The Ramal Extraction by Steve Perry Read Free Book Online

foolish.”
    Cutter nodded. “So they are testing to see if the Rajah is going to tell us.”
    “Be my guess. Have to wonder why he’d bother hiring us if he isn’t, but you know how the clients get.”
    He knew. Once the threats began, there were families that swallowed and rethought their decisions to hire recovery forces.
    Gramps said, “The bit about the bird is to let us know for sure they were in the garden.”
    “Yes. Or had access to the security recording.”
    His com buzzed. Cutter held up one hand to caution Gramps to be quiet.
    “Cutter.”
    The call was on speaker: “Colonel, it is Rama here. The kidnappers have contacted us. The Rajah would like to see you when it is convenient.”
    Gramps raised an eyebrow.
    “On my way. Out.”
    Once the connection was cut, Gramps said, “Well, I guess that answers that.”
    “So it would seem. I’ll go and have a chat with him.”

EIGHT
    Nearly an a hour after Rags left, Gunny drifted over to the op center and nodded at Gramps. “So, the colonel’s gone to see the Rajah about the kidnapper’s message?”
    “Christus, this place is full of spies! How’d you know that?”
    She shrugged and smiled. “Soldiers’ grapevine, Gramps, you know how it works.”
    “Sure, I was there when it was invented, wasn’t I?”
    “You said it, not me.”
    “You were thinking it.”
    “Can’t hang a woman for what she’s thinking.”
    “Good thing.”
    “Anything new and interesting?”
    “Funny you should ask. Want to see a vid?”
    “Not if it’s porn. That’s mostly what you look at, isn’t it?”
    He grinned. “It
is
porn, sort of. But you’ll like it. Trust me.”
    He waved his hand over the viewer. The holographic projection lit.
    “Hot off our spyweb, came in a few minutes after Rags left. It’s a recording from one of our birdshit cams. In an area called Rat’s Nest, that’s a bad section of town, just east of the Rajah’s compound.”
    The view was from about four meters high. The alley was empty, save for some boxes stacked near one of the garbage intakes. The manhole-sized cover on the intake was up, the lid propped in place by what looked like a short mop. The buildings bordering the alley looked like thetic-stone overlay, probably slapped onto local wood.
    After a few seconds,
Kluth
fem ambled into the shot.
    Gunny looked at Gramps, then back at the image. Birdshit cams, so-called because of how they were deployed, angle-dropped from small robotic flappers to stick on contact, were sharp enough to gather fairly clean intel. One of the first things CFI did when it landed on a new planet was deploy “birds” to sow cams. They were motion-detecting and tracking, and this one autofocused on Kay, centering her in the view.
    “You know how Kay likes to go and get the lay of the land,” Gramps said.
    Gunny nodded.
    Two seconds later, a large human arrived from behind Kay. He had a shaved head and a thick beard.
    “Why, look at that, it’s that ole boy Ganesh. Oh, my.”
    Gramps nodded.
    There was no audio, and that was too bad—Gunny would love to hear what the Anandan was saying.
    Kay inclined her head to the left, then the right, and the angle was such that they could see she didn’t seem to be speaking, only listening.
    Kay shrugged, a gesture that meant more or less what it would done by a human.
    She turned, as if to leave.
    The Rajah’s security man whipped his knife out and chopped down, as if trying to split Kay’s head—
    Ho—!
    Kay blurred, moving too fast for Gunny to follow her moves—
    —Ganesh toppled like his bones had suddenly dissolved.
    “Holy shit,” Gunny said.
    Kay turned and walked off. Ganesh lay unmoving on the alley floor.
    “He dead?”
    “Wishful thinking. Watch it again in slomo.” He waved his hand, wiggled a finger a couple of times. “One-third speed.”
    This time, when the knife came out, Gunny could see that Kay had anticipated his attack and was already in motion. She jinked to the outside of