''We can drive you there.''
''Hey, Princess, it's quit raining. It's a beautiful evening. And I could use the exercise. Maybe you haven't noticed, but chasing after you mainly required me to sit on my butt. Enough; let me walk.''
So Kris gave up and let her walk.
Chapter 13
Kris paused a moment after Klaggath opened the limo door, her eyes resting on the loading dock across the parking lot from the public space elevator terminal. She could make out the names of a half dozen companies on the trucks backed up there. NELLY, YOU HAVE THOSE NAMES IN MEMORY
YES, MA'AM.
''Thank you, Inspector. It's been a long day. I'm ready to call it quits as soon as I get in. Why don't you and your team save yourselves a run up and down the beanstalk?''
''No problem, Your Highness.''
''Then let me call it noblesse oblige and dismiss you to your families.''
The man chuckled. ''You don't want us around, huh?''
Kris swallowed. Am I that transparent? ''I'm glad for all the hard work today, and I expect a lot of hard work in the coming days. Why take more from a limited resource?''
''Then we'll do it your way. I will, however, see you safe to your ferry and have someone waiting topside for you.''
''That should be fine.''
Once the car began its climb, Jack leaned close to Kris. ''What was that all about?''
''Tell me, Jack, you're my Security Agent. What would you do if you heard me planning a crime?''
''I doubt if I'd change what I've always done when you do: try to keep you safe and unconvicted.''
''That's nice of you, but do you think Klaggath would have the same doting attitude?''
''He has my sense of humor. Why not?''
''Then let's just say, I don't choose to include him, okay?''
''Spoilsport. What do you have in mind?''
''Why don't you leave that to me and Nelly.''
''You girls have all the fun,'' Jack said, but he leaned back in his chair and went into his usual practice of looking in 360 directions at once.
YOU HAVE SOMETHING ON YOUR MIND? Nelly put in.
THAT TIARA MOTHER BOUGHT ME; HOW MUCH SMART METAL DO YOU THINK IS IN IT?
FOUR HUNDRED TWELVE GRAMS.
HOW MANY ARMED RECONNAISSANCE BUGS DO YOU THINK YOU COULD MAKE FROM IT?
THAT WOULD DEPEND ON THE CAPABILITIES YOU WANTED IN EACH.
SNAPSHOT VIDEO, FULL SPECTRUM MESSAGE INTERCEPT. AND THE ABILITY TO DEFEND THEMSELVES IF ATTACKED BY ANY OF THE BUGS WE'VE RUN INTO.
INDOORS OR OUTDOORS?
OUTDOOR.
I AM ACCESSING TOMORROW'S FORECAST. WINDS WILL BE FIVE TO TEN METERS PER SECOND. FROM THE WEST. FIGHTING THAT WIND COULD TAKE A LOT OF FUEL. THAT ENLARGES THE BASIC STRUCTURE.
WHAT IF I RELEASED THEM UPWIND AND LET THEM RIDE ACROSS THEIR TARGET?
THAT WOULD CUT DOWN ON THAT REQUIREMENT. LET'S ASSUME I COULD GIVE YOU BETWEEN TWO HUNDRED AND THREE HUNDRED BUGS. WHAT WOULD WE TARGET?
LAY OUT THE MANUFACTURERS' PLANTS FEEDING PRODUCT UP TO THE YARDS. ESPECIALLY THE ONES SENDING THE BIG STUFF.
THEY ARE ALL WITHIN THIRTY KLICKS OF THE ELEVATOR.
''You're mighty quiet,'' Tom said. ''Cat got your tongue?''
''Sometimes, after a long, hard day, a girl just wants a bit of peace and quiet,'' Kris said as Nelly named off a route that would cover all the major targets.
THAT SHOULD DO IT, Kris thought and sighed. Tomorrow looked like another busy day.
Kris had no sooner walked into the suite than Abby took her by storm. The woman was kind enough not to strip Kris of her wet underwear until she was out of public viewing. Not that Kris put up much of a fight as Abby maneuvered her into a warm tub. Settling into the suds with the jets already pulsing water against her, Kris let out a contented sigh. Happily, Abby did not chatter at Kris about the day but quietly bustled about the room, lighting candles and laying out clothes. Aroma therapy, she called it.
Kris enjoyed it. She let the warmth of the water flow into all her cold places, the pulsing jets massage tight muscles. Bad day, nice ending. Hopefully, tomorrow would end as well.
When Nelly announced all strange bugs in the rooms were destroyed or suborned, Kris called for a towel. Dry and wrapped in a fluffy robe, she hunted up Jack. ''Dear, I need a favor.''
He looked up wearily from where he and Tom were trying their skills at chess. ''If I've been promoted to dear, I guess I'm in deep trouble. Okay, honey, what do you want?''
Kris made a face at his familiarity. Honey was Mother and Father's choice word and as empty as the space between them. ''I expect that Klaggath has a woman or two passing as maids on this floor. Could you arrange through one of them for an extra uniform? I need a maid's dress.''
''For what?''
''Invisibility. Either Penny or I are going out tomorrow, and we don't want to be noticed when we do.'' Kris intended to be the one going out, but Jack would be more cooperative if the final decision was delayed a few hours.
Jack stood, going into his ''I know better'' mode, but Tom looked up from the game and got the first word in. ''What do you have on your mind?''
''Information is kind of short around here. Now I know why. Still, we need to know a whole lot more than we do. On the drive home, I passed a few ideas around with Nelly. She thinks she can convert that ridiculous tiara into several hundred microspies. Short-range little buggers, but still very effective. I figure one of us girls should make the rounds tomorrow of a couple of industrial plants. With luck, by this time tomorrow, we'll know a whole lot more about what's going on here.''
''And be subject to a whole lot of indictments for industrial espionage,'' Jack said dryly.
''You have to be caught to be indicted, as my dear Father has said many times.'' Kris smiled as if she'd never had a care.
''This is a bad idea.''
''Jack, that's what you say about all my ideas.''
''No surprise, Kris, they usually are,'' Tommy pointed out.
Kris kept a chair between her and Jack. ''Enough silliness. We need info. You have any better idea, I'm listening.''
Jack studied her with a scowl. ''Problem is, Tom, there's nothing wrong with her logic.'' Now that was a surprise.
''There never is, Jack. It's just that she comes up with the most logical ways to get herself killed and anyone too close.''
Kris swung around the chair and sat. ''We're in a trap. There is no visible way out. We're not going to find a way out by doing nothing. Information is power. Let's get some power.''
''I hate it when you do that,'' Tom said. ''Totally right, but no thought to cost. Jack, you going to get her that uniform?''
''He won't have to,'' Abby called from the bedroom. ''I picked one up yesterday.''
''You care to explain why you just happened to have your fair hands on a bit of stolen property?'' Jack said.
Abby came to the door, brown uniform in hand. ''I'm a working girl, gentlemen. I have a right to a few nights off. If I want to get away without a lot of fuss, it's my own business. I came to an amicable understanding with one of the maids. We working girls understand each other,'' she said with a sniff.
''I don't like this,'' Jack said.
''Call coming in,'' Nelly said.
''On-screen,'' Kris said.
''Is Tommy Lien available at this number?'' a man in medical whites asked.
''Yes,'' Tommy said, jumping to stand in front of the screen.
''A Miss Penelope Pasley asked me to call you. She's fine, but she's kind of beat up and won't be able to make it tomorrow.''
''What do you mean, she's beat up?'' Kris and Tommy demanded.
''We admitted her to Heidelburg Central Hospital a half hour ago with a possible concussion and multiple lacerations and contusions. Possibly assaulted in other ways. The police are taking a deposition. She will need lots of rest.''
''Tell Penny I'll be right there,'' Tommy said.
Kris was already moving. ''Nelly, raise Klaggath. Tell him the day's not over, and he's needed at Central Hospital.''