Blackfish City(75)

On the screens, Podlove jerked his head up, looked out his window like he knew he was being watched, trying to make eye contact with Go through her drone. And then he smiled. His window ionized.

“You’re good,” said their prisoner. “He had a whole fleet of drones after me. Piggyback software leapfrogging every cam in Qaanaaq.”

“He puts his faith in machines,” Go said. “I think people are just as . . . useful. And no one gave you permission to talk.”

“He’s not answering,” the soldier said.

Go unstrapped her sidearm, aimed it at the old man’s head. “Send him a picture of the two of us.”

Soq counted. Eleven seconds later, the soldier said, “Call coming in.”

“Good evening, Mr. Podlove,” Go said when a new hiss through the cabin’s surround speakers told her the line was live.

“Has his usefulness come to an end so soon?”

“He’s not working for me,” Go said. “He never was.”

“Of course that’s what you would say,” Podlove said. “That’s what I’d say, too, if I knew I had gone too far.”

Go laughed. “For that scenario to make sense, I’d have to be afraid of you. And I’m not.”

“And yet. Here we are. You called me for a reason, I must presume. Perhaps you just got word about your tube worm cake shipment? Pity all that food went to waste, but I’m afraid that is just the first of many such . . . interruptions.”

Go laughed again. “You think my situation is so dire that one sunken tube worm skiff would have me calling you to beg? I had nothing to do with your grandson’s death. We may be at war, but we’re not monsters.”

Podlove did not respond to this, but Soq heard skepticism in his silence.

“I hunted down the man who did it,” Go said. “I found him when you couldn’t.”

“Eventually, I would have. I wouldn’t have stopped until I did.”

“He was heading for a mainland ferry.” The old man opened his mouth, as if to protest the inaccuracy of this, but then shut it into a smile. “You may have the resources for a worldwide hunt, but would you have the time? Either one of you might drop dead any day now. But now—here he is. All yours.”

A pause. A hungry one. “In exchange for what?”

“For nothing. He’s yours.”

“Except that I have to come and take him. Or go collect him from somewhere, where your people will be waiting to ambush me.”

“This isn’t a trap. It’s a gesture. I want to prove to you that we have an understanding. I didn’t do this. You and me, we’re on the same page. I am not trying to scorch the earth here. This is a guy with a grudge against you, for some fucked-up shit you did a long time ago. It has nothing to do with me. I have no interest in making this personal.”

“Even if you didn’t have anything to do with what happened to my grandson, you did send soakers to hit two of my best managers. We’re not a syndicate, my darling.” Soq’s nostrils wrinkled at the archaic vulgarity of his misogyny. “You can’t treat us like we are and then expect us to believe you when you say we’re on the same page. To us, that was an unacceptable escalation.”

Go sighed. “You’re right. I’m new to this.”

“You’re not ready to play in the major leagues.”

Soq and Go exchanged puzzled glances. The brass-knuckled soldier pantomimed hitting a baseball.

“You New Yorkers love your baseball metaphors, never mind that no one else left alive on Earth knows what the hell you mean by them. Nevertheless. I am making this peace offering. Tell me how you want him. I’ll deliver him in whatever way would make you feel the most safe, the least like I’m setting you up for something. I can put a hood over his head, drop him in a canoe, push it off and let it drift in your direction. I can decapitate him right here and now, if you’d prefer. Bloody my hands so you don’t have to. Isn’t that how you operate?”

“Come to me,” Podlove said after an instant of skilled internal debate, the consummate executive assessing a thousand scenarios. “The lobby of the Salt Cave. Don’t bring an army.”

“Agreed.”

Podlove chuckled. “That was fast. You’re not frightened to march into enemy territory unprepared?”

“This is a parley, isn’t it? A presumably safe negotiation?”

“You presume I see you as an honorable opponent. You’ve already broken the rules of engagement, such as they are. How do you know I won’t do the same?”

“I don’t,” Go said. “This is a gesture of trust. I want you to know I had nothing to do with what happened to your grandson.”

Sudden silence from the speakers.

“Son of a bitch hung up,” Go said.

“What’s the plan?” Soq asked.

“There is no plan. I’m handing over this idiotic man and he’ll probably be tortured to death. End of story. Tomorrow we’ll get down to the business of making peace.”

“And my software?”

“Will have to wait. Right now Podlove and everybody like him is going to be keeping an extra-close eye on all their holdings. We kill the heat, wait till things calm down. See if it makes sense to deploy it then.”