Gibraltar Sun Page 15

  “What is your suggestion?” Sar-Say asked.

  “I know a guy who handles large sums of money quietly. He’s expensive, though.”

  “Would this man also like to make a billion credits for aiding my escape?”

  “Sure,” the businessman said. “Who doesn’t like money?”

  Sar-Say made the gesture of assent. “Get the money and we will speak again of the number of men we need.”

  #

  Chapter Twenty

  The blockade was clamped down on Boston at nightfall, even while the battalion of Peace Enforcers were moving into position around the city. In previous centuries, such a cordon would have been virtually impossible because of suburban sprawl.

  The information revolution had changed the face of the city and of the world. People like their elbow room. Most cities were now commercial islands in a sea of open space, with the populace spread as thinly as possible around them. Entire towns had disappeared during the century-long Diaspora, returning the surrounding countryside to its natural condition, or to farmland.

  Though decried by some, like the exodus from the family farms throughout the twentieth century, the emptying of the suburbs had benefited just about everyone. Now, when the need to seal off a major port like Boston arose, at least it was possible to draw a line around the city that encompassed the whole of the city’s population.

  Other technologies assisted in the search for Sar-Say as well. Civil disturbances over the years — riots, strikes, terrorist attacks — had caused every city on Earth to be continuously surveyed by overlapping security cameras. These had caught the attack on the mall from three different angles.

  Four men were recorded loitering for an hour prior to the assault. When the tight group of guards and alien moved into view, they each drew concealed electric stunners from their jackets and fired in unison. The jolts sent the four guards down. Lieutenant Forster fell into a flower bed, causing the gash on his forehead. Another guard collapsed into a pedestrian bench and lay on the ground with his arm sticking out at an unnatural angle.

  Sar-Say showed no evidence of distress during the attack. He shifted into a fast lope using all his limbs, while his four rescuers struggled to keep up. The five entered an underground passage to the metro station.

  A few minutes before the attack, a woman whose face was covered by a flowered hat had placed a plastic drinking cup over the lens of the passageway security camera, blocking its view. As a result, the party disappeared into the non-surveillance section of the subway. Nor had any other camera caught their emergence from the underground.

  “Well, we have their pictures,” Lisa told Mark as they ate a hurried dinner. “That’s something.”

  “Not much,” he replied. They wore sun goggles, droopy hats, and seem to have all worn their hair unstylishly long, with full beards concealing most of their faces.”

  “Disguises?”

  “Either that or a renegade group of Hasidic Jews!”

  Lisa giggled. “Any chance of identifying them from the camera images?”

  “My boss says that the police are trying to program the computers to watch for individuals with similar body sizes and walks. That means a lot of innocent people are going to be hassled by the police over the next few hours, but we might get lucky and catch one of them.”

  “What else?” she asked.

  “They are questioning the researchers with access to Sar-Say and checking their email accounts. One of them may have gotten sloppy.”

  “What’s the chance of that?”

  “Pretty damned close to zero. What do they have you doing?”

  She sighed. “I just sit around and answer questions about Sar-Say. I know it is silly, but I’m worried about him.”

  Mark frowned. “Why, for God’s sake?”

  “I guess I like him. He isn’t a bad person, you know. He’s just dedicated to escaping custody and going home.”

  “Not to mention taking over the Earth for his own profit.”

  She sighed again. “That, too, I guess. I certainly don’t want him to escape, but I don’t want him killed either.”

  “It was a possibility earlier, but there isn’t much chance of that since we discovered he arranged this.”

  She shook her head. “Not much chance of that until his accomplices realize that whatever they have planned isn’t going to work. What do they do then? They certainly aren’t going to deliver him back to the Institute here at Harvard. Most likely they will kill him to protect themselves.”

  “At the moment, I would be very relieved if we found him floating face down in the bay.”

  “Don’t get me wrong,” she said. “I would, too, rather than see him escape. But I hope we get him back alive, if for no other reason than that I have too much time invested in teaching him Standard to see all of my work go for naught.”

  He nodded. “That speech of his was something of a spellbinder, wasn’t it?”

  She agreed. “He nearly convinced me, and I know better!”

  They sat in silence, each consumed by private thoughts for the rest of the hurried meal. Twenty minutes later, they kissed in front of the convention center, and Lisa disappeared inside once more. With nothing to do, Mark turned and strode up the mall toward where the abduction occurred.

  He couldn’t have explained his motivation. He just wanted to see the spot.

  #

  The man Gus Heinz brought to see Sar-Say reminded him of a race known as the Kaylar. They were short, broad, had no necks and bullet-shaped heads. Their shoulders were broad and their hips narrow, giving their torsos a triangular look. Those characteristics also described this new human.

  “Sar-Say, I would like to introduce Benny Ludnick. Benny’s the man I told you could help us.”

  Sar-Say held out his six-fingered hand. “Welcome, Mr. Ludnick. Gus has told me a great deal about you.”

  “Did he tell you that I can get a million credits just by reporting where you are?”

  “A reward?” Gus Heinz asked with what Sar-Say considered too keen an interest.

  “Announced as I was coming over here,” Ludnick said, nodding.

  “You can do that, of course,” Sar-Say replied. “Or, you can make one billion credits if you help me return home.”

  “Why would any of us help an alien? It would be like betraying our own family.”

  “More like saving your family, Mr. Ludnick. Did you see the reports of my speech to the institutes?”

  “I saw excerpts on the news.”

  “Then you know this resistance your government is planning is useless. We will find you anyway… if not tomorrow, then next year, or certainly within a decade or two. We are very good at detecting signals emanating from star systems outside Civilization. When we detect such a signal, it is our policy to protect ourselves and our member species by bringing those systems into Civilization, by force if necessary. Many of you will die in the process, possibly all of you.”

  “You don’t paint a very good picture.”

  Sar-Say lifted his shoulders in a convincing imitation of a shrug. “I speak the truth. If you turn me in, you will likely die during the conquest. If, on the other hand, you assist me, then your species will be saved much death and destruction, and you personally will become rich beyond your wildest dreams. Are you interested?”

  “Damned, straight,” the bullet-headed man replied. “The first rule of life is to look out for Number One. But can you deliver? Where would you get your hands on a billion credits?”

  “By taxing the people of Earth after we bring you into Civilization, of course,” Sar-Say said, finishing with, “Save for those who aid me, who will have a lifetime exemption from all such taxes.”

  “What do I have to do to earn this money?”

  Sar-Say told him of the plan to take over a starship once it was underway, emphasizing that they would need four or five good men to make the plan work. “Each will receive a voucher for one billion credits for their services the moment I r
each my home. When we return to Earth at the head of the fleet, you will be equally rewarded for your help.”

  “And how long will this take?”

  “I estimate 18 months to two years. Most of that time we will be superlight, crossing the interstellar gulf between here and Civilization. Then I will need some time to organize a fleet and return here via single-ended stargate jump. The return voyage will take no time at all.”

  “What if I am caught after you make your escape?”

  “I suspect they will execute you,” Sar-Say replied. He had learned that humans respected an admission against one’s own interest. He watched Ludnick carefully to see if he had exceeded his knowledge of human psychology.

  That caused Ludnick to pause for long seconds, before answering, “Then I’d best not be caught. What about money to arrange your deal?”

  “That will be your responsibility. At the moment, I have none. We will need quite a lot of money, I fear. Do you have the wealth needed to charter a ship outright?”

  “Not bloody likely! You have to be a small country to have your own starship.”

  “A pity,” Sar-Say replied. “Then we have to go with the hijacking plan.”

  “That isn’t as easy as you make it sound,” Ludnick replied. “They are very careful to inspect outgoing cargo before it is loaded onto an orbital ferry.”

  “Then you will have to figure out how to prevent that.”

  Ludnick nodded. “There are ways. They are expensive, but it can be done.”

  “Then do it. How soon can you be ready?”

  “I haven’t said that I am in yet.”

  “Come now, Mr. Ludnick,” Sar-Say said. “If you weren’t interested, you would not be here. Must I increase my offer?”

  “To what?”

  “How would you like to own Manhattan Island when I return?”

  The broad-shouldered man’s eyes momentarily grew wide.

  “I ask again. How long will it take to complete preparations?” Sar-Say asked, confident that he had recruited another, and probably more capable, ally than Gus Heinz.

  “Couple of weeks. What about the blockade?”

  “We will have to wait it out,” Sar-say replied “They can’t keep this city locked up forever. It will probably be canceled before this week is out.”

  “I’ll need guarantees if I join you,” Ludnick said truculently to cover the slip he had made when Sar-Say increased his offer.

  “What guarantees?”

  “That no harm will come to my family when you return.”

  “You have my word,” Sar-Say replied. “Select the coordinates of some out-of-the-way area where you and your family will go once you hear that the Broan fleet has appeared in the Solar System. I will make sure that the fleet commanders know that this place is not to be harmed… not that your planet will be harmed at all if your people show some common sense when we arrive.”

  “Then we have a deal,” Ludnick said, standing to offer his hand.

  Sar-Say reached out and shook again. He had learned this clasping-of-hands ritual early in his captivity. Even so, it always gave him chills to touch palms with a human. Perhaps, he thought, it was the difference in their body temperatures. Certainly, he was no longer afraid of being contaminated by human germs.

  Perhaps, he decided, he was just being too fastidious.

  #

  Five days following Sar-Say’s escape, the major players in the hunt for him gathered at the Broan Institute at Harvard. All three institute directors were there, having delayed their departures from Boston until the crisis passed. So was the Boston Mayor and Chief of Police, along with a Peace Enforcer general named Parsons and his aide, and the directors’ various assistants. It was in his capacity as assistant to Dexter Hamlin that Mark attended the meeting. Lisa was there because of her specialized knowledge of Sar-Say. Dieter Pavel was also present, having been assigned to follow the investigation by the World Coordinator.

  The meeting was held in the conference room just down the hall from Sar-Say’s quarters. Normally, institute researchers used the room to plan their interrogation sessions. Now its walls were covered with maps that detailed progress of the search.

  “What do we know?” the P.E. general asked of the police chief.

  “We think we have found where they emerged from the subway,” Chief Martin Darlen, a gruff, white-haired man in a blue uniform replied. “We found cameras disabled at the subway exit at Beacon and Sacramento Streets. The tunnel camera was unplugged and someone threw a towel over the street camera. There was a blind spot that would have allowed them to park a vehicle long enough to hide the alien after they came up from the subway.”

  “What about other cameras in the vicinity?” Jean-Pierre Landrieu asked. “They would have seen the vehicle leaving the scene shortly after the kidnapping.”

  “They probably did,” the police chief replied. “However, there’s a hell of a lot of traffic on Beacon at that time of day. There are literally thousands of possibilities. Also, if they were smart, they waited awhile before leaving the dead zone. The longer they waited, the harder it will be for us to track them down.”

  “All right,” Mark’s boss said. “That is probably a dead end. How are things going with your people, General?”

  “Nothing to report, sir,” Parsons said. “My men are inspecting every vehicle that leaves Boston on the surface. We have air transportation grounded. The maglevs are being halted at the cordon line and inspected before being allowed to proceed.”

  “Inspected how?” Dexter Hamlin asked. “Surely there are all kinds of hiding places on a train.”

  “We’re using sniffers calibrated to detect Sar-Say’s peculiar body odor,” the general replied. “If he were aboard the train or hidden in one of the cars or trucks we inspect, we would ‘smell’ him.”

  “Could we track him that way?”

  The general shook his head. “Too much time has passed, not to mention the recent rain washing every trace away.”

  “What about the researchers? Have they all checked out clean?”

  “Director Fernandez?” General Parsons asked. “That is your bailiwick.”

  Alan Fernandez had not fared well during the last week. He had pronounced bags under his eyes and deep creases at the ends of his mouth from frowning all of the time. He also looked like he hadn’t slept much. Mark Rykand almost felt sorry for him, until he remembered that Fernandez was the reason Sar-Say was on Earth.

  “We have interviewed all of the researchers,” he replied in a monotone that emphasized his fatigue. “They all deny having anything to do with Sar-Say’s escape. We’ve checked their network files and email accounts. Nothing out of the ordinary has yet been found.”

  “Have you checked everyone who has had contact with Sar-Say?”

  “All of the institute staff,” Fernandez replied.

  “Do you mean there were more?” the general asked.

  “We had a few social functions that Sar-Say attended. He met a number of people, including the mayor. However, he hardly had time to strike up a conspiracy with them.”

  “Are those all? The researchers and the party goers?”

  “Yes, except for his discussion companions.”

  “His what?” General Parsons asked in a deceptively quiet voice.

  Fernandez went on to explain that they had a small contingent of private citizens who came in periodically to hold discussions with Sar-Say, finishing up with, “The interaction helps us study him. In fact, the Mayor suggested the program.”

  “I did?” Mayor Harrigan yelped.

  “Certainly,” Fernandez replied. “You suggested it at Sar-Say’s first reception, when you introduced me to Gus Heinz. Remember, they were talking about business, and you whispered to me that Heinz was an important contributor to the party and that I should treat him with courtesy.”

  “I did no such thing!”

  “You did so!”

  “Gentlemen!” General Parsons said in his best comma
nd voice. The exclamation caused both men to remember where they were and to regain their dignity. “Who is this Gus Heinz person?”

  “A local businessman,” the Mayor replied. “He is in the import/export business.”

  “What sort of import/export?”

  “Some pharmaceutical. Very rare. Can only be produced on Borodin.”

  “Borodin, the colony in the Dagon System?”

  “Yes.”

  “This Heinz is in the interstellar import/export business?”

  Fernandez nodded.

  “And he has access to starships?”

  “I suppose so.”

  With each question, the general’s complexion grew redder. It was now almost purple.

  “And you forgot to mention this?”

  Alan Fernandez melted under the General’s gaze. “I didn’t think of it.”

  “How many others does Sar-Say meet with regularly that you have forgotten to tell us about?”

  “Half a dozen. I can get you the list, if you like.”

  “Please, do.”

  Fernandez was gone for a few minutes, returning with a new printout on which there were seven names. Gustavus Adolphus Heinz was number four on the list. Parsons nearly tore the list out of Fernandez’s hands and gave it to Chief Darlen.

  “Would you please check these people out, starting with this Gus Heinz?”

  “Yes, sir,” the Chief of Police replied, reacting like a P.E. private under the General’s withering gaze.

  Chapter Twenty One

  Sar-Say was worried. It had been nearly 20 hours since he’d met with Benny Ludnick and he had not heard anything since. He was aware that anxiety tended to make time pass slowly, but the day just past had been excruciating in its pace. Not only was he worried that his plan would fail, but he was becoming very tired of Gus Heinz’s basement.

  It had seemed a good idea to hide out relatively near the site of his break for freedom. For one thing, he had been on the open streets for only a few minutes. His rescuers led him along an underground tunnel into a nearby service tunnel and then up to street level where an enclosed vehicle waited.