Mag Force - Hung Out Part 20

"I have always believed in supernatural manifestations,"

Quong replied. "This does not happen to be one of them.

Our current Tycho is actually our former Tycho's younger brother. It seems that the senior male of the family takes on the responsibilities of those who precede him. His hobbies are blowing things up and breaking into banks."

"I like him already. You might need him for this job."

"Then it is okay if we go ahead with the a.s.signment?" Quong said. "We had planned to do so but I wanted to check. We have lost a great deal of time."

"Yes, we signed a contract. We have, whata"sixteen days from today to overthrow Kirkov? Can you handle it?"

"We have, of necessity, revised our plan. But we believe that we can accomplish our goal."

"Fine. Oh, and you'll have to give up Harry. I'm going to need him. Stash him on a planet near Jango. Tell him to find a s.p.a.ceplane with room for five pa.s.sengers and that has EVA, stealth and jamming capabilities, and is fast and maneuverable both in planet atmosphere and in outer s.p.a.ce."

"Certainly," Quong returned. "Perhaps we can pick one up at Rummage-O-Rama. Along with a new suit for Harry."

"Talk to Olefsky," Xris suggested. "The Wolf Brigade probably has a couple of s.p.a.ceplanes they're not using. Tell Harry someone will be in touch with him. The code word is Hogan. Got that?"

"You should spell it."

Patiently, Xris spelled it.

"Harry is not taking this well," Quong observed as he prepared to depart.

"Yeah, I figured as much. I saw him at the sentencing. This job should make him a lot happier."

"What do we do about Agent Rizzoli?"

"Keep her nose pointing at Amadi. Eventually she's bound to get a whiff of something foul."

"How do we do that if we are busy overthrowing a small government?" Quong demanded.

"Beats me, Doc," Xris said cheerfully. "You'll figure out something. I have every confidence in you."

"I must go. The chaplain is approaching. Good-bye, my friend. Take care of yourself."

"You, top, Doc," Xris said, realizing at that moment how much he missed being with them, how much he hated being shut up in this cell, how much he hated being alone. "Give my best to everyone."

There was no reply.

CHAPTER 20.

Man needs to suffer. When he does not have real griefs he creates them. Griefs purify and prepare him.

Jose Marti, Adultera The prison trip to Jango Wasn't any luxury cruise, but it I wasn't bad, either. Their transport had been a pa.s.senger freighter and, once upon a time predating the Revolution had probably been a pretty cla.s.sy lady. She was old now, slow and shabby, but her crew took pride in the ravaged beautya"the transport was practically an antiquea"and had gone to great lengths to refit her and keep up with maintenance.

The prisoners were held on the lower decks, not permitted to come anywhere near the bridge. All access to the upper decks was sealed off, except for one lift that was guarded twenty-four hours by living, breathing guards as well as guard 'bots.

Due to the fact that this ship had once transported pa.s.sengers, the prisoners' quarters were much better than the prison cells, the food was really quite good, and the guards were at least polite. Xris was locked up in a large rooma" it had once been a gyma"along with the five other prisoners being taken to Jango. They showered in what had once been the men's locker room and slept in bunks bolted to the walls.

Vids and mags were provided for their entertainment, but the vids were old, the mags outdated; Xris found one that featured an interview with the late and unlamented President Robes. Three of the men played bridge, however, and when they found out that Xris knew something about the game, they badgered him into being a fourth. Of the other two prisoners, one spent most of his time napping in his bunk. He woke up only for meals. The other was hunched over a small computer. He said he was writing a book.

Xris appeared almost human in his new cybernetic leg, arm, and hand. Covered with fleshfoam and plastiskin, his limbs looked and felt like real flesh and blood, muscle and bone. They were even warm to the touch. His companions had no idea he was a cyborg.

He agreed to play bridge with them, not because he particularly enjoyed the gamea"he had learned it only to please Marjoriea"but because he needed to know these men. One of them might be an a.s.sa.s.sin, sent to finish the job.

After their first morning together, however, Xris determined that his fellow incarcereesa"as they preferred to be calleda"were petty crooks, not a.s.sa.s.sins. If there was a hired killer in the group, he was such a consummate actor that Xris would never penetrate the disguise and he might as well quit worrying about it.

The five had names, presumably, but Xris didn't pay any attention to them. He didn't intend to entangle himself in the lives of any of these men. He wasn't going to be around them that long.

Xris would have liked to have continued in solitary. Company grated on his nerves, interrupted his thought process. But he was well aware that loners tended to lead short and miserable lives in prison. Even in a so-called white-collar inst.i.tution like Jango. it was generally advisable to have someone watching your back. Xris went out of his way to be accommodating, therefore, although given a choice, he would have preferred to pace the floor, stare out the window at the pa.s.sing stars, and try to sort through this mess.

"Jango has one of the top-rated golf courses in the galaxy," said his partner, a young man of about twenty-eight, lean and tan with blond hair of which he was obviously very proud, for he kept drawing attention to it by affectedly shaking it out of his eyes.

"My attorney showed me a brochure," said the man to Xris's left, who was forty and a bit on the pudgy side. "They have two swimming pools, an outdoor and an indoor, and a sauna. There's a weight room and a putting green, daily aerobics cla.s.ses, and a jogging track." He patted his rotund stomach. "I promised the wife I'd lose a few kilos. It cost me some extra to get sent here, but I figure it's worth it."

"Not only the amenities," agreed Pudgy's partner, who sat to Xris's right, "but you want to make certain you get in with the right cla.s.s of people. I've heard that the business contacts you make in places like this can be of immense benefit."

Xris listened, sorted his cards.

"What are you in for?" Pudgy asked his partner.

"Embezzlement." The man was in his mid-thirties, with skin the color of cappuccino and shapely hands with long deft fingers. "I had a girlfriend with expensive taste. Yourself?"

"Tax evasion." Pudgy grunted. "My accountant a.s.sured me it was all perfectly legal, then he skips the planet."

The other two made sympathetic murmurings.

"Securities fraud," Blondie said, adding, aggrieved. "Everyone was doing it. I just happened to get caught."

The other two sighed and nodded in understanding.

"What about you?" Cappuccino turned to Xris with a pleasant smile.

"Murder," Xris said. "My open? Two hearts."

Silence. One might say dead silence.

Xris looked up. "Anyone else bidding?"

"Pa.s.s," said Pudgy, staring.

"Pa.s.s." Blondie gulped.

Xris frowned at him. "Two hearts is a demand bid, partner."

Blondie paled, looked distractedly at his cards. "I ... I beg your pardon. Two diamonds."

"Three diamonds," Xris corrected. "They're a minor suit."

"Yes, you're right," Blondie said faintly. "I don't know what I was thinking. Three ... three diamonds."

"Pa.s.s," said Cappuccino, exchanging glances with Pudgy.

Xris took the bid to game in diamonds and they played the hand out in silence. Xris made the bid, despite the fact that his fl.u.s.tered partner had named a suit in which he was void.

The hand completed, Xris excused himself to go to the bathroom. Activating his augmented hearing, he was amused to listen in on the frantic, whispered conversation that took place in his absence.

"Maybe he's joking?"

"Are you kidding? Did you see his eyes?"

"They must be sending him to another prison. What's he doing on our transport?"

"Shouldn't he be in leg restrainers or something?"

"I'll speak to the captain."

"This is an outrage! My attorney will hear about this."

"Perhaps we could ask him. I don't think he'd be offended...."

Xris returned. The conversation took a sudden lurch.

"You played that very well," Blondie said, desperately casual.

"Thanks." Xris looked politely at Pudgy. "I believe it's your deal."

Pudgy dealt the cards, sneaking sidelong glances at Xris's partner, urging him to ask.

Xris sorted his cards, pretended to be absorbed in his hand.

"Uh, Xris..." Blondie smiled in a ghastly, friendly manner. "I was wondering if you'd mind answering a question."

"Shoot," said Xris.

Blondie flinched.

"Just a figure of expression," Xris said, apologetic. "What do you want to know about? My conviction?"

"Manslaughter, was it?" Blondie asked hopefully.

Xris shook his head. "First degree. Premeditated. Whose bid is it?"

"Then this transport's taking you to a different prison?"

"Nope. Jango. Same as you. Maybe we'll be cell mates." Xris gave them a friendly wink.

"That's not possible!" Blondie cried, losing control. His voice was tight, constrained, and squeaked. "They don't send violent offenders to Jango! My attorney told me so!"

The other three regarded him in shock.

Realizing what he'd just said, Blondie took out a pillbox, threw several capsules into his mouth. He swallowed them with a grimace.

"I'm sorry, Xris," he said. "It's my nerves. Ever since the trial. If I said anything to offend youa""

"Sit down," Xris ordered. "And let daddy explain the facts of life. You two." He glanced over at Sleepy, who was now wide awake, and at young Hemingway, who was no longer writing. "Listen up.

"You've all been suckered. Get that into your heads right now. Jango's a nice place, sure. But it's not filled with nice people like yourselves. You paid extra to get sent there, right?"

They nodded.

"So did I," Xris said. "And so did half the other inmates in Jango. It may look like a country club in the brochure, but they average about twenty killings a year in Jango. Twenty unsolved killings."

"Oh, G.o.d!" Blondie whispered.

"In fact, you'd probably be safer in a maximum-security prison like Sandusky's Rock, where the guards keep close watch on all the inmates and everything they do."

"Then why did you arrange to come here?" Cappuccino asked, clearly not believing a word of it.

"Like you saida"business connections." Xris smiled.

"Oh, G.o.d!" Blondie repeated, leaning his head on his hand.

Pudgy's jowls sagged; his skin had a gray tone. He didn't look well. Blondie was a nervous wreck; his pills weren't helping. Cappuccino's mouth twisted derisively. His thin fingers deftly sorted and resorted his cards.

"All right, Xris, you've managed to scare the c.r.a.p out of these gentlemen with your stories. But I don't buy it. The government wouldn't allow it."

"The government has a h.e.l.l of a lot to do trying to clean up the corruption left over from the old Democracy. His Majesty's making headway, but let's face it, cleaning up the prison system is on the bottom of his list."

"But we're not murderers! We didn't hurt anyone!" Blondie whined.

"No of course you didn't," Xris said, his sympathetic tones mocking theirs. "What about the company whose funds you embezzled? What happened to it? Did it fail? Were its owners ruined? Did people lose their jobs? And the securities fraud racket. How many poor saps fell for your slick line and lost everything they've worked for? They're dest.i.tute and you've got money enough to pay a high-priced lawyer to get you off with a couple of years in a cushy prison." He snorted in disgust. "No, you fellows aren't a bit like me."

"What do you want from us?" Cappuccino asked, frowning. "Money? Is this some type of extortion?"

"I don't want anything from you," Xris replied. "I don't need anything from you. I can take care of myself. I'm just giving you a friendly warning. You don't believe me?" He shrugged. "Fine. Let's play bridge."

He glanced over at Pudgy. "Your bid."

The game continued, but n.o.body's heart was in it anymore.