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Opal's own smile faltered a bit and she turned quickly-even awkwardly-and strode into her room, apparently suppressing a wistful sigh as she did.
MENTOR
Downing checked his watch. "Mr. Rulaine, we need to establish contact with two of the other people on your security list. Nolan Corcoran's children-Trevor and E...
Rulaine raised an eyebrow. "Admiral Corcoran's memorial is being held on Mars? That's a little-remote-for a person of his stature, isn't it, sir?"
"That's partly why it was chosen. His children are expecting me, but I'm a bit ahead of schedule, so we'll need to call ahead. Please contact Comm Ops at Syrt...
Only a few moments passed before Rulaine responded. "Syrtis Major confirms that the contact orders for Corcoran's children are received and being acted upon, ...
"Very good, Captain. It also seems like the disturbance in the galley has died down."
Without looking sideways at the relevant monitor, which showed the crew going through preparations for cold sleep, Rulaine nodded. "Seems so, sir." Rulaine ev...
"Then let's start reviewing-"
"Sir, before we get to that, I have one more question about Riordan."
Downing nodded.
"Beyond his resentment of you, is Riordan going to present me with any-problems-that I have to take into consideration?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, sir, there's a rumor in the news-and elsewhere-that Mr. Riordan was not exactly a 'fellow traveler' when given his mission to Dee Pee Three."
Downing kept from working his jaw. "He was not a completely willing recruit, no."
"Then, sir, do I expect that he'll cooperate, or be-problematic?"
Downing considered avoiding the question, redirecting it, even lying outright, but instead he turned to look at Bannor Rulaine and said, "I wish I could tell ...
"Mr. Downing, I'm sorry to interrupt, but I've got a response from Syrtis Base regarding the Corcorans."
"And?"
"There's a problem, sir."
"You mean the Shore Liaison Office doesn't have them in hand, yet?"
"No sir; I mean that, according to the SLO, they're not in Syrtis City-or anywhere else on Mars." Rulaine looked straight into his eyes. "They're missing, sir...
Chapter Thirty
TELEMACHUS
The face that looked out the airlock window at him was ill-shaven, eyes indistinct behind a lank forelock of dirty-blond hair. Thank God, he thought. If they're...
As the face backed away from the airlock door, he felt the wind push fitfully against the heavy life support unit on his back. He turned: a rusty-brown expans...
He heard the airlock door squeak and sigh and he turned-to find himself looking down the barrel of a ten-millimeter Sig Sauer caseless handgun. Okay, their eq...
He raised his hands. The figure-wearing a generic spacesuit that was the same model as his own-gestured him to approach. Trevor did, keeping his hands high. T...
So far, so good. There had always been a chance that they would shoot him down the moment they saw him. But that was one of the many operational hazards that ...
The inner airlock door swung open-and Trevor found himself staring into yet another muzzle. This one was an antique: a nine-millimeter parabellum MP-5 machine...
Pushed roughly from behind, he staggered forward and-knowing that they'd have his helmet off in seconds-reasoned that this was the last moment he could conduc...
And Trevor liked what he saw. The three in the main room were ethnically diverse. None over twenty-seven. All male. All had tattoos, piercings, long-and in on...
The "terrorist" behind him grabbed his helmet, popped the side clamp and ripped it off.
The smell of unwashed bodies and stale air almost made Trevor gag.
"You've got five seconds to tell me who you are and why you're here. You give me an answer I don't like, and you're meat."
"My name is-hell, it isn't important. Call me Trev. I'm just a guy hired by the girl's family. And I've brought money to pay for her release."
"What the-what the hell are you talking about?"
"Look: I know you've got the girl. And all these guns prove it."
"Yeah-and you'd better prove you've come alone or this conversation is going to end. Real soon."
"You can send a man out to see. You'll find a pressurized buggy three hundred meters due east. There's no one in it. But before you send someone to check it, ...
"Why?"
"Because the payment is inside."
The kidnapper with the machine pistol turned to give an order to the man in the spacesuit. "Scan him." He turned back. "Now, how do I know you're not just the...
"Because when you send your man out, you're going to find that there's no one in sight-which means by the time anyone could join me here, I'd be dead. Right?"...
The one with the machine pistol spent a moment thinking, then his eyes flicked over toward his man with the RF scanner.
Who shrugged. "He's clean; no signals coming off him."
"And none will. Take his helmet off. Check for a backup radio. Take his gloves off, too."
"Yeah, yeah."
Trevor looked around while they spoke. The interior was exactly what he'd expected from the schematic: large primary dome, centered on the "storm room"-a shie...