Regenesis. Part 12

The shadow watched the water. It might be a despondent lover, someone wanting solitude. It might have nothing to do with them.

But fear had been a constant, in the Nye years. Fear of arrest. Fear of being tampered with, of having Grant tampered withAri was their only protection. And Ari wasn't going out of her Wing lately.

The figure had been intent on the water. Now the head turned. The whole body turned to stand confronting them.

"Ser," the shadow said politely as they met, and recognition revised the shadowed vision into familiar detail, the black elite Security uniform, dark curly hair, light build.

Florian. Ari's personal bodyguard. A youth no older than Ari herself, with absolute powerto arrest. To kill, without a second's warning. And he had that d.a.m.ned card in his pocket.

"Jordan proposes to share your office," Florian said.

"I told him no." Surely Ari's security knew he had. He'd bet his life they'd heard every word of it. And it was better than other alternatives.

"Let him have it. Your materials will go to another office." Florian held out a keycard, offering it.

He took it. He had no choice but take it. in a hand growing chill through. "But our personnel"

"Sorry, ser, they'll have to find other employment. They aren't cleared for Wing One."

"They're our people."

"No longer."

"And the computers, our files . . . we have notes, handwritten notesthe order they're inin delicate position. Stacks that can't be disrupted without losing informationwe're not that neat. Things we can't have just anybody rifling through, for G.o.d's sake. It's a mess, but we know where things are. Things in the safe. Look, if we have to do this, we can go over there tonight. We need to do this ourselves. . . we're willing willing to do it ourselves." to do it ourselves."

"We're aware of the state of your office," Florian saiddark humor at his expense, he had no idea. "And qualified personnel will perform the transfer."

"We need to go over there."

"Best you don't, ser, so the persons moving it can do so with the greatest attention to detail. All the items will be there in the morning, in their original order, and new equipment will be in place in your former office by 0500."

"For him. Bugged Bugged equipment." equipment."

"Absolutely."

"He'll think I arranged this. No matter how you explain it, he'll think I had something to do with this."

"Unfortunate if so, ser, but your notes will be safe, and your staff will be safe, in other employ, at a priority. They'll be given employment, no problem. Just not Wing One."

At least they wouldn't miss a paycheck, Em, and the others. They'd be all right. But they were the ones that knew his work. They'd been his people.

"No wipe."

"No wipe, ser. Nothing of the sort." This with a slight s.h.i.+ft of the shadowed gaze toward Grant, and back. "We ask you to accept this arrangement and not attempt to circ.u.mvent it in any fas.h.i.+on. Grant, you're not to go there, either."

"My father won't take this well at all," Justin said. "I'm afraid he'll be in Yanni's office in the morning."

"We'll advise the Director. It's not your problem, ser."

"I appreciate your concern." The cold of the night had penetrated his dinner jacket. He felt a s.h.i.+ver coming on. "I'm freezing, at the moment. Can you tell meI take it, it was Ari ordered this?"

"Sera has retired for the evening. We're operating on our own discretion, on sera's general instruction. We'll inform sera in the morning. You won't need to."

"And where is this new office?"

"Downstairs, ground level, and a right turn from your apartment. More convenient, and a better office, I believe. There's room for staff. But it will be Wing One-approved staff."

Yanni Schwartz didn't maintain an office in that high-security territory. He had one, already, a cubbyhole he used for Ari's lessons. Downstairs those roomsthey had a historic connection with the old Wing One lab, where the first Ari had died. That lab had been decommissioned now. And he didn't know how up to date the offices in that area were, these days, whether they were still tied into System. But Florian said their computers were coming over. They must be. didn't maintain an office in that high-security territory. He had one, already, a cubbyhole he used for Ari's lessons. Downstairs those roomsthey had a historic connection with the old Wing One lab, where the first Ari had died. That lab had been decommissioned now. And he didn't know how up to date the offices in that area were, these days, whether they were still tied into System. But Florian said their computers were coming over. They must be.

"Do go on, ser," Florian said. "You're chilled. Good night to you."

"Thank you," he said, and started on his way, Grant attending without a word.

Then he thought of Jordan's card in his pocket, wondered, all in a rush, what sort of trouble he could bring down on Jordan's head; and considered the fact that Florian hadn't asked him for it.

Florian didn't know? Something had slipped past Ari's staff? It had been a surrept.i.tious handoff.

But Reseune Security surely knew. Florian might let him go his way. But someone inside Ari's wing might confront him yet.

Maybe Catlin. Maybe, worse thought, someone he didn't know, out of ReseuneSec, and that was more trouble than he wanted. He'd been fluxed by the office matter. He had an excuse for having forgotten.

But an azi of Florian's bent didn't flux. Not for two seconds running. Florian d.a.m.ned well hadn't forgotten it.

He stopped, turned, reached into his pocket. Pulled out the thin card. "Florian."

Florian had walked the other directionwas a diminished figure in the dark. But he heard, and stopped. "I'll take it to him," Grant said.

He surrendered it without a word. Grant knew. Grant had seen Jordan's action. Grant knew his reasoning the way Grant knew their situation from the inside out.

Grant crossed the dark distance between them, delivered the card, and walked back again. Florian stood there a moment, until Grant reached him, took the card, then turned and pursued his way back to Admin, where they had come from, and maybe on to the Education Wing beyond it, where their office wasor had been.

"d.a.m.n," he said when Grant joined him. "d.a.m.n it. Grant."

"Do you know what was on the card?" Grant asked.

"I haven't the faintest, It may be a joke, for all I know. I don't want to know. d.a.m.n him!"

"I intend to evade Jordan's company, in private," Grant said. "I'm relatively confident I could, even if we shared an office. But it seems the question is settled for now."

"Settled," Justin found himself saying, and realized it was impossible the second the word came out of his mouth. "It isn't settlednot with him. Whatever quarrel he had with his Ari isn't mine. It wasn't my choice to support young Ari against him. But"

"But?" '

"He'll keep it going. And maybe he's justified. Maybe he's pure and right and just my living here put me on the other side. I've missed him all these years. But here I am, living on the other side, in her her wing, working in her wing . . ." wing, working in her wing . . ."

"A different Ari. A very different Ari."

"We don't know how different she'll become, as time pa.s.ses."

"Even azi," Grant said, "aren't identical."

"But her interests are the same as the first Ari's."

"The people who pursued us are dead."

"And all being reincarnated." He reached the door. And stopped there, in the wind and the dark, in the last haven before they went into heavily monitored Wing One. "Maybe that concept ought to bother me more than it does."

"You think that const.i.tutes Jordan's motive in this? That he believes she'll eventually become his enemy?"

"I think it's personal. I think it's him against Ari. All the traits that make her and him. My immortalityif they do that to uswon't be his. I don't know if he'll see it that way, but we're not, thank G.o.d, psychological twins. I'm myself. I'm the first of myself. The only."

"I understand that," Grant said, who was also the first and only of his kind ... so far.

"Thinking about it makes me a little crazy."

"You're not not crazy. Your actions have been completely logical, given the flux." crazy. Your actions have been completely logical, given the flux."

"Including giving her security that card? Jordan's going to land in trouble for it, and I set him up for it."

"No. He set you you up for it. You simply returned the favor." up for it. You simply returned the favor."

Cool, clear, utterly reasonable. He s.h.i.+vered in the cold wind. "Sometimes I don't understand him. I just don't understand him. Or I don't want to."

"Your father is intelligent. He is capable of staying out of trouble. He simply declines to do that."

"And it's what you always said. CITs have their logic sets installed late. Emotions on the bottom, logic on the top. Sometimes it's a complete b.i.t.c.h-up."

"Apparently."

"I wish I could talk to him. d.a.m.n, I wish I could talk to him. Sensibly. Logically. You see how it goes. You saw how it went Sunday night." A moment pa.s.sed. "I have a question."

"Ask."

"Should we be physically afraid of him?"

He had to think about that. There was one fair answer, one answer that would protect both of them. "Yes," he said, and slid his apartment key-card into the outside door lock. The door opened, letting them into the foyer for a dozen other id programs to work over. "Maybe we should be."

Chapter xi.

April 25, 2424 2039 H.

Justin and Grant had reached their apartment. The door shut and locked. The light on the console showed green, safe. They were in, and their conversation on the way had been scant, and worried. Tracking had flicked from one station to the next, and surveillance had been hard pressed to keep up with the two parties, homeward bound in opposite directions.

Justin and Grant weren't the problem. Jordan was. And he, with Paul, had gone home, too, talking about Library access and his intention of calling Yanni Schwartz in the morning.

Catlin flicked a switch, pa.s.sing the watch back to the senior Reseune-Sec team that watched over Wing One, entry by entry, movement by movement. Florian was on his way back. So was Marco, from Education, having ascertained that Jordan had made no detours.

She and Florian had one paramount interest in their action tonight: protecting Ari, which was to say, keeping certain individuals away from An, tracking the activities and interactions of absolutely everyone who even casually crossed into her security zone.

Secondary was protecting Justin. That was sera's explicit and standing order. And third priority was a general and constant surveillance: keeping abreast of a list of individuals outside Reseune whose whereabouts and safety could impact Reseune's operations. ReseuneSec, under Security Director Hicks, had numerous agents solely dedicated to that purpose, and that office informed them of what Hicks deemed necessary to tell them.

But, occasionally crossing Hicks's officethey had their own watch-list of troublesome individuals inside Reseune. It wasn't the first time they'd mounted their own surveillance, no matter what Hicks did or didn't doas tonight, when Flicks had wanted to bug the restaurant; but they had done it themselves, told Hicks to stay out, and fed the information to flicks as it came available . . . promising that, for Hicks's promise to stand back.

Yanni's coming for dinner in Wing One, for instance, aroused no particular alarms. The Director's contacts, the ones he himself chose, were either clean, or they were obligations he dealt with for ascertainable reasons, even if sera had been angry with him for matters she'd declined to mention to them. Yanni came into Wing One with no large security contingent, and sent no orders to Hicks. But she and Wes had been in position. If sera had indicated Yanni should be detained or otherwise dealt with, it would have happened, and a very specific code would have flashed to Florian, triggering yet other actions, as best they could manage, as fast as they could manage.

But there had been no such outcome. Yanni's companion azi, Frank AF, shadowed Yanni everywhere, as closely and as obsessively as they followed Ari: Frank was out of green barracks, like themselves, and while Frank was, like Yanni, a little reticent on Yanni's personal business, he was certainly a solid type, and absolutely loyal, not only to Yanni, but to the ent.i.ty Yanni servedwhich was Reseune itself. So Frank was a watch-it, but no great worry.

What cl.u.s.tered around Justin Warrick, however, was a different matter, and dealing with him was not simple. Justin and Grant had not a single close contact except Yanni that they did trust on that level. It was a constant worry that those two personally had sera's clearance, residing right next door. But sera maintained they were important to her and insisted that they were securely hersso they took measures, sera being unavailable for consultation. they had had to improvise tonight and move fast, and in such a way that what they did could be amended, if sera ordered.

That move was underway, via their access to specialized housekeeping over in Admin, which was intended, perhaps, for Ari's own use. they used it. And it had made Justin Warrick a special problem, Justin and Grant const.i.tuting a pair that were supposed to be free to come and go as they chose, but who also had to be protected against certain decidedly unsafe contacts . . . notably, henceforward, Jordan Warrick. Jordan Warrick was number one on the watch-it list, until sera countermanded that, and by what they heard tonight, they were right. Right now Jordan Warrick was in the same category with a handful of azi who had worked closely with Denys and Giraud Nye, and who ought not to be admitted to the administrative wings.

Jordan Warrick did come and go as he pleased, inside Admin and Education, and was only restricted in Library and completely barred from Wing Onea situation which greatly offended him. Justin thought he'd go straight over to Yanni in the morning, complaining, and that would be a disturbance, perhaps provoking an Intervention from Yanni. So things that had happened tonight might grow more complicated in the morning.

They would have to brief sera, once she walkedabout the late supper, the meeting, and their preemptive action, and it seemed at least likely she would approve. Sera had previously discussed moving Justin out of convenient range of Jordan. The office Justin and Grant used, previously Jordan's, had never been outstandingly secure: the staff lacked adequate clearance for reasons of inadequate security trainingthat situation, exposing Justin to hazard, had never been to their liking, and now they had found an excuse to solve the problem. Catlin personally hoped they had solved it in some lasting fas.h.i.+on. And personally hoped, too, that they could manage something to be rid of Jordan Warrick, even if sera had brought him here.

Florian arrived back in the wing: Catlin noted the flash of ID on the readout as the outer door opened and shut. She sat and waited, checking the monitors. So was a ReseuneSec squad down in Main Security watching, on nights.h.i.+rt. Hicks's eyes were technically on the job, but Hicks himself would be abed, his second-in-command Kyle AK probably on dutyand, being azi, Kyle AK would theoretically be accounting for his decisions to Hicks in the morning. Which would give them time, if sera slept late, to inform sera before their actions began to racket through several systems.

Second flash from the console. Florian had deactivated and reactivated the alarm within System as he entered the apartment.

Soft footsteps outside. Florian arrived in the security office doorway, came in, and disposed himself in a chair, booted feet propped luxuriantly in the neighboring seat. He held up a small card between two fingers.

"What is it?" Catlin had seen the handoffboth handoffs.

"A business card. A contact number in Novgorod." He spun around in the chair, touched a few b.u.t.tons, put the card in the visual scanner . . . not the reader, sensible caution, for a card with a reader strip. He looked at the screen, punched more b.u.t.tons, and retrieved the card. "A professor in Novgorod University. And the card wasn't printed on any Reseune printer."

"An educator. Jordan works education tape."

"We'll investigate the number on the cardI'm sure Jordan wants us to. Or wants Hicks to. Maybe Jordan's trying to lead the investigation astray or get someone else in trouble."

A Novgorod address, from the hand of a man who had no recent contacts outside Planys and Reseune.

Justin, too, had not quite promptly turned it over to sera's security. But there was that connection to Jordan, a born-man connection, emotional, and difficult to pa.r.s.e. Catlin afforded him a little lat.i.tude for that, but not too much.

"We aren't likely to understand this," Catlin said. "It seems unreasonable on Jordan's part. It seems unlikely for him to have such a thing, unless he received it from someone in Reseune."

"It seems we've moved Justin none too soon. Jordan's action toward Justin seems to be an aggression."

"Justin knew he was watched. But so did Jordan. Did Justin forget the card when he met you, do you think, or did it take him a moment to make up his mind?"

"Surrendering it would betray Jordan," Florian said. "That may have taken a moment for him to decide."

"But Justin knew he was watched. He knew in advance he would be stopped."