“It’s a government reserve,” Ilisidi said. “Does noone on this shore respect the signs?”
“Certainly the wrecks don’t,” lord Geigi said. “Baji-naji, they come there, ’Sidi-ji. And so will anyone who needs to find them.”
“Direiso’s lot had a freighter in here two days ago,” Cenedi said. “A shipment of four heavy trucks. They moved out tonight and headed up the road to the breakwater. So they are thinking in the same direction.”
Lights were showing in the windows. Boats were standing away from the shore. Gesirimu had rallied the fishermen. Lord Geigi had ties to Saduri as well as to his neighbors in Onondisi Bay.
The Peninsula’s north shore had joined Shejidan, this time, in opposingthe dissolution of the northern provinces.
“Well, well,” Geigi said, looking back over the cushion, “we shall have help.” He turned and picked up his glass. “In the meanwhile, if anyone would care to wash away the dust of travel, there is a lavatory just forward and to the left.”
Jase got up and went forward. Quickly.
“Excuse me,” Bren said, and Banichi came with him, across a deck he didn’t think too unsteady; but he feared Jase’s stomach did. The door was shut.
Bren gave a weary sigh. And leaned against the wall as they waited.
“At least,” Banichi said, “he’s not as sick as you were with the tea.”
He’d forgotten that.
Mercifully.
“Have we,” he asked Banichi, because it was the first chance he’d had since they’d made contact with Geigi, “any difficulty at Patinandi?”
“No, no, no,” Banichi said softly, “Geigi could hardly put on tight security, as if he had any reason to fear his good neighbors. But certainly if the dowager has requested lord Geigi’s assistance here, with smugglers, Tabini hasto provide support and security.” Banichi flashed a grin. “How didyou and Jago get along?”
Banichi caught him utterly by surprise, and speechless.
The door opened. Jase was there, water soaking his face and the front of his hair, which strung mostly loose.
“Can one go out on deck?” Jase asked. “I want to look at the water.”
“One can, but you might fall in. It’s quite deep. And it’s dark out there.”
“I want to go outside,” Jase said.
Bren looked at Banichi, who slid a glance toward the door not far removed from where they stood. It let out on the deck and a narrow walk to the fishing deck at the stern or the foredeck in front of the bridge.
They were in the middle of the harbor and it was cold out there in the wind, he fully anticipated that; but he nodded, and went back to the group in the salon to catch Jago’s eye.
“We’re going outside a moment,” he said. “Jase needs air.”
“One does understand,” Jago said, and joined him in his going back to the door and out onto the deck.
Banichi and Jase had gone to the foredeck. Jase stood at the very point of the bow, in the wind and the spray. He’d be soaked, Bren thought. Banichi was out of his mind, standing by him like that.
He and Jago walked up to the rail.
“How deep is it?” Jase asked, over the rush of water and the noise of the engines.
“Oh—” He had no real idea. He guessed, since security didn’t come up with the answer. “About thirty meters.”
“We’re high up, then.”
It was an odd way of looking at the ocean. “I suppose we are.”
“If you fall in, do you go to the bottom?”
Now he knew the direction of Jase’s thoughts. And didn’t like it.
“The waves bring you to the shore,” he said, and didn’t know how to explain that fact of oceans to a man from space. “Jase? Don’t give up on her.”
“I’m not giving up,” Jase said. “I won’t. I couldn’t be sick, Bren. I thought I was. But it’s better at night. You can see the stars.”
One could. The land was black on either side of them. The water shone. There was a black line reaching far out across the harbor mouth; a light stood at the end of it and a line of light shone across the waves. That was the breakwater, extending south from the cliffs. That was where the beach was,
“There are boats out there in the distance,” Jago said, she of the sharp eyesight. He couldn’t see them.
“Beyond the breakwater,” Banichi said, and lifted an arm. “We’ll go out and around, paidhiin-ji. The road is running beside us at the moment, at the foot of the cliffs over there. If we’d dared rely on Saduri orthe Atageini lord, we should have left you both in the township.”
“No,” Bren said. “I’m glad we’re here. Just—how are we going to get in to shore in this boat, nadiin? We can’t beach it.”
“A good question,” Banichi said, but didn’t answer. Bren tried again.
“Can we get ashore, nadiin-ji?”
“ Wewill go ashore, Bren-ji,” Jago said. “If we have to go in, which is by no means certain yet.”
“With us, you will!”
“Listen to your security, Bren-ji. Always listen to your security.”
“Damn it, I was with you at Malguri, I was with you at Taiben.”
“My partner,” Jase said. “Nadiin, mypartner and Hanks-paidhi. Out there.”
“Bad numbers,” Banichi said. “No.”
“You’re not a ’counter,” Bren said, “nadi. I know you’re not. Four is a perfectly fine number.”
Banichi laughed and looked at the open sea ahead of them.
“You need translators, if it’s humans involved.”
“Jago-ji,” Banichi said, “you stay with them. Felicitous three.”
“No,” Jago said.
“Your duty, Jago-ji. Someone has to keep them aboard.”
“I am going,” Bren said.
“No,” Banichi said, “you are not, nand’ paidhi. But you can watch.”
He fell silent then, dejected, telling himself it was not fair of them, but neither was he of any use if he took Jago away from her partner simply to watch them.
“Then trust, Jago-ji, that I can remain safe with the guard aboard, and I will not risk Banichi’s life by holding you here. You saved him at Malguri and again in the Marid—”
“An exaggeration,” Banichi said.
“I want both of you back,” Bren said. “Nadiin.” The wind was like ice this far out in the harbor. The breakwater was very close. The boats were running dark. There was only the one light showing, that at the end of the breakwater rocks.
“Best get inside,” Banichi said. “All of us. We’ll be passing close to a sniper vantage, if they’ve positioned anyone to hold the harbor.”
Banichi herded them back, back to the door. Against the glow from Saduri Township, even human eyes could see the fishing boats running behind them, six, seven, maybe more behind.
The light inside the salon was out. They were dark as all the other boats now. Bren felt his way the short distance to the salon, with Jase and Banichi and Jago behind him.
“Best everyone get down, nandiin,” Banichi said. “We’re coming up on the breakwater.”
“A very good idea,” Cenedi said. “ ’Sidi-ji?”
“Damned nuisance,” Ilisidi said. “ Youstay inside, ’Nedi-ji. There’s nothing to be gained out there. Down!”
The dowager sat down on the floor. That settled the matter. They all sat down, low, beneath the woodwork, while the engines thumped placidly away.
And all of a sudden surged, as the fishing yacht proved what it had in reserve. They had to be passing the breakwater light, the one vantage for ambush.
Jase was tucked down. Bren held his breath as the deck tilted sharply to port under the power of the engines; and all of a sudden the boat shook and rocked and something exploded against the hull and the superstructure at once.
“Damn!” Geigi cried, as the diesels roared and the deck pitched hard on the beam on the other tack. Starboard, this time, canted way over. The boat’s course was an arc. And they were surely beyond the breakwater. “We’ve not lost an engine,” Geigi said, which was the first thing to think in a veering motion. By the sound, that was correct, but the pilot up on the bridge must have jammed the wheel all the way over to starboard and if they were past the breakwater they had to be turning back to—