It was just a simple drive back to the camp. Darman felt he could manage that, and began fretting about digging graves in the dark. He certainly didn’t plan to leave the corpses overnight. He had an image of the Marits making a stew out of them, and it wasn’t funny at all. It disturbed him in a way he hadn’t thought possible, making his mouth fill with unwelcome saliva as if he was going to vomit, but he had to hold it together long enough to work with the lizards until the assault on Eyat began.
“Nice strong cup of caf when we get back,” Miner said. His voice had every single intonation then that Skirata’s did, all reassurance and concern. “You’ll be okay, Dar.”
What if they weren’t actually going to kill me? I never waited to find out.
“Sarge, do you suppose they’d just come to arrest Sull?”
“No,” Niner said firmly. “They came to execute him. And even if they’d arrested you, they’d only have been taking you back so someone else could kill you. So stop replaying the holovid in your head and accept it was them or you, ner vod’ika”
Sometimes Darman thought that he alone knew what was going on in his mind, and then one of his brothers would tell him exactly what he was thinking. On balance, exposed or not, he was more comforted to know he wasn’t alone or going crazy.
They drove out of town with Darman occasionally directing Niner, who was working from the holochart in his datapad. Fi followed behind in the other speeder. It was all going fine-fine under the circumstances, anyway-until the red and green strobing lights of the local law enforcement patrol vehicle shot past them.
“He’s in a hurry,” said Niner.
“Late for his caf break …” That was what Captain Obrim always said when he saw one of his CSF speeders misbehaving. Darman glanced in the rearview to check that Fi hadn’t dropped too far behind. “Doesn’t look like they get too much trouble in this place. Not exactly the lower levels of Triple Zero.”
“Everywhere’s got its lower levels, Dar.”
He felt that if he kept chatting like a normal person, everything would be all right. He thought that right up to the moment when the police speeder braked and came to a halt, the illuminated matrix between its rear jets flashing a single word: STOP.
“Osik,” Niner muttered. “I think he means us.”
“Tell me this isn’t stolen, ner vod.”
“It’s not. And we’re not over the speed limit, either.”
Niner slowed down. Darman could see Fi dropping farther behind to stop outside a tapcaf.
“Now, nice and calm,” Niner said.
“Let’s hope he thinks we’re twins.”
“How many folks know what clones look like, anyway? Especially here.” Niner activated the comlink deep in his ear by clicking his back teeth; Darman felt his own embedded earpiece vibrate for a moment as it started receiving the signal. Then Niner lowered the side viewport and put on his sensible-but-blank expression as the red-uniformed officer walked up to the speeder with one hand on the blaster at his belt. “Good evening, Officer. What’s the problem?”
“Keep your hands where I can see them, sir, and show me what you’ve got in the back.” The officer leaned slightly to stare at Darman. “You-step out of the vehicle and put your hands on the roof.”
For a moment Darman thought Niner was going throw the door open and knock the guy down, but he gritted his teeth and popped the rear hatch.
Fi’s voice filled Darman’s skull. “He’s on his own, Dar. I can drop him from here.”
“Wait…”
Darman got out of the speeder slowly and left the door open for a rapid retreat, but he edged far enough down the length of the speeder to keep an eye on Niner. The officer leaned into the small cargo space at the back of the speeder, still keeping his hand on the butt of his blaster as if it was some comfort to him. He didn’t seem to realize that turning his back on a suspect-two suspects, in fact-was risky, and
Darman looked hard to see if he had some headset linking him to another officer nearby.
But there was nothing. He was simply not used to dealing with serious criminals-or commandos.
“Had a report of a speeder being used to remove items from a residence, sir,” the officer said. His voice was muffled as he leaned in, one hand taking some of his weight on the tailgate. “This one, in fact. Now, what do you reckon you’ve got here…”
The moment the cop moved his hand to the tightly wrapped body in the cargo area, his fate was sealed. It was almost as if they’d drilled for it: Niner jumped him and pinned him flat, facedown, arm locked around his throat to silence him, while Darman stepped in and checked him for comlinks. Fi was now right behind them in the other speeder, shielding the tussle from view.