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[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
that suggested well-suppressed but dangerous rage. What ImpSec emergency could
be dire enough to send them to fetch their top Komarran analyst out of a
party? Worried, he slid and dipped and turned so as to put
Laisa s back to the archway.
The colonel, gesturing urgently, put his hand on Galeni s sleeve; Galeni shook
it off. One of the guards went for a grip on his stunner, loosening it in his
holster.
Laisa, breathless, froze with him, then realized this was not a move of the
dance. "Miles, what s wrong?"
"Excuse me, milady. I have to attend to something. Please go back to Gregor
now." He bowed hastily and slipped around her;
inevitably, her gaze followed him as he walked, a little too quickly, through
the archway.
"What seems to be the trouble, gentlemen?" Miles asked quietly, coming up to
the tense little group. If he couldn t alter the tone of the proceedings, he
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might at least lower the volume. Half the people in the room were staring
already.
The colonel gave him an uncertain nod - he wasn t wearing his Auditor s chain,
but the ImpSec man had to know who he was.
"My lord. General Haroche has ordered the arrest of this man."
Miles concealed shock, and kept his voice down. "Why?"
"The charge was not specified. I m required to remove him immediately from the
Imperial Residence."
Galeni hissed to Miles, "What the hell is this, Vorkosigan? Do you have a hand
in it?"
"No. I don t know. I didn t order this - " Was this connected with his case?
And if so, how dare Haroche make a move on it that blindsided him?
Ivan and Martya drifted up too, looking concerned; the colonel looked
increasingly rigid, watching his doubtless ordered-to-
be-quiet arrest slipping out of his control.
"You got any unpaid traffic fines I don t know about, Duv?" Miles continued,
trying to lighten the tone. Both guards had their hands on their stunners now.
"No, goddammit."
"Where is General Haroche right now?" Miles demanded of the colonel. "HQ?"
"No, my lord. He s following on. He ll be here shortly."
To report to Gregor? Haroche had better have an explanation for this. Miles
sucked in his breath. "Look, Duv... I think you d better go along quietly.
I ll look into it."
The colonel shot him a grateful look; Galeni, one of baffled suspicion and
enormous frustration. It was a lot to ask of Galeni, to eat this moment of
public humiliation, but it could be worse; letting him get stunned or knocked
around for resisting arrest at the Emperor s reception sprang to Miles s mind.
That would capture the attention of all the people in the room.
Galeni glanced at Delia, a flash of agony in his dark eyes, then at Ivan.
"Ivan, will you see Delia gets home all right?"
"Of course, Duv."
Delia was biting her lip; ten more seconds and she was going to mix into this,
explosively, Miles gauged from some experience of her.
At Miles s hasty nod, the colonel and the guards eased Galeni out of the room,
wisely letting him travel under his own steam, not touching him. Miles waved
Ivan away, and followed down the corridor. As he d feared, the minute they
turned the corner, the two guards jammed Galeni up against the nearest wall,
and began frisking and binding him.
Miles raised his voice a split second before Galeni rounded and swung on them.
"That s not necessary, gentlemen!"
They paused; Galeni, with visible effort, unclenched his fists, if not his
jaw, and shrugged them off rather than attempting to throw them bodily across
the corridor.
"He ll go like a brother officer if you ll just permit it." His stern glance
added silently, Won t you, Duv
. Galeni brushed his tunic straight again, and nodded stiffly. "Colonel - what
is Captain Galeni charged with really
?"
The colonel cleared his throat. He dared not evade answer to an Imperial
Auditor, regardless of what orders for public discretion Haroche might have
given him. "Treason, m lord."
"What?" Galeni bellowed, as Miles snapped, "Horse-shit!" Miles s cautionary
hand on Galeni s sleeve stopped more physically violent denial.
Miles took three breaths, for control, and to set Galeni a good example, and
said, "Duv, I ll come see you as soon as I ve talked to Haroche, all right?"
Galeni s nostrils flared, but he echoed, "All right." His teeth set,
fortunately, on any further comment. He managed a reasonably dignified stride
down the corridor as the arrest-squad escorted him out.
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Miles boiled back toward the reception rooms. In the corridor just outside he
was intercepted by a posse consisting of Gregor, Laisa, Delia, and his mother.
"What s going on, Miles?" Gregor asked.
"Why did those men take Duv away?" Laisa added, her eyes wide and alarmed.
"Miles, do something!" Delia demanded.
Countess Vorkosigan just watched, one arm crossed over her torso, the other
hand to her mouth.
"I don t know. And I bloody should know!" Miles sputtered. "Galeni s just been
arrested by ImpSec on" - he stole a glance at
Laisa - "some vague charge. By order of Lucas Haroche himself, apparently."
"I must assume he had a reason..." began Gregor.
"I must assume he made a mistake!" said Delia hotly. "Cordelia, help!"
Countess Vorkosigan s gaze flicked up, past Miles s shoulder. "If you want
your information ungarbled, go to the source.
Here he comes now."
Miles wheeled to see Haroche round the corner, led by one of Gregor s Armsmen.
Haroche s face was no less heavy than his tread. He strode up to the group and
gave Gregor a formal nod, "Sire," and a more abbreviated one to Miles, "My
Lord Auditor. I
came as quickly as I could."
"What the hell is going on, Lucas?" Gregor said quietly. "ImpSec has just
arrested one of my guests from the middle of my reception. I trust you can
explain why." Did Haroche know Gregor well enough to detect the anger under
that slight emphasis on the my
?
"My profound apologies, Sire. And to you too, Dr. Toscane. I fully appreciate
the awkwardness. But ImpSec s mandate is to keep you - and yours" - a small
nod to Laisa - "safe. I was given reason just this evening to suspect the
loyalty of the man, and then discovered to my alarm that he was actually in
your presence. I may err on the side of caution many times, but I dare not err
on the side of carelessness even once. My first priority had to be the
physical removal of Captain Galeni; everything else, including explanations,
could wait." He glanced at the women, and meaningfully away. "For those, I am
now at your disposal, Sire."
"Oh." Gregor turned to Countess Vorkosigan, and made a vague frustrated
gesture at Delia and Laisa. "Cordelia, would you...
?"
Countess Vorkosigan smiled very dryly. "Come, ladies. The gentlemen need to go
talk."
"But I want to know what s going on!" protested Laisa. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
