Robert Charrette - Arthur 03 - A Knight Among Knaves by Robert N. Charrette Page A

to corporate style, which raised other issues. Corporate special operatives might be unprincipled thugs, but they didn't go around jumping on random victims either.
    Something was very wrong.
    Holger crossed back to Canute's Pavilion, where he would be a more difficult target for any backup supporting the
    thugs. Once inside, he made his way through the meandering clumps of tourists and late-night revelers until he found a public perscomp bank. He selected the one with the best view of its surroundings, ran one of the thugs' cards through the reader, and punched up access. He added a security code that would identify him to the Department. The agent receiving the call asked for two more levels of confirmation before it transferred the call to a living being. Kun was surprised to see L'Hereaux, the big man's security expert, answer.
    "About time," L'Hereaux said. A frown crossed his face. | "Why are you using a public comp?"
    "Read the ident on the card I used."
    A moment's wait while L'Hereaux called up the data. "There is no ident."
    Holger nodded. He'd expected that. "I borrowed the card from what I thought were two obstacles. They weren't part of the program, were they?"
    "Where are you?"
    "Use the backtrace if you really need to know. I won't be here long. Just tell me, were they on the program?"
    "No one on the program has cards like that."
    "Thought not."
    "Wait," L'Hereaux said. "Don't disconnect."
    Holger almost did anyway, but something in L'Hereaux's voice suggested more than a stratagem to keep him on the line while operatives were vectored toward him. That would certainly be happening, but there was more at work here. Holger was curious. He would listen.
    "You didn't get a message, did you?"
    Only from his agent. He'd locked out other codes to preclude tracing of the carrier signal.
    "I see," L'Hereaux said. "There's a problem. We've discovered that someone made a substitution on the package you're carrying. It's something we'd rather not have out of our hands."
    "You calling an abort on the test? You want me to come in?"
    No. Make your meet. We're compromised here. Your contact was to take you on to another step anyway. Meeting
    your contact is the best option you have at the moment."
    Calling off the dogs?"
    If they are attempting to use the test for their own ends, that would tip them to the fact that we know."
    Aren't you afraid that they're listening now?"
    I don't think that likely," L'Hereaux said, without offering any reason for his confidence.
    I Inlikely, eh, but not impossible.
    He careful. If they managed the switch, they may have specialists working with them." L'Hereaux cut the connection.
    Wonderful. If. May. L'Hereaux had no more information than Holger. And specialists—Holger's stomach soured at the possibility.
    A "specialist" was what the Department called a magician—and not the stage kind, either, but the kind who did real magic. The Department's heads had long feared that someone else would acquire or train specialists to rival the department's own. They had especially feared that one of the immoral megacorporations would be the ones to do so. The megacorps, with their global spread, were uncontrollable by any one nation, possibly even by a group of nations.
    There had been nothing special about the two who had accosted Holger, but that didn't mean the affair wasn't tainted by such dangerous malignancy. Whether magic was involved or not, those two would have backup lurking about somewhere. There was no time to loaf.
    Holger cut across Queen's Park and headed up High Street, thinking about the new factors in the equation. The new players were serious. Unfortunately, as far as tools went, he didn't have much to stop determined opposition who were playing for keeps. The Viper was loaded with tranqs, and a single load at that. He would have to rely on his personal abilities and skills, and though he knew how very lethal he could be without tools, the most effective applications required close