Xris hesitated, looked back at Harry.

The big man's face was smeared with blood and tears; his eyes were pleading.

"Two minutes to impact," said the computer.

"Xris, please!" Harry begged. He lowered his face to his hands, sobbed like a child.

Xris stopped. He could see, just as the hatch door was closing, the three Hung leaders racing for the back of the cargo hold.

Turning away, Xris walked over to the pilot's chair, laid his hand on Harry's shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Xris," Harry blubbered. "I'm sorry!"

"It's okay, Harry," Xris said softly. "It's okay."

"One minute and thirty seconds to impact," said the computer.

The hatch slammed shut.

Harry Luck sat up straight. Swiveling around in the pilot's chair, he wiped the tears from his eyes, gazed intently at the control panel.

"Excuse me, Xris," he said, elbowing Xris to one side, "but I have to get at the controls and you're in the way. You better find a chair and sit down. Mr. Amadi, sir, you strapped in tight? This is gonna be a b.u.mpy ride."

"What thea"" Xris stared, baffled.

"One minute to impact," said the computer.

"This is a cargo transport, Xris," said Harry. "No one cares about the cargo if you have to abandon ship. The c.o.c.kpit separates from the body. Everyone knows that. And they called me stupid," he added, sniffing.

"That was all an act?" Xris still couldn't believe it.

"Well, of course it was," said Harry, glancing up from his work. He seemed hurt. "You didn't really think I'd fall apart like that, did you, Xris? You better sit down."

"Bless you, Harry Luck!" Xris said, lowering himself into the copilot's chair. "If you weren't so ugly, I'd kiss you."

"Aw!" Harry blushed. "It was nothing. Computer, I'm taking over manual control."

"Yes, Pilot Luck." The computer sounded extremely relieved. "Thirty seconds to impact."

"Here we go!" shouted Harry.

Xris hooked both elbows through the webbing.

Harry pulled the yellow and black emergency lever. Explosive bolts fired below the deck. Xris could feel what real internal organs he had left being pulled down through his rear end as the booster rockets kicked the c.o.c.kpit clear of the ma.s.sive body of the transport.

The c.o.c.kpit pitched and vibrated violently. Even as well-built as this ship was, Xris didn't see how it could take the shaking; he expected to see cracks in the hull. Just when it seemed that the c.o.c.kpit was going to shake itself to pieces, the vibrations stopped. The main engines had ceased fire. The c.o.c.kpit, now a small, self-contained s.p.a.ceplane, rocketed away under the power of the boosters. The g's pressed Xris back into the seat, squashed him until he could hardly breathe.

He wasn't going to miss the last act. Exerting all his strength, he shoved himself up out of his seat until he could see through the viewscreen.

The cargo bay portion of the transport hung suspended in the black void of s.p.a.ce, visible only because the dark and hulking ma.s.s of the ship blotted out the stars.

Inside that doomed transport. Macdonald, Becking, and Mair had probably discovered that they had been duped.

They had discovered that there weren't any lifeboats. Anywhere. Ever.

"Missile impacta"now," said the computer.

An eye-searing flash of pure white. A roiling cloud of vapor and gases, whitish blue, tinged with red fire, expanded outward, and then, in a heartbeat, dissipated.

The stars shone, clear, bright, unchanging.

A warmth, as of a comforting hand, touched his soul.

"Thank you, my friend," said Mashahiro Ito. "I can leave now."

"Rest well," said Xris.

CHAPTER 44.

Even his griefs are a joy long after to one that remembers all that he wrought and endured.

Homer, The Odyssey.

"Help yourself to some of my salad, Mr. Amadi, dear," Raoul said. "It's walnut, soybean curds, baby squid, and cranberry sorbet. The recipe was a present from Chef Hernandez."

"I thought you said he liked you," Harry said innocently.

"He does." Raoul favored Harry with what was intended to be an icy stare of disapprobation, but whose effect was rather lost due to the fact that Raoul's eyes would not focus.

"Maybe later," Amadi said politely. He speared a piece of barbecued chicken with his fork, placed it on his plate.

"Tycho, you'll try some of my salad," Raoul said, and held out a small squid on his spoon.

Tycho looked at the squid, blanched. "No, no! Thank you, but ... a friend of mine ... an admiral ... looks very much like..." Averting his eyes, he left hastily, went to sit beside a hibiscus bush, and was gradually lost to their sight.

The team was once again back at the beach house. The team members had arrived that day, coming in from their various locations. Jamil, Tycho, Quong, Darlene, and Rizzoli came from Del Sol; Raoul and the Little One from an unnamed location, about which Raoul was very mysterious; Xris, Harry, and Amadi from the Royal Naval vessel that had come to their rescue.

Xris had deemed it fitting that since their a.s.signment had started at the beach house, it should end there. He didn't mention the fact that he'd spent those h.e.l.lish hours in solitary dreaming of this house and looking forward to the day he could return.

"Thank you for coming, sir," Xris said as Amadi settled himself in a patio chair. "I've been wanting to have a chance to talk to you. How are you feeling?"

"Fine, Xris." Amadi smiled. "The skull fracture is a little slow to mend, but that's normal for a man my age. What did you want to talk to me about? This is really good chicken, by the way. Great sauce."

"I want to say I'm sorry, sir," Xris said. "I want to apologize."

"For what?" Amadi looked astonished.

"For not trusting you. For thinking you might have been the traitor. I had no reason, no reason to doubt you. You'd never let us down before. I should have knowna""

"Nonsense," Amadi said crisply. "You had reason enough, G.o.d knows, not to trust anyone! And if it comes down to it, I'm the one who should apologize. For not trusting you. I considered telling you the whole plan. But I couldn't. I couldn't be sure."

Xris's expression darkened. "You didn't think I was working for the Hung, did you?"

"No, I knew better than that. But I wasn't sure who you were working for. Or should I say, who Rowan was working for. I knew that you trusted her, but how could I?"

Amadi glanced up at Darlene, who was standing behind Xris, her hand on his shoulder.

She smiled ruefully. "The feeling was mutual, sir, I'm sorry to say."

"I could certainly understand you bailing out after your testimony at the Hung trial," Amadi said, "but you left the Bureau in a h.e.l.l of a spot. If you had come to mea""

"But I couldn't, sir!" Darlene replied earnestly. "Armstrong was dead and I knew the Hung hadn't killed him! I realized then it had to be someone in the Bureau. And ... well, sir..." Her voice trailed off.

"All the evidence pointed to me," said Amadi. He sighed, then shrugged. "At any rate, all's well that ends better."

"What I don't understand, sir, is this: If you knew the money was in the bank on Del Sol, why set the Hung leaders free to go get if? Weren't you taking a big risk?"

"Yes," Amadi admitted. "I had evidence that indicated their secret account was on Del Sol, but the evidence wasn't conclusive, and I had to know for certain. While the three Hung leaders were in Jango, they were in constant contact with 'Mr. Trevor'a""

"Who was really Andrew Robison."

"I intercepted Robison's transmissions to the Hung, subst.i.tuted my own transmissions for his, sent my transmissions to the Hung, and picked up their replies. I sent Robison phony transmissions from the Hung to keep him happy. And so 'Mr. Trevor' began feeding the Hung leaders information about the political turmoil in Del Sol."

"Information you received from Sir John Dixter," said Darlene, in sudden understanding. "That's why he wouldn't do anything to help Xris! He knew what you were planning!"

Amadi nodded. "And Sir John a.s.sured me that I could trust all of you. So I am the one who should apologize."

"You told the Hung leaders that Kirkov was planning to exterminate the dremecks. Why should the Hung leaders care what happened to the dremecks?"

"They didn't. Kirkov was on the Hung payroll. The Hung told him to keep a low profile, not to do anything that would give the Royal Navy the slightest chance to intervene in Del Sol affairs. But Kirkov was psychotic. He refused to obey orders. When the Hung leaders found out, through Mr. Trevor, that Kirkov was planning to s.p.a.ce the dremecks, they were furious, and I was sure I was on the right track. They knew the publicity that this incident would cause, the uproar throughout the galaxy. The spotlight would be shining on Del Sol and they'd be caught in the glare.

"You might be interested to know, by the way, that the secret account was in the names of all three. One couldn't access it without the other."

"I didn't get the feeling they were that attached to each other," Xris said wryly.

"They weren't," Amadi returned. "They arranged it that way so that one wouldn't kill the other two and make off with the loot. Charming bunch, weren't they? By now, though, they were worried about their money, but I still couldn't get them to leave their cushy prison. They kept trying to think of ways for Mr. Trevor to handle their problem."

"Cushy prison!" Xris snorted.

"You should have seen Jango before Montieth arrived," Amadi told him. "It was just like the brochures. The Hung leaders had life easy. Conjugal visits with their wives and girlfriends on a regular basis. Play golf all day, poker all night. You should have seen their cell. A penthouse. Montieth put an end to all of it."

"I'll be d.a.m.ned!" Xris stared. "Montieth was your man!"

"And Slovenski. Two of my best agents." Amadi grinned. "Between them, they made life h.e.l.l for the Hung leaders. Macdonald tried to bribe Montieth. That didn't work. He threatened him. You met Montieth. You can imagine how he reacted."

"He said he'd spit in the face of G.o.d Himself."

"He would, too." Amadi chuckled. "Macdonald hired an a.s.sa.s.sin to kill Slovenski. The a.s.sa.s.sin is in the hospital. He now has regained the use of his arms. By that time, Macdonald was begging 'Mr. Trevor' to get them out of Jango."

"So will things improve back at Jango?" Xris asked. "I made a few friends there. They're not bad men. They just used bad judgment and I wouldn't wanta""

"Slovenski is being 'paroled,'" Amadi a.s.sured him. "And Montieth will 'retire.' The old warden won't be back. He was so corrupt you could smell him in the next galaxy. A new one will take his place and Jango will be neither a dungeon of horrors nor a country club. It will be what it was meant to bea"a correctional facility for first-time offenders."

"All was proceeding according to your plan, then," Xris said. "And it went straight to h.e.l.l."

"Robison found out. I don't know what tipped him off. Something in one of those phony messages, perhaps. But he discovered that I was on to him. He was very clever, our Mr. Robison. Instead of using the Hung to deal with me, he made the case one for Internal Affairs to handle.

If the Hung had a.s.sa.s.sinated me, they would have confirmed all the evidence I had collected. I'd left it in a file that would be opened if I died."

"But by making it a case for Internal Affairs," Darlene said, "Robison not only got rid of you, he poisoned all of your information by making it look like you were the rotten apple."

"Precisely. Robison found out about the escape plan involving Xris. First he tried to kill Xris in prison. After that failed, he thought it over and decided to make the escape work to his own advantage. He used the Hung to kidnap Harry Luck's mothera" How is Mrs. Luck, by the way? I hope she suffered no ill effects?"

"She's fine," said Xris, smiling. "Once the kidnappers discovered that they weren't going to be paid for their work, they weren't willing to risk their lives for nothing. According to Mrs. Luck, they were in a foul mood when they left."

"Yes, a lot of Hung employees are in a foul mood about now. We know of one gentleman who tried to set himself up as heir to Macdonald, Becking, and Main He was tossed out of a hovertaxi three hundred kilometers above a canyon without benefit of a parachute. No, the Hung are finished, at last."

"One more thing, sir," said Darlene somberly. "Did you kill Armstrong?"

"In my heart, many times," said Amadi. "I was at the hospital when they brought Xris into emergency. I was at the morgue when they tried to identify what was left of Ito. But no, Rowan. I didn't kill Armstrong. Robison took care of that for me."

"Champagne?" asked Raoul, coming by with a chilled bottle. "Hold out your gla.s.ses!"

"A toast," said Xris, raising his gla.s.s. "To you, sir. Congratulations."

"No, no," Amadi protested. "I can't allow that. The credit goes to you, Xris. You and Rowan."

Darlene raised her gla.s.s. "To Mashahiro Ito."

"And to all the others the Hung murdered," Xris added. "May their spirits find peace at last."

CHAPTER 45.

Of freedom and life he only is deserving Who everyday must conquer them anew.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust.