disappeared, and where it is now. And if you should find a way to incriminate
Morgan in the process, I wouldn't be at all displeased. Find yourself another
partner, someone you can trust, but keep your head down, and stay out of the
public eye. If anything goes wrong, I'll swear blind you were acting on your
own, and it's all nothing to do with me. I can't afford to have Morgan's friends
as enemies. You'll report directly to me, and no one else. Is that acceptable,
Captain Hawk?'
'Sounds good to me,' said Hawk. 'Why didn't you tell us this earlier?'
'You didn't exactly give me a chance. You were more interested in feeling
aggrieved and wrecking my office.'
Fisher smiled. 'Next time, talk faster.'
'Besides,' said Hawk comfortingly, 'it wasn't much of an office anyway.'
Glen looked at him.
Hawk was working on his second beer when Captain Burns found him. The Cloudy
Morning was a semiofficial off-duty tavern for the Guard, a traditional place
for winding down at the end of a long shift. It was fairly basic as taverns go,
with no frills and few comforts, but the beer was good and reasonably cheap, and
the Guards needed a place where they could talk freely without having to worry
about who might be listening. The place was run by an ex-Guard, and the general
public were politely encouraged to drink elsewhere, unless they were Guard
groupies. There were such, though not many Guards encouraged them. They tended
to get obsessive.
The place was crowded, as usual at the end of a shift, and Captain Burns had to
squeeze his way through the press of bodies to reach the bar. Several Guards
called out to him, and clapped him on the shoulder as he passed, but he just
smiled and kept going. Hawk's message had sounded fairly urgent. He finally
reached the bar, grabbed a seat as it became vacant, and sat down beside Hawk.
For a moment Hawk didn't look up, staring into his beer. Then he took a long
swallow, and gestured for the bartender to bring Burns a beer.
'I'm surprised you're still on the loose,' said Burns. 'The smart money was
betting you'd be arrested the moment you set foot in Headquarters. You've upset
some really powerful people this time, Hawk.'
'There was some talk of suspension,' said Hawk. 'But I talked the Commander out
of it.'
Bums smiled. 'Yeah, I heard. Did you really bounce him off the walls of his own
office?'
Hawk looked at him innocently. 'Would I do such a thing to a superior officer?'
Burns nodded to the bartender as his drink arrived, and sipped it
appreciatively. 'So what's happening with you and Fisher? All forgiven?'
'Hardly. We've been split up, and told to keep our heads down. But I've got a
case to work on, and I'm looking for a new partner.'
For a moment, Burns didn't get it, and then he looked sharply at Hawk. 'You mean
me? We hardly know each other.'
'I've seen you fight, and I thought you might like a chance to get back at the
bastards who killed your partner. Besides, Morgan isn't going to stop with
Fisher and me. Eventually, he's going to go after everyone who helped destroy
his factory. He takes setbacks personally. If you don't go after him now, while
he's vulnerable, you can bet that sooner or later he's going to be coming after
you.'
'You've got a point there,' said Burns. 'But you've got a real nerve, you know
that? You got me into this mess, and now I'm supposed to help save your neck.'
'Are you in or not?'
'Of course I'm in. I don't really have any choice, do I? And you're right about
one thing, at least. I'd worked with Doughty on and off for nearly eight years.
He was a good partner. Never had much to say for himself, but the best damned
swordsman I ever saw. I always felt safer with him to guard my back. I didn't
see who killed him at the factory. Everything was happening too fast. But even
if I didn't see whose hand held the sword, I know who was responsible for his
death.'
'Morgan.'
'Right. I'm with you, Hawk. But it's not going to be easy. Morgan has
influential friends. The kind of people it's dangerous to cross.'
'Everyone keeps telling me that,' said Hawk calmly. 'It's not going to stop me.
I can be dangerous too, when I put my mind to it. But I shouldn't worry about
his precious friends too much. If we bring Morgan down hard enough, his friends
will desert him like rats leaving a sinking ship rather than risk being brought
down with him.'
Burns shook his head amusedly. 'You almost make it sound easy. All right, what
do we do first?'
'Well, to begin with we could do with another drink. We've got some hard
thinking to do.'
Burns chose his words carefully. 'Not for me, thanks. I think better on a clear
head.'
'You're probably right,' said Hawk. 'But it has to be said, there's something
about Haven that drives a man to drink.' He looked at his empty glass, then
pushed it regretfully away. 'You know, when I first joined the Guard, I really
thought I could make a difference. I was going to be a force for justice, and
put all the bad guys behind bars, where they belonged. It didn't work out that
way. Crime and corruption are a way of life for most people here. Some days I
think the only way to clean up Haven would be to burn it down and start over
again.'
Burns shrugged. 'I've lived here all my life, but from what I've heard, Haven
isn't really that different from any other city. We're just more honest about it
here. You mustn't let it get to you, Hawk. You can't expect to undo centuries of
corruption overnight. Real change always takes time. In the meantime, we do our
best to hold things together, and every now and again we get a chance to put
away a piece of slime like Morgan. Settle for that.'
They sat for a while in silence, each thinking his own thoughts.
'Where did you come from originally?' said Burns.
'Up north. There were family problems over my marriage to Isobel, so we struck
out on our own. Traveled around a lot, and finally ended up here. It seemed a
good idea at the time.'
'There are worse places than Haven.'
'Name two.' Hawk looked thoughtfully into his empty glass. 'It was my fault, you
know. If I hadn't gone barging in, without checking the situation properly, I
might have found a way to shut down Morgan's factory without destroying
everything. And all those men and women and children would be alive now.'
'Maybe,' said Burns. 'But I doubt it. Morgan was ready to ship those drugs out.
If we'd burst in even an hour later, we'd probably have found nothing but an
