Chapter xvii.

Aug14, 2424 1301 H.

"Khalid's acts are void of authority and Citizens calls on Khalid to vacate the premises of Defense and submit to arrest."

"they got there," Yanni muttered to Frank. "Thank G.o.d. Time to move."

Frank used the house phone to talk to their guard, which occupied the downstairs of the hotel, simple signal, verbal code. The hotel was down to five other guests, two women who were visiting a relative in the city, and a family from Novgorod who'd suffered an apartment fire, and was keeping very, very quiet under the circ.u.mstances. Four businessmen, three from Svetlansk and another from Big Blue, had checked out this morning to catch the flight, the first in two days, that had gone up toward Moreyville and Reseune. Amy Carnath had reported her hotel mostly vacant, and the news said barges were stacking up in the port because dock and warehouse workers weren't showing up and there was no room to offload. Local groceries reported shortages, while food piled up on barges that couldn't find a berth.

That was the condition of the city, as bad a mess as it had ever been during the War: there were rumors, constantly denied in news reports, of Paxer sabotage directed at the precip towers that defended the city, and workers consequently reported sick rather than go into large exposed areas like the docks and warehouses, construction and transport. Companies temporarily shut down operations rather than pay the few workers that did show, and in some families, credit was running short. The city ombudsman had launched a court inquiry as to whether companies would owe back pay, and the city mayor had threatened arrest and confiscation in any shop jacking up prices for necessities like food, water, and medicines.

It was a d.a.m.ned mess, was what, and it was getting worse. Yanni put on his coat over a tee that covered a bulletproof vest, Frank wearing the same protection under his, and carrying the critical briefcase. they met their exterior guard outside, picked up two more at the liftthe two at the hotel room door would stay there to make sure the room staved secureand they took the lift down to pick up four more guards at the lot occupying the lobby. they numbered more than before. The ones from ReseuneSec offices across town had come over, and the hotel was an armed campin case. Reseune promised the hotel that it would pick up the taband that kept management happy about ReseuneSec filling hotel rooms and supervising in the kitchensthe Carnath girl and her azi were, he hoped, on that plane that had carried Corain's family. He didn't want the kid involved any deeper, not today, and the last thing they needed was those two getting swept up in some operationor worse and needing him to get them out.

The ReseuneSec locals had a ca.r.s.everal carsand the hotel airport bus. they used the bus for a decoy and transport for the other guards, and Yanni got into a car with two others and a lot of guns. Frank got into the seat beside him, and they started off with a speed more apt for Reseune's lonely portside road than a Novgorod street. they whipped onto Central, and sped along about a kilometer toward the white tower that sprawled onto a block off Central, then squealed around a turn and up to the emergency entrance of the hospital, where the hotel bus met them.

No wasted time. Frank opened the door, got out as armed guards formed up, and Yanni got out. A handful of hospital security stood at the door, and locked it in apprehension, but unlocked it after a moment when Yanni took out his wallet and showed his Council insignia through the gla.s.s.

"Catherine Lao's room," he said when they stood in the emergency room lobby "Take us there. Now. Council business."

The guards clearly weren't used to making executive decisions, but one of them led the way down the hall and talked on his com while he was doing it. He said, protesting, "Ser, she's in Intensive Care. She's not doing well."

"I know that." Yanni said. "If she's got a pulse, I need to see her. Fast. The longer I'm here, the more likely there's going to be a disturbance to the other patients. Let's move, shall we?"

"Ser," the guard said, and got them all to a large lift, and up to the third floor. Then a double door and a desk where a nurse posed a more formidable barrier.

"Yanni Schwartz," Yanni said, showing the wallet badge. "Council business for Councillor Lao."

"She's on life support, ser."

"Can she be made conscious?"

"A doctor has to order that."

"Find one and do it. Now. Council order."

The nurse didn't look happy in the least. She cast sideward glances as she talked on the com, and stopped the conversation with a commanding gesture downward, meaning the guns. Yanni made a small gesture of his own, and they lowered. The nurse answered something to whoever was on the com. and then shut down the connection.

"This way. ser. just you."

"And my aide," Yanni said, meaning Frank. The nurse scowled, but they went through the double doors together, and the visible guns stayed in the foyer.

The room held more machines than human presence. Lao seemed lost among them, a human face, an arm, a white sheet. She'd grown incredibly old, since he'd last seen her, so shrunken and pale it was shocking. The nurse made adjustments on the panel, and after a moment, Lao's dark eyes opened a slit, black as s.p.a.ce, all the eye that was visible. Tension touched the forehead, lines of pain.

"That's Yanni," Lao murmured.

"Kate." He came closer and set his hand on hers, which was cold as ice.

"Kate, we're in a h.e.l.l of a mess. Khalid's got the Proxy, Jacques has disappeared, not seen in weeks, Edgerton's missing &"

"Addy's missing?"

"Could he dead, for what we know. We need to call a special quorum. The planet's in a mess. We need a new Proxy for Information. I've got the doc.u.ment. You just have to give us a name and sign it."

The white brow knit. Hard. "d.a.m.n, Yanni. I'm not focusing well."

"Just a name, Kate. And a signature." Frank had the doc.u.ment, folded, in his coat pocket. Yanni took it, and a pen, and moved the recorder off the desk to get a flat surface.

"Carris?" she asked.

"Not been seen."

The frown staved. Lao had the pen in her fingers, and lost it. He steadied it.

"Can't see the d.a.m.n line."

"Here." He showed her where. "Just sign it, Kate. Just sign it." She signed, carefully, most of her ordinary signature before it trailed off.

"I can fill in the blank," he said. "Who do you want for proxy? Recorder's running. say it. and I'll fill it in."

"Ariane Emory," she said. "Kate, it's 2424. Kate?"

She wasn't listening. She wasn't hearing anything. The lines on the machines had all stopped.

"White Rabbit," Yanni said, on com, the car speeding back through the streets, and when he heard Mikhail's voice. "White Rabbit, how's it going?"

"Affirmative. Affirmative. We've got him. Come ahead."

The call cut out. Fast. His heart did a little flutter.

He looked at Frank. "They got him," he said. Meaning Edgerton. Chavez of Finance had told Harogo of Internal Affairs that he knew where Edgerton was, and they'd just made contact & which meant they might not need to file that questionable paper. Edgerton was going to show in the Council chambers for about five minutes, which was what they needed. Lao had appointed a dead woman to take Edgerton's place, but they'd, thank G.o.d, located Edgerton's hidey-hole somewhere in the city, Chavez had just worked a miracle, and Yanni told the driver, "Council Hall."

The ear veered. The airport bus, caught by surprise, caught up with them three intersections on, and trailed both escort cars, they crossed the river on Council Bridge, and the administrative tower, closest to the river of all the various bureau office towers, loomed up closer and closer.

The portico showed ominously vacant, compared to the usual press of media vans and reporters. n.o.body was there but one lonely media stakeout with her cameraman, them and a small number of Council aides, with another car giving up its occupants as a third car and the airport bus came squealing up the drive, and more security bailed out.

Guns came out. "Easy," Yanni said. The other car was Mamud Chavez, and Yanni went to meet him, and go with him through the doors. "Mamud." He offered his hand as they pa.s.sed the doors and came under the scrutiny of Council security. Chavez, ordinarily not his ally, took the handshake with uncommon sincerity.

"Good to see you," Chavez said, the statement itself an earthquake in Council relations. "Corain went to the back entry."

'"Good," he said. He stayed worried as they reached the lift, and gathered their bodyguard in, both of them. It shot them up to the Council level, and let them out into a vacant hallway.

Frank opened the door for them. Yanni and Chavez walked into the Hall of the Nine itself, and immediately he saw Corain and Tien, of Industry. That was four of the five they needed for a simple quorum, four of the eight they needed for the vote they intended.

"Harogo's on his way up," Corain said. "Harad's coming."

Five. And six. Harad. State, had been a cliffhanger: he'd been an ally of Gorodin's, in Defense; and it hadn't been certain where he came downhe hadn't liked Jacques or Spurlin, they tended toward their seats. Took them, in the arc that const.i.tuted an official seating. There was no Council clerk. they pa.s.sed a sheet of paper down, signed their names, and fed it into the automated slot that immortalized it. irretrievable, a statement of their presence here, on this day. to do Council business.

Five more minutes. Harogo came in, Internal Affairs, frail, and surrounded by his own security, from Fargone Station. Two more minutes, and they had word from Corain's watch at the back entry that Harad was in the building, and then Ludmilla deFranco arrived downstairs.

One more needed. Yanni looked at the clock. Seventeen minutes. The longer they sat, the more vulnerable they became.

Eight. Harad came in. walked to the fore of the desk.

"He didn't make his appointment," Harad said, as agitated as Yanni ever remembered him. "I have no word." He. Meaning Edgerton. "d.a.m.n," Corain said. "d.a.m.n it."

"It's not safe to stay here," Chavez said. "We risk getting pinned here."

"Five more minutes," Yanni said.

Harad came up to his seat. DeFranco came in, conferred quietly with Harad, took her seat. And they waited.

Frank talked on com with someone, probably downstairs. Frank walked over to him, leaned near his chair. "There's a military presence at the hotel. And another squad at Councillor Lynch's condominium."

"We can't do this," Harogo said. Harogo sat next to him. "We need to move. We've tailed the quorum."

"We can get the eight we need," Yanni said. "Lao's dead. But she named another proxy." He got up and slipped the paper into the slot. "Ariane Emory."

No restriction on the ability of a Councillor to appoint a Proxy. No restriction even of age. None of bureau registration. In the wild early days of chancey transport, anybody with credentials could carry a vote into the Council on behalf of an absent Councillor.

"Irregular!" Harogo said.

"Legal," Corain said.

"We can't vote here without our eighth," Yanni said. "I call Council. Reseune Administrative Territories, on the twelfth of September."

"Second that," Corain said.

"Those opposed?" Harogo said, and then wrote on the screen under his hands, and filed it. "Each of us has declared a Proxy. In case."

"Go," Yanni said, and got up from his seat. He alone couldn't file a Proxy: only Lynch, Councillor for Science, could do that, and Lynch was holed up in his residence, too old and too timid for what was afoot. He couldn't lay all the blame for their situation to Edgerton's lack of nerve: for all he knew, there was trouble hot on Edgerton's trail. Or Edgerton was dead.

He gathered up Frank, then caught Mikhail Corain at the side of the door. "Thanks."

"Done as much as I can," Corain said, and in the lowest possible tones. "Did she sign it?"

"I've got the recording," Yanni said. "Or Frank has it. It's legal. Stay low and stay safe."

Out the door then, downstairs as fast as they could gather a lift-load of Councillors, aides, and security. In the lower hall they separated, headed for the north doors and the south portico.

ReseuneSec held the doors.

Chapter xviii.

August 20, 2424 1438 H.

Nearly a week since the broadcast, and Ari had long since taken pity on the reporters camped out at the airport and physically cut off from their news organizations, their families, their means of being elsewhereshe comped meals, laundry service, delivered unlimited vid entertainment, and ordered the restaurant there to vary its menu daily and be open twenty-four hours, the little airport bar to open at 2000h and stay til 2400h nightly.

She'd also sent down two ReseuneSec agents to help out at the bar, and to gather up any tidbits of information and rumor that came in by various links that didn't belong to Reseune.

There were rumors down there, no question. Broadcast news continually said Lao was alive. Rumor at the bar said she was artificially sustained for legal reasons. The broadcast news said Council had met but Khalid had not shown up, nor had the Proxy for Information, and Council had adjourned quickly. Rumor said Edgerton was in hiding somewhere in the city and that he and Council were under direct threat of the military.

On August 20, Amy calledfinally, and reported that Yanni had taken over the hotel he was in, that Corain was living there, too. and that she and Quentin had moved in for safety, because her hotel had been used for a barracks. She also said that yesterday there'd been a breakdown in the subway that added to problems in the city. People said it was Paxer activity, but mostly it was just rumorsanything that broke was automatically Paxers.

Meanwhile, Amy said, Khalid was threatening to put the city under martial law; but without the Council he knew he couldn't do that, so he was trying to locate Council members, and that military had been searching hotels, including her former one, and trying to bully Councillors into showing up when he called Council. It was certain Khalid knew where Yanni and Corain were, but hadn't made a move on them or searched their hotel. He hadn't found enough of the other Councillors to get eight of the Nineand without them, he couldn't declare martial law, couldn't convene the Council of Worlds, and couldn't do a lot of things, legally, so there was no point in his raiding the hotel where two Councillors definitely and publicly were.

That was the sum of Amy's report, except to ask how they were, and Ari said they were all fine.

But late on August 23, a barge came up from Moreyville, and fourteen people got off at Reseune docks, fourteen very tired, dirty, and hungry people, among them Ludmilla deFranco, far less than the immaculate person she ordinarily was. Her blonde hair was dyed dark, her customary couturier dress traded for a dockworker's blues.

All the same, a spark of triumph glistened in deFranco's eyes when Ari came down to the docks to meet her.

"A pleasure,'' deFranco said, and startled her and Florian with an unexpected embrace. "G.o.d, you look like her, don't you?"

"I should," Ari said, but she didn't actually mind the hug: she was just startled by it. "I'm glad you're safe. Did you come up all the way by barge?"

"To Moreyville by plane," DeFranco said. "Then the barge." DeFranco had to be past her hundreds, and it was still a long, hard pull, deFranco and this crowd of people, some of whom must be younger relatives. "Has Yanni been in touch? You're Lao's Proxy."

"How?" she asked.

"Filed and legal," deFranco said, and sank onto a convenient counter edge. "Yanni got it from Lao in person. Filed it in chambers, all of us to witness. You're the new Proxy for Information. Council's to meet here on the twelfth of September."

"Here. On the twelfth. Why are they waiting that long?"

"There's preparation to make. Contacts. People to be felt out & some of them inside Defense. Those still there are working that angle, making contacts as best they can, pulling every string they've gotof which I don't have enough left to matter. I'm getting too old for this, nearly as old as Lao, and she's dead. We're in a war, sera. We're in an outright war for control of the government. Khalid can't call Council to get a declaration of martial law: he needs eight Councillors, and I, my dear, and now you, are sitting here preventing that from happening, no matter how he threatens us. He can haul in every Councillor left in Novgorod and without us, he won't have sufficient votes either to get seated or to declare martial law."

"And if he comes here?"