Robot Blues Read Free Page B

move.
He had his hand on the speaker controls. He was going to say something, make
another appeal, a final offer.
    The cat in the
driveway yawned, stood up, stretched, came over to Xris and rubbed around his
legs. Xris knelt down, petted the cat, all the while watching Amadi, who
decided he wasn’t saying anything, after all.
    The gray two-door
rose on its air cushions, floated off down the street.
    The cat rolled
over on its stomach and purred. Xris knew how the animal felt. He could have
very easily done the same.
     

Chapter 3
    Men! The only
animal in the world to fear!
    D. H. Lawrence, “The Mountain Lion”
     
    Xris’s euphoria
had evaporated by the time he reached his own vehicle. The bureau was barking
up the wrong tree, but that was small comfort. The fact that they were giving
chase was disheartening. And Amadi had been right about one thing ... well,
okay, he’d been right about a lot of things, but one was most critical. If the
bureau dogs were on to the scent, Xris could be damn sure that the Hung would
be panting along behind.
    That crack about
traitors had been a cheap shot. The bureau was a good organization, but it was an organization, employing millions of people spread out all across the
galaxy. Not surprising to find those whose credit had gone critical, who would
be willing to sell a name, a number. The Hung were very good at finding
desperate people, very good at using them.
    “The one advantage
we have,” Xris said to himself, as he climbed into the car under the watchful
eyes of the dog and the interested eyes of the toddler, “is that everyone is
looking for Dalin Rowan. Nobody’s looking for Darlene.”
    That had been the
whole point in talking to Amadi— to ascertain if the bureau knew that the
female Xris had abducted at gunpoint from the top-secret naval base had once
been his former partner and best friend. He had also once been a male.
    “The ultimate
disguise,” was how the detective who had tracked Darlene down had put it.
    Years ago Federal
Agent Dalin Rowan had infiltrated the crime syndicate known as the Hung. A
genius with computers, Rowan had managed to worm his way into their systems,
had not only gained evidence against them, but had also sent their financial
empire into a nosedive. The leaders were jailed, the small fish fled to calmer
waters.
    The Fed protected
Rowan; he testified at the trial behind an opaque bulletproof screen, using a
voice scrambler. (The defense had successfully challenged holographic
testimony). When the trial was over, the bureau had a new identity all prepared
for Dalin Rowan. But Rowan had already taken steps on his own.
    Michael Armstrong
had been a Fed agent. He’d sold out to the Hung. It was Armstrong who set up
Xris and Mashahiro Ito to die in that munitions factory. A short time later,
Armstrong was found dead, murdered. The Hung, of course. Armstrong’s usefulness
to them had ended, and they’d rid themselves of a potential threat. That was
what the bureau claimed.
    Dalin Rowan knew
different. Armstrong’s credit with the Hung hadn’t run out. He wasn’t a threat
to the Hung. He was a threat to someone else, someone in the bureau itself.
    Rowan hadn’t been
able to find out much; just enough to make him nervous about accepting the
bureau’s phony ID. Dalin had to disappear completely, utterly, leaving no
trace. A few months of hormone treatments, the operation, and Dalin Rowan was
dead.
    Darlene Mohini was
born.
    Darlene Mohini’s
phony identity was so good that he—she—managed to gain security clearance at
the very top levels of the Royal Navy. She became a code-breaker, a code-maker.
Her abduction—by Xris—had forced the Royal Navy to all but shut down for
seventy-two hours while they changed their codes. Xris had ruined all that for
Darlene; he’d blown her cover and now he felt responsible for her safety. She
was a valued part of the Mag Force 7 mercenary team now, as well as— once
again—a trusted friend.
    He and