by John Bowers
Nick consulted his notes, gazed at her for a moment, then nodded.
“Yeah, I think we’re done.”
“You’re going to let Star go now?”
“It’s like I said earlier, if what you told us checks out, then I’ll speak to the prosecutor. He’s a reasonable man and I’ve known him for a long time. I think he’ll listen to me.”
Heaven glanced from Nick to Victoria and back again. When she spoke, a little of her belligerence returned.
“You’d better be telling me the truth. If Star goes to prison, I hope you burn in hell.”
Nick pushed his chair back and stood up. Victoria followed suit.
“Nice talking to you, too. I’ll be in touch.”
Chapter 21
53rd Floor, Federation Building – Lucaston, Alpha Centauri 2
Across the street from the Federation Building, a teenage girl wearing jeans and a summer shirt, her face shadowed by a blue solarball cap, sat at a table in front of a River Walk sidewalk café, a personal phone to her ear.
“He just entered the building.”
“Is he alone?”
“Yes, it looks like it. He also looks like he’s in a hurry.”
“Good. Hold your position and let me know when he comes out.”
***
Marshal Bridge had called Nick back to his office a few minutes after noon. When he arrived, Nick was surprised to see Harry Chiang there as well. Bridge closed the door and pointed Nick to a chair. Both men looked grim.
“What’s up?”
Bridge darkened the room and returned to his desk, where a holo V player sat waiting to be activated.
“Looks like your little gambit may have paid off sooner than you expected. I hope you have nothing planned for the weekend.”
Nick glanced at Chiang, whose ubiquitous grin looked a little subdued. Bridge reached for the holo V player.
“This arrived about an hour ago.”
He pushed the play button and a hologram sprang into view above his desk. Nick leaned forward in surprise when he saw who it was. Kenneth Saracen was seated in a chair before a dark backdrop with the red hammer-and-sickle flag hanging from it. Visible from the waist up, he looked comfortable and relaxed, a pleasant smile on his face. It was the first time Saracen hadn’t worn a hood.
“This is for Nick Walker, United Federation Marshal,” Saracen began. “You said you want to meet me, one on one, man to man. How bourgeois of you. I suppose you think you can scare me with your rhetoric? Or perhaps panic me because you revealed my name to the entire planet?”
Saracen laughed.
“Well, I’m not so easily stampeded. Certainly I understand your game, because I understand you. Your profile is what they study in Psychology 101. Very basic, very primitive, very room-temperature. I can see why you’re so popular with the capitalist masses, because most of them are easily diverted by the heroic Ancient West stereotype. Oh, you like to run around the galaxy swinging your six-gun and blowing away the bad guys, then you fuck the damsel in distress and ride off into the supernova.”
Saracen laughed again.
“Grow up, Marshal! Join the Fifth Colonial Century! Six-guns are passé, the stuff of history. I would have thought that by now grown men with mature minds could have found more reasonable ways to settle their differences—but no, there you are, using the media to pump up your ego while you slander me, mouthing threats and sophomoric judgments. It’s no wonder your own legal system is doing its best to rein you in.”
Saracen’s smile faded and he crossed his arms.
“But I did vow revenge against you for the murder of Tommy Sandoval, didn’t I? So touché, Marshal Walker. Tit for tat. I accept your challenge.”
Nick’s eyebrows shot up, and he glanced at Bridge, then Chiang.
Saracen was still talking.
“However, I’m not going to play along with your juvenile fantasy. You want to see me dead, apparently, and that feeling is quite mutual, but you don’t get to set the rules. I know perfectly well that the minute I show up alone to meet you, I will be swarmed by a hundred lawmen from ten agencies. So if you really want to settle this, pay close attention.
“I will be on the train this weekend, both Saturday and Sunday, and I will not be alone. I will have at least one person with me, maybe more. You won’t know who they are, of course, but that’s okay—they are all quite familiar with you. And they share the same love for you that I do.
“At this point you are no doubt wondering which train I’ll be on, and what time I’ll be there. Well, that’s your challenge, Walker. The Alpha Centauri Express runs nearly five thousand miles around the continent, on several lines. I will be on one of them, but it’s up to you to determine which one.”
Saracen’s image paused for a moment, then smiled again.
“Now, stand by for my call. I will only be a moment.”
The hologram froze with Saracen still smiling. Nick frowned.
“What the hell?”
Bridge shrugged. “That’s all there is. We’ve watched it three times.”
“How did it arrive?”
“It came in on—”
Bridge’s desk phone rang. He frowned in annoyance and answered it.
“I said no calls, please…” He looked at Nick and Chiang with startled eyes. “Okay, put it through.”
Bridge hung up and three seconds later the phone rang again. He answered it, then leaned back in his chair. With the touch of a button he transferred the call to a screen on the wall behind Nick. Nick swiveled to look.
Kenneth Saracen smiled back at him. His eyes scanned the room.
“I’m glad to see your office is fitted with full-room holocams. It’s nice to see everybody. And it was good of you to wait for my call.”
His eyes lowered as if he were looking slightly downward.
“Marshal Walker, there you are. I almost didn’t recognize you without your costume.”
Nick ran a hand through his hair.
“Mr. Chairman! How’s it hanging?”
“I’m fine, thank you.”
“No, you’re supposed to say, ‘Slightly shriveled and a little to the left’, but keep trying—you’ll get it right eventually.”
“Oh, I see. That was supposed to be a joke. Proletariat humor. Very enlightening.”
“Proletariat?” Nick shook his head. “In the video you said I was bourgeois.”
“Proletariat striving to achieve bourgeois. It’s a common fantasy among the underprivileged, that the ruling class will accept them if they perform the right tricks.
“But enough about that—first let me warn you that trying to trace this call will get you nowhere. With the right people on staff, it’s a simple matter to bounce a signal off various satellites and disguise one’s location. So we can talk as long as you want and you won’t be able to trace me.”
“I’m actually glad to hear that, Kenny. I don’t like to be rushed when I’m having a good time.”
Saracen laughed. “Nor do I.
“So, Marshal Walker! Are you as excited as I am?”
“More. I haven’t killed anybody in days.”
“Good! If you can find me, we’ll do this.”
“Oh, I’m pretty sure I’ll find you. You’ll see to that.”
“Really? How do you figure that?”
“I’m sure you have me under surveillance. You know where I am and what I’m doing every minute, so if I get on the wrong train, all you have to do is adjust your own schedule to match. If we don’t run into each other I will be very surprised.”
Saracen smiled. “Well, it is a big planet, isn’t it?”
“No excuses, now, Kenny. If we don’t hook up this weekend, I’ll be right back in front of the news cameras, talking about your shrinking genitalia.”
Saracen’s smile remained in place, but his skin darkened as blood surged through his cheeks. His eyes took on a glitter.
“Well, since you put it that way, I suppose you’re right. It
’s a good bet we will find each other.”
Nick grinned.
“Good. Now, I do have one request.”
“And what is that? Anything for the condemned man.”
“While we’re doing this, can you at least hold off your terror attacks? Why do innocent people have to die when what’s really important is you and me?”
“I thought you understood, Marshal—there are no innocent people. And for your information, they aren’t ‘terror attacks’, they’re freedom statements.”
“Freedom statements. I see. So you’re trying to liberate the proletariat from their capitalist overlords.”
“Precisely. I see you’ve been doing your homework.”
“You liberate them…by killing them. See, that’s the part that confuses me slightly.”
“Have you heard the expression, ‘To make an omelet…’?”
“Oh, you’re breaking eggs! I see.”
“When the people accept the path of true freedom, such statements of freedom will no longer be necessary.”
“No, I guess not. Everybody will wallow in the glorious ARMO paradise.”
“Well, it will require a lot of hard work, but that is the ultimate goal, yes.”
“And you get to be in charge of the paradise.”
“Somebody has to provide direction until the new society gets on its feet. I will probably be obliged to serve for a while.”
“Well, I’m certainly looking forward to it.”
“Anything else, Marshal Walker? I have other matters waiting.”
“Before you go—”
“Yes?”
“You realize we’ll have to clear all the trains, don’t you? We can’t expose civilian passengers to the threat of gunfire.”
Saracen shrugged. “Whatever you say, Marshal, I don’t want the passengers. Or, you can let the passengers alone and just clear one car on each train. One car is all you and I will need.”
“We’ll do one or the other. Just as long as you don’t see an empty train and use it as an excuse to run away.”
“I’ll be there. Anything else?”
“Yeah. Put your affairs in order. Once we meet, you won’t be going home. And write a note to your daddy. Let him know how proud he should be.”
Saracen threw his head back in laughter.
“Likewise, Marshal. I suggest you kiss that Vegan beauty goodbye. She won’t be seeing you again. But I will, and soon.”
Before Nick could reply, the picture winked out as Saracen disconnected. Marshals Bridge and Chiang let their breath out almost at the same time. Bridge disconnected his desk phone and sat back in his chair. He looked at Nick.
“You think Saracen has someone following you?”
Nick nodded. “Over the past two weeks I’ve spotted the same girl four different times. I saw her on the train from Trimmer Springs, and also around the River Walk.”
“Jesus!”
“You said you watched that video three times before I got here. As soon as I got here and watched it with you, Saracen called. He knew I was in the building and he knew when I arrived. It all adds up.”
“Jesus!” This time from Harry Chiang.
“How are you going to play this?” Bridge asked. “Are you actually going to meet this guy?”
“I’m not only going to meet him, I’m going to kill him.”
Bridge looked uncomfortable. “I’d rather capture him if possible.”
“I don’t plan to kill him in cold blood, but I seriously doubt that capture will be an option. He’s going to pack those trains with his people and I’ll be outnumbered ten to one. When it goes down, it’s probably going to be bloody.”
“Then we have to evacuate those trains! You were right, we can’t allow the general public on board if there’s a danger of violence. If we allow the public on those trains and people get killed, we’ll be liable in a big way.”
Nick sat silent for a moment. Then he shook his head.
“As soon as I said that, it occurred to me that if we don’t let civilians board the train, then nobody will get on. We don’t know who the terrorists are, and they’re not going to wear signs that identify them.”
“Shit. You’re right.”
Harry Chiang spoke up.
“Nick, I know you can taste this asshole’s blood, but maybe this whole thing is a bad idea. When you issued the challenge, I know you didn’t have the AC Express in mind.”
“No, I didn’t.” Nick looked at Bridge. “Can we put marshals on board disguised as civilians?”
“Undercovers? Sure, but we don’t have enough of them to fill an entire train, and certainly not all the trains that are running simultaneously. And if there are no kids on board, ARMO may smell a setup.”
“Christ!”
Nick got up and paced the room, running his fingers through his hair. He turned back.
“If we knew which train he’ll be on…”
“Well, we can make a guess. The last position we had on him was Camarrell, but he may have left there by now. The safe houses had been abandoned.”
“There’s no way to trace that last call?”
“We didn’t even know it was coming, so nobody was assigned to it. Our techs can probably backtrack it, but it might take several days.”
“That’s too late. Saturday is two days away.”
“He could board any train on the continent from anywhere at all,” Chiang said.
“What about your tail?” Bridge asked. “Is there some way we can use her to set him up?”
“Like what?”
“Let her overhear something confidential that will mislead Saracen?”
Nick stared at him a moment.
“That might actually work. Let me think about it for a few hours.”
53rd Floor, Federation Building – Lucaston, Alpha Centauri 2
Nick left the Federation building a little after two in the afternoon. He spotted the girl in the blue cap as he crossed the street toward the River Walk, but walked right on past her. He felt a tingle in his spine as he realized she could shoot him in the back if she wanted to, but was pretty sure that Saracen had other plans for him. The girl was just a scout, nothing more.
Nick walked two blocks to a department store, checked the vendor register, and took the lift up to the fourth level; he spent thirty minutes in an expensive shop and made a purchase, then came down again. The girl in the blue cap had moved; she was now sitting at another eatery half a block from the department store.
He walked back down the street, past the Federation Building, and found his hotel. He went inside and placed a call on his pocket phone. Nathan Green answered.
“Hey, Nick. Ready for the big day tomorrow?”
“What? Oh, you mean court? Yeah, I got that one wired. But this weekend is something else.”
He took five minutes to bring Nathan up to speed on the latest developments with Saracen.
“What do you want me to do?” Nathan asked.
“Keep a close eye on Kristina. Saracen knows about Suzanne, so it’s a safe bet he knows about Kristina, too. Keep close to her.”
“Jesus, Nick! You think he’ll come after her? Either one of them?”
“I don’t know, but he fights dirty. When he made the first threat, he promised me that I would suffer before I died. That sounds like he might try to hurt somebody I care about. I just wish to hell I could have talked them into leaving the planet for a while."
“I’m with you on that, but you know how they are. Loyal to a fault.”
“Yeah. Okay, keep your eyes open, and call me if anything develops.”
“Are you going to need help on the train?”
“Probably, but Marshal Bridge has it covered. I think I’ll be okay.”
They said a few more words and disconnected.
At five o’clock, Nick left the hotel and headed for the maglev station.
Maglev Station, Lucaston – Alpha Centauri 2
Trains arrived in Lucaston from four diff
erent directions, but all ended up at a massive terminal near the river, just opposite the River Walk. The terminal was just under a mile from Nick’s hotel and he walked it in a few minutes. He reached the platform just as the train from Trimmer Springs swept into the station.
The doors slid open and people began to emerge. Nick spotted Suzanne through the windows before she reached the exit, and moved forward to meet her. She was pulling a baggage caddy and it hung up on the steps—she looked back to free it, then stepped forward right into his arms.
“Oh!” Startled, she realized who it was and laughed. “You better be careful, cowboy! You could get hurt doing that.”
Nick pulled her out of the traffic flow, then wrapped his arms around her and kissed her hungrily. When he released her, she uttered a breathless laugh.
“I just saw you two days ago! Do you miss me that much already?”
“You have no idea. Come on, let’s grab a taxi.” He took her hand and led her toward the station exit. “I rented you a room at my hotel…”
“What!” She stopped, jerking him backward by the hand. “You’re kidding, right?”
“Of course I am.” He laughed. “You’re always teasing me, but I can tease, too.”
She leaned forward and kissed him.
“Oh, you are so going to pay for that!”
They took Suzanne’s luggage to the hotel, then headed out to the River Walk for dinner. Nick kept his eyes open, but didn’t see the girl in the blue cap. She was there, he was sure, but he didn’t see her. He wasn’t unduly worried—the only way Saracen was likely to attack Suzanne tonight would be with a bomb, and Nick was pretty sure Saracen wanted to kill him in person, so she should be safe as long as they were together.
He found a seafood restaurant overlooking the river; as the suns sank below the horizon, they enjoyed a quiet, expensive candlelight dinner. The music was soft, muted, and romantic. A few couples were actually dancing, but Nick and Suzanne sat at their small window table and just talked quietly.
“Are you nervous about tomorrow?” she asked him.
“Not really. Godney hasn’t put up much of a case so far, and Victoria has been chipping away at the points he has made.”
“Oh, so it’s Victoria now, is it? Not Miss Cross?”