Cryoburn - Lois McMaster Bujold [106]
Out of breath, Madame Sato sank into the seat, her brown eyes still glaring at Leiber over the top of her filtering mask. Leiber, too, sank down, or maybe his knees gave way.
Madame Sato rubbed her furrowed forehead, a gesture that made Raven frown medically. Her voice drooped in exhaustion along with her body. "If the corps have grown so corrupt and above the law that they can get away not just with theft, but with murder, what hope is there left for Kibou?"
"Escape?" Leiber offered.
Her eyes shot sparks of scorn, over her mask. "Leaving my children to be chewed up in this maw?" She drew breath. "Everyone's children?"
Miles said mildly, "NewEgypt hasn't got away with murder yet. In fact, their very secrecy suggests they're still vulnerable on that point. A big enough stink bomb, suitably aimed, might still land on the target."
Madame Sato shook her head. Miles wasn't sure if her spasm of despair was the result of post-revival exhaustion, perfectly understandable under the circumstances, or of an acquaintance with Kibou-daini's troubles much deeper than his own. Raven's glower at him suggested the former, though.
"Roic," he said over his shoulder, "I want you to run a fast-penta interrogation on both those goons we have downstairs. Focus on the murders, but get as much else as you can, especially about their bosses. Shoot the recordings over to the consulate, secured link."
"Will such confessions be admissible to the local courts?"
"Mm, I need to think about that. The fact that we're not the local authorities may put a wrinkle in it. Vorlynkin can ask the consulate lawyer." Miles wondered what that as-yet-unmet woman was making of the recent stream of bizarre legal questions from her client. Well, it was doubtless time she earned her retainer. "In any case, I want to secure the evidence for my own purposes. Birds in the hand and all that."
"Do we still want to release them, after? If they're murderers?"
"It sounds as if they were amateurs, not contract killers. And bungling amateurs at that. Eh. Depends on what turns up in the interrogations. Raven can assist, but don't let them see him. No point in letting them know any more than they do already."
"And if either or both of them are allergic?"
An induced, and fatal, allergy to fast-penta was not uncommon among galactic covert operatives; Miles wasn't sure about these civilians. "Have Raven check first. The test patches are in my kit along with the fast-penta. If so, call me."
Roic nodded. Miles was confident in Roic's interrogation skills on criminal matters; this was one task he might safely delegate.
"The larger issues . . ." Miles's voice slowed. "I don't have a handle on yet. It's hard to see how this technology, widely adopted and combined with human nature, wouldn't run into the same traps everywhere, in due course. In a broader sense, this is Barrayar's problem, too, or will be." Good, he had an all-purpose defense for his expense reports for this case. That had been a minor but growing concern.
Roic scratched his head. "Thing is-everyone here's headed for the same end. If the higher-ups allow the whole system to get too corrupt, how do they expect to assure their own future revivals?"
"Never underestimate the human capacity for wishful thinking and willful blindness," said Miles. Such as a whole society of people who became so wrapped up in avoiding death, they forgot to be alive?
Roic tapped his fingers on his trouser seam. "Yeah, belike."
A motion caught Miles's eye-the outer door of the recovery room opening. Vorlynkin appeared, being anxiously towed by Jin and Mina.
Miles pointed. "Madame Sato, I believe you have some visitors."
Her head turned. She gasped, under her mask, and her eyes widened. She scrambled from her chair, Raven springing to the alert in case the sudden motion made her dangerously dizzy, but she was already banging out of the booth.
"Jin! Mina!"
"Mommy!"
The pair raced forward, but, since they did not let go of Vorlynkin, the man was pulled into a