Page 121 of Throwing Fire

“Manny, how nice to see you,” she says as she draws near.

I should never have told her my SAWL nickname.

She leans in to give me a kiss, but I step back. I don’t want this woman touching me, not under any circumstances.

She pouts, pursing lips redder than the sunrise. “No hello for your sister-in-law?”

“Pretty sure you told Kez she didn’t have a sister,” I remind her. “What’re you doin’ here? Thought you took my ship and upped system.”

“Why should I leave? You’ve done such a fine job of eliminating anyone who posed a threat to me. I’m much safer on Kuseros than off-world.”

Kuseros would be safer if she was off-world. “If I’d known you were still around, I’da had you help with the cull. Earn your keep. Why’re you hiding here in Jielt?”

“Actually, I’ve always been part of the SoBo team. Zhonnys was just an unpleasant vacation. But even if this wasn’t home, Hemos wouldn’t be a good place for me right now, would it? You never know who might hold a grudge.” She winks at me. “Besides, there’s plenty here to keep me busy.”

“Yeah? This looks pretty routine.” I nod at the loading process. It is routine. Much too routine for Erin-the-Assassin to be supervising.

“Does it?” Erin arches an eyebrow. “I’m so pleased.”

Definitely a cover. “Where’s the Hex, Erin?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” She flashes white teeth betweenthose red, red lips. “Shall I let you in on a secret?” When I nod, she leans in close and blows into my ear before she says in a stage-whisper, “It’s in the water.”

“Hex dissolves. Drinkin’ it don’t even give you a buzz.”

“True,” she says. “But B’s real gifts aren’t in administration. He’s a chemist, and he found an alternative form. A polymerase, I think he called it. Dissolves completely. No taste, no smell. Add a catalyst and the Hex precipitates out. Into beautiful crystal flowers, I’m told. The water’s a loss of course, but that’s incidental. We just run it off. Isn’t he clever?”

“Explains why you’ve kept him around.”

She gives me another predatory smile while she cleans under one of her stiletto fingernails with another. “That and the day-to-day management of this place is so tedious. But you’d know all about that. I hear you and Kez are managing the company top to bottom now.”

“Yeah, what else you heard?”

“This and that, Manny, this and that. Not everyone is happy with the changes you’re making. Or the plans you have for the company.”

“No? You’d rather ship the shit off-world? Poison the whole system?”

“Oh, my, my,” Erin simpers. “Let that slip, did B? He’s terribly clever, but not terribly bright.”

“I’m shutting it down, Erin. End of the line.”

“Are you, when we’re just getting started? What a shame. But how will you shut it down,Halemano?” She emphasizes my real name. “When you authorized each and every step?”

“You figure it out or someone tell you?” I ask.

“Does it matter?”

Someone told her.

“Probably not. What I did, I can undo, and I’m startin’ here, today. Tell your little friends to stop loadin’. None of this is goin’ anywhere.”

Erin’s teeth flash again. “Don’t you think you shouldcheck with Kez first? If this shipment doesn’t go, the company will be in serious breach of contract with its distributors in the Clouds. Thirty million liters. That’s a lot of thirsty people, Manny.”

I glance over my shoulder at Exeter. “Ask your boys to bring Kez up here,” I tell him.

He nods and cups his hand over his ear. Speaks low and fast.

“You want to involve Kez? Fine by me,” I tell Erin. “Just remember when she hands you your ass, it was you that asked for her.”