still on the victim’s face, the color not yet gone from his complexion.
“I’m very sorry I don’t have time to have you for lunch, Mr. Shelly. I do so enjoy the taste of human flesh, but I really must be going.”
She tossed the head to one side and released the catches on her floral dress. As it fell to the floor she stepped out of it, revealing a black one piece suit that fit her slim body as if it had been painted on. She released a catch on the oversized belt around her waist and a sheer yellow skirt virtually floated down as it unfolded to just above the knees. She pulled the wig from her head, and shook her own lustrous silver hair into a perfect close cropped bob and opened the door.
As she crossed the lobby she stopped at the reception area and smiled at the astonished attendant. “Would you hold out your hand, please?”
The woman complied and a second later looked down in astonishment. She was holding her own still beating heart.
“Your appearance offends me,” Zoe said and as the woman slumped forward, she wiped the blood from her hand on the woman’s dress.
Zoe stepped out into the street and continued on in the direction she had followed her commission, weaving as before through the crowds and this time looking very much the part of someone of grace, lithe as a dancer, strikingly beautiful and overwhelming sensual. Four hundred yards further on she was prompted by the comm link in her left temple and slipped into a deserted alley.
“Champion?” she said.
“Zoe? This is Admiral Tan. I need to discuss a possible commission.”
“Yes, Admiral?”
“Can you be in my office in one hour?”
She thought for a moment. “If necessary. An hour and a half would be better, if it does not interfere with your day.”
“That will be fine. I don’t know if what I have in mind will be necessary, but I wish to put you on retainer, at least for the next three months.”
Zoe frowned briefly. “It will be expensive, sir.”
“That will not be a problem. There is someone you need to keep an eye on.”
She broke the link with a mental command and stepped further back into the alley. Slumping heavily against a wall, she closed her eyes and tried to regain her strength. She would need an hour of rest to recuperate from the work.
CHAPTER FIVE
The Bay of Naples complex came into view all too quickly, floating in a holo in the center of the compartment like a hazy image through a scratched lens. The annoying voice of the skimmer’s internal control shook Mathew from his netherworld where he had busied himself with routines and code, oblivious to his surroundings.
“I say again,” the voice said. “Please make all preparations for landing. Please secure loose items and return seating to a normal configuration. Our landing site is under security alert and privacy bubbles are recommended for your own safety. Please acknowledge that you understand this information.”
“Understood,” mumbled Mathew and set his work aside. He was not about to stow ‘all loose objects,’ most of which were the materials he was working on, and privacy bubbles were not needed. He understood the nature of the security alert better than anyone. He had instigated it and he was aware that there was virtually no danger to them right now.
Archer seemed better. She straightened herself in the chair, arranging the folds of her knee high skirt and checking the heads-up display of the vehicle’s interior, running her fingers through her hair and studying her face. Mathew marveled at the woman, traumatized, depressed and physically sapped of strength from the trip, yet she could still check to be sure she was presentable. He wondered if she was even consciously aware of her actions, whether or not it was an automatic action learned over the years, but he not sorry to see it. Any sign of a return to normality was a good sign right now.
“The landing will take a few moments,” he said setting his comm screen aside on the bench. “You might want to take a look at the scenery. It’s really quite spectacular, far better than any holo can show.”
“That’s Vesuvius to our left, isn’t it?” she said, suddenly fascinated. “Can I see it as a real image?”
Mathew instructed the skimmer and the holo disappeared as the walls of the craft became transparent. He looked at the huge ruined cone of the mountain, now below them and to the right, its side totally blown away by the last eruption, creating a horseshoe shaped cavity large enough for a medium size city. It dominated their view on the landward side of the craft.
“That’s Vesuvius,” he said flatly. “To the left there just on the horizon is what’s left of Naples. To the right, further south, you can see Sorrento. It’s not as large as it was, but after that last eruption over half the population left and moved further down the coast. It’s too bad, really. There wasn’t any damage at all to Sorrento when the mountain blew.
“I’d move too,” she said and looked over at him. “Just the thought that the next eruption could come in their direction would be enough to convince me to get out of the way. Isn’t that what any sane person would do, Mathew? Wouldn’t they avoid the possible disaster if they could see it coming?”
Mathew didn’t speak for a moment. He knew she was no longer talking about the mountain or the threat of eruption. “If they could see it coming, yes,” he said carefully.
Archer looked back out of the window in silence not really looking at anything.
The skimmer spiraled in on the small landing area atop the main building, circling several times as security required so that they could be scanned electronically and visually from all sides for anything out of the ordinary, and then settled lightly on the pad itself, and floating inches above the surface. It wouldn’t settle completely onto the surface of the landing area until all passengers had left in order to offer them the absolute minimum of discomfort. They would probably not even notice the fine nuance of the vehicle to avoid any jostling or sudden bump from the landing itself.
As the door slid open, two uniformed security agents stood at attention. They were unarmed and beside of the one on the left floated a baggage flat ready to receive their luggage. Mathew stepped out onto the landing area followed by Shamreel, who seemed to cause no stir among the local personnel at all. He nodded in response to their salute. Mathew had never liked the custom of being saluted upon arrival, but it was good for discipline, and they would have done it in any case, even if he had requested not, so he simply acknowledged them and then ignored them. Archer followed, hesitant at first to step out and eyeing the security units tentatively. In Mathew’s mind, he could almost hear her internal dialogue, remembering the security forces that had found her and her father in the mountains and the ruthless way they had eliminated the ‘rebels’ they had found in the area. Anyone in uniform would probably make her a bit nervous right now.
“Memo to security,” he said to no one, “Have your men dress as workers while we’re here. Yellow arm insignias should be enough. We don’t’ want to distress our guest.”
“Affirmative,” the bone speaker embedded in his ear rattled loudly.
“And correct the volume!”
“Affirmative,” he heard in a softer tone.
He
