the brakes on the
headworld business that'll be a shame, but if he was about to be run out of it
anyway it doesn't make any difference. He's a businessman. There are plenty of
other lines. He figures that this way he'll have a better chance of working
some kind of deal with the new management than he would have if Fatso's people
took over."
Hunt frowned uncertainly. "So...what does that translate into? Exactly what is
he saying he's going to do?"
Murray exhaled sharply, then shook his head. "I'm not sure how, but it looks
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