She grinned. Lifted it up to the lens. Clicked her tongue.
“What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him,” Eazi said.
She laughed. “True, but if I’m caught with one, it would cause political issues, and like it or not, we’re a quasi-governmental department now, aren’t we?” She had felt a little queasy the first time she’d come to that realization.
“I hadn’t thought of it that way.” Eazi sounded surprised.
Theoretically the two of them ran the arrivals and departures, the docking, the trade, and the administration and security of the way station. But that sounded very much like government to her.
And they had taken it in a bloodless coup.
Go, her. She was queen of all she reigned.
“We’re coming through Balco’s atmosphere,” Eazi told her.
Fiona stepped back from the bag so she could look out of the screen again, and she felt the slight vibration of entry.
There was a wink of light on water below.
“Last time we landed in the desert,” she said, moving closer to look. “I never caught even a glimpse of the sea.”
“It’s not as big as any of Earth’s oceans,” Eazi said. “And very little in the sea is edible. So there’s not a lot of activity on the water, other than for pleasure.”
“Is Distani near the sea?” She should probably know that, but she had never heard it mentioned.
“Not really. The sea’s about thirty minutes from the city, but it is built on the banks of the river that flows to the ocean. The Hintah. It’s over a thou wide in most places.”
“I’m getting excited to see it.” She hadn’t had a true break since she’d been abducted, she realized. And even though this technically wasn’t a holiday, she didn’t have much to do until Eazi sent a message to Hi-Lan Baruke that she would like an in-person meeting with him.
The plan was to make him think she was contacting him from theIllium, and would come down with a Grihan escort when he could fit her in.
Admiral Hoke would provide Grihan embassy staff to her when the meeting was confirmed and they would accompany her in. The spies that were going to keep her company until then would step back and let the diplomats take over.
“We’ll be landing in twenty minutes,” Eazi told her. “You’ll have to pretend to have piloted the runner yourself. The identification chip will withstand all scrutiny.”
“Okay. Let me find a weapon that’s a bit more active than the reflector before we set down.” Fiona studied the contents of the weapons bag again, and took out a necklace with a silver pendant that was a slim, four-sided rod around the length of her forefinger. When she held it, it jutted out a little way above and below her closed fist.
“That’s good,” Eazi said. “No one will realize it’s a weapon.”
“How does it work?” Fee put the necklace on and held the rod again.
“Jerk the rod downward,” Eazi told her.
She did, and it came away from the necklace with a faint click.
“Now flick it away from yourself.”
She did as he said, and it telescoped out. She slashed it in front of her, and heard the whip of sound it made.
“That’ll sting.” She made a figure of eight in front of her. “I like it.”
“It’s flexible but extremely strong. If you hit someone hard enough, it will draw blood and break bones.” Eazi sounded quietly satisfied.
“Cool. I’ll leave the rest here, locked away, but hopefully I won’t even need what I’ve taken.” She didn’t want some of the more exotic items to fall into the wrong hands, and she didn’t have the same control over her environment where she was going that she had on Larga Ways.
She clipped the rod back into its holder on the necklace and Eazi opened a drawer in the console in front of her to hide the bag of weapons away. When he closed it, she couldn’t see even the faintest outline of where the drawer was.
The runner landed gently, and she stepped back to the screen to look out.
