The Nano Flower Part 50

It was risky.

Charlotte raised her hand, the bioware sheath was like a two-fingered glove, flesh coloured; there was a constant warm itch underneath. No, she couldn't forget what Nia Korovilla had done, what she'd been ordered to do, and by whom.

She put the seat down on the toilet, sat on it, and unzipped her flight bag. Below the Levi's and neatly folded Organic Flux Capacity sweats.h.i.+rt was her gold Amstrad cybofax. Heaven alone knew how the wafer had stayed inside her shorts pockets while she was charging around the Colonel Maitland, but there it was, the only possession she had left that was truly hers.

She entered Fabian's personal number, then ran the scrambler program. The Amstrad's screen fuzzed with static, then stabilized to show Fabian's face. He was smiling nervously.

'Crikey, Charlotte, I thought you were never going to call. Anastasia docked an hour ago.'

'I've been busy.'

'Any sign of the alien?'

'No, none. We're going to go out looking for my Celestial priest in quarter of an hour.'

'Oh. Well, good luck.'

'Thanks.'

'Are we going to do it?'

'Yes, Fabian, we're doing it.'

'Terrific! Switch to conference mode and call Kirilov. Have you still got the number?'

'Yes,' she said with some exasperation.

She pulled the number he'd given her from the cybofax's memory, and entered it in the phone circuit. The Amstrad's screen split in two, Fabian on one side, the other remained blank.

'Yes?' a male voice asked, a heavy Slav accent.

'We want to speak with Mr Kirby,' Fabian said.

'There is n.o.body of that name here.'

Fabian flipped his hair aside impatiently. 'Rubbish. Tell 423.

Pavel Kirby that it's Fabian Whitehurst and Charlotte Fielder calling.'

Names put a coolness in her belly, names meant there was to going back. And she was pretty sure Pavel Kirilov wouldn't e happy discovering his ident.i.ty was being bandied about.

A man's face appeared on the cybofax screen. She studied tim closely. There was nothing exceptional about him, late forties or early fifties, thinning hair, gaunt cheeks, in fact -the almost smiled - the man bore a more than superficial resemblance to Lenin.

Pavel Kirby gave them a tight-lipped smile. 'So, it is you, young Fabian. You've grown, I think, since we met last. And Miss Fielder, of course, I recognize you from your picture. ~Aay I say how glad I am you both survived the Colonel Maidand crash. The reports I received on the incident were most confused.'

'My father's dead,' Fabian said.

'Yes, I know. I'm sorry. He was a valued client.'

'And I inherit everything.'

Pavel Kirilov inclined his head. 'Indeed.'

'So I want to carry on with the timber s.h.i.+pments, and the ;hip charters from Odessa. Just like before. The company agents will handle the details.'

'That's very astute of you, Fabian. I'm sure we can come ~o some arrangement with your father's estate.'

'Good.'

'May I ask you how you escaped from the Colonel Pvlaidand?'

'I have friends,' Fabian said. He smirked.

Charlotte hoped Fabian's confidence wasn't going to overLoad his prudence. Perhaps she should've insisted on dealing with Kirby by herself. Too late now.

'I see.' Pavel Kirby pulled at his lower lip. 'Well, as long as you're safe now.'

'I want to do a deal,' Fabian said.

'What sort of deal, Fabian?' Pave! Kirby asked.

'We know where the alien is.'

'Which alien is this?'

424'Nia Korovilla is dead as well,' Charlotte said. She caught Pave! Kirby throwing a glance at someone off-camera.

'You seem remarkably well informed, Miss Fielder.'

'I've picked up a lot in the last few years I've spent working for you, Mr Kirilov.'

She was surprised when all Pave! Kirilov did was laugh. 'I'm afraid that I know where the alien is as well. But I thank you for your offer?

'No, you don't,' said Fabian. 'You just know the contact point is New London. Only Charlotte knows exactly where the flower came from.'

'I have all the information I require,' Pave! Kirby said.

'Are you sure?' she asked. 'Really sure? Remember, we already knew that you know the flower was handed over to me in New London. Why would we phone if that was all you needed? The fact is, you require a lot more data if you want to find the alien.'

Pave! Kirby hesitated. 'This additional data, you are offering to sell it?'

'No, we're offering you a partners.h.i.+p.'

'In what?'

'In atomic structuring technology. We secure the construction data for a nuclear force generator. You market it to a kombinate as you originally intended. And we take a percentage. Simple.'

Pavel Kirilov patted his hands together in front of his face. 'My G.o.d, a child and a- You really know what you're talking about, don't you?'

'You got it,' Fabian said triumphantly.

'Are you interested?' Charlotte asked. She was jamming her knees together to stop her legs from shaking. 'If not, we can always call Event Horizon or Clifford Jepson, offer them the generator data.'

'What sort of percentage?' Pave! Kirby asked impa.s.sively.

'Five. And as a guarantee, Fabian and I are to be named on the patent application which you and the kombinate file.'

'I'm interested. No doubt you have devised a foolproof method of handover.'

'Yes. We're up in New London now.'

425.

Pavel Kirilov raised his eyebrows. 'You have the generator data already?'

'We'll provide it for you,' she said. 'But it does have to be you, in person. No one else. I don't mean come alone or anything.'

'How very gratifying.'

'We have our own hardiiners with us. So we'll meet here, on neutral territory, and we'll explain how we want to handle the actual transfer.' She held her breath.

Pavel Kirby gave her a reluctant nod. 'Baronski would be pleased to see the way you've turned out. You're a credit to him, Miss Fielder, if not to me. Where exactly in New London do you wish to meet me? Should I wear a carnation in my lapel, knot my tie in a certain fas.h.i.+on?'

She tried to ignore the sarcasm, but there was a lot of weight behind it; one of the largest crime lords in Europe focusing on her. Displeased.

'The more important they think themselves, the greater the disdain they feel they must show,' Baronski had told her. 'They can only intimidate you if you allow yourself to believe in this charade. None of it is real, they are acting. Imagine yourself as a channel critic and watch for the flaws in their performance.'

Charlotte said nothing.

'Well?' Pave! Kirby asked.

He wanted to know, he needed them. G.o.d bless you, Dmitri, she wished silently. 'Phone me exactly one hour before you dock,' she said. 'I will tell you where to wait, you may bring up to four hardline bodyguards for your personal safety. But if you phone after you arrive, if you send someone else in your place, if there are more than four hardliners, then the deal is off.'

'Very well, Miss Fielder, Fabian. I agree.'

'All right!' Fabian grinned.

'But. If you are unable to provide me with the generator data, or if you try and sell the data to my rivals, then you will wish you had stayed on board the Colonel Maidand. Do I make myself clear? This is not a game. If you genuinely know what is going on, you will understand this.'

426.

'We understand,' Charlotte said.

'Good. I shall make arrangements for a flight, expect me within six hours.' His image disappeared from the Amstrad's screen.

Charlotte's muscles felt drained, her palms were damp and sticky.

Fabian was laughing like a mad thing. 'What a team! What a team! We did it, we nailed the b.a.s.t.a.r.d.' His face jiggled about on the screen.

'Oh, Christ,' she murmured. The enormity of what she'd done was beginning to register.

'What's the matter? It's over. We did it. We won!'

'It's only just started, Fabian.'

'Rubbish, stupid. He's on his way. That's all we needed. Once he's phoned you and confirmed he's docking, we'll tell Julia Evans.' His lip curled up. 'She'll have to act then. There's no way she'll allow Kirby into New London, not with you and the alien and that Royan chap all up there together. And there Pave! Kirby will be, in a s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p, all alone. A sitting duck. I mean, do you know what kind of Strategic Defence weapons they've got up there?'

'No, Fabian, I don't.'

'Hundreds and hundreds; masers, lasers, particle beams; and everyone knows Julia's got her own electron-compression warheads too. Ten megatons apiece. Scrunch! She'll dissect him.'

Trust Fabian to know about heavy duty weaponry, something in the male make-up drew them to it. Small boys and s.h.i.+ny warplanes went hand in hand, big boys too, come to that. 'And then us, I should think,' she said quickly.

'Oh come on, Charlotte. We're doing her a favour. You heard her say she'd hunt Kirby down afterwards. Well, we've gone and saved her all the trouble. We've given him to her on a plate. And she won't be able to s.h.i.+rk off this time. All she has to do now is give one order, and Kirby is a cloud of hot atoms.'

CHAPTER THIRTY.TWO.

T.

here were seven of them in the group that emerged from the public lobby below the Governor's Residence. They stood cl.u.s.tered together on the lava-like surface of the ring road which ran round the base of the southern endcap, looking across the open parkiand, not quite sure where to go first. Very touristy, Greg thought, not that he was particularly concerned with stealth. But they did give the impression of a booked party. No need to draw unnecessary attention. Charlotte and Suzi were with him, of course; along with Rick and Melvyn; while a couple of the crash team, Teresa Farrow and Jim Sharman, completed the group. Lloyd McDonald had set up a dedicated mission office in the security centre, where he was reviewing reports from the police and his own personnel from inside the Cavern.

'Where we headed?' Suzi asked.

'Not sure. Lloyd will call us as soon as someone spots a Celestial Apostle.' He sucked in some air, glancing round Hyde Cavern. A tiny secretion struck up a certain restlessness, but there was no call towards any particular part of the cylindrical landscape. 'But in the mean time, we'll try the beach. The one where you met the priest, Charlotte.'

Charlotte nodded. 'All right.'

Other pedestrians were glancing at her as they pa.s.sed. Greg had to admit she looked sensational. Perhaps he ought to have asked her to wear something less conspicuous.

It isn't her clothes, he told himself, it's your hormones.

Rick had stuck close to her side on the way down from the Residence, making small talk, absolutely not looking at the top's scoop neck. The way she dealt with the attention was a frictionless wall of politeness, nothing that would encourage, nothing to take offence at. It was a neat trick. Poor old Rick.

He took his cybofax out of a jacket pocket, and pulled a map of New London's train network from the colony's 428memory core. There were stations every two hundred metres round the endcap. He started walking towards the nearest one.

'I've just heard from Sean Francis,' Melvyn said. 'Julia Evans is on her way up.'

'When will she be here?'

'Three hours.'

'What's the matter, doesn't she trust us?' Suzi grumbled.