Chapter 28
"Provoking Earth," the Man said, "was a dangerous strategy."
NG swallowed his mouthful of wine and blinked, trying to clear his mind. One by one the candles around the room were flickering and dying, snuffed out by a darkness that was becoming more and more dense and oppressive.
"Hil wasn't acting on a strategy," he said. "I pushed him to show initiative out there, alone, and he did - how can I fault him for that?" He paused and took a deep breath. "I really thought he'd go after LC. I can read minds but I've never claimed to be able to read the future."
The Man smiled knowingly. "There is no way you could have anticipated the likelihood of Hilyer initiating a direct confrontation with Earth."
There wasn't but he still felt responsible. It was beginning to feel like the whole universe was spinning around a point in space that lay directly between himself and the Man, close enough that he could reach out and touch the centre of all existence.
"Earth and Winter are powerful," the Man said slowly. "Innovation drives the very essence of man, in all directions and at every scale. We feed the escalation of that innovation and we control how and when man advances. We control the future, NG. We create the future, don't ever forget that. War is unpredictable. Tension and intrigue - they are our tools. We must take them to the brink, without pushing them over the edge. To allow, to precipitate, outright warfare between the two?" He shook his head. "There is too much at stake."
-
There was no way to know how much this guy knew. Hil gambled and went straight to the point. "I know where the package is," he said, "and I know where LC is. And if you kill me now, you'll never find him."
"What makes you think we don't know exactly where he is?"
As much as Hil knew that Elenor's happy juice was taking care of moderating all his vital signs, he still kept his gaze steady and his breathing slow and easy.
"Like we've known," the man continued, "exactly where you've been every step of the way."
Hil smiled. "No," he said smoothly. "You have no idea where he is. And if you want that package, I'm the only one who can get it for you."
The guy had no discernible signs of an implant, and Hil couldn't tell if he was getting input from somewhere.
"You're either very bold, or very stupid, delivering yourself to us like this, Mr Hilyer. NG said you were one of his best operatives. If you think you're good enough to trick us, you need to be better than good. We don't lose well."
At the mention of NG, Hil felt his resolve slip. He didn't show it.
"It's no trick," he said. "I'm offering to lead you right to him, and the package and the corporation that sent us to steal it, all delivered up in one go."
"And why should we believe you'd do that? The profile NG gave us on you doesn't suggest to us that you'd betray your guild."
The guy was trying to goad him into a reaction so screw it, Hil gave them one.
"I don't owe the guild anything," he said bitterly. "They tossed me out. Was it NG who told you I'd be on Abacus? I knew someone at the guild was selling me out. I want to make a deal. I give you everything you want and I walk away. That's it."
"You want us to believe that you'd give up a friend to save yourself? That's not very honourable."
Hil laughed. "I'm a thief. It's not a very honourable profession. I want my life back."
He had absolute faith that Elenor's drugs would show them he was telling the truth. But the way he felt right then, it wasn't far off. He'd known LC could never go back to the guild. He knew Martha, Kase and Genoa had betrayed him to Zang and had strongly suspected that others at the guild were in on it too, but to hear NG's name there in that context had been galling. He wanted to think this guy in the slick suit was fast talking to throw him but why would they even know NG's name? The Earth forces had found him on Abacus. If it had been NG that had given him to them, then he was more screwed than he'd thought. So what the hell?
"Kill me and you never find him," he said again. "Let me go, follow me to the corporation and I'll make sure LC is there with the package."
"Look at yourself, Mr Hilyer. You're not in a good bargaining position. Tell us where he is and we'll take it from there."
"You'll never get anywhere near LC."
The man paused, motionless, still no emotion on his face. He was either weighing up Hil's offer or listening to someone else weigh up the options.
"And you will?"
He had them. "LC trusts me," he said. "I know which facility the corporation wants to use for the meet. Those bastards set us up. I can get LC and the package and take them there. You follow and everyone will be there in one place."
"And what about you?"
"I want ten million and all hits on me called off."
"You expect us to let you walk away?"
"It's the only way you get the package."
The man was quiet again, his gaze intense and unwavering. "We can arrange that," he had said finally. "You give us Mr Anderton and the package. Then what?"
"I can take care of myself," Hil had said. "Just make sure your clean up crews know to leave me alone."
As if that was ever going to happen. He was past caring. The room shook with another blast.
The old man was shouting, thumping a fist on the table in front of Hil's face. "How dare you bring this down onto us. Who the hell do you think you are?" he yelled. "No one - no one deals with us like this."
There was another explosion that sounded a lot closer. He could hear Anya as well, shouting now at the old man, at Martha and Kase and him.
The old man was so close that Hil could feel his breath. "Where is my package?" the man hissed, each word forced through lips that were parched and withered. His eyes were old, far older than he looked from a distance.
The guy in the suit put a hand on the old man's shoulder, "Troops are landing, sir. We need to leave."
"My package!" the man screamed.
A bomb-burst somewhere in the complex made the room shudder. The lights flickered.
The old man's eyes narrowed and he stood back, glaring. "Kill him."
Hil felt like he was in the eye of a storm, still and deceptively tranquil. The cold metal of a gun barrel pushed against his neck, the hand still clamping him to the table. "Anya," he said softly.
She was standing just staring. He thought she was going to say something and he would have liked to think she showed some emotion, but there was nothing. The hand tightened on his neck.
"Dammit, wait," Martha shouted, coming forward. "He's our only way out of this."
The moment hung, the absolute silence in the room edged by the distant rumble of explosions. The old man looked around, incredulous that anyone would argue with him, but then he looked at Martha and she said again in that persuasive way she had, "I know him. Those troops landing are going to sterilise this facility. He has a plan to get out of this and that'll be our only guaranteed way out."
Hil looked up with a faint half-smile and let an expression of total indifference dance across his face.
Martha got the message.
"Oh shit," she said quietly, "he hasn't got a way out."
Everyone in the room turned to Martha. She looked at Hil with dismay.
"Sir," the guy in the suit said urgently, breaking the mood and taking the old man gently by the shoulders, "we have to go." He turned, pointed at Hil and said harshly, "Get that restrainer back on and bring him to the executive hangar."
They left then, hurrying out as bombs devastated their stronghold and troops descended, Anya and the other bodyguard scurrying after them.
Hil tensed. There was no way he wanted that damned device hooked back into his spine. The cuffs were pulled tight around his wrists and a hand was gripping his hair.
He shut it all out, judging his weight, the distance and exact point of balance. The hand tightened around his neck and Hil shoved the table, bracing his feet at just the right angle and throwing himself back. His head impacted with a face behind him
and the chair went flying. It wasn't deft or as powerful as he hoped but it sent Scarface tumbling as he fell into him. The device went clattering along the floor and Hil went flying as the big man managed to grab a handful of his shirt and throw him against the wall.
The next blast took out the power and the room fell into darkness. Hil blinked, not sure for a minute if it was his eyesight that had gone. He shuffled along the wall, moving away from the sound of shouting. His own plan hadn't extended much past this point but there was no way he was going to die with his hands tied so he made himself some space in the darkness and began to work the cuffs free.
Emergency lights flickered on almost immediately, casting a blue tinge to the room. A hand grabbed his arm and pulled him upright before he could get free and the gun was pushed into the side of his neck again.
"You know," Scarface hissed into his ear, "the plan was to kill you later anyway. Give me an excuse. Go on, try to escape. Just give me a reason. The old man won't care."
"Is that all you've got?" Hil said back, trying to twist away to ease the pressure.
As far as he could see, there was no one left in the room but he was banking on Kase and Martha being there behind them.
"I bring a shit load of freaking bombs," he said, "flying into your lap, on top of us all trapped right here together and you threaten to kill me. Yeah, you'll have to beat them to it."
The guy didn't appreciate the irony and the pressure eased as the gun was pulled back and returned for a swift blow to the side of his face.
Hil staggered slightly and laughed. "This is what we do when people screw with the Thieves' Guild," he said, blinking blood out of his eye. "Enjoy."
He thought he'd misjudged then. Maybe they were alone and he thought Scarface was going to shoot him outright but Kase intervened, coming out of the shadows fast, pulling Hil away and aiming his own pistol unwavering in the guy's face. "Back off," Kase said, "he's ours. Go do your own job and get the boss out of here."
"The boss?" Hil couldn't resist saying incredulously, "excuse me but I thought our boss was NG, Kase. You that far gone?"
Kase ignored him and stared down the guy, both holding guns up aimed at each other, Hil in the middle, until Martha stepped up adding a third pistol to the equation.
"You heard him. Back off, buddy," she said. As stand-offs went it was impressive. The explosions were getting closer and the lights flickered like they were threatening to go again completely. Hil's hands were still tied and Kase still had a firm grip on his arm. If he broke away now, maybe all three of them would shoot each other. He twitched as if he was going to make a break for it and flinched as Kase's pistol fired up close to his ear, deafening, and Scarface dropped with a hole in his forehead to match that of his twin.
In a smooth motion, Kase shoved Hil away, and it was all he could manage to stay on his feet and look defiantly at the two people who were supposed to have been on his side. Kase switched his aim to Hil.
"You've played this all wrong, Hil," he said. "You stupid son of a bitch couldn't just do what you were supposed to do."
Hil looked from Kase to Martha but she'd switched her aim too. "What the hell are you doing, Kase?" he said. "The guild is never going to let you get away with this."
Kase's eyes were alight with a fury he'd never seen before. "This is bigger than the guild," Kase said, his voice raising in pitch. "The guild's done. Finished. And this was our ticket out, except you've screwed it up for all of us."
His gun wavered and for a moment Hil seriously thought he was going to pull the trigger, but Martha said calmly, "Kase, Hil's our only way to the package. Think about it."
Kase started to nod, but then shook his head. "No, this bastard has done nothing but screw us around."
A blast close by shook the room and the lights dimmed. Kase swore and took a step forward, gun up and finger tightening. The lights flickered again and as Kase fired, Hil dived to the side too slow to avoid a burning hot graze to his arm. He fell and rolled, a second shot punching into the floor beside him. The third shot came nowhere near and after he'd rolled again and come up onto one knee, Kase had dropped his arm and stood, wavering, clutching at a hole in his chest. He staggered and dropped, gun spilling from his outstretched hand, eyes staring.
Martha lowered her pistol.
"Shit," she said and looked over at Hil with something that could have been sorrow but equally and more likely was disappointment. "Well, if you don't have a plan to get out of here, I damn sure do."