Alan Dean Foster Sagramanda

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profession." Turning slightly, he gestured behind and to one side. "As agreed,
I have brought one escort with me. This is Punjab."
The bodyguard crossed thick arms over his equally massive chest, assumed the
pose of a mighty one, and grinned. "It is a nickname. My father was a
connoisseur of old comic strips. I am actually from Nagpur. Not that either my
name or my place of birth matter." The smile went away, to be replaced by
something very different. Bravely, Sanjay did his best to match it. "I am here
to make sure Mr. Karlovy is not robbed."
"Nobody's here to rob anybody." Taneer spoke soothingly to the big man, then
turned his attention back to the European. "Let's do what we came to do."
Crouched low in the bushes nearby, Jena observed the byplay uncertainly. It
mattered to her not in the least what the two new gentlemen were doing out in
the middle of the forest, nor why they were meeting with the three she had
been following. What was important was that there were now five where a few
moments ago there had been three.
The opportunity was without equal in her experience. Five potential souls to
set free. It would be a blessing above all others. But she hesitated. She had
never before taken so many at one time. The wonderful isolation of the spot
was more than she could have wished for. But still, five and one of them
looking to be a very chancy undertaking indeed. She could take the big man
first, of course, but if she ran into difficulty there, even an unarmed
foursome could give her trouble, if only with fists and feet and stones. They
remained unaware of her presence, which gave her time to decide.
Should she risk it? She had trained herself to move fast, very fast, but she
had already decided that success was incumbent on taking down the biggest of
the five first, and swiftly. At least they seemed in no hurry to leave, with
two of the men conversing softly while the others looked on.
If they all left together, that would tell her something. But if they split
into two groups again, it would make her decision easier.
She decided to wait.
Keshu stared at the image the high-hovering, night-piercing drone was relaying
to his readout. Who the devil were the two men who had just appeared on the
screen, and what were they doing meeting the first three in the middle of the
jungle, in the middle of the night? Sensitive though it was, because it was
compelled to keep out of easy range of those it was tracking the drone could
not pick up their conversation. So he had no idea what was being talked about.
Poaching? Proposed illegal real estate incursions, that were always a problem
on the borders of parks and preserves near and within the city? Trading in
illegal drugs?
What mattered was that it didn't matter. Legal, illegal, or purely
recreational, any discussion taking place in the forest was not germane to his
reason for being there. He and his officers were present for one reason and
one only: to obtain convincing evidence on a possible serial killer and then
reel her in. The suspect was still present, thank goodness, but her heat
signature had stopped moving when the other pair had put in their unexpected
appearance. Cursing silently to himself, he knew that it was entirely possible
the arrival of the newcomers would intimidate her to a degree where she would
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simply withdraw, at which point he would have to make the difficult decision
as to whether to order her arrest or not. The two recent arrivals, whoever
they were and whatever their purpose, threatened to spoil everything.
He held his spinner up next to Johar's. The images were identical, which meant
that the two apparent newcomers were just that and not electronic artifacts.
"Any idea who these new people might be, Lieutenant?"
"No, Chief Inspector. What can the five of them be doing here?" Johar stared
off into the night, as though the answer might magically arise from the trees
in the form of glowing, hovering words. "What do you want to do?"
It was, for once, a simple decision.
He decided to wait.
Their brief conversation concluded, Karlovy turned and walked back to the
water tank, which was fashioned of cast resin to resemble natural stone.
Moments passed. Taneer waited nonchalantly, though he was anything but
indifferent. Depahli tried not to fidget. As for Sanjay and the one nicknamed
Punjab, they exchanged steady, unwavering stares. It was the most difficult
thing the shopkeeper had ever done in his life, including the time he had
taken delivery of a packet of drugs from an unthinking courier while a traffic
policeman was searching through his shop hoping to find a present for his
wife.
When he rejoined them, the European was carrying what at first glance appeared
to be an ordinary briefcase. Closer inspection under the light of Taneer's
beam revealed it to be made of a material Sanjay did not recognize. Two strips
of metal ran around it lengthwise, and it was thicker than most such he had
seen. Karlovy proceeded to whisper to it, softly and at length. Then he
manipulated something on the top of the case that Sanjay could not make out
clearly in the wavering light. The case responded with an audible hum, as if [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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