“Yes,” Jan managed, without grinding his teeth. “I understand that much, at least.” The ATV hit a bump that sent Jan slightly airborne, tossing another log on his annoyance fire. “Could you tell me exactly what the clerk needs me to sign?”
“Oh, no worries there, mate, I’ll guide you through the deletion once you’re in. I hacked their whole system years ago, cameras in the admin and the bathrooms and even train cams on approach. That’s how I spotted you! Also, what’s with the Advanced bugger you’re hauling around? Hostage?” Rafe’s voice went disturbingly husky. “Boyfriend?”
“No,” Jan said, “and no. It’s something else.”
“Right, well, that’s your business, mate. Anyway, do me a solid and keep up the Senator Patterson fake out until Galloway buggers off, all right? Don’t want him thinking about this too much. Man used to be a Special Investigator. He’s married to some scary Advanced lady, and his son’s some sort of child commando. This is a nutty town, mate, chock full of secrets. There’s Patriots of Ceto everywhere, and oh, their explosives!”
“Sure.” Jan snatched his seat again as Galloway took a right-angle turn at a decidedly unsafe speed, and Miller whooped. “And once that matter concludes?”
“You walk right out of the admin building and into the alley, smooth as butt silk,” Rafe said, which assured Jan it wasn’t going to be nearly that smooth. “I’ll have an autocar waiting and the cameras on loop. They’ll never see you leave!”
“Except for our mutual friend, yes? I imagine he has a very good memory for documents.”
“Oh, right.” Rafe sounded just a teensy bit sorry. “Sheriff might remember your face, even if I wipe the archives after. Sorry, mate, didn’t think that one through.”
Two people in worn orange jumpsuits waved from a tavern topped by what looked like nothing more than a life-sized cargo rocket. Miller waved back as the ATV hit another jarring bump. Galloway didn’t even glance their way.
“Anyway,” Rafe said, “get those archives deleted, and I’ll see you soon. I want to know everything about your new friend and your new job and, oh, Emiko’s gonna be chuffed to see you!”
Jan felt a rush of warmth. “She’s there?”
“Oh, shit no,” Rafe said. “She fucking hates me, mate, ever since Fatima left. But don’t you worry, I’ve kept tabs on her. Delete my files and we’ll find her and say hey, yeah?”
“Yes,” Jan said, as Galloway whipped his way around another ATV going in the opposite direction. “Once I’m done with my business here, I’ll give you a call.” Was this lead-footed sheriff trying to get them into a wreck?
“Top notch.” Rafe killed the call.
Jan attempted to hand back Galloway’s ear-comm, but Miller twisted in her seat again and took it instead. She tucked it into a vest pocket, still watching Jan with eyes that were far more curious than before the call. A curious cop was never good.
“So,” Miller said, “you get an Advanced bodyguard, huh?” She turned her far-too-welcoming smile on Bharat. “We have Advanced living here too, you know! Mayor Solace welcomes everyone. Don’t you believe that talk about old grudges.”
Jan did believe the talk, though he wasn’t going to say that right now. Most everyone on Ceto hated Advanced, given their Supremacy had occupied Ceto for over a decade before mysteriously pulling out for no reason. Even in orbit, Jan had heard about the pullout. He also suspected any Advanced who wasn’t watching his back in Cliffside was likely to get dead real quick.
“So what’s your name?” Miller asked Bharat.
“Dave,” Jan said, before Bharat could say something incriminating. “His name is Dave. This is his first week.”
“Well, pleased to meet you, Mr. Dave,” Miller said, lightly slapping Bharat on the knee. “You need a guide while you’re here, you let me know, all right? I can make time.”
Was Miller hitting on Bharat? Between Galloway’s reckless driving, Miller’s blatant flirting, and Deputy Carrell’s aw shucks routine, Cliffside PD couldn’t be more unprofessional. Either that ... or every last one of them was fucking with him.
“Thank you,” Bharat said, smiling unconvincingly. “But I’m simply here to keep the senator out of trouble. No need to roll out the welcoming carpet on my account.”
Welcoming carpet? Christ. Bharat was going to be in real trouble if he got lost out here, despite his muscles and combat skills. And if Bharat got lost, all that waited for Jan was nano-magma hell and a bullet in the head. That did not appeal.
Jan resolved to keep Bharat as close as possible until they were gone from Cliffside and its clown car of police officers, with Rafe. Assuming they got out of Cliffside at all, of course, and he didn’t get arrested for impersonating a senator. Assuming Rafe didn’t screw them over or blow something up.
They were finally speeding up on the administration building, a two-story structure of glass and biocrete. It looked like an Advanced design, fancier than the boxy habitation units whooshing by on either side of the bumpy, barely paved street. This building was where the money was, and Cliffside’s central servers, which must be why Rafe wanted to get him in here.
Jan did a silent inventory of past jobs and winced mentally. Rafe had said this town was thick with Patriots of Ceto, who must have “retired” here after the armistice. He’d done enough jobs for Ceto’s so-called
