Judas Unchained

Wilson couldn’t help giving Tiger Pansy a disapproving look. Childish, he knew, none of this was down to her. The woman was chewing her gum, looking almost blithely unaware of what was being discussed around her. He wondered about that; just how naïve could a porn star be?

“That sums up most of the people in this passenger deck quite neatly,” Bradley said with a forced smile.

“May I inquire why you do not move the other end of the wormhole to a location on Far Away that does not have your enemies waiting outside?”

Tiger Pansy’s expression changed to one of mild surprise. She rose from her seat, looking as though she was being prodded along by someone unsavory.

Bradley gave her a discomforted stare as she came to stand in front of him, regarding his face with intense curiosity.

“The gateway,” Bradley said hesitantly. “Er, helps anchor the end of a wormhole. It’s very, uh, difficult to hold the end open and steady, especially given the distance involved here. The processing power to alter the wormhole coordinate is simply not available at Port Evergreen.”

Tiger Pansy’s heavily mascaraed eyes blinked uncertainly; she reached up and touched her fingertips to the side of Bradley’s face, as if she was consoling a lover. The sight of the action made Wilson feel queasy; there was something disturbingly parasitic about it. Bradley didn’t flinch.

“I can perform the computations for you,” Qatux said.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Mellanie wasn’t quite sure what she was expecting as the big screened car turned onto the Rue Jolei. A burst of nostalgia, maybe? The bustling metropolitan road certainly contained enough memories. It wasn’t long ago she would have said they were all good memories.

Today she hunched down in the car’s front seat next to Hoshe Finn, and looked up at the sixty-five-story skyscraper at the far end of the road. The golden rapier-blade shape was among the tallest of the skyscrapers that dominated the downtown cityscape of Salamanca. Mellanie remembered the view from the top of it only too well. Alessandra had liked her to be pressed up against the thick window wall of the penthouse as she serviced yet another politician’s aide or family friend. Those were the memories that lingered now. She kept reliving them, trying to work out the relevance of each piece of information to the Starflyer.

“Did you ever see her security system display?”

“Huh?” Mellanie pulled herself away from the bitter recollections. For some reason, now she didn’t have Dudley to manage, the things she’d done oh-so-willingly for Alessandra burned ever more shamefully in her mind. “Sorry, what?”

“Baron’s security system? There are a lot of exterior circuits hardwired into the penthouse array. The technical staff were wondering how pervasive it is.”

“I’ve no idea, Hoshe. She never accessed it on a screen or portal, not in front of me.”

“Okay, we’re guessing the approach to the skyscraper is well covered, as well as the building itself.”

“Uh, the SI didn’t seem to consider it exceptional, not when I was running away from her.”

“Right, thank you.”

She gave him a small smile. Dear old Hoshe Finn, always approaching every problem with the timidity and caution of a true bureaucrat.

“I’m moving our external perimeter team into place. The arrest squad will enter the building as a service company contracted for maintenance work on an apartment on the sixty-first floor.”

“Can I go up there with them?”

“No. It’s dangerous, and you’d hinder operational protocols.”

“I’d wear an armor suit, and I’d stay at the back, promise.”

“No. Our observation team say that at least two other people are in there with her. Until we know otherwise we have to assume they’re Starflyer agents, too, and may be wetwired. I’m not going to assign one of the arrest squad to chaperoning you. We need all of them frontlining.”

Mellanie gave an exaggerated sigh. “When do you have me scheduled to see her, exactly?”

“As soon as the arrest has been performed, and any wetwired weapons have been neutralized, we’ll go up.”

“Paula Myo didn’t mind me being up close and very personal with Isabella.”

“That was different. We were taking a risk then; now we’re not.”

“All right, but I’m going to get closer to the building. If she puts up a fight, there could be visible weapons activity from the street.”

“We’re going to clear civilians directly underneath the building as the arrest squad goes in. Don’t get in the way.”

“All right, all right.” Mellanie climbed out of the car and strolled down the street. It was midafternoon, with a large number of pedestrians about. She knew Hoshe wanted to wait until the early hours of the morning, when the situation was more containable; but Nigel and Senator Burnelli had overruled him. They were getting quite paranoid about Starflyer agents since Daniel Alster.