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He couldn't tell. But somehow, he didn't think he liked it.
Chapter 32
"You took a hell of a chance out there. I hope you realize that."
Lathe paused, looking away from the mirror to the edge of the sunken tub where Reger had seated himself. "Not that much of one, really," he told the other. "A little strategically applied makeup, a lot of genuine blood in case they were being thorough enough to use type analyzers, and the rest was pretty much of a given. You'd be surprised at how few people will really look at a face that's covered with blood."
Reger snorted, and Lathe turned back to the sink and the last remnants of the makeup from their prison escape, glad the tedious job was almost done. The dried blood had been easy enough, but the false head wound had been composed of non-water-soluble materials and the solvent's odor reminded him of some of the worst days of the old war.
"I assume," Reger said, "that there was method to the rest of it, too, that you didn't just improvise as you went along? The Silcox woman—why did you have her wear all of your flexarmor? Just to bulk her out?"
"Partly that, and partly because all the rest of us were supposed to be unconscious from head wounds." He caught Reger's puzzled look in the mirror and continued, "She established early on for the assault team that her injury was one where she could fade in and out of consciousness, right?
Okay; that meant she could conveniently fade out if someone started asking awkward questions, but could also fade in if the medics started to check her out for any problems besides her head wound—specifically, problems below neck level."
"Ah." Reger nodded. "I see. With your flexarmor elsewhere, they were welcome to examine the rest of you as much as they wanted."
"Right," Lathe said. "And the symptoms fit with her supposedly having bandaged her own head, anyway—"
"Which she needed to have done to hide her hair."
"Right again. Also, with the in-out fading, she would have been able to provide diversion or misdirection if it had become necessary. Which it didn't, as it turned out—I don't think the major directing the operation really knew what he was doing."
Reger snorted. "You put a hell of a lot of trust in her."
Lathe took one last swipe at his forehead and thankfully tossed the cotton ball aside, turning to face Reger again. "We're having to do a lot of trusting on this mission, it seems. Well, now—enough of these preliminaries. You've probably heard the whole story from Caine or one of the others by now, anyway. So what did you really come here to talk about?"
The other pursed his lips. "Caine tells me he wanted to get those two truck drivers out, too, while you were there—spun me some sort of story about you not trusting them to cooperate with you on the escape."
"He's right; we couldn't have. But it's actually simpler than that. The Dupres and Karen Lindsay had no co
Reger grunted. "Maybe with good reason. Because as it turns out, they're not quite as unco
"What?" Lathe felt his eyes narrow. "Why didn't you tell me this before?"
"I didn't know it before," the other retorted. "You never mentioned those people before tonight.
Anyway, it may not be an immediate problem—I own the company, but through several levels of bureaucratic paper. It could take Qui
"Yeah. Unfortunately, Galway's here, too, and if Qui
"Caine told me a little about Galway," Reger said. "Sounds like a dangerous opponent."
"If the Ryqril and other assorted idiots didn't keep interfering with him, he might have nailed us long ago," Lathe said frankly. "If Qui
"By ru
"We need Bernhard's knowledge." Lathe shrugged. "As long as he's unwilling to rock his own personal boat, the only way to get his help is to make it even more dangerous for him to sit on his hands. Tonight's little play in Athena will have pushed things a long way toward that goal—that's the main reason I took the risk in the first place—but if he's going to be stubborn, we'll just have to keep stirring the fire."
"Maybe if you told me what you wanted to know, I could find it out for you."
"Sorry." Lathe shook his head. "You I could probably trust to keep quiet about it, but the rest of your people I couldn't. And if Security gets wind of it, they're likely to overreact. Badly."
The intercom in Reger's pocket beeped. "Yes?" he said, pulling it out.
A second later, his eyes widened, and, bounding from his seat, he stepped close to Lathe, holding the instrument so that both men could hear. "...says that Lathe'll want them put up here, at least for the night. What do I tell him?"
"It's Jensen and Mordecai," Reger hissed into Lathe's ear. "With Bernhard and Kanai."
Lathe plucked the instrument from Reger's hand. "This is Lathe—put Jensen on."
"Uh—yes, sir."
"What the hell does he think he's doing?" Reger snarled into the pause.
"I don't know, unless they've persuaded Bernhard to help. Somehow."
A moment later Jensen's voice came on. "Lathe? What's up?"
"That's my line, isn't it?" the comsquare said. "Reger and I were just wondering why you brought Bernhard out here."
"You wanted him here, didn't you?" Jensen said, sounding surprised. "Wasn't that the basic idea of this operation?"
"Yes, but—well, we were rather hoping to keep Reger's assistance to us out of the general news."
"Ah. Well, we weren't followed, if that's what's worrying you. And we stopped off at our numberthree safe house before leaving town and went over the car and both of them with a bug stomper.
They're perfectly clean."
"Glad to hear it." Lathe thought hard for a second, trying to hear beyond Jensen's words and figure out what the other had in mind. "Uh... the sensor net and death-house setup you were building for Reger—how far along are they?"
"Essentially finished, at least the visible parts. There's some wiring to be done yet, but I should be able to finish all of that tonight. You—uh—weren't pla
Lathe pursed his lips. "Not that or the sensor net either. Should I make it an order?"
"I think it would be a good idea."
Lathe looked at Reger. "Is there some part of the house you can put Bernhard and Kanai where they can be watched around the clock?"
The other had a sour look on his face, but he nodded. "Yes, if you really think it's necessary. And safe."
"It's probably both. As long as they know where we are now, I want to have them right here where we can keep an eye on them." He caught the look on Reger's face and added, "And as long as there are five blackcollars in the house on your side, he's not likely to try anything against you personally."