Peregrine came and touched Mordecai on the shoulder. "It must have been awful. I'm surprised they let you out of the hospital."
"They didn't," Downs said, splitting open the deck in his left hand to catch a peek inside. "He released himself. Smashed right through the wall. The public health people are kind of pissed about it."
Jones looked down at the floor. "Don't like doctors," he muttered.
Peregrine looked around. "Where's Sara? The poor thing. This must be hell for her."
"They let her go over to the crisis control center in City Hall. No other reporter from the tour. Just her." Downs made a face and went back to his solitaire game.
"Sara took over a statement from Mr. Jones about what he saw and heard during the abduction," Lady Black said. "He didn't give one before he left the hospital." After the accident that triggered his wild card virus, Jones had been held by the Oklahoma Department of Public Health as a lab specimen, a virtual prisoner. The experience had given him an almost pathological fear of medical science and all its appurtenances.
"Funny damn thing," Jones said, shaking his head. "I was lying there trying to breathe with this fu-with this van on my chest, and I keep hearing all these people yelling at each other. Like little kids fightin' on a playground."
Hiram turned from the window. The rings that had been sinking in around his eyes since the tour began were even more pronounced. "I understand," he said, bringing his hands up cupped before his chest. They were dainty hands, and fit oddly with his bulk. " I understand what's happening here. This has been a blow to all of us. Senator Hartmann isn't just the last best hope for jokers to get a fair shake-and maybe aces too, with this crazy Barnett fellow on the loosehe's our friend. We're trying to soften the blow by talking around the subject. But it wont do. We have to do something."
"That's what I say." Billy Ray slammed a fist into his palm. "Let's kick butts and take names!"
"Whose butt?" Lady Black asked tiredly. "Whose name?"
"That sawed-off little bastard Gimli for starters. We should have grabbed him when he was dicking around New York last summer-"
"Where are you going to find him?"
He flung out his arm. "Hell, that's why we ought to be looking for him, instead of sitting here on our duffs wringing our hands and saying how sorry we are the fucking senator's gone."
"There are ten thousand cops out there combing the streets," Lady Black said. "You think we'll find him quicker?"
"But what can we do, Hiram?" Peregrine asked. Her face was pale, and the skin stretched tight over her cheekbones. "I feel so helpless." Her wings opened slightly, then folded again.
Hiram's little pink tongue dabbed his lips. "Peri, I wish I knew. Surely there must be something-"
"They mentioned ransom," Digger Downs said.
Hiram punched his palm twice in unconscious imitation of Carnifex. "That's it. That's it! Maybe we can raise enough money to buy him back."
"Ten million's a lot of bread," Mordecai said.
"That's just a bargaining position," Hiram said, sweeping aside objections with his small hands. "Surely we can work them down."
"What about their demands this terrorist dude be released? We can't do nothing about that."
"Money talks,"-Downs said. "Nobody walks."
"Inelegantly put," Hiram said, beginning to drift here and there like an ungainly cloud, "but correct. Surely if we can scrape together sufficient funds, they'll leap at our offer."
"Now, wait a minute-" Carnifex began.
"I'm a man of not inconsiderable means," Hiram said, scooping up a handful of mints from a silver salver in passing. " I can contribute a fair amount-"
"I have money," Peregrine said excitedly. "I'll help." Mordecai frowned. "I'm not crazy about politicians, but shoot, I feel I lost the man and shit. Count me in, for what it's worth."
"Hold on, dammit!" Billy Ray said. "President Reagan has already announced there will be no negotiating with these terrorists."
"Maybe he'll go for it if we throw in a Bible and a mess of rocket launchers," Mordecai said.
Hiram elevated his chin. "We're private citizens, Mr. Ray. We can do as we please."
"We'll by God see-"
The door opened. Xavier Desmond walked in. " I couldn't bear to sit alone any longer," he said. "I'm so worried-my God, Mordecai, what are you doing here?"
"Never mind that, Des," Hiram said. "We've got a plan."
The man from the Federal Criminal Office tapped his pack of cigarettes on the edge of