CHAPTER TWELVE

In Nancy's basement world the life went on. Rook surmised that it probably never actually stopped. He knew of underground establishments in the uninsured world in his own bailiwick that were like that. Dawn, dusk, midday, midnight, it hardly mattered. Bad beer, good liquor, narcosuma, methamphetamine, it was never ending though the human cast of characters changed every few hours.

Freddy, however, was ready to crash land. The cloud of courtiers had been dismissed. Oakes had reappeared, a solid, intimidating presence at Freddy's side.

"I expect you're tired," Freddy said, leaning over.

"You could say that."

Freddy had picked up a kid with a faux, leopard-fur hairdo and pale green peter pan outfit. The kid looked like a leprechaun on dope. Rook wondered where Freddy found them. The kid was called "Rabbit", an allusion that Rook never nailed down. Was it the ears? Seemed perfectly normal. Something about the front teeth, or the nose? Maybe Rabbit had had cosmetic surgery and dental work done? Who knew? Who cared? At this time of the morning, and after such a momentous few hours, Rook was definitely beyond caring.

"Let's go somewhere," said the kid with the boundless energy of the young.

"We will, but later. Some of us need to sleep." Freddy picked up a phone call.

Plesur was one of those ready to curl up somewhere for some shuteye. Her entertainment had bailed out, gone home, or out for breakfast. Her last strawberry smoothie was half consumed, but she was leaning on Rook's shoulder, already halfway to dreamland.

The latest addition to the party was a chubby, midlife gent clad in a well cut business suit, softcollar blue shirt and a tie, a shrieking striper in red, yellow and blue.

"Say hello to Herb," said Freddy by way of introduction. "Good friend of mine. We're gonna stay at his house tonight."

More like today, thought Rook with a yawn.

Herb nodded, smiled. Herb's eyes were a watery blue, his face a collection of circles.

"Good morning," the voice was soft, neutral, he seemed somewhat out of place down here in Nancy's subterranean world.

"It's not far at all, just a couple of blocks. We'll walk, if that's okay with Miss Plesur."

It was okay with her, but Rook could tell that Oakes was far less sanguine about this. As they emerged onto the street Oakes slid in beside Rook.

"You mind taking point here?"

"Uh, no. You expecting trouble?"

"You never know, and we're out in the open."

"Okay."

Rook, with Plesur hanging onto his arm, stayed up front. Oakes drifted to the back, covering everything. Rook made sure that his sidearm was within easy reach and he did his best to wake up and study the street ahead. It was interesting that Oakes had decided that Rook was on the team. Maybe there wasn't much choice in the matter, but it seemed like some kind of bridge had been crossed there.

It was less crowded than before. The late night street crowd had morphed into the waiting for dawn crowd, which was thinner and less exuberant. Indeed most people seemed to be drifting homewards. When they crossed the next street Rook observed that Oakes had moved back twenty yards, from which position he could easily keep watch on both sides of the street and intercept any potential trouble.

Nothing came up, however. It was just a little walk through an old part of town with the light of dawn freshening in the east.

Herb's place turned out to be a nice house, red brick, four stories, in a row of similar houses on a quiet Village Street. There were trees outside, and small signs demanding that dog walkers leave no evidence of their passage. Every imaginable parking space was filled with something hypermodern and there were very few lights on.

Rook realized the house had to be worth ten or twenty million. Herb was obviously not hurting for a few years' credit. Rook watched the street behind them while Freddy, Rabbit, Plesur and Herb went in the door. Oakes came up quickly, nodded to Rook and they followed, hands close to sidearms.

Inside, good taste ruled alongside money. White and cream trim, sober green wallpapers, carpets that spoke of mucho moola and furniture to match. Rook observed that the paintings on the walls were, like, old. He didn't know how old, or where they were from, but everything, from the gilt frames to the subjects, fields of flowers, a windmill, a lady in a voluminous dark dress, spoke of money, old money, long held money and lots and lots of it..

Within a few seconds of entering they were met by a smiling asian woman who lead Rook and Plesur up to the second floor and a bedroom with en suite bath and toilet that was done out in deep burgundy velvet and heavy brocade covers. The place seemed to smell of luxury, a scent compounded of something flowery, something sweet and something else, possibly wood polish.

The mere sight of the bed, king size and terribly inviting to eyes as tired as Rook's brought on a wave of fatigue. He didn't even try to sleep somewhere else. Plesur had made it clear that she wouldn't let him sleep alone, anyway.

Fortunately, though, she was far too sleepy herself to even think about "helping man."

Sleep seemed to come within seconds once they were under the covers. Plesur hugged herself up against him. Her curves, her breasts pressed against him, her thigh rested on his, but he was too tired to even think about sex. Soft little snores were the last thing he remembered and then he had slipped into dreamless oblivion.

When he awoke, it was with a sense of something not quite right. This wasn't his bed, his house, his anything. And then he remembered he didn't have a house, a bed, or anything. He opened his eyes slowly. The sun was struggling to get in through the heavy curtains, and there was velvet on the walls plus a painting of some dude from the eighteenth century that he was sure was super expensive.

Still, something wasn't quite right. Rook looked over to his right. Freddy was sitting there, staring at him.

"Good morning, SIO Venner." Freddy was wearing a dressing gown made of golden silk and had a tube of something pink in his hand that he took the occasional puff on.

"Same to you. What time is it?"

"Almost ten. Don't worry, we don't have to get up yet. And from the looks of her, little Plesur is nowhere near ready."

Indeed, Plesur was still dreaming whatever pleasure models dreamed.

So why was Freddy in this room? Why wasn't he fooling around with little Rabbit? Obviously something was troubling the favorite nephew of Sable Ranch.

"SIO Venner, do you ever think about the weather?"

"Sorry? The weather?"

"Yes. When you were young didn't they have weather forecasts on TV?"

"Well, yeah, I guess so. I don't remember much about it."

"Do you remember the weather back then?"

What was this? Freddy had woken him up to discuss the weather?

"Well, let's see. It didn't rain so much. Yeah, for sure."

"How about snow?"

Rook remembered snow. And ice. And freezing rain. School had always been cancelled whenever there was snow. Or freeziing rain.

"Oh yeah, we had that when I was a kid. Not these days, though."

Freddy nodded. It wasn't common knowledge, but the snow belt in North America now began in Canada. Even Minnesota only had snow once in a while.

"You ever go to Florida?"

"Yeah, but not for a long time."

"People don't go there much now. You know why?"

"Uh, no." Freddy was right. You didn't hear people talk about Florida these days. Jet travel was too expensive. New Jersey was hot enough if you just wanted to go to the beach.

"Well, there isn't that much left of Florida."

"What do you mean?" Florida was a whole state. What was Freddy talking about?

"Water's three feet deep over most of it. Fabulous for fish. Remember Miami?"

"Oh yeah. I remember, big problem with that, back about ten, fifteen years, yeah? People had to relocate. Some even came up to Kingston."

Freddy nodded, the exodus from Miami had been a big cultural event, nobody could have missed it, even though it hadn't been covered on TV news.

"Ever heard of New Orleans?"

"Oh, sure, in a song, a blues song."

"It was a city."

"Yeah, an old one. Didn't it get abandoned? Long time ago."

"It's under the sea nowadays."

"Yeah?" So what? Rook wanted to say. Rook had never thought much about the rest of the country, other than New York and LA. He'd been to Florida, in the early days of his marriage, but hadn't been back. They'd gone to Orlando, to a Disney resort. It'd been okay, though the weather was really hot and Jenni had preferred staying in the hotel pool to lining up for the rides.

At the time there'd been some kind of crisis going on elsewhere in the state. He vaguely recalled hearing talk of mass relocations. It hadn't really gotten his interest. Since then, well, travel hadn't been such a big thing for him. Foreign travel was forbidden to agents of the state, and vacations weren't quite the same thing without a family. So, other than numerous visits to LA to see his daughter he'd tended to stay home when he had time off. What could he say? A policeman's life was a busy one, and there was always something that needed to be done on the doublewide, or in the yard.

"You remember weather forecasts? Like on radio and TV?"

Rook groped for a moment. What was all this about weather? Then recalled a woman on TV standing in front of a map of the USA while cloud patterns swirled across it and dark blue fronts dropped down from Canada.

"Yeah. When I was a kid."

"You don't remember when they stopped those then."

"I guess not. Weather changes all the time, why bother, yeah?"

"Right." Freddy seemed to agree. "Tell me, Venner, when you were young, did your family eat out, you know, at popular restaurants?"

What? Rook shrugged. Weird. The young star from Sable Ranch had been toking too hard on the narcosuma, it seemed.

"Now and then. We weren't doing that well. Times were hard."

"Interesting. Do you remember the Double D brand of smoked meats?"

"Uh, no, I don't think so."

"Double D Dogs? They were sold at every ball park. "

"Yeah? I must've had a few. We went to see the Yankees a few times when I was a kid. It was always real special, because it was kind of expensive. My grandad would get the tickets, he had some in at the Yankees, 'cos we didn't have to pay full price. We sat in the upper tier. Saw them beat Boston one time, that famous game, went to 21 innings. It was like, 1-1 in the 9th, ended up 16-15, Bobby Thompson got the winner. Two run homer in the 21st . It was like two thirty in the morning, but hardly anyone left the stadium."

Freddy's eyes sparkled as Rook recalled that special night from his childhood. He'd been nine years old and a true blue Yankee fan. Beating Boston was everything, especially then, because the Red Sox had been so dominant for the previous ten years.

"That sounds like a great night out, Venner. I expect you had a Double D Dog that night."

"Probably."

"And maybe your mom cooked now and then with HelthOne oil or spread? It was high in Omega 3 fatty acids, you know?"

"I guess. I know that brand. I think I've bought it now and then."

Freddy's smile had turned a shade grim.

"Oh, it's not quite the same these days."

Yeah, well what was? Things changed all the time, didn't they?

Freddy seemed satisfied. He shifted in the chair, leaned back, seemed to relax. "So, Venner, what did you make of Pipo Haman?"

"Kind of fleshed out the picture of the General. His warm and fuzzy side?"

Freddy chuckled. "I think he would have liked you, Venner."

"Not sure that's a compliment."

They both grinned.

"I wonder if it will help you in solving the case."

"Might, but still a lot of hurdles ahead."

"There are, but we'll talk to some people today who can point you in the right direction."

"So, I'm still on the case."

"Oh, very much so, SIO Venner, and the Ranch is following your progress with considerable interest."

"The Ranch?"

"I'm sending in reports every few hours."

Venner felt that shiver again. Very important people were peering over his shoulder. Everything he did was being scripted, but he was the only one who didn't know what the ending was or who'd be left standing."

"Yes," Freddy took a hit on the little pink tube. "We're gonna have a real puppy shoot before this is over."

"Puppy shoot?"

"Using military equipment without permission is going way over the line, Venner. They have to be taught a lesson. Puppies must die."

"If you say so."

"Oh, it comes from the top, SIO Venner, all the way."

Freddy's smile was dreamy, perhaps a little smug. The puppies were in real trouble, whoever they were. Rook figured this was his chance to ask a relevant question.

"Uh, well, what do they think, up there at the top? How do they see this thing unfolding?"

Freddy smiled again. Freddy knew much, it was clear, but could it be revealed to Rook Venner? The opaque walls were settling back into place.

"They see you digging into things, SIO Venner. They see you putting the pieces together. And then they see the chips being left to fall where they will. They're confident in your abilities, Venner, let's put it that way."

"And afterwards, what do they see happening?"

"After the trials?" Freddy waved expansively with the hand holding the little pink tube of something illegal. "Oh, there'll be opportunity for you, if that's what you're thinking. Have you ever considered moving to Texas?"

Texas?

"Nope."

"Someone with your skills and experience would be appreciated at the Ranch."

"Yeah?"

"Sure. There's so much that needs to be done, all the time. You can't imagine the pressure. The Ranch is a private institution, Venner. None of it is paid for by the state. There's an upside to that, of course, there isn't an army of busybodies keeping tabs on everyone all the time, either, but believe me, it's a terrific struggle to keep everything going. You'll find yourself working harder than you've ever worked in your whole life."

"Wow. This sounds like a recruitment pitch."

Freddy smiled again. Freddy saw the future and it was secure.

"The opportunity will be there for you. But, you will have to complete your investigation of this case. A little crazy, I know. We're dealing with some rogue elements here, and they can be dangerous. But they're not smart enough to stop us now. Later today I'm going to introduce you to some people who can answer some more of your questions."

"Rogue elements?"

"Disgusting people, really. So ungrateful, they deserve serious punishment."

"Who are they?"

"Well, it's a long story. Let's just say that there are members of the family and hangers on thereof, who have never accepted that things are getting back to normal. There was a national crisis, as you know. Certain measures had to be taken, mistakes were made, but in the end the nation survived and we're moving ahead now, getting back to being a normal country."

"Yeah, normal?"

"As much as we can make it. You know, safe for ordinary people. Secure for families, fiscally prudent, no hyper-inflation, with good jobs available and good education for our kids."

It sounded as if Freddy were reciting a poltical stump speech.

"Okay, sounds good enough to me."

"But not everyone would agree with you. There are those who did very well during the, ah, Emergency."

Freddy said that word with care and precision, as if it were rarely used and surrounded by an aura of danger.

"How do you mean?"

"Oh, they sewed up contracts for certain necessities, they made a lot of money. They liked it that way. Now, well, they don't have control anymore and they're unhappy about that."

"Unhappy?"

"Very. My own theory is that the murder of the General was an expression of rage, a kind of tantrum."

Rook caught the drift there. "You mean, they didn't think it all through?"

"Something like that. They wanted attention, and when they got it, they panicked."

"Trying to kill me."

"Or little Plesur there. She may know something. I mean, she probably doesn't know what she knows, if you see what I mean."

"Unh huh."

"But we don't know for sure, if that's true."

"I talked to Nancy."

"I know. It's fine with me. Maybe that will help Plesur to tell us if she does know something important. But," Freddy shrugged, "it doesn't matter. Either way, those bad puppies have to be punished."

"Will there be a trial?"

"Oh, trials." Freddy leaned back, his face turning thoughtful. 'Yes, there will have to be trials. You see, that's what makes the difference. They wouldn't bother with trials. As you've seen, they prefer direct methods. But we have to operate within the law. That's essential. But, we'll have to be careful. There are subjects that we might have to, uh, gloss over, shall we say. Things are too difficult to explain, people would never understand. So the whole business will be tricky. Which, of course, explains why they did it in the first place. They knew that this would be damned difficult. They had a tantrum and they picked the General to take it out on, because they knew how sensitive all this could be."

Rook was starting to wonder what the hell Freddy was talking about.

"It's the irresponsibility that makes me angry," said Freddy. "But that's been a standard marker for these kind of extremists for a long time."

Irresponsible hardly seemed the right word for ordering a helicopter gunship out to destroy a Senior Investigating Officer's home, with the intent of destroying him and an important piece of material evidence-- Plesur-- too. But Rook understood that Freddy was talking about all this from a point of view that was situated high above the field of play.

"What sort of thing do you think Plesur might know?"

Freddy shrugged, gestured expansively with the hand holding the little tube.

"Oh, it could be anything. A piece of code, perhaps? A name. She probably doesn't know this consciously, you see, it would be a verbal implant. No way to retrieve it unless you know the key."

"And we don't."

"Only the General would have known it."

"Look, after, the, uh, procedure? When she's been, uh, improved? I want her to be safe, you know what I mean?"

"Oh, of course. My aunt will make sure of that. Perhaps a job at the Ranch? We'll take care of her. She would probably be really good in the hospitality area."

Rook had to smile at that thought. Damned right, Plesur would be good at hospitality, especially for the male guests. Except she'd be different by then, or so Nancy had promised.

"Your aunt is a very wise lady, I guess."

Freddy laughed. "Oh, heavens, Mr. Venner, you will enjoy meeting her some day. She'd be the first to tell you that she sort of learned on the job, but now, well, nobody has her depth of experience or her understanding of how to make things work. And, she's always there. Wise Presidents rely on her, you know. Not to make policy, not to advise on everything that's going on, but to talk to now and then, to "pick her brains" as she says. Because she's been helping run this country for a long time, a very long time."

Rook felt a little giddy for a moment. Having this conversation about the most powerful person in the country was like striding along the pinnacles of power. Up here you talked about the nation, and destiny and running the country. It was dizzying.

Rook suppressed the thought of asking about the baseball bat legend. That would have to wait. Another time, perhaps. An SIO was just a small cog in the machine. An SIO just wanted to survive.

Freddy yawned. Stretched.

"Well, SIO Venner, thank you for this conversation. I know that you have to be questioning many things. This case has not exactly run smoothly."

Rook nodded. "Yeah. You could say that."

"But, with a little luck and some determination it ought to come out okay in the end."

If you say so, Rook thought.

"Okay."

Freddy yawned again. "I must get back to bed. I think the excitement last night seriously disrupted my sleep patterns."

"Yeah, I bet." Rook saw that blinding flash again, heard that heavy thud-crump as battlefield ordinance annihilated his home, his stuff, his former life.

"Let's regroup for lunch. Herb has a wonderful cook. Chinese, from Virginia, I believe. And after lunch we'll go talk to some people who will be immensely helpful in breaking the case."

Freddy left. Rook settled back into the lush pillows and considered the remarkable fact that Freddy, for all that he did know, didn't seem to know about "She", who remained their best lead in the case. Nor had Rook felt the slightest inclination to tell Freddy about her.

Secrets, secrets, secrets. The world was a puzzle box sometimes. Rook wondered what it might be like to work at the Ranch. Live in Texas. Hot down there, he knew that much. Security work, he assumed. Well, he could do that. Wouldn't have to worry about raids into the uninsured world, using the knockhammer to take out doors, sending in robots when you knew the occupants would rather die with their guns in their hands. Yeah, a nice desk job in some airconditioned palace. Take a regular long weekend to fly over to LA. Shorter trip. See his daughter more often. And Allis could go fuck herself if she didn't like it, because Rook would be connected, and not even a Californian Judge, not even an LA Judge would want to mess with someone who worked at Sable Ranch.

Lisa Artoli could go fuck herself too. Rook had had to put up with an awful lot of weakness and evasion from Lisa over the years, it would be great to be able to leave all that behind.

Plesur was awake. She had turned over and snuggled closer, lining up her hips and breasts so they pressed against his thigh and his ribs.

"Man say Plesur know?"

Plesur had been awake for longer than she'd let on. That was an interesting new aspect of a Pleasure Model. They could be sly about stuff.

"Yes, maybe."

"Maybe?"

"Maybe you know something, but don't know that you know it."

A couple of beats passed as this was absorbed.

"Funny man!" Plesur's little fingers tickled his ribs until he started laughing and wriggled away.

"Hey, it could be."

She emerged from the bedclothes, hair tousled, looking ravishingly beautiful.

"What I know?"

He shrugged, still awed by the sight of her. Godz, girl, you ought to be out in Hollywood posing for the virtmakers. They'd immortalize you with a solid gold statue on Virtual Mile.

"I don't know." He smiled. She laughed. There was a degree of purity there that took his breath away.

She grew serious again. "You talk Nancy. Plesur?"

He felt his eyes pop. Who said this Pleasure Model was stupid?

"You caught that, eh?"

Puzzlement.

"You know what that means?"

"Plesur be like," she was groping. "Her. The one like me that bring drink."

"Yes. Would you like that?"

"Be smart." Plesur's smile had an edge he'd never seen before. She wanted to be smart. It seemed that litlte Plesur understood that she hadn't been dealt a full hand.

How'd she figure all this out?

"Yeah."

She snuggled up against him and rested those golden curls on his chest.

"Plesur happy with man."

Rook willed his penis to stay in its place. Just lie down buddy. This ain't the time.

It was hard, but Rook had will power and he used it.

Eventually, Plesur started snoring again, soft, pretty little snores that had a kind of bell ringing component. Even this kid's snoring had beauty. Rook shook his head. It was too much for him right then, too much altogether.

Later. He would try and deal with it all later.

[ Ch 11 | Ch 13 ]