Inherit the Earth - Brian Stableford [33]
That argument was sufficient to make Lenny Garon back off, but it had the opposite effect on Diana.
“I want to know what’s going on,” she said ominously. “I have a right to know. You were the one who saved the news until we were here.”
“If you hadn’t walked out when you did,” Madoc told her waspishly, “you would know what’s going on. You’d still have been there when the cops came to call.”
“All the more reason why you should have told me,” she said. “All the more reason why you should tell me now.”
Madoc raised his eyes to heaven. “Not here,” he said. “Lenny, I’m really sorry about all this. I just wanted to make sure that you were okay.”
“You just wanted to make sure that he wasn’t about to quit on you when he realized how dangerous your little games can be,” Diana came back maliciously. “You have to be careful choosing your so-called friends, Lenny. Some of them only want to jerk your strings. People die in those backstreets, you know—far more than Eliminators ever kill. Whatever kind of trouble Damon thinks he’s in is nothing compared to the trouble you’re in. Always remember—Damon got out of your line of work and took up making pornypops and phone link frippery. That’s the example to bear in mind.”
“She’s right, Lenny,” Madoc said, having been given ample time to replan his strategy while the vitriol was pouring out. “Damon got out, and you should aim to get out too—but Damon didn’t get out until he’d made his mark. He went out a winner, not a quitter. You can be a winner too, Lenny, if you stick at it.”
“I know that,” the boy in the bed assured him. “I know I can.”
“Let’s get out of here,” said Diana disgustedly. “You’ve checked your investment, and it seems to be in working order. They’ll let him go home tonight, if he insists.”
“I’m sorry, Lenny,” Madoc said. “Diana’s under a lot of strain just now. I shouldn’t have brought her with me.” Maybe I shouldn’t have let her through the door, he added beneath his breath, and maybe I shouldn’t let her in again—except that she might be more of a nuisance out of my sight than she will be where I can keep an eye on her. He followed her out of the room and along the corridor to the elevator.
Diana didn’t say a word until they were back in the car, but she didn’t waste any time thereafter. When he took the controls himself she actually lifted his hands from the keypad and switched on the AP, instructing it to take them home.
“What’s going on?” she wanted to know.
“Damon got a visit from the cops after you left,” he said. “Interpol, not his old friends from the LAPD. They wanted to know if he knew anything that could help them find his foster father. He didn’t so he asked me if I could use my contacts to find out anything. I’m trying to do that. That’s all.”
“Where do the Eliminators come in? They don’t do kidnappings.”
“They may have done this one. About the time the foster father went missing some crazy posted a notice about Damon’s biological father.”
“I didn’t know that Damon knew who his biological father was, or that he cared. I don’t even know the name of mine—do you?”
“As a matter of fact, I do know my biological father’s name, although it was never a matter of great interest to me. Damon’s case is different—but he didn’t like to talk about it. I guess he wanted to keep all that stuff from cluttering up his relationship with you.”
“I guess he did,” she said bitterly. “If he hadn’t been so determined to keep his stupid secrets, maybe . . . .”
“Maybe nothing,” Madoc said wearily. “It’s over—let it go.”
“It’s over when it’s over,” she told him, trading cliché for cliché. “So tell me—who was Damon’s biological father? I can find out on my own, you know—I’m no Webwalker, but it has to be a matter of record, if only someone can be bothered to look hard enough. Interpol must have made the connection.”
“It’s not exactly a matter of public record,” said Madoc unhappily. He knew, though, that even a rank amateur like Diana could probably