Infinity Beach - Jack McDevitt [189]
Kim looked around the room. It was not very tidy. “Put her through, Shep. Audio.” And after the click: “Hello, Tora. What can I do for you?”
“Kim, I’m at home. Can you come over? There’s something I want to show you.”
“Sure. What’s it about?”
“Not on an open circuit. I’ll tell you when you get here. Please hurry.”
So they were on a first-name basis now. Puzzled, Kim sent for a taxi. Ten minutes later she was in the air, headed north. Rain beat down on the aircraft and the wind gave her a rough ride. But the storm subsided as she came in sight of Tora’s villa. The flyer descended onto the pad and Kim got out, instructing the vehicle to wait. She splashed through puddles and climbed onto the porch.
“Can I help you?” asked the house AI.
“Dr. Kane asked me to come by.”
“I’m sorry. Dr Kane is not at home.”
“That can’t be right. Are you sure?”
“She is not here. But I will be happy to relay a message to her, if you wish.”
Kim stared at the front door. The house stared back.
She used her commlink to find Kane’s number and then put through a call. It chimed twice.
“Kane.”
“Tora, this is Kim Brandywine.”
“Hello, Brandywine. What can I do for you?”
“I’m at your place. You asked me to come over.”
“You’re where?”
“At your place.”
“My place? I don’t know anything about it. Who’d you talk to?”
“Forget it,” she said. She switched to Shep’s circuit, but he didn’t answer.
Not good. She strode quickly to the taxi and ordered it back home.
Two hours later she walked into Mart’s office. He looked up from his desk, surprised to see her, startled at her appearance. “You okay?” he asked.
She closed the door behind her and sat down. “Somebody’s been at Shep.”
“Uh-oh. What did they get?”
“I think we can assume everything.”
“The Kane disk?”
“That too.”
He looked around the office as if suddenly wondering whether it was secure. “Why? Who would do it?”
“I can only think of one person.”
“Woodbridge?”
“Yep.”
“So what’s everything? Do they know what we talked about this morning?”
“There’s no way to be sure. Shep didn’t have any of it, but it’s possible somebody was listening.”
Matt nodded slowly. “So what did they get that they didn’t already have?”
“The Valiant.”
“They know where it is?”
“They know it exists.”
“That’s not so good.” He inhaled. Exhaled. Looked uncertain. “I was going to call you.”
“About—?”
“I’ve spoken with Dr. Agostino.”
“I thought we agreed we wouldn’t bring him in.”
“Come on, Kim. Be reasonable. He understands the situation and he’s willing to set up a contact team.”
“He’s probably why I got raided.”
“I don’t believe it. When’d it happen?”
“Around three.”
“I talked to him less than an hour ago.” It was almost five o’clock.
“All right,” she said. “Look, they’ll be coming after the Valiant. We need to get moving.”
“The plan was to leave next week. We thought that was pushing it.”
“Not good enough. We need to be on our way tomorrow.”
“That’s not practical.”
“Forget practical. We’d be better off clearing out tonight. Tell everybody we go tomorrow. Anybody who can’t be there, leave without.”
“You’ll need supplies, Kim. This kind of thing can’t be managed overnight.”
“This one has to be. Do it overnight or forget it.”
“I’ll do what I can,” he said. “We’ll be using the McCollum. It’s in port and ready to go. All we need is the people.”
“Then get them started. Have we got a pilot?”
“Ali Kassem. Do you know him?”
“Met him once or twice.” Solly had spoken well of him. That was good enough.
Matt called her at home late that evening. “We got a late request,” he said. “Can you talk to the Terminal City Business Association tomorrow?”
It was the signal. They would leave tomorrow night.
She complained that it was short notice, and he apologized, said he’d originally planned to handle it himself, but