I don't want any interference with them. I'll take you. But it's none of my business what Farl does to you."
"Maybe it would be more to the point," Hop suggested, "if you worried about what we might do to Farl."
She glanced coolly at Hop. "Farl isn't a naked woman with a broken rib."
They walked out of the library and no one saw them. They walked down several ramps and corridors, and finally left Arran's flat through the delivery entrance, and in all that time they didn't see one soldier, one constable, or one human being.
"Why isn't there a guard?" Hop asked.
"Mother's Little Boys are asleep on the job," Jazz answered.
"Jazz, I think this is about the stupidest thing I ever saw you do."
Jason looked at him expressionlessly. "No one's making you come along."
Hop was surprised. "If no one's making me come along, then why the hell am I coming?"
"To protect your investment."
"Damn right."
Arran led them through a circuitous path of tubes, private cars, and corridors. Finally they found themselves ascending a long emergency stairway. After eight flights Hop suggested that they stop and rest.
As they sat on the steps, Jason looked intently at Arran's eyes. She gazed coldly back. Finally Jazz said, "You have one minute to tell me what's really at the top of these stairs."
Arran pursed her lips, then got up and started back down the steps. Jazz followed, and Hop muttered as he brought up the rear, "How come you only broke one rib, Jazz?"
They followed a different route and this time came to a very ordinary door labeled "Employees Only."
"I'm an employee," Arran said, with a nasty smile. Inside the door was a ladder, which they climbed. They came out in a storage closet with no lights. Arran confidently pushed open a door. From outside the closet they heard a man's voice say, "Who the hell - Arran, darling, I'll have you roasted if you ever come here again without an appointment - "
And then Farl Baak stopped talking because he saw Jason and Hop behind the woman.
"Take your hand away from the call button," Jazz said.
"Good morning, Starpilot," Baak said. "I must say, Arran, when you mess up an assignment it isn't necessary to bring the target back with you."
"Just a word of warning, Mr. Baak. I'm not very heavily armed - " not armed at all, Hop refrained from saying " - but the computer on my ship is watching us, and the full record of this conversation will be recorded in four different places. You don't pull the right strings to stop an investigation from finding you."
Baak pulled his hand away from the side of the bed he was lying on.
"The poison was rather direct," Jazz said. "And the duel was stupid."
"What duel?" Baak asked. He looked at Arran for an answer.
"Fritz Kapock," she said.
"That damned hero. And here I thought he was a honk." Baak laughed slightly. "What can I do for you, Mr. Worthing, since you're unfortunately still alive?"
Jason walked over to him, dragged him to an upright position, and slapped him three times. Blood ran from Farl's nose. Then the pilot slammed him against the wall. Farl slid down the wall to the floor.
Hop noticed that Arran seemed distressed by this turn of events, and so he took her hands and held them rather forcefully. "Don't strain any ribs trying to help your friend," Hop said. He didn't mention that he didn't know why the hell Jazz was hitting Baak right now. Was he beginning to believe his own image - tough guy and brawler? (I've created a monster.)
Arran didn't try to break away from him. She merely spat in his face. Because he was holding her hands, he couldn't wipe it away. "Jazz," he said. "I want a new contract for twenty - five percent. Twenty isn't enough for these special services."
Farl Baak was tipping his head backward to try to stop the nosebleed. "If you've broken my nose, you bastard, I'll see to it you're shredded."
Jazz laughed. "Baak, you've got a reputation as a jackass and a pervert. No need to try to maintain that reputation right now. Why did you want me killed, and who are you working for?"
"I'm a Cabinet minister, Worthing, and I don't work for anyone."
Jason took a step toward him. Farl slid away. "I meant it, Worthing. Until my last waking before this I was controlled, but I didn't know it. Now that I know