Suicide, Inc

CHAPTER 8

She held out her hand, smiling quietly. “I lied to your robot,” Jennifer said. “I wasn’t calling from Triplan. And I lied to you, too, Jared. This isn’t an official client and agency meeting.”

Smith shook her hand. “Maybe it isn’t a good idea to-”

“But this is about the case. Can we walk for a while?”

He’d come to one of the marinas in the capital to meet her, a long curving stretch of low glaz and neowood buildings along the edge of the sea. There was a restaurant nearby where they had met fairly often. A long time ago.

“We can walk,” he said.

A faint midday breeze was drifting in across the bright ocean.

“You look,” she said, “fit and well.”

“You look sad.”

“Imagination.”

“Probably.”

“You’re all right, happy and all?”

“Laughing from dawn to dusk.”

“There are still times when I miss you, Jared.”

“Not too many.”

She said, “If you meet my husband, don’t mention I called you or talked to you like this.”

“Whistler operatives are discreet.”

She slowed. “When I learned you’d be working on this, I wanted you to be told everything. My husband didn’t agree.”

“But you’re telling me now anyway.”

“Something’s happened.”

“I know about your security man’s being killed.”

Jennifer shook her head impatiently. “You remember Hal Larzon?”

“One of the Horizon Kids, sure.”

“He’s dead.” She stopped walking, paused on the white gravel path and looked out at the glittering sea. “He was murdered.”

“When?”

“Late yesterday. We found out this morning,” she answered. “Whoever did it used a kilgun on him.”

“Where was Larzon?”

“Here, in the capital. We’d brought him in for the for the…reunion.”

Smith said, “His name isn’t on my list. Does he tie in in some way with the others?”

“Oh, hell,” she said quietly. “The damn reunion is just a cover. Of the forty-three Horizon Kids we’re only interested in ten. Half we were able to find on our own, but the others have simply dropped from sight. After Schuster, our security agent, was killed, my husband decided we needed some outside help.” Slim shoulders slightly hunched, Jennifer began walking again.

He walked close beside her, careful not to touch her.

“Larzon was one of the ten?”

“Yes, and they got to him.”

“Who?”

“We’re not sure, but it seems likely that Syndek Industries is involved somehow.”

“That’s Triplan’s largest rival hereabouts.”

“Yes, they are.”

“Is that how you folks do your business, by killing each other off?”

“You ought to know what it’s like on this planet, since you were a lawman here once.”

Smith asked, “Why are these ten HH kids on your list?”

“It has to do with…with something my father was working on just before he died. I…well, I can’t give you all the details, but it’s important.”

“A weapon?”

“No, but something important, and valuable.”

“Why wait all this time after your father’s death to go tracking people down?”

“We didn’t find out about it until…until recently.”

He watched five small multicolor nukepower boats go gliding along the horizon. “All ten people know the secret?”

“Each knows only a part.”

“Ah, a human jigsaw.” Smith grinned. “Why’d your dad hide his secret this particular way?”

“It was something…” She looked up at him. “He came up with something while he was working for the damn Miracle Office, something he simply didn’t want them to have. So he broke his notes and schematics up this way and then destroyed them. His intention was to retrieve all ten parts after he left the government’s employ.”

“Do the carriers know?”

She lowered her head, kicking at the pale orange sand at the path’s edge. “No. Dad…well, he implanted the information by way of electrohypnosis. Each of them is walking around with a part of…of the puzzle. When each hears a special trigger word he or she’ll go into a trance and recite the buried information or draw a part of the plans.”

“Very clever man, your pop. Kindly, good with children and-“

“He was brilliant,” she said, angry. “You never liked him, which is why you-”

“You’re wrong. I liked him, I was even dumb enough to think of him as a substitute father,” Smith told her. “That’s why, when he told you to drop me out of your life, I was…surprised.”

“It wasn’t his fault that…oh, hell, never mind.” She took hold of his arm. “I want you to know what you’re really up against, Jared. You’re going to have to be careful and-”

“I’m almost always careful.”

“I don’t want you to be killed…or even hurt.”

“That’s heartwarming.”

Jennifer let go of his arm. “You’re still a shit at heart, aren’t you?” she said, stepping back from him. “Never let anyone do you a favor without treating them like-”

“About Larzon. Did you get the information he had?”

“Yes. We did.”

“What about the opposition, Syndek or whoever it might be?”

“There’s evidence that some brainprobing was done before he was killed.”

“How the hell did your rivals hear about this in the first place?”

“A leak, obviously,” she replied, “but we haven’t found it yet.”

“Okay, what I have to do is find the lost five first off,” he said, “and see that they remain alive and well.”

“And watch out for competition.”

“Can you give me a list of the whole ten?”

“You don’t need to know the-”

“The better informed I am, the safer I feel.”

“I’ll write the names out for you, but you can’t go near any of those we’ve already-”

“Trust me not to be dumb.”

Jennifer stopped walking once again. “Do you realize, Jared, that all the time we’ve been talking you’ve never once used my name?”

“Sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean anything by it, Mrs. Arloff.”