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“We’ve found no indication that he left with anything other than himself and his lady friend. Nothing reported missing from any of the labs and no Matrix security breaches. With his limited access, the likelihood that he carried off any significant data is extremely low.”
“Maybe his benefactors thought his co
“Yes, well, it won’t be the first time someone lost an investment in a speculation.”
True enough, she thought. But she was still convinced that Verner was involved in something more than a simple escape. He had shown himself too stupidly loyal to Renraku, too obsessed with his goblinized sister. Getting Sato to tell Verner that he could write letters to her should have kept him in the arcology. The wimp wouldn’t have run out. There was another angle to this operation, and she was going to find it.
“What about the guy on the gurney?” she asked.
“What about him? No other perso
“So you think he was the patient?”
“Our rooftop cameras recorded the extraction, and the sick man matches the physical description of the body on the gurney. Seventy percent certainty.”
“But not one hundred.”
“One ca
“That’s true.” So Verner wasn’t selling someone else out. Still, there had to be more. “Pity about the Ork dying. She might have told us something.”
Marushige gave a predatory smile.
“Oh, but she did,” he said, waving the report he had been trying to read.
“This identifies her as Greta Wilmark a freelance ru
“That accounts for all of Wilmark’s regular team except for Lee, but ru
“Except for the Dragon,” Crenshaw insisted.
“That may have been an unrelated occurrence,” Marushige said with a shrug. “Our pilot did not stay around long enough to establish a link between the ru
Crenshaw frowned. Marushige might be satisfied that he had all the answers he needed, but she was not. Even if everything was as simple as Marushige thought, she wanted Verner to be caught and punished.
“What are you pla
“Unless something new turns up, nothing. The costs of hunting down such petty fugitives are high. Past experience indicates that such an investment isn’t worth the yield.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Sato won’t like you doing nothing.”
“You mean you don’t like it.” He recovered his composure as she lost her own. “Sato is a businessman. When he sees the reports and the cost estimates for any retaliatory operations, he will agree with me.”
Crenshaw’s day had gone sour. This should have been the opportunity to take down Verner for good, and legally, at that. Instead, it had twisted around. Marushige was going to let him get away.
Well, there had to be something she could do about it, and she would find it.
16
“She’s stopping,” Kurt a
“About time,” griped Sloan.
“Whuzamatter? Your bottom sore from the ride?” Black Dog asked.
“At least I got something down there to be inconvenienced.”
“You’re looking for trouble, Sloan.”
“You wa
“Dump it, you guys,” Kurt ordered, without bothering to look at them.
Sloan and Black Dog had been sniping at one another ever since they’d left the hideout, stopping only long enough to get through the border check station. Sam was relieved when they did, sure that their bickering would draw unwanted attention from the guards. Roe had assured him their travel passes through the Salish-Shidhe Council lands would pass inspection, but Sam was nervous the whole time the tribal representative examined them. The SSC cop apparently thought the group looked harmless enough because he didn’t give any of them a second look.
Before they left the metroplex, the ru
“Something wrong?” Kurt asked as Roe approached. She shook her head. “Tessien is supposed to meet us here. Let’s break for a while and rest. This cross-country driving is tough.”
“Get a rig,” Kurt suggested, tapping his datajack.
“Sure will. As soon as a car is the only thing I want to talk to.” Roe laughed lightly. “All right, chummers. Bail out and stretch your legs. Soon as he changes bottles on our guest, Chin Lee will be setting up the stove. We’ll grab some food before we move on.”
The ru
“Katherine.”
“Yes, Hanae.”
“Where are we?”
“Near the Tir Tairngire border.”