Rogue(55)

“Yeah, it depends on how they perceive the threat level. I’m torn between wanting them to be as good as possible, and being slack enough we can do what we have to unhindered. What do we have on DNA?”

“Nothing too specific. He could have been suited for a few hours. There are minuscule traces that are probably him, but could be false positives.”

“I like that. It’s easy to get caught up in ubertech and miss the obvious.”

“It’s all part of the process,” she half-argued, half-agreed.

“So let’s head back and get ready.”

I pulled out of the square a different way than previously. The unremarkable van shouldn’t arouse any attention. It looked like a thousand other faded, distressed vehicles in the city, and there were lots of legitimate reasons for us to be there.

“We need to keep an eye on all this construction,” I said, counting the crews at work. “I wonder if they’ll be clearing them out in a few hours. Some are working late.”

She said, “I assume some of them are security, masking as maintenance, pulling lines and checking the drains and sewers.”

“Undoubtedly. They’ll also want to have things neat and shiny for this, with all the outsystem press.”

“News and traffic monitoring,” I said as a reminder to us both. Radio and phone chatter about these projects would help determine which way to jump. The radio traffic here helped a lot. It wasn’t encrypted and much easier to crack than more advanced intranet signals.

We cleared the area five minutes before the cordons went up, to avoid any interaction with officialdom. I’d like to have remained in the area, but it hadn’t worked on Caledonia and I did not want to risk the trigger-happy yahoos in this system, or the political fallout, or the sheer mass of bodies. The various groups on Mtali fought like squawking chickens, but they fought like fanatical, drugged-out, fervorous squawking chickens with heavy weaponry.

We had passive sensors and video at the hotel, which Silver triggered by remote. Her phone was a most impressive little gadget, and fiendishly expensive, since it contained a mutable ID tag for tens of systems on six planets and the flexibility to add more. You can’t buy them in stores. Our Projects people have them custom built and then do the hotrodding themselves.

We weren’t going to get much sleep, but there was little else to do here without being obvious and we had scanners running, so we went home for a combat nap.





The morning of the summit, our actors arrived for the “gig.” One was late, and had me sweating, until he dropped from a bus.

One named Khan had shown great promise and grasp of things, so I tagged him as a driver.

Silver and I were garbed and geared like professionals, in coarse, loose workpants, pockets stuffed and with backpacks and harnesses. I greeted them as they arrived. Once they were all there, I explained.

“We are going in three vehicles. Ms. Mael and I will depart at this location. You proceed to the summit, where Effendi Alrab is to appear. There are floatcams and ground cameras in several locations.”

They looked a bit wide-eyed. Some nervous, some excited, a couple a bit disgusted. Not fans of his, obviously.

“The important part is to look cheerful. Wave as he does. You’ll be along the route without headgear. As he steps out, don headgear, step through the line and walk along the carpet alongside him, but not too close together. You should look like ten of him. Once you reach this point,” I held up a pad with a map, “disperse back into the crowd and greet people. You are to say, ‘This is a great step forward.’ Shake hands and bow. We’ll meet back at this point after that.”

One man asked, “Is this a security measure to make us targets for him?”

I replied, “It is designed to attract a lot of media attention. I don’t know what he intends to announce, but my job is to make sure this is widely noticed.” I had told the truth and not answered his question.

A couple of them looked really unsure. That was fine. I could manage with five, though I’d hate to have less. There were mutters.

I said, “I can only speculate, but part of the discussion is about the new university addition and the media complex. This would tie in with that. Ten effendi Alrab’s demonstrate ten different buildings. I know we have a tasking for the coming week, too.”

Someone asked, “What are the details on that?”

I shrugged. “The executive producer hasn’t mentioned it. I’m sure you know how this works. They’ll tell me on Saturday evening.”

It worked. They agreed that Alrab was a celebrity, and that the proposed event was adequately neutral and beneficial to be worthwhile.