Antagonist - Childe Cycle 11 (11 page)

"Which
they
might,"
Dahno
said.

"Which
they
might,"
Henry
agreed.
"But
until
we
return
to
an urban
area
and
some
independent
transportation,
we
have
no
better option."

"We
need
to
figure
out
who
would
have
done
this,"
Dahno
said. "Yes,"
Bleys
added.
"And
we
need
to
think
about
changing
our plans."

"Security
is
what
we
need
above
all,"
Henry
said.
"I
have
a
few ideas...."

They
spent
the
next
twenty
minutes
comparing
ideas
and
making plans,
breaking
off
when
the
driver
signaled
for
their
attention.

"You
probably
can't
hear
it
because
of
the
soundproofing
back there,"
she
said
over
the
intercom,
"but
we've
got
two
helicopters overhead.
Our
escort
is
here."

"Are
you
sure
they're
with
our
escort?"
Dahno
asked.

"It's
confirmed
by
Area
Command,"
the
driver
replied.
"They tell
me
the
armored
cars
will
be
coming
into
sight
in
a
moment."
After
a
moment's
pause
she
spoke
again.

"They're
serious,"
she
said.
"I
mean,
there
aren't
very
many
helicopters
on
the
whole
planet.
They're
just
too
expensive
and
too
vulnerable.
..."

"I
know,"
Bleys
said,
hoping
to
forestall
a
lecture
on
the
shortage of
metals
on
the
Younger
Worlds.
"Are
we
going
to
stop
here?"

"No,"
said
the
driver.
"I've
been
told
to
just
keep
going,
and they'll
fit
the
escort
in
around
us
as
we
go."

As
she
spoke,
the
ground
component
of
their
escort
came
into sight
ahead
of
them;
and
by
activating
the
video
screen
that
gave them
a
forward
view,
those
in
the
passenger
compartment
were
able to
watch
as
the
first
four
armored
cars
pulled
off
the
roadway,
leaving
a
lane
up
which
their
limousine
could
proceed
without
slowing. Ahead
of
them,
the
last
four
armored
cars
in
the
group
could
be seen
spinning
end
for
end,
to
take
up
station
preceding
them
and accelerate.

CHAPTER
8

The
escort
sent
by
the
New
Franciscan
government
led
them
to
a small
town
about
seventy
kilometers
from
the
burial
site,
where they
stopped
in
a
public
park
that
was
bordered
on
two
sides
by
the town's
tiny
commercial
district.
As
their
escort's
weapons
menaced the
nearby
buildings,
it
was
strongly
suggested
they
abandon
their limousine
and
proceed,
riding
inside
the
armored
cars,
to
the
security
of
a
government
facility.

Bleys'
initial
refusal
raised
enough
consternation
among
the
New Franciscans
that
no
one
noticed
when
Henry
slipped
away;
in
fact, Bleys,
Toni
and
Dahno
went
on
to
make
such
a
production
out
of agreeing
to
be
split
up
for
the
trip,
and
then
of
agreeing
on
a
destination,
that
Henry
was
not
missed
when
they
all
loaded
up
and
left town.

As
they
drove
away
Bleys
could
see
their
limousine
being
left
behind,
its
driver
casually
lounging
on
a
small
bench
nearby.
She
had removed
her
dark
green
tunic,
perhaps
because
of
the
warmth
of the
sunlight,
and
her
white
shirt
gleamed
in
the
brightness,
startling above
her
green
livery
trousers.

Too
casual,
he
thought.

On
their
arrival
at
the
border
with
Andrade,
a
neighboring
state, they
were
met
by
officials
of
the
governments
of
both
Getan
states, as
well
as
by
people
from
the
nearest
Friendly
consulate.
No
one seemed
to
know
who
had
carried
out
the
bombing,
and
it
was
not even
considered
certain
that
it
had
in
fact
been
intended
for
Bleys and
his
party.
But
the
assembled
officialdom
agreed
it
would
be
the
wisest
course
for
Bleys
to
withdraw
from
his
itinerary
and
return
to the
safety
of
Ceta
City.

Bleys,
however,
insisted
that
his
visits
to
the
troops
would
go
on; and
at
last,
as
a
concession,
he
agreed
to
alter
the
originally
scheduled
order
of
the
visits,
and
to
accept
the
military
escorts
that
would be
provided
by
the
governments
of
every
state
they
entered.

"The
last
thing
I
want
is
for
these
people
to
hover
over
me,"
he told
Toni.
"I
still
have
work,
to
do
here."

Bleys'
bodyguards
could
be
brought
along,
they
were
told,
if
they agreed
to
be
disarmed.
Bleys
declined
the
offer,
pointing
out
that
unarmed
bodyguards
were
of
little
value.
However,
he
requested
that
at least
two
of
his
staff
people,
along
with
his
personal
medician,
Kaj Menowsky,
be
allowed
to
join
them;
but
that
request
had
been
anticipated,
and
three
of
the
staff
arrived
even
as
they
prepared
to
leave.

Kaj
Menowsky,
the
staff
reported,
had
been
concussed
in
the bombing,
and
had
been
hospitalized.
Such
medical
care
as
Bleys and
his
party
might
need,
the
locals
informed
him,
would
be
immediately
provided
by
their
hosts.

Unwilling
to
explain
about
his
unusual
medical
condition,
Bleys decided
not
to
press
the
issue.

Early
the
next
morning
they
were
placed
aboard
a
shuttle
that took
them
more
than
a
third
of
the
way
around
the
planet,
arriving late
in
the
day
at
a
sizable,
and
well-guarded,
encampment
of Friendly
Militia.
This
visit
was
kept
out
of
the
Cetan
media,
but was
recorded
for
later
broadcast;
and
thereafter
they
spent
the
night in
the
secure,
if
less
than
luxurious,
midst
of
the
troops.

In
the
morning
they
moved
on
in
a
couple
of
civilian
vehicles, again
surrounded
by
an
escort
provided
by
the
local
government.

It
was
only
after
they
had
left
the
Friendly
unit
some
distance behind
that
trouble
arose
once
again.

The
Cetan
state
they
had
spent
the
night
in,
the
Solomon
Hills Republic,
although
an
independent
entity,
had
been
part
of
an
alliance
during
the
recent
war;
and
since
the
allied
states
had
acted together
in
hiring
the
Friendly
troops
that
had
bolstered
their
own military
establishments,
units
of
those
Friendly
forces
were
deployed
in
a
number
of
locations.
But
the
escort
the
Cetans
insisted on
providing
was
made
up
of
local
troops;
no
one,
Dahno
suggested
wryly,
wanted
armed
Friendly
troops
moving
freely
about the
countryside,
for
all
that
they
were
supposed
to
be
on
the
same side
and
there
was
a
truce
in
place.