"I say we kill him. He's betrayed us. Spat on us."
Mach shook his head. "He's done nothing. Let him go."
"No!" Gesell twisted DeVore's collar tighter. "Emilys right. We can't trust him after this."
Mach pushed past the woman. "For the gods' sakes, let him go, Bent. Don't you understand? I killed them."
Gesell laughed uncertainly. "You?"
Mach took the knife from Gesell's hand and sheathed it, then removed his hand from DeVore's collar. Only then did he turn and look at DeVore, inclining his head slightly.
"I apologize, Shift Turner. You must excuse my brother. He did not know."
"Of course." DeVore stretched his neck slightly, loosening the muscles there.
Gesell rounded on Mach. "Well? What the hell's been happening?"
"I'm sorry, Bent. I had no time to warn you. Besides, I wasn't sure. Not until I'd checked."
"Sure of what?"
"They were Security. Both of them. They must have been sleepers. Records show they left Security five years ago—a year before they joined us."
A slight tightening about DeVore's eyes was the only sign that he was interested, but none of the others in the room noticed it, nor the way he rubbed at his wrist, as if
relieving an itch there; they were watching Mach, horrified by this new development.
"Security . . ." Gesell hissed through his teeth. "Gods ..."
"There are others, too. Three more. In two separate cells." "You made checks?"
Mach nodded. "I'm keeping tabs on them. They'll hear what happened. I want to see what they'll do, whether they'll sit tight or run. If they run I want them. Alive, if possible. I want to find out what they're up to."
Ascher was shaking her head. "It doesn't make sense. If they had their men inside our organization, why didn't they act in response to Helmstadt?"
Mach glanced at DeVore, conscious of how much he was giving away simply by talking in front of him; but he'd had no choice. If Gesell had killed Turner, they'd have been back to square one. Or worse; they might have found themselves in a tit-for-tat war with Turner's lieutenants. It was almost certain that the man had given orders to that effect before he came here at Gesell's summons.
Mach turned, facing Ascher. "I thought of that. But that's how it works sometimes. They're ordered to sit tight until the thing's big enough and ripe enough to be taken. They obviously thought that Helmstadt was worth sacrificing."
"Or that you wouldn't succeed . . ." DeVore said.
Mach looked back at him again. "Maybe . . ."
The three men had been an advance squad; trained technicians. Their job had been to locate the communications nerve-centers surrounding Bremen. It was a delicate, sensitive job, one upon which the success or failure of the whole attack depended. The idea was for them to place special devices at these loci—devices that the regular maintenance crews would think were innocuous parts of the complex of delicate wiring. The devices would sit there, unused, for months, until the day when the Ping Tiao launched their attack. Then they would be triggered and Bremen would suffer a massive communications blackout.
That had been the plan. But now things were in chaos.
Gesell looked down. "Do you think they've passed on what they knew?"
Mach shrugged, his expression bitter. Even killing them had not appeased his anger. "I don't know. I hoped to keep one of them alive for questioning, but they fought hard. It was as if they'd been ordered not to be taken alive."
"That's so." Again DeVore entered the conversation. He moved closer. "You should take one of them now, before they hear of it."
Ascher nodded. "I think he's right. What if they take poison or something?"
Mach shivered, then bowed his head. "Okay. We'll take them now. But if it's like it was with the others, it won't be easy."
DeVore narrowed his eyes, studying Mach. His respect for the man had grown enormously. Matton and Tucker had been two of his best men, not merely good at their task of infiltrating the Ping Tiao, but good fighters, too. He was sorry to lose them. Sorry, too, to have had his network of spies uncovered, his eye among the Ping Tiao blinded. Now he would have to depend upon cruder means—on bribery and blackmail. Unsatisfactory means.
"Concentrate on just one of them," he said, meeting Mach's eyes. "Take him yourself. Then bind him tightly, so there's no chance of him harming himself. After that you should do things slowly. Time, that's all it needs. Time will break the spirit of any man. Then you'll find out what you want to know."
Mach stared back at him steadily. "You've done this?"
DeVore nodded. "Many times."
"Then I'll do as you say."
DeVore smiled. "Good." But it would be too late. As soon as Mach had revealed what he had done, DeVore had pressed the tiny panel at his wrist, opening the channel that switched everything he was saying direct into the heads of his three surviving agents. Already his men would have heard his words and taken the appropriate action.
"And if we discover nothing?" Gesell asked, looking directly at DeVore.
"Then we continue. We must assume now that they know about our plan to attack Bremen, but not when or where we will strike. Nor how precisely. Meanwhile it would profit us to seem to change our plans. To look for other targets. And let them know . . ."
Mach looked up again, smiling for the first time since he had entered the room. "I like that. A diversion . . ."
DeVore nodded and smiled back at him. "What does Sun Tzu say? 'The crux of military operations lies in the pretense of accommodating oneself to the designs of the enemy.' Well, we shall seem to back off, as if discovered; but in reality we shall continue with our scheme. If they know nothing of our plans, then no harm has been done today. And even if they do know, they'll not expect us to pursue it after this, neh?"
Mach studied him thoughtfully a moment, then nodded. "Yes. But I must go. Before they hear . . ."
HAAVIKKO CLOSED the door behind him then gave a small shudder, staring at the tiny slip of plastic in his hand. His senior officer had been only too glad to approve his new posting. From Major Erickson's viewpoint it must have seemed a blessing to be rid of him. He had been nothing but trouble for the Major. But now he was Karr's man, part of his special services unit. Still a lieutenant, but with a future now. And a friend.
He was meeting Kao Chen in two hours, but first there was one more thing to sort out. His sister, Vesa.
Vesa had been living in a small apartment in the Mids since their aunt had died a year earlier. Wrapped up in his own debauchery he had not known of her plight until recently. But now he could do something. The job with Karr brought with it a private living unit in Bremen: four rooms, including the luxury of his own private bathroom. "But you'll not be there that often," Karr had warned him, "Why not move your sister in?"
Vesa had jumped at the idea. She had held on to his neck and wept. Only then had he realized how lonely she had been, how great his neglect of her, and he had cried and held her tightly. "It's all right," he had whispered, kissing her neck. "Everything will be all right."
He tucked the transfer document into his tunic, then hurried along the corridors, taking a crowded elevator down to the living quarters in the heart of the great multistack fortress.
She was waiting for him in the apartment. As he came in, she got up from the couch, crossed the room, and embraced him, her eyes bright with excitement.
"This is wonderful, Axel! We'll be happy here. I know we will."
He smiled and held her to him, looking about the room. The apartment she had been in had been a single room—like his own, spartanly furnished and she had had to share washing and night-soil facilities. He gritted his teeth against the shame that welled up at the thought of what he'd let happen to her, then met her eyes again, smiling.