The Janus Syndrome | Page 5

me, you horrible black bastard, you."

"You've been reading Richard Prather again."
I turned her jacket over, pulled the buttons off, collecting them in one
hand.
When I had them all, I dropped them into my pocket, handed her jacket
to her, and dropped the needlegun into her lap.
She folded the jacket, clumsily, and dropped it into her lap, over the
gun.
"That goes on the expense account as well."
"Uh-huh. I'll see you when I get upstairs. Then we can match accounts.
That damn computer owes me for --" I started wadding the explosive,
with the buttons inside -- "a complete outfit." The explosive was as soft
as molding wax in my hands.
"Aren't you going to kiss me good-bye, wounded heroine and all?"
Kerry said.
I looked up at her and grinned. "Next you'll be fussing with your hair
and clothes every time you get into a scrape."
"My hair's unmussable," she said.
"Okay, so I can't ruffle it."
Under the light, the bomb turned from gray to blue-green; activated.
"Ah, you're no fun, and I hate you for it."
I dropped the bomb into my pocket and kissed her. We were good
friends; we hadn't really had time to get together much -- her manor
was Planet Earth, mine was anywhere Area Fourteen wanted to send
me.
But I loved her all the same; she was my kind of Beautiful People.

We broke, and she winked, put the Bullet between her teeth, bit,
swallowed, and waited for a moment.
Then, with a loud popping sound, she was gone. Air plucked at my
clothes.
I looked up, for the moon; I couldn't see it for the buildings. Area
Fourteen was a hundred twenty degrees ahead of it, at the forward
Trojan point, screened from detection.
A kind of home for me.
I stood up, took the bomb out of my pocket, kneaded it a little more,
and walked to the door; I hadn't been shot at out here, and I probably
wouldn't be. They hadn't put much power into this hit, and they'd blown
it.
I pushed the doors open warily, slipping inside and taking cover behind
a pillar, watching. No one looked in my direction; the civilians had run
for safety and the cops were too busy trying to flush the sniper; they
were making a mess of the desks and walls.
I looked for the two dead Enemy; no sign. I hadn't expected to see any
trace of them. The Enemy made a point of picking up their own
garbage. We hadn't laid hands on a single Enemy casualty so far, and
the same applied to us where the Enemy was concerned.
I wished that somebody would see fit to haul a living, breathing
Kevven Tomari out of the firing line right now. But Area Fourteen
wouldn't do that. I had a job to finish, and I was supposed to take care
of myself.
The red beam from the sniper's weapon snapped through the air, took a
cop in the chest, transfixed him, vanished, and let him fall, smoldering.
I broke cover, zig-zagged to more cover closer to the sniper, got down,
and pulled out the Bullet I'd taken from Kerry's jacket, putting it
between my teeth.

I charted my course carefully -- this was going to be the shortest path of
all, and the most dangerous. I could easily get caught in a crossfire and
cut to pieces.
I hefted the bomb, considered trying a throw from here, but I probably
wouldn't be able to make it. I hadn't a clue about throwing anything,
never mind a bomb that wasn't quite round.
I shook off nerves and broke.
My feet cracked hard on the floor, running with balance putting me
ahead.
There was a shout from my right, a cop spotting me, and most of the
firing ceased.
I slammed the bomb against my empty hand, sparking it into timing to
detonation. Eight seconds.
Brought it back as I thudded ziz-zag at the ticket desks, wove away to
avoid being targeted.
Hurled it with five feet to go; it didn't matter if it didn't land on his nose,
the bang would get him anyway.
Twisted and dropped flat, biting the Bullet and swallowing, curling up
in case I'd mistimed.
There was a pain in my side; I'd hit the desks while dropping, hadn't
noticed it.
And then -- St. Louis Greyhound Bus Terminal vanished from around
me.
I was flattened out on the receiving deck of Area Fourteen, four
hundred thousand plus kilometers out in space.
I rolled over and stood up, grinning at the curious faces, alien and
human, that looked down on me from various catwalks over and under

my position.
And heard Area Fourteen say, "When you have seen to your shoddy
state, Kevven, report