guess. I don’t know the man, of course, but it’s a common pattern.”
“It makes perfect sense,” I said. “But at the same time, Spare’s offering something Y really wants, that policing capacity.”
“True. He must feel torn.”
I worried for reasons of my own about one aspect of this sudden involvement with TWIXT. Before Spare14 turned up, Ari had assured me that as an Interpol officer he had no authority to interfere with my efforts to bring my father home. As a member of TWIXT, he’d be duty-bound to stop me and Michael from breaking the terms of Dad’s parole—assuming, of course, that he’d been paroled—by taking him from his world to ours. I doubted if we could find out where he was and get him out of there before Ari became a sworn officer of the trans-world police.
“By the way,” Ari went on, “speaking of Spare14 and all that, my request for leave’s been approved.”
“How much do you have accrued?”
“Three weeks. That should be more than enough to study for the exam. The legal material’s fairly simple.”
To you, maybe, I thought. “One more question. If you get into TWIXT, will you still be my bodyguard?”
“I’ll insist on it, though I’m quite sure you’re part of Spare’s scheme. Through you, he can keep in touch with the Agency whether they officially link up or not.”
At one o’clock, Spare14 arrived. He was wearing a blue business suit with a white shirt and a diagonally striped red, blue, and yellow tie. He carried his briefcase. We all shook hands, and he sat down in one of the wood armchairs covered in maroon leather. The briefcase sat on the floor next to him. Ari took the couch, and I stayed standing.
“Nathan,” Spare14 said, “I’ll send you e-mail with details on the examination as soon as I have them. There’s some talk of setting up a special session to speed you through the process.”
“Thank you,” Ari said. “We’ll see how things go, then.”
“Just so. And my dear O’Grady, I hope you have some news for me.”
“The Agency’s taken your proposal under advisement,” I said. “The top people will be having a meeting tomorrow.”
“Splendid! I hope that your surrendering custody of the Belial entity is just the beginning of our cooperation.”
I smiled. “Let me hand over the calamari in question.”
I’d already removed Belial in his antistatic packaging from the wall safe. I’d bundled him with the camcorder and a lot of bubble wrap in a box that was about eighteen inches on a side. The box currently sat on my desk, but I picked up a sheaf of printed forms first.
“I have some paperwork to fill out,” I said, “concerning the transfer of the suspect to your authority.”
“Very good. I have some for you, too.”
It took us twenty minutes to finish all the various forms and to make sure that we each ended up with copies of the complete set. Ari signed everything as a witness with official standing. When we finished, I gave Spare14 the box.
“I shall be leaving this world level soon,” he said, “to remand the suspect to Javert’s custody. He’ll arrive on the level you call Interchange in a few days.”
“I’d been hoping he could come here,” I said. “I’d like to meet him, but I suppose traveling in a water tank’s kind of difficult.”
“Very, actually, especially since he requires a specially trained world-walker to assist him.”
I sat down in the other armchair. Spare14 unbuckled the straps on his briefcase, which was about two feet long and ten inches wide. Its mouth opened much wider, of course, but I was still surprised when he slipped the box inside without any trouble. When Spare14 buckled the briefcase shut, it remained about ten inches wide despite having swallowed an eighteen-inch cube. I tried not to stare. He sat back in the chair and smiled vaguely at me.
“So,” I said, “I’d like to ask you about Javert. Is he a seconded officer?”
“He is, indeed, and seconded from a very
“It makes perfect sense,” I said. “But at the same time, Spare’s offering something Y really wants, that policing capacity.”
“True. He must feel torn.”
I worried for reasons of my own about one aspect of this sudden involvement with TWIXT. Before Spare14 turned up, Ari had assured me that as an Interpol officer he had no authority to interfere with my efforts to bring my father home. As a member of TWIXT, he’d be duty-bound to stop me and Michael from breaking the terms of Dad’s parole—assuming, of course, that he’d been paroled—by taking him from his world to ours. I doubted if we could find out where he was and get him out of there before Ari became a sworn officer of the trans-world police.
“By the way,” Ari went on, “speaking of Spare14 and all that, my request for leave’s been approved.”
“How much do you have accrued?”
“Three weeks. That should be more than enough to study for the exam. The legal material’s fairly simple.”
To you, maybe, I thought. “One more question. If you get into TWIXT, will you still be my bodyguard?”
“I’ll insist on it, though I’m quite sure you’re part of Spare’s scheme. Through you, he can keep in touch with the Agency whether they officially link up or not.”
At one o’clock, Spare14 arrived. He was wearing a blue business suit with a white shirt and a diagonally striped red, blue, and yellow tie. He carried his briefcase. We all shook hands, and he sat down in one of the wood armchairs covered in maroon leather. The briefcase sat on the floor next to him. Ari took the couch, and I stayed standing.
“Nathan,” Spare14 said, “I’ll send you e-mail with details on the examination as soon as I have them. There’s some talk of setting up a special session to speed you through the process.”
“Thank you,” Ari said. “We’ll see how things go, then.”
“Just so. And my dear O’Grady, I hope you have some news for me.”
“The Agency’s taken your proposal under advisement,” I said. “The top people will be having a meeting tomorrow.”
“Splendid! I hope that your surrendering custody of the Belial entity is just the beginning of our cooperation.”
I smiled. “Let me hand over the calamari in question.”
I’d already removed Belial in his antistatic packaging from the wall safe. I’d bundled him with the camcorder and a lot of bubble wrap in a box that was about eighteen inches on a side. The box currently sat on my desk, but I picked up a sheaf of printed forms first.
“I have some paperwork to fill out,” I said, “concerning the transfer of the suspect to your authority.”
“Very good. I have some for you, too.”
It took us twenty minutes to finish all the various forms and to make sure that we each ended up with copies of the complete set. Ari signed everything as a witness with official standing. When we finished, I gave Spare14 the box.
“I shall be leaving this world level soon,” he said, “to remand the suspect to Javert’s custody. He’ll arrive on the level you call Interchange in a few days.”
“I’d been hoping he could come here,” I said. “I’d like to meet him, but I suppose traveling in a water tank’s kind of difficult.”
“Very, actually, especially since he requires a specially trained world-walker to assist him.”
I sat down in the other armchair. Spare14 unbuckled the straps on his briefcase, which was about two feet long and ten inches wide. Its mouth opened much wider, of course, but I was still surprised when he slipped the box inside without any trouble. When Spare14 buckled the briefcase shut, it remained about ten inches wide despite having swallowed an eighteen-inch cube. I tried not to stare. He sat back in the chair and smiled vaguely at me.
“So,” I said, “I’d like to ask you about Javert. Is he a seconded officer?”
“He is, indeed, and seconded from a very
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