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Jake was looking down at Strella. "Hey, she's not breathing."
"I turned her off at their central control board--same time I shut down the
bulls."
He crouched beside the frail figure. "She's an android?" "Sure, couldn't you
tell?"
"I don't have your knack." Jake straightened up.
"C'mon this way." Beth started walking along the wide corridor.
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"How'd you find me?"
"If I tell you, you'll probably get angry."
"I won't, no," he promised. "But I'm curious."
Smiling as they walked along the curving corridor, she said, "When you were
leaving and I hugged you--well, it wasn't just affection."
He started feeling at his back. "You planted a tracking bug on me?"
"I don't think you'll find it, Jake. It's the size of a flyspeck,"
Beth told him. "One I designed myself--I happened to bring a few along from
the lab. It allowed me to track you, and hear everything that was going on,
too. "Gracias, dear senor. Oh, you have saved me from a fate worse than
death." Boy, Jake, how could you fall for such--" "You had to have been there.
She was very convincing."
Beth glanced at him. "Maybe I shouldn't have planted that thing on you, but I
just didn't like the sound of this meeting setup. Soon as you left, I took off
in our sky car
Jake was silent for a few seconds. "No, that was a good idea," he said
eventually. "We're partners, after all. I've got to keep that in mind from now
on."
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Beth laughed. "You're mellowing."
"A brisk workout with a few bulls tends to do that to me." "I'm sorry
I couldn't get them deactivated sooner."
"Listen, I think I was winning when you got here," he said. "Another few
minutes and--"
"You wouldn't have beaten the fourth one. He's rigged to breathe out flame."
Beth stopped at an open doorway. "In here."
On the slick white floor at the far side of the room lay two men, both
unconscious. One on his back, one on his stomach. Monitor screens ringed the
walls, and at the room's center was a complex control board.
In front of it, tied in a plaschair, was Jake's contact here in
Cuidado.
"I guess," said the fat Globo, "you'd like an explanation, huh, Jake?"
"That'd be nice." Jake's grin was not a warm one.
The fat man wiped at his perspiring forehead. "This was strictly a monetary
thing, you understand," he was explaining.
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Jake was straddling a chair five feet from him. "Selling somebody out usually
involves money. Go on."
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"Keep in mind that you and I were never close friends. So it isn't as though
I'm a Judas or--"
"\What were you supposed to do?"
Globo gave his forehead another nervous swipe. "This is going to sound pretty
awful to you."
"Tell me anyway."
The fat man mumbled something inaudible.
Beth was leaning against the wall, hands in the hip pockets of her trousers.
"We didn't catch that. Otra Yez, Dot favor."
Looking up at her, Globo answered, "I was hired to kill him." "By whom?" she
asked.
Starting to wad up his handkerchief, he said, "Keep in mind that
I was paid a considerable sum." "Who?" asked Jake. "Vargas." "Rare
Vargas." "That one, si."
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Jake studied him for a few silent seconds. "Vargas is Warbride's lover and
second in command. Why's he want me dead?"
"It's not a military thing at all, Jake." He wadded the handkerchief up even
tighter. "Vargas is aware that you and Warbride were once ...
good friends."
"Not exactly that." \Globo concentrated on his fat fingers as they poked and
pressed at the damp handkerchief. "The man is very jealous.
He doesn't want you getting near the lady again," he said. "Once he learned I
was seeking to arrange a meeting between you and Warbride, he had me
contacted."
"Who did that?"
"A nobody, a go-between. His name I don't even know."
Jake rubbed at his chin. "You're telling me that Warbride herself doesn't even
know anything about this?"
"Si, ada."
Jake glanced over at Beth. "What do you think?"
"He's too scared to be lying."
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"Exactly, senorita, obviously." He used the handkerchief again on his sweating
forehead. "The truth is what I'm telling you."
Standing, slowly, Jake crossed over to Beth. "Now we have to find another way
to arrange a meeting with Warbride."
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"I can still help you with that," offered Globo. "It would be an honor to"
"Nope. I'll make other arrangements." Jake borrowed Beth's stun gun from her,
turned and used it on the fat man.
The robot madam greeted Jake warmly. She was tall and wide with an ample
chrome-plated bosom showing beneath her shimmering glogold dress.
"Been one hell of a long time, Jake honey," she boomed as she gave him another
enthusiastic hug. Her plump chrome cheeks were decorated with glimmering gems,
her crinkly blonde hair was made of spun gold, and she smelled strongly of a
dozen different flowers. "I heard you were out of the snoozer, but I didn't
think I'd see you down here at the
Arcade."
Extricating himself, politely, from her exuberant embrace, Jake took two
backward steps across the ivory-colored parlor rug. "You seem to be thriving
down here, Mama Reina."
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