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It would undoubtedly be unpleasant for the one he discovered them from, since it was unlikely DarLowrie would believe information he obtained too easily. That, however, was not a serious problem; a number of his Olathe network owed him enough that he could call on them even for such a service.
It would take DarLowrie perhaps a week to reach Olathe, another week and a half to get to Nippon-Ni; that would give Owajima time to make adequate preparations, then visit with his family for several days. He smiled to himself, transmitted the necessary messages, and returned his attention to his immediate mission.
The Sandeman had filed a flight plan for Olathe, where Owajima had spent some time and built up a respectable net; that seemed most promising. It was unfortunate, Owajima thought, that he was unable to investigate DarLowrie himself; that would have to wait until he was finished with the final touches on his present case, a matter of a day or two. Still, he could begin making preparations.
"DarLowrie went to the open house, Colonel and one of those on the destroyer static display recognized him. His name is Nevan, and he has accepted an invitation to visit the ship." "Nevan!" Owajima exclaimed. "What clan, do you know?" "It was not said, but the largest clan group aboard is from Leras." "Ah." Owajima was silent for several seconds, absorbing that.
Nevan allowed himself a small smile, then went to get more chocolate milk. Not too promising so far, but he hadn't been here long, either. Perhaps half an hour after he returned to his table, another man approached, this one in an expensive suit. "Vance DarLowrie?" "Yes." Nevan recognized the type; a businesser who'd made enemies and wanted either protection or one of them eliminated.
He had a pursuer, it seemed a Sandeman warrior named Vance DarLowrie, and the informant was convinced DarLowrie was one of the rare, expensive, and fearsome Sandeman free-lance assassins. That conviction was strengthened by the fact that DarLowrie had his own ship, the Last Resort, and it was registered to him personally rather than to Clan Lowrie.
DarLowrie had acted precisely as could be expected from a Sandeman assassin, it seemed, though Owajima was pleased his agent reported nothing more serious than bruises. He frowned, though, when he reached the last paragraph. "Personal impressions: I can't pinpoint it, but something about him reminds me of you. The feeling you give me of being looked into more than at, maybe.
It would be safest, Owajima thought, to operate on the worst-case assumption that DarLowrie had learned most, if not all, of an agent's skills. He would need them, if he had any intention of assassinating Owajima on his home territory and then escaping. Should he simply eliminate DarLowrie, or would it be better to capture and question him? The second, Owajima decided almost immediately.
He would be entitled to a leave after this mission, and he had planned to take it at home on Nippon-Ni; that was now an even better idea. His contacts on his home world made his networks elsewhere, good as they were, seem like children's clubs and it should not be difficult at all to permit DarLowrie to "discover" those intentions.
An ex-field agent was by far the more likely, if only because there were many more of them, and few Kai-school ninjas left Nippon-Ni. Take that as a working hypothesis, then. In that case, was it likely the agent had taught DarLowrie only face and body reading?
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