When Cissy had wiggled her plump ass back to the kitchen, Elvis got back down to business.
'I'm still not quite straight on this, ma'am? What is this job? Courier, bodyguard, shotgun?'
Krokodil explained patiently. 'The job is whatever the job is. Colonel Presley. I have to make a trip to the Cape, and we would like you to come along to deal with any hazardous eventualities that might arise.'
'We're way out of our territory, Colonel,' said Hawk. 'I'm from Arizona, and Jessamyn…Krokodil, I mean…is from Denver, originally. We're more used to sand than swamp. You must be familiar with the terrain, and with its dangers?'
Elvis knew what Hawk meant. 'Uh-huh. Hazardous eventualities is what we have a bellyfull of. The further you get into the swamps, the harder it is, mister. You know about the skeeters and the speedboat gangcults, I guess. But there are other things out there. Lice the size of dogs…'
'You mean the trilobites?'
'Yeah, living fossils. Nasty li'l things. They take a chew on your arm and you're out of the game for a few months. And who knows what other things are coming back to the bayous? It's a regular primordial ooze out there. GenTech and the other corps have been dumping their toxic goop into the swamps for years, and weird things have been breeding. The way I hear it, the big lice ain't the only living fossils you've got to worry about.'
'We are familiar with the weird,' said Krokodil in a way that struck the Op as being seriously chilly.
'Then you've got your hostile natives. Them Cajuns are strange. One quarter French, one quarter Injun—no offence, man—one quarter skunk and one quarter 'gator. Sometimes, they like you, and kill you straight off. Other times, you're not so lucky and they invite all their cousins over for a party. I've got a few friends. I do favours whenever I can. But friendships don't stretch very far away from the PZs. There are lots of paranoid little communities on islands. People have been trying to clear them out and make them change their ways ever since the pirate days when Andy Jackson tried to make 'em all dance 'possum up a gumtree' on the end of a rope. They don't like strangers. You and me, we're strangers.'
Krokodil didn't seem impressed. Elvis felt he owed them the full scare story before he took the commission.
'So, if you're really going to make this trip, then you'd better have a damn good reason for it.'
'I have a good reason,' Krokodil said, offering no more.
'And I need to know what it is.'
There was a pause.
'That's a problem,' said the Indian.
'It's easily solved. I've got two ears, and I've heard a lot of unbelievable stories in my time.'
Krokodil brushed her hair away from her eyepatch. 'I'm trying to salvage some equipment left behind when the space program closed down.'
'Valuable equipment,' underlined Hawk.
'It would have to be. If my cut is a million dollars, then you must stand to clear…what…ten? Twenty? More?'
'I will not profit personally.'
'Lady, that I don't believe.'
'You can believe it or not, but it's the truth.'
Looking into her clear, green eye, Elvis was sure that it was. Not the whole truth, but a goodly chunk of it.
'This sounds straightforward, then. Dangerous, but straightforward. You must have a few details you want to tell me. The gig has to have some complications. At least a million bucks' worth, if I'm any judge.'
The food arrived. Hawk hungrily spooned his into his mouth. Krokodil left hers alone.
'The Cape is owned by the Josephite Church. They bought it from the government last year.'
Elvis looked at the Indian. 'The Salt Lake City crowd? What do they want with a stretch of real estate under a foot of stagnant water?'
Hawk shrugged. 'Who knows? The Josephites are crazies.'
The Indian had spoken just a hair too quickly, had been just a mite too dismissive.
'They seem to be doing all right by their Deseret. though. I hear that they've been raising crops where everybody says that can't be done.'
'I do not underestimate the Josephites,' said Krokodil. 'They are dangerous. They are hostile to me.'
'Great. If we get through the mutant 'gators, the voodoo butchers and the swamp-skimming psychos, the Black Hats will preach us to death, eh?'
'The Church of Joseph is not what it seems.'
'There's a lot of that about.'
Did he catch just the barest flicker of an incipient smile twitching at the corners of her mouth? Probably not.
'So, we'll have to go into the swamps loaded for bear?'
Krokodil nodded.
'My advice would be to go in loaded for King Kong and Godzilla,' said Hawk. 'But what would I know? I'm a Navaho. We haven't won a war since the US Cavalry shoved us on the reservation.'
'I'm from the South, mister. We know all about losing wars to the Yankees.'
The Indian smiled easily.
Krokodil said, 'I'll leave the armaments up to you. You know the country, you get to pick the tools.'
'I wouldn't have it any other way. Who recommended me to you?'
The Indian answered. 'You have a reputation for public-spiritedness.'
'So?'
'We guessed that if you spent most of your time robbing the rich to feed the poor, then you could probably do with the mil…'
Elvis laughed. 'That's right, Mama, that surely, purely is right.'
The Op signalled to Cissy for more recaff. It wasn't like coffee, but it was hot and wet.
'Look, I don't know how this proposition will go down with you guys, but wouldn't it be easier if you just told me what you want from the Cape and sent me in to get it? I'm not a professional snatchman, but it sounds to me like I'd have an easier time of it alone than with you along, ma'am.'
Krokodil wasn't offended, but she was insistent. '1 can take care of myself, Colonel. I will come with you.'
'Okay. It was just a suggestion.'
Hawk was smiling. 'Krokodil will surprise you. Colonel. She came through Santa de Nogueira without a scratch…'
'The monastery that got flattened by the hurricanes and God-alone-knows what else last year?'
'That's right.'
Elvis took a swallow of the gritty brown drink. 'What
Hawk's face froze slightly, and even Krokodil registered something. The pair had nasty memories.
'Colonel,' said Krokodil, 'believe me, you don't want to know about Santa de Nogueira.'
Elvis believed her.
'Well?'
Elvis looked at the Indian, and at the dark woman.
'One million?'
'You can have cash in any gold standard currency, or GenTech corp scrip, or even negotiable gems.'
'Good old US dollars is fine by me.'
Cissy brought the check, which Hawk paid with a cashsliver. The waitress gave her smile to the Indian, and Elvis felt a flare of jealousy. He might have to watch his womenfolk with this young buck around.
'We will pay you in advance. Should you not survive the mission, then I'll turn the money over to any heirs you designate.'
'I have no family,' he said, feeling a little tug of hurt. Some things, you have to give up. On the road, with the music, in the army and as an Op, he'd had no chances…
'Then I suggest you think of a charity. Not that we expect to lose you. Colonel. It's just a formality.'
'Yeah, I know. I've been through it before. Hell, bribe a politician to repeal the indenture acts. That's charity enough for me.'
'Will do.'
