“I don’t wish to draw attention, either.”
Suze sat back, leathery lips pursing. “You want someone illegally frozen? Hoping you can bribe me into storing the body for you?” Her tone was remarkably neutral, neither leading nor guiding.
Her suggestion came up far too readily—ye gods, had Suze ever provided such services, perhaps for the local underworld? Did Kibou-daini have an underworld? Aside from the literal one he’d been lost in, that is. Could this be the source of some of her protection? Because crime lords would want to cheat death, too. Though you’d think they could afford their own private arrangements—still, they would need benefits to distribute to lesser followers. And for the discreet disposal of enemies, those ranks of anonymous drawers downstairs would certainly trump lead weights and a swim in the nearest river. It would even render murder reversible, if one had been too hasty in one’s crime-lordly commands, or otherwise made a mistake. Man, if I wanted to hide a body on Kibou… Miles wrenched his mind from this fascinating side-path. “Have you done such favors before?” he asked cautiously.
Suze shrugged, her alarm giving way to dry amusement in the face of his consternation. “If I had, would I tell you?”
“I have no need to know,” Miles assured her. Want to know yes, but then, he wanted to know everything. “My need is quite the reverse. We wish to do a private cryorevival. Which requires proper facilities. And discretion. You may be able to lend us both.”
This took her aback. Her jaw worked, and she covered her confusion with another swallow of coffee, then grimaced. “Jin, fetch my medicine out of the cupboard,” she commanded. Jin leapt up, rummaged for the square bottle, and brought it to her. At her gesture, he also uncapped and poured—scantly, both Miles and, he thought, Suze noted, but she didn’t complain as the boy settled once more. “Cryorevival! How?”
“Dr. Durona, here, is a noted cryorevival specialist. If your facilities meet his specs, we’d like to, as it were, rent them.”
A long pause. “How much?” Suze said at last.
“I thought I’d offer you something your money can’t buy. In exchange for letting us revive our, um, patron—and for the discretion, of course—Raven will throw in a top-class revival for any other candidate of your choice.”
Suze’s jaw unhinged. She sank back in her chair. And after a moment breathed, “You devil.”
Money would have worked, Miles thought. But some things worked better.
Suze jerked her head toward Raven. “Just how good is he?”
For answer, Miles unbuttoned his gray tunic and white shirt. “This”—his hand traced the spider web of pale scars—“was a needle-grenade, very well aimed, at close range. Ten years ago. Raven did my revival.” Assisted at, strictly speaking, but Raven had acquired a decade’s more experience and seniority since then. “I guarantee, as a medical challenge nothing that you have downstairs can compare.”
Suze looked away as he buttoned up again. “Old age,” she said, “is slower than a grenade, but a lot more thorough.”
“This is unfortunately true,” said Raven, “though I may have a few aids for that as well. What I would suggest is that Madame Suze, here, draw up a list of half a dozen or so candidates, and let me triage them for the maximum chance of medical success. This should produce the most satisfactory result all round.”
“Mm,” she said. Her hand crept up and rubbed her chest, over her heart. “Hm.”
Jin, unable to contain himself any longer, burst out, “Please, Suze-san! Let them!”
The caterpillar eyebrows climbed. “What’s it to you, boy?”
Jin pressed his lips together and looked imploringly at Miles.
“Are you sure you want to know?” Miles inquired.
Suze was shrewd enough to hesitate a long moment before her curiosity overcame her better judgment. “Yah.”
Miles opened his hand to Jin, who cried, “Miles-san promised to get my mother back!”
Suze’s face pinched in horror. “Oh, and you think you aren’t going to draw attention, mister galactic investigator? Lisa Sato was all about attention!”
“We may draw some eventually, but not to you,” Miles said smoothly. “As soon as her recovery permits, we’ll remove her to the Barrayaran consulate and reunite her with both her children. No link to this place.”
“You think so? Those that froze her will sure enough want to find out who unfroze her! Which will drop them right back in my lap, which isn’t big enough to hold them, I promise you!”
“Yes, but the first thing they’ll run into is me. I plan…” Miles hesitated. He didn’t exactly have a plan, yet. More of a stab in the dark. He still wasn’t sure what his blade would connect with…
“What?” demanded Suze.
“I plan to give them other worries.” He glanced at Raven. “Much depends on Madame Sato, both on what she has to say and how soon she can say it. I had rather severe cryo-amnesia, myself. Which lingered uncomfortably.”
“I remember that,” said Raven. “Uncomfortable it may have been, but it didn’t really last that long. We were just pressed for time, back then. Madame Sato—well, I can’t give any guarantees at this point.”
Miles nodded understanding, both of what was said and what was unsaid, and turned again to Suze. “I need one more favor. I’d like to borrow a cryo-corpse.”
“What,” Suze began in a towering tone, which weakened to, “…kind?”
“Female, about fifty kilos. As young as you have available. Anything else, Raven?”
Raven shook his head. “That should do it.”
“We undertake not to damage her in any way that would compromise her future revival,” Miles went on, hoping he didn’t sound too airy.
“That a guarantee, galactic?”
“It won’t be wholly under my control, but if things go my way, she should be all right.” I hope. “In any covert operation, people… take their chances.”
Raven winced—ah, maybe not the best parallel to draw, after the chest display.
“When?”
“Soon. Possibly tonight, no later than tomorrow night.”
Suze’s nostrils flared in a long, indrawn breath of doubt.
Miles held up a pair of fingers. “Two cryorevivals of your choice.”
Suze turned her head and made a throwing-away gesture. “Go see the plant medtech. Vristi Tanaka. Jin will show you the way. If you can talk her into going along with all this nonsense, though I suppose you will… Talk, talk, talk. Makes me tired.”
Miles rose quickly, so as not to outwear his welcome or her decision. “Thank you, Madame Suze. I promise you…” you won’t regret this was too big a diplomacy to push past even his teeth. “…it will be interesting,” he finished.
Suze’s snort sent them on their way.
The infirmary turned out to be on the second floor of the facility’s old patron intake building. Jin led Miles and Raven through double doors to a corridor with some two or three rooms apparently furbished up for action, judging from the fresh medical smell. They found Tenbury lingering outside of one of them, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, a narrow float pallet grounded at his feet.
“Jin!” he said, looking pleased. “They said you’d got lost!” He looked somewhat less pleased at Miles. “You again.” His brow wrinkled at Raven.
“We came to see Tanaka-san,” Jin explained. “It’s important.”
“She’s busy right now”—Tenbury jerked a thumb at the room beyond—“but they should be done soon.”
Raven craned his neck to peer through a narrow glass window in the door. “Ah, cryoprep in progress? I’d like to see that.”
“Raven-sensei’s a doctor. From Escobar,” Jin began. Tenbury looked perturbed, and began to speak. Miles cut the debate short by simply knocking.