S Stirling - The Council of Shadows

She touched the lacework beside her on the sofa, gently nudging the cat's interest away.

"I have learned enough of what they like here. Some I can make, some buy from the south, I know where to go and I can bargain. What city for the shop, I am not sure. A safe place. Give me that and I will help."

Eric Salvador grinned openly this time. "You are a lady who knows her own mind," he said.

"I am one who has no time for foolishness," she said.

"This is no time for foolishness!" Cheba said.

Adrian shook his head. The Brotherhood commandos were gathered in the safe house, a disused warehouse in Paso Robles they'd used before, a dim expanse smelling of old motor oil and olives. Adrian, Farmer and Guha, Ellen, and Eric Salvador; their backup and exit groups were elsewhere, waiting. The only ones without a look of shocked astonishment on their faces were Cheba and Salvador, who'd delivered the news. Adrian himself felt as if he'd been punched in the gut; Ellen had gone gray and staggered backwards to sit on an old fruit crate. Farmer and Guha had their heads together and were whispering frantically.

"I killed her," Ellen whispered. "I swear to God I got her right in the foot with the hypo and pressed the plunger."

"You did," Cheba said. "But one of the other guests, the woman Michiko, cut off her foot almost instantly, before much of the poison got into her. Then she was very sick for months. The foot grew back. Like a bud on a plant."

She shuddered. Adrian nodded; he didn't know if the original Shadowspawn had had that ability, but the Council's eugenics program had established it among the purebreds a few generations earlier. Probably in normal humans switching off that particular suppressive gene would have meant death by cancer, but his breed didn't have that sort of bad luck. Or perhaps the cells that went wrong had extremely bad luck themselves.

"We are very hard to kill," he said, feeling himself gathering strength. "Very hard indeed. Things…fall out well for us."

"I killed Michiko, though," Ellen said, taking deep breaths.

"How do you know?" Cheba asked.

Ellen glared at her. "I shot her in the head with a silver bullet from a rifle!"

"Oh. Good for you, gringa!" Then briskly to Adrian: "So. This man here agreed to my terms. You will keep this promise."

Adrian bowed gracefully, amused and impressed. "I authorized him to bargain for me," he said. "The citizenship and the money are"-he waved his hand-"easy enough."

"Easy enough for you!"

"Precisely. Easy enough for me," he said, with a hard smile.

This was not a woman who would respect anyone who could be pushed, Power or no.

"You could have asked for more."

"I asked for what I wanted. More I can make for myself. What I asked for, you owe me. It is justice, not charity."

"Very well. As to Adrienne…I will kill her the moment I can. So will any of us here."

Ellen nodded vigorously, and so did Guha and Salvador.

" Shit, yeah," Farmer added. "Get a number and stand in line, senorita."

Adrian amplified: "I certainly don't object to your killing her if you get a chance. Be my guest; you have ample cause. But nobody will let her live an instant longer than they must. She is too dangerous, too tricky, too likely to seize any opportunity to wiggle out of a trap."

Cheba scowled ferociously for a moment-Adrian thought there was even the hint of a pout-then reluctantly nodded.

" Bueno. I see that this is necessary."

"Living well while your enemy does not is the best revenge," Adrian said.

"A head cut off and put on a stick is the best revenge," Cheba said with enormous sincerity. "Still, you are right, she must be killed."

"As to protection, no place will be safe while the Shadowspawn rule. The world is not safe; they plan soon to kill on a scale that the worst conquerors of the past could see only in nightmares. I will do my best; but I guarantee nothing and I wash my hands of you if you do not follow my orders in matters of your safety from them. Agreed?"

She looked at him for a long moment. "Agreed. You are a man who does not promise more than he can do, I think."

"You're right," Ellen said unexpectedly. "Adrian…are we still going through with this plan?"

"Yes," he said decisively. "That Adrienne is alive makes everything that has happened in the past year…acquire a different meaning."

"No shit," Farmer snarled.

He put his hands to his head. "Nothing on precog…Anni?"

"Nothing," she said. "But with Adrienne, it would be like trying to see a match against a bonfire."

Adrian nodded. "We must look at each event through a different lens."

Guha and Farmer looked at each other; the man shook his head, and she shrugged slightly.

"But this plan is still good. Dead or gone, she is not there, and neither are my parents, so there is no adept at Rancho Sangre. Even better, if we have the children, we have a lever over her."

Ellen looked at him, surprised and a little shocked.

"You wouldn't hurt them?"

"No." A hard smile. "You know that. Adrienne will suspect it…but she will not be sure, and she will be restrained by that uncertainty. Also it will injure her prestige with other Shadowspawn, which can only be good. Whatever she plans, whatever her cunning, she cannot simply sweep them aside. If we can prevent Trimback One, the Brotherhood is in a position to thwart her plans for the parasmallpox plague."

He looked around; the others remained silent. "Then let us do as we planned. With one modification."

Except for Cheba, the others were already in tough dark clothing and boots, gear that would be practical in a fight without screaming military or terrorist to a casual observer. Light flexible body armor of the latest nanotube variety didn't bulk them out unduly, and for once the Power wouldn't be with the other side. The weapons were Tavors, Israeli machine carbines with a full suite of sensor sights, and grenade launchers; the silver-inlaid and warded knives were a backup this time. Ellen had her sniper rifle, and they all wore comm headsets.

Salvador grinned as he slapped a magazine into his stubby assault rifle. "Like old times," he said.

Adrian shook his head. "We are still at a disadvantage in a straight-up fight. In and out without violence is best."

"How?" Cheba said skeptically. "The brujos are gone, but there are many guards with guns. The lesser servants are like machines that walk, but some of the others are cunning and watchful. And…what do you call them…Wreakings in the ground, the walls, the air. I can feel them sometimes, like great hungry beasts, like giant rats scuttling between the walls of the world."

"So," Adrian said, and walked up the ramp into the truck. The vehicle looked unexceptional. Inside the ordinary commercial shell was ceramic armor. The padded container within was just big enough for him and his gear. He lay down in it and swung the lid closed, dogging it firmly from the inside. Velvet blackness pressed down on his eyes, impenetrable even to Shadowspawn sight, though not to the Power. He crossed his hands on his chest, hand to opposite shoulder, and cleared his mind of all but the glyphs he sought.

"Amss-aui-ock!"

All of the humans bristled a little as he sat up through the lid and carefully came erect and walked down the ramp. A night-walker spoke to fears far below knowledge. Salvador was sweating a little; he was newer to this than the others…except Cheba, who jumped back a little.

"So?" she said. "How will this help?"

"I was going to go into the casa grande like this," he said.

And changed. Then she was looking at herself, naked. She spat something in a language that was not Spanish, and forced herself not to back away as he/she approached.

"You have changed a little," he said, studying her with vision and the Power. "You are in better condition…several teeth capped, no need to imitate that…no calluses on your hands…"