Laldasa (30 page)

oOo

Ana was nearly asleep by the time he returned to the aircar and jumped half out of her seat when he got in. She was fully awake in seconds, though, and listened intently to his report as they drove.

“Do you think he's one of them?” she asked, when he'd finished. “One of the crooked Sarngin?”

“I don't know, Ana. I honestly don't. I tried to read him. I wanted to trust him. Then he asked to question my informants.” He shrugged. “I don't trust Varaza, though. He just seemed ...
 
too perturbed by my visit with Gar.”

“Maybe he was just concerned that you might get him in trouble with his Commander. After all, you did go there to complain about the rise of crime in his sector. And you went over his head to do it.”

Jaya chuckled. “I guess I did. All right, so I'm not a detective.”

He had just turned the car onto the drive that fronted the Sarojin property when Ana saw the graffiti. She grasped his arm.

“Jaya, look! On the wall by the gates!”

He brought the aircar to a stop. Just up the gentle slope, a red, three foot high scrawl glared down at them from the perimeter wall. “DEATH,” it said. “DEATH TO AGIM. DEATH TO FRIENDS OF AGIM.” The meaningless word “WoCoa” was scribbled beneath.

“Who in the name of-“

“It's fresh,” said Ana. She pointed at the oozing letters.

Jaya swore violently, flipped his harness off, and popped the door.

“What are you doing?” asked Ana, grasping his arm more tightly.

“I'm going to see if they left any telltale signs.”

“All right.” Ana reached for her harness clip.

Jaya's hand closed over hers. “Stay in the car, Ana.”

“I'm not afraid to go out there.”

“Then you're an idiot. Stay in the car.”

Angry, Ana tugged at the clip. The pressure of Jaya's fingers increased painfully. She glared at him.

“Do you want to take the chance that someone might be watching? Someone who might recognize you? These are your father's enemies we're dealing with.”

He was right. She was being an idiot. Still glaring, she nodded.

Jaya slid out of the car and glanced around, removing his cloak and dropping it onto the driver's seat.
 
He closed and secured the door, then rounded the sleek nose to wade through the lush greenery at the base of the wall.

Watching him, Ana failed to notice the large, silver-gray aircar that glided to a stop behind her. Failed to see the hooded men that climbed from it until they were flanking her.

A movement at the corner of her eye made her turn her head. Two figures slid by her window, close enough to brush the glass. Electrified, she let out a muffled shriek. Two more men moved by on the left. She'd flipped off her harness and was in the act of springing the door catch when she remembered that they couldn't see her.

She caught at mental cords of discipline. I can't panic. I won't be any good if I panic.

The men fanned out at the nose of the car, moving to encircle Jaya. She could just see him through the wall they created and willed him to hear them or sense them.

As if at her thought, he turned and straightened. His eyes flicked to Ana, though they couldn't see her there, behind the opaque glass. Stay, they said, then scanned the hooded ones.

“Is this your work?” asked Jaya. His hand extended toward the wall.

Ana couldn't tell if he got an answer.

What he said next was, “Who are you? What do you want?”

The answer to that was movement. They edged closer, spreading the circle to cut off his retreat.

“Damn!” murmured Ana. “Damn!”

She searched frantically for some way to hear what was happening without giving herself away. She found the controls to the roof hatch and breathed a prayer that its mechanism would be as silent as sunlight. It was.

“-jobs on the block,” said a raspy, metal-edged voice. “We don't like that. We're just ... registering our disapproval.”

Jaya shrugged. “What have I done that you disapprove of? I haven't voted on the AGIM petition yet.”

“We want to make sure you vote correctly, that's all. We don't like the idea of your foreign friends eating into KNC payload. Which they will, if the AGIM petition passes. And the first thing to go will be the cargo handlers. The KNC won't support a team of wharfers when there's nothing for them to do. And that won't be all. AGIM threatens every honest worker in the KNC family. You vote right, mahesa, we keep our jobs. You vote wrong, we lose—and we'll see to it that you lose.”

“You're not damn likely to influence my vote by painting hate slogans on the walls of my estate.”

The thugs edged closer.

“We hear,” said the saw-tooth voice, “you can't be bought.”

“And you thought maybe I could be frightened? Think again.”

“No, mahesa. You think again.”

The thug took three quick strides forward and slammed Jaya against the wall with a blow to his shoulder.

Ana gasped and coiled for action, her hand hovering above the door catch.

Jaya's eyes drove her back.

They won't kill. They need to frighten, not to kill. Stay calm ...
 

That was far from easy. Ana knew her temper was a great personal weakness, and watching Jaya take a swift series of vicious blows taxed her self-discipline almost beyond limit. She concentrated all her will on his well-being.

oOo

His back to the wall, Jaya struggled for breath and focus. He was hemmed in—a man before him, another beside him, holding him in place. A black hood wavered before his sight, eyes like dark flares gleamed through the shadowed slits. Not quite right, those eyes. One of them was crooked. Skewed in some way—the flesh around it, puckered. Through a haze of pain and vertigo, he heard the rasping voice again.

“How do you vote now, mahesa?”

“I vote you to Niraya Hell.”

“Are you sure, mahesa?” There was a surreptitious movement among the folds of the man's black cloak.

Jaya saw the thin, shining sliver of blade just before it bit into his left side. He sucked in a sharp breath and tried not to cry out.

Ana jumped as a chill dashed around her rib cage. Something was wrong. She gasped for air, fighting against a sudden stitch in her side. She tried to read Jaya's face, but his eyes were closed. They came open as her fingers curled around the door catch. She bit her lip and waited, wishing someone would come. Surely someone could sense that they were in danger. Kena? No, Ravi! Jaya's shadow. If only Ravi might have some gift of second sight.

“Am I making an impression, mahesa?” The knife nibbled its way deeper.

Caught between the knife and the wall, Jaya could not escape the pain. “Not the one you were hoping for,” he said and gasped when the blade punished him for the insolence.

“I don't think this is going to convince him,” said the man at Jaya's shoulder. “I think maybe another tactic might.”

Sawtooth seemed to consider that, then nodded. He withdrew the knife and wiped the bloody point on Jaya's shirt.

“So you don't care about your own pain, hm? What about someone else's? What about ... oh, that Avasan cousin of yours—the Rani Sadira?”

Jaya tensed. “What do you know about her?”

He could feel the smile through the hood. “Oh, the Coalition is very interested in what you Varmana do in your private moments. Knowledge like that can be quite useful in times like these. We have quite a network set up to bring us that knowledge.”

“Oh? What knowledge did you hold over poor old Adivaram's head?”

The black hood laughed. “I'm sure you'd like to know. I can tell you it was nothing like this. That old boy only cares for the dagam. But you ...
 
I'll bet you'd go out of your way to protect your little Genda cousin, yes?”

Jaya thought frantically. Where distraction had failed, perhaps bluff would succeed.

“What makes you think I would? She's a pleasant diversion, but hardly worth jeopardizing my career on the Vrinda Varma.”

“You really expect me to believe you don't care about that woman? Tsk. Nathu Rai, you're joking with us. I assure you, this isn't the time for jokes.”

“I'm not joking. I don't give a damn what happens to her. I can buy five more just like her in any dalali in Kasi.”

He was surrounded by unpleasant laughter.

“Buy a Rani, mahesa? I doubt even you could do that. You're lying through your eyes.” He peered into them as if to flush the lie out. “It's a shame your beautiful, Rani-dasa isn't here, or we could put that lie to the test.”

He didn't mean to glance at the car, but he did—and Sawtooth, with the skill of a veteran tracker, followed the trail his eyes left.

“Ah! But she is here, after all!” He jerked his head to one side. “The car.”

oOo

Crouched on the padded seat, Ana tensed, her fingers aching in their death-grip on the backrest. She'd already thrown the door catch, already disengaged the automatic lift mechanism. Now she braced herself against the inner arm of the passenger seat, her feet resting against the door panel.

Two men approached the car. One circled to the driver's side. Ana grimaced. Thank God she'd thought of that. The man on her side drew a very illegal weapon from his cloak—a lightning gun. It occurred to her that Jaya would probably want her to start the car and shoot away in a jet of hot air. She took a deep breath. Not a chance.

The car rocked slightly. A voice overhead and behind called, “This side's locked.”

Ana glanced at the driver's side monitor. This thug, too, had a weapon trained on the car. He nodded to his partner. Ana swiveled her head back around and tensed. The man above her leaned forward slightly and reached for the external hand hold.

She kicked with every ounce of strength in her body. The door flew up and back, caught the thug full in the face, and sent him crashing backward into the knee high foliage. It closed over him like a green tide. The car bucked savagely as his partner scrambled to the roof.

Ana dove through the open door into the leafy cover. She landed half atop her unconscious victim. Gun! she thought and scrambled for it among the moist shadows. It wasn't in his hand. She slithered forward, suddenly aware of sound. To her left—shouts and cries and the sound of fighting. Behind her, something scrambling, groping, seeking her out.

Last night's nightmare popped into her head. Her salvation then had been the winged crown, but the crown was gone, safely tucked away in a velvet bag. A velvet-

Heart beating loudly enough to drown out all else, Ana groped for the fallen thug's hood. She found it, grasped it, tugged. It gave slightly, then caught. Biting her lip to keep from groaning in frustration, she gave it another yank and was rewarded. The hood was in her hand. Her ankle was in someone else's.

Kicking, she struggled the hood over her head and prayed she could make her naturally husky voice sound like a man's. “Hey!” she roared and popped her head out of the greenery.

The other thug released her ankle with a disgusted growl. “Help me find her!”

She jerked her head backward. “The gun,” she grunted, and submerged herself in the foliage again.

Now she crawled toward the wall, desperate. Where was the gun?

The glint of stray sunlight on its anodized casing gave it up. It had come to rest against the base of the wall, its muzzle propped in the woody crook of a fern. Two more feet and she had it in her hands. She rolled over onto her back and lay still.

It was quiet. Too quiet. Just beyond her feet she could hear the sounds of search. To her right ...
  

A sharp cry of pain made every nerve in her body jump.

“Tell her to come out, mahesa. Tell her to come out now. Before you lose the ability to speak.”

Ana sat up and tore off the hood. “I'm here! I'm right here!”

“Come here!” ordered Jaya's captor. “Come here and save your Lord from a very sore throat.”

Ana shook her head. “Come get me.”

The knife tip nipped at Jaya's throat, drawing blood.

“I've hurt my ankle,” she added.

The thug just below her on the florid bank started to move toward her, then stumbled. He swore, reached into the foliage and came up with his partner's hand. He started to pull, attempting to help the man to his feet.

“No!” The leader gestured violently. “His hood, stupid! She's got his hood! Leave him! I want her.”

The thug nodded, straightened, took a step up the slope. Ana raised her hands out of the leafy blanket, sunlight dancing along the barrel of the lightning gun. She aimed it at his middle.

The hooded head shook. “You don't know how to use that, Rani.” He made a move to draw his own weapon, tucked away during his search.