The Amtrack Wars - Earth Thunder Part 48

Or what looked like stone. Ichiwara used the key to rap several times on a particular stone The beats and pauses were obviously a form of code. For a moment or two nothing happened, then the exposed slab of stonework hinged inwards, revealing a hidden chamber illuminated from within.

Cadillac caught a brief glimpse of a bald operator in a black, short-sleeved tunic over a bare chest. Behind him, he saw part of a shelf and the right-hand edge of a neat stack of radio equipment. He clenched his fists exultantly and only just managed to stop himself from drumming them on the floor.

Sweet Sky Mother! They'd got him!

He strained to hear the muttered conversation between Ichiwara and the radio operator.

'There is no message, sir. You've been dreaming. Go back to bed. If anything urgent comes through I'll drop a ball down the tube."

'You're sure .... ' Ichiwara's voice was slurred.

'Absolutely, sir. Now go back to bed."

The radio-operator turned Ichiwara around, propelled him gently back in the direction of the locked outer door and pulled the shelf-section shut behind him. Ichiwara blundered against the line of writing tables close to where Roz and Kamakura were hiding. Amazingly, the blow to his shins failed to wake him up. Roz got to her feet and renewed the image of his mother in Ichiwara's mind.

Ichiwara allowed himself to be led to the door where Cadillac joined them. He had never seen anyone sleepwalk before, and he couldn't get over the fact that Ichiwara could find his way from A to B, select the right key to unlock the door and do all the other things he had done without being fully conscious. It was quite amazing. The three of them followed Ichiwara back along the deserted corridors to his quarters. The servant hadn't moved.

'Is he dead?" whispered Cadillac.

'No,' said Kamakura. 'That particular neck-punch merely knocks a man senseless for an hour or more.

Do you want me to kill him?"

'No, that won't be necessary." Cadillac tip-toed into the bed-chamber and found Roz drawing the coverlet over Ichiwara's sleeping form.

'There was no message, mother."

'There, there, never mind. It's not your fault. It was all a mistake.

Your father is so busy these days, he must have got things mixed up.

You know what he's like. Just go to sleep and don't worry about it any more."

'All right, but you must promise not to go away."

'Of course i'm not going to go away! Whatever makes you think I would such a thing? I love you, my darling, and I always will."

Deep within the subconscious where external reality becomes the stuff of dreams, Ichiwara thought: what strange tricks the mind can play!

For years he had believed his mother was dead, but here she was miraculously restored to life and as beautiful as in his tenderest memory of her. She leaned down over his bed, tucked the goose-down quilt snugly round his body then stroked and kissed his forehead. He felt warm, happy and secure.

And he was glad to be home ....

CHAPTER TEN.

The stormy weather, which had plagued Steve and Fran, finally blew itself out during the third night leaving the junk gliding across a tranquil moonlit sea. When they felt they could trust the deck not to throw them off balance, Steve helped Fran to her feet and over to a stem window.

A three-quarter moon had bleached a big grey hole in the sky, but where it shaded off into solid black it was sprinkled with stars. The jewelled eyes in Mo-Town's cloak .... Beneath them lay the Atlantic Ocean, a vast gleaming sheet of hammered silver whose distant edges were shadowed by the thin band of frosted blue clouds that rimmed the horizon.

'Now you've got to admit that's beautiful."

'Ask me that again when they start pouring concrete,' said Fran. 'I've had it with oceans."

'Yeah, well, it's been a pretty rough ride. Fujiwara says it's going to stay calm from now until we dock tomorrow morning." Steve tried walking back and forth across the floor then halted in front of Fram 'Makes a change being able to move around without being pitched on your nose.

You oughta 'try it. Might make you feel better if you stretch your legs - do a little exercise. And who knows?

You might even be able to face a - ' 'Don't say it, Brickman! Don't even think about it!" Fran had not only gone off food, after an abortive attempt on their first night at sea, she'd given up on s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g as well - which in her case was a sure sign she was seriously indisposed. But as Steve knew from previous experience, sea-sickness, as opposed to drowning, is not fatal, and the victim recovers rapidly on reaching sh.o.r.e.

After several hours of restful sleep on a calm sea, he was already on the mend, and upon waking he saw layered shafts of pale winter sunlight piercing the darkness of his shuttered cabin. He leapt out of bed, splashed cold water on his face, went out onto the stern balcony to fill his lungs with cold, fresh air, then put himself through the limbering-up exercises he and his cla.s.smates had been required to perform every morning for three years at the Flight Academy. After the last fifty press-ups, his body was tingling from head to toe and he suddenly realised he was very hungry.

And this time, the meal stayed down.

Fran joined him after it had been cleared away by the Thai servant girls. She was still unable to face solid food, but she looked a lot better. Her tanned skin had regained most of its usual colour; this time yesterday, her face had been a greenish grey. All it lacked now was a smile.

Spending three days at sea with Fran had taught Steve a great deal.

The adverse conditions they had encountered had brought out and reinforced the most unappealing aspects of her character. The pampering and the privileges that had been part of her birthright might have taught her how to order other people around, but they had left her woefully ill-equipped to endure any kind of hardship. On the other hand, that may have been why the President-General had decided to send her on this mission. To give her a taste of life at the sharp end ....

Having been fully briefed on the geography of Ne-Issan as part of their preparation for this high-level encounter, Steve was able to recognise the land ma.s.s they were approaching. Prior to the Holocaust, it had been known as Long Island. The Iron Masters, who had kept many of the old place names but had problems getting their tongue round certain consonants, called it AronGiren.

If this was where they were due to land, it meant they were headed for the Summer Palace.

Steve checked the serf-winding wrist watch he had been given in place of his battery-powered digital model. It was just after nine a.m.

Before leaving, they had each been issued with a special miniaturised communications pack for use in an emergency. These had been concealed in a layer of foam padding under the false bottom of their trail bags.

Karlstrom had told them that the Chamberlain's office would report their safe arrival over their secret radio link with AMEXICO. The communications pack was only to be used as a last resort, in the direst of dire emergencies.

Not of course that he was expecting anything to go wrong.

The meetings with the Lord Chamberlain and the Shogun and their officials were scheduled to last three days. He and Fran would return by junk to Cape Fear then by SkyRider to the AMEXICO base near Houston/GC.

Karlstrom's warning about their electronic aids had been aimed at Fram Steve already knew from personal experience how nervous most Iron Masters became when confronted with devices powered by 'the Dark Light'.

The ruling Toh-Yota and their traditionalist allies were implacably opposed to the use of electricity in any form, but as Steve had discovered since going overground, nothing in this big wide world was what it seemed. A special cadre of agents employed by Ieyasu, the Lord Chamberlain, had been using powerful handsets and a variety of surveillance equipment for over a decade.

If the existence of AMEXICO was the best-kept secret of all, this covert use of radios by Ieyasu's agents ran it a close second - and it was destined to remain so.

It was Karlstrom who had set up the deal on behalf of AMEXICO following a series of secret discussions with Ieyasu's most senior aide.

Karlstrom and Ieyasu had finally met on Mute territory close to Ne-Issan's southern border to put their signatures to a mutual aid treaty between their respective intelligence organisations.

Now, Steve and Fran were on their way to propose another aid package, but this was not another hole-in-the corner deal between two spy-masters: this time the goods and services on offer were so comprehensive, they could only be supplied with the full knowledge and approval of the Shogun.

Pa.s.sing through the channel between the overlapping sand-bars which guarded the south-facing coastline of Long Island, the junk entered Great South Bay, and turned eastwards, towards the cl.u.s.ter of small islands where the junk carrying Cadillac and Roz had been moored some thirty-six hours earlier.

Now that they were close insh.o.r.e and within hailing distance of other coastal traffic, Fujiwara had asked them not to use the stern gallery.