“I was already at the platform when your shuttle came in,” he said with a knowing smile. “Relax—even Westali field training fades away over time. Besides, you were busy glaring at the Spider who walked off with your luggage. Did you get it back, by the way?”
“Yes,” I assured him, glancing around the car. This was not a line of conversation I wanted to pursue just now. “And I really should get going.”
“Why?” Applegate asked, waving me back down as I started to get up. “Oh, sit—sit. You’re not worried about Losutu, are you?”
“What, worry about a man who once said he wished I would just go away or die or something?” I reminded him darkly.
Applegate snorted. “Oh, please. Losutu talks a blustery day, but he has way too big a turnover in enemies to worry about some minor two-year-old political embarrassment. In fact, once he finds out you’re aboard, chances are he’ll invite you for a drink.”
“Why? Does the bar serve hemlock?”
“Hardly,” Applegate said, his smile fading as he turned serious. “Off the record, Frank, Director Klein’s been having trouble with the Western Alliance Parliament over a couple of his proposals. It could be that a former Westali agent like yourself might be able to suggest ways of soothing their fears and getting them on board.”
“Isn’t that why
He shrugged. “It never hurts to get a second opinion.”
“Ah,” I said, feeling the cynic in me rising to the surface. “Besides which, there’s a chance that the handful of Alliance reps who jumped on my bandwagon back then might be favorably influenced if I came out with a ringing endorsement of the Directorate’s proposals?”
Applegate’s lips puckered. “I see you’ve lost none of your trademark tact.”
“You go with your strengths. I take it this Cimman starfighter deal is the bone of contention?”
“One of them, yes,” Applegate said. “But I really ought to let Losutu brief you on that himself.”
I nodded as a memory suddenly clicked. The two Cimmaheem in the corner table when Bayta and I had dropped in a few hours ago for our tea and lemonade. The human who’d been sitting with them… “That was
He smiled. “You see? You haven’t lost it completely. Yes, I invited our colleagues for an informal strategy session while Losutu was working on his report. I would have come over and said hello, but you seemed to be having a rather serious conversation of your own.”
My stomach tightened, then relaxed. With the bar’s acoustic design, there was no way he could have eavesdropped on us. All he would have seen was me having an intimate tete-a-tete with a young woman. Knowing him, he was bound to have instantly jumped to the wrong conclusion. “It was interesting,” I said, keeping my voice neutral.
He lifted an eyebrow roguishly. “I’ll bet it was.” His eyes flicked over my shoulder. “And productive, too, I see,” he added, lifting a finger. “Miss?” he said, raising his voice a little. “He’s right here.”
I half turned and looked around the seat back. Bayta was coming toward us, a frown clearing from her face as she spotted me. “There you are,” she said, sounding relieved as she came up. Her eyes flicked to Applegate, back to me. “I was starting to get worried.”
“No need,” I assured her, gesturing to Applegate. “I ran into an old associate, that’s all.”
I was facing Applegate as I said that, with Bayta only in my peripheral vision. But even so, I caught the sudden stiffening of her body. “You’re one of Mr. Compton’s friends?” she asked, her voice suddenly guarded.
“
“This is Bayta,” I told him. “She’s my assistant and recordist.”
The minute I said it I wished I could call the words back. Bayta’s formal demeanor had unfortunately ruined our best choice of cover story, namely that of a romantic relationship, leaving a business relationship as the only other option.
The problem was, Applegate had seen us on the Terra Station platform going our completely separate ways. The last thing I wanted was for him to remember that and start wondering.
But it was too late now to come up with a better story. All I could do was ignore the inconsistency and hope he would simply assume we’d been doing independent studies for our mythical travel consortium. “Bayta, this is Mr. Terrance Applegate,” I continued the introductions. “Formerly a colonel in Western Alliance Intelligence; currently an advisor with the UN Directorate.”
Bayta nodded. “Pleased to meet you,” she said, her voice still wary.
“Likewise,” Applegate said. “Well, it’s been pleasant, Frank, but it’s been a long day and my eyes are starting to fall asleep.”
“Of course,” I said, standing up. “By the way, you didn’t happen to see a couple of Halkas pass through here a minute or two ahead of me, did you?”
“No, but I wasn’t really paying attention,” he said. “Is it important?”
“Probably not,” I said, privately giving up the hunt. By now the Halkas had had plenty of time to change clothes and go to ground, and I didn’t feel like searching the entire Quadrail for them. I would just have to keep my eyes open and wait for them to surface again. “They seemed a little drunk when they came pounding on my door, and I wondered if someone should alert the conductors.”
“I wouldn’t worry about it” Applegate advised. “I’ve never yet seen a drunk Halka get violent. And they’re not going to crush anyone to death if they pass out on top of him, like Cimma might.”
“True,” I said. “Good night”
Bayta didn’t speak again until we were back in the privacy of our compartment. “Is this Mr. Applegate a friend of yours?” she asked as I locked the door behind us.
“Hardly,” I said. “He was one of my superiors at Westali.”
“An acquaintance?”
I shook my head. “Given that he was one of the people who voted to kick me out, I wouldn’t even put him that high on my list.”
“More of an enemy, then?”
“Not really that, either,” I said, wondering why Bayta was beating this particular horse to death. “Let’s just call him one of life’s little disappointments.”
She seemed to mull that one over for a minute. “All right,” she said. “Are you planning to go out again tonight?”
“Just in the unconscious sense of the word,” I said, hanging up my jacket and checking my watch. A little over eight hours to Kerfsis. Still enough time for a decent stretch of sleep, but no chance now for the leisurely breakfast I’d envisioned. “I’m going to bed.”
“All right” For a moment her eyes searched my face. “Those two Halkas weren’t really drunk, were they?”
I hesitated, the heavily ingrained Westali secrecy reflex briefly kicking in. There was so little I really knew about Bayta. “No,” I told her. “I don’t think they were looking for any friend, either.”
“Were they looking for us?”
“They weren’t still chiming doors when I got out into the corridor thirty seconds later,” I said. “Draw your own conclusions.”
She looked over at the door I’d just locked. “Would you mind terribly if I left the wall open while we slept?”
“As long as you don’t snore,” I said, going to the luggage rack and pulling down the larger of my carrybags. In point of fact, I’d been trying to find a way to suggest that myself.
After all, if she knew about the Saarix-5 booby trap, it was a good bet that I’d be safe as long as she wasn’t demanding an airtight wall between us.
And if she
