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  “Then I was right. You haven’t heard about the kidnapping.”

  “Kidnapping?” Luzon leaned toward his guest, his heart pounding in suspense.

  “Yes, kidnapping. And from Gal Three, where, as you may know, they have such a tight security system.” Fiske smiled at Luzon, a smile deprecating the machinations of a security system that failed to secure.

  “Really? How very alarming.”

  “Yes, and everyone is astounded. I mean, who would have thought that Marmion de Revers Algemeine had a single enemy in the galaxy.”

  “Not her!” Luzon could scarcely contain his joy, though he expressed a horror that caused Fiske to grin more broadly.

  “And . . . you’ll never guess who was kidnapped along with her?”

  “No, indeed I cannot, so do tell me.” Luzon was all but bouncing about on the seat of his electronic mobility device.

  “Colonel Yanaba Maddock-Shongili . . .”

  “Not the doughty colonel?”

  “And—”

  “Oh, not more victims! How appalling!”

  “Buneka Rourke and young Diego Etheridge-Metaxos, too.”

  Luzon raised his eyes ceilingward. “There is justice in the universe. Truly, there is!” He bowed his head. Then he peered up at the grinning Fiske. “Who perpetrated this atrocity?”

  “The infamous Captain Onidi Louchard!”

  “Oh! Famous—I mean, infamous! I’ve heard the pirate was clever, but to breech Gal Three security I’m truly speechless. And?”

  “And what?”

  “Have the bodies been returned?”

  “You are bloodthirsty, Doctor,” Fiske said, his glance tinged with censure. “The ransom has been set . . .”

  “On Algemeine?” Luzon snorted with scorn. “It’ll never be paid.”

  “What do you mean?” Fiske sat forward, concerned.

  Luzon waved his hand at such folly. “My dear Fiske, Marmion Algemeine is one of the top financiers in the known galaxy. She would adhere to the Code out of principle, unlike the cravens on the Amber Unicorn.”

  “What Code do you mean?” Fiske repeated, now seriously agitated.

  “Why, the Anti-Extortion Code, also called the Gentleperson’s Agreement, of course. Surely you’re aware that the really rich have the most stringent laws against the payment of ransoms? To prevent wholesale kidnappings and the payment of vast sums of ransom monies? A wise move, and no one has tested the Code since the spectacular and highly publicized failure of the Amber Unicorn ploy over a hundred years ago.”

  “But—but—Louchard is smart and ruthless. He’ll figure a way around it.”

  “Not if he was fool enough to choose Marmion de Revers Algemeine, he won’t,” Luzon said, dismissing the matter with a snort. “Why, what’s the matter?”

  For his handsome guest had turned quite pale under his tan. “Then Maddock and those kids will die, too?”

  “Of course. They’ve no assets—unless . . .” Matthew rubbed the carved jade head of his cane against his lips. The coolness of jade was so soothing and helped him think. “Unless Louchard can figure out a way to get concessions out of Petaybee.” The moment the words were out of his mouth, Luzon canceled that possibility—until he glanced at Fiske again. “Don’t tell me that was your master plan, Fiske?” he asked scornfully. “Tell me—what was Louchard like?”

  “I never met Louchard,” Fiske said, his expression set and his tone distracted, like a man, Luzon recognized, who was thinking very fast about something else entirely.

  “But didn’t you mention to me the fact that Louchard was involved in the smuggling of those miserable quantities of ore that were extracted from the planet?”

  Actually both men knew that Fiske had mentioned no such thing: Louchard’s involvement was speculation. Still, that would account for the pirate being willing to kidnap that wretched trio in the hopes of being able to obtain concessions no one else had had from Shongili. Luzon would never believe it was the planet; therefore, the mind behind all his misfortunes on Petaybee had to be the very human one of the man who stood to lose most: Sean Shongili.

  “He might just do something to protect that unborn bastard of his, at that,” Luzon mused. “Where are you going, Fiske? You bring me such interesting news.” But Luzon’s words did not pass the door that Torkel Fiske had slammed behind him.

  It was a considerably more cheerful Luzon who began tapping out numbers on his comm link.

  15

  Aboard the pirate ship

  “I don’t mean to pry or open a very sore subject, Namid,” Marmion said when they had all rehashed and argued over the latest visit from their captors, “but have you any more relevant information about your ex-wife that we might use to advantage?”

  Namid pointed to the corner of their room where he thought the listening device was planted. Then he continued speaking in such ringing, dramatic tones that they understood he wanted every word to be overheard by their unseen monitor. It occurred to Marmion that perhaps since the man had been unable to effectively communicate directly with Dinah, he was using the opportunity of talking about her more or less publicly to try to make an impression on her.

  “They say,” he said with a sigh, “that we never really know the people we love. When I first met Dinah, I thought I had never been so close to anyone. Not only was she attractive, intelligent, and interested in my work, but she had a great deal of drive, a lot of passion that I’m afraid I misconstrued at the time. Love blinds us, or something like that. We talked for hours. I told her about my work, and she was quite honest about her early years: the death of her parents when she was far too young to be alone; her first marriage at sixteen to a wealthy, ruthless man who left her an interest in certain enterprises—of which I suspect this is one. She was quite frank about her other marriages, most of them for convenience and empire building, until ours. I genuinely believe it was a love match on her side as well, at least at first.

  “She so desperately wants connection, you know. Her family was among those scooped up by Intergal when they were buying up wars and other inconvenient impasses on Earth to populate their experimental colony planets. Your Petaybee was one of the early ones, of course. Since the ‘colonists’ were divided in the interest of breaking up political factions, many families were split and settled in different places. Dinah’s great-great-grandfather came from a long line of seafaring people and had worked with the paramilitaries. She seems to believe he was some sort of great patriot, but he apparently adapted well enough to spacing and became one of Intergal’s top cryptographers. At some point he married a fellow exile who had also chosen a company career over colony life.

  “Dinah says that most of their progeny were prevented from advancing in the company because of Intergal’s nepotism, but I think she might be a bit prejudiced. Surely none of them became wealthy, and when her parents died, Dinah had a rough time supporting herself. She told me candidly that she used her looks at first. Then, when she met the right people, her intelligence got her jobs as messenger, dispatcher, and freelance computer hacker, which was what she was doing when she met her first husband. She looks at her involvement as protecting her inheritance and investments, I believe. But I had absolutely no idea she was connected with piratical acts until she brought me aboard.”

  “Didn’t you know anything about her business?” Marmion asked.

  “Oh, yes, I knew she was involved in ‘shipping’ as a cargo master—”

  Diego interrupted him with a snort.

  “Or should I say ‘purser,’ ” Namid added, with a show of humor that made Marmion give him one of her genuinely warm smiles. He went on. “That explained her absences and odd schedule. She was so interested in my work: variables, and what star systems were likely to spin out ore-laden planets, and, well, all the practical applications of astronomy. It all seemed so harmless, so natural.” He hunched his shoulders in frustration. “And she is, you must admit,” he added, addressing the remark to Diego, “a very attractiv
e person.”

  “Ha!”

  “And clever as she can stare,” Bunny said with slightly sour admiration. “That nice guy/bad guy ploy she and Megenda were pulling is so old it’s got whiskers longer than Uncle Seamus.”

  “Unfortunately, we end up falling for it because we don’t know when farce and fact meet,” Yana said.

  “Oh, how I’d like to get that Megenda inside Petaybee for just five minutes . . .” Bunny said fiercely.

  “Let’s not be vindictive. We know he was only playing a part and may be a very nice fellow off duty, aside from an unfortunate tendency toward child abuse,” Marmion said, glancing at the bruises on her young friends’ faces.

  “ ‘When a felon’s not engaged in his employment, his employment . . .’ ” Namid sang in such a rich baritone that Marmion and the others regarded him with amazement. “ ‘Or maturing his felonious little plans.’ Gilbert and Sullivan’s little operettas are as cogent today as they ever were . . .”

  “Go on,” Marmion urged, her eyes wide with delight.

  “ ‘His capacity for innocent enjoyment, ‘cent enjoyment, is just as great as any honest man’s.’ ”

  Marmion laughed and laughed and laughed and Yana found herself smiling at such contagious mirth. Even Diego grinned.

  “I like the tune,” Bunny said diplomatically, but her confusion was obvious.

  “It’s not exactly latchkay-type singing and music,” Diego said, relaxed for the first time since their capture. “I’ve some discs, I think. You might just like G and S.”

  “G and S?”

  “Later,” Diego said.

  Namid’s mobile face fell into solemn lines. “Dinah liked G and S.” Then he added more briskly, “But this isn’t Penzance, and she wasn’t indentured as a little lad, brave and daring. I do believe that there is a core of—”

  “Wait a minute,” Bunny said, sitting bolt upright and just missing banging her head on the underside of the upper bunk. She began sniffing and sniffing.

  “What?” Diego asked, and Yana echoed the query.

  Bunny sniffed deeply again. “We’re no longer on Gal Three­type air.”

  “We’re not?” Yana asked. Bunny’s previous mention of her olfactory impression hadn’t really registered. Now she thought about it. The air on the shuttle would have been imported from the station’s ventilation system during the time the shuttle was in dock. But come to think of it, there was no reason she could think of why the air aboard the pirates’ vessel should ever have had any connection with the station. Or was there? Bunny seemed very certain, and her senses, trained in the Petaybean outdoors, were extremely keen. Yana looked at Bunny, sorting through the implications of the girl’s observation. Intriguing possibilities now presented themselves. Nor was she the only one to be thinking on the same line.

  “Indeed,” Marmion said softly, her eyes dark with thought, and she leaned into Namid, who put a reassuring arm about her shoulders.

  “Indeed, indeed,” Namid said. “And don’t forget to breathe!”

  Three days after returning to Kilcoole with the hunters, who booked the first Intergal shuttle back since PTS was no longer in service, Sean received a second communiqué from the kidnappers.

  Dear Dr. Shongili,

  I hate to be the bearer of bad tidings, but I was sent the following message by the criminals who abducted Colonel Maddock-Shongili, your niece, and young Etheridge-Metaxos, along with Madame Algemeine. I suppose they chose to send their demands to me, as CEO of my own company, since previously I had been unaccountably released to deliver the initial message. I had the great opportunity and rare pleasure of meeting your lovely wife and speaking with her briefly while she was still here on Gal Three: she was, is, a very special lady and a competent, caring officer. The children accompanying her were a delight to us all. I fervently hope that, between the efforts of the security team here on Gal Three and your good self you will all be reunited soon.

  On behalf of all of us here on Gal Three,

  Machiavelli Sendal-Archer-Klausewitch

  Dear Dr. Shongili,

  We were most concerned to learn from your wife that there might be some difficulty with her pregnancy if she isn’t back on Petaybee soon. She is very ill and could certainly use more of that Petaybean cough syrup that cured her the first time. Also, young Metaxos has sustained minor injuries due to his own youth and inexperience. Unfortunately, we are currently between medical officers, since our last one was discharged—regrettably, out the hatch and into space—for mutiny.

  Surely you must realize that your family’s lives depend upon your immediate response and compliance to our demands. We look forward to hearing from you soon.

  Most sincerely,

  Dinah O’Neill, representing Captain Onidi Louchard

  aboard the Pirate Jenny

  All Sean could do was sit there, stricken, when he finished reading.

  “What is it, Sean?” Una Monaghan asked.

  ’Cita, who was also there along with several other children and their parents and Wild Star Furey, put her arm around him and asked, “What is it, Uncle? Is it about my sister? What does it say?”

  He held it up to her and she took it. But, of course, ’Cita couldn’t read, so she turned to Wild Star, who took the note out of her hand and read it aloud. When she was done, the room was filled with a stunned silence.

  “Oh dear, I ought to have read it first to myself,” she said, “before I broadcast such news.”

  Sean shook his head. “It’s everybody’s business.”

  “Well, yes, but in front of the children—especially those who’ve just arrived from the other villages to go to school. Too much of the bad side of civilization all at once, I fear.” She continued to look guilty and cast a nervous smile at her pupils and their parents.

  Since she had taken up her post as Kilcoole teacher, Sean had learned a few facts about Wild Star Furey. She had had sufficient experience with the bad side of civilization. Her ancestors had been an Amerind tribe stubbornly clinging to a valuable piece of Terran real estate. Her husband’s family were descended from Irish Traveling People who had finally been removed from the planet for refusing to settle on any given piece of real estate.

  “It concerns Petaybee, Wild Star,” Sean said. “And it’s got nothing to do with civilization. Pirates aren’t famous for being civilized.”

  “Pardon me, Doctor, sir,” said a man who had arrived in Kilcoole a scant half hour before. Sean knew Muktuk Murphy slightly. He was from Tanana Bay. “Could the lady read that last bit again, please?”

  “Which part was that, Muktuk?” Sean asked.

  “That lady’s name, sir, mentioned just before that awful pirate’s name—”

  “Dinah O’Neill?” Wild Star asked.

  Muktuk cast a significant glance at the small, round-faced woman beside him, who had a wealth of curly black hair and typical Eskirish slanted blue eyes. Those eyes were dancing with excitement as she tugged her husband’s sleeve.

  “That would be it, Dama, thank you. Do you suppose me and the wife could send a message along with yours, sir, when you reply to the pirates?”

  Sean shrugged. “What did you want to say?”

  “Well, it’s a bit hard to organize it right now, sir. It’ll take me and the missus some thinking.”

  “Perhaps I should help you write it down then,” Wild Star offered.

  “Ah, now, that would be very kind of you, Dama,” said Muktuk.

  “Very kind indeed,” Mrs. Muktuk said. “I’m sure all my people will appreciate it, and we’d all like to come to your school along with the children, please and thanks very much.”

  Aboard the pirate ship

  When Dinah O’Neill returned to the captain’s quarters, she found a message from Macci Klausewitch waiting on her comm unit.

  “Dama O’Neill,” Klausewitch’s voice said, “this came in last night in response to your follow-up ransom message to the Petaybean administration. At first my stupid assista
nt didn’t think it was important and almost discarded it. It’s from Shongili’s office, but it seems to be in some sort of code, hence the mistake. I do hope it will be good news—for both your captain’s organization and my own.”

  There was no voice message involved, just print on the screen.

  DEAR DAMA O’NEILL OF THE PIRATE SHIP,

  WE LEARNED OF YOU WHEN YOUR BOSS’S NOTE CAME TO DR. SEAN SHONGILI’S OFFICE. YOUR NAME CAUGHT OUR EARS RIGHT AWAY AND WE WERE WONDERING IF MAYBE YOU MIGHT BE RELATED TO THE COUNTY GALWAY O’NEILLS TAKEN FROM IRELAND AT THE HEIGHT OF THE REUNIFICATION? WE HAD A GRANDFATHER FROM THAT AREA AND TIME PERIOD WHO, DESPITE RAISING A LARGE FAMILY HERE ON PETAYBEE, NEVER FORGOT HIS BROTHER, RORY, WHO WAS KNOWN LOCALLY AS HANDY RED O’NEILL, HE THAT WAS INVOLVED IN THE BATTLE ABOARD THE ROSSLARE FERRY AND WAS THEN LOST FROM THE REST OF THE FAMILY WHEN THE COUNTRY WAS SO-CALLED EVACUATED BY THE POWERS THAT BE.

  WE KNOW SOME GOOD SONGS ABOUT THE FAMILY YOU MIGHT LIKE TO HEAR AND WE WERE WONDERING IF YOU MIGHT HAVE SOME FROM YOUR FAMILY AS WELL, WHETHER OR NOT YOU’RE OF THE SAME FAMILY AS US.

  WE WERE GLAD TO LEARN ABOUT YOU BUT SORRY TO HEAR YOU ARE HAVING TO WORK FOR PIRATES. IF IT’S FOOD OR A PLACE TO LIVE THAT YOU’RE NEEDING, WE’D BE HAPPY TO HAVE YOU COME TO LIVE WITH US HERE ON PETAYBEE IF YOU CAN QUIT YOUR JOB. WE WOULD LOVE TO HAVE YOU AND YOUR FAMILY, IF YOU HAVE ONE.

  REGARDS,

  CHUMIA AND MURPHY

  OF THE TANANA BAY O’NEILLS

  ON PETAYBEE

  P.S. COULD YOU PLEASE PUT IN A WORD WITH YOUR BOSS AND ASK THAT SEAN’S WIFE AND RELATIONS AND THE NICE COMPANY LADY ARE KINDLY TREATED AS WE’RE ALL VERY WORRIED ABOUT THEM?

  Then the screen scrolled on to a second note.

  THERE IS NOTHING A PERSON CAN DO IN REGARD TO RANSOM HERE. SS

  Dinah O’Neill ran the message through several times. This was not going the way it should have. Not in any way, shape, or form. She hated to take Namid’s accusation to heart: that she was losing her touch; she preferred the Yana-woman’s suggestion that she had been badly informed.