Daulo and Jin were waiting at the top of the stairway. "What do you think?" Merrick asked.
"You sounded convincing enough," Daulo said. "Whether or not he
was
convinced, of course, is another question entirely."
"He wasn't," Fadil bit out, glaring at Merrick. "How could he have been?"
"Merrick?" Jin invited.
Merrick shrugged. "If he recognized me for who I was, it had to have been right at the beginning," he said. "I saw no indication of sudden surprise or excitement."
"A man could hardly become an agent of the Shahni without control of his face," Fadil said contemptuously.
"True, but I doubt even Shahni agents can control their heartbeat and the subsequent changes in their heat output," Merrick told him. "I was monitoring his infrared signature the whole time, and I saw no change."
"You can read body temperature that subtly?" Daulo asked, frowning. "I never knew that."
"It's something that was added to Merrick's generation of Cobras," Jin explained, her voice oddly distant. "My own enhancers aren't nearly so sophisticated."
"Still, it's certainly possible that I misread him," Merrick continued. "Qasaman reactions may be different from those I'm familiar with."
"Especially given the range of enhancement drugs available to us," Daulo agreed grimly. "And as you say, he may have been convinced of your true identity from the very beginning."
"He was also wearing something odd under his tunic," Merrick said. "Something gray and scaly that I've never seen before."
"Probably a krisjaw-hide armband," Daulo said. "It either means he's a good hunter, or that he likes to pretend he is."
"Never mind that," Fadil asked impatiently. "What do we do?" He jerked a thumb at Merrick and Jin. "They've been seen in our house."
"I think all we can do now is minimize any potential damage," Merrick said, "which means us getting out of here as soon as possible. If Zoshak tries to make trouble, you'll just have to claim that our story fooled you—"
"There's one other possibility," Jin said.
Merrick eyed his mother. There was an odd look on her face, even odder than the tone she'd used a moment ago. "What's that?" he asked.
"We assumed that Daulo Sammon sent me that note," she said slowly. "Only we know now that he didn't." She seemed to brace herself. "What if it was actually sent by Miron Akim?"
Merrick felt his mouth drop open. "The Shahni agent?"
"I know it sounds crazy," Jin admitted. "But I can't think of anyone else on Qasama aside from the Sammon family who ever heard my full name."
"Obolo Nardin did," Daulo said, his face darkening with memory. "I distinctly remember you telling him who you were. Rather proudly, in fact."
"Not that it made any impression on him," Jin said. "But no, I only gave him the name Jasmine. The note refers to me as both Jasmine
and
Jin." She looked at Merrick. "In which case, it's possible Carsh Zoshak showed no reaction because he wasn't here to capture us, but merely to report on our arrival."
"Ridiculous," Fadil said with a snort.
"Fadil," Daulo said warningly.
"I apologize for any disrespect, my father," Fadil gritted out. "But it
is
ridiculous. What in the name of God would the Shahni want with enemies of Qasama?"
"We aren't your—" Merrick broke off at a gesture from his mother.
"I don't know what he would want with us," Jin said calmly. "I'm simply following the logic trail."
"To a completely erroneous conclusion," Fadil insisted.
"Possibly," Jin said calmly. "I'm open to other suggestions."
For a moment no one spoke. "I have to say, I agree with my son," Daulo said. "Such a suggestion is so unlikely as to border on the completely impossible." He made a face. "Unfortunately, I have nothing more probable to offer."
"Well, then, I guess it's time Merrick and I finally paid a visit to the Shahni," Jin said. She was trying to keep her tone light, Merrick knew, but he could sense the quiet concern beneath it. The Shahni, after all, were the ones who had declared Qasama's national hatred for the Cobra Worlds in the first place. "Where do they make their headquarters these days?"
"Where they always have: the city of Sollas," Daulo said. "You understand now why your arrival on their very doorstep fifty-five years ago was such a shock and concern to us all."
"If it makes you feel any better, the choice of the team's landing zone was purely coincidental," Jin assured him. "All the official records—as well the stories I heard from my father and uncle—agree that they picked Sollas only because it was more or less in the center of the string of Great Arc settlements."
"Which is precisely why it was made the capital to begin with," Daulo said. "Which makes you capable of predicting and anticipating our actions, which offers us no comfort at all."
Merrick felt his throat tighten.
Qasaman paranoia.
He'd heard his mother and grandfather talk about it, but until now he'd never truly understood the full implications of the phrase. "So Sollas it is," he put in, hoping to turn the conversation away from supposed Cobra Worlds omniscience. "We can get a bus to there, right?"
"Buses are hardly the transport of choice for fugitives," Daulo said heavily. "No, I'd better drive you."
"We can't let you do that," Jin said firmly. "Just let us have a vehicle and a map and we'll manage it ourselves."
"Have either of you a proper license?" Daulo asked. "I didn't think so. We may be a bit casual on the point of personal identity papers—a long and very deep part of our heritage—but we are
very
firm on allowing only those so authorized to drive our roads. Among other matters, you can't purchase fuel without one."
Jin threw Merrick a helpless look, then reluctantly nodded. "I have no right to ask such risks of you, Daulo Sammon," she said. "But I see no other way. Thank you for your offer, and we accept with humble thanks. How long a drive will it be?"
"If we leave within the next hour, we should be there around dawn," Daulo said.
"Can we do that?" Jin asked. "I mean, travel at night?"
"Of course." Daulo smiled humorlessly. "Interestingly enough, the number of predator attacks has been dropping steadily over the past half century. I suppose we have your people to thank for that."
"I have a question," Merrick said, trying to visualize the Qasaman maps he'd looked through. "I can't see how we can make a trip that long without driving straight through."
"Were you wanting to stop and sightsee along the way?" Daulo asked.
"I was thinking more about driver fatigue," Merrick said. "Unless you're planning to let Mom or me drive for a while."
"Weren't you listening?" Fadil snapped. "You can't drive here."
"It'll be all right," Daulo said. "If I get tired, we can stop for a brief rest."
"Which will look highly suspicious to anyone passing by," Fadil argued.
"We'll just have to risk that." Daulo eyed his son. "Unless you have an alternative to offer."
For a long moment Fadil glared at his father. Merrick flicked on his infrared again, watching with interest as parts of the young man's image shifted between red and orange with his fluctuating emotional state. "You know what the only alternative is," Fadil said at last. "We drive them together."
Daulo inclined his head; acknowledgment or thanks, Merrick couldn't tell which. "Do you have any other equipment, Jasmine Moreau?"
"We have some packs buried off the road about half a kilometer south of the village," Jin said. "But we can hardly pick them up in broad daylight with the gate guards already suspicious."
"I'd rather not wait until nightfall to leave Milika," Daulo said. "Can you make do without them?"
"Easily," Jin said with a nod. "There's nothing in there we can't do without."
Merrick grimaced. Nothing except their camo night-fighting suits, their compact medical kits, their rope and climbing gear, and a few small smoke-and-shock diversionary devices. But she was right. If Zoshak was still suspicious, parking alongside the road while someone went for a short walk would be a suicidally stupid thing to do.
"Then as soon as we've collected some spare clothing for you, we'll be under way," Daulo decided. "Fadil, we'll take the green truck. Go make sure it's fueled—" he smiled tightly "—and add a few small boxes of recent ore samples from the mine."
Fadil frowned. "
Ore
samples?"
"If we're going to go to Patrolo to discuss joint operations with the Sinn family refining facilities, we'll need to show them samples of our output," Daulo said. "Go."
"Yes, Father." Fadil gave Daulo the sign of respect and then, grudgingly, Merrick thought, repeated the gesture to him and his mother. Turning, he went back downstairs and disappeared down a corridor leading toward the rear of the house.
"Come," Daulo said, gesturing to Jin and Merrick as he headed the opposite direction down the corridor. "We'll see about food for you while we pack a few essentials."
Merrick and Jin fell into step beside him. Behind Daulo's back, Merrick caught his mother's eye.
I hope you know what you're doing,
he mouthed silently to her.
Her lip twitched.
So do I,
she mouthed back.
The truck Fadil brought up was a relatively small one, about the size of an Aventinian personal transport vehicle, with a cab in front and an enclosed cargo area attached behind it equipped with front, rear, and side windows. The cab only had two main seats, but the slightly enlarged space behind it included two inward-facing fold-down jump seats.
From the gate guards' point of view, of course, the vehicle made perfect sense. With the visitors' own car supposedly waiting a couple of kilometers down the road, there was no reason for Daulo to bring a larger vehicle. He would theoretically simply drop his guests at their own car, refill its fuel tank, and then the four of them would continue on to Patrolo in a two-vehicle convoy.
But of course there was no such car conveniently waiting for them. As the four of them settled into the truck, and Merrick tried to find a comfortable position for his feet that wouldn't involve kicking his mother's, he reluctantly concluded that this was going to be a very long trip.
But at least their exit from Milika was satisfyingly anticlimactic. None of the gate guards gave them so much as a second glance as they headed out of town. Carsh Zoshak himself, in fact, wasn't even present, and Merrick dared to hope that the Shahni agent really
was
in Milika merely to check on social detail compliance.
The first major population center along the southward road was the city of Azras. There they stopped for fuel and a meal before
turning northeast onto the main road that linked Qasama's five major Western Arm cities. By the time the sunlight faded away behind the forest and the stars began to appear, they were alone on the road.
Merrick spent most of the night staring out the cab window past his mother's head at the stretches of forest and plain rolling past them, or out the windshield at the winding road ahead. Occasionally, just for a change of pace, he took in the view out the rear window, looking through the mostly empty cargo area and out the cargo area's own rear window, watching the red-lit landscape disappear behind them.
He caught occasional snatches of sleep, too. But the seat and his position were uncomfortable enough that those interludes of oblivion didn't last very long. Seated across from him, his mother seemed to be having a much easier time of it, as did Fadil at Merrick's right in the front passenger seat.
A little after midnight Daulo found a long, open, and deserted stretch of highway and pulled off to switch drivers. Merrick and Jin got out as well, glad of the opportunity to stretch their legs for a minute. The forest had been cleared well back of the road at this point, and as Merrick paced back and forth he used his optical enhancers to check the tree line on both sides for predators. He spotted a single spine leopard lurking among some thorn bushes, but if the creature even noticed the humans it made no sign. A few minutes later they were all back in the truck and, with Fadil now at the wheel, they continued on their way.
The glow of approaching dawn was reddening the sky ahead when Merrick first noticed they were being followed.
"Mom?" he murmured, just loud enough to be heard over the road noise.
"I know," she murmured back. "He's been there for at least the last half hour."
Merrick stared at her. "Half an
hour
? And you didn't say anything?"
"Who's been where for half an hour?" Fadil asked, frowning at them in the mirror. "What are we talking about?"
"We're talking about the person or persons following us," Jin told him.
"We're being followed?" Daulo asked, straightening up in the passenger seat and throwing a quick look over his shoulder.
"Yes, but so far that's all he seems interested in doing," Jin said.
Fadil muttered something under his breath. "More Shahni agents?"
"Unlikely," Daulo said. "Half an hour would have been more than enough time for an agent to call for a roadblock or an air strike."
"Unless they merely want to watch us," Fadil growled.
"Again, unlikely," Daulo said. "Instead of following us, it would be much more effective for them to put a SkyJo combat helicopter directly overhead at an altitude where we would never notice it."
"Maybe it's just another traveler heading to Sollas," Merrick suggested.
"I don't think so," his mother said. "There was that half-kilometer of bad road about fifteen minutes ago where Fadil had to slow way down. A normal car would have maintained his speed on the good road until he hit the patch himself, which would have meant temporarily closing the gap between us. Instead, he slowed to match our speed, staying as far back as he could while still maintaining visual contact.
And
he also didn't slow down through the rough patch, again maintaining visual in case we turned off on one of these side roads."
"So then who
is
he?" Merrick asked.