Темное, кривое зеркало. Том 3 : След на песке - страница 48

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Ah…. maybe when I've got it sorted out in my head. How's your research going?"

He grimaced. Dan Randall had once been an investigative journalist. Quite a famous one, too. But after a particularly…. unpleasant report had aired about the way human miners were being treated on the Narn-run colony of Vega 7, the furious Kha'Ri had been on the verge of having him executed. In an effort to stave off an incident, ISN had fired him. He now worked as a freelance researcher for various companies, currently compiling statistics for the Department of Public Information.

"Ah, you caught me," he confessed, a guilty smile on his face. "I've been lounging around watching the sports all day." Catherine sighed, and shook her head. The first football tournament since the beginning of the war was being aired, and some of the teams were discovering certain…. intriguing possibilities with the Proxima gravity.

"Comes of not having you around to bully me into working."

"I'll bet," she smiled.

"How's about I make you some re-caff and you can persuade me to get some work done."

"That would be perfect."

As he went to the kitchen, Catherine found her mind coming back again to the mystery surrounding her. She had not spoken to Dan about it before — and her gentle questions by way of research had been carefully chosen to elicit as few suspicions as possible. Of course Dan was always suspicious, but Catherine had tried to make her questions seem routine. Sharing classified IPX information with unauthorised personnel would lead to major trouble, but it was getting to the stage where her curiosity was outweighing her good sense.

Besides, it wasn't IPX business any longer. Just…. personal interest. Right?

"Dan," she called into the kitchen. "What do you know about a Narn called G'Kar?"

"Ha'Cormar'ah G'Kar?" he called back. Catherine, faintly recognising the term for a Narn preacher, shouted back in the affirmative. "Not as much as I'd like," came the reply. "Once a big fellow in the Kha'Ri. Disappeared on some sort of personal mission some years ago. Still got his fingers in a number of pies, though. Why the interest?"

"Would he have any connection with…. with IPX, at all?"

"Certainly possible. If any Narn would have, it'd be him. He's not quite as xenophobic as some of his fellows. He's got an aide of some sort who comes here from time to time. I'll remember his name in a minute."

"That's a fair bit."

"Well, you know me. Even when I'm not working, the old instincts linger. It's surprising how much you overhear even when you're not trying."

He came back to the couch, carrying two mugs of the nearest thing to coffee available in the post-fall days. Catherine took her mug with a smile and, kicking off her shoes, swung her legs up onto the sofa.

"Why the interest?" Dan asked again, sitting down beside her.

"He's…. involved in IPX somehow. I'm certain of it. At a fairly high level too." She sipped the coffee. It didn't taste of anything at all. "For what reason I can only guess."

"I'll have a poke around tomorrow, if you like. Rustle up a few old contacts. They might know something a bit more recent…. like if this aide of his is in town. Ah…. what was his name? The door chimed and Dan looked up. "I'll get it," he said, rising to his feet and putting his coffee on the table. "Probably the other woman who was supposed to come round when you were out." He grinned, and Catherine smiled back, albeit somewhat weakly.

Her senses were a bit dulled at the moment, but she still heard the buzz of a PPG charging just as Dan opened the door. Acting on instinct she spun round, dropping her coffee, droplets scattering black rain everywhere. She shouted a warning, but it was too late.

Far too late.

The thump of a body hitting the floor coincided with the sound of her cup shattering.

The speeches were over and business had returned to something resembling normality at Kazomi 7's spaceport. Delenn had gone to meet with Lethke. Taan Churok and Vejar remained, working as hard as they ever did, and Valen…. he had left too.