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Danner bit back her irritation. Sergeant, Dogias
Understood, ma am. I overheard. Suspect in dry goods storage. We ll
apprehend.
Negative. Take containment positions, and hold. She hesitated, then reached for
her helmet. Sara, Sigrid, she said, as she checked her equipment, I m going out
there. Keep monitoring. All communications from now on come via my command
channel. She clipped down her helmet, pulled on gauntlets, and tongued on the
in-suit comm system. Dogias. Keep monitoring. All comm through command.
Thought you sounded like you re talking from the inside of a garbage can. Will
do. She s still talking, by the way. Want to hear what she s saying?
It s not coded?
Well yes, but I ve had a couple of minutes. She s used a fairly simple variation
on
Negative on that suggestion. Talking would only distract her. Record only.
Unless in your judgment the communication suggests immediate danger to any of my
personnel. She thought of Sara. Or those aboard Estrade.
It was snowing. Her suit warmed rapidly, and the starvision visor turned the world
smoky gray, ethereal, with the snow drifting down in black flakes. The grass was
frozen, but she could not hear the crunch of her footsteps: all sound, all vision, all
sensation was filtered by her suit. She was isolated from the world, just as though
this were one of her first virtual-reality training missions as a cadet.
She walked through the night, her mouth dry with the familiar taste of adrenaline.
Once she saw a small mammal scuttle through the grass, a lighter gray against the
grainy background.
Kahn was standing perfectly still by the north wall of Rec. Without Danner s
starvision, she would have been invisible.
Kahn, I see you. Kahn slowly scanned the area, then raised a hand in
acknowledgment. Stay put. From now on, if you see anyone pass by here, detain
her.
Acknowledged.
Lu Wai was crouched underneath one of four lit windows.
I m fifty meters behind you, Danner said quietly, walking. Is she in there?
Yes.
Exits?
Just one, east of the building. And the windows. We need Kahn up here.
Danner squatted next to Lu Wai and slid up her visor. Agreed.
On the command channel, tinny now because of the outside air, she heard Lu Wai
ordering Kahn to join them beside the window. The sergeant turned to her. Suggest
Kahn and I take the entrance, bring the spy into custody.
Danner nodded. I ll send Kahn along when you re in position. Wait for my
signal before you proceed. And do it quietly.
Lu Wai nodded, and slipped into the dark. With her visor up, it seemed to Danner
that the sergeant disappeared. Good. The whole thing should be contained. She
risked a look over the windowsill. The light was dim; she saw vague shapes sacks,
she supposed and what had to be the spy, holding a comm to her mouth. Talking.
She could not see who it was.
She tongued for a channel change. Sara. She s still talking. Is the Kurst talking
back?
Sigrid says there s definitely two-way communication. She also says, and you
should find this interesting, that the Kurst transmission comes directly from their
bridge.
Danner nodded to herself. It was the confirmation she needed: whoever was in
there was talking to and spying for Company hierarchy, with everyone s full
knowledge and consent, except the command on Jeep. It was a relief; now she
would no longer wake up in the night, wondering if she was being paranoid. Danner
was surprised at the sudden bitterness she felt at the confirmation. After all, she had
expected this.
Kahn arrived. Danner sent her to join Lu Wai.
The spy had not moved. What did the woman have to talk about for so long?
Danner began to wish she had had Dogias patch it through. Was the spy talking
about her?
Dogias, do you recognize the voice?
Nope. No one I know. But judging by the way she s talking to the first officer up
there, she s a Mirror, and not a lowly foot soldier either. Lieutenant, maybe.
Danner only had six lieutenants. She knew all of them, had promoted all of them
personally. The betrayal bit deep. She wanted to know who it was, now, but she
restrained herself. They had to let the woman finish her message; the longer the
Kurst was kept in the dark about Danner s discovery of their duplicity, the more
Danner could learn, the more time she would have before& whatever was going to
happen happened.
This is Dogias. Sounds like she s winding up the conversation.
Sergeant, any minute now. She flipped channels. Sigrid, please monitor the
Kurst. I need to know the instant they switch off. She flipped back. Sergeant, I
want you both armored up, just in case. She risked another glance through the
window. I don t think she s armed, so be quiet, be smooth. I want her silenced and
subdued inside this building. Not a whisper to escape. Acknowledge.
Acknowledged.
I m right here outside the window if she chooses to come this way. She slid
down her visor. The world turned gauzy. Her heart pumped.
That s it, Dogias said suddenly in her ear.
Kurst transmission ended, Sara confirmed.
Go, Danner said. She edged away from the window to give herself the space to
maneuver if necessary. It had been five years since she had been involved in any
kind of action. She had forgotten how adrenaline made legs wobble and defied the
suit thermostat. She shivered.
Nothing happened. Surely Lu Wai and Kahn should be there by now?
Yellow glare flooded her vision for a split second before her visor compensated:
in the storeroom, her Mirrors had turned on the lights. One armored figure, Kahn,
Danner thought, had her weapon out and was covering Lu Wai as the sergeant
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