we'll all regret.'
'I don't intend to.' Rich tried to look as unthreatening as possible. 'I just need to talk to someone in Operations Control. We're not going to be any trouble.'
He could feel Chavez's eyes drilling a hole in his back. He glanced round. 'You want to make this one?'
'No, you go first.' Chavez grinned humorlessly. 'I'll just watch your back.'
'Shit.' Rich picked up the handset and dialed a four-digit number. 'Ops? This is a call for SERENE AMBLER. Yeah, that's SERENE AMBLER. They're expecting you to connect me immediately… good. Colonel? Rich here.'
The voice at the other end of the line sounded alert. 'What's the news?'
'Our FADM inventory is fucked, and it's worse than we feared. We're out by another five, in addition to the one we found in Boston. That one was on forward deployment when it went walkies, but the ones we're missing here were supposed to be in secure storage. Turns out they've been tampered with in the meantime-someone has gotten inside the storage cells. I slipped out while they were declaring an official Pinnacle Empty Quiver so I could warn you; the missing items are all from the covert resource allocated to SECDEF and VPOTUS back in 2001, so somebody needs to brief WOLFMAN and WARBUCKS urgently to head it off at the pass before the shitstorm hits the National Command Authority and confuses the president.'
'I see.' The colonel fell uncharacteristically silent for a few seconds. 'And what does the scene look like to you, right now?'
Rich paused, glancing at the guard, who was pointedly not listening-too pointedly, he thought. 'The area's secured against normal threats, so your guess is as good as mine as to how they got in.' Which was to say, not a guess at all-they both knew perfectly well how these particular bad guys might sneak into a secure area. 'The building's surrounded by a-the usual kind of security you'd expect-but it's AGL. The guards seem alert enough to'- yes, the guard was
Another pause. 'Can you confirm six missing, and no more?'
That was an easy one to answer: 'No, sir. I can confirm six empty quivers and six full ones, but I cannot rule out the possibility that there are more missing.' He licked his dry lips. 'I would be astonished if the site authority doesn't order a full lockdown immediately and commence an audit within the next hour or two, in anticipation of NCA's likely orders. Meanwhile, it looks like we'll be stuck here for a few hours, if not days. What do you want us to do?'
Silence. 'Leave it to the NNSA,' the colonel finally said. 'I'll escalate it for WARBUCKS's attention immediately. Meanwhile, I want you back in Boston as soon as you can disengage. There's a problem with COLDPLAY…'
1
'It's quite simple,' said the hard-eyed young debutante with the machine pistol. 'Your mother wants to use you to consolidate power.' She kept her eyes focused on Miriam as she twisted the magazine free of the gun, worked a slide to eject a cartridge, and swapped another magazine into place. 'The duke agrees with her. And
'Oh, really?' she managed. The idea of her mother-and the duke-plotting to put her on the throne of the Gruinmarkt was pretty preposterous, on the face of it-but then, so were so many of the other intrigues the Clan seemed to generate. Then another thought struck her:
'Was this'-she pointed at her belly, quiet anger in her voice-'part of their plan?'
'Milady' Brill-Lady Brilliana d'Ost, a mere twentysomething-furrowed her brow. 'With all due respect, if you think
Miriam winced. World-walking took it out of a member of the Clan's inner families, those with the ability: Doing it more than once in a day risked migrainelike symptoms and a blood pressure spike. There were other symptoms, too: pregnancy, she'd learned the hard way, made world-walking under your own power impossible. But they'd come here from New Britain, escaping after the abortive ambush at a provincial railway station in that world's version of California, immediately after picking her up.
One of the young men pacing the perimeter of the clearing raised a hand, twirled it in a warning circle. 'One hour to go.'
'Yah.' Brill glanced round again. The forest clearing was peaceful, unoccupied but for Miriam, Brill, and her three young bloods, but she never stopped scanning.
'Are we in any immediate danger?' Miriam asked, shifting her balance on the fallen tree trunk.
'Probably not right now.' Brill paused to continue her inspection. 'The Kao's patrols don't usually sweep this far northeast. Better not linger, though. We'll be ready to move in another hour.'
'The Kao?'
'The Favored of Heaven's border troops. Most of the local tribes give them a wide berth. We should, too.' A warning look in her eyes gave Miriam a cold shiver; if Brill was scared of them, that was enough for her.
'What are you planning on doing once we cross over?'
'We've got a hotel suite in San Jose. I plan to get us over there, then make contact with the duke and ask for further instructions. I imagine he'll want us back on the east coast stat-we've got a biz-jet standing by. Otherwise, we'll do what Security tells us to do. Unless you have other plans?' Brill raised a carefully shaped eyebrow. Even though she'd started the day with a brisk firefight, then a forced crossing into wilderness, she'd taken pains with her makeup.
Miriam shrugged. 'I thought I did.' Her hands were restless; trying to keep them still, she thrust them deep in the pockets of her overly heavy coat. 'The political situation in New Britain is going to hell in a handbasket. Erasmus was on his way to meet a big wheel in the, uh, resistance.' In point of fact, the
'Well, at least you got away from the mess at the Summer Palace with your skin intact,' Brill observed. 'And thank whatever gods you believe in for that.'
She fell silent for a few minutes. But finally Miriam's curiosity got the better of her. 'I can guess how you tracked me down,' she said. 'But what about Huw? And the other two? Who are they? You said something about a job I'd suggested, but I don't recall… and they don't look like Uncle Angbard's little helpers to me.'
'They're not.' Brilliana's eyes narrowed. 'I just called in help and head office sent them along. Hey! Sir Huw? Have you a minute?'