“He sounds like a valued friend.”
“He is, and Hari is, too.” She sighed, suddenly exhausted. “I just wish this whole thing could be settled before the wedding.”
TINIBU was busy for some time after lunch. When he finally came to Prax’s room, it took Prax several minutes to overcome his friend’s reluctance to set up a fellow security guard. Eventually, the big Terran agreed to help.
“All right,” Tinibu said. “I don’t like the sound of it, but it’s better to know the truth. And if Wolly’s not bent, this will clear him.”
They walked down to the common room together. Four people were playing poker at the corner table with two others just watching. Wollongong sat on a sofa by the entertainment console. He looked as if he had either just come in or planned to go outside, because he wore a jacket. He was the only one watching a news program. Ogilvy was in another corner, quietly strumming his harp.
Prax went over and sat halfway between Ogilvy and Wolly, where he could pretend to listen to the harp and still see Tinibu and Wolly. Tinibu sat down next to Wolly and watched the screen. Wolly had it on visual rather than sound, so the news flashed by as printed words.
“Has there been anything about the attack on us last night?” Tinibu asked Wolly.
“Nope,” Wolly said, taking off his jacket and laying it across the back of the sofa. “Not a word.”
“I guess we’re not important enough, huh?” Tinibu said. “I’ll bet you’re glad you turned me down when I asked you to go out. You could have been stunned, too, or worse.”
“Yep,” Wolly said.
“You should get out more, though,” Tinibu said. “Really, you can’t let this thing with your wife get to you too much. No sense sitting at home moping about it.”
Wollongong switched off the monitor. “I’m not moping. I just don’t see any reason to make her more suspicious by going out with the guys. She’s already on my case big time.”
Prax was confused. Some of what Wolly was saying was true and some was not, but it was hard to tell which part was which.
“Good luck,” Tinibu said. “Ingrid can be jealous, too. She wanted to know exactly what I did last night. Who I talked to, what I said—everything!”
Wolly nodded. “That sounds like my wife.”
Prax sat up straighter. That was a clear lie.
“Well,” Tinibu said, “at least with you living here, you can go out without having to tell her about it. I mean, how would she know? It’s not like you’re going to visit her with booze on your breath or another woman’s perfume?”
“No,” Wolly said. “She’s so jealous, I wouldn’t dare.”
That falsehood was even more definite. Prax waited expectantly.
Tinibu seemed to be a little at a loss for words. Prax wondered how his friend would manage to lead the conversation onto the right track without getting into trouble with Nakamura if she should happen to walk into the common room. Just as Prax had that thought, the door opened, and a woman came in. It wasn’t Nakamura, though; this woman wasn’t a Terran, and she wasn’t alone.
It was Captain Arnuchh. She had two uniformed munis behind her.
“Evan Wollongong,” she said, stopping in front of Tinibu and Wolly, “you’re under arrest for conspiracy to commit kidnapping, and conspiracy to commit burglary.”
Wollongong stood up hastily. He looked as if he were in shock. Everyone else did, too. Arnuchh stood impassively, waiting.
Wolly began to bluster that he hadn’t done anything illegal.
“You’ll have to come with me,” Arnuchh said. “You can contact your counsel as soon as you’ve been formally charged.”
Wolly reached for his jacket, and then suddenly, he threw it in Arnuchh’s face and climbed over the sofa in a desperate attempt to get to the door. Tinibu’s long arm reached out, and the big Terran snagged the smaller man by his shirt collar.
“Sorry, Wolly,” Tinibu said. “I never did like a snitch—especially a snitch who takes someone’s money and then sells them out.”
When Tinibu turned his hand and twisted the smaller man’s collar, Wolly collapsed across the sofa.
“That’s enough,” Arnuchh said. She signaled the two munis, and they moved forward and put Wollongong in restraints. There was a certain amount of noise as everyone in the room milled about in surprise and confusion.
Suddenly, Hari stood in the doorway. “What’s going on?” He looked around the room and took in Wollongong face down on the sofa, and in restraints. “I see,” he said, before anyone could answer. “Does this mean you have the perp in custody, Captain?”
“I’m pretty sure I have your leak, anyway,” Arnuchh said. “We still don’t have everyone, but one of the slime balls we picked up today confirmed Wollongong as the snitch.”
“What put you onto him?” Hari asked.
Arnuchh frowned. “That’s not a matter for public consumption,” she said, with a glance at the curious faces around the room.
She took Wolly away within a few minutes. The common room emptied out as the day shift ended, and people started heading in to the staff dining room, chattering away as they went. Prax went looking for Rishi. He found her on her way out of her office.
“Am I late?” she asked.
“No,” Prax said. “Captain Arnuchh just arrested Wolly.”
“She did?” Rishi almost squeaked with excitement. “What was the charge?”
“Conspiracy,” Hari’s voice said from behind them. “He was the one who sold us out.”
Rishi stepped back into her outer office. “Let’s talk in here,” she said. “Tell me what happened. Did you and Tinibu question him, Praxiteles?”
The two of them followed her into the office, and Prax filled her in on what had occurred.
“If you hadn’t told her it was Wolly, how did she know?” Rishi asked. “Did she arrest a suspect for the kidnapping?”
“That was part of it,” Hari said. “She told me later in my office. The background checks pointed to Wolly as having financial problems. He has an addiction to high stakes gambling. He had it under control for years, and then recently it took over again. He’d lost a lot of money. That’s why his wife threw him out, not because of his work here, and not because of jealousy. Anyway, Wolly lost money to the wrong people. They put the squeeze on him to get some information about this house. He gave it to them, but when the break-in failed, he had to come up with something else, quickly. That’s when he thought about serving up Prax on a platter. Luckily, he didn’t know Qualhuan would be a side dish.”
Rishi nodded. “Then that’s how they knew the resonator frequency and where to break in?”
“Yes,” Hari said. “But they didn’t know that Prax was likely to be in that corridor—with a knife. That reminds me—” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small bundle that he handed to Prax. “This is yours. Arnuchh said I could return it to you.”
Prax tore open the wrapping and found his throwing knife. Automatically, he slid it into place in his boot.
Hari watched him grimly. “You’d better keep it there. And your life had better be in danger before you use it on anyone again. Arnuchh as good as told me she’d charge me with endangering public safety, if I let you loose in Shembor with that on you.”
“I’ll be careful,” Prax said. “When can I go back to work?”
Hari grinned. “All my staff should be this eager to work. What did the doctor say?”
“She said nothing strenuous for three days,” Rishi said firmly, “and it’s only been one.”
“I was wounded two and a half days ago,” Prax corrected.
Rishi shook her head. “Dr. Warchovsky said three days with no strenuous exercise, and she said it just yesterday morning.”
“Let’s not argue,” Hari interrupted. “I have my own test.” He got up and took a small c
ushion from the arm of the sofa, then placed it on top of the sofa back, so that it was propped up against the wall.
“Let’s see you put that shiny little toy knife into the middle of that cushion,” Hari said. “You do that—and look me in the eye and tell me it didn’t hurt to do it—and you can go back to work.”
“Hari!” Rishi protested.
“No, lady,” Prax said, eager to prove himself. “It’s a fair test.”
He stood up and slipped the knife from his boot. It was good to have it back in his hand. He held it by the tip just for a second and then suddenly flung it across the room. The knife stabbed the cushion about twenty centimeters from the center, and Prax’s arm muscles screamed in protest.
Hari looked at it appreciatively, and then he glanced back at Prax.
Prax held his right arm in his left hand and tried to ease the pain by massaging his upper arm.
“I presume you’re not going to try to convince me that that didn’t hurt?” Hari asked.
“No,” Prax said with a gasp. “I’m not. It did hurt. It still hurts. I missed, too. At this range, I should have hit it dead center.”
Hari nodded. “I’m satisfied. We’ll get a proper target tomorrow. You can try it once a day. When you hit dead on and it doesn’t hurt, you go back to work.”
Rishi made a sour face. “Aside from ruining the furniture, you could have made him injure himself again, Hari.”
Hari smiled back at her, clearly unconcerned. “Relax, girl. I saw the exercises the doctor gave him to do. This wasn’t much more strenuous than they are.”
Just then, the door chimed. When Rishi opened it, Draghnachh stood waiting in the hallway.
“Excuse me,” she said, “but Thulan wants to know if anyone is coming to eat the dinner she fixed for you, Mistress.”
Hari excused himself, so Prax retrieved his knife and followed Rishi to the little dining room where a seriously irate Thulan awaited them. Rishi sat down with profuse apologies for being late. Thulan wasn’t placated, but she went away to make sure the staff were all doing justice to their dinners.
Rishi sat down with a curious noise; half a sigh, half a groan. “Well, that was a lot of excitement for one day.”
Prax sat down next to her. “Yes, lady. And now you can relax and enjoy the chief’s wedding.”
She sighed again, more regret than weariness this time. “I hope I do. I feel a little jealous, though.”
Rage surged through Prax, followed immediately by fear. He told himself to stay calm. “Do you care for the chief in that way, lady?”
She turned her face to him, but she didn’t smile. “No. If anything, Hari’s like a father to me. I want him to be happy. But I’m jealous of him, and of Anika, because they’re both free to marry the person they love.”
Prax didn’t know what to say. His obligation to his clan had been a burden for years, but now it seemed like a crushing weight, pressing him down inexorably. Finally, he found words. “I can’t ignore clan law, no matter how much I might want to.”
Her chin came up. “Why not? You’re here on Subidar. No one on Celadon would ever know what happens here.”
It sounded very tempting. But the more Prax thought about it, the more he saw it for the trap that it was. “I would know, lady.”
She looked at him for a long moment, and then she bent her head over her plate and began to eat her dinner.
Prax did the same. For the first time, they ate an entire meal in silence.
Chapter Eighteen
“Damn!” Tinibu said as the hilt of Prax’s boot knife hit the target, bounced off the padded wall, and fell to the floor.
A chorus of boos sounded from the security staff assembled in the practice room.
Prax walked over to the wall, grinning as he picked up his knife. “I’ll show you how again if you like.”
“It’s my turn,” Qualhuan said, holding out his hand.
Prax was tempted to toss him the knife, but instead, he walked the five meters and handed the Miloran his weapon. “This isn’t a good knife to learn on. I have a better throwing knife, but the chief won’t let me have it back.”
Qualhuan grunted. “Probably just as well.” He took a deep breath, let it out through his nose with a faint whistling noise, and threw the knife fast.
It whirled through the air and embedded itself into the wall up to the hilt, almost a full meter from the target.
Tinibu walked over to pry it out of the wall; he couldn’t budge it, no matter how much he tugged on the hilt.
“I’ll get it,” Qualhuan said, grasping Tinibu by the shoulders to lift him out of the way. He took a firm grip and pulled the knife out with a wrenching twist.
Tinibu hooted with amusement. “Very good. Some innocent bystander is now very dead.”
“At least it went in,” Qualhuan said. “You won’t do much damage bouncing a knife off of someone.”
“Better to bounce it off the right someone,” Tinibu retorted.
Hari came up behind Prax. “I thought this was supposed to be a test for Prax?”
The three of them jumped.
“I was just letting them have a try first, chief,” Prax said.
Hari looked sourly at the gouge in the padded wall where Qualhuan had thrown the knife. “I can see that. How’s your arm feeling?”
“It’s much better,” Prax said. “I might get it today.”
He took his time getting ready, then tossed the knife with just enough force. It hit the target dead center. A few people applauded.
“Well,” Hari asked. “Did it hurt?”
“Only a twinge,” Prax said. “No more than a pulled muscle after it’s healed.”
Hari retrieved the knife from the target and handed it to Prax. “Let’s see you do it again.”
Prax threw the knife perfectly again.
Hari pulled it out and handed it to him. “One more time.”
Prax threw the knife a third time, with Hari watching him closely. Prax realized Hari was looking at him, not the target.
“Well?” Hari asked again.
Prax shrugged. “The same.”
Hari debated. “All right, you’re back on the job. Rurhahn!” he called to the senior guard, who was supervising a sparring match on the other side of the room. “Put Prax’s name back on the active list. What’s he up for next?”
Rurhahn went to the terminal in the corner and tapped a few quick strokes. He checked the monitor and grinned. “Nights. Starting tonight.”
Hari smiled and slapped Prax on the back. “Congratulations! I’ll let you break the news to Rishi.”
Prax sighed.
He waited until dinner time to broach the subject to Rishi. The tension between them had ebbed, but he could see it hadn’t gone away, but rather it remained in the background. “I can go back to work now, lady,” he said, after they had begun to eat.
“That’s good,” Rishi said. “When do you start?”
“Tonight. I’m on nights for the next three days.”
Rishi made a face. “I hate it when you work nights. Maybe I could talk to Hari?”
Prax laid his hand over hers. “Please don’t do that, lady.”
Rishi looked up at him and sighed. “You’re right. I should have known better than to suggest it.” She looked suddenly anxious. “Will you miss the wedding?”
Prax shook his head. “I’ll take a nap this evening before I go on duty, and again tomorrow morning after I get off. I’ll be there in the afternoon. We’re all on duty when there’s a party.”
THE next day, Prax woke from his morning nap, got cleaned up, and then dressed in his uniform. In honor of the occasion, he wore the regulation boots that had been issued to him instead of the more comfortable bodi-hide boots from Celadon. Then he went down the hall to the kitchen and opened the door to chaos.
Thulan was in charge, directing hordes of hired help in their efforts to finish last minute preparations for the wedding. She herself was dressed in her party clothes and thus could rely only on giving explicit, emphatic directions on what they should do. She did this with great enthusiasm, salting her conversation with numerous references to this one’s lack of ability, and that one’s stupidity, and another one’s clumsiness. If Prax hadn’t known better, he would have thought they had all escaped from an asylum for the incompetent. Thulan suggested as much with her next breath.
“Where did you all work last?” she demanded of a young Terran man. “The Institute for the Study of Ineptitude? This is the Trahn estate, I’ll have you know. We have higher standards here.”
The young man began to stammer an explanation for why the sauce was not ready yet.
Thulan would have none of it. “You have it ready immediately, or I’m putting on my apron and fixing it myself!” She looked up and saw Prax. “What do you want? Get out of my kitchen!”
Prax fled through the far door in search of Rishi. He found her seeing to the last-minute arrangement of flowers on the terrace. It was quite cool to have a wedding outside, but the stones that covered the ground also heated the terrace, and the force field ceiling overhead kept in the heat. Prax wasn’t cold, even without a jacket. Rishi wore a slim gown of pale green gossamer with a flowing overskirt that floated out behind her when she walked. The dress left her shoulders bare except for a sort of scarf draped over one side, but she didn’t seem cold.
She smiled when she saw Prax, a smile that lit her eyes with warmth. Relief surged through him. In spite of sleeping almost every night in her bed, he had felt Hari’s approaching wedding building a barrier between them.
Worlds Apart (ThreeCon) Page 35