 |
 |
|
|
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] I have no motive, but I'm warm in a number of areas. I think I might be warm enough to draw some attention of my own." "You do know something," the rebel leader muttered, surprised but sincere. "What did you find that we missed, Horowitz? And why aren't you coming out with it?" I was ready for that. "Because I don't have a motive," I told him sincerely, "and without one it makes no sense at all. And if I revealed what I knew, even to you, even to Maria, there's a very good chance that I might be doing your murderer's work for him. As I understand it, I'm working for all of you, collectively, as a client. I can not and will not explain my steps every minute of the time when I might be briefing the very person or people I'm trying to catch. The only way to safeguard my clients is not to explain or demonstrate until I have every piece of the puzzle it's possible to have, and then only when I have you all together, so no one can pull anything. I require complete freedom to investigate and complete cooperation from everybody involved. You tell them that. You tell 'em that they play the game my way or there are sure as hell gonna be more killings no matter how deep they hide, because sooner or later they have to come out. Your organization is too management-oriented, Voorhes. If you all keep in your holes, you won't have an organization, you won't have an operation, you won't have a master plan. You'll be retired for good." I gave him as long as he needed to digest that. Finally he said, "You don't think that we can manage through communications and go-betweens?" "No, and you know you can't, either. Nobody but you eight has a real emotional stake in this thing, a commitment. The rest are just plain crooks. You leave file:///F|/rah/Jack%20L.%20Chalker/Chalker,%2...%203%20-%20The%20Maze%20in%20t he%20Mirror.txt (67 of 150) [1/19/03 4:21:15 PM] file:///F|/rah/Jack%20L.%20Chalker/Chalker,%20Jack%20L%20-%20G.O.D.%20Inc%203% 20-%20The%20Maze%20in%20the%20Mirror.txt them on their own they either have to be people like Maria with no possible initiative, in which case nothing gets solved, or they'll take your big organization away from you. You try it with steady communications and live agents and those communications and those agents will lead your killer right to each of you. Unless, of course, it's you, Voorhes." "What?" "You're immune, which means you're not a probable target. They all know where you are. They can't get to you but they don't have to. There's only one switching cube. Anybody who knows that cube and the Labyrinth system could blow your switch mechanism from the cube side, leaving you trapped forever where you are. The fact that they haven't shows either that you're involved in this or that you're not a target-yet. Now, you put this on to the other seven, and you tell them that I need to talk to each and every one of them. Their terms-strip-searches and blindfolds permitted if they want it that way. But I need to talk to each one, and I need certain questions answered by each and Page 79 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html every one of them. Give me the freedom to do your job and I'll solve your damned case. Don't, and I'm going to sit here, relax, and wait until the next murder." Voorhes sighed. "Very well, I'll put it to them just that way. In fact, I'll send this recording on the open access net for them to pick up. I can do nothing else. What level of agreement, or cooperation, you get from them is up to each of them." "Fair enough," I told him. "In fact, who says yes and who says no and who is straight and who's not with me will be a great deal of information in and of itself." I signed off, feeling quite pleased with myself. Maria wasn't quite so amused. "Do you always speak like that to people who would just as soon have you shot?" she asked me, a bit incredulous. "Why not? They intend to shoot me sooner or later anyway. Right now, they need me. Either they do it my way or they shoot me now and try somebody else, who'll give 'em the same ultimatum if he or she's any good and won't learn a damned thing out of fear or hesitancy if they're not. Besides, if we don't get out of here and exposed, how the hell is our murderer going to contact me?" She looked startled. "You expect the murderer to contact you?" I nodded. "Sure. And when he does, I don't want you shooting him or trying anything fancy, either. Getting him won't solve their problem or mine, first because he wouldn't be taken alive and so we wouldn't know if he was a lone wolf or a part of a conspiracy within this conspiracy, and also because he's too smart for anybody to be sure that they have him when they have him. You just come along for the ride and make sure nobody does anything nasty to me during the investigation, and I'll show you how the game is played." So, anyway, they bought it, of course. Yeah, all of 'em. Which of them could turn me down without having the rest look at them funny? Besides, they were in their fortresses, the kind of places they prepared for when the heat was on. If they didn't feel safe there, then there was noplace they could really feel safe, and if that was the case why hole up in a bunker in the first place? Of course, arranging for visits took some careful planning on their part, so I was gonna see 'em in the order they decided to be seen, and that put Quin Tarn at the top of the list. I got to admit I half expected to be contacted the first time I was allowed back into the Labyrinth. I had to figure that Pandross was around someplace and that he was following my footsteps nicely and that he would know when I was loose and available. Why did I think I'd hear from him? Easy- because I was the only guy in this with no ax to grind and so I was the only one he could trust. When he failed to get me in that raid on the place, he made very sure that there was a strong enough voice presence that I'd know he was alive, so he wanted me to know. I had to figure that I was dealing with at least an equal in this business, maybe better than that, and I think he was counting on that as well. As to whether or not he was alone, I couldn't guess. It was true that they'd run for cover as soon as he was "murdered," as we might as well, but then they got together and finally decided to include me in on this and plotted their little operation against my substation. He knew about it, so either he had ways of file:///F|/rah/Jack%20L.%20Chalker/Chalker,%2...%203%20-%20The%20Maze%20in%20t he%20Mirror.txt (68 of 150) [1/19/03 4:21:15 PM] file:///F|/rah/Jack%20L.%20Chalker/Chalker,%20Jack%20L%20-%20G.O.D.%20Inc%203% 20-%20The%20Maze%20in%20the%20Mirror.txt tapping into the communications net they were using, which was possible and even likely, or he had somebody from that hookup tell him all the gory details. Since they'd changed the security [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] |