Molehunt by Paul Collins Page B

shrugged.
    â€˜I need you to return to Se’atma.’
    â€˜No.’
    â€˜Say again?’
    â€˜Not going to Se’atma.’
    Maximus stared at him. Was the man scared after all?
    â€˜Longshadow not there.’
    Maximus breathed out slowly. ‘Okay. You want to tell me where she is?’
    â€˜Here.’
    For one wild moment Maximus thought Kilroy meant the Cut Throat. He restrained himself from scanning the place.
    â€˜On Lykis,’ said Kilroy.
    Maximus imagined the man was savouring his discomfort. Maybe he did have a sense of humour after all. Now that was scary.
    â€˜How do you know?’ Maximus demanded. ‘She didn’t arrive by normal transit.’
    â€˜Dyson jump-gate, main dock.’
    Maximus laughed. ‘I’ll be. She has nerve. I’m starting to like her.’
    â€˜Beautiful, too,’ Kilroy said in a way that would make any woman run shrieking. He licked his cut lips.
    â€˜Pleasing to the eye, yes,’ agreed Maximus. He thought of the agent’s olive complexion, her emerald, almond-shaped eyes, and her slick black hair. Genuine or renovation, she was a striker.
    Kilroy’s eyes flashed. Maximus saw his own death reflected there. Well now, there
were
some human vices that could tempt Kilroy after all. Maximus would remember. One day it might keep him alive.
    â€˜Where is she?’
    â€˜Hotel. Tagged her on Se’atma.’
    â€˜You tagged her? Why the hell didn’t you say so in the first place? What kind of tag?’
    â€˜Worm.’
    â€˜She’ll find it. She’ll know.’
    â€˜Not this. Ekud worm.’
    â€˜Ekud – where did you get an Ekud worm from?’ Black asked. ‘You have dealings with the Ekud clan I’m unaware of?’
    â€˜Dealings my business.’
    â€˜You’re just a bundle of surprises today, Kilroy.’ Maximus leant forward again. ‘Okay, here’s what we do …’

    Kilroy exited the subway two stops from the hotel where Anneke’s tag told him she was staying. Unlike Black, he had complete confidence in the worm, a microscopic device that literally wormed its way through the skin or could be placed in a person’s drink or food. Once settled, it sent out a steady, discrete signal that could be picked up by a nearby e-tag receiver. The chances of Anneke becoming aware of it were exceedingly zero.
    Kilroy knew the hotel where she was staying, and why she had chosen it. A lot of off-worlders stayed there. They were mostly government types, all with their paranoia and suspicions and security screens. The rooms were swept several times a day for remote viewing devices. The walls were solid metal, the ultimate Faraday cages, and discharge nodes sent out pulsed radio babble that would send electronic devices haywire. The windows were made of a special sound-absorbing material and would not pass sound waves even if laser beams were bounced off them to read the vibrations inside the room. The quantum matting roof sent off disguised heat, biochem and radar signals.
    In short, the hotel was impenetrable to spying. It also came with its own cadre of security goons, mostly ex-mercs and off-world hunkies down on their luck or stranded without money.
    But Kilroy didn’t want to go inside.
    He just wanted Anneke Longshadow to come out, and Maximus had come up with an answer to that. Kilroy moved into a shadowed doorway half a block from the main entrance of the hotel. There was a rear entrance, but Anneke was sure to assume it was being watched and would prefer to exit onto a large, well-lit street filled with people.
    Kilroy checked his watch, wondered what the delay might be, and then spotted her. Her raven black hair made her distinctive, and very shortly would make her dead. He checked his worm, which was functioning normally. According to the satpic, she was heading down Arturo Street, towards the centre of town.
    Kilroy followed her, keeping his distance.