"Oh, stuff it!" Amadi was growing impatienta"also exceedingly nervous. He kept glancing at the door. "The Hung leaders have heirs, people all set to step in and take over. They're like a d.a.m.n troll in my grandkid's vid game. Cut off the head, the body still keeps going, and eventually it even grows a new head! We have to kill the entire body. And the way to do that is to shut off the blood supply to the brain.

"You help them escape, Xris. They lead me to the money. I arrest them."

"You? You're going to be there?"

"I'll be on the same s.p.a.ceplane with you. And them."

So that's the plan, Xris said to himself in satisfaction. The money. Nice to know I haven't lost my touch.

"And you put them right back in their cushy cells."

Amadi smiled, but the eyes were shadowed. "Not necessarily. I don't think they'll let themselves be taken alive."

Gee, I was right on both counts! I'm a f.u.c.king genius. Xris had to restrain himself from laughing in Amadi's face.

"So that's why you didn't pick up Rowan," Xris said, pretending to have just figured this out. "She's of no use to you now. You don't need her anymore."

Amadi shrugged, noncommittal. "I have a date for the breakout arranged. Nineteen days s.p.a.ce-time from today. Can you be ready by then?"

Nineteen days. Xris did some calculations. "Kirkov's birthday, huh?"

"Who?" Amadi appeared puzzled.

"Come on, boss. Listen to your surveillance tapes again. You know d.a.m.n good and well the team's got a job to do anda"surprise, surprisea"they go into action on that day.

What a coincidence. Are you afraid my friends will interfere?"

Amadi didn't reply.

"Oh, I trust you're keeping what you overheard confidential. You don't want to p.i.s.s off the Lord of the Admiralty."

"Dixter and I have spoken," Amadi said. And that was all he said. Obviously whatever lie he'd told Dixter, the Lord of the Admiralty had believed, otherwise a troop of Marines would have arrived to haul Xris's a.s.s out of jail.

"I'll give you a minute to think it over." Amadi stood up, walked to the opposite end of the room, and stared at a fly crawling up the wall.

So Dixter's written me off, too. I can see the headlines now, Xris thought. CYBORG'S HEAD BLOWN OFF HELPING CONS ESCAPE. You can't think I'm that stupid, Amadi. But maybe you think I'm that greedy....

Amadi turned back to face him. "Did you say something?"

"Yeah. I'll take the job."

"Good! Glad to hear it." Amadi was pleased.

"On my conditions."

Amadi wasn't so pleased. "I'm paying you six million in gold alreadya""

"This has nothing to do with money. Condition one: Move me from that death trap of a cellblock. I'm in with two other guysa"one who's made a crossbow out of bed springs. He's a psychopath who happens to have a grudge against cops. He was real interested to hear that I'd been one."

"A crossbow." Amadi shook his head. Pulling out his electronic pad, he entered a notation. "Just think what these people could do if they would only put their energy into honest pursuits."

"Be grateful, Amadi. He'd probably have your job."

Amadi glanced up, startled.

Xris grinned, then went back to business. "I want my own cell, nice and private, maximum security, until the transport to Jango arrives. Condition two: I want to be rea.s.sembled. Leg, arm, hand, hearing, eye, full power."

"You can't have your own cybernetic limbs," Amadi stated. "Even I couldn't get you inside Jango with that armaments warehouse you call a leg. The guards will turn you inside out when you arrive, looking for weapons. And if you get past them, you go through a body scanner every tune you leave or enter your cell."

"I thought this was a luxury joint, filled with refined gentlemanly types. I thought we attended literature courses in the morning and made pottery in the afternoon. Jeez, Amadi." Xris was aggrieved. "I was counting on getting my high school diploma!"

Amadi was not amused. "Jango may not be the ice mines, but it's still a prison."

"All right. Furnish me with a leg off the rack, but I want my own personal physician to fit it. I need a proper fit," Xris explained. "Otherwise it rubs. You wouldn't want me to chafe, would you?"

Amadi noteda"with a fine show of serious attentivenessa"the name and the intergalactic vid number of one William Quong, M.D., a show Xris watched with cynical amus.e.m.e.nt. Amadi knew Quong as well as or better than Xris by now. FISA probably had an agent tailing the Doc this very moment. Xris could have made a smart remark, but he owed Amadi, who was handing out presents like it was Xris's birthday. The least Xris could do was to play the party games.

"Anything else you want?" Amadi didn't bother to hide the sarcasm.

"That's all for the moment. If I think of anything, how can I contact you?"

"I'll contact you." Amadi rose to his feet. "I'm glad we could work together on this case again, Xris."

He held out his hand.

Xris hesitated; the Hung's money wasn't the only thing that had blood on it.

Forgive me, Ito, Xris said silently. I have to play along. But soon, buddy. Soon....

He tried to reach out, but the restrainer wouldn't permit it. Amadi clasped Xris's limp hand, shook it solemnly.

"I'll send in the guard," Amadi offered.

"By the way, what's my story? What have you told the guards about me?"

Amadi's smile broadened. "That you're a cop. Take care of yourself, Xris. Oh, by the way." He half turned, glanced at Xris over his shoulder. "You or the members of your team might get a visit from someone in Internal Affairs."

"Oh, yeah?" Xris was careful not to appear too interested. "Who's head of that now?"

"Robison. Andrew Robison. You remember him?"

"Our boss. Former boss. Used to head up our division."

"That's him. He's been promoted. He's now head of Internal Affairs, and between you and me, he's become one h.e.l.l of a nuisance. Just now, he's sticking his nose into this matter of the Hung. Pa.s.s the word for your friends to be careful what they talk about, Xris. People do slip in their bathtubs every day, and as you said yourself, we don't need Dalin Rowan anymore."

He switched off the scrambler, thrust it into a pocket, and knocked twice on the door.

"Guard!" Amadi shouted. "I'm finished."

That's right, you treacherous son of a b.i.t.c.h, Xris told Amadi's backside. You are.

"One more thing, Amadi," Xris said.

He hadn't been going to ask this; he'd made up his mind he wasn't and he was startled and disappointed in himself to hear the words come out.

"Did Marjorie ... did she know about the setup? Was she in on it?"

Amadi turned to look at him and Xris saw the pity in the man's eyes, saw it before Amadi could hide it.

He didn't reply, but then he didn't have to. Xris knew the answer. Marjorie hadn't invited him to her house. Probably she'd be furious to hear he'd invaded her privacy.

"Yeah, well. I just wondered." Xris shrugged it off.

Amadi had the grace to look away.

CHAPTER 14.

Beware of robbing a wretch. Of attacking a cripple.

Amenemope, The Instruction of Amenemope "Lights out," came the announcement over the loud- speaker. "Settle down, you men."

The voices that had been talking loudly dropped to mutters, mumbles, and whispers, punctuated by the occasional harsh laugh.

Xris wondered what anyone could find to laugh about in here, wished they'd shut up. Trying to sleep was hard enough. Xris didn't sleep all that well under ideal conditions. It's difficult to curl up in a nice, comforting fetal position when half your body is metal. And there was no cuddling close to another warm soft body in the darkness. Cuddling with Xris would be tantamount to cuddling with some ancient refrigerator; about as cold and about as noisy.

He thought of Tess, a woman he'd met during the ill-fated mission to steal that dratted robot. He'd spent an enjoyable two weeks in the sun and surf of a very romantic hideaway with her. She'd been jolted out of a sound sleep every time the machine that maintained the correct balance of chemicals in his body hummed into action.

Tess had been honest and open about it, they'd laughed about it together, and for once in his life Xris hadn't felt bitter, hadn't let the laughter hurt him. But he could have, if he wanted to. He could do so now, thinking back on it. Hurting would be easy.

Of course, now he didn't have the problem of sleeping with his cybernetic body parts. He didn't have to worry about rolling over the wrong way onto his metal arm and bruising the h.e.l.l out of his ribs or accidentally shoving his metal foot through the bedboard during a bad dream. Although he was in a private cell, as he had requested, and they had permitted him to activate his eye and his hearing, they still hadn't given him back the use of his cybernetic limbs.

"But we won't charge you for the crutch," the guard had a.s.sured him.

"d.a.m.n generous," Xris had sneered.

He couldn't sleep. Not in this cell, lying on a metal bed that still had metal springs. Lying in the darkness that wasn't really dark because of the security lights. Lying here with the smell of disinfectant in his nostrils, the smell of disinfectant trying to mask the smell of urine. Lying here listening to the grunts and coughs, snores and whispers of the men in the cells around him, the measured footsteps of the guards and the whirring sound of the 'bot that pa.s.sed by every thirty minutes, taking a body count.

Xris could do something about the noise, at least. He could shut down his augmented hearing. Imagining the sweet silence washing over him, soothing him into much-needed rest, his right hand was reaching for the minuscule controls located behind his left ear when his instincts rebelled, ordered him not to be a d.a.m.n fool.

He closed his eyes and tried to drown out the sounds by remembering Tess's laughter, reliving the fun of those two weeks. Nothing would come of the relationship. They'd both known that going into it. Neither of them was looking for anything to come of it. Tess was an undercover operative, working out of the Lord Admiralty's office, with a brilliant career ahead of her. She had put serious relationships on hold.

"Some people plan to spend their old age on the golf course," she had told Xris. "Others plan to travel. Mea" I'm going to fall in love!"

"I'll wait for you," he had said.

"No, you won't!" She had laughed. "You'll be with your wife, chasing after grandkids."

That picture was one he'd torn up, ripped into shreds, ten years ago. But Tess had given him confidence; she had let him know that he could love and be loved. He had thought about trying to paste the picture back together again.

And that was why, when the E-mail had come from Marjorie, he'd decided to spend some time in the beach house the two of them had dreamed about together.

Except that Marjorie hadn't sent the invitation.

So much fora So much...

He was sitting on the deck. The waves rolled in. Broke against the sh.o.r.e. Rolled out.

It was actually comfortable, lying in bed without the cybernetic limbs, he thought drowsily. He'd never tried it before, mostly because it made him feel like the helpless cripple he was. But now he could roll over, curl up. Nothing dragged on him, nothing weighed him down, nothing poked him or prodded him.

The waves rolled in and out, but their roar was receding. All he could hear were footfalls in the sand....

Xris was awake, suddenly, completely.

Footfalls in the sand, my a.s.s! Footfalls in the corridor. Footfalls trying to be as quiet as feet walking on sand. They would have been, to the normal ear. But Xris could hear the slight whisper made by tiptoes creeping along the tile floor, the faint whiff whiff sound caused by the stiff fabric of the prison uniform rubbing against itself, the sound of breaths indrawn, exhaled.

Pad, pad. Whiff whiff. Breath.

Of course, Stealthy Feet could be looking for anybody in this cellblock. Perhaps he had a boyfriend.

Pad, pad. Whiff whiff. Breath. Snick.

Xris knew that sound. Only one thing made a sound like snick. Arming a bolt gun.

Unless this was a lover's quarrel, the boyfriend theory was out.

The security light bathed the bed, a large patch of floor, the wall opposite, and Xris in bright white light. One h.e.l.l of a beautiful target. And if he wasn't in bed, if he was, say, flopping about, a helpless cripple, on the floor, the a.s.sa.s.sin would simply readjust his aim.

A man moved into Xris's view, halted outside his cell. Xris could see the man in detail. He was tall, stocky, dressed in a prison uniform, and he carried an all-plastic eighteen-micron bolt gun in his right hand. Reaching out with his left hand, the man hit the controls that operated the force field. The red light, which let the guards know at a glance that the force field was operational, winked out.

Xris grit his teeth, forced himself to lie still when his instincts were urging him to crawl through the metal wall of his cell.

The man stepped inside, raised the gun...

Xris lurched off the bed, fell heavily onto the floor as the a.s.sa.s.sin fired the bolt gun into the bed. He knew the moment he pulled the trigger that he'd just killed a mattress.

"Son of aa""

Xris rolled across the floor, barreling his body into the man's legs. The a.s.sa.s.sin toppled forward. He was an agile b.a.s.t.a.r.d, unfortunately. His head missed the metal bed frame by a centimeter; he landed on his hands and knees and managed to maintain his hold on the gun.

"Guard!" roared Xris, lying on his back on the floor.

His metal crutch was in the corner next to the beda"an arm s length away. He could reach it, but the a.s.sa.s.sin was in front of him, already back on his feeta"both feeta"twisting his body as he moved, the gun coming to bear.