Undercity by Catherine Asaro Page A

sighted two people through the trees. Follow, I thought to it.
    We moved past the branches and came out at the Lake of Whispers. Corejida and Ahktar were standing on the shore together, their hands clasped as they gazed at the water.
    Corejida was crying.
    She made no sound, but tears ran down her cheeks. Ahktar slid his arm around her waist and she put hers around his. They held each other, their heads leaning together.
    “They’ll find him,” Ahktar said. His voice caught.
    “Yes,” Corejida whispered. “Surely they will.”
    I felt small. Their son’s disappearance was killing them and I hadn’t done a damn thing to help. Not knowing if he was alive or dead had to make it even worse for them.
    The scene faded and I opened my eyes to see Jak watching me.
    “Oxil works for Scorch,” I said. “She must have been Dayj’s inside contact at the palace.”
    Jak lapsed into dialect. “Scorch got him ID. Scared shitless Majda will find out.”
    “Then should have killed me,” I said.
    “Knew people’d look for you. And she owed you.” His gaze darkened. “Won’t stop her a second time. Paid her debt.”
    He had a point. “If I don’t find Dayj, Majda fires me. Then Scorch kills me.”
    “Yah.”
    I wished he had a reason to argue the point.
    Jak’s gauntlet hummed. He tapped the comm. “What?”
    Royal Flush answered in that sleek, sensuous voice of his, the one that women fell in love with before they realized he was an EI. “I have data on Caul Waver.”
    “That was fast,” I said.
    “Of course.” Royal sounded smug. Given his programmer, that figured.
    “What do you have?” Jak asked.
    “I found the identity of the drifter that Scorch killed,” Royal said. “She worked at the port. I checked the meshes where she had access and found the passenger manifest we need. It says Caul Waver left Raylicon seven days ago, bound for Metropoli.”
    Damn. “Eleven billion people live on Metropoli,” I said.
    Jak grimaced. “It won’t be easy to find him.”
    “If he actually went there.” It made sense, though. Metropoli was one of the most populous Skolian worlds. Its copious seas teemed with life, which I suspected Dayj would like.
    Jak met my gaze. “Time to tell Majda.”
    “If I tell Majda,” I said, “they’ll focus on Metropoli.” It would take immense resources to search such a heavily populated world, pulling their attention away from Cries, which was probably exactly what Scorch wanted. Maybe she had let me live so I would follow Dayj’s supposed trail to Metropoli and lose him forever.
    “If I go to Majda now,” I said, “I’ll miss Oxil’s meeting in the cavern.”
    “What cavern?”
    “Not sure. Oxil is meeting someone in a cavern. My guess? It’s in the Maze.”
    “You go to the Maze,” Jak said, “you’re going to die.”
    “No, I’m not.”
    “That’s right. Because I’m coming with you.”
    “No.” I didn’t want Jak risking his life for my job. “I was hired to do this. You weren’t.”
    “You remember how rizzed you got when I disappeared seven years ago to collect my money? You thought I had died.”
    “Yah.” I would never forget. When he had showed up at the Black Mark after three tendays, grinning and rich as sin, I’d been ready to throttle him.
    His gaze darkened. “I won’t go through that with you.”
    We would see.
    * * *
    Jak and I strolled with the evening crowds, tourists or Cries locals out on the town. Or more accurately, under the town, though just barely. We were on the Concourse, the only undercity locale with businesses the above-city considered legitimate. Cries looked after the Concourse, kept up the lights, did repairs, and even sent bots down here to clean up. The city council had ideas to convert this area into a park. So far they had done nothing more than talk; the undercity bosses had enough influence above-city to push the idea far back in the urban planning queue. The Concourse was supposed to be part of the undercity,