18

The face of the man who wanted to see Maddy was familiar, even if she could not attach a name to it. He was — somehow she was not surprised — the sallow, dark-haired man she had seen on the shuttle up. He was leaning nonchalantly against the wall outside, holding under his left arm the same cylindrical black bag with its pink and mauve lining.

He greeted her casually, as though they were old acquaintances.

“I’ve seen you a coupla times round The Flaunt, and I recognized you on the flight up. You’re Maddy Wheat-stone. I’m Seth Parsigian. You an’ me got the same boss.”

“The same boss?” Maddy wasn’t ready to give anything away.

“Mister you-know-who. The toxic midget.”

In spite of herself, Maddy smiled. “I bet you don’t call him that to his face. Do you have identification?”

He did not speak, but he slipped a card from his jacket and passed it to her. He waited as she placed it face-to-face with her own Argos Group card and his image flashed onto its back face.

He raised one dark eyebrow. “Satisfied?”

“Not yet. It doesn’t state your division.”

“It wouldn’t. I’m Special Projects.” He grinned at her. “And just to prove that I’m Special Projects, try this one.”

He passed a second card to her. Her ID tracer showed the same picture and the same name, Seth Parsigian; but now he was identified as an undersecretary in the French armed services.

He said cheerfully, “I’ve got three or four more if you want to see ’em.”

“Don’t bother. So you’re Seth Parsigian, and you work in Special Projects for you-know-who. I’m here on a special assignment, too. I don’t have time for social chat.”

“Good. ’Cause this ain’t one.” He tucked away the cards. “I need help. If you can do something for me, I’ll owe you big-time.”

The rules within the Argos Group were quite clear: You helped another member if you could, but not at the price of your own assignment. Another’s success would not balance your failure.

There was one exception. “Did GR tell you to ask me to help?”

“Hell, no. If Gordy knew that you and I were even talking, he’d shit bricks.”

“Then we shouldn’t talk.” But Maddy didn’t turn and walk away. An ally inside the Argos Group — especially one in Special Projects — might have many uses.

He was watching her with those light, flickering eyes. She had the feeling that he had surveyed her up and down in the first second, made his assessment, and was acting on it.

“Why don’t I tell you my problem?” he asked. “I’ll be real quick, no more than five minutes. Then you can decide if you’ll help or not.”

“I’ll give you two minutes.”

“Fair enough. I’ve come up here to find the person who killed a dozen teenagers. You know about ’em?”

Maddy thought of Lucille DeNorville’s ravaged body. “I know too much. I was there when we found one this afternoon. It was horrible.”

“So that’s what all the excitement was around security. Another one? He’s killed again?”

“No. This was the body of one of the earlier victims, a girl called Lucille DeNorville.”

“I remember her. Number seven. Disappeared, but evidence at the scene said she’d had her brains bashed in.”

“She had. That and — other things. She’d been badly cut up.” Maddy found that she couldn’t add details. She went on, “Look, if I could help you, I would. But I don’t know much about the murders. You need an expert.”

“I’ve got me an expert. No, I won’t say who, so don’t even ask. I’m up here tryin’ to do the legwork, but it’s damn nigh impossible.”

“Why? I’ve been anywhere I wanted to on Sky City. Nobody has bothered me.”

“That’s because you’re a woman. They’ll leave you alone. Try bein’ an adult male. A man like me, a stranger to Sky City wanderin’ round by himself, six people ask who you are and tell you to move on every time you stop to scratch your ass.”

Maddy could see why. Seth Parsigian did not have the look of a man she would like to meet in a dark alley, and Sky City was full of dimly lit, empty corridors. She said, “I can’t do legwork for you. I wouldn’t know how.”

“I’m not askin’ you to. All I’m saying is, if you were with me when I was doin’ walk-arounds, I’d not have amateur sherlocks trailin’ me every step I take.”

“So you want me to go with you. How do I know you’re not the murderer yourself?”

“Trust me. No, I guess that dog won’t run. Well, for starters you can check the dates of the murders. You’ll find I wasn’t on Sky City for any of them.”

“I think I’ll do that. Now you’ve had your two minutes, and more.”

“An’ you’re still here.”

“I want to talk payback. Suppose I decide to help you. What do I get out of it? What’s in it for me?”

“You sound like Gordy Rolfe. What do you want to get out of it? Can I do somethin’ for your job up here? Tit for tat?”

At the beginning of the meeting Maddy would have denied that she needed help. It took only half a second to realize how wrong that was. She had been told to stick with John Hyslop every second of every day. In practice that was impossible. She wasn’t with him now, for instance, and she didn’t know where he was or what he was doing.

She made her decision. “You may be able to help me keep an eye on someone up here — someone whose actions are of direct interest to Gordy Rolfe. Do you know John Hyslop?”

“I know who he is. He’s the big-wheel engineer for Sky City and the shield. But I don’t know him know him.”

“Gordy assigned me to watch him, see what he does. I could introduce you. Tit for tat. I help you poke around Sky City, you help me keep an eye on Hyslop.”

“Suppose he won’t let me?”

“Let me handle that end.”

“You say Gordy knows about this?”

“He’ll approve. Do you have your communicator hooked into the local system so I can get in touch with you?”

“Give me ten minutes, and I will have.”

“Good. I’ll call you. If I decide we have a deal, I’ll tell you where and when we meet Hyslop.”

“You want to check me out first.”

“Of course. Do you mind?”

He grinned. “I’d mind more if you didn’t. You got a hell of a reputation in Argos — yeah, I’ve seen your file, did that after I spotted you on the shuttle up. But files can be faked, and there’s too many amateurs in this game already.” He turned away and said over his shoulder, “Call me, Maddy Wheatstone. Professionals need to stick together.”

A tedious and interminable search of the information banks, both on Sky City and Earthside, found no sign of a Seth Parsigian. No one in the Argos Group matched his detailed description. Maddy was not too surprised. You could look at it the other way round: Anyone in Special Projects who could be traced was not right for the job.

When she finally headed for Bruno Colombo’s office, John Hyslop was no longer there. Colombo himself was busy in a meeting and unavailable. Goldy Jensen, asked to provide information, was not cooperative.

She looked up from her immaculate desk in the outer office and frowned at Maddy’s question. “I don’t keep track of everybody on Sky City, you know.”

“It’s important that I locate John Hyslop.”

“Important to whom? I suppose you might try the engineering information center. He spends a lot of time there.”

“Where is that?”

“Any of the directories will tell you how to reach it.” Goldy turned impatiently away and initiated another call to Earth on Bruno Colombo’s behalf. Five lines were already active and two others blinked for attention.

Maddy knew she would get no farther with Goldy. And yet today’s rudeness did not feel deliberate. It was more as if Goldy Jensen was working under unusual pressure and had no time for her normal discourtesy.

The feeling of pressure persisted as Maddy used a directory to find the location of the engineering information center and made her way toward it. Everyone she passed gave off an impression of urgency. Something important was going on inside Sky City. Everybody but Maddy seemed to know what it was.