Hawk slowly straightened up out of his fighting stance, and put away his axe. He
pushed back his hood, and walked slowly towards Isobel. She straightened up and
lowered her sword. Hawk stopped before her, easily in reach of her sword, and
smiled at her.
'It's all right, Isobel. I don't care what you've done. You must have had a good
reason for it. If you don't want me with you, if you feel you have to… leave me
behind, that's all right. I'll understand. All that matters to me is that you're
safe.'
Fisher slammed her sword back into its scabbard, and hugged Hawk fiercely,
crushing the breath out of him. 'You damned fool, Hawk! As if I could ever leave
you…'
They clung together for a while, happy and secure in each other's arms, eyes
squeezed shut, as if they could close out everything in the world except the two
of them. The other customers slowly began to settle down again, though still
keeping a wary eye on the embracing couple. Eventually, reluctantly, Hawk and
Fisher broke apart, and stepped back to look at each other properly. Hawk's
mouth twitched.
'That is a really horrible-looking cloak, Isobel.'
'You should talk. What the hell have you been up to, Hawk? I've been hearing all
kinds of crazy things about you.'
Hawk grinned. 'Most of them are probably true. You should hear what they've been
saying about you.'
They sat down together at Fisher's table, and brought each other up to date on
the day's events. It took a while, not least because there were a lot of things
they weren't too sure about themselves, but eventually they both ran down, and
sat quietly, thinking hard. A growing murmur of conversation rose around them,
as the inn's customers disappointedly decided that there wasn't going to be any
more action after all.
'Somebody's been setting us up,' said Hawk finally.
'Both of us. We've been led around by the nose all day long, and we were so tied
up in our own concerns we never even noticed. But the way things are, no one's
going to believe us, no matter what we say. You know, we could still make a run
for it. I know a forger who could knock us out new identities in under an hour.'
Fisher looked at him. 'Do you want to run?'
'Well, no, not really, but I thought you…'
'That was different. I thought I was on my own then. But now…'
'Right,' said Hawk. 'No one sets us up and gets away with it. The trouble is,
who the hell did it to us? I thought for a long time it was Morgan, but that
turned out not to be the case.'
'Pity,' said Fisher. 'It would have simplified things. He said the drug was
developed by outside money… so presumably the people behind Morgan are our real
enemies. Whoever they are. It's not just the drug; they've got to be connected
with the Peace Talks in some way as well. Maybe they were banking on the chaos
the super-chacal would cause to break up the Talks, or at least keep the Guard
so occupied they couldn't protect the delegates properly. Wait a minute… wait
just a minute. All that talk of outside money could refer to outside the Low
Kingdoms; meaning Outremer.'
'Right,' said Hawk. 'I thought that as well. We need a wedge, something or
someone we can use to force open this case and let in a little light. Look, just
because you're not a traitor, it doesn't mean there isn't one. Someone removed
those drugs from Headquarters, and sabotaged the Talks by revealing the house's
location and the coordinates of the pocket dimension. Who is there that's been
as closely involved in this case as you and I, and had the opportunity to do all
the things you've been accused of doing?'
'If the rumors are to be believed, it's a Guard Captain,' said Fisher, scowling
thoughtfully into her drink. 'A well-respected Captain, too honest and too
trusted ever to be suspected. But the only other Captain in this case is…' A
sudden inspiration stirred in her, and she stared at Hawk, her eyes widening.
'No, it couldn't be. Not him. Not Burns.'
'Why not? He had the opportunity.' Hawk nodded grimly, his thoughts racing
furiously. 'It has to be him; he fits all the facts. And remember, one of
Morgan's people at the drug factory said he recognized one of the Captains who
took part in the raid as someone who worked for Morgan. He actually fingered
you, but presumably by then he'd been got at. So, if it wasn't you, it had to be
one of the other Captains. We can forget Doughty because he's dead, and we know
it wasn't us, so that just leaves Burns! Dammit, I always thought he was too
good to be true!'
'Wait a minute,' said Fisher. 'Let's not get carried away with this. How could
Burns have sabotaged the Peace Talks?'
Hawk frowned. 'It wouldn't have been difficult for him to get the information.
He's been in and out of Headquarters all day, just like us. I feel like an
idiot, Isobel. It's no wonder I've been walking into traps all day; Burns must
have been reporting our position every time my back was turned!'
'It also explains why he killed Morgan,' said Fisher. 'He was afraid Morgan
might finger him, as a way of saving his own neck. We've found our traitor,
Hawk. Burns is behind everything bad that's happened to us today.'
'Never liked him,' said Hawk. 'I wish now I'd hit him harder, when I had the
chance.'
'A well-respected Captain that no one would suspect. The rumors were right about
that, at any rate. I never even heard a whisper about corruption concerning
Burns.' Fisher frowned suddenly. 'You know, Hawk, this isn't going to be easy to
prove. Who's going to take the word of two suspected traitors and renegades like
us against a paragon of virtue like Burns?'
'We'll just have to find him, and persuade him to tell them the truth.'
'No rough stuff, Hawk. He'd only claim he was intimidated into saying what we
wanted him to say, and with our reputation, they'd believe him. We need
evidence. Hard evidence.'
'All right, but first we've got to find him. And that's not going to be easy
either. He could be anywhere in Haven. Where are we supposed to start looking?'
'Right here,' said Burns.
They looked up quickly, hands dropping to their weapons, and there was Burns
standing by the bar, with ap Owen beside him. Guard Constables were filing
quickly into the inn, swords at the ready. Once again the customers scrambled to
get out of the way. Hawk and Fisher rose slowly to their feet and moved away
from the table, ostentatiously keeping their hands well away from their weapons.
More Guards entered the inn. Hawk counted twenty in all. If the situation hadn't
been so grim, Hawk might have felt flattered they'd felt it necessary to send so
many men after him and Isobel. As it was, he was more interested in trying to
spot a quick escape route.
