第27节

here!"

Steve glanced over at Kelso. He hadn't moved.

Maybe he was dead. Some chance. Good of' Dave wasn't the kind of guy

who'd do everyone a favour by going quietly . . .

He turned back to Jodi. 'They could, but now you're kidding

yourself.

You know as well as I do they're not gonna put Kelso on the operating

table. They're gonna put three rounds into his brain. He's a

renegade, remember?"

'You're wrong. He isn't..."

Steve frowned. 'What d'you mean?"

'He's an undercover Fed. Just like you." She watched Steve trying to

grapple with this revelation. 'You don't believe me, do you?"

'How long have you known about this?"

'Since we left Long Point. D'you remember me coming back from the

beach store ahead of Dave and how we sat there with the motors running

wondering where the hell he'd got tot 'Yeah..."

'Well, while I was cursing him with every name I could think of, I

fiddled around with a few of the knobs and switches and... I

accidentally turned on the tail end of a radio transmission." 'Go on

. ." 'It was Dave."

'You sure about this?"

'Absolutely. He was talking to Sky Bucket Three, the same bunch your

friend with the lumps in his face got in touch with just after we

landed at Long Point."

'Did you manage to get a handle on what Kelso and this Sk/Bucket were

talking about?"

'Not really. Skybucket was relaying instructions from someone called

Mother. That make any sense to you?"

Steve's face gave nothing away. 'A little..."

'Mother' was the soubriquet coined by AMEXICO operatives for

Karlstrom.

It had entered their private language over a generation ago and had

proved so popular, the then Operations Director had allowed it to

supersede his official code-name MX-ONE. Karlstrom, who appreciated

its shades of meaning, had continued the tradition.

'Did Kelso use a code-name?"

'Yes, Rat-Catcher..."

Steve absorbed Jodi's revelations calmly. There was little to be

gained by being angry. 'Why'd'you wait till now to tell me about

this?"

Jodi hesitated then said: 'It seemed like the right time.

Let's face it, we've had more important things to think about over the

last few days. Cadillac was always around and, well, I was..."

'Confused . . ..9' 'Yeah. Truth is, I didn't know what to think. I

was surprised, naturally. I'd spent nearly a year on the run with

Dave. Okay, at times he could be a pain in the ass but I'd gotten

pretty close to him. I thought he was genuine.

But then... I thought you were too. A little mixed-up, perhaps,

decking yourself out as a Mute. But when we met up again in Ne-Issan

and you finally came clean and told me you were an undercover Fed, plus

all that other shit - like your thing with the Herald--' She waved it

all away. 'I'm just a simple, straight down the line type person,

Brickman. With all the deals you had going there were times when I

lost track of who was shafting who. My first reaction - after I'd

recovered from the surprise - was to think that maybe you and Dave were

in cahoots, but working both sides of the track."

Steve nodded. 'Yes, I can see how you might think that..."

'Then we ran out of fuel and the way Dave acted made me think that

maybe you didn't know what he was up to.

By which time he'd picked a tree to run into and broken half the bones

in his body."

'So you started feeling sorry for him..."

'What was the point of telling you? You might have tried to shoot him

there and then!"

Steve's anger rose. 'What makes you think I won't do it now?!"

Jodi grabbed hold of him. 'Because you don't have to, and I won't let

you! What harm can he do now? The poor bastard can barely move!"

'So what do you care? I just don't get it, Jodi. He helped get us

into this mess. Why are you trying to protect him?"

'For the same reason when you were tied to a post face to face with a

corpse, I persuaded Malone to let me come back and cut you loose!

Because I cared! And Dave cared enough to come with me! The same way