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"In other words, you made a deal," Wrey growled. "What was it?"
"Something I'll discuss only with the Central Committee and only when we reach Asgard," Jonny told him flatly.
Wrey frowned at him, irritation and growing suspicion etching his face. "You're not authorized to negotiate for the entire Dominion of Man."
"That's okay-the Ship Commander wasn't authorized to negotiate for the Troft Assemblage, either." A gentle thump rippled through the deck and Jonny relaxed m...
"Moreau-"
"Now if you'll excuse me, it's been a long night and I'm very tired. Good-night, Mr. Wrey; you can figure out on your own how you'll write this incident up. ...
Which was a rather cheap shot, Jonny admitted to himself as he headed aft toward his cabin. But at the moment his body was aching more than Wrey would ever k...
Or, for that matter, for illegal business practices and deliberate evasions. Which was why he planned to take a few days to recuperate before confronting Dru...
* * *
It was another two weeks' travel to the Troft-Dominion border, fourteen of the longest days Jonny had ever suffered through this side of the last war. The co...
But the social isolation was only a minor part of the frustration Jonny felt with the slowness of their progress. He had a real chance of sidetracking the wa...
And at last the Menssana touched down on Adirondack, the terminus point for Corridor traffic . . . and Wrey played his trump card.
"I'm sorry for whatever inconvenience it'll cost you to have to find your own ways back to your ultimate destinations," Wrey told the group of passengers as ...
"And me, I presume," Jonny spoke up.
"Afraid not," Wrey said blandly. "But then, you'll remember I warned you against inviting yourself along."
For a heartbeat Jonny simply stood there, unable to believe his ears. "You can't do that, Wrey-"
"Can't I?" the other retorted. "I suggest you check the statutes, Moreau-if you know how to look up real law, that is."
Jonny gazed at the other's self-satisfied expression, the small gloating smile playing at the corners of the paunchy man's mouth-the small mind having its bi...
"Oh, yes-the 'secret plan' to stop the war that you won't tell anyone about," Wrey almost-sneered. "Maybe you'd better finally loosen up and give me at least...
"I'm sure you would," Jonny grated. "You'll forgive me if I don't trust you to do the job right. Of course, you realize leaving me stranded here with vital i...
"Oh, I wouldn't worry about that." Wrey raised a finger and four men in Army uniforms detached themselves from various walls and stepped forward, halting in ...
Jonny glanced at the guards, his eyes slipping from the quietly alert faces to the collar insignia beneath. Interrorum, the Army's crack anti-espionage/anti-...
"You'll be getting a first-class military ride to Asgard," Wrey told him. "After you've been checked for hypnotic and subliminal manipulation, of course."
"What? Look, Wrey, unless basic citizen rights have been suspended recently-"
"You were alone with the Trofts for several hours, by your own admission," Wrey interrupted harshly. "Maybe they let us go because you'd been programmed for ...
Jonny felt his jaw drop. "Of all the ridiculous-you can't make a charge like that stick for ten minutes."
"Take it easy, Governor. I'm not trying to make anything 'stick'-I'm merely following established procedures. You'll be released in-what were those numbers? ...
Jonny ground his teeth. Wrey was really taking his pound of flesh. "And suppose while I'm sitting around hooked to a biomedical sensor your news of the Troft...
For just an instant Wrey's eyes lost some of their insolence. "I don't think there's any danger of that. You'll get to Asgard in plenty of time." He smiled s...
For a long second Jonny was tempted. But the soldiers were undoubtedly backed up by plainclothesmen elsewhere, and there were lots of innocent civilians in t...
* * *
The first part of this kind of testing, Jonny remembered from his Cobra lectures, was to establish a physiological baseline by giving the subject several hou...
For Jonny, the wasted hours ticking by were maddening.
A dozen times in the first hour he seriously considered breaking out and trying to commandeer a star ship, and each time it was the sheer number of uncertain...
He'd been in the cell nearly three hours when a shadow passed across the observation window and his enhanced hearing picked up a quiet click from the directi...
He turned his head to see, muscles tensing . . . but the door wasn't being opened. Instead, a small hemispherical dome near the floor beside it rotated open ...
At the observation window a guard's face appeared. "Thanks," Jonny said, easing from the cot and retrieving the meal. The old familiar Adirondack cooking, hi...
"No problem." The guard hesitated. "Are you really one of the Cobras that saved Adirondack from the Trofts?"
Jonny paused, spoon halfway to his mouth. "Yes," he acknowledged. "Are you a native?"
The guard nodded. "Born and raised right here in Dannimor. Where were you stationed?"
"Over in Cranach." The mesh in the window made the guard's face hard to see, but Jonny estimated his age in the low thirties. "You were probably too young to...
"I remember enough. We had relatives in Paris when it was destroyed." He pursed his lips at the memory. "I had an uncle in Cranach then, too. Did you know a ...
"No." Memories flooded back of the people he had known . . . and with the mental pictures came an idea. "Tell me, just how isolated am I supposed to be?"
"What do you mean-visitors or something?"
"Or even phone calls. There are people probably still living nearby who I once thought I'd never see again. As long as I'm stuck here for a while maybe I can...
"Well . . . maybe later that'll be possible."
"Can you at least get me a directory or something so I can find out who still lives in the area?" Jonny persisted. "This dose of solitary isn't a punishment,...
The guard frowned at that, but then shrugged. "I'm not sure that really qualifies as reading material, but I'll check with the guard captain."
"Be sure to remind him that I am a high Dominion official," Jonny said softly.
"Yes, sir." The guard disappeared.