Cahuella called the new faction terrorists, but that was to place too great a distinction between them and their legitimate victims. In a war in which the rules of engagement and the definitions of criminality changed by the week, what distinguished a legitimate faction from a less-legitimate one was often only the quality of the former’s legal advice. Alliances were always shifting, past actions constantly being rewritten to cast a revisionist light on the participants. It was true that Cahuella was regarded as a war criminal now by many observers. In a century, they might be fêting him as a hero… me his trusty man-at-arms.
Stranger things had happened.
But it would be very hard to see the outcome of that terrorist ambush in anything but a negative light. Within a week of the ambush, they had used the same stolen weapons to murder most of an aristocratic family in Nueva Santiago.
‘I don’t remember the family’s name.’
‘Reivich, or something,’ Cahuella said. ‘But listen. Those terrorists were animals, agreed. If I could, I’d skin them for wallpaper and make furniture out their bones. But that doesn’t mean I’m overflowing with sympathy for Reivich’s clan. They were rich enough to get offworld. The whole planet’s a shithole. They want somewhere safe to live, there’s a whole galaxy out there.’
‘We have some intelligence that might interest you,’ said Orcagna. ‘The youngest surviving son — Argent Reivich — has sworn vengeance against you.’
‘Sworn vengeance. What is this, a morality play?’ Cahuella held out a hand in front of him. ‘Hey, look. I’m trembling.’
‘It doesn’t mean anything,’ I said. ‘If I had thought it was worth bothering you about, you’d already have known. That’s another thing you pay me for: so you don’t have to worry about every crank with a grudge against us.’
‘But we don’t think the fellow is, as you say, a crank.’ Orcagna examined his black-gloved fingers, pulling each sequentially until there was a tiny pop. ‘Our intelligence suggests that the gentleman has recovered weapons from the same militia which murdered his family. Heavy-particle armaments — suitable for a full-scale assault against a fortified stronghold. We’ve detected signatures from these devices, indicating that they are still operational.’ The Ultra paused, then added, almost casually, ‘It may amuse you to know that the signatures are moving south, down the Peninsula, towards the Reptile House.’
‘Give the positions to me,’ I said. ‘I’ll meet the kid and find out what he wants. It’s possible he just wants to negotiate more arms — he may not have fingered you as the supplier.’
‘Yeah,’ Cahuella said. ‘And I deal in fine wines. Forget it, Tanner. You think I need someone like you to handle a louse like Reivich? You don’t send a pro against an amateur.’ To Orcagna, he said, ‘He’s up country, you say? How far, what kind of territory?’
‘That information can, of course, be provided.’
‘Fucking bloodsucker.’ For a moment his face was blank, then he smiled and pointed at the Ultra. ‘I like you, I really like you. You’re a fucking leech. Name your price, then. I don’t need to know exactly where he is. Give me a positional fix accurate to — oh — a few kilometres. Otherwise it just wouldn’t be fun, would it?’
‘What the hell are you thinking of?’ The words had jumped out of my mouth before I had time to censor them. ‘Reivich may be inexperienced, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t dangerous — especially if he has the kind of weapons the militia used against his family.’
‘So it’ll be sporting, then. A real safari. Maybe we’ll catch us a hamadryad while we’re at it.’
‘You like sport,’ Orcagna said, knowingly.
I understood it, then. If Cahuella had not had this audience, he would never have acted like this. If we’d been back in the Reptile House, alone, he would have done the logical thing: ordered me or one of the men under me to take Reivich out with no more ceremony than flushing a toilet. It would have been beneath him to waste his time with someone like Reivich. But in front of the Ultras he could not be seen to show any weakness. He had to play the hunter.
When all was over; when our ambush against Reivich had failed, and when Gitta had been murdered, Cahuella with her, and Dieterling and myself injured, one thing became clearer than anything I had ever known in my life.
It was my fault.
I had allowed Gitta to die through my ineptitude. I had allowed Cahuella to die at the same time. The two deaths were horribly wedded. And Reivich, his hands bloodied with the wife of the man he had really sworn vengeance against, had walked away unharmed, valiant. He must have thought Cahuella would survive, too — his wounds couldn’t have seemed as life-threatening as mine. Had Cahuella survived, Reivich would have inflicted maximum pain on him over the maximum span of time; a victory far less trivial than simply killing the man. In Reivich’s plan, Cahuella would have had the rest of his life to miss Gitta. The pain of that loss would have been beyond words. I think she was the only living creature in the universe he was capable of loving.
But Reivich had taken her from me instead.
I thought of the way Cahuella had laughed at Reivich swearing vengeance. There had always been a fine line between the absurd and the chivalric. But that was exactly what I did: swearing that I would dedicate the rest of my life to killing Reivich; avenging Gitta. If someone had told me then that I would have to die before bringing death to Reivich, I think I would have quietly accepted that as part of the bargain.
In Nueva Valparaiso he had slipped through my fingers. At that point I’d been forced to take the gravest of decisions — whether to abandon Reivich or continue chasing him beyond the system entirely.
In hindsight, it hadn’t been too difficult.
‘I don’t remember there being any particular problems with Mister Reivich,’ Amelia said. ‘He had some transient amnesia, but it wasn’t as severe a case as yours — it only lasted a few hours and then he began to piece himself back together. Duscha wanted him to stay and have his implants attended to, but he was in quite a hurry to leave.’
‘Really?’ I did my best to sound surprised.
‘Yes. God only knows what we did to offend him.’
‘I’m sure it wasn’t anything.’ I wondered what it was about his implants that needed fixing, but decided the question could wait. ‘I suppose there’s a good chance he’s already on Yellowstone, or nearly there. I wouldn’t want to be too late following him down. I can’t let him have all the fun, can I?’
She eyed me judiciously. ‘You were friends with him, Tanner?’
‘Well, sort of.’
‘Travelling companions, then?’
‘I suppose that about sums it up, yes.’
‘I see.’ Her face was serenely impassive, but I could imagine what she was thinking: that Reivich had never mentioned travelling with anyone else, and that if our friendship had existed at all, it must have been lopsided.
‘Actually, I was rather hoping he’d have waited for me.’
‘Well, he probably didn’t want to burden the infirmary with someone who had no need of its ministrations. Either that, or there was some amnesia after all. We can try and contact him, of course. It won’t be simple, but we do our best to keep tabs on those we revive — just in case there are complications.’