Reports from The Rose, The Fives, Thuyo Koradar, and Tean Sindie show all of the groups have called special meetings to decide what to do. Nightwing, whom we know as agent Rudy Klass, reports that Green Fire, working out of the Front-held territories in the Northern Shorda, seem to be preparing something. They have a number of operational missiles and may be preparing to send a little something into the main Mavedah headquarters in the Southern Shorda.
Davidge frowns and glances first at Abi and then at me. “While the talks are on, there is no place to fire one of those missiles that won’t be a violation. Can Nightwing take out the missiles?”
“It would be better if he was four guns instead of one,” answers Reaper. “He’s got a beam disrupter, so he can bring them down. The first trick is going to be getting close enough through Green Fire’s security. The next trick is going to be taking the missiles down between the fire command and when they take off.” He glances at Kita.
“We have one more zee in the area. Let’s call him up. If the site fires one or more missiles, have them take out the missiles, the site, and the personnel.”
She looks up at Abi, Davidge, and me. Abi nods at Davidge and so do I, although it seems that we have given Nightwing and his hypothetical partner an impossible, probably suicidal, task.
Davidge nods at Reaper and Reaper passes on the orders, finishing with, “Keep on it.”
Keep on it. Keep on it. After awhile I find it curious that I confuse the human with the Drac and the Drac with the human. Our agents seem to be of a family and the forces and factions upon which they report seem to be of another family. Perhaps the Navi Di is just another tribe.
“Priority!” shouts Janice. “It’s the Red Crawler!”
A screen shows the dark interior of a small room, the point of view jumping and swinging about wildly. “He’s gone. Drews. He’s gone.”
Her hand reaches out and pulls some paper boxes away from a wall. Behind the boxes is a hole. The point of view goes into the hole, meets a solid concrete wall, and looks down. A ladder leads down into a sewer. “Damn. I’ll chase him from this end, Peace. You better wake up a couple of zees in Silver City to head him off. His graphic’s on file. Crawler out.”
Reaper immediately issues instructions to the Central Dorado regional net and the two Silver City zees report in less than a minute. The first to report in is a woman, code-named Lilly. The other zee is a man, code-named Peaches. They already have the graphic of Jacob Drews and know where the talks are taking place. They sign off and get moving.
“Keep on it,” says Reaper.
Keep on it.
I am too tired to stand and too nervous to sit. If the sides had put off their truce for another six months we would have more coverage in greater depth, and our fully trained strike forces in place and ready to go. But as a man once said to me, if you want to hear God laugh, make a plan.
The matter of Jacob Drews preys on my mind. We do not know that he is carrying a bomb. We do not even know for certain that he is still making bombs. I call up the complete record of Red Crawler’s last transmission on my hand-portable. Crawler did not linger, but there are some frames I can freeze. Drews’s workshop has tools, wires, and bits of this and that. Some boxes and other containers. “Reaper, I have the inside of Drews’s house on channel twenty-one. Show me something that proves Jacob Drews has a bomb.”
Davidge frowns at me then looks at his own screen. I look at mine and watch as Reaper runs a pointer around the contents of the workshop showing how this or that could be used in making a bomb, or repairing a radio; this or that container might have held explosives, or food, or just about anything.
“We know he could have made a bomb,” adds Kita. “We know he has made bombs in the past.”
Reaper nods. “And he’s got plenty of reasons not to want a truce. If he isn’t up to something, why’d he go to the mines? Why’s he traveling through the sewers?”
Motive, opportunity, past history, suspicious behavior. When the time comes to judge whether I am to live or die, I hope that my potential executioner will have more evidence than that upon which to decide my demise.
“Priority Red,” calls Janice. “Peaches has Drews in sight.”
The screens change to show a relatively steady image of a large plaza seen from the top of a building. There are only a few persons standing on the multicolored blocks of concrete, all of them human. There is a Front security line around the entrance to a large building on the far side of the plaza.
“The battle lines go right through that building,” says Peaches. “The Mavedah controls the approaches to the opposite side of the building. Lilly is watching that side just in case, but here he is. I have a clear shot.”
The image grows until we see a shot of Jacob Drews walking across the square, his hands empty except for a walking stick. His steps are steady and slow, the expression on his face sad. Half the screens fill with another view seen from the level of the square. “It’s Lilly,” says Kita.
“I have a clear shot,” says the second agent.
“I wonder if that includes getting away,” mutters Davidge.
The new view of Drews reveals nothing. “If he’s got a bomb on him,” says Lilly, “it’s wrapped around his body.”
“Damn!” mutters Janice. “Priority Red, Nightwing!”
Three screens fill with flame and smoke. There is a roaring sound. “Green Fire shot the damned missiles,” comes Nightwing’s voice through a mess of static. “Two of ‘em. We exploded one on the ground and that one took out the rest, including the site and its personnel. The other missile is on its way. We couldn’t stop it. Sorry.”
“We have to warn the talks!” I shout into my headset.
“Don’t worry about it, Ro,” says Eli Moss through my headset. “I got it on radar and it’s not headed for Silver City. That bird is coming straight at us!”
“Peace,” calls Lilly. “If this guy is a bomb, we’re going to have to do him soon. If he gets much closer he’s going to take out the guard and a good hunk of that building.”
An alarm goes off and I instinctively grab one of the bulkhead braces as the Aeolus veers sharply to the right, then drops suddenly as a deafening crash drives the ship down even further. As I struggle up from the deck, I see Reaper pulling himself back into his chair. Kita says, “Peaches and Lilly need a decision right now. Is it a hit or a miss?”
I look to my right and see Zenak Abi and Davidge crumpled up together on the deck. Davidge is bleeding from his forehead and both of them are unconscious. I look back at the screen and Jacob Drews continues to plod toward the entrance of the building in which the talks are taking place, his walking stick clicking on the concrete.
It is my worst nightmare come true. Yora Beneres rushes toward Abi and Davidge, but they are both still out. I am alone. “Hit him,” I order. A split second later a shot is fired, Drews comes to a halt, and the guards in the security lines ready their weapons as they look for the cause of the noise.
Jacob Drews weaves for a moment, then drops to his knees. As he begins to pitch forward onto his face, the walking stick falls from his hand followed immediately by an explosion that momentarily leaves the sound system dead. When it recovers I hear the message we prepared, in the name of The Peace, explaining who we are, what we have done, and why we are doing it. In moments all of Amadeen will know that the game now has new rules.
I squat down next to Davidge, and Kita is treating him, the tears streaking her cheeks. I turn to look at Abi but Kita shakes her head. I feel for a pulse, but there is none. Zenak Abi is dead.
Abi dead. The anger in me says that Abi cannot start me on this path and then leave. I almost say that it is unfair. Old fool, you spent your life for a peace you will never see. You will get your Aydan’s blade, Abi. Time will tell if your peace comes to be.
I stand, look up at the screen, and see that there is nothing left of Jacob Drews save a small crater in the plaza. The guards near the building are picking themsel
ves up, stunned expressions on their faces. The image goes to black as Peaches and Lilly leave their positions to fade into the background, the number twenty-nine left prominently at the location from where the fatal shot was fired.
Reaper stands next to me, his hand on my shoulder. “That was a gutsy call, Ro. Was it a lucky call, too?”
I feel the tears welling up inside me. There are some for Zenak Abi, perhaps a few for me. Mostly, though, the tears are for a mountain of pain named Jacob Drews who enters the next life as a breath of vapor.
“Well, was it?”
I face Reaper. “What do you mean?”
“How did you decide? How did you know for certain Drews had a bomb?”
“Certainty had nothing to do with it. I guessed. Because of the walking stick. He didn’t have it in the recording showing him going to the old IMPEX mines. After his trip through the sewer, though, he had a walking stick. I guessed it was rigged with a dead man’s switch.”
Reaper nods and goes back to his post as Yora comes out and lets us know that the ship is all right. More reports from agents covering The Fives, The Rose, Thuyo Koradar, and Green Fire. All plans on hold until everyone can assess the new player. As our agent Kamikaze puts it, “There’s a cop in the neighborhood and the gangs don’t know what to make of it.”
That evening, as we head back to our mountain, the truce still holding, I sit by Abi’s body in the cargo bay and think about when Abi said that it would probably get me killed. “Now I have gotten you killed.”
“There will be more.” I look up and Will Davidge is leaning against the hatchway. His head is bandaged and Kita is by his side.
“Are we wrong?” I ask.
Davidge lifts a hand and lets it fall to his side. “If I knew the answer to that, Ro, the universe would be a much different place.” He nods toward the comm center. “It’s not over yet.” Kita and he turn and return to the center. I say goodbye to Abi and follow them.
FORTY-ONE
The body count. Zenak Abi, Jacob Drews, and eleven members of a Green Fire missile battery. Nightwing and the other agent at the missile site were cut up a bit from flying debris, but nothing serious. The truce still holds.
We are gathered in the large chamber of the copper mine. Davidge is on his back on the dirt floor. Kita sits on the ground next to Davidge. “Neither the Front nor the Mavedah have issued statements and all of the splinters are waiting to find out what the main groups will say so they can oppose it, I imagine.”
“We have heard from Green Fire,” I add. “According to them The Peace is a Mavedah diversion allowing the Dracs to talk peace and keep killing.”
“Anybody buying it?”
Kita nods. “Some are.”
Davidge closes his eyes and leans his head back on the folded coat Kita has stuffed behind his head. “What about it, Ro?”
“Everyone we killed today was human.”
He looks off into the shadows, takes a deep breath, and lets it escape slowly. “All the ones doing the killing were human, too.”
“Were they!” I ask, already knowing the answer. I sit on the edge of one of Abi’s homemade chairs, lean forward, and clasp my hands together. “We need someone to replace Abi. You, too, if you are not on your feet soon. I cannot do it alone.”
He looks at me for a long time. When he speaks he almost seems to be another person. “I want you to know that I am very proud of you, Yazi Ro, When you first showed up on Friendship, I thought you were going to be a real pain in the ass. Now that I’ve gotten to know you, if I could have my greatest wish it would be to have had a chance to watch you grow to adulthood. I don’t know if growing up with me would have been an improvement. You did an excellent job all by yourself. It would have been happier for you, though, I think.”
He does not wait for a response, as if I was capable of one. Instead he looks at Kita. He places his hand on top of hers and squeezes it. “For reasons I’m not sure I understand, here you are.”
She smiles and looks into his eyes as she brushes his face with her other hand. “I never could turn down a ski date.”
“Kita, how would you like a really crappy job?”
Her smile fades as she cocks her head to one side. “Are you sure?”
“I’m, sure.”
“If I disagree with you on a hit, I’ll follow my conscience.”
Davidge pats her hand and nods, stopping the nod short as his face registers pain. “I expect nothing less.” He looks at me. “What do you think about Kita taking Abi’s place?”
“She is an excellent choice. Her training, her judgment―” The image of Jacob Drews hangs in front of my every waking moment. I feel unshed tears choking me. “Drews was a human and I can hardly bear knowing the pain that drove him.”
Davidge faces me. “I would be very concerned if his death didn’t trouble you.”
“What if the next one is a Drac? What if I see myself taking my pain out on some Amadeen Front monsters? What will I do?”
Kita turns and looks at me. “You will do the right thing, Yazi Ro. So much depends on it.”
“If it destroys me?” I look at Davidge. “What then?”
His voice is quiet, but firm. “If you do not reach for the strength you need, then you will be destroyed. Remember Aydan’s warmasters in the Koda Itheda. When a warmaster took up Aydan’s blade, it didn’t join itself to a lonely cause. With the blade came its sibling warmasters and the soldiers of its denve; a family united by the goal of peace. Together they became invincible. In other words, Ro, you don’t have to fight the monster all by yourself.”
Outside, the envelope of night hiding me from everything but my thoughts, I look down from the mountain into the shadows where the night mist again fills the valley with ghosts. I hear Eli, Yora, Ghazi, and a few of Abi’s people working on the Aeolus, attempting to repair the screen and hull damage sustained by the ship when the Green Fire missile detonated. Elsewhere, a newly graduated group of agents bids goodbye to their friends and families as they use the cover of dark to hide their departures to their respective posts. The power platforms that will deliver them are being checked by their pilots. Reaper, Janice, and the others are in the ship standing watch on the information center, taking reports, plotting movements, updating the data banks. I hear some of our people as they huddle in the chill of the dark, putting off sleep by retelling the story of Drews and the Green Fire attack. Before they get to my part in the saga, I move away, seeking a quieter place in the darkness.
I hear crying; a person alone, letting its feelings out. For a moment I hesitate, not knowing whether I will be more comfort or annoyance. I move closer and see that it is Kita. “May I help?” I ask.
Before I can take a breath she throws her arms around my waist, buries her face in my chest, and cries. As I put my arms around her and hold her I see the wisdom of Aydan’s admonishment to its warmasters against warring with grief by oneself. “You are but one,” said the ancient warrior Jetah who raised an army to end The War of Ages. “Pain, grief, sorrow, hate, and revenge are armies without number.”
“Ro,” she cries. “I love him so and I am so frightened.”
As my own tears begin, I place my head alongside hers and whisper in her ear. “Remember the student in the Sitarmeda? The one who was frightened and who was going to lay open its own throat rather than face its fear? Namvaac found the student and asked what was troubling it?”
I feel her head nod as she sniffs back her tears and quotes from the Koda Sitarmeda, “Jetah, the darkness covers all the universe. It is such an all-powerful evil, I feel so small and helpless within it. Next to this darkness, the black of death seems so bright.”
I answer her back, “Where you are now, child, Tochalla has been before you. It too was in darkness. It, too, had a knife. But Tochalla also had a friend.”
She laughs and looks up at me. “I remember the passage a little differently, Ro. It was ‘Tochalla also had talma,’ wasn’t it?”
“I like how I
remember it better, Kita. Besides, wasn’t having a friend part of Tochalla’s talma?”
“Thank you, Ro.” She pulls herself up, kisses my cheek, and says again, “Thank you.”
As I watch her walk to the ship, I think of the Drac with the two children on Mt. Atahd who said I have the eyes of a killer. “I am all of that,” I whisper to its memory as I turn and look down at the ghosts in the fog. “I am all of that, but I am more. I am more.”
FORTY-TWO
In the morning, the Aeolus in position over the Shorda Sea between the Shorda and Dorado continents, Davidge with us at the table in the comm room. We listen to the broadcasts from the Mavedah and the Front stations. Both stations give a reasonably accurate account of what happened and why, which means they have yet to decide what to do about us. All of the stations use the graphics supplied by the Navi Di. After the shocking image of Jacob Drews exploding, there are shots of the crater in the plaza, the number twenty-nine found chalked next to the hole, as well as on the rooftop where Peaches had squeezed off the fatal shot. The stations also show the graphics we supplied of the Green Fire missile incident, the number twenty-nine prominently displayed on the side of a burned-out van.
Commentators from the Front and Mavedah stations speculate upon The Peace, from where we came, what our numbers are, and what our hidden agenda might be. Remarkably, both stations end their commentaries on a note hopeful that The Peace, or Navi Di, is here to do what it says, police the truce. Both commentators recall Aydan and the War of Ages and the ancient warrior’s test: “Return when your goal is peace alone and you hold a willing knife at your own throat to achieve it. That is the price of a warmaster’s blade.” The Amadeen Front commentator is skeptical, remarking that such a degree of dedication is more than can be expected these days.
In the information center, Davidge stares at the twenty-nine chalked next to the crater that closes out the newscast. “Ro, how many days are there in a year on Amadeen?”
Enemy Papers Page 63