Sunset in Silvana (Da'ark Nocturne Book 1) (14 page)

“I’m afraid, however, that my superiors have made another ‘suggestion’: that you have lunch tomorrow at
The Tangled Comet
as if there is nothing wrong.”

“Won’t that be dangerous?” Anoushka asked.

“We’ll have things wrapped up tightly.  Nobody will be there but security personnel, the accredited media and a few selected citizens whose loyalty is without question.  We will also evacuate the whole area – and all to show that it’s ‘Business As Usual’.”  He paused.  “On the other hand, I have called in a few favours, and a heavy freight helicopter will pick you up, along with Comrade Goran’s catamaran, in late afternoon.  You will be flown directly to Lake Kuraken.”

Bartes raised a sardonic eyebrow at Tanya and sent, :
Well?
:

She wrinkled her nose: :
Smugness doesn’t become you.  I still can’t see why the Major is doing this.
:

Bartes shrugged.  :
Perhaps he has his own agenda.
:

“Comrade Davidov will be joining you there,” the Major added.  “Now, I suggest you all get a good night’s sleep.”

Tanya’s heart leapt.  If John was to be there, they’d have a chance to break his conditioning and all escape together.  “Shall we sleep out under the stars again?” she suggested.

“I wouldn’t recommend it,” the Major responded.  “With all that’s been going on, I think it’d be safer to stay inside.”  And with that he departed, but as they waved him off, Bartes noticed that the troops that had escorted them had been left to augment their bodyguard.

RD made everyone a nightcap, and as they sat around drinking it, with the radio as audio camouflage, Tanya told them about her new acquaintance.

“Who d’you thank she works for,” RD asked.

“She recognised me, so she’s probably a Mercy agent,” Tanya replied.  “She’s an extremely powerful psionic – and she has that particular brand of self-confidence that normally characterises an Eranian Commander.”

“At least it means we’re no longer entirely on our own.”  Anoushka verbalised the relief they all felt.  “What do we do about sleeping tonight, though?  I know it’s not likely to affect us now, but the idea of someone whispering lies in my ear gives me the creeps.”

“Hmm…” Tanya said.  “I’ve had an idea.”  She disappeared into the kitchen and was gone for some time.  When she returned, she handed each of them two pads of cotton wool that felt slightly moist.  She pushed two in her ears and the rest of them followed suit.  Once they’d been inserted, all anyone could hear was their own breathing and heartbeat.  :
Clever,
: Bartes sent to her.

:I
rather thought so,
: was the slightly self-satisfied reply.

Tanya woke in silence with someone shaking her.  She opened her eyes and saw it was Anoushka, who seemed rather agitated.  She was talking, but Tanya couldn’t hear what she was saying.

“’Noushka?  What – what is it?”  Her voice sounded strange, and it took her a couple of seconds to remember that she was wearing earplugs and remove them.

“– it’s Joseph.  He’s fighting with RD – Goran.  Please – we need your help.”

“All right – I’m coming.”  Tanya rose and hurried to the kitchen, blinking the sleep from her eyes as she did so, but the sight that greeted them almost made her doubt them.  Bartes stood to one side of the kitchen holding Joseph from behind.  He had the boy’s arms pinned to his sides and had lifted his feet clear of the ground.  Joseph’s eyes were flashing and he was mouthing obscenities.  He was flailing with both feet and hands, and in one of the latter he was holding a blood-stained kitchen knife.  RD stood on the other side of the room, holding his left arm.  His right hand was covered in gore and more was streaming down his forearm.  As she watched, Joseph gave Bartes a vicious kick on his left shin with his heel.

“Turn on the taps, then help RD,” she told Anoushka before turning to Joseph.  “Right,” she said to him quietly, calmly and deliberately.  “The sensation you are beginning to feel is called apnoea.  I am psionically closing your windpipe.  You have two choices: drop the knife and cease struggling, or wait until you lose consciousness and it happens automatically.”  He gave one last heave before reluctantly complying with her instructions.  “Good choice,” she said as she released his trachea.  “Now keep your voice down and tell me what all this is about.”

“That bastard!” the boy said through gritted teeth.  “When I think of the way he’s treated me.”

She was slightly taken aback.  “I know he hasn’t been the best of guardians, but you’ve never attacked him before.”

“That’s because I didn’t know who I was.  He made me a slave, when
he
should have been
my
servant, if anything.”

The penny dropped.  “You know?”

“Yes.  I woke up this morning in silence and my mind was clear.  So I went looking for revenge.”

Tanya sighed.  “And just what was that going to accomplish?”

The boy looked sullenly at her for some seconds.  “Satisfaction…”

“And if your satisfaction results in us all being reprogrammed?”

“I didn’t think of that…”

She snorted.  “Of course you didn’t.  Look, do you want to go home or not?”

He looked at her incredulously.  “What do you think, you idiot!”

“Do you want me to close your windpipe again?  Permanently, perhaps?”  Tanya clenched her teeth.

“No...”  He resumed his previous sour demeanour.

“Then keep a civil tongue in your head.  Now, let’s examine the possibilities – question one: do we want to escape?  Quiet, that was a rhetorical question – of course we do.  Question two: how do we keep our captors from reprogramming us?  Answer: we give them no reason to suspect we’ve broken their conditioning.  Now, if – and I repeat if – you haven’t completely screwed up our chances with this ridiculous display, we’ll have to continue our charade.”

“Does that mean I have to slave for
him
?”  There was an audible sneer in the boy’s tone.

“At least enough to allay any suspicions the security men might have.”  She turned to RD.  While she and Joseph had been talking, Anoushka had started dressing the gash on his arm and bandaging it.  “And as for you, Comrade, you’d better be careful.  I know this one’s a brat, but his father is one of the Governor’s top aides.”

“I’ll take any reprimand his dear daddy orders,” RD replied with a scowl, “when we’re safely home.”

Tanya returned her gaze to the boy.  “Let him down, Bartes.  Listen,
child
, unless we can be certain we won’t be overheard, we use the names our captors gave us
at
all
times
.  Why did you think I asked Anoushka to turn on the taps?  It covers up conversation.  Now, since RD, Bartes, Iain and I are all experts in this sort of thing, you’ll obey any instructions we give you instantly and without questioning – understand?”

“I suppose.  Even Anna?  She’s just a secretary.”

Tanya gritted her teeth again, and somehow stopped herself from hitting the boy.  “She’s worth a dozen of
you
, boy.  True, this is all new to her, but so far she’s coping remarkably well.  If you want to survive to get home, I’d remember that we’re your only ticket back.  If you aggravate us too much, we could dispose of you and simply blame it on our captors if – when – we get home.”

As Joseph stamped off to his room, his fists balled, RD’s gaze fell to the floor and his brow furrowed.  Catching Tanya’s eye, he pointed silently to where a bottle of cooking oil had fallen and spilt during the fracas.

If he’s expecting me to clear it up, he’s got another think coming,
she thought, but then she realised what he was trying to show her.  There was an area of tiles about a metre square that the oil hadn’t covered: it was apparently seeping down cracks on all four sides.   She raised an eyebrow at RD and nodded.  The floor here wasn’t solid.  This could be an access hatch.

After breakfast, which was quiet and rather strained, Tanya decided to check the drug components she’d brought from the Medical Centre.  Although one or two vials had been damaged in the previous day’s crash, most had survived intact.  It was her turn to wash up, and as she did so, she checked the kitchen thoroughly for surveillance devices, but found nothing more than the microphone and mini-cam she’d already noticed.  She set up her equipment out of sight of the camera and started making up a number of doses of a basic combat drug.

She was part way through the synthesising process when there was a shout from outside.  A group of locals had driven up in a lorry with some fresh vegetables for sale.  She emerged, only to stop dead in her tracks: one of the “locals” was Maria, and some of the others looked familiar.  As she passed Tanya a basket of cabbages, the latter asked her quietly, “How’s your chin?”

The girl smiled ruefully.  “A bit sore,” she whispered, “But your friend’s blow did no real harm.”

“Good.”  Tanya grinned back.  “Why are you here?”

“Well, we checked your blood, and you’re right: you’re not from this planet, or from the Dainworlds.  Your colleague is from the Terran Union, but as for you, your blood is – different.”

“What do you mean?” Tanya asked.

“They wouldn’t tell me,” she continued.  “Anyway, Martje and the others were still suspicious, and they decided to take no risk and finish the job – they planned to do it this morning, despite your guards.”  Tanya looked around in sudden panic, but saw nothing untoward.  “Don’t worry.  Something must have happened overnight – I don’t know what – and this morning our leader told us we had to help you rather than kill you.  So we’ve sent word to our people to halt all assassination attempts, and we’ve brought you a few weapons to help you escape.  You’ll find them in the bottom of the baskets.”

Tanya breathed a sigh of relief.  “Thank you.  You’re taking a bit of a risk.”  With a slight nod of the head she indicated the security guards, who were looking on suspiciously with their fingers on their triggers.

Maria shrugged.  “Our friends are covering us from the trees – and anyway, something about what you said yesterday made me think you’re in a lot more trouble than we are.”

“Is there anything you can do to help us get away?”

“No – we have our own problems, and limited resources – and although we know you’re not the traitors we thought, we still don’t know who you really are.”

“We’re…”

“And we really don’t want to know.  So I’m afraid you’re on your own.  Good luck.”  Tanya thanked her as she paid her a suitable amount for the vegetables.  With that, the girl and her companions drove away with a cheery wave and Tanya returned to the kitchen.

Once she completed her task, Tanya concealed the drug in her medical kit and found RD, who was tinkering with his boat.  “Those villagers that came with vegetables this morning were members of one of the rebel groups,” she told him, “the ones that nearly killed us up in the mountains.  We’ve been able to persuade them that we aren’t their enemies, and they’ve provided us with some weapons to aid our escape.”

“That’s very altruistic of them,” he said suspiciously.

“Not really – any attempt we make to flee will draw attention away from their activities.”

“I suppose that makes sense…”

“Anyway, the weapons are hidden in the baskets of vegetables we bought, but I’m not sure how we’re going to transport them to Lake Kuraken.  There’s also Bartes’ precious laser carbine.  We might be able to hide some things among our baggage, but it would be better if we could cache everything on your boat, so they’ll be there already if we try to escape across the lake.”

“Hmm,” he said.  “Leave it to me.  I’ll need your help, Josef.”

“Why?”  The boy glared at him.

“There are some places we could hide the weapons which are unlikely to be searched.  I can’t reach them, but someone smaller, like you, can.”

There was a short pause before Joseph replied.  “All right,” he muttered.

“You and the others pack your bags, and we’ll stash them on the boat for the trip,” RD told Tanya.  “That’ll help conceal the contraband.”

They had just finished loading the boat when a helicopter gunship arrived to take them to the
Tangled Comet
for lunch.  The flight was quiet and tense.  Anoushka was looking worried, so Tanya swapped seats with Bartes so she could sit next to her.  “Relax,” She said in an undertone as she put her arm about her friend.  “It’ll be all right – you’ll see.”

“What if we’re attacked again?”

“I don’t think it’s likely, but if we are, we’ll manage somehow.  Look, Anoushka, I stood up for you in front of young Joseph this morning.  I said you were worth a dozen of him, and I meant it – please don’t let me down.”

Anoushka took a deep breath and squared her shoulders.  “You’re right,” she said, “I can’t afford to go to pieces.  I know I’m not as prepared for situations like this as the rest of you, but at the very least I can’t – I mustn’t – be a liability.”  She gave Tanya a wan smile.

“Good girl.”  Tanya squeezed her friend’s arm.  “Just leave things to the professionals, and we should be all right.  And if anything
does
happen, take cover until it’s been dealt with.”

When they landed at the
Comet
, their guards disembarked first and established a protective perimeter.  Major Valentine had been as good as his word, and the place was crawling with security personnel.  He greeted them at the door.  “I’ve prepared a special table for you, my friends.  Please follow me.”

“Sorry, Major – I’ll be needed in the kitchen.  It
is
my restaurant, after all.  Come along, Josef.”

Joseph opened his mouth to complain, but Tanya’s glare silenced him; he balled his fists and followed RD.

To Tanya’s surprise and delight, Sophie and her tame general were sat at the next table.  She was wearing a pure white cotton dress, simple and elegant, and looked radiant.  “Comrade General, Comrade Mikova,” Tanya greeted them, “Do you know Major Drovsorsky, our security liaison?”

“I do,” the General said, “Good afternoon, Comrade Major.”

“Sir.”  The Major saluted.

“No need for too much formality, Valentine, we’re all friends here.  Have you met Sophie Mikova, the ballerina?”

“I don’t believe so…”  Valentine’s brow furrowed, then cleared as he took and kissed the lady’s hand.  She gave him a strange look in return, and smiled back.

“Sophie is staying with me at my dacha for the holiday.”

“And these are my companions, Boris, Ivan and Anoushka,” Tanya interjected.

“I’m so pleased to meet you, Comrades.”  Sophie’s smile was dazzling.

They sat and made small talk as their orders were taken, and they ate their entrées and their main courses.  After Tanya had finished her pluny en croute, she had an idea.  “I’m just going to freshen up,” she said, and raised an eyebrow in Sophie’s direction.

“I’ll join you,” Sophie said, taking her hint.

Once they had their voices covered by the sound of running water, they began to confer.  “How are things going?” Sophie asked.

“Well,” Tanya began, but at that point one of the other diners, a reporter for
The Silvanan Times
, entered the rest room and interrupted them.

“Comrade Milanova, may I have a moment of your time?” she asked.

Tanya frowned.  “Not now,” she replied.  “Can’t you see I’m talking to a friend?”

“Very well, I’ll try again later.”  The reporter didn’t leave, however, but began a leisurely survey of her make-up, clearly hoping, as all of her profession do, to overhear something interesting.

:
Let’s communicate psionically while we chat about innocuous things.
: Sophie sent.