Inherit the Earth - Brian Stableford [50]
“Going back to the basics, Damon?” Diana asked, although she must have had a readout to inform her that he was calling from a public phone in Kaunakakai. After she’d finished the contrived sneer she looked him defiantly in the eye, as if to say that it was about time he made a start on his apologies.
“Never mind the smart remarks, Diana,” Damon said. “I need to get hold of Madoc as soon as possible.”
“He’s out,” she said sourly. Her face blurred slightly as she moved back from her own unit’s camera, reflexively trying to cover her realization that he hadn’t called to talk to her.
“I know that. I also know that he doesn’t want to be located, even by me—but I need to get a message to him with the least possible delay. Will you do that for me, please?”
Damon could see that Diana was tempted to tell him where to put his message, but she thought better of it.
“What message?” she asked curiously.
“Can you tell him that in view of recent developments I really need that package we discussed. He’ll understand what I mean and why. I’ve authorized him to draw more cash on the card I gave him, so that he can pull out all the stops. I’ll be flying back tonight or early tomorrow, and I need to know what he’s dug up as soon as I land. If he can meet me at the airport that would be good, but not if it takes him away from significant investigations. Have you got all that?”
“Of course I’ve got it,” she snapped back. “Do you think I’m stupid or something? What’s all this shit about recent developments and the package we discussed? Why are you trying to hide things from me? We had a row, that’s all!”
Damon had to suppress an impulse to react in kind, but he knew that matching wrath with wrath would only escalate the conversation into a shouting match. Instead, he found the most soothing tone he could and said: “I’m sorry, Di—I’m a bit wound up. I’m not trying to keep secrets from you, but this is a public booth. Just ask Madoc to do what he can, and tell him he has extra resources if he needs them to speed things along. I really need you to do this for me, Diana. In a couple of days, if you want to, we can talk—but right now Silas Arnett is in bad trouble, and I have to do everything I possibly can to help find him. Bear with me, please. I have to go now.”
“I know what’s going on,” she said quickly. She didn’t want him to cut the connection.
“That’s okay, Di,” he said reassuringly. “It’s no big secret—but it’s not something I want broadcast, certainly not in the direction of the news tapes. If you’re keeping up with the news, you’ll realize why I’m in a hurry.”
Her perplexed expression told him that she hadn’t been monitoring the Web for new information regarding Silas Arnett, although Madoc must have been alerted to the new Operator 101 package at least as quickly as Karol Kachellek’s assistants. Perhaps Madoc had deliberately killed the alarms in the apartment because Diana was there—although it was careless of him, if so, to have allowed his calls to be automatically diverted from his beltpack to his home phone.
“Why didn’t you tell me that your father was Conrad Helier?” Diana demanded, still trying to stop him from breaking the connection.
“I was trying to forget it,” Damon told her tersely. “It wasn’t relevant.”
“It seems to be relevant now,” she said.
“It’s Silas Arnett’s kidnapping that’s relevant to me,” he retorted. “I’ve got to go, Di. I have to talk to my foster father—my other foster father. I’ll call again, when I can. We will talk, if that’s what you want.”
“I might not be here,” she informed him without much conviction. “I have better things to do than provide Madoc’s answering service.”
“Good-bye, Di,” Damon said—and cut the connection before she could string the exchange out any further.
He reached out to the door of the booth, but then thought better of it. He called up the message that Lenny Garon