"Morgan, to someone of your age and ex-rank I'm Gabriel, OK? But no, I can't tell if it works with Katerina. That's too far into the future."
"I don't think Julia will give up," Greg said. "Not now."
"No, I don't suppose she will," Walshaw agreed.
"You know Kendric di Girolamo is going to have to be eliminated, don't you?" Greg said.
Walshaw reached up languidly and began massaging his neck. "Eventually, yes."
"No. Not eventually. You've seen what he's done to that girl; and that was just for fun. The guy's an absolute loon. Tell you, I've seen inside his mind. Homicidal psychopath isn't the half of it. Julia needs head of state level protection while he's on the loose, no messing."
"Julia has been badgering me to do the same thing. She is even more intent than you, if anything."
"Hardly surprising, after what she went through with Kendric. Paedophile shit."
Walshaw turned his head very slowly until he was staring directly at Greg. "What?"
"Kendric and Julia; he seduced her. You didn't know?"
"She hates Kendric."
"Not always," Greg said. He couldn't ever remember seeing Walshaw so thrown before, not even the blitz and the possibility of a leak in the giga-conductor project had upset him this much. Another of Julia's secret admirers.
"So that's what is behind this sudden urge for blood," Walshaw said tightly.
"It's not just a wronged girl's lex talionis. Kendric is dangerous, believe me."
"I do." For a second the security chief looked heartbroken. Greg was suddenly glad he didn't have the use of his gland at that moment, there were some secrets people were entitled to keep. He guessed Julia had become a surrogate daughter to Walshaw over the years. That strange character flaw of his, the need to have someone to provide him with a purpose in life.
"Kendric can't be eliminated right now, dangerous though he undoubtedly is," Walshaw said. "Your episode with Charles Ellis at the Castlewood condominium confirms there is someone else involved, the organiser of the blitz. Kendric couldn't have arranged for the sniper at Ellis's penthouse, because he didn't know Wolf. Which makes Kendric our last link with the organiser. And we have to find out who that is."
"But Wolf knew Kendric," Greg said. "Weird."
"Not really," said Gabriel. "The organiser is their link, a one-way databus who passes on all Kendric's intelligence to Wolf. But there's no return flow, Wolf has nothing Kendric needs to know. And Kendric would've told the organiser that you'd confronted him, that you knew about Wolf. So the organiser fixed for the sniper. Morgan here is right, Greg. We can't get rid of Kendric, he's your only hard lead left. In fact he ought to watch out, the organiser must realise that, too."
"Shit," Greg muttered in frustration. "Kendric won't take us to the organiser, not now. He's too smart. They'll never contact each other again."
Gabriel opened her eyes. "Snatch him," she said flatly. "That's your only option. Snatch Kendric. Interrogate him. Snuff him."
"Risky," said Walshaw. "A quick clean kill is one thing, snatches have a tendency to get messy no matter how good the hardliners you use. Lots of questions asked."
"My precognition would make sure there's no mess."
"I'll authorise it," Julia said firmly.
Greg hadn't seen her emerge from Walshaw's office. But now she stood in the corridor, head held high, in complete control of herself, as if the bomb-blast of Katerina had never happened. No longer the ivory-tower habitué, but very much the Princess Regent. Some small part of him mourned the passing of the timid, sweet girl he'd first met on a sunny March day. Innocence was the most appealing of human traits.
Morgan Walshaw shifted uneasily as Julia's chillingly bright gaze turned on him, demanding. "If that's what it takes to sort this out, then that's what'll happen," she said. "It's bad enough having Kendric coming at me like this, but unknown enemies as well, that's totally out. I'm not having it. And the snatch is the way to unmask them. That bastard Kendric has been banking that we won't fight him on his own level. Well, his credit has just run out."
"Julia—" Walshaw said.
"No arguments, just do it!"
Greg could see how much effort it took Walshaw to retain control, no espersense needed for that.
"It isn't up to me, Miss Evans."
Julia realised she might've overstepped the limit. "I'm sorry, Morgan. It's Kats, you see, she keeps asking for him. Doesn't say anything else. Bastard. I think she'll have to be sedated."
"OK." He raised a cybofax and muttered into it. "Doctor's on her way."
"Who then?" Julia asked. "Who is it up to?"
Walshaw looked at Greg. "That's you, Greg. If it's to be done, it's to be done properly. Would you interrogate him?"
Greg had seen it coming, ever since Gabriel blurted the idea of a snatch. It'd given him a few seconds to chew the proposition. He spread his palms wide. "Preparations wouldn't hurt. Mind you, I'd be physically incapable of interrogating anyone for a couple of days anyway. That might give us enough time to analyse the Crays' data. See if we can't find some leads in them. Ellis should've left one."
He noticed Julia's face had gone blank, focusing inwards. Must be using her nodes, running their arguments through analysis, battling the pros and cons against each other, trying to reach the conclusions ahead of them. In a way it was a power similar to Gabriel's.
"We're going through the Crays now," said Walshaw. "Although I don't know what the hell you did to one of them, it crashed one of our lightware crunchers when we plugged it in, bloody thing is so much rubbish now. The other two Crays are clean, although it'll take time to make sure there aren't any concealed wipe instructions buried in them."
"What have you got so far?" Greg asked.
"Ellis had quite an extraordinary accumulation of data, everything from minutely detailed personal dossiers through to industrial templates. Trivia and ultra-hush all jumbled together. It's going to take some sifting, even with the lightware crunchers hooked in."
"What did you mean, Ellis should've left a lead?" Julia asked.
"Standard practice," Greg explained. "If you're plugging into those kind of deals you cover your back. Benign blackmail, to make sure your partners don't get any funny ideas afterwards. There'll be a record of all the burns he arranged as Wolf; money, clients, the names of his hotrod team; data he bought and sold as Medeor, names, companies. Every damning byte. And it'll be somewhere where it can be found after he's dead. In the Crays, the Hitachi terminal's memory core, his cybofax, public data core on a time delay, hell, even an envelope left with a lawyer."
"Nothing else?" Julia asked.
"Pardon?"
"You don't think there's anything else important in the Crays?"
For some reason her slightly querulous attitude made him aware of how immensely tired he was. He was travelling on buzz energy, had been for hours, and it was running out fast now they'd got Katerina back.
"I wouldn't know. I expect they're a goldmine of illegal circuit activity."
"That's all?" Julia was leaning forward, studying his face intently. He had the uncomfortable impression he was being judged. Crime unknown. And, frankly, he didn't give a shit.
"All I can think of, yeah."
Dr. Taylor stepped out of the lift, accompanied by Victor who was carrying her case. She was a young woman wearing a plain cerise trouser suit, her dark hair French-pleated. She had a quick word with Morgan Walshaw and went into his office. Julia started to follow, but the security chief laid a light restraining hand on her arm. For a moment she looked like she'd rebel, then nodded meekly. Victor closed the door softly after he'd gone through.