She heard the glass door hiss open again and turned to see Rez coming out, the nanotech unit tucked beneath his arm like a football. The big man was behind him.
Then a really angry man in a shiny white tuxedo burst through the pink plastic strips that hung down across the entrance. He had a smaller man by the collar of his jacket, and the smaller man was trying to get away. Then the smaller man saw them there and shouted Blackwell! and actually managed to slip right out of his jacket, but the man in the white tuxedo reached out with the other hand and caught him by the belt.
The Russian was yelling in Russian now and the man in the white tuxedo seemed to see him for the first time. He let go of the other mans belt.
Weve got the van, the other man said.
The big man with the missing ear stepped up really close to the man in the white tuxedo, glared at him, and took the other mans jacket. Okay, Rozzer, he said, turning to Rez. You know the drill this one. Old hat. Same as leaving that house in St. Kilda with the bastard Melbourne tabs outside, right? He draped the jacket over Rezs head and shoulders, slapped him encouragingly on the upper arm. He walked over to the pink strips and drew one aside, looking out. Fucking hell, he said. Right then, all of you. Its move fast, stay together, Rez in the center, and into the van. On my count of three.
43. Toecutters Breakfast
You arent eating, Blackwell said, after hed cleared his second plate of links and eggs. Hed appropriated this dining room on one of the Elf Hats executive floors, and insisted Laney join him. The view was similar to the one from Laneys room, six floors below, and sunlight was glinting from the distant parapets of the new buildings.
Who put out the word that Rez was dead, Blackwell? The idoru?
Her? Why dyou think she would? He was using the edge of a triangle of toast to squeegee his plate.
I dont know, Laney said, but she seems to like to do things. And they arent necessarily that easy to understand.
It wasnt her, Blackwell said. Were checking it out. Looks as though some fan of his in Mexico went berserk; used some fairly drastic sort of ware-weapon on the Tokyo clubs central site. Took that over from a converted corporate website in the States and issued the bulletin. Called on every fan local to Tokyo to get up immediately and go to that love hotel. He popped the toast into his mouth, swallowed, and wiped his lips with a thick white napkin.
But Rez was there, Laney said.
Blackwell shrugged. Were looking into it. We have more than enough on our hands, now. Have to dissociate Lo/Rez from this death hoax, reassure his audience. Legals flying in from London and New York for talks with Starkov and his people. Her people too, he added. Going to be busy.
Who were those kids? Laney asked. The little redhead and the Japanese hippie?
Rez says theyre okay. Have em here in the hotel. Arleighs sorting it out.
Wheres the nanotech unit?
You didnt say that, Blackwell said. Now dont say it again. The official truth of the nights events is currently being formulated, and that will never be a part of it. Am I understood?
Laney nodded. He looked out at the new buildings again. Either the angle of light had changed or that parapet had shifted slightly. He looked at Blackwell. Is it my imagination, or has your attitude on all this undergone some kind of change? I thought you were adamantly opposed to Rez and the idoru getting together.
Blackwell sighed. I was. But its starting to look like something of a done deal now, isnt it? De facto relationship, really. I suppose Im old-fashioned, but Id hoped that he might eventually wind up with a bit of the ordinary. Someone to polish his gun, pick up his socks, have a baby or two. But it isnt going to happen, is it?
I guess not.
In which case, Blackwell said, I have two options. Either I leave the silly bastard to his own resources, or I stay and I do my job and try to adjust to whatever it is this is going to become. And at the end of the bloody day, Laney, regardless, I have to remember where Id be if he hadnt come behind the walls at Pentridge to give that solo concert. Arent you going to eat that? Looking at the scrambled eggs going cold on Laneys plate.
My jobs done, Laney said. It didnt work out the way you wanted it to, but I did it. Agreed?
No question.
Then Id better go. Get me paid off, Im out of here today.
Blackwell looked at him with new interest. That fast, eh? Whats your hurry? Dont find us agreeable?
No, Laney said. Its just that that ways better all round.
Not what Yamas saying. Rez either. Not to mention her otherness, who no doubt will voice an opinion in that regard. Id say you were set to become the court prognosticator, Laney. Unless, of course, that whole business with the Kombinat turns out to be absolute bollocks, and its discovered that you simply make that nodal nonsense upwhich I for one would actually find quite amusing. But no, your services are very much desired now, you might even say required, and none of us would currently be happy to see you go.
I have to, Laney said. Im being blackmailed.
This brought Blackwells lids to half-mast. He leaned slightly forward. The pink worm of scar tissue squirmed in his eyebrow. Are you? he said softly, as though Laney had just ventured to confess some unusual sexual complication. And may I ask who by?
Slitscan. Kathy Torrance. Its sort of personal, for her.
Tell me about it. Tell me all about it. Do.
And Laney did, including the 5-SB trials and their record for eventually turning the participants into homicidal stalkers of celebrities. I didnt want to bring that up, before, Laney said, because I was afraid you might think I was at risk. That I might go that way.
Not that I havent had experience with the type, Blackwell said. We have a young man in Tokyo right now who is the author of all of the songs Lo and Rez have ever written, not to mention Blue Ahmeds complete output for Chrome Koran. And hes an explosives expert. Watch him closely. But we have that capacity, you see. So the safest place for you, Laney, in the event you go werewolf on us, would be right here, at the watchful heart of our security apparatus.
Laney thought about it. It almost made sense. But you wont want me around if Slitscan runs that footage. I wont want myselfaround. I dont have any family, nobody else for it to damage, but Im still going to have to live with it.
And how do you propose to do that?
Ill go somewhere where people dont watch that shit.
Well, said Blackwell, when you find that fair land, I will go there with you myself. Well live on fruit and nuts, commune with all thats left of bloody nature. But til then, Laney, Im going to have a conversation with your Kathy Torrance. I will explain certain things to her. Nothing complicated. Simple, simpleprotocols of cause and effect. And she will neverallow Slitscan to run that footage of your doppelgnger.
Blackwell, Laney said, she dislikesme, she has her motive for revenge, but she wants, she needs, to destroy Rez. Shes a very powerful woman in a very powerful, fully global organization. Some simple threat of violenceon your part isnt going to stop her. Itll only up the ante; shell go to hersecurity people
No, said Blackwell, she wont, because that would be a violation of the very personalterms I will have established in our conversation. Thats the key word here, Laney, personal. Up close, and. We will not meet, we will not carve out this deep and meaningful and bloody unforgettable episode of mutual face-time as representatives of our respective faceless corporations. Not at all. Its one-on-one time for your Kathy and I, and it may well prove to be as intimate, and I may hope enlightening, as any she ever had. Because I will bring a new certainty into her life, and we allneed certainties. They help build character. And I will leave your Kathy with the deepest possible conviction that if she crosses me, she willdiebut only after shes been made to desire that, absolutely. And Black-wells smile, then, giving Laney the full benefit of his dental prosthesis, was hideous. Now how was it exactly you were supposed to contact her, to give her your decision?