02. The Shadow Dancers (28 page)

It was right near sundown, and there was a mist around. It got cool fast in the mountains, but it was plenty warm enough for me. I started out, gettin' all sorts of stares, and began my run. I never knew how far I ran most days, 'cept that it was several miles when I had the time. I just ran as long as the juice made me feel good and stopped when it stopped.

I went till I hit a boundary, which was a real mean barbed-wire fence, then started 'round it, past the airstrip, past the guards with guns and dogs at several places, and all the way around the huge property, up hill and down, in and
put of the trees. There was this fair-sized cleared area right in back of the lodge with a little fence around it and a kinda tent roof over it, but with no sides. As I came near, I saw somethin' happen there.

A blue-white line, then another line out of it, then finally the outline of a cube, then another, then another. The Labyrinth!
This
was the Labyrinth! Hell, I could jump that itty bitty fence in nothin' flat and be inside the thing before nobody even noticed. Not that I would. This was proof positive of that. Where could I go? No juice in there, at least none I could find with a steady supply, and for what? I ran on past, up the front steps to the deck, and stopped. It was a great run and I felt great for doin' it. Off in the distance, I heard the motor of another plane comin' in, and I ran to the side and watched the runway lights come on and the little thing land. I turned and saw Marty there, leerin' at me. I couldn't resist it. I went over and put my arms around him.

"Hey! Stop it! Cut it out!" I laughed and teased him and twitched him in his crotch, but finally backed off. "Jeez! I sure as hell like
you
better den dat udder one dey sent through dis mornin'!"

I stopped, mildly interested. " 'Nother what?"

"Another you. De other one, only you sure couldn't tell it. Real cool; professional, if you know what I mean. Even packin' a rod in that purse of hers."

I suddenly
was
interested. "A gun? She had a gun?"

"Yep. And walked through dat t'ing out back cool as a cucumber."

What had they been doin' with her all these months?
Jesus!
They
was sendin' her off to kill somebody!
Dat's what dis is all 'bout!
But who? Nobody back in the world of them golden folks. Couldn't get no gun in. I searched through her old memories, findin' it uncomfortable, but this had me curious. Got to be goin' back to her home. To do what? To kill that Markham fella, most like. He'd be in de way. Or, maybe not. Could she be far 'nuff gone to kill Sam? Suppose her Sam had woke up and come home, much to somebody's upset. Not near so many Sams in dem worlds as Brandys, and he be harder to switch. But she wouldn't ice him, would she? She love him like crazy. Even wit' all dis brain shit, no way she could do it. Could de juice make her pull dat trigger? Maybe on Markham, but on Sam?

I was shaken by the idea, but there was nothin'
I
could do about it 'cept hope they caught her before she did it.

"You okay?" Marty asked. "You're lookin' a little sick."

"No, it ain't nothin'. Jes' my period comin' on or somethin'." I went inside and up to my room and tried to get the picture out of my mind.

The new plane carried Arnie Siegel. He came in, said hello to the staff and the boys, and went up to his own room to shower and change. I did the same, then put on my best face and jewelry and the slinky metallic blue dress that looked painted on, left nothin' to the imagination, and was slit all the way up in case it did anyways. I did it up right. Fingernails, toenails, his favorite perfume, you name it. I needed to think 'bout somethin' else for a while. By the time I had checked the nylons and garters and slipped on the shoes, Arnie had been done for some time and was back in his office all the way down the hall. His door was open and I could see part of his desk, so I kinda eased down, real hesitant. I didn't want him in no bad mood with me, not now.

He heard me, leaned over, saw me, and said, real friendly-like, "Oh, it's you, Brandy. Come on in if you like."

So I waltzed in, then stopped dead. In front of Arnie on the desk was a briefcase that musta contained hundreds of doses of the juice at the very least.

He saw my look, and smiled, real amused. "Yeah. Impressive, isn't it? Just out of curiosity, what would you do if I gave this case to you? Just a pretend question, you understand."

I thought about it. What
would
I do? My answer was the point of his question. "Nothin', Mr. Siegel. Jes' stash it and keep on goin'."

Even if I had an unlimited supply with no strings, it wouldn't matter. I just had no place to go that was better than what I had now, 'specially after bein' down so far. That other one,
she
might just use it right, but a whore was a whore in every world and it didn't get no better than I had it right here. "I ain't got nobody and noplace
to
go," I told him.

He grinned and closed the case. "And that's why you're here and why you're my number-one girl now. I can't trust many people, you know, but I can trust you. You're somebody I just never have to worry about."

I felt a real glow of pride at that.

"Originally, we kept you around just because we had to have a backup just in case things went bad, but that's all over now. Now and for quite a while I'm keeping you for myself, because I can trust you and there's nothing hidden or phony about you. Speaking of that, you still have any troubles with some of those memories we planted?"

"Yeah, some," I admitted.
Like the past hour,

"Well, we've got some doctor's equipment here that might help that, which we've been using the past few months, and the doctor in charge is due back tonight. He put it in there and he can get it out, real quick and painless, just like he got it in. Maybe we'll have him take a look at you and take advantage of the fact that it's all here and get rid of her once and for all. I think you'll be a lot happier."

"Yes, suh. Whateva' you say."

I wasn't real sure I wanted to lose what I had of her. Just the idea that I coulda done better than I did if I had a few breaks was kinda nice to feel, even if it was too late for me. But I could see Arnie's point and I didn't want to say nothin' against it. A quick session, then I don't know nothin' 'bout no other Brandys or this Company or no plots or nothin', and I wouldn't
wanna
know. What you see is what you get. Then I wouldn't have this naggin' dirty feelin' in the back of my head, neither, 'bout nobody gettin' shot over juice.

We went on down to dinner, with me on my best behavior. I wasn't none too comfortable at a regular dinner. I never could figure out which fork was what and what you ate with what, but I just sat quiet and followed everybody else's example. Maybe that doc could teach me some manners with that magic machine of his. 'Course, it wasn't really needed. The only high roller tricks was white guys who wanted to see if black girls really did it better and they wouldn't be seen dead in no restaurant with no black woman. Bars, yeah, but not restaurants.

The dinner group was small; just Arnie and me, and Marty, plus two tough-lookin' hoods named Tommy and Sal who I never seen before. They didn't seem to be Arnie's men; I had a hunch this place was gonna have some visits
by other big shots in the rackets, like a crime council meetin'. I just smiled pretty, tuned out the men-talk, and passed the peas when asked.

My whole idea about Arnie Siegel was changin' for the better, though. He weren't no Hitler type; oh, he might be a crook, even a big-time one, but all that slave horseshit had been to break and set up that other me. Nothin' personal, strictly business. This Doc Carlos guy didn't show, though; he seemed to have gone out someplace and didn't get back yet. Arnie could tell I was horny, so he gave the invite to Tommy and Sal and both of 'em paid me visits later on that night in the room. They was typical hoods; thought they was Mr. Macho and really weren't even Quickie Delight. After that I gave myself a shot of juice and let it take over. This was earlier than I usually took it, but I had a six-hour window. Thing was, though, I come out of that nice, mellow period about three, maybe four in the mornin', and I usually didn't go to sleep until six or so.

This was a little different comedown than usual, though. Things kept goin' 'round and 'round in my head, and I seemed to see them like pieces in a kid's jigsaw puzzle. They hadn't really been there up front before, and might never have been brought up had I been fully awake and aware or most particularly if Marty hadn't never mentioned the other Brandy goin' off that mornin' and got me worried and depressed over it.

Vogel
. . .
hypnoscan . .. Beth . . . Aldrath . . . The Security Committee at dinner . . . the ambush in the Labyrinth . . . Lindy Crockett . . . the shadow dancers . . . Brandy Two . . . the juice . . . the woman at Siegel's with the strange perfume . . . "Who won that war, anyway?". . . Beth again, carryin' Vogel's load up to the mine. . . "be they yellow, black, or white, there's no difference in His sight" . . . "The sensors would detect any raw drug". . . "the commoners can move to other worlds, and have". . . "You're a whore and always will be"... Donna feelin' herself up. . . Beth . . . Beth . . . Beth . . .

I sat up in bed and my mouth hung open. Them sons of bitches! They done it to me again! And after I swore they couldn't! Never! And they'd'a got clean away with it, too, if only poor, dumb Marty, who didn't know what was goin'
on or care so long as he got paid good, hadn't opened his big mouth and said somethin' he shouldn't.

I stopped short. Damn it, they
was
gonna git 'way with it! I knew what they done and what they was gonna do and why and I couldn't do a damned thing about it. So tomorrow sometime they was gonna take me down to this Dr. Carlos and give me a hypnoscan like the one I had to become Beth, only
this
time there wouldn't be no trigger to let my old self back in. I'd be little Brandy Parker, the dumb, ignorant whore and a kinda
trophy
to their success, and wouldn't nobody even look for me since
she
had my looks, my basic memories, and even my fingerprints and eye patterns. 'Cept'n for Marty's slip, I wouldn't even have known at all.

I was so frustrated and angry I wanted to cry, but then I heard voices outside. They was muffled, but you could tell it was a man and a woman and that they wasn't agreein' on much. I slipped off the bed and crept to my door, then opened it a crack. The whole place was pitch dark 'cept for a light shinin' from under the closed door of Arnie's office at the end of the hall. I was just decidin' whether or not to get closer-I could always say I was goin' to the bathroom -when I heard two dull sounds.
Thud! Thud!
They sounded like gunshots done with a silencer!

I rushed forward, and at that moment the door opened and a dark figure clad in black rushed out the door. The light and the action stunned me for a second, and they run right into me and we both fell down. I heard the clatter of somethin' fallin' on the floor, but the other one didn't stop but was up and away down the stairs in nothin' flat. I picked myself up and felt around and got it.
A pistol!
Felt a little light and funny, but it was definitely a pistol. I picked it up and walked into the office and stopped dead in my tracks. Outside there was some yellin' and screamin' and the sound of a few unmuffled shots.

Arnie lay lack in the office chair, head cocked, eyes open and glazed over, a little blood tricklin' from his mouth. There was two neat, red holes in his silk pajamas, and they was gettin' bigger. Somebody ran up the stairs and reached the edge of the doorway. I turned, nearly forgettin' the gun in my hand, to see Marty.

"Mr. Siegel! Somebody ju-
Jesus Christ!"
He saw Arnie, then me. "You dumb broad! You just killed Mr. Siegel!"

"No! Wait! I-" I started, but Marty was goin' for his gun. Somethin' suddenly kicked in and took over for me. The whole thing slowed, like it was some kinda slow-motion movie, and as his hand went to his shoulder holster my hand come up with the pistol in it. I had much better reflexes than Marty, and somethin' else seemed to be controllin' my actions. I shot Marty dead center in the middle of his forehead. He looked surprised, then kinda puzzled, and I kicked him down and started lookin' 'round the office. Then I saw it-the black briefcase, off to one side of the desk. I picked it up and started to move. There was still some commotion outside, but nobody else seemed to be comin' straight in, so I headed for my room and suddenly was thinkin' again, although on a real supercharged level. I thought 'bout ditchin' the gun and preten-din' to be asleep, but I knew that wouldn't wash. There was no way to hide that briefcase in time, and no way I was gonna part with it short of dyin'. With Arnie dead there'd be a new order around, and I wouldn't be worth
shit
to the new guys even if they didn't blame me for this.

I didn't waste no time gettin' dressed. I just threw what I saw into my bag, includin' the shoes, and put it over my shoulder. I had the briefcase in one hand and the gun in the other. I didn't know how many more bullets was in that gun, but it was all I had. I opened the door and saw somebody had come in and turned the main room's lights on. I crept to the top of the stairs, saw two men lookin' around. One of 'em thought to look up, and I plugged him and then his companion with no thought. That kind of accuracy, when both had guns in their hands, was near impossible. The juice-the juice was readin' my danger level and forcin' me to protect it, and me, at any cost!

I made a leap that woulda done Tarzan proud down to the main floor and hit in a crouch without losin' the case or the bag. I stopped tryin' to fight the juice, and suddenly I was a killer machine. I had only one thought: escape. I was like some vicious cornered animal, only I knew the layout and I knew the gun and I knew the only way out I could go.

I made my way back to the kitchen area, then peered outside. It was real dark, but the glow from the house lights
lit it up some. Two guards, one with a rifle, was out there arguin' and pointin'-at the Labyrinth.