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Trigger glanced over at the Denton lying by the bedside ComWeb on a little table at the head of the divan-thing. She was aware of a feeling of great contentment, of growing relaxation. She closed her eyes. By and large, she thought all things considered she hadn't come off badly among the cloak and dagger experts! She was on her way to Manon.
Fast work, Plemp, she thought approvingly. But it was Brule Inger's face that flashed into view on the ComWeb. Trigger's heart jumped. Her breath caught in her throat. "Brule!" she yelled then. She shot up out of her chair. "Where are you calling from?" Brule's eyes crinkled around the edges. He gave her the smile. The good old smile. "Unfortunately, darling, I'm still in the Manon System."
She gave Doctor Veetonia a quick glance. He did look very unpleasantly dead. "We'll go over to that ComWeb in a moment," she told Lyad. "I imagine you wouldn't have left it on open circuit?" Lyad shook her head. "Calls go through the ship's communication office." "Your own people on duty there?" "No. Pluly's." "Will they take your orders?" "Certainly!" "Can they listen in?" Trigger asked.
"Not if we seal the set here." Trigger nodded. "You'll do the talking," she said. "I'll give you Commissioner Tate's personal number. Tell them to dial it. The Precol transmitters pick up ComWeb circuits. Switch on the screen after the call is in; he'll want to see me. When he comes on, just tell him what's happened, where we are, what the layout is. He's to come over with a squad to get us.
She hauled the solidopic out from under the pillow again. "And you," she told Brule warningly, "seem to be playing around with some very bad company, my friend! Just luck I'm coming back to see you don't get into serious trouble!" She'd showered and was studying the black gown's effect before the mirror when the ComWeb chimed.
But if she happened to be serious about Brule, the dish Brule might be tempted by was said Pluly Lines. Trigger went over to the window and looked down at the exercise quadrangle forty floors below. "If he's that much of a meathead!" she thought. He could be that much of a meathead. He was also Brule. She went back to her desk and sat down. She looked at the ComWeb.
The arrangement I've planned will do no harm to anybody. Come in with me, and you can write your own ticket for the rest of your life." "No ticket," Trigger said. She waggled the Denton slightly. "Go ahead! You can talk to the Council later." Lyad shrugged resignedly, turned again and reached toward the ComWeb. Trigger might have relaxed just a trifle at that moment.
Lyad nodded. "That was our bargain, Doctor. You know I keep bargains." Doctor Veetonia said, "Yes. You do. It is strange in an Ermetyne. Very well! I shall do it." He looked at Trigger's face. The black-liquid eyes blinked once or twice. "She is almost certain she is being watched," he said, "but she has been thinking of using the ComWeb.
Her other hand darted to the ComWeb. Then she checked herself. To fire an as-of-now resignation back at Precol had been the immediate impulse. But something, some vague warning chill, was saying it might be a very poor impulse to follow. She sat back to think it over. It was very probable that Undersecretary Rozan disliked Holati Tate intensely.
Lyad's glance switched to Trigger; she smiled again. It was a pleasant, easy smile that showed white teeth. "Would you shield your ComWeb, Quillan?" "Shield it?" Quillan looked surprised. "Why, certainly!" He reached under the edge of the table. The drifting viewer images vanished. "Go ahead." Lyad's eyes turned back to Trigger.
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