But Omnathi made no move to do that. "Interesting," he murmured. "Looks like a radio transceiver of some kind-here's the antenna." He looked back at Daulo.

"Did you tell her how to work the lock combination on the apartment door?" he asked.

"Uh... not directly, no. Though she might have seen me key it."

Omnathi nodded grimly. "I'm sure she did." He hefted the signaller in the palm of his hand, "Do you snore when you sleep, Daulo Sammon?"

The question took Daulo by surprise. "Ah... I really don't know. Perhaps a bit."

Omnathi grunted. "Doesn't really matter, I suppose. The sound of a sleeper's breathing is fairly distinctive to someone who knows what to listen for."

"Sir... I-"

Omnathi impaled him with a glare. "She planted this on you," he grated. "All she had to do was pretend to get on that bus, then follow you back and wait for you to fall asleep. Then she slipped in, took your keys, and left. Any idea how long you were asleep?"

Daulo shrugged, feeling a little dazed. They were practically writing his alibi for him. "An hour, perhaps. Maybe longer."

Omnathi muttered something under his breath. "An hour. God in heaven."

Daulo licked his lips. "Sir... I don't understand any of this. What is Jasmine

Alventin's interest in my family?"

"I don't think she has any interest in you whatsoever," the older man sighed.

"She's simply been using you: first to help her recover from her spacecraft's crash, and after that to create a diversion."

"A diversion?"

"Yes." Omnathi waved toward the northwest. "Once she realized her discovery was inevitable, she simply took charge of the timetable, letting your father know about the supply pod in Yithtra family hands and perhaps encouraging him to notify the Shahni before they did. Then, while the focus of our attention was on her spacecraft and your village, she persuaded you to bring her here, distracted you further with a feint toward the bus, and proceeded to steal your car." He paused, eying Daulo thoughtfully... and when he spoke again his voice had taken on a hard edge. "But innocent victims or not, the Sammon family nevertheless has aided an enemy of Qasama. It's possible that you may yet be punished for that."

Daulo swallowed hard. "Yet we did inform the Shahni about the offworld artifact as soon as we knew about it," he reminded the other.

"That may weigh in your favor," Omnathi nodded. "Whether it does or not will depend on how quickly we capture this Jasmine Alventin. And what we learn from her."

He signaled his men, and they headed for the door. There, Omnathi paused and looked back. "Tell me, Daulo Sammon; your father said the woman asked many questions. Did she ask about anything specifically about our culture or technology?"

The question caught Daulo by surprise. "Uh... no, not that I can remember. Why?"

"It occurs to me that this penetration of Mangus might originally have been her idea."

"It wasn't," Daulo shook his head. "Getting into Mangus has been something I've wanted to do for a long time."

"Perhaps. Then again, perhaps the idea was yours and the timing hers." For a moment Omnathi gazed thoughtfully at him. "Very well, then. Satisfy your pride as you will, Daulo Sammon. But remember while you do so that your real enemies aren't in Mangus or anywhere else on Qasama."

Daulo bowed and made the sign of respect. "I will, Moffren Omnathi."

They left. Daulo stood where he was for a handful of heartbeats; then, moving carefully on weak knees, he wobbled to the window and peered out at the car's taillights pulling away down the street. An emissary of the Shahni themselves... and Daulo had lied through his teeth to him.

For an enemy of Qasama.

He spat an oath into the empty room. Curse you, Jasmine Moreau, he thought viciously. For God's sake, be careful. Please.

Chapter 31

The tough gasped as the ammonia fumes rose into his nostrils and he returned abruptly to consciousness. "I'd suggest you keep quiet," Jin advised him, making her voice as deep and manly as she comfortably could.

He obeyed... but his eyes suddenly came wide open as he got his first clear look around him. Jin couldn't really blame him; sitting on the edge of a high roof, with nothing between him and a long fall but two thin ropes belaying his trussed wrists and ankles to a stubby chimney five meters away, he had a perfect right to be scared. In fact, she rather admired his self-control in not screaming his head off. "Let's start with your name, shall we?" she said, squatting down beside him.

"Hebros Sibbio," he managed, eyes focused on his lifelines.

"Look at me when I speak to you," Jin ordered. He did so, eyes almost unwillingly shifting up to her masked face. "That's better. Now tell me who told you to break into the apartment you hit tonight."

"I... no one," he said, his voice cracking slightly.

Jin sighed theatrically. "Perhaps you don't fully understand the situation here,

Hebros Sibbio," she said coldly. "Your hairy butt is hanging well past the edge there. All I have to do is cut these two ropes and you'll be off to explain all this to God instead of to me. You think He'll be more lenient with you?" He shuddered and shook his head. "Neither do I," she agreed. "So tell me who put you up to this job."

"I don't know!" he gasped. "As God is my witness, I don't know. A man-he didn't give his name-called me up this morning and told me he wanted us to beat up a village man who would be at an apartment at Three-forty-six Kutzko Street."

"And kill him?"

"No! We don't kill-not even villagers. I wouldn't have agreed if that had been the bargain."

"Keep your voice down. What was the bargain, then? What payment did he promise you?"

Sibbio shivered again. "There was to be no payment. He promised only not to reveal some of our other... activities to the rulers of Azras."

"Illegal activities?"

"Yes. And he named some of them..." He trailed off, staring pleadingly at her.

"It's the truth-I swear by God's presence it is."

Blackmail, then... which unfortunately eliminated the chance of backtracking a payment drop. "Did he tell you the villager's name, or say why he wanted him beaten up?"

"No."

For a moment the rooftop was silent as Jin considered. If Sibbio was telling the truth, it meant his mystery caller had at least a passing familiarity with

Azras's underworld and its activities. At the same time, paradoxically, that knowledge must be fairly limited for him to have picked such an obviously small-time group as Sibbio's to handle his dirty work.

Unless this was as well organized as Azras's criminal underworld got. She made a mental note to check with Daulo on that one.

Either way, Sibbio was clearly a dead end. "There's a small knife by the chimney over there," she pointed, getting to her feet. "You can roll or otherwise work your way over to it and cut yourself free. Your friends are still at the apartment you broke into; collect them and all of you get out of Azras."

Sibbio's mouth fell open. "Get out... but this is our home."

"Too bad," Jin said, letting her voice harden. "Because for the next few days it'll be my home, too... and if I see you again while I'm here, Hebros Sibbio, you'll be taking that premature trip to see God that we discussed earlier.

Understood?"

He nodded up at her, a single nervous motion of his head. Jin didn't especially like threatening the boy, but she liked the thought of him talking to Mangus even less. "Good. Let's both hope I never see you again."

Moving quietly across the roof, she reached the stairwell that she'd brought

Sibbio up by and opened the door. He would make it to the knife, eventually, unless he lost his balance first and fell off the roof. As far as she was concerned, it didn't much matter what happened.