Tracker by Cherryh C. J

Author:Cherryh, C. J. [Cherryh, C. J.]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: DAW
Published: 2015-04-06T22:00:00+00:00

11

Supper. All the messages had long since gone. The courier Narani had sent out to meet with Toby was one of the chambermaids, who was both happy to have a few days at Najida and of course glad to carry an important message to nand’ Toby.

So that had gone by plane, hours ago—and Toby should have absorbed the message by now.

The other message, also by plane, would have gotten to Shawn. There was no way he and Shawn could discuss the problem securely. The Messengers collected data and they used it, and no aiji had ever been able to control that guild. And now the Messengers’ problem posed a serious, serious threat to the world.

Bindanda turned up after supper, when Bren was leaving the dining room, in a moment when no other staff were near—a stout man, their very excellent cook, and possessed of a number of less evident skills.

“One hears you are going up to the station, nandi. That you may need me to go with you. One would be honored if that were the case.”

“The kyo have come calling, Danda-ji. They will be here, shortly. That is the matter at hand.”

“Indeed,” Bindanda said with the lift of a brow and a very sober nod. “Then one is doubly resolved to go with you, nandi.”

“We are leaving in as much secrecy as we can manage.”

“I shall bring everything I need.”

He had to smile. “Your teacakes are an irreplaceable asset, Danda-ji. Official word remains that I am going to Najida to meet my brother, who has come into Najida’s harbor to repair his boat. That is the story for everyone outside this apartment.”

“Yes,” Bindanda said. Rock solid in every good sense, Bindanda was. In point of fact, he was covert Guild—not an uncommon double role in those heading the kitchens of great houses. Bindanda had been in Tatiseigi’s house, serving Tabini, and now served in his—surely a spy from Tatiseigi—or Tabini keeping an eye on Tatiseigi before Tatiseigi had lent Bindanda to him; but Bren had never been so indelicate as to ask anyone which, and if his aishid knew, they had never said.

The mission was shaping up to be for his household, himself, and four plain-clothes Guild in addition to his aishid, covert Guild who might not be up to date on weapons-practice, but who weren’t going to have the naïveté of Najida-born servants, either. The arrangement would protect his household in a major way.

But he hoped that problems up there never escalated to that point.

• • •

“We have a conclusive selection from the Guild,” Jago said that night, in the dark, when she came late to bed, “of the persons they will send up to the station.”

One feared the news he was about to receive might not be conducive to sleep. Bren waited as Jago settled into bed and laid her head on the pillow.

“The Guild has designated a unit of four. Guild-senior is Ruheso. Her partner is Deno. They are senior, long service in many difficult areas.

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