to get going. I pressed my foot down, and we began moving forward. The blonde bombshell started running, and I drove behind, letting her set the pace as we headed into the darkness.
FORTY-FOUR
The buggy continued to roll through the night. I looked over at Lakshmi, dimly illuminated by the dashboard. A couple of times her chin dropped toward her chest, but she shook herself awake; she was probably as exhausted as I was but terrified of falling asleep.
“You’re going to have plenty of time to sleep, sister,” I said. “Icing Diana—that wasn’t right.”
“I told you before, I didn’t kill her,” she said, looking at me.
“If you didn’t, who did?”
“I don’t know. She was dead when I got there.”
“I need something better than that. Your phone call from inside Weingarten and O’Reilly’s descent stage was overheard by the ship’s computer. You said Diana was your insurance policy.”
“Exactly!” Lakshmi exclaimed “She was no good to me dead. But, as I said to Reiko in that conversation, if I had Diana alive, I could control you.”
“But then you discovered that Diana was planting a bug for me at your place, and so you let her have it.”
“I didn’t, I swear.”
“I don’t have a lot of reasons to trust you.”
“Maybe not. But look at it this way: if I’m lying, fine—you’ve got her killer. But if I’m not, then somebody who wanted Diana dead is still out there—and you could be their next target.”
“I can take care of myself,” I said.
“The way you took care of her?”
That stung, but I refused to let it show. More kilometers passed by.
* * *
At last, we reached the vicinity of the dome. Blondie had effortlessly run the whole way. We headed to the north airlock station, since that was the one Lakshmi had logged the buggy out through, and, sure enough, Ernie’s ungainly airplane was parked near there, safe and sound.
Normally, I’d have left the buggy outside, but I still didn’t have a helmet, and so I drove it into the airlock tunnel. The outer door closed behind us, and we waited while the tube was brought up to one standard atmosphere; Blondie, meanwhile, went through the personnel airlock, which cycled much more quickly. By the time the door in front of me slid up, she was already on the other side waiting, along with, I was surprised to see, Dougal McCrae.
I swung back the buggy’s canopy and clambered out of the vehicle. Mac moved quickly to the passenger side. “Lakshmi Chatterjee?” he said.
“Yes?”
“You’re under arrest.”
“What for?”
“One of our leading citizens, Mr. Ernest Gargalian, says you pulled a gun on him.”
Lakshmi gestured dismissively. “What if I did? If it happened at all, it was outside your jurisdiction.”
Mac stood firm. “You’ll come with me,” he said. I was grinning. Lakshmi probably had thought herself clever buying Huxley’s support, but Ernie could afford to buy himself the top dog. The writer protested a bit more, but there really wasn’t anything she could do, and Mac soon had her cuffed. He turned to me. “Alex, I’ll expect a full report on everything.”
“Of course, Mac. I’ll drop by the station later.”
“You do that,” he said, and he led Lakshmi away—which left just me and Blondie alone here. The gorgeous transfer rushed over to me, and—
Wow!
She threw her arms around me and drew me close, and with that lovely mouth of hers, she planted a long, hard kiss on my lips. There was no doubt I deserved some thanks after all of this, and if this was to be the payment, I couldn’t really complain, but—
But the kiss went on and on, and when Blondie finally drew away, a giant grin spread across her stunning features. And now that we were in real air again, she could speak. I didn’t recognize the voice at all; it was sultry, sexy, and totally captivating. “Thank you so much!” she said. “As soon as we got close enough to phone, I contacted Ernie. He said Reiko went into surgery hours ago and is already out and in recovery; she’s going to be fine.” She gave me another kiss on the lips, then added, “Thank you, Alex!”
I noted, in good detective fashion, that she was on a first-name basis with Gargantuan, not to mention with me—but I still had no idea who this blonde goddess was. “You’re welcome,” I said. “But you have me at a disadvantage, Miss, um . . .”
I’d never seen a transfer’s eyes twinkle before, but hers seemed to just then. “Oh,