Jin shot a look at Merrick. His eyes went briefly wide, then calmed down again as he recovered his balance. "From the front?" she asked Fadil.
Fadil gave her a half-astonished, half-scandalized look. "I wasn't speaking to you," he bit out.
"Answer her anyway," Daulo ordered.
Fadil looked at his father with the same look he'd just given Jin. "Yes, from the front," he managed.
"Go and stall them," Jin said. "Daulo, we'll need those fresh clothes, now."
"I'll get them," Daulo said grimly. "Meanwhile—"
"What do you mean, stall them?" Fadil cut in. "These are agents of the Shahni!"
"Which is why we need to stall them," Jin explained, fighting hard for patience.
"And how exactly do I do that?" Fadil persisted. "Tell them you've gone?"
"Don't tell them anything," Merrick said. "Welcome them in, ask about their families, get them some refreshments—you do still do those things, don't you?"
"Yes, of course," Daulo said. "But that will only gain us a few minutes."
"That's all we'll need." Merrick visibly braced himself. "Get me some new clothes, and I'll go down and talk to them."
"Out of the question," Daulo said firmly.
"He's right, Merrick," Jin agreed. "If anyone's going to talk to them, it'll be me."
"What, a woman?" Merrick countered. "You don't think that'll raise their suspicions?"
Jin squeezed her hand into a fist. Unfortunately, he was right. "Merrick—"
"I need those clothes, Master Sammon," Merrick said. "And you, Master Fadil, need to get downstairs and entertain our guests."
"Father?" Fadil asked in a strained voice.
Daulo grimaced. "Do it," he confirmed.
Fadil hesitated, then gave a jerky nod and headed back down the hallway. "But I don't think either of you should face them," Daulo continued. "Let me first go see what I can do."
"With all due respect, I think running interference for us will only add to any suspicions they already have," Merrick said. "No, the faster one of us comes out and spins them a soothing story, the better." He looked at Jin. "It also occurs to me that if the Shahni have been updating their facial-recognition software, they may have a fairly good idea what my mother looks like."
Jin looked at Daulo, found him looking at her. "Jin?" he asked.
"I don't like it, either," Jin admitted reluctantly. "Unfortunately, it really is probably our best shot. At worst, all he'll do is confirm suspicions they already have. Merrick, do you know yet what you're going to say to them?"
"I've got a couple of ideas," he assured her. "While I'm changing, perhaps Master Sammon can give me a quick update on the new mark of respect and anything else they've changed since you were here."
"I'll do what I can," Daulo said grimly. "Come with me. Jin, can you find your way to the women's section? If they ask where you are, it might be useful to be able to say you're in a bath."
"I can do that," Jin said, acknowledging the advice without in any way stating she would follow it. In actual fact, she had no intention of getting out of earshot of her son right now.
She squeezed Merrick's shoulder, her fingers lingering perhaps a bit longer than really necessary. "Good luck."
From the way Fadil had been talking, Merrick had expected all four of the men from the village gate to be in the house, accompanied by the two official gate guards and possibly a few other armed friends. It was therefore something of a surprise when he descended the staircase to find that only one of the four men was actually present.
The youngest of the four, in fact, if Merrick was judging the other's face properly behind his closely trimmed beard. The young man's tunic was mostly brown, with dark red and blue highlights, tied with a tan sash. His trousers were a darker brown, with low, age-scuffed boots completing the ensemble. He would have looked perfectly at home beside any of a dozen other young men Merrick had noticed on the way into Milika.
He and Fadil were in the greeting room just off the foyer, Fadil watching stiffly as his visitor studied the refreshment trays being held for him by a pair of servant girls. The young man looked calm and perfectly at home, considerably more so than Fadil himself.
Merrick took a deep breath. Showtime. "Master Sammon, your father said I'm to—oh; excuse me," he said, bringing himself to a slightly jerky halt a couple of steps into the others' sight. "My apologies. I didn't realize you had a guest."
"Greetings to you, friend," the stranger said, waving away the trays with a double flick of his fingertips and lifting his right hand to touch bunched fingertips to his forehead.
Merrick suppressed a smile. That one had to be the oldest trick in the book. "Greetings to you," he replied, responding with the more proper two fingers to forehead and lips that Daulo had just taught him. "I am Haiku Sinn."
"Ah! My apologies—I keep forgetting," the other man said, lifting his hand again and giving the proper mark of respect. As he did so, his sleeve fell back, and Merrick caught a glimpse of a scaled gray undersleeve beneath the tunic. "I am Carsh Zoshak. Please; join us."
"Thank you," Merrick said, starting forward again. As he walked, he keyed in his optical enhancers' infrared, and a patterned red haze appeared superimposed over everyone in the room. One of the servant girls offered her tray to him, and he selected the minced poofoo strip that Daulo had recommended. "Are you a friend, or a business acquaintance of Master Sammon's?" he asked Zoshak as he took a bite. It tasted a little like spiced shrimp, he decided.
"Neither, actually," Zoshak said. "I'm an inspector for the Shahni."
"Really," Merrick said, letting his eyes go a little wider. "May I ask what such an illustrious personage seeks in such a modest village as Milika?"
"I am hardly an illustrious personage," Zoshak said wryly. "My job is simply to travel around Qasama monitoring compliance with current social norms. You may have noticed me at the gate when you came through?"
"I'm afraid I wasn't paying much attention to individuals," Merrick admitted, peering closely at him. "It was my first visit to Milika, and I was eager to see what the village was like."
"Really?" Zoshak asked in a tone of polite disbelief. "A cousin to Fadil Sammon, and this is your first visit?"
"A cousin?" Merrick echoed, frowning. "No, not at all. What gave you that impression?"
"One of the other gate guards heard him call you his cousin," Zoshak said, his eyes steady on Merrick's face.
Merrick held his puzzled frown another second. Then, letting his face clear, he gave a short laugh. "Oh, how funny," he said. "No, he didn't call me cousin. He simply called my name: Haiku Sinn."
For a moment Zoshak looked blank. Then, slowly, he smiled as well. "Haiku Sinn," he repeated. "Yes, I can see how that could have been misheard. How funny, indeed."
"I only wish I were related to the Sammon family," Merrick went on, giving Fadil a rueful smile. The other didn't smile back, but merely continued looking tense. "If I were, perhaps it would be easier to persuade them to combine our two mining operations."
"You deal in metals?" Zoshak asked.
"Mining and refining, yes," Merrick said. "We're particularly interested in the new deposits of iridium and platinum they've uncovered." He grimaced. "Unfortunately, so are many others."
"Indeed," Zoshak agreed. "Tell me, who is the older woman who was in Master Sammon's car with you?"
"My mother, Lariqa Sinn," Merrick said. He'd thought about trying to come up with another identity for her, but there was too much risk that someone might have noticed a family resemblance. "She knows a great deal more about my father's business than I do."
"But is perhaps not an expert on fashion?" Zoshak asked pointedly.
"Oh. Yes." Merrick winced. "Yes, I know—those old clothes we were wearing."
"Clothing which should have been destroyed two years ago," Zoshak said, his voice dropping to the tone Merrick often heard from Aventinian bureaucrats quoting rules and regulations.
"I know," Merrick said again. "We usually just wear them when we're inspecting mines—we don't mind if they get damaged, you see. Unfortunately, in our haste to get to Milika after we received Daulo Sammon's invitation, we didn't bother to change."
"Or to check your fuel gauge?" Zoshak suggested, his tone lightening a couple of shades.
Merrick winced again. "Indeed," he confessed. "If we're trying to impress Daulo Sammon with our efficiency, we're not doing a very good job of it."
"Perhaps you may yet redeem yourselves in his eyes," Zoshak said. "You will, of course, destroy that clothing immediately."
"Of course," Merrick hastened to assure him. "And all the rest, too, as soon as we return home."
"Yes," Zoshak said, his tone making it clear it wasn't a suggestion. "Where is your home, by the way?"
"Patrolo," Merrick said. He knew nothing about the town other than that it was midway down the Eastern Arm of the Great Arc, that it had a decent mining and refining industry, and that Daulo had suggested it as Merrick's supposed home town. "You've probably never even heard of it."
"Actually, I have," Zoshak said. "I understand it has decent mining facilities and several small refineries."
"Yes, that's it," Merrick confirmed. "Also several fine restaurants, if I may be so boastful. We would he honored to have you visit us someday." He dared a small smile. "And I promise you'll find nothing illegal when you do."
"I'll hold you to that, Master Sinn," Zoshak said, smiling back. "Thank you for your hospitality, Master Sammon. With your leave, I'll be on my way."
"Of course," Fadil said. He and Zoshak made the sign of respect, Zoshak and Merrick did likewise, and then the young Shahni agent headed out again into the midmorning sunlight.
Fadil exhaled a shuddering breath. "Leave us," he said tartly to the two servant girls. "You—upstairs," he added to Merrick as the girls bowed and headed silently toward the kitchen.
Daulo and Jin were waiting at the top of the stairway. "What do you think?" Merrick asked.
"You sounded convincing enough," Daulo said. "Whether or not he was convinced, of course, is another question entirely."
"He wasn't," Fadil bit out, glaring at Merrick. "How could he have been?"
"Merrick?" Jin invited.
Merrick shrugged. "If he recognized me for who I was, it had to have been right at the beginning," he said. "I saw no indication of sudden surprise or excitement."
"A man could hardly become an agent of the Shahni without control of his face," Fadil said contemptuously.
"True, but I doubt even Shahni agents can control their heartbeat and the subsequent changes in their heat output," Merrick told him. "I was monitoring his infrared signature the whole time, and I saw no change."
"You can read body temperature that subtly?" Daulo asked, frowning. "I never knew that."
"It's something that was added to Merrick's generation of Cobras," Jin explained, her voice oddly distant. "My own enhancers aren't nearly so sophisticated."
"Still, it's certainly possible that I misread him," Merrick continued. "Qasaman reactions may be different from those I'm familiar with."
"Especially given the range of enhancement drugs available to us," Daulo agreed grimly. "And as you say, he may have been convinced of your true identity from the very beginning."
"He was also wearing something odd under his tunic," Merrick said. "Something gray and scaly that I've never seen before."
"Probably a krisjaw-hide armband," Daulo said. "It either means he's a good hunter, or that he likes to pretend he is."
"Never mind that," Fadil asked impatiently. "What do we do?" He jerked a thumb at Merrick and Jin. "They've been seen in our house."
"I think all we can do now is minimize any potential damage," Merrick said, "which means us getting out of here as soon as possible. If Zoshak tries to make trouble, you'll just have to claim that our story fooled you—"
"There's one other possibility," Jin said.
Merrick eyed his mother. There was an odd look on her face, even odder than the tone she'd used a moment ago. "What's that?" he asked.
"We assumed that Daulo Sammon sent me that note," she said slowly. "Only we know now that he didn't." She seemed to brace herself. "What if it was actually sent by Miron Akim?"
Merrick felt his mouth drop open. "The Shahni agent?"
"I know it sounds crazy," Jin admitted. "But I can't think of anyone else on Qasama aside from the Sammon family who ever heard my full name."
"Obolo Nardin did," Daulo said, his face darkening with memory. "I distinctly remember you telling him who you were. Rather proudly, in fact."
"Not that it made any impression on him," Jin said. "But no, I only gave him the name Jasmine. The note refers to me as both Jasmine and Jin." She looked at Merrick. "In which case, it's possible Carsh Zoshak showed no reaction because he wasn't here to capture us, but merely to report on our arrival."
"Ridiculous," Fadil said with a snort.
"Fadil," Daulo said warningly.
"I apologize for any disrespect, my father," Fadil gritted out. "But it is ridiculous. What in the name of God would the Shahni want with enemies of Qasama?"
"We aren't your—" Merrick broke off at a gesture from his mother.
"I don't know what he would want with us," Jin said calmly. "I'm simply following the logic trail."
"To a completely erroneous conclusion," Fadil insisted.
"Possibly," Jin said calmly. "I'm open to other suggestions."
For a moment no one spoke. "I have to say, I agree with my son," Daulo said. "Such a suggestion is so unlikely as to border on the completely impossible." He made a face. "Unfortunately, I have nothing more probable to offer."
"Well, then, I guess it's time Merrick and I finally paid a visit to the Shahni," Jin said. She was trying to keep her tone light, Merrick knew, but he could sense the quiet concern beneath it. The Shahni, after all, were the ones who had declared Qasama's national hatred for the Cobra Worlds in the first place. "Where do they make their headquarters these days?"
"Where they always have: the city of Sollas," Daulo said. "You understand now why your arrival on their very doorstep fifty-five years ago was such a shock and concern to us all."
"If it makes you feel any better, the choice of the team's landing zone was purely coincidental," Jin assured him. "All the official records—as well the stories I heard from my father and uncle—agree that they picked Sollas only because it was more or less in the center of the string of Great Arc settlements."
"Which is precisely why it was made the capital to begin with," Daulo said. "Which makes you capable of predicting and anticipating our actions, which offers us no comfort at all."
Merrick felt his throat tighten. Qasaman paranoia. He'd heard his mother and grandfather talk about it, but until now he'd never truly understood the full implications of the phrase. "So Sollas it is," he put in, hoping to turn the conversation away from supposed Cobra Worlds omniscience. "We can get a bus to there, right?"
"Buses are hardly the transport of choice for fugitives," Daulo said heavily. "No, I'd better drive you."
"We can't let you do that," Jin said firmly. "Just let us have a vehicle and a map and we'll manage it ourselves."
"Have either of you a proper license?" Daulo asked. "I didn't think so. We may be a bit casual on the point of personal identity papers—a long and very deep part of our heritage—but we are very firm on allowing only those so authorized to drive our roads. Among other matters, you can't purchase fuel without one."
Jin threw Merrick a helpless look, then reluctantly nodded. "I have no right to ask such risks of you, Daulo Sammon," she said. "But I see no other way. Thank you for your offer, and we accept with humble thanks. How long a drive will it be?"
"If we leave within the next hour, we should be there around dawn," Daulo said.
"Can we do that?" Jin asked. "I mean, travel at night?"
"Of course." Daulo smiled humorlessly. "Interestingly enough, the number of predator attacks has been dropping steadily over the past half century. I suppose we have your people to thank for that."
"I have a question," Merrick said, trying to visualize the Qasaman maps he'd looked through. "I can't see how we can make a trip that long without driving straight through."
"Were you wanting to stop and sightsee along the way?" Daulo asked.
"I was thinking more about driver fatigue," Merrick said. "Unless you're planning to let Mom or me drive for a while."
"Weren't you listening?" Fadil snapped. "You can't drive here."
"It'll be all right," Daulo said. "If I get tired, we can stop for a brief rest."
"Which will look highly suspicious to anyone passing by," Fadil argued.
"We'll just have to risk that." Daulo eyed his son. "Unless you have an alternative to offer."
For a long moment Fadil glared at his father. Merrick flicked on his infrared again, watching with interest as parts of the young man's image shifted between red and orange with his fluctuating emotional state. "You know what the only alternative is," Fadil said at last. "We drive them together."
Daulo inclined his head; acknowledgment or thanks, Merrick couldn't tell which. "Do you have any other equipment, Jasmine Moreau?"
"We have some packs buried off the road about half a kilometer south of the village," Jin said. "But we can hardly pick them up in broad daylight with the gate guards already suspicious."
"I'd rather not wait until nightfall to leave Milika," Daulo said. "Can you make do without them?"
"Easily," Jin said with a nod. "There's nothing in there we can't do without."
Merrick grimaced. Nothing except their camo night-fighting suits, their compact medical kits, their rope and climbing gear, and a few small smoke-and-shock diversionary devices. But she was right. If Zoshak was still suspicious, parking alongside the road while someone went for a short walk would be a suicidally stupid thing to do.
"Then as soon as we've collected some spare clothing for you, we'll be under way," Daulo decided. "Fadil, we'll take the green truck. Go make sure it's fueled—" he smiled tightly "—and add a few small boxes of recent ore samples from the mine."
Fadil frowned. "Ore samples?"
"If we're going to go to Patrolo to discuss joint operations with the Sinn family refining facilities, we'll need to show them samples of our output," Daulo said. "Go."
"Yes, Father." Fadil gave Daulo the sign of respect and then, grudgingly, Merrick thought, repeated the gesture to him and his mother. Turning, he went back downstairs and disappeared down a corridor leading toward the rear of the house.
"Come," Daulo said, gesturing to Jin and Merrick as he headed the opposite direction down the corridor. "We'll see about food for you while we pack a few essentials."
Merrick and Jin fell into step beside him. Behind Daulo's back, Merrick caught his mother's eye. I hope you know what you're doing, he mouthed silently to her.
Her lip twitched. So do I, she mouthed back.