Behold a Dark Mirror (5 page)

Stock ownership in IPG became a valuable asset.  The political difficulty of generating new initial public offerings soon froze the dynamic of the process and established the root of its inevitable demise.

Sometimes I wonder if the genius that inspired the beginning might be indeed moved by higher motives.  If so, then its weakness is lack of understanding of the fickleness of mankind.  It befuddles me how brilliant thinkers are sooner or later the prey of cunning tinkerers.  But if there was a method in this plan, then genius created it.”

Nero tapped the page;  the rest of this manuscript should make interesting reading.  Yet, the lure of the optical card was even greater to him:  There was a message from Kebe on it.

*

In the trailer, he dumped the book on the kitchen table.  The microfiches were tucked away in the safe at the way station.  The reader clicked, engulfing the card in its bowels.  The screen lit up, blank.  Still no video–too bad.

“Hi there.  You know who I am and what I'm talking about, I presume.  You may have started peeling your potato, so to speak.  I bet you found it educational–if you haven't finished yet, believe me, it gets better.

Well, baby, you're big game now.  I'm happy for your choice, but–how can I say it?  The pastime is dangerous, so start minding your steps.  I might come soon if you can rig your gear to bring me through.”

The last noise from the message was a sound like the smacking of lips.

CHAPTER 5

Stay at home tonight, the cigar case said–who did this?
  Jenus picked up rubble at random to drop it again, stepping around the wasteland in a daze.  "My canary is dead," he whispered, lifting the cage.  He looked at the bird rolling across the bottom.  He unlatched the door, inserted his hand to lift the small body.  A terrible suspicion about coal mines crossed his mind: 
Dead–the cage is still intact... 

He went to the phone to call Janet.  After an eternity, she picked up.

"We're in danger," Jenus said.  "I'm in danger, I mean, and I may have gotten you involved.  I'll be right back..."

"Jenus, what are you talking about?  The crocodile..."

"Please listen!  This has nothing to do with The Clearing.  I have no time to explain, no time now.  There’s something I’ve got to tell you–to ask you.  Take my word for it, please, get dressed and be ready to leave in a few minutes.  Pack a bag for a week or two, take some of my stuff.  And cash.  I stepped on a tiger's tail and they may use you to get at me."

"What do you mean?  Who are
they
?"

"Please, please, let's not waste time.  Just pack, please."

"I don't understand, but I'll be ready.  I'm looking forward to a good explanation, too."

*

Once more the door to Janet's apartment swung open for Jenus.  She was sitting on an armchair, duffel bags at her feet.

"Inconspicuous clothing, some cash, some food, first aid, and a complement of travel paraphernalia," Janet said.  "Can you explain now?"

"Later.  Let's go to the air club, I'll arrange a vehicle."

"Is this a funky way to start a trip, or are we dipping into more hooey?  I’ve
really
had enough of it for tonight."

"Later," Jenus said.

A few framepost stops later, they arrived at the air club, perhaps via Europe, India and West Africa–hard to tell, dialing at random.  Hard to tell, also, whether their destination remained private.

The air club was empty;  few people hung around after dark.  A phone call endowed Jenus with the codes and password he needed.  Then he walked by the flight desk;  a tired employee greeted him with his eyes on the show chirping from his viewer.  Jenus flashed his flight permit, which the clerk pretended to inspect.

Jenus and Janet walked to the aircar bays.  "I'm anxious to hear the story behind all this," Janet said. "Your benefit-of-doubt line of credit is almost exhausted, dear."  Then she said, "On the other hand..."

"What, Jaya?"  Jenus said.  His heavy steps and Janet's lighter ones resounded across the empty hallways.

"I was telling Corinne the other day," Janet whispered, "that I've been bored.  That's, by the way, how the tip about The Clearing came about.  Seems like a dangerous wish, that of not being bored."

The aircar in bay 12 was a recent two-seater:  a nice powerful toy.  From the pilot seat, Jenus opened the roof of the bay, powered the engines, cleared take-off with traffic control, and started upwards.

Soon they were flying away from the sprawl.  Jenus was carrying the aircar on instruments and sight–mostly instruments, as the night was dark.  Soon they were on course.

"Tell me what's going on, Jenus.  Now.  I'd like to know where we're going, but even more I'd like to know why–so, please, start with the second part."

Jenus told her about the gamble, the sample, the finger, and the apartment.  Janet never interrupted;  when Jenus finished, Janet remained silent.  She kept gazing into the darkness;  muscles in her jaws rippled with intensity as if chewing the news like a rotten burp of cud.

Jenus's grip on the controls became sweaty.  The leathery interior of the vehicle had become too hot for him.  No, too cold.  He bleated:  "I'll do all I can to let you off...  If you want."

After an eternity, Janet turned to him.  Her voice was too quiet:  "Jenus Dorato, you're a criminal and you have made me your accomplice.  How can such a smart man be so stupid?  You had it all.  And now when are we–when are you ever going to stop running?  I love you, perhaps, but there is a lot more than love in the alchemy of a relationship.  This..."

Slamming her fists on the dash, she yelled:  "You lied to me!" almost loud enough to shatter the cockpit glass.  Her small frame recoiled against the seat.  She then quieted, recomposed her hair, straightened her clothes.  "I'm sorry," she said.  "Now, I feel marginally better."

Jenus sat frozen.  The leathery scent of the cockpit tickled his nostrils;  his throat and tongue were dry as raw cotton.  He was flying without thoughts, hanging on her next words.

"On the other hand, what you did for that boy at The Clearing was noble.  I can imagine the faces of those idiots when they realized what happened."  She smiled at him.  "And you're not just thinking of yourself, since I'm here with you.  You are resourceful, and you still seem to have a conscience of sort.  This makes my decision difficult, Jenus.  What do you have to say?"

Jenus cleared his throat in an effort to reopen his windpipe.  He tried to speak.

"I," he wheezed, coughed.  "I agree.  I was stupid;  I’ve never messed up like this before.  This will never happen again."  He halted for a paralytic moment.  Janet in her gaze showed what he already knew:  He wasn't fifteen and this wasn't a baseball through a window pane.

He cleared his throat, continuing:  "Janet, I'm falling in love with you.  I'm a bastard for not telling you I gamble, but I was ashamed of it.  I beg you, give me a chance.  I think...  I want you forever.  I just realized I don't even feel like running away if you don't care.  Let's get out of this, leave the trolls in the dust and continue with our lives, but closer.  Not you, and me, but us.  Oh, Janet, please.  I know I cut corners at times, but I'm not a criminal.  Please forgive me!"  He said, banging the armrest with his open palm.

"Just how do you plan to fix this?  Convince me, Jenus, and I may hang around a while longer.  I'll keep my eyes wide open:  I may want to love you, but that's not enough.  So tell me."

"A two-week vacation on the other side of the planet.  That'll give us time to figure what to do next."

"Not very convincing, truly."

"I didn't have time to come up with anything better."

"Maybe," Janet said, "we should make some plans, sleep on this."

"Together?"  Jenus grinned, and looked at her.

Janet sighed, rolled her eyes.  "I'm letting you drag me into this disaster, choosing to help you I'm-not-sure-why, and in return you ask me to warm your bed tonight?"  She said.  "Why I'm still here listening to you is beyond me."  Looking outside, she added,  "Lack of a parachute, I fear."  She paused for a long instant.  "I don't know what to think about you, Jenus–you burnt a hole through my heart.  I'm still the jury
and
the judge, you moron, even if it's possible I may still be in love with you."

Silence fell between them, at first awkward.  The wind wailed around the shell of the aircar.  Its moan and the hum of the engines mixed in the cockpit;  a dim glow from flight instruments was all the interior light.  The smell of
Enchantment
still lingered, fainter after many hours.  Jenus's right hand, fitted in the driveglove, idled;  controlled by the autopilot, the glove tickled his fingers and forearm with attitude corrections.  He was absent, yet aware of Janet’s presence.  Her head weighed against the restraint of the reclined seat, eyes closed.

*

Noon sun-rays seeped through the curtains of the hotel room, shining on plain white walls.  The air conditioner roared, trying in vain to keep the room cooler than the outside.

Jenus struggled with the shower faucets, fighting a losing battle trying to set an acceptable water temperature.  Eventually he slid the curtain open;  trickles of water dripped from the plastic sheets and fell into a crack in the floor.  He glanced into the bedroom.

Half a bed-sheet was wrapped around Janet, the other half spilling on the carpet.  Janet had pulled a loose corner of the bedspread over her head to repel offending light.

A charming view of the ocean peeked through the window.  When they had arrived, the sun was high over the Pacific;  the coast of Malaysia attracted many tourists–and New Penang was off the popular routes without being remote.

"We need to decide what next, honeybunch," Jenus yelled coming out of the bathroom, towel-drying his hair.

"Breakfast seems like a good idea," Janet said.  "I'm hungry."  She lowered her improvised light shade, fully awake, and stared at him.  Looking at the scenery outside, she said:  "Make it lunch."  She forced a smile on her face.

Jenus kept drying while Janet took her turn fighting the shower.  Anxiety gave to all his actions a taste of uselessness;  he dressed, watched in silence while Janet did the same.

They set off on foot for the business district.  The street was noisy, and many odors hit their noses–wafts of sweat, curry, a wet dog, frying fish.  Hawkers tried to lure them into shops peddling penny jewelry, crafts, food.  They were sweating profusely when they passed an eatery smelling of fresh seafood and air conditioning.

The waiter showed them to a table and benches covered in blue melamine and gave them an illustrated menu marked with price and picture of each item.  Choosing was easy, and so was ordering two double martinis.  In the cooler air, their skin tingled, their hunger and thirst grew,  and alcohol was appealing.

The shade of blue of the melamine did not appeal to Jenus, but at  least it was clean enough.  Too bad the bench was just so uncomfortable:  He kept wiggling, trying in vain to remedy his discomfort when he realized Janet was looking at him.

"You didn't like my plan."

"No, Jenus.  Taking a two-week vacation across the planet won't do any good if they are as tough as you seem to fear."

"I didn't think the vacation would work, either."

They stared at each other.

"Who are these people, Jenus?"

"I don't know;  but there must be two sets of them.  Why search my place after paying me?  Why tell me to stay at home if they wanted to search my place–did they want to kill me?  I'd like to know what's happening at the lab."

"Can you find out?"

"Not without giving us away–well, provided we're hiding in the first place.  I could ask Gus...  I’m still too tired to think, didn't get much sleep on the way here.  Did you?"

"Not really–but I didn't want to talk to you."

Jenus lowered his eyes.  "I didn't want to lose the lab, and my life."  He looked at her.  "Our life."

Janet said:  "You haven't lost anything, yet.  This won't be the only time I’m angry.  I'll be angry at you again–I guess–in the future.  Get your brains to work, now."  After a second, she said, "Hopefully not so angry."

Biting his lower lip, Jenus looked down.  "Listen to this," he said.  "Suppose team X needs some illegal information.  I am among those that could–but wouldn't, under normal circumstances–provide it.  Team X sets me up, or learns that I'm in trouble, and blackmails me into the act.  Team Y, however, is also after the information that team X wants, and team Y learns of X's plans for me.  X won't share its booty, so Y's best hope for getting the data is, well, what happened to my apartment yesterday.  Y wants what I know, X doesn't want Y to know, and I'm in the middle."

The waiter came with more drinks.  Lunch was slow to come, and alcohol on an empty stomach was a tantalizing brainstormer.

"Are you worried about the lab?"  Janet said, sipping.

"I'm insured."

"Is that a yes?"

Jenus nodded, gulping half his drink.

"Team Y will not find what they're after at the lab."

"Of course not."

"What are they after, then?"

"My skin maybe, your skin maybe, and some paperwork for sure."

"Why would they want to kill you–or me?"

"I'm not even sure that's what they want.  Maybe they're after the data only.  If anyone, it's probably X that needs us silent forever–they already have their information.  They paid me, though.  Or perhaps they slipped a Trojan horse in my mailbox..."

"What did you find out about the sample?"

"A piece of alien dirt.  Nothing worth a damn, nothing dangerous.  Just dirt."

"So why do X and Y want it?"

"Beats me."

"Team X now has the information.  Am I correct?"

"Yes."

"But team Y does not."

"That’s right."

"Why shouldn't you give it to Y, too, and be done?"

Jenus cocked his head.  "I never thought of that."

Janet smiled from ear to ear:  "Live and learn."

"Jaya, what if Y are the bad guys?"

"To me, it looks like there aren't any good guys."

"What if they're not happy with your solution?  And won't leave us alone afterward?"

"Won't be worse than now, will it?"

"No, it won't."

"Then let's have lunch," she said.

Their food had arrived, and looked appetizing.  Ricewrap shrimp rolls with lemongrass, and photak;  the seafood soup was tasty.  All the baby squids were cooked to perfection, tender and textured, spiced hot with a ginger aftertaste.  Jenus enjoyed the meal, chewing with some abandon. 

"How do I find team Y?"  He said after a few bites.

Janet looked at him, sighing in desperation.  "That, Jenus Dorato, is the least of your problems."

And what if X is not happy about this
, Jenus wondered, chewing in silence.