Wild Country

Chapter Twenty-Eight

She held the amulet by its chain. With its great oval jewel missing from the bezel, it pendulumed slowly in the firelight, the silvery stainless steel and black diamonds gleaming. She let him grasp it before she released the chain. "I sold the big opal in the center," she said, and set about warming their coffee.

Quantrill had never seen the thing but recognized it from sketches. "They said Chabrier gave this to Eve Simpson," he murmured, turning it over to see the display on its back. The amulet had been a calculator as well! He saw that the thimble-sized yield chamber unscrewed, sniffed at it, glanced up as Sandy handed him a hot mug. "How did you get hold of this?"

"Believe it or not, Ba'al brought it here. The chain was caught over one of his tusks, but if it had bothered him, it wouldn't have been there long."

"When?" She could read nothing from his face.

A slow sip; then, "The day after the Simpson woman was killed at the dude ranch. I didn't make the connection until you told me about the amulet — how important it was. I let Childe play with the damned thing until she managed to synthesize a stink like last year's eggs." No response; he just kept looking at the device cupped in his hand. "When I did realize what it was… well, you were the one who said a thing like this would change the world." This time she saw him nod, sun-bleached straight hair falling over his brow. "Ted, will you please say something? Or hit me, if that's what you feel like. My love, I was afraid! I don't want my world changed, Ted; I like it pretty much as it is — with a few reservations."

He dropped the amulet in her lap, flicked his forelock back with one hand absently, and leaned back cradling his mug in both hands, staring at the fireplace. "Well, it isn't important anymore, Sandy. You had four years to mull it over. Do you realize you could've been filthy rich with this thing?"

"In some ways, I am. Maybe I thought you'd understand."

"Maybe I do. Hell, I don't know, honey. Hold it: you sold the Ember of Venus from this thing? My God, no wonder you could buy all the stuff I see around here. You must have a king's ransom squirreled away somewhere."

She told him, to the penny. "Lufo probably cheated me," she added gloomily.

"That goes without saying. But it's too late to worry about that now. Sandy. The real question is, what do we do with that amulet?"

"Give it to a museum? You said it isn't important."

"I hadn't thought it through. You tell me: what would the Japanese give for it?"

Aghast: "You wouldn't!"

"No. And I really have to talk to Jim Street."

Sniffing it: "Huh. That old man put you in harness, and you'll die in it."

"He's the nearest thing to an incorruptible man that I know of and this time I don't want you to get chiseled out of what's coming to you. Will you trust me on this?"

"I already have, Ted." She moved nearer, her hand caressing his arm, setting his coffee mug aside. "Are you… terribly angry with me?"

"Oh, I'll survive," he said, trying to keep it light, pulling her near for an embrace. Then, feeling her tremble in his arms, he realized how seriously she took the matter. "Look," he murmured, "you did what you thought was right. It was your decision."

"But not one of my better ones, hm?"

"I don't know. Maybe we'll know more when I get back from Corpus."

"And it's late, and you need to be fresh tomorrow," she said, beginning to arrange the couch so that he could stretch out. She would sleep with Childe, as always.

He helped her in the dim light of embers, then sat down while she stood above him, his chin in his hands. He was laughing softly. "To think that blowsy bitch is still running our lives, four years after she dies," he said.

"Who? Oh; Eve Simpson. Should I be jealous of her?"

"That's obscene, Sandy. Forget how she looked on holo; she was very fat and very kinky."

Sandy put her hands on his shoulders. Almost whispering: "For all I know, that turned you on. You once said that if Eve Simpson had been on the Titanic, it couldn't have sunk — but it might have gone down."

"OM-rageous," he chuckled. "There was a time when you wouldn't repeat such a thing."

"It was just a monkey do," she said, teasing him in a near whisper, playing the contrite schoolgirl as easily as she had played the whore for him in SanTone Ringcity. "You know; monkey see, monkey do."

"Cute," he growled, and began to chuckle through it. "If you're not careful, your monkey will get something to climb on."

Now she stepped astride his legs, flouncing her skirt to free her movements, and now she was lowering herself down facing him, hands gripping his shoulders, hips gyrating over him, whispering, "Ah, yes," and, "There, love," and, "Yes, there; easy, quickly, yes and yes," as she bent to find his mouth with her tongue.

Evidently, thought Ted Quantrill as he drifted into sleep, her monkey was about half rabbit…