Cryoburn - Lois McMaster Bujold [104]
"So I went to see Lisa Sato in person. I didn't even make an appointment over the comconsole, just went and knocked on her door one night. And she was everything I'd hoped she would be! I went again, and gave copies of all the data I had to her and George Suwabi, poor guy, and that's when they came up with the rally speech idea, to release it all at once in a way the corps couldn't quash. I thought it was all fixed.
"A few days later, when I went into work, Rog called me in to his office, and suddenly I was being given a shot of fast-penta. They squeezed everything out of me." He hesitated. "Almost everything. Everything about the rally plan, and then they ran off in a hurry to do something about it. That's where Hans and Oki first got into it, I think-they did the legwork setting up the riot. I think Oki had a relative in the N.H.L.L., actually, which gave them their in."
"Who all was present at this interrogation?"
"All of them. The big four, I mean."
"Was that legal or illegal here? The use of fast-penta on an employee, I mean?"
"Kind of legal. I guess. I mean, they're allowed to use it in suspected cases of employee theft and crimes on the premises and so on. You have to sign a release when you're first employed."
"I see."
"There are rules about how it has to be conducted to make it admissible in court, later. But I don't think they were paying much attention to those in my case. Because the last thing they'd want is for any of this to get to a court. Because then they locked me up in Security's holding area."
"Was that also kind-of-legal?"
"They're allowed to hold suspects till the real police arrive. Except, of course, the police never did. By the time they let me out, two days later, it was all over for Lisa and her people." He bit his lip, clenched his hands. "I was helpless. Although not as helpless as the Gang of Four had figured, thanks to Lisa."
"How was that?"
"When I brought her and George the data, she told me to place a copy somewhere secret-lawyer, bank vault, wherever-with instructions to simultaneously release it to a bunch of places-the courts, all the Prefecture departments of justice, the news, the net-in the event of my death, freezing, or disappearance. Which I did."
"And that bought you protection from your bosses?"
"No, they had the location out of me in no time. Thing is, Lisa and George also hid copies, and by the time NewEgypt figured this out, they were both . . . well, Lisa was frozen and George was dead. The Gang searched, but they never found the other two copies."
"How do you know?"
Leiber smiled grimly. "I'm still above room temperature and walking around."
"Ah. Reasonable inference." Miles rubbed his lips. "Were Suwabi and Tennoji murdered on purpose, then? By Hans and Oki, perhaps?"
"By Hans and Oki, but I don't think they were told to kill anyone. I think those were attempted snatches that went wrong. They managed to get Kang and Khosla and Lisa, though." Leiber's lips twisted. "Speaking of job security. Both were given bonuses and raises, after, despite the big screw-ups. I wasn't privy to the under-the-table agreements. They can't turn in their bosses without incriminating themselves, and vice versa. And I think the Four kind of liked the idea of owning their own dirty-work squad. In case they needed someone to handle people like me again.
"Anyway, the impasse bought everyone time to calm down and think, even me. I felt so badly about it all. Especially Lisa. I mean, I'd destroyed everything she'd worked for, even though I was just trying to help. So when I was offered the bribe, I took it, even though I didn't believe it for a minute, because I thought it would pacify them." He brooded. "They'd bribed Rog a lot earlier, I think."
"What form did this bribe take?"
"Nothing immediately useful, they