Страница 40 из 79
"Except that you also said once that interrogating them wouldn't gain us anything," Qui
"I wish you'd keep your damn stories straight."
Galway took a deep breath. "Of course Caine's teammates aren't likely to break. That doesn't mean Lathe wouldn't hedge his bets anyway." He waved a hand in disgust. "And believe it or not, that might have worked to our advantage once. If Lathe didn't want Caine to know he was here—and we could have confirmed that was the case as soon as Postern made his next contact—then he would have been reluctant to expose himself to Caine by coming to his aid unless there were some immediate danger. We could have kept a full-scale surveillance on Caine without any risk of having the watchers taken out."
"Until the timing suited them, anyway." Qui
"You've already heard them: some kind of assault on the Ryqril's Aegis Mountain base, or an attack on former Prefect Trendor."
"Neither of which makes any sense." Qui
He fell silent, and Galway fought down the urge to once again explain the logic behind an assassination attempt on Trendor. Clearly, Qui
Maybe he'd have done a better job of this if he hadn't somehow gotten it into his head that he had to show me up.
Then again, maybe he wouldn't have. Qui
But then, neither had many of the Security officials he'd met on Argent during Lathe's mission there, something he'd been too busy at the time to notice. Was Galway's ability to follow these tangled threads of logic that far out of the ordinary? Or could it be that Qui
"The hell with it," Qui
"You just tried that," Galway reminded him.
"Yeah, well, this time we're going to do it right." The general jabbed a finger in Galway's direction.
"He's still got to get to Kanai for that list of veterans, right? Well, to do that he's got to contact the Shandygaff Bar—and when he does, we'll have him."
"What, use a phone signal tracer?" Galway shook his head. "Come on, General—don't you think Lathe's just a little too smart to fall for that?"
"What else is he going to do—go there personally?" Qui
"Unless he expects everyone to reason that way," Galway suggested slowly. "And in that case he might do just that."
Qui
"I frankly don't think a cordon would work, sir," Galway said. "You saw how easily he identified the plain-dressed units out there today—blackcollars have a knack for spotting Security troops. I think you'd do better to try and use people he'll be expecting to see at the Shandygaff anyway."
"Chong and Briller?" Qui
"You could feed a tip to them via your informer that Lathe's going to show," Galway suggested.
"They probably can't actually stop him, but they may be able to slow him down enough for you to get an aircar full of troops there in time."
"The bosses won't like that part," Qui
"You weren't there last night," Galway said grimly. "They were more furious at what could have happened to their own skins in there. I don't think they'd make more than token noises over a successful attempt to cage the man responsible for the fight."
"A 'successful' attempt, you say?" Qui
"Yes, sir." Galway sighed, a heavy weight seeming to settle onto his back. For a minute the frustrating rift between him and Qui
"I think you've done all you need to," Qui
Getting up, Galway headed silently for the door.
—
"You're not serious," Reger's voice said from the doorway.
Lathe swiveled in his chair to see the other standing just inside the living room, a disbelieving frown on his face. "You shouldn't sneak up on people like that," the comsquare said reproachfully, though all five blackcollars had heard the other's approach. "What aren't we serious about?"
"Don't play i
"An unimaginative one, for starters," Skyler said dryly from the lounge chair where he was stretched out. "Chances are he'll reason it exactly the same way you just did, that we're far too intelligent to try something that stupid."
Reger snorted. "The hell with what chances are—and to hell with Qui
"Including the blackcollars?" Lathe asked mildly.
Reger broke off, and something twitched in his cheek. "What's that supposed to mean?" he asked cautiously.
"Oh, I don't know—just sort of a conversation opener. I thought you might want to explain why you've carefully avoided mentioning the existence of other blackcollars in Denver."
Reger was silent for a moment. "I won't insult your intelligence by inventing some excuse," he said at last. "I didn't mention them because I thought you might automatically take their side of things in the power struggle going on in the city."
"Their side, and Sartan's?"
"You've actually met Sartan?" Reger asked, cocking an eyebrow. "What's he like?"
"No, no one's introduced us yet." Lathe shook his head. "Can I assume this confession means that you've laid any fears about us to rest?"
"At the moment, frankly, I don't seem to have any choice," Reger admitted. "If you and Bernhard are setting up an elaborate trap for me, I've yet to see through it. Until and unless I do I have to accept or reject you on faith alone."
"Basically the same position we're in, you'll notice," Lathe said. "As it happens, I have no intention of getting us involved in your private little intrigues, on Bernhard's side or anyone else's. We're here to do a job, and I fully intend to get the hell out of here once we've done it. Until then, we still owe you a fortress for your help in finding Caine, and we're going to keep our part of that bargain."