Joat blinked, a little taken aback by that revelation.
"Yes," Rand said, "I thought it had a certain Sondee subtlety to it. Almost a rhythm."
"Precisely!" Seg exclaimed and began an earnest conversation with Rand.
Joat turned to Bros. He stood with his feet apart, arms folded across his chest, watching her with an unfathomable expression in his dark eyes.
"Thank you for bringing him," she said, indicating Seg.
Bros smiled. "You'll have to excuse him, he's not at his best. We did a pub crawl halfway across the docks looking for you or your crew and my young friend imbibed pretty heavily."
"If I can forgive him for writing the fardling worm in the first place, I can forgive him for anything, I suppose." She turned to smile fondly at the young Sondee. Then she glanced at Bros from the comers of her eyes. "So, what are you doing here?"
One of the things I like about you is that you don't beat around the bush, Joat. He fought the urge to smile, knowing she'd think he was being condescending.
"I've come to call you back," he said. "Your part in this mission is canceled."
"Oh?" she raised her brows. "Perhaps I'd better bring you up to date."
"As I've already indicated, I know about your debt to New Destinies. Twenty thousand credits, Joat! How in blazes did you manage that?"
Joat studied him. His face expressed annoyance, but his eyes were amused. She wondered if he'd found out about her relationship to Ciety or if he was recalling her because of the debt. Though he'd gotten the amount wrong. Sperin was really gonna squeak when he found out it was one hundred twenty thousand. She suppressed a wistful sigh. Irrelevant now, she thought.
"I'm afraid the situation has grown just a liiitttle more complicated," she said. Holding up her hand with the thumb and forefinger almost joined to indicate a tiny amount. "Nomik Ciety bought my debt from New Destinies. I can't leave until I work it off."
Bros felt his jaw start to drop and clenched his teeth so tightly that tendons danced in his face and neck.
"And…" she flinched from admitting it, but forced herself to continue. "I lost my temper and knocked him on his ass."
Bros closed his eyes and sighed. "Oh, well, it could be worse. You might have killed him."
Joat began to shift her weight from foot to foot, not sure if she was embarrassed or annoyed.
"So I can't just leave," she said with a shrug.
"No," he agreed in a voice gone leaden. It went without saying that CenSec could hardly buy her debt from Ciety without blowing the operation completely.
Damn. It wasn't the first time he'd thrown an agent in much deeper than he intended. These things happened; but they always bothered him, and this time more than most. Meanwhile, the Benisur Amos remained lost and the Kolnari were still at large, and it was going from a probability to a certainty that they had the Sondee bio-weapons. There were larger issues at stake than his highly personal concern for one woman.
Whoa, boy! Bros thought, startled. No more complications. Admiration, that's all. Avuncular admiration, that's all you feel.
Rand broke in: "How will we answer Nomik Ciety when he asks us why we were trying to break into his comp?"
Joat shrugged and, with some relief, broke eye contact with Sperin. "I'll tell him that I was looking for the debt contract to erase it."
"And what about why you were looking for coded transmissions particularly?" Bros asked, dubiously.
"I'll just tell him that I didn't think New Destinies would want it known that they're selling honest merchant captains into virtual slavery to criminals these days. So I figured it would be in a coded transmission."
"How diplomatic," Bros remarked, brows raised.
"Blow it out your ears, Sperin," Joat suggested through clenched teeth.
The com chimed. Joat threw herself into the couch that Seg hurriedly vacated; at her wave they all moved back out of pickup range. Silken appeared, looking crisp in a jade-green blouse, her hair pulled severely back, her expression remote.
"I need to speak to you in private," she said. "I've sent some of our security people to escort you here. They'll be there shortly."
"It's a little inconvenient," Joat said.
Something flickered like lightning in Silken's eyes, anger or amusement or perhaps both.
"I'm sure it is," she said. "That's not my problem. We need to talk. Don't keep me waiting or you'll experience whole new levels of… inconvenience."
She cut off the transmission and Seg once again locked down the com before anyone spoke.
"Well," Joat said, "looks like I'm going visiting. If we ever want to see Amos again, or find those Kolnari."
Joseph opened his mouth and then closed it again; he made a quick complex motion and the weapon in his hand disappeared.
Bros tried to ignore the leaden feeling in his gut. "Do you think it's wise?" he said.
"I think it's necessary, or the mission's gone," Joat said. She looked back at him. "And that's what's important, isn't it?"
I hate this job, Bros Sperin thought. I really do.
Chapter Thirteen
Well, well, as the boring machine said, Joat thought. No Uncle Nom chewing the carpet and frothing.
Instead, Silken rose from the couch and welcomed her in, gesturing at an elaborate antique tea service laid out on the low table before her.
"Come join me," she said affably. Silken was wearing a forest-green suit-silk, of course-with a silver belt and several ornaments that Joat thought were probably control devices.
She pressed a cup of tea on Joat, handing her a cup and saucer as delicate as a fond memory.
"Its Darjeeling," Silken said gaily. "You'll like it, I'm sure."
It was good. At least one of my last memories will be pleasant. Joat decided to follow Silken's lead and relaxed as best she could while she waited.
"Do you follow the theater?" the other woman asked.
Joat blinked. "I'm more of an opera buff," she said. Courtesy of Channa Hap.
Fifteen minutes of idle chat later, Silken put down her cup and saucer and leaned forward earnestly.
"You must know why I've asked you here," she said.
Joat looked at her and waited. "I was under the impression you were going to order me killed," she said at last. "I assume you didn't simply want to get my opinions on classic tenors first."
Silken sighed and smiled. "Perhaps you didn't notice it, but you perpetrated a security breach on Nomik's comp. An accident, no doubt."
"Not at all," Joat replied. "I never attack anyone by accident, real or virtual. I was trying to find my contract of indenture to destroy it."
"Oh, don't be so dramatic," Silken said, waving a dismissive hand. "If you play your cards right, you'll come out of this way ahead of the game." She raised her brows and leaned back. "Actually, I think Mik's kind of…" She made a little moue and rolled her eyes as she searched for the proper word. "Charmed by the idea that he has family left. All you have to do is be nice," Silken coaxed.
Joat put down her tea cup.
"You don't know what you're asking," she said.
Silken leaned forward eagerly.
"That's where you're wrong," she said. "You'd be surprised. You've had a hard life, Joat. I do understand that. I was adopted too. Only my adoptive parents were religious fanatics. You wouldn't believe the way they dressed me." Silken shuddered prettily. "They made me practically shave my head, and my shoes were so heavy they'd have held me in place in zero-g." Her eyes took on a remote look, as though she was searching her memories. "They were strict about everything. Meaningless things. There were endless rules and every breach was punished. Especially by my foster father. When he wasn't beating me, he starved me. I got skinny from being so defiant; many a night I cried myself to sleep from hunger." She looked up at Joat. "So, yes, I do understand."