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[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] Grant and back to Thrush with his bright blue eyes. He inhaled deeply for a few moments before remov- ing it. "If you're working yourself up to make a point, Field Marshal, 1 suggest you get to it. You might have the all the time in the world, but mine is strictly rationed." ''As you wish." Hooking his thumbs into his belt, Thrush allowed a faint but mocking smile to play over his lips. "I suspect the rebel activity around Mount Rushmore is nothing more than a feint, to focus military attention there instead of what is going on right under our :noses... metaphorically speaking of course." "Of course," Lakesh echoed sarcastically. "And what might be going on right under our noses?" The smile on Thrush's face suddenly broadened. He turned his head and stared directly at Kane. "An- other time, Administrator," he said deliberately. "Another time." He continued to gaze at Kane as if to gauge his reaction to his words. They meant nothing to him. Yet, whispered the inner voice that had plagued him for the last hour. Lakesh cackled. "I don t have much time left." Thrush returned his attention to the man in the wheelchair. "You don't appear to find that prospect disturbing." "On the contrary. 1 find it quite liberating." Thrush nodded to him perfunctorily and addressed Kane. "Major, tomorrow you will accompany a troop to pacify the Roamers encamped in the vicinity of Mount Rushmore." Kane's eyes widened in surprise and disquiet. "You're dispatching the Rapier Legion to scatter a group of outlander scum?" "I made no mention of the Legion," Thrush re- torted coldly. "No, Lieutenant Colonel Salvo will command a troop of the Battle Class genotype. Look at it as a training exercise. You will go with him as his executive officer. Allow the troopers to do all the fighting, if there is any. You and Salvo are there pri- marily as observers, but don't let any of the enemy escape." Kane's nape hairs pickled with suspicion. "Isn't such an action usually assigned to the regional pro- vost marshals?" He forced himself to add hastily, "Sir." Thrush regarded him speculatively. "First a sense of humor, then an attitude bordering on insubordi- nation. You're displaying a wide range of new be- haviors tonight, Major. Intriguing how you've kept them hidden from me during the fifteen years you served in my command." Kane shifted his feet uncomfortably. "I apologize, sir. I didn't intend to be insubordinate. I was merely curious." "Which is another characteristic you've managed to keep in check-until tonight. I suggest you revert to old habits." Thrush pivoted on the ball of his right foot and marched away, past Lakesh, down the passageway. Kane stared after him, loathing him and wondering why. The field marshal's orders had irritated him a few times in the past, but he had always respected his superior officer. Lakesh laughed, a harsh bitter sound. "What's the problem, Major Kane? Having an attack of indepen- dent thought? I've tried and tried to breed it out of your particular genotype, but it keeps cropping back up, like the measles." Lakesh turned his wobbling head toward Brigid. "I don't believe I've met this lovely lady before." She nodded to him deferentially. "Captain Bap- tiste. However, I think we might have met some- where. I just can't recall it." "I'd recall meeting a woman like you." Lakesh cackled again, and it turned into a coughing fit. He fit the oxygen mask over his face, breathed deeply, took it away and asked, "Major Grant, what exactly happened to the prisoner?" "She committed suicide," he replied brusquely, "with a wand." Lakesh winced and he murmured, "Poor child. I had hoped-" He stopped speaking, clamping his lips tight over his toothless mouth. "Hoped what?" Grant demanded. Putting on the respirator again, Lakesh gestured impatiently, back toward the way they had come. They hesitated, then walked in the direction of his arm waves. Gusting out a weary sigh, Grant said, "Thanks for covering for me back there, Kane." "You would have done the same for me," Kane replied distractedly. Grant eyed him in disbelief. "I don't know what would have given you that idea." With a sinking sensation in the pit of his stomach, Kane realized he didn't know either. The three of them marched back along the pas- sageway, and once more Kane was assailed with the sensation they had done this before, in the very same placer-but they hadn't been walking, they'd been running for their lives. Back in the main corridor, they met Salvo, who stared sourly at a pair of attendants dragging a body bag along the floor. "Just carry it," he snapped at them. "The little whore couldn't weigh more than a hundred pounds." One of the attendants replied sulkily, "A living hundred pounds is different than a dead hundred pounds, sir." Salvo's sallow complexion reddened and put his hand on the butt of his Sin Eater. "Let's test that, why don't we? I'll lift you when you're alive, then after I blow your inferior brains out. If you're heavier dead than alive, I won't piss on your grave." The attendant quickly tried to heave the body bag over his shoulder, but he wasn't braced correctly and it slipped through his arms, striking the floor with a loud thud. Kane heard a faint growling noise. He glanced surreptitiously at Grant. The man's unblink- ing stare was fixed on the body bag. The sound of primal anger emanated unconsciously from his com- pressed lips. Catching sight of the three of them, Salvo called out, "You and me tomorrow, Brother. Just like the old days. Slaughter and smoke, smoke and slaugh- ter." His eyes were alight with anticipation. ''Yeah," Kane muttered noncommittally as he stepped around him. "Slaughter and smoke." KANE, GRANT and Brigid spoke very little on the drive back to the Chancellery. Once there, they went their separate ways, although Kane was reluctant to part from them. He walked back through the streets of Dulce, past the sanitation workers who were busy picking up the litter left in the wake of the celebration. There [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] |