Cryoburn - Lois McMaster Bujold [128]
Jin felt his captor flinch. The knife edge bit harder. Hans yelled back, "You again! Drop that damned stuh-"
A white light flared from Roic-san's hand, and a strange buzzing noise. The world, or maybe it was Jin's head, seemed to explode in a jagged shower of colored rain. The rain turned black, and drowned him deep.
Chapter Nineteen
To Roic's surprise, he was actually aided in his capture of the remaining NewEgypt security fellow by Dr. Leiber. Oki had grabbed the scientist when Roic had shouted, presumably to keep him from bolting, but then found him harder to get rid of; Leiber hung on to the thick left arm that was trying to shake him off, turning and twisting and evading what looked to be a heavy-duty shock stick, just long enough for Roic to close the distance and aim his stunner between Oki's eyes at point-blank range.
"Give it up, Oki," Roic advised genially. "It's been over ever since I sent your confessions off in a bottle. I'd have thought you people would have realized that."
Caught and nailed by Roic's steady and implacable gaze as much as by the weapon aimed at his head, Oki reluctantly held his right arm wide and released his shock stick, which fell with a clatter. As he slumped, Leiber stood away from him, wheezing but with his spine actually straight for a change. Unasked, Oki folded his hands atop his head and stood looking downright miserable.
Madame Sato, distraught, slid to the floor to gather up her son's limp body. The unconscious boy was pale, but Roic saw with satisfaction that the cut on his neck was a mere shallow scratch, barely bleeding.
"I'm sorry Jin was caught in my stunner nimbus, ma'am," Roic said to her. "But I've found it's usually better to resolve these hostage situations as directly as I can. Bad to let them spin out."
"This is a nightmare," she groaned.
Roic granted this with a nod, but said, "Cut short now, ma'am. Raven will get Jin some synergine right away"-Roic rolled his eye compellingly at Raven-"and he won't even wake up with a headache."
Raven took the hint and scurried back to the recovery room for suitable supplies.
M'lord strolled up, possessed himself of the shock stick, and regarded their captive with a curious and thoughtful air, like a biologist planning out the dissection of a promising new specimen.
Oki regarded him back, bewildered. "Who the hell are you people, anyway?"
"From your point of view," said m'lord, "I suppose we're your karma delivery service. Why the devil didn't you and your buddy Hans run and keep on running when you had the chance, earlier today? Yesterday, by now, I guess. Why ever did you go back to your bosses?"
"We got families, you know."
M'lord's brows rose. Had this not occurred to him before now, Roic wondered? "If you didn't want to be a disgrace to them, you're about eighteen months too late, I think."
Oki rocked a bit. "That, and the money."
M'lord brows went up a bit further. Oki said defensively, "For the first time in my life, the money was good. We bought a house."
Oki's was not exactly a world of riotous living, Roic suspected. If NewEgypt's plant security hiring practices were any good, he'd probably been an honest man, before he'd been sucked down into this bog by his bosses. Roic glanced at m'lord, prepared to give a hint and a nudge, but m'lord was on it already.
"It's not too late even now to limit your damages. What's the local equivalent of turning Emperor's Witness around here, does anyone know? They must have one."
"Prefecture's Evidence, I believe, m'lord," said Roic.
"I happen to have a good lawyer on retainer who can advise you, if you cooperate with me in a timely fashion," m'lord told their captive. "That means, instantly."
Roic took the cue and a tighter grip on his stunner, staring along its length into Oki's eyes, for emphasis.
"Where were you taking Leiber and Sato just now?" asked m'lord.