I’m afraid. We haven’t got the support right now, and no one wants to risk a vote yet. As more and more of Congress is dollied-up, have the implants, I mean, we get more and more backers, but until enough of them have actually dealt with the nets, it’s hard to explain why we need the Conventions when we’ve already got Evans- Tindale.”
“I heard your people elected someone—a senator, was it?—who was on the wire.” That was one of the few women there, a rawboned accentless woman called Dumesnil, who was a senior agent in Europol’s computer intelligence division. “Hello, Jack.”
Callier nodded. “I don’t know if you know Anne Dumesnil, Ms. Carless?”
“Trouble. Please.”
“And I’m Stingray,” Dumesnil said. “Jack’s not on the wire—or on anything, for that matter.”
Trouble nodded, impressed—Stingray had made a name for herself on the Euronets, was accounted a force in tracking the software black markets, someone even the shadows spoke of with grudging respect. She looked across the room, looking for the other faces that had come out of the shadows: Cerise and Max Helling, standing by the buffet table, the pair of net cops that everyone called the Terrible Twins, a black woman whose hair was braided with functional-looking beads and wires, a man in a deliberately conservative suit and a mane of untidy dark hair. There still weren’t enough of them to make policy, but at least they were there at all.
“I started out a street cop,” Callier said. It had the sound of a set speech, something he’d practiced, and Trouble dragged her attention back to the conversation. “And a street cop I’ll always be. At least at heart.”
“Not in that suit,” Dumesnil said, and Callier laughed. “So what about this congressman? Is it true?”
“Yes, but,” Trouble said, “he’s only a member of the House of Representatives, he was elected from a district that’s not only historically liberal but also technophilic, and he got his worm when he was a subsidy student for a European corporation, and then only because he couldn’t do his research without it. All very legal and aboveboard.”
“Surely it’s a start,” Dumesnil said.
“I hope so,” Trouble said.
“This must be quite a change for you,” Callier said, and there was something in his voice that made Trouble look sharply at him. “Working the bright lights after all those years in the shadows. How do your old mates feel about it?”
Trouble looked at him for a moment longer, trying to assess what she was hearing in his voice. Challenge? she thought. Mockery? Something of both, but not quite either one. “Does it matter?”
“It might,” Callier said.
Dumesnil stirred uneasily, but then said nothing.
Callier said, “I don’t know about on the nets, but on the streets, turning cop’s going over to the enemy.”
“I suppose it’s not that different,” Trouble said. It took an effort to keep her tone level, detached, and she wished with sudden passion that Cerise were with her. Or maybe not: Cerise would take Callier apart, or try to, and that, she thought, was not the answer now.
“So how do you feel about it?” Callier asked. “Which one bothers you more, being legal or that you were in the shadows?”
“Jack,” Dumesnil said, a warning in her tone.
“No, it’s important,” Callier said. He smiled suddenly, the unexpected gesture taking some of the sting out of his words. “It is important.”
Trouble said, slowly, compelled in spite of herself by the change of pace and tone, “Yeah, if’s a problem, my coming out of the shadows. It couldn’t not be a problem. The way I figure it is, I was a kid when I started—I didn’t have a lot of other choices, for reasons that are none of your business— and in a way I’m grateful to Evans-Tindale because that gave me the chance to get out. But I don’t regret it, not exactly— I’ve done the best I can. I’m still trying, still trying to do what’s right.” She stopped abruptly, embarrassed by her own passion and her own lack of certainty, and saw Callier relax.
“I know what you mean,” he said. “I was a right tearaway when I was a kid, caused all kinds of trouble myself—nearly killed another kid once, just lucky I didn’t.” He saw Dumesnil looking at him, and grinned again, the expression wry. “Yeah, I didn’t think you knew that, Annie.”
“It doesn’t fit you,” Dumesnil said, expressionless.
“It’s true. He pulled a knife on me, I hit him with a piece of pipe, broke his shoulder. I was aiming for his head.” He looked back at Trouble. “But you got to grow up sometime.”
Trouble nodded. She saw movement out of the corner of her eye, a shadow crossing against the cool greys and browns of the window, and turned to see Mabry making his way toward them, bulky against the dying light. She lifted a hand in greeting, but turned back to Callier. “Sooner or later,” she said, and Callier nodded back. Mabry beckoned, and she excused herself, moved to join him, into the cool light of evening.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I’d like to thank Don Sakers for all the useful information forwarded to me during the course of writing this book—it’s great to have a good friend who is also a good librarian. I’d also like to thank Nancy Bellhouse May of Wright, Lindsey, and Jennings, for steering me through the legal maze surrounding these issues; the interpretations are, however, entirely my own. Thanks are also due to David Hartwell, for asking the right questions, and to Lisa Barnett, for making me prove this would work at all.
Tor books by Melissa Scott
Copyright
NOTE: If you purchased this book without a cover you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as “unsold and destroyed” to the publisher and neither the author nor the publisher has received payment for this “stripped book.”
This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious, and any resemblance to real people or events is purely coincidental.
TROUBLE AND HER FRIENDS
Copyright© 1994 by Melissa Scott
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof, in any form.
“Legend of a Mind” lyrics and music by Ray Thomas, copyright © 1968 and 1969 Westminster Music, Ltd., London, England.TRO-Essex Music International, Inc., New York, controls all publication rights for the U.S.A. and Canada. Used by permission.
Cover art by Nicholas Jainschigg
A Tor Book Published by Tom Doherty Associates, Inc.
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