Final Inquiries by Roger MacBride Allen

Author:Roger MacBride Allen [Allen, Roger MacBride]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Spectra
Published: 2009-10-25T07:00:00+00:00

Hannah stalked away from the ambassador and Zhen Chi, fast enough that Jamie almost had to run to catch up, and a couple of the simulants had to scatter to get out of the way. She didn't care. She was angry enough that she felt more like tearing the outer blast door off the ops center with her bare hands rather than opening it normally. But she calmed herself down enough to punch in the right keycode and hear the dead bolt unlock. She pulled the heavy door open far enough for Jamie to get through, then followed him in--and slammed the door shut and rammed the dead bolt closed with as loud a crash as she could manage.

"Okay, boss," Jamie said. "I was about to ask if I went too far out there, but I guess maybe not."

"You did fine, Jamie," Hannah growled. "Let's just say those two characters out there ought to be glad you spoke up first." The inner blast doors were still shut. She checked the time. They still had a minute or two before they were due to meet with Brox. Good. She could stay in the dim antechamber and simmer down for a bit before the meet. "Do they really not get it? Have they really suffered that great a failure of imagination? Don't they understand that this isn't bureaucratic paper shuffling and covering your backside and scoring points? This is life and death, and then some!"

"Weirdly enough, I think it all gives us something," said Jamie. "I think what the two of them have told us without realizing it is that they are both innocent. The ambassador knows he didn't do it, and Zhen Chi knows she didn't do it--and therefore they assume we must know it too. They'll cooperate, but it is pro forma, because no one could really think they did it. They'll go along, but they expect us to know that they know it's all for show."

Hannah laughed coldly. "Like the ambassador's very democratic coffee mug that everyone knows he'll never use. Hang the window dressing well enough, and everyone can pretend they think it's real, and no one has to lose face."

"Yeah. Except sometimes guilty people are very good at finding elaborate ways to act innocent. One--or both of them, I suppose--could be putting on a very brilliant and sophisticated act. But maybe they haven't really allowed for the way reality musses up the window dressing sometimes."

"It sure as hell did this time. And the damnable thing is that I'm sure our little chat with Brox would go better if we had had a chance to read Zhen Chi's report first. But we don't dare postpone the first meeting, or everyone on the Kendari side will go even more paranoid. So, here we go in, not knowing everything our side knows. Ain't it grand, how everything always works out for the best?"

She stepped to the lock panel on the inner door and started punching keys.

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