A chime sounded from my watch as Steph created a field screen.
"Yes'm," I said, both in answer to Toni and to Linda, whose face appeared on the field.
Linda looked up from something and into the screen and said, "Dragonfly, we may need you this evening. Clear the decks and stand by, please."
Sel and Toni heard the serious tone behind her words and looked at me questioningly as I answered Linda.
"Roger that, Fearless Leader. Selena and Toni are here with me. Can't just toss 'em over the side, ma'am."
"Call me as soon as you're alone, Dragonfly."
She clicked off and the field screen winked out of existence.
Selena said, "I guess that means we don't play tonight."
I shook my head. "Not yet, it doesn't. It just means that I'm waiting for word. We're going straight to your place as soon as we dump the kite in my garage."
Speaking of which, I could see my garage door opening as we descended toward my house. We hovered in the driveway as Steph fielded the hang glider into the garage. I hopped down to sling it from the rafters with some loops of scrap rope as the garage door closed behind me.
Sel and Toni had taken seats in the living room. I spent a few moments with Tiger in the kitchen as Steph told him that I might have to leave again for a while.
He said something to Steph and she responded, then Tiger put a paw on my hand, extended his claws until they rested lightly on my skin, and said something in a low tone that made Steph raise an eyebrow.
Steph said, "He wishes to go with you. He's offering you his assistance."
"His claws are out, Steph. What did you just tell him?"
"I only told him that Linda might need your assistance and that she would call you if necessary."
"That's all?"
"That's all. Did you think he was unaware of your world outside this house?"
"Well, no, not completely, but..."
Tiger's little face looked up at mine and I saw a special firmness in his eyes and demeanor. It was the same 'back to back, come hell or high water' look I'd seen in some peoples' eyes at certain times in my life. I nodded as I patted him.
"Sounds good to me, Steph. Tell him he's coming along."
Now her raised eyebrow was aimed at me.
"Is that wise, Ed?"
"Sure. Elkor will cover him and Tiger seems pretty serious about this."
A few of Steph's catty sounds later Tiger nodded once and jumped down to go to his food dish.
I grinned. "Check it out. They know without being told or trained, Steph. Eat when you can, sleep when you can, and be ready to jump."
Leaving everybody inside, I stepped onto the porch, closed the door, and called Linda back on my watch.
"I'm alone on the porch, Linda."
"It's one of the Earth-Firsters, Ed. We busted their grand opening, but a few of the virus canisters got out. Four, we think. The Atlanta cops responded to a domestic disturbance call Tuesday night. When they got there, they found a woman -- presumed to be the one who called -- on the kitchen floor. She'd been bludgeoned, but the cops couldn't find the weapon. Background on the boyfriend placed him with One Earth as a trusted local gofer, which brought us into things. We isolated everybody and checked them and the house for virus, then the cops and a couple of our people searched the place again."
She paused, then said, "They found one of those special shipping boxes, Ed; the kind that were in that warehouse in Grand Forks. It was empty. The dents in the woman's skull match the bottom of a virus canister well enough, too. We're beating the bushes for the guy and we have both flitter teams in place above Atlanta, but it's a big town. I want you and Stephie up there with them. How soon can you leave?"
"I'll drop Selena and Toni off and get moving."
"Thanks, Ed. Thank Stephie for me, too. Later."
She signed off.
I went back into the house and said, "Sorry, ladies. I'm working tonight as of right now. All aboard."
Toni stood up and asked, "It's an emergency?"
"Not yet. We're joining a search team to prevent that."
Tiger floated into the room on a field disk and Elkor said, "We are prepared, Ed."
Sel gave an odd little laugh and asked, "You can take Tiger, but you can't take us?"
I stepped over to kiss her and said, "He can't tell anyone about it later, Sel, and he seems to think he needs to be there to help me."
"Help you how?" asked Toni. "He may mean well, but he's just a cat."
Kissing Toni, as well, I said, "Well, maybe he'll drag me out of a burning building or something. I'd like to take you both along, but Linda would get really pissed and she tells them to pay me. Or not. You know how that is, right?"
"Yeah, yeah," said Toni. "Excuses. Let's go."
I packed an overnight bag and made a fresh coffee, then we boarded the flitter. A few minutes later the ladies got off at Sel's condo and Steph headed us toward Atlanta.
Steph said she'd opened a data link, but that nothing new had developed. I called up a field screen and opened a link to Linda. She answered from a field office, which was essentially a heavily renovated Winnebago.
"Kinda plain, but kinda fancy, too," I said. "What'd they do, park it outside your house to save you a trip to base?"
"As a matter of fact, they did," said Linda. "It'll be my comm center for the evening. Where are you?"
"ETA Atlanta in ten minutes," I said, "Where do you want us?"
"Southside," she said. "Near the airport. Steph already has the grid."
Tiger heard Linda's voice and sounded off before jumping from the dash to the seat next to mine. Linda's screen eyes bugged a bit and flicked to me.
"You brought your cat?"
I shrugged.
"He wanted to come and he won't be much of a security risk. He just said hello, Linda. It's your turn."
Her eyes narrowed at me, then she looked at Tiger again and said, "Hi, Tiger."
"Such enthusiasm," I said. "I thought you liked him."
After a sigh at me, Linda, smiled in a rather sardonic manner and said, "Hello, Tiger! How's every furry little thing in your world tonight?"
Steph translated for Tiger. He responded by standing as tall as possible and yowling loudly and long while looking at Linda.
Steph said, "Tiger said, 'We will rend and destroy your enemies', Linda."
Linda blinked at Tiger and met his gaze for a moment, then turned to Steph and asked, "He really said that?"
Nodding, Steph said, "Yes, approximately. I let the word 'destroy' cover many of the more graphic details of his statement."
With a real smile this time, Linda said, "Well, thank you very much, Tiger."
Her tone had been somewhat patronizing, but after Steph relayed Linda's words, Tiger seemed to assume a rather smug expression and sat down.
Linda then turned to me and said, "Let Stephanie coordinate with the others when you get there. Talk to you later, Dragonfly. Goodbye, Tiger."
Her finger descended next to the screen and terminated the call.
3rd World's flitter One was commanded by someone named Alexis Gear and flitter Two was commanded by Angela Horn. I wondered if there were some specific reason that both flits were commanded by women and punched up a screen to ask that question of Angela.
"Hi, Angela," I said, "Did Linda make flitter driving a ladies-only kind of job tonight?"
"Hi, Ed. Hi, Steph. No, we happened to be on duty when the call came... Is that a cat? It is! That's a cat!"
"Damn. Nothing gets past you, does it? His name's Tiger. He's helping me tonight."
"What?"
"Never mind. Linda cleared him. How's progress?"
She shrugged and grinned.
"Well, we know he's down there somewhere. All we have to do is turn Atlanta upside down and shake it a few times. He's Bob Martin, 28, single, a white power freak, an anti-Amaran freak, anti-Jew, anti-etcetera, and a fanatic in good standing with the quasi-religious side of One Earth. I'm
sending you his data now. All we're waiting for is the word to drop down and isolate him and the virus canister. I still can't believe you brought your cat, Ed."
"Well, since he's sitting right here, you need to try a little harder, ma'am. So we're just waiting? Nothing else to do?"
She shook her head and laughed softly.
"Nope. And since the containment order will go to the flitters before it gets to us, I'm kind of wondering why we humans are out here at all."
Nodding as I grinned at Steph, I said, "Yup. I know that feeling. Okay, then. Later, Angela. Bye."
"Bye." Angela clicked off.
Less than a minute later Alexis clicked on and said, "Hello, Ed. I'm Alexis. We haven't met, but Angela's..." Her blue eyes flicked to the seat next to mine and she said, "That's a cat! You have a cat aboard your flitter!"
I looked at Tiger as if surprised. He looked back at me as if bored.
"Oh, my God!" I said, "You're right! Steph, isn't our cat-filter working?"
"Apparently not," said a grinning Steph as she reached to pet Tiger.
"And who's that?!" yelped Alexis, staring at Stephanie.
"This is Stephanie. Steph, meet Alexis."
"Hello," said Steph.
Alexis looked rather disconcerted as she said, "Uh, hello. Uh, Ed, what's her clearance? Is she with 3rd World? Does Linda know about her?"
"Would she be here if Linda didn't know about her?"
Looking very dubious, Alexis said, "Stand by. I'll get back to you," then quickly poked her 'off' icon.
I pulled her data up on the screen. Alexis Gear; 25, single, blonde, and by her evaluation records, apparently someone who had total faith in the 'by the book' way of doing things.
Opening a Dr Pepper, I punched up the book I'd been reading on my datapad as we waited for further instructions. Alexis called back in less than two minutes.
"Sorry, Ed," she said, "I... Is that a Dr Pepper?"
"Yes, it is. Very astute, ma'am. You called Linda, right?"
"Uh, yes. I did."
"And Linda said what?"
Alexis drew a breath as if about to admit something dire and said, "Linda said that there was no problem."
"Did you call someone to verify that?"
Her gaze narrowed. "Now you're being sarcastic."
"Yes, ma'am," I admitted with a slight nod.
Frankly staring at Steph, she said, "You could have told me she was your ship's computer."
I shrugged.
"Never got the chance. You hung up on me. Is this a progress report or an update or something like that?"
Her gaze narrowed somewhat more, then she straightened and gave me a plastic smile as she said, "No, I just called to say hello, Ed. We haven't met, and I thought you'd like to know who you'd be working with tonight."
"Uh, huh. Well, I really just sort of figured you'd be someone who'd do your job as necessary. Why not tell it like it is, Alexis? You thought you'd like to know who else was up here. Now you know. Is there anything else?"
Still looking somewhat disconcerted and irritated, Alexis said, "Uh, no, I guess not."
"Okay, then," I said. "Holler when you've got some news."
After a silent moment and a glance at all three of us, Alexis tapped off the connection. I brought my book back up and leaned back to read.
Steph said, "You were a little abrupt with her, Ed."
"I didn't like her, Steph, and we aren't here to socialize."
"You decided you don't like her based on less than two minutes' conversation?"
"Yup. It takes less than that with some people."
The console beeped and Steph fielded the call onto the console screen.
"Ed," said Angela, "I just talked to Alexis. She seems more than a little tense all of a sudden. What happened?"
"Steph," I said, "Send her a playback, please. Angela, watch the rerun and call me again if you have questions."
"A playback? You record everything, all the time?"
"No, just everything business or public. We're on company time, so her call was business."
I left unsaid that Angela's call was also 'business', but she seemed to have no trouble understanding that. Her eyebrow went up and she nodded.
"I see. Okay, I'll watch the replay."
Her finger was moving toward the 'off' icon as I said, "Angela."
"Yes?"
"If I hurt her feelings, I'm sorry, but I'd prefer not to know her beyond working with her. You said the same thing about Dell Pierce for essentially the same reasons, as I recall. He checked every little thing you did as if you were some kind of trainee. I think Alexis would be the same way if she had any rank on us, and she just plain irritated me."
"I see," she said again. "A personality clash."
"Yeah. Call it that."
For a moment it seemed that she might say more, then she simply nodded and tapped off the screen. I went back to reading and sipping Dr Pepper.
Two hours later Steph said, "I'm receiving coordinates," as Linda activated our flitter console.
"Got him, people," said Linda. "He's holed up in a gas station on the south loop near the airport. Four hostages. Flits One and Two, contain the building. Ed, stand by above."
The others chimed their crisp, sharp 'yes, ma'am's' and I said, "Roger that, Fearless Leader."
The gas station was ringed with cop cars, of course, and there was a bear in the air, as well as two TV news choppers. The other two flitters circled the scene twice, then stationed themselves on each side of the building and extended vaguely visible filtration fields that covered the building and immediate surroundings.
Both of the 3rd World flits were in stealth mode until they took up their positions, then they became visible, appearing suddenly and causing a small commotion in the gathering of cops and other onlookers.
Tiger spoke. Steph translated.
"Ed, Tiger wants to know why the other flitters didn't remain concealed."
"Tell him that people feel better when they can see what's going on, and better still when they can see that something's actually being done about it."
Pointing downward, I said, "Some of those cops and firemen know there's a virus canister in the hands of a nutcase. Now all they have to worry about is getting the hostages out before the nutcase does something stupid."
Steph kept us in stealth mode as we settled to the ground behind the ring of police vehicles. Putting up a vid screen, Steph panned the entire storefront section of the gas station, then had her probe hover above the big front window.
Somehow the glass front doors had been shattered outward and Bob Martin had all but one of his hostages lying on the floor near the back of the store.
The fourth hostage -- a woman who looked to be in her twenties and wore a polyester jacket with the store's logo on it -- was in use as a human shield. Martin had an arm around her throat and a snub revolver pointed at her head.
One of the hostages, another woman, appeared to have been knocked unconscious. She lay sprawled on the floor in the doorway. The other two hostages, a man and a woman, also lay on the floor, but seemed conscious. And scared.
Chapter Eighteen
"Linda," I said, "Alexis and Angela are in place. The cops are in place. Looks as if everyone else who matters is in place. Now, how do we get ol' Bobby out of there? Zap him with a stun field and drag him out?"
"He might drop or trigger the canister if we stun him, Ed. He might also kill his hostage. We need to part Martin from his gun, the canister, and the hostages without getting anyone killed. That includes Martin. We'd like to talk to him."
"Uh, huh. Figures you'd hand the glamor job to the shy guy. Gimme a minute. Too much broken glass by the doors; he'd hear me coming, even if he couldn't see me. Back door's barred and bolted. Windows don't open. Cut a hole in the back door or wall, maybe?"
"That's been considered," said Linda. "But the door's wired to a standalone alarm system and a probe shows boxes of stuff stacked almost ceiling high along all
the storage room walls, even in the bathroom. Something could fall over."
"Huh. Figures. Would have been too easy. Steph, who owns the new Crown Victoria parked by the pumps?"
Steph seemed thoughtful for a second, then said, "The vehicle is registered to Andrea Collins, one of the hostages."
"She'd probably be the well-dressed, unconscious one just inside the door, don't you think?"
"Let's not guess. I'm accessing driver license records. Yes. She's Collins."
I looked at the four-door sedan as we discussed its owner, then told Steph to drop a screen field between the car and the glass doors of the shop; a field that would continue to display the car just as it was at that moment.
Speaking to Linda, I said, "I'll get in the back of the car, then pretend to wake up and get out of it after Steph removes the field. Maybe we'd better let the cops in on this. I don't want to discuss it with them, but I don't want them shooting at me, either."
Linda said she'd take care of it. After Steph put the screen field in place I said, "five suit on" and had Steph hover on the other side of the pumps from the Crown Vic. When I started to step to the ground, Tiger spoke up.
"He wants to go with you," said Steph.
I considered matters a moment.
"Okay. When I get out of the car I'll be holding a cat. That ought to look harmless enough to Martin. Tiger can jump down and run inside the store, then he's to run around the store and get behind Martin. When I say his name, he's to yell as loud as he can and keep yelling. Tell him that and see if you think he really understands it all."
Elkor said, "Ed, I could perform that role. There's no reason to put Tiger at risk."
"He wants to help me, Elkor. You can cover his little furry butt without making it too obvious, can't you?"
"Yes, Ed."
"Then let's give him a chance to be a hero, Elkor. If things get too dangerous, just get him out of there. Go ahead and tell him what I want him to do, please."
Some moments later Steph said, "Tiger seems to understand fully, Ed. Are you absolutely sure you want to do this?"
"Yup. What do you think Martin will do when he sees me get out of the car with a cat?"
In a dry tone, Steph said, "Possibly shoot at you."
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