Rogue(111)

I forced him down into his seat, with his own knife against his throat and the free arm bent far back. He could still call for help, but I could kill him in a second. He’d never even have time to pop the safeties on the car’s internal systems, much less trigger gas. He’d get one command out, but not two.

He did as I said, clearly believing I would kill him if I didn’t like the answers. He scrolled through reports and brought up a fuzzy image of Randall. He’d beaten me out by less than an Earth minute.

“Is that him?” he asked as the image came up.

“Very good. What else do you have?”

“He’s associated with another assassin who . . . oh, god.”

Yes, that was my picture on screen.

“As I said, I am far more concerned with him than with you. Please copy a file of everything you have on him.”

While he did so, I tried not to clench my ass too tight, or cut his throat in shiver reflex. Randall the idiot had escalated the stakes to an insane level. Well, that meant I had him scared. It also meant he was edging into unstable. Hell, he’d swan-dived into it.

I watched the monitor, confirmed the load, snagged the rom, leaned back and said, “I’m going to depart now, sir. If I were you, I’d let me. If you locate that individual, I recommend calling the military and not trying to apprehend him either. Have a good evening and a healthy life.”

I skipped, flipped and ran. He didn’t follow me, but I assumed he did make some kind of report. Half the fight would have been on camera.

I deemed it prudent to withdraw and wait for Randall. Earth was too hot. The outer planets and stations would care about a reward, but otherwise were only peripherally part of Earth. Suburbs, culturally. Subterrae. Exoterrae. I’d look for the event, have more intel to work with, and could even slip some to the UN Intelligence Directorate. It’s not as if it mattered who took him down, as long as someone did.

My immediate need was to E&E the area. I coded a message to Silver to use that trace we’d set up and locate me. I dodged several times, pulled out a hat, flipped my jacket, and crossed a highway. The vehicles were autocontrolled, and civilians prohibited, but I found a hole in the fence used by others, went down, across each carriageway in shadows, and back up. That put me in a completely different zone for everything, and should hinder pursuit. Eventually, they’d have cameras everywhere, and I was sure the cop and video would be out there.

They’d marked Randall as a suspect. That was predictable, with the fear factor we’d instilled in them. They’d never gotten over it, and it was a point of contention for civil rights activists. Sadly, our presence was going to justify all the additional intrusion and fascism they’d piled on the already thick layer. He’d attempted assassination, which would just trigger demands for more intrusion.

I found an open food place, snagged a machine-built sandwich and settled in the corner, sat down. The store had its own security cameras, which the police could cut into with a warrant. They didn’t have to present the warrant, though, and if they cut in illegally it wouldn’t matter to me anyway.

A while later Silver came in, grabbed something and left. I waited a short time and followed her.

We took a manned cab to the travel station.

I wish I could have enjoyed it more. The driver was cordial. “Is it warm enough?”

I realized it had been quite cool outside. Late fall.

“Yes, fine. Thanks.”

“No problem. I come here from India. When I arrive, I get ride. I ask driver for more heat. He tell me it cost five marks. Illegal.”

“Wow.”

“I ask him about music. He says music is free, so I told him turn the music up and I stay warm listening. So now I drive cab. My business is Premier Shuttle. You know why it’s ‘Premier’?”

“No.”

“The heat is free.”

I had to laugh. “Excellent. I appreciate it.”

Shortly, we were at the travel station, and Silver tipped him a little. It’s not done much on Earth anymore, but he deserved it, and I did feel better with the warmth, and the story.

The bustrain rolled up, we boarded, and were on the controlled road in minutes. The seat requested my ticket, I fed it in, and nothing else happened. We made it back into the city in short order.

We took a cheaper hotel, to minimize risk. We did not look the part of high-end tourists, though, and the cheaper ones were at ground level, away from the entertainment and thrills, closer to the street and utilities.

Once in the door, Silver had enough exposure to me to read my expression.

“We’re leaving?”

“Offplanet, right now. We need a flight, under plausible and completely deniable names. I want to be at a jump point and ready to take rapid transit on anything we can find.”