Hunt the Heavens: Book Two of the Shadow Warrior Trilogy by Chris Bunch Page B

minute she sees better. You were just the thing of the moment, just like Dardick or whatever his name is’ll be the next on the list when she starts lookin’ again.
    “No wonder your da asked me to put you right. You got some kind of idea people do things for good reasons rather than because they just want to or because they’ve got any choice in the matter.”
    Kakara wore black dress trousers with a black silk stripe up the side and a collarless silk shirt that had the Kakara house emblem, the jagged red lightning streak, in place of a neckcloth, no jacket. He was berating a slender man about half his age, who wore more conventional formal dress.
    Standing around Kakara, nodding at appropriate intervals, were five other men and Oriz.
    To one side was the small woman with dark hair whose picture Joshua had seen in Cormac’s office. Her eyes were a little glazed, and she held a glass without appearing to notice it was empty.
    Wolfe lowered the tray and stood unobtrusively to the side while Kakara continued:
    “I’m sorry. But if you run across someone who’s important to you — like Rita is to me — you make sure they don’t get an opportunity to go in harm’s way. It’s the best for all concerned.”
    He turned to the dark-haired woman and waited. After an interval, she nodded. He turned back, seemingly satisfied.
    “Boy, you should count this a good lesson. Let’s face it, that woman wasn’t anything special. So she was pretty, so she did whatever she did to you in bed that set your little wick wiggling.
    “You’re rich, boy. You’re going to learn there’s a million more where she came from. Thing that’s important, like I said, is to keep it from happening again. Not just with women, but with everybody.
    “You find somebody you need — I mean, really need — you fasten ‘em to you with whatever it takes. Money. Position. Power. Whatever. You make double-dogged sure they can’t get a better deal elsewhere.
    “Or, and this can be the most important thing, don’t let ‘em think they can do better. Make ‘em afraid to start looking. Keep them tied to you, as long as you need them. That’s the way to keep people loyal. And I’m pretty damned good at it.”
    He spun suddenly and looked at Wolfe. “Aren’t I?”
    “I assume so, sir,” Joshua said quietly.
    “Assume? Don’t you
know
?”
    “I haven’t been in your employ long enough to form an opinion. Sir.”
    Kakara snorted. “Opinions are like assholes. Everybody has one, and it’s for sale. Right?”
    Joshua kept the smile in place, said nothing.
    “You’re just like the others,” Kakara said. He reached out, took a flute from Wolfe’s tray, drained it. He was about to turn, stopped, frowned, and his eyes held Joshua’s.
    They flickered away, and he shook his head, as if he’d just had a glass of icewater tossed in his face.
    “No,” he said in a low voice. “No, you’re not.”
    Joshua put a quizzical look on his face, nodded, and slipped off.
    • • •
    The dark-haired woman leaned back against the ten-foot-high chunk of driftwood that had been stained, lacquered, and declared art. She was looking out and down at the flaring lights along a shipway as construe-tion robots crawled and welded. She didn’t appear to be seeing them.
    Joshua moved up beside her. Now his tray held an assortment of small liqueur glasses.
    “Would you care for a drink, Captain Sidamo?”
    The woman started, looked at him. Her face hardened. “My name is Mrs. Kakara,” she said. “Are you making some sort of joke?”
    “No, ma’am.”
    “Are you one of Oriz’s amateur spies? Or is my husband playing games again?”
    “The bridge of the
PC-1186
,” Wolfe said. “Cormac said you would remember that. You won’t remember me, but I remember you. You were his logistics officer and I was one of his … clients every now and then. I don’t think we ever were introduced.”
    Once more Rita Kakara showed surprise. She looked about hastily.