Star Wars_ Cloak of Deception - James Luceno [94]
Qui-Gon turned through another circle. The Eriadu delegation had granted itself the center of the floor, with Supreme Chancellor Valorum to their left, and the Trade Federation Directorate to their right. The Commerce Guild and the Techno Union had an arc of seats between the two, buffered by delegations from the Core and the outlying systems.
Qui-Gon’s eyes were drawn once more to the overhead walkways and gantries, many of which supported arrays of spotlights and acoustic devices.
Snipers could be placed almost at will, he told himself. Assassins without regard for their own lives could inflict incalculable injury.
“Do you sense anything, Master?” Obi-Wan asked from behind him.
“Only that we are fighting something unseen, Obi-Wan. Each time we draw close to identifying our adversary, it subverts and evades us.”
“Then it isn’t Captain Cohl?”
Qui-Gon shook his head. “There is an organizing hand at work here—one that moves Cohl about as effortlessly as it moves us.”
“Not this Havac.”
Qui-Gon pondered it momentarily, then shook his head again. “It has no name that I know, Padawan. Perhaps the mystery owes to nothing more than my inability to see beyond the moment. What do you feel?”
Obi-Wan’s expression became serious. “I feel that we’re close to resolving this, Master.”
Qui-Gon touched him on the shoulder. “That’s comforting to hear.”
Adi Gallia and Vergere stepped down to the first tier to speak with them.
“Security assures us that the entry scanners are capable of detecting explosives, along with weapons—regardless of their composition,” Adi said. “Guards will be stationed on the floor of the hall, and circulating up top, along the walkways. Security units and other droids will provide continuous surveillance of the roof areas.”
“That may hamper Cohl from initiating an attack here,” Qui-Gon replied, “but what about outside the hall?”
“The Supreme Chancellor’s route will be determined by computer, at the last moment.”
“I’d rather that the route be by skycar to the rooftop pad.”
Adi shook her head negatively. “I’m sorry, Qui-Gon. He insists on arriving by ground-effect vehicle. We’ll have to trust in the same precautions that safeguarded him on the route from the spaceport to Lieutenant Governor Tarkin’s compound.”
“Qui-Gon!” Master Tiin called out suddenly.
Qui-Gon turned to find him and Ki-Adi-Mundi hurrying across the floor toward them.
“Captain Cohl’s freighter has been found,” Tiin continued. “The Corellian freighter. Ten customs agents were found tied up in the rear cabin.”
Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan swapped brief looks. “How do they know it’s the one Cohl piloted here?”
“The navicomputer indicates that the ship jumped to Eriadu from Karfeddion space,” Ki-Adi-Mundi explained.
“Cohl must have piloted the customs agents’ ship to the surface,” Qui-Gon surmised.
Tiin nodded as he came to a halt in front of Qui-Gon. “The customs ship has been located at the spaceport.”
“We should see for ourselves,” Obi-Wan said in a rush. Then he stopped himself and regarded Tiin. “What prompted anyone to conduct a search of the freighter?”
Tiin appeared to have anticipated the question, along with Qui-Gon’s look of wary concern.
“The authorities received an anonymous lead.”
Cohl’s eyelids fluttered, then snapped open. Boiny’s blood-smeared face swam unfocused in his gaze. He felt nauseated and wired. He knew that he should be in great pain, but he was only vaguely aware of his body. Boiny had obviously dosed him with pain blockers. Cohl tasted blood in his mouth, and something else—the syrupy astringency of bacta.
Boiny’s features began to sharpen and come into focus. A blaster bolt had burned a deep furrow in the left side of the Rodian’s greenish skull. The wound glistened with freshly applied bacta, but Cohl doubted that