Part 40 (1/2)

Chapter 22.

It took another fifteen minutes for Kimmeron to get the agreement of the Purma officials who were holding Cerenkov and Rynstadt. The radio jamming wasn't lifted for five minutes longer, but Pyre had already been allowed to send Link a message via the tower's outside speakers, warning the other Cobra to lie low and hold off on any attack. Telek, when Pyre was finally allowed through to her, agreed to the arrangement and directed Link to wait in the tower with Winward until Pyre made it back. Then, with Kimmeron his reluctant companion, Pyre got into a car and headed down the broad avenues toward the airfield... and waited with lasers ready for the inevitable ambush.

It didn't come. The car pa.s.sed through several sets of sentries, none of whom even raised a weapon; pa.s.sed beneath tall buildings without so much as a brick being thrown; pa.s.sed even among the grim ma.s.s of Qasamans at the base of the airfield tower. Nothing. They pulled up to the Dewdrop's main hatch, and Pyre waited with Kimmeron close beside him until Winward and Link returned.

The two Cobras entered the s.h.i.+p, and Pyre turned to Kimmeron. ”We've completed our part of the deal,” he said, putting as much quiet steel as he could into the words. ”You've done half of yours. I trust you won't be tempted to back out.”

”Your two companions will be waiting when you land at Purma,” Kimmeron said coldly.

”Good. Now take the car and get clear before we lift.” Pyre stepped into the hatchway, and the airlock door closed.

The inner door slid open, and in that same moment the Dewdrop lurched slightly and they were airborne.

Link was waiting as Pyre stepped into the ready room. ”Looks like we might actually pull this off,” the younger Cobra said quietly.

”Heavy emphasis on the might,” Pyre nodded. ”How's Michael? He looked in pretty bad shape when you pa.s.sed me out there.”

”I don't know-the governor's looking at him now. Probably in better shape than

Decker.”

”Yes, what happened to him? I saw him carried away from the bus on a stretcher, but I couldn't tell anything more.”

Link's lip twitched in a grimace. ”He tried to break the contact team out of the bus at the beginning of all this. The mojos flayed his arm, practically down to the bone.”

Pyre felt his neck muscles tighten. ”Oh, G.o.d. Is he-?”

”Too soon to tell anything, except that he'll probably live.” Link licked his lips. ”Listen... did Kimmeron say anything about Justin? He switched with Joshua when they brought Decker in and was taken off toward Purma.”

For the unprovoked deaths in Purma, Kimmeron had said, sentencing the Dewdrop to death. Justin's work? Undoubtedly. But Kimmeron hadn't mentioned him in negotiating the other prisoners' release. Was he, then, free somewhere out in the Qasaman night?

Or was he dead?

”Kimmeron didn't say,” he told Link slowly. It had happened, his mind told him vaguely; the danger to Justin he'd worried about all the way back at the beginning of this mission. ”Well. First things first, I suppose. We'll land at

Purma, get Yuri and Marck safely aboard... and then try to find out what we can about him.”

”Yeah.” Link searched his face another moment, then nodded. ”Yeah. Come on, let's get back to the lounge, find out what's happening.”

”Sure.” Back to the lounge, where Joshua would be waiting.... But Pyre wouldn't have to tell him his brother might be dead. Not yet, anyway.

Strapped tightly into the highly uncomfortable interrogation chair, Rynstadt stared at the door through which his questioners had left, trying to keep his expression neutral for the cameras he could see focused on him.

It wasn't an easy task. The questioning had been loud and brutal, and it'd been a relief when the four Qasamans abruptly switched off the painful strobe lights and left the room. But as the minutes had dragged on and he'd had time to pull himself together, their continued absence began to seem increasingly ominous.

What were they preparing for him that took a half hour to set up? Shock treatments? Sonics? Maybe even something as crude-and horrible-as slow dismemberment? His stomach churned at the thought. Death-fast death-he'd been willing to risk for the opportunity of coming to Qasama. Slow torture was something else entirely... and he knew far more about Aventinian technology than he really wanted to tell them.

Without warning the door swung open, causing Rynstadt to jerk against his restraints. Two of the four interrogators entered and stepped over to him. For a moment they stared down at him, Rynstadt forcing himself to return their gaze.

Then, still wordlessly, they bent down and began unstrapping him.