“Well, well, well,” she said. “Little fishy’s come to play with sharks.”
Magda’s office was surprisingly clean. Her Neptune had a bright red frame and was unadorned. The editor sat at her desk and waved an arm at the chair opposite. Both women crossed their legs.
“Adelaide.”
“Magda.”
“What can I do for you?”
For a woman with a penchant for character defamation, Magda Linn looked remarkably innocent. She was small and neat, with straight black hair and low eyelids. Her right hand sported a scratched glass ring with which she toyed incessantly. Adelaide hated every inch of her neatly proportioned features. It was difficult to look Magda in the face without conveying this, so Adelaide examined the wall behind her.
“I heard you wanted access to a few events.”
“And I dare say I’ll get it.”
“I don’t know. The Haze has had enough security issues recently. This season we’re really clamping down.”
“My reporters will have to become more ingenious.”
“Maybe so. But they’ll have to be remarkably wily to get into Jannike Ko’s twenty-second.” Adelaide paused. “Private party,” she said blankly.
For a brief moment, Adelaide felt bad about offering up her friend as bait. But Jan could handle it.
“Jannike Ko’s twenty-second,” Magda said slowly. Her smooth face could not help but flicker at the thought. Adelaide knew she was imagining the newsreel, constructing, already, the headline copy. Jannike Ko, last of the Haze to come of age, could supply Magda with enough subreels to keep her afloat for the next year. Then Magda’s face closed down again.
“What do you want, Adelaide?”
“I want you to do what you are best at, Magda. I want you to lie.”
“I see. And what type of lying might you require?” Magda tapped her ring against the edge of her desk. “Some light slander before breakfast? How about a nice little libel case?”
“No, that doesn’t serve my purpose. I’m after something simpler. The Council will be holding a convention next week to discuss the implementation of western aid schemes. I’d like you to announce it.”
Magda’s expression was pure disbelief.
“The Council?”
“That’s what I said.”
“Since when have you been interested in the Council?”
“Since today, Magda.”
“And why would you be interested in aid schemes?”
“I don’t see why that would concern you. The request is simple enough, is it not?”
“You’d give me access to Jannike Ko’s twenty-second in exchange for a little article on aid schemes?”
“A big article, Magda. A headline article. I’ll be invoking the Ibatoka Clause-you can say that too.”
Magda laughed. “The what?”
“Why don’t you look it up?” Adelaide suggested.
“If I don’t know what it is it’s not headline material,” Magda shot back. “You coming to my office asking for help, now that’s headline material.”
“Come on Magda. You know you love the Council. Miserable old octopuses, promoting unprecedented aid schemes. You’re telling me you can’t make something juicy out of that? Spin it whichever way you like, I don’t care.”
Magda scraped the ring against her front teeth.
“Jannike Ko only turns twenty-two once,” Adelaide mused.
“Well, I suppose we could run with a riot containment theme. There have been… flickers. A profile of one of the Home Guard might of interest.”
“No Home Guard. How about a neglect and sob story piece?”
“Yes, thank you, I don’t need you to tell me how to do my job.”
“Do excuse me. I’ve been the subject of your job for so long, sometimes I feel I know it as well as you do.”
Both women sat back, assessing one another.
“What guarantee do I have that you’ll keep your word?”
“I don’t give guarantees,” said Adelaide.
“I could turn this whole industry against you.”
Adelaide pretended to give this a second’s thought.
“I doubt that. On the other hand, I could get you fired in the time it takes to do this.” She snapped her fingers. “Still a Rechnov, Magda. Now. Do we or do we not have a deal?”
Magda gnawed on the ring.
“Make sure you check the morning feed.”
“Good.” Adelaide stood up. “I’ll see myself out, shall I?”
The knock at the door was insistent. She went to answer it, muttering to herself about people who couldn’t wait. Axel stood grinning in the corridor. He strolled into the apartment, a half-smoked cigarillo dangling from his lips.
“Is that the time?” he said. The cigarillo waggled comically in his mouth. “Must have been gone longer than I thought.”
“Months, actually,” she said. “Where were you, the western quarter or what?”
“Oh, this and that. Baiting Linus. Annoying Dmitri with my expenses. Why, A, did you miss me?”
She woke with a jolt and found herself on the futon, fully dressed. For a minute she thought it was raining again, but it was just the noise of Vikram’s fingers on the activation strip of her Neptune.
“Evening,” he said.
“Did I sleep?”
“Yes. You got about halfway through telling me about going to the Daily Flotsam. Linus called, by the way.”
She rubbed her eyes. They were prickly with sleep.
Hell’s tide! She was beginning to wake up. Last night this man had wanted to kill her. Today she was falling asleep in the same room.
But she wasn’t scared any more. She sensed that a line had been crossed.
“What did Linus want?”
“To let you know he’d had a message from some woman called Linn asking about a conference.”
She smiled at that. “Good. We’re going to force their hand.”
And why are you trying to help him, Adelaide?
“There’s some fresh coral tea if you want.”
“What’s the time?”
“Twenty-one thirty.”
“Shit. Said I’d meet Jannike for dinner. You coming?”
“I’ve got a presentation to write.”
“It’s your call.”
Vikram hadn’t woken her for Linus’s message. She could not decide if that was a good thing or not. She perched on the futon to pull on her boots, sneaking surreptitious glances at his thin angular figure, tensed over the Neptune. Her laces were tangled and it took her a few minutes to work out the knots.
There was no time for tea so she took a shot of voqua, aware that Vikram’s eyes were on her, nervous in a way she could not pin down. If those eyes held a different light, they might draw her right in.
Better pull yourself together, girlie. You might not be as strong as you think you are.
The lift came almost immediately when she called it, from the floor above. The man inside held the door for her.
“Good evening, Miss Rechnov.”
