Fire With Fire

“Yeah.”

“How?”

“Good question. An apparent heart attack.”

“‘Apparent’?”

He looked sideways at her. “Doesn’t it make you a little bit suspicious, Tarasenko dying of a heart attack-just two days after Nolan?”

“Well, both of them were getting on in years-”

“Yeah, but both of them received superior medical care, got a reasonable amount of exercise, were not engaged in any strenuous activity at the time of their death-and were the two key power brokers for IRIS.”

“But how could an assassin-?”

“I don’t know how, but I’ve learned that just because I don’t know how something might be done, doesn’t mean it can’t be done.”

“So why Mars?”

“Because that’s the best way to put some distance between myself and IRIS. Tarasenko’s death is going to send Downing-and IRIS-into a twenty-four-hour tailspin, at least. By then, I want to be well beyond easy reach. That’s why I’m climbing straight onto the first spaceplane I can catch, and then taking the LEO shuttle out to Highport.”

“And just how are you going to pay for that?”

“My book royalties have been accumulating for almost fourteen years. And while we were over the Atlantic, my agency was holding a fast, invite-only auction for publishers who wanted the right of first refusal on my Dee Pee Three diaries.”

Huh. Caine sure works fast. And so quietly that I never suspected it. “So: onward to Mars. And once you get there-what?”

Opal had the distinct impression that this was the first time she had ever heard Caine utter ideas as they came to him, without prior assessment and editing. “I’m not sure. I’ll just be happy if I can keep away from anyone associated with IRIS.”

Then get the hell away from me, you poor guy. Aloud: “Sounds prudent, but you could probably get lost in the sauce more easily by staying Earthside. More room to run, more places to hide.”

“Maybe, but Mars is a much longer reach for Downing. And right now, he’s short of trustworthy manpower, so he’s not going to want to strand an operative out there.”

“Caine, before you go running off to another planet, I’ve gotta ask: why are you so sure that Richard will still want to keep tabs on you? Maybe he’ll just let you go. Maybe you don’t have to run so far. Maybe you don’t have to run at all.”

“Maybe-but it sure didn’t sound that way back in Tarasenko’s office. I think Downing wants to pull me deeper into IRIS.”

“But that just doesn’t make any sense. Downing knows that you don’t want to be an agent, and now you’ve made yourself too high-profile for him to use, anyway. So why would he try to keep you as a resource?” Yeah, thought Opal, with a sense of ominous realization, why does Richard want to keep Caine in the game so badly? Why does Caine still need to be watched?

Riordan had obviously been thinking similar thoughts. “You’re right, of course: Downing shouldn’t have any further use for me-not after today.” His tone became jocular. “Unless, that is, he expects to find some more exosapients that need to be ‘contacted.’” But Caine’s initially sardonic tone faded over the course of his quip: indeed, he looked very thoughtful as he finished.

“That’s a pretty unlikely scenario, Caine-keeping you around as an escort for the little green men who might land and say, ‘take me to your leader.’”

Caine smiled, but was still thinking-hard. At last he looked up. “I don’t like running away from my home-it’s wrong and it pisses me off. But damn it, on Earth, or one light-second away on the Moon, Downing’s got all the advantages. So right now, I need distance.”

“That’s not exactly a sophisticated plan, Caine.”

“No, it’s not. But that’s what happens when the other guy holds almost all the cards: things get really simple, because you’ve got so few options. In this case, it’s just like Sun Tzu says: a weak force must go where its adversaries have the least power. And for me, that means Mars.”

Okay, so there’s no stopping him. Let’s see if I can hitch a ride, instead. “So: Mars. Quite the hotspot, I hear.”

Caine’s smile was more relaxed, now. “Yeah, it’s not exactly a Mecca for fun-seekers, but I just want a place where I can gather more information on those one hundred lost hours, and keep my head down while I do it.”

“Why keep your head down?”

“Downing may not be the only person monitoring web traffic for inquiries into the background of one Caine Riordan. The opposition may be looking for that, too.”

“‘Opposition’? Wasn’t the working assumption that, with Parthenon behind us, you’re safe?”

“I can’t afford to subscribe to that assumption-because if I do, and I’m wrong, then I’m dead.”

Opal had to admit that Caine’s conclusion was unassailably commonsensical. “Sounds like a pretty lonely life you’re making for yourself.”

Caine nodded, looked at her slowly, almost cautiously. “I wouldn’t wish it on anyone else, that’s for sure.”

Careful now, Opal: don’t scare him off. “Oh, I don’t know: it doesn’t sound all that bad. Sometimes a bit of enforced peace and quiet is just what a person needs. Hell, since Downing gave me my honorable discharge, all I can think about is diving under a rock somewhere and trying to figure out this new world at my own pace. Maybe planet Earth has always been a madhouse, but it seems more so now.”

Caine nodded, looked forward again. After a long pause, he said: “Mars is a lot less chaotic than Earth or Luna. Not too big, not too busy.”

“See? So how bad does Mars sound when you describe it that way?”

He looked at her. “Come with me?”

She wanted to smile but stomped down on that reflex. Careful: if you say “yes” too quickly, he might become suspicious, might start wondering if this isn’t happening just a bit too easily. “Well, no offense, but I’m not in the habit of being anyone’s traveling companion.”

“Okay-then how about being my bodyguard?”

Oh, Christ: he’s offering me the job I’m already doing. “Do you really think you need a bodyguard?”

“Maybe; I don’t know. And that’s the whole problem: I don’t know much of anything just yet. I don’t even know who I can trust.” He turned to her, and after a moment, he smiled. “Except you. I trust you.”

Damn it, this just isn’t right: “Are you sure you want me tagging along?” Say “no”-for your own good.

“If you want to come, that would be, well-wonderful.” Then his eyebrows raised a little, and the corners of his eyes crinkled, the way they did when he became jocular. The cab swerved across two lanes of traffic and up onto the exit ramp for the spaceport, just as he leaned towards her. Almost nose to nose at that moment, there was mock conspiracy in his hushed voice as he asked: “Because I can trust you-can’t I?”

She looked him in the eye-and realized that, asked so directly, she could not lie to him. She also realized that, alone in the world as she was, and as he was, she could not leave him, either. And if, one day, being loyal to him meant disobeying Downing’s orders? That was merely illegal-but it sure as hell didn’t feel wrong. On the contrary: it felt-

“Right,” she breathed out through her own sudden, surprised smile, “you can trust me.” And, still smiling, leaning back to see his whole face more clearly, she realized:

You can trust me. More than you know.