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"Don't expect us to do your dirty work for you," Dana told Zor in the
unit ready-room, as the torrential rain struck the windows. "If you want to be
punished, go do it yourself."
She didn't know what to feel about him anymore. There was still,
somewhere, the love she felt for him, the yearning to stand by him and to take
away the pain. But he had shown that he was just too good at keeping anyone
from doing that. Dana wasn't quite ready to let him have the victory of making
her hate him, but she despaired, feeling that soon he would win.
"At least he remembered his duty, Lieutenant," Nova said as she entered,
shaking rainwater off her cloak. Her Gimps were still beating the bushes for
the two fugitives, but she knew it was in vain; this called for more extreme
measures.
Zor took advantage of the distraction to wander out, as Dana and Nova
faced off. Dana was mounting some good arguments on Musica's behalf, but Nova
cut through it with the news that the ATAC commanding general had granted Nova
temporary operational control of the 15th.
"At first light, you and your unit will begin search operations,
apprehend Grant and the alien, and place them under house arrest, is that
clear enough for you, Sterling? In the meantime, I will consult with the Judge
Advocate General's office with regard to court-martial proceedings against you
and your men."
Just when Musica had resigned herself to dying at Bowie's side in the
endless forest, lights appeared ahead-an outlying army equipment storage
facility. Bowie left her for, a moment, disappeared into the rain, and came
back mounted on a Hovercycle.
He pulled her on, and they jetted off through the driving rain,
headlights coming alight behind them as jeeps took up a pursuit. It was a mad
chase over benighted roads that even the cycle's headlights couldn't seem to
light. Bowie's major advantage was that mud and slick road conditions didn't
matter much to a surface-effect vehicle.
But Musica was unused to riding and couldn't help him by leaning
correctly on the turns. They got a lead on the posse, staying ahead by one or
two bends in the road, but just about the time he was assuring her that he was
a past master at Hovercycle racing, he snagged a branch and almost rammed a
tree.
As it was, they slewed through a screen of bushes, and he laid the
sky-scooter down in a not-quite-controlled fall that sent them both tumbling.
It turned out to be a blessing in disguise, because the pursuing jeeps
roared on by. Bowie crept over to where Musica lay and couldn't breathe until
he saw that she was all right.
He got her under the shelter of a tree, the lightning having stopped.
The rain was letting up a bit; he drew her to him, opening his jacket, trying
to warm her.
"Bowie..." She sounded so exhausted. "Lying here like this, I can feel
your heart beating against mine. It's such beautiful music; I wish we could
stay like this forever."
He felt such fear for her, such apprehension about the future, the pain
of the fall, and the cold and damp of the night. It astounded him how much of
that suffering and unhappiness she took away with a kiss.
"Zand, I haven't the time for-"
"Yes you have, Mr. Chairman." Zand didn't move out of Moran's way. "I'll
be brief."
Even with the flock of squawking flacks and bureaucrats trailing him,
waiting for the chance to get the ear of the chairman of the UEG, Moran didn't
brush Zand aside.
He saw by the look in Zand's strange, liquid-black eyes that the
Robotech genius wouldn't stand for it. Moran made a casual-seeming gesture of
the hand; in seconds, his security people had the followers fended back, and
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Moran, Zand, and Zand's aide were ushered into an empty conference room.
Zand saw no reason for preamble. "There's word that an alien woman has
been smuggled back to Earth and that your people are looking for her so that
you can use her as a peace envoy. Don't do that, Mr. Chairman."
Chairman Moran-white-haired, white-mustached, kind old Uncle Pat, as
some commentators called him-frowned. "That's not for you to say."
Zand's vacuous-faced, unobtrusive aide had taken a seat off to one side.
Now Zand shot him a look. Russo leapt to his feet. Suddenly, instead of a [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]