Jack McDevitt - The Devil's Eye

"Selotta and Kassel."

"What's your favorite joke, Alex?"

"I don't do jokes."

"Okay," I said. "Wexler, are you there?" Wexler reappeared. "Satisfied?" "Get him back here."

"Not yet."

Alex glanced off to one side. He wasn't alone. Krestoff casually walked up behind him. She was carrying a scrambler. And she allowed me to watch as she reset the weapon. To lethal . Wexler sighed. "Chase, I don't like having to resort to this. But the stakes are too high, and you're not leaving me any choice."

A door opened behind me. Bong came into the room. He looked at me with relish. I saw no weapon. He obviously didn't think he'd need one. I suspected he was right.

"Now, let me tell you how you may save Alex's life and your own. I want to know where we can locate the transmission you spoke of. And you will delete it." He paused to make sure I understood

what would happen if I declined. "When that is done, you will, I'm sorry to say, have to remain under our jurisdiction for the time being. I'll add that, should a duplicate transmission turn up, some fallback precaution you might have taken, that I'll feel obliged to kill you both." Bong closed the door, and I was alone with him. Alex looked uncertain. Finally, he shook his head. "They'll kill us anyhow, Chase. Don't cooperate." Krestoff must have gotten a signal from Wexler. She raised the weapon and pointed it at the back of Alex's head. "Forget it," I said. Wexler studied me for a long moment. "You're sure?" "I can offer a compromise." She did not lower the weapon.

"I'm listening."

"Release us both. Then I'll rewrite the message. And remove everything from it that points to you. And I'll hold it until tomorrow. That'll give you and your thugs time to get out of town." Thugs. Krestoff's eyes locked on me. She didn't say anything but I got the message. It was the same as before: I'd like to meet you alone somewhere. Wexler sucked on his lower lip. "I'm sorry. That's not acceptable." My heart was pounding so hard I thought it was going to break loose. But I kept my voice calm. "Then do what you have to." He nodded. "All right. If that's your last word." He gave me a few moments to change my mind. Then he turned to Krestoff. "Kill him." "If you do," I said, "you'll get nothing from me. And the media will have the truth about Callistra within the hour. I wonder if the voters will be upset with you?" He raised a palm to stop Krestoff. And stared at me. I smiled at him. I've never in my life done anything harder than getting that smile up and running. "Pack your bags, Wexler. She pulls that trigger, we're all dead." Krestoff waited. Alex stood motionless. Bong circled around to get a better angle on me. And Wexler stood in his faraway location and just sucked in air. I picked up a lamp with a weighted base. It wouldn't have been much of a weapon against Bong, but it sent the right signal. Wexler sighed. "How do I know you'll pull my name out of the story?" "You'll have to trust me." Another long pause. Somebody tried to get into the office. Then I heard raised voices in the corridor, and the noise went away. "Okay." Bong growled his disappointment. Alex took a deep breath. "You can use the AI in the office. Please cancel your report."

"I'll use my own AI. And I'm not canceling anything. I'll move it back. In case you change your mind. How long do you need to bring Alex here?"

"I don't like the arrangement."

"I really care about that."

"You said you'd hold off until tomorrow."

"I'll do that."

"Give me seventy-two hours."

"You have until midnight tomorrow. Local time."

"You're a bitch, Chase."

"Alex, how far are you?"

"I'm about three hours away."

"Get him here by three."

"Impossible."

"Well, I can be reasonable. I'll give you an extra two hours. Have him here by close of business." I was still watching Bong. "Would you get that creep out of here?" Bong's disappointment morphed into anger. "Shelby," said Wexler. "Wait outside. And see that Ms.

Kolpath gets transportation to wherever she intends to go."

Bong delivered one more frustrated stare. Then he left. "There's something else I want." Wexler looked trapped. "What?" "Mr. and Mrs. Ivan Sloan. He's the pilot who took me out to the asteroid."

"What about him?"

"You have him, too. I want him turned loose also." He shrugged. "Okay. Sure, we've no reason to hold him." "And there's somebody else."

"For God's sake, Chase-"

"Haley Khan."

"Who the hell is that?"

"Vicki's pilot. I want them all back."

"Okay. I'll arrange it."

"Not that I don't trust you, but I'll be in touch with them within the hour. If they're not free, all three of them, the deal's off." "I wish," he said, "you had some notion of the damage you're going to cause." "Whoever's in this with you, Doctor," I said, "will probably throw you to the wolves. You and the administration have wasted several months. That thing's a lot closer now than it was when you first found out about it. And you've done nothing . Except move money and real estate around." "That's not so, damn you. We've been creating shelters. Storing supplies. Getting ready as best we can under extremely difficult circumstances."

"Circumstances, hell. Look, Wexler, I'd be willing to bet Aramy Cleev learned about this thirty years ago." "Yes," he said. "That's probably true." "He's the guy you led a revolution against." "He was a monster. And if you're trying to compare him to me-" He stopped, his jaws clamped. "It's hard to see a difference," I said.

They delivered Alex to me in the middle of a public park. Kids rode swings, birds chirped, a cluster of guys were playing the local version of chess. Alex took me into his arms. "You were beautiful," he said. "You okay?" "Yes. Still a little rattled, but I'm all right. How about you?" "I'm good." "They won't tell me anything. I take it the big light was missing." "Callistra? Yes." "I'm sorry to hear it." "They've got three years." We sat down on a bench. "You knew all along, didn't you?" "I suspected it from the time we heard about Jennifer's comment." "That it didn't matter whether the wedding had a religious element?" "Yes. That and the Calient business and the math." "Ah, yes," I said. "The math."

We were sitting on top of a tidal wave, but at least we saw no reason to hide any longer. We checked back into the Blue Gable, where we'd stayed when we first arrived in Marinopolis, and took over the penthouse suite. It had a broad balcony and a magnificent view across the top of the city. Ivan called. "They let us go." "Good. You guys are okay, right?"

"Yes. We're fine."

"Glad to hear it. You hear anything from Khan?"

"No. Why? Is he in on this deal, too?"

"Supposed to be. Anyhow, I guess I'll be seeing you back on Rimway." "I don't know," he said. "Are you going somewhere else?"

"We talked it over."

"And- ?"

"I don't know. She doesn't want to leave. We have friends and family here."

"Oh."

"We've talked to a few of them. They don't believe us."

"I'm not surprised."

"Even if they did, I'm not sure they'd go. This is their home." "So what are you going to do?" "I'll let you know."