"It would take me some effort, but it could be managed," Raoul said.
"Don"t you think a bunch of bureaucrats all dropping dead at the same time would tend to make people suspicious?"
"It"s been done before," Raoul observed with a flutter of his eyelashes.
"Yes, but not by us and not by the Royal Navy. We want to avoid bloodshed, if possible," said Xris firmly. "Now, there"s another factor at work on Del Sol. The planet"s original inhabitants, a race known as the dremecksa""
"Dremecks. I have never heard of them," said Quong, whipping out his electronic notepad. "Let me have all the details."
"Sorry, Doc, but I wasn"t able to acquire much advance information. What I do know is that they"re gentle and peace-loving and they are now enslaved. And while the scientists and military experts are concerned over the wormhole that they won"t admit exists. His Majesty is concerned about the dremecks. Not just the fact mat they"re slaves, although that"s bad enough. They"re about to be- come dead slaves."
"Genocide? In this enlightened age?" Quong was skeptical.
"It"s been done before in enlightened ages, Doc," said Xris. "His Majesty"s intelligence has uncovered a plot by Kirkov to load all the dremecks on to transports, haul them off into the next quadrant, and s.p.a.ce them."
"What a waste," Raoul lamented. "He could sell them to the Corasians for meat and make several million quite easily."
The other team members stared at him.
Raoul blinked. "Sorry," he murmured. "Did I say that out loud?"
"Is Intelligence certain of its information?" Darlene asked. "I"m afraid I agree with the Doc. It seems impossible to imagine."
"You were in Intelligence," Xris said. "You tell me."
Darlene bit her lip, shook her head, and sighed.
"The humans on Del Sol may live in a police state, but won"t they be just the least little bit upset when they wake up one morning to find an entire population missing?" Jamil demanded.
"Kirkov"s got that figured out. He"s already starting to talk about "relocating" the dremecks to "an environment more suited to their needs." He"ll probably put out fake reports showing the dremecks frolicking on a beach somewhere."
"Not to disparage Intelligence"a"Dr. Quong bowed to Darlenea""but I tend to agree with Raoul, the Master forgive me. It seems a terrible waste of resources. This Kirkov has a cheap labor force. Why get rid of them?"
"Because dremecks are running Del Sol," Xris answered.
"That is not logical, my friend. If they are running the planet, then they are in no danger."
"I don"t mean running as in controlling. I mean that they are literally running it. The dremecks are very clever people. The humans have been turning over all the "menial" labor tasks to them, along with a lot of low-level tech jobs. The dremecks have become essential to the workings of the nuclear power plants, the electrical substations, the commlinksa"you name it. Kirkov is afraid that one day the dremecks will shut Del Sol down, hold the planet hostage. If he gets rid of them himself, sure, things"ll be chaotic for a while, until the humans can figure out what the dremecks have been doing, but at least Kirkov will be in control."
"Poison," said Raoul, tapping his perfectly manicured nails against a small golden case he had removed from his purse.
"No," said Xris. "Revolution. Mag Force 7 has been hired to aid a rebellion. The humans are afraid to rebel against Kirkov, but we have word that the dremecks are not. The dremecks need weapons, training. That"s where we come in."
"Tune frame?" asked Quong.
"We"rea" What"s the matter with him?"
Xris spoke to Raoul, but he was referring to the Little One, who appeared distraught "He is picking up on disturbing emotions," Raoul said, and looked accusingly at Harry.
"Harry," said Xris severely, "you"re thinking again."
"Sorry." Harry ducked his head.
"Time frame. The dictator plans to s.p.a.ce the dremecks on the night of his birthday, a little present to himself. Twenty-one s.p.a.ce-time days from today."
Jamil raised his hand to indicate he had a question, and without waiting for Xris to acknowledge him, fired it in. "What"s our take on this?"
"A small amount up front, with a promise, in writing, for more when the job"s done."
"Who"s hiring us?"
"I can"t say," Xris hedged. "As you can imagine, this has to be handled with extreme delicacy. Certain people can"t be known to be involved."
"You can"t tell us who"s hired us and they"re paying us with promises. No offense, but I think Doc"s right. You"ve got a chemical imbalance somewhere."
"If we pull off this revolution, this person will make the payment," Xris said confidently.
"What if we don"t pull it off? What happens then?"
Xris shrugged. "When have we failed?"
Raoul raised his hand.
"That time doesn"t count," Xris snapped.
Raoul lowered his hand.
Xris continued. "First we train the dremecks into a disciplined, crack fighting forcea""
"Did you say we"re fighting for King Dion?" Harry interrupted. He had been thinking of something else, but thought he should say something to make Xris think that hea"Harry Lucka"hadn"t really been thinking at all.
"No, Harry, I didn"t say that," Xris said patiently. "I didn"t say anything about His Majesty, or if I did I didn"t mean to and so you just forget it. All right?"
Harry nodded.
"Good. Jamil, you and Harry will be in charge of training the dremecks.
"Raoul, you and the Little One will infiltrate the Ministry of Internal Security and keep them from finding out about our rebellion. If they do catch on to us, your secondary mission is to pa.s.s along the warning."
"Internal Security," Raoul said, tasting the words on his tongue. He evidently didn"t like the flavor, for he came as close to frowning as he possibly could without actually harming his complexion. "They sound frightfully ... secure. Are you certain I am going to enjoy this?"
Xris took this opportunity to put a twist into his mouth, which also allowed him to count to whatever number he currently required to restore his patience.
"You"re not being paid to like it," Xris said finally, chewing on the twist.
"I"m not?" Raoul was agog. "Then why ever am I doing it?"
The Little One gave his friend a thump on the thigh with his fist.
Raoul ma.s.saged his leg. "That may do wonders for cellulite, my friend, though thus fara"thank the G.o.ds of thigh creama"I do not suffer from that malady. But I take your point."
Raoul gave a magnanimous nod and subsided. Xris waited a moment to make certain he wasn"t going to suffer from further interruption, then proceeded.
"Darlene, you will be in charge of subverting the local media. The population has to believe that there"s the rebel equivalent of four Imperial Marine Divisions ready to take the city, and you"re the one who"s going to make them believe it. In addition, you"ll plant a few bugs in the communication system of Kirkov"s Army, make it tough for them to put together a military response to our actions."
Darlene nodded, smiling.
Xris shifted the twist from one side of his mouth to the other. He looked grim. "Doc, I saved the messy, dangerous part of the job for you."
"Of course," Quong said calmly. "You know that I am the most capable of handling such a.s.signments."
Jamil snorted. Quong cast him a disparaging glance, sat up even straighter.
"I want you to gain entrance into Del Sol high society, Doc."
"Yes, and then whom do I a.s.sa.s.sinate?"
Xris took the twist from his mouth. A corner of his lip twitched. "You don"t a.s.sa.s.sinate anyone, Doc. You get chummy with the rich and the powerful, find out who"s discontented with the current regime, who would be willing to provide influence and backing when our brave rebel forces march down the streets of Del Sol." Xris waved the twist. "Promise them a share of the next government, if you want."
"Dangerous a.s.signment, Doc," said Jamil, chuckling. "Watch out that your black tie doesn"t strangle you. And think of all the champagne you"ll have to drink to keep your cover! I"m sure Raoul can teach you the latest dance stepsa""
Raoul was patting the air with his fingertips, a sure sign that he was distraught. "Champagne! Black tie! The rich and the powerful! And you are sending in a man who wears cranberry-colored socks with a red c.u.mmerbund! I protest most stronglya""
"I told you, I dressed in the dark! And no one could see my socks anyway!" Quong returned, offended.
"I knew they were there," Raoul replied in sepulchral tones. "And they ruined my evening."
"Well, as long as we"re being honest"a"Quong bristleda" "the feather boa you were wearing made you look like aa""
The doorbell rang.
Jamil looked at Xris, silently asked if he was expecting someone.
Xris shook his head.
The living room was located in the rear of the house, provided no glimpse of what was happening in front. There was no way they could see who was out there.
The doorbell rang again.
"Aren"t the gate guards supposed to notify you if anyone is coming?" Jamil asked softly.
Xris nodded. "Unless someone told them not to. Doc, check out the back."
Quong padded soft-footed through the darkened living room to the sliding gla.s.s doors overlooking the deck and the beach.
Xris turned to the Little One. "Who is it?"
The Little One grabbed hold of his fedora, pulled it down over his ears almost to his small shoulders, and shook his head violently.
"He says that whoever is out there is surrounded by what I can only describe as a ... a mental dust storm," Raoul said. "The dust storm prevents my friend from obtaining any sort of reading."
"Dandy. Just dandy," Xris muttered.
"I told you we should have set out the security cams," Harry pointed out.
"Thank you, Mr. Luck. You can be team leader next week, okay?"
The ringing was repeated, more forcefully.
"Xris," reported Dr. Quong, returning from his reconnaissance mission, "there are two men walking slowly along the beach."
"Sweatshirts? Sweatpants?"
"Yes, those are the ones."
Xris swore softly, rose to his feet. Raoul reached languidly and casually for his purse, which contained his special lethal lipstick. Jamil drew a .44-decawatt gun from a holster he wore on his belt in the small of his back and padded soft-footed into the hall, positioning himself for a clear line of fire out the front door. The Little One placed his hand inside his raincoat, brought out a blowguna"his favored weapona"and crept behind the couch. Quong drew his .44 and placed his back against the wall, keeping a watch out the patio doors.
"Harry, you"re with Darlene!" Xris whispered.
He looked at the vidscreen, which provided a view of the porch, but all he could see were wavy lines: some sort of interference.
"Sorry, I can"t come to the door right now," he said through the speaker. "I just got out of the shower and I"m dripping wet with no clothes on. Who is it?"
"I"m a friend of your wife"s," was the response in a cool, feminine voice.
"Sorry. Marjorie"s out of town. Leave your name and I"ll tell her you called."
"I know she"s out of town," the voice returned. "I know where she is, in fact. Do you?"
Jamil sucked in his breath, let it out in a low whistle.
Quong frowned and pursed his lips.
"What is it? What"s wrong?" Raoul whispered. He turned to his friend. "Do you know what"s wrong?"
The Little One made a low, feral growling sound in his throat.
Xris said nothing for a moment. He removed the twist from his mouth, stared at it, then tossed it into an ashtray.
He was on the intercom again. "Look, give me a moment. Let me put some clothes on." He turned, issued orders. "Harry, take Darlene to the garage. The hover"s parked inside. Switch on the computer, but don"t fire the engines. Just be ready to if I give you the word. You and Darlene might need to make a fast departure." Xris tapped his head. "Listen for my orders over the commlink. Got that, Harry?"
"Commlink?" Harry was puzzled.
"The one behind your ear! The one Doc implanted! Tap it twice to activate it!"
"Oh, yeah. Sorry, I forgot. Sure, Xris. You can count on me." Harry drew his handgun from its shoulder holster.
"The two men have changed direction." Quong was keeping an eye out the back. "They are now approaching the house."