Robert Charrette - Arthur 01 - A Prince Among Men by Robert N. Charrette

say."
    "Where's the proof you've always promised?"
    "By the time—"
    "Yes, yes. I know. It'll be too late."
    "We face dangerous opponents."
    "I believe you." We have dangerous friends, too. "I'm not asking you to risk your life. Mitsutomo has no policy against employees' carrying defensive weapons."
    "A sound policy."
    "Defensive weapons. If you involve Mitsutomo in murder, I will disown you. And don't look so smug; I can make sure you don't work for any corporation in the Northern Hemisphere. You know I can."
    "I am aware of your influence, Ms. Martinez," he said, still looking smug.
    "Keep it in mind. Now go, set your snares. Capture this woman and bring her to me."
    He stood, but did not immediately turn to leave. When she looked at him, he said quietly, "She may resist."
    "If she does, use force, but not lethal force, I want to interview this agent of the otherworld."
    "She may have allies who will oppose us."
    "There hasn't been any sign of 'allies' so far. But if any show up, oppose them. I'm tired of stumbling around in the dark. I want hard information and I want it soon. You understand?"
    "Quite."
    "Understand this, too. I want this operation quiet, and we both know that you know how to be quiet. If things don't stay that way, you'd better have a very good reason."
    "I do nothing without good reason."
    "Your good reasons do not always accord with mine. This time, they had better." He nodded and started for the door. She let him get halfway there. "If you start shooting, you'd better bring me back a goblin's head to mount on the wall-—because if you don't, I'll mount your head up there."
    On Thursday the media announced the whereabouts of the missing Winston. His severely beaten body was found over on the south side, near the old train station. It wasn't a nice part of town, so Winston's being dead wasn't as shocking as it would have been if his corpse had turned up in the middle of the Polytech campus. There were lots of burned-out injectors and empty capsules around, so the media naturally picked a drug angle: student beaten to death as drug
    deal turns sour.
    It was big news all over campus that morning. John cut his classes and spent most of the morning in the student center, where live reports and taped segments fed in from a news service ran almost uninterrupted on the vid wall. In one, Winston's roommate, clearly badly shaken up, told a reporter that Winston had been talking and acting oddly on Saturday night In another, a solemn-faced reporter babbled about an unnamed university custodian having said that he'd seen Winston get into an argument with another student. Supposedly the argument had devolved into a shoving match and after the two were separated, Winston made some threats. The custodian allegedly saw Winston meet with a man in a dark raincoat, the two of them departing in a late-model sedan with out-of-state plates. All very mysterious and "suggestive of the tragedy to come," according to the reporter.
    John wondered if the "unnamed custodian" was Trashcan Harry.
    Of all the students talking about it, on or off the screen, only Winston's roommate spoke of seeing the dead jock after Friday afternoon. One of Winston's frat brothers collected an audience for himself by repeating in person his interviewed statement denying that Winston had ever done drugs. In the background, on screen, official spokespersons for the university denied prevalent drug abuse on campus and agreed with the frat rat, but many of the live audience weren't buying. One loudmouth in the crowd made a point of recalling Winston's reputation as a hard partyer.
    Sitting sunk in one of the lounge chairs, John stayed out of the discussion. He stared at the screen and listened to the reports, ignoring the few students who spoke to him. Mostly he saw Winston's still body lying on the ground outside of the Dunstan Building.
    He felt a little sick.
    There was a hole in the reporting, and it wasn't just the failure to mention John's brawl