WITH THE LIGHTNINGS(54)

"Well, I don't think any Alliance captain would let me come aboard to search his database," Daniel said, amused at the absurdity of the notion. "But I'll bet we can get what we need from the Aglaia."

He started for the door. "I'll let you know," he threw over his shoulder.

"Yes, I'll be interested," Adele replied in the same washed-out voice she'd used a moment before.

Daniel whistled as he strode down the dimly lit corridor. Adele was probably embarrassed not to have been able to get the information herself. It would upset an artist of her quality to be reminded that there were files even she couldn't access.



Daniel's taxi driver pulled to the curb half a block from the waterfront and stopped. "Here," he said. "You get out."

The driver had kept his left leg stiffly across a pad on the jitney's front panel ever since Daniel hailed him outside the palace. Those words were the first he'd spoken since he set a price for the run. Daniel could've walked, but the implications of the beetle excited him and there were still fragments of the 100-florin piece in his purse.

"Say!" Daniel said. "Take me to the quay like we agreed. What's the matter with you?"

"Fagh!" snarled the driver. He spoke Universal with a guttural slurring that was more likely his own than a regional accent. He hauled hard on his steering wheel and began to turn in the street.

"Hey!" said Daniel. He grabbed the driver's shoulder and rose from the bench seat. "By God you'll let me off or you'll be on the pavement yourself!"

The driver struggled momentarily, then turned his head away as Daniel slid to the boarding step without losing his grip. Daniel hopped down to the street. He reached for his purse, half inclined to short the driver for his bizarre behavior. Still, the fellow had brought him most of the—

To Daniel's amazement the driver jerked the hand throttle as soon as he was free of Daniel's hold. The jitney jumped ahead with a puff of foul smoke from its little diesel engine. The driver didn't look over his shoulder as his vehicle rattled back the way he'd come.

Daniel watched the taxi leave in wonderment. If this were an alley he'd have suspected the driver was in collusion with bandits, but the taxi had left him on a boulevard in a middle-class district. Well, maybe the fellow's dinner had given him the runs.

Main street or not, Kostroma City was dark. Daniel pulled down his goggles to brighten the night.

Looking past the head of the street to the horizon, the Floating Harbor was its usual dazzling brilliance. Daniel noticed again the big Alliance transport which had landed while he was at the fishing lodge. It was in the first rank like the Aglaia, but the two vessels were at opposite ends of the harbor.

That was perfectly proper, of course: Kostroma was neutral, dealing with Alliance traders as readily as it did with those from Cinnabar and her dependencies. It made Daniel think about the implications of Kostroma joining the war on Cinnabar's side as Candace and his friends wanted, though.

If Walter III declared war on the Alliance, a freighter like that one would be fair game. The officer who led the Aglaia's boarding party—even an officer who accompanied the boarding party despite not being technically on the roster of the communications vessel—would be in line for a great deal of prize money. . . .

As the jitney driver had said, fagh! That was a fantasy and a foolish one besides. Cinnabar was probably better off having Kostroma as a friendly neutral than as an active combatant. But it would be nice not to have to worry about his debts for the first time since he stormed out of Corder Leary's townhouse.

A foolish fantasy, but Daniel began whistling—

And stopped abruptly as he realized how very odd the waterfront was tonight. The surface freighters that would normally be loading and unloading in the harbor were silent, showing only a few lights for the watch. The bumboats and water taxis weren't running, but Daniel was close enough to the seawall now to see that there was an unusual number of people on the quay.

The harbor was never well-lit, but tonight the handful of pole-mounted floodlights were out. Daniel knew there was nothing unusual about power failures in Kostroma City; anyone looking inshore from the Aglaia would know that too. Nothing to cause concern. . . .

Daniel stepped close to the front wall of a building on Water Street. The two lower floors held a ship chandler's shop, closed as normal at this hour. The windows on the third floor where the owner and his family lived were heavily shuttered as well; no light shone through the cracks.

A jitney passed with six people aboard, two of them hanging on the sides. They were armed. The jitney drove down the ramp onto a quay and parked with the vehicles already there. The gunmen got out, cursing the darkness until someone snarled a sharp order at them.