Steve was seized by a reckless desire to look up, and an equally pressing need to discover what remained of his left ear, but managed to resist both. His bloodthirsty benefactor was operating on a hair-trigger, and the overall situation was so ill-defined, he could not gamble on being indispensable. The razor-sharp blade now hovering inches from his head served to remind Steve he'd already pushed his luck close to the limit. Easing his nose clear of his thumbs, he began to recount his chance meeting with Cadillac. * 'Louder!" Steve raised his head a notch, cleared his throat and delivered the rest of his story without further interruption, ending with his offer to help Cadillac produce a suitable power-plant for the flying-horses.

'And what did he say to that?"

'He said he'd think about it."

'No hard feelings about your, uhh ... previous encounter?"

'None whatsoever. He was quite pleased to see me.

Especially now he has the upper hand."

'I know the feeling,' said Toshiro.

Steve watched the armoured feet of his interlocutor describe a semicircle from left shoulder to right then back again, each slow step preceded by the angled tip of his long-sword.

'The "interests" I represent have given me the go-ahead to insert you into the operation. You are now free to carry out your sabotage mission. But first, before you wreck the Heron Pool project, you have to help make it a success."

'Sire, the pleasure will be all mine."

'Yes - I thought that might appeal to you. Are you sure you can make these craft work properly?"

'Once I get my feet under the workbench, I can have one flying under its own steam inside a month."

'Good. That's very important. In fact, your life may depend upon it."

You're telling me, thought Steve. 'May I beg to ask if our original...

"understanding" still holds good?"

'And what was that?"

'Safe pa.s.sage out of the country with Cadillac and the Mute woman who came with him - Clearwater."

'Ahh, yes, well. that may be difficult to arrange."

'I'll make the arrangements,' replied Steve. 'All I need from you is your personal a.s.surance that the "interests" you claim to represent won't stand in the way."

The long-dog's insolent manner continued to amaze and anger Toshiro, but he had now fully mastered the murderous impulse to kill him out of hand. It was deeply wounding to have to treat Brickman as if he were an equal, but those were his orders. For the moment, he was obliged to swallow his pride. If this self-styled 'mexican' managed to do what was being demanded of him it would humiliate and confound the Shogun's enemies and clear the way for Toshiro to gain what he most desired.

'Very well, you have my word on that. However, there is one other matter you will need to attend to. We require you to arrange the demise of a certain Nakane Toh-Shiba, the Consul-General for this region. He is also, coincidentally, the, ahh ... custodian of the second individual you wish to recover."

That too will be a pleasure, thought Steve. But if you ask me, it's no coincidence. He was going to have to watch this guy.

'If you undertake to get rid of him, I will make sure that the woman is delivered to you unharmed. Is it a deal?"

Steve gazed at the samurai's lacquered toes and weighed up the proposition. For someone normally accorded slave-status to be asked to kill a high-ranking Iron Master was pretty d.a.m.ned extraordinary. Apart from hinting at further intrigues he didn't know about, it seemed to indicate that the Man in Black-and the 'interests' he represented had swallowed his story and were prepared to take him seriously. He was back in the game and, now that they'd asked him to do some of their own dirty work, had even acquired a little leverage. When added to the make-and-break a.s.signment at the Heron Pool, it meant he had room to manoeuvre and the time he needed to put his own plans in motion.

Yeah... it was all coming together. But there was no point in going overboard.

'I feel honoured at being given such a task, but someone in my position is going to find it difficult to even get near a man who, by the sound of it, is a high-ranking official."

"Don't worry, sport. When the time comes, you'll get all the help you need."

They were the right words, but they did not have a comforting ring.

Steve ached to straighten up, but decided it would be unwise. Better to keep talking to the gra.s.s. 'How soon do you want this to happen?"

A pregnant pause, then: 'The instructions I have received are quite specific. The Consul-General is to be taken up in a flying-horse.

When it has attained the greatest possible height, he is to fall from the sky. His body is to be split and broken like that of a stray mongrel crushed under the wheel of a pa.s.sing cart. This is the death which has been chosen for him. No other. Is that clear?"

'Yeah, sure." It sounded like a real suicide mission, but this was no time to go weak at the knees. 'Dumping him overboard is the easy bit.

It's getting him up there that's going to be the problem. First of all I have to get transferred to the Heron Pool. Once I'm in there I'm pretty sure I can put together a propulsion system. In fact I know I can.

And once we're over that hurdle, it shouldn't be too hard to persuade Cadillac to let me get involved in the flight testing. So I'll have access to an aircraft. That's where it gets difficult. According to Cadillac, the Heron Pool belongs to the local domain-lord ' 'Lord Kiyo Min-Orota."

'Right. Cadillac is in nominal charge of the project; but he's just a hired hand like the rest of us. It's Lord Min-Orota's people who really run the show. I don't have to tell you what the set-up is, you're part of it. If I can't look you in the eyes, they're not going to let me even breathe the same air as the Consul-General. But okay let's a.s.sume for the moment they did - how do I persuade him to go for a joyride?"

'Don't worry about it, sport. When you're ready to go, he'll be there."

The samurai's reply confirmed Steve's hunch about the ident.i.ty of the man with his finger on the b.u.t.ton.

There was only one person with sufficient clout to order a Consul-General into the air with an outlander at the controls. The Shogun.

Yeah ... better watch out, Stevie, he told himself.

You're back in the game all right, but this is not like trading shots in a Shoot-a-Mute video gallery for a gla.s.s of Korngold. You're at the high-stake table with the big boys. The kind that eat people like you for breakfast...

The fact that the Man in Black had been less than forthcoming about the relationship between Clearwater and the Consul-General was proof that he could not be trusted. 'Promises to Mutes don't count." Wasn't that what Karlstrom had said? You could bet your last meal-credit that this overdressed d.i.n.k felt the same way about Trackers. Yeah... if he was going to get home in one piece he would need more help than Jodi or Kelso could provide. He had to enlist the help of a big gun.

And there was one close at hand, eager and willing to be pressed into service.

Clearwater.

She might not be able to move mountains, but she had shown she had the power to rearrange large chunks of the landscape. He had to find a way to get her off that island when the crunch came. With her by his side there would be nothing to fear from Yama-s.h.i.ta's boys or from the friends of the Man in Black. At the first sign of danger she would blow them right out of their socks.

The samurai's voice cut across his machinations.

'Okay. That about wraps it up." His feet disappeared from view, then returned. 'You'd better have this. I'm sure you'd like to let your friends know what's happening."

A slim bundle wrapped in black silk dropped into the gra.s.s a few inches from Steve's forehead. It could only contain one thing - the combat knife with the radio hidden in the handle.

'Are you serious?"

'Sure. You can tell them how well you're doing. We don't want anyone making a rash move at this stage, do we?"