Cobra Bargain

Chapter 22

They made the trip in just under two hours... and for Jin, the whole thing was in sharp contrast with the ordeal a week earlier.

There was no way to tell, of course, how much of the difference was due to the abatement of the bololin coattail effect Daulo had described and how much was due to her own recovery. Certainly there was less fighting; only one other predator besides the krisjaw tried its luck with them, compared with the half-dozen single and multiple attacks she'd had to fight off on her last trip through. On the other hand, with her alertness and concentration again at full capability, it could have been simply that she was spotting potential trouble early enough for evasive methods to be effective.

Ultimately, though, the real reason didn't matter. She'd brought both herself and an untrained civilian safely through some of the most dangerous territory

Qasama had to offer... and it brought a welcome measure of self-confidence back to her bruised ego.

"Here we are," she said, gesturing to the battered hulk of the shuttle as they finally cleared the edge of the interweaving-fern patch and stepped out from the trees into view of the crash site.

Daulo muttered something under his breath, gazing first at the shuttle and then at the long death-scar it had torn into the landscape. "I was never truly sure..." His voice trailed off into silence, and he shook his head. "And you survived this?"

"I was lucky," she said quietly.

"God was with you," he corrected. He took a deep breath. "Forgive me for doubting your story. Your companions...?"

Jin gritted her teeth. "Inside. This way."

The hatch door was as she'd left it, stuck a couple of centimeters open, and she had to put one foot against the hull to get the necessary leverage to pull it open. At least, she thought grimly, that means none of the larger scavengers have gotten to them. Grateful for small favors, I suppose. Taking one last clean breath, she braced herself and stepped inside.

The smell wasn't quite as bad as she'd feared it would be. The bodies themselves looked perhaps a bit worse.

"The door wouldn't have kept out insects," Daulo commented from right behind her. His voice sounded only slightly less strained than she felt, and it was clear he was breathing through his mouth. "Are there any shovels on board?"

"There's supposed to be at least one. Let's try back here."

They found it almost at once, in with the emergency shelter equipment. It was sturdy but small, clearly designed for only minor entrenchment work. But Jin had had no intention of digging very deeply anyway, and the extra strength her Cobra servos provided more than made up for the awkwardness of the short handle. Half an hour later, the five graves near the edge of the crash site were ready.

Daulo was waiting for her near the shuttle, and she found that while she'd been digging he'd improvised a stretcher from some piping and seat cushions and had hacked loose five of the expended crashbags to use as body bags. They might as well be useful for something, she thought bitterly at the thick plastic as she and Daulo worked the bodies into them. They sure didn't do much good while we were all alive.

And a few minutes later she and Daulo stood side by side in front of the graves.

"I... don't really know a proper burial service," Jin confessed, partly to

Daulo, partly to the bodies in their graves before her. "But if its purpose is to remember and mourn... that much I can do."

She didn't remember afterward just what she said or how long she spoke; only that her cheeks were wet when she was finished. A quiet goodbye to each in turn; and she was picking up the shovel when Daulo touched her arm. "They were your friends, not mine," he said in a quiet voice. "But if you will permit me...?"

She nodded, and he took a step forward. "In the name of God, the compassionate, the merciful..."

He spoke only a few minutes; and yet, in that short time Jin found herself touched deeply. Though the phrasing of the words showed them to be a standard recitation, there was at the same time something in Daulo's delivery that struck her as being intensely personal. Whatever his feelings toward Jin or the Cobra

Worlds generally, he clearly felt no animosity toward her dead teammates.

"...We belong to God, and to Him we return. May your souls find peace."

The litany came to an end, and for a moment they stood together in silence.

"Thank you," Jin said softly.

"The dead are enemies of no one," he replied. "Only God can approve or condemn their actions now." He took a deep breath, threw Jin a hesitant glance. "One of them-you called him Mander?"

"Mander Sun, yes," she nodded. "One of my fellow... demon warriors."

"Was he truly your brother, as you named him in the story you told my family?"

Jin licked her lips. "In all except blood he was truly my brother. Perhaps the only one I will ever have."

"I understand." Daulo looked back at the graves, then glanced up at the sun.

"We'd best be leaving soon. I'll be missed eventually, and if a search finds my car it'll probably find your packs, too."

Jin nodded and again picked up the shovel.

Filling in the graves took only a few more minutes, and when she was done she took the shovel back to the shuttle. "No point in letting it lie around out here and rust," she commented.

"No."

Something in his voice made her turn and look at him. "Something?"

He was frowning at the blast damage in the shuttle's side. "You're certain it couldn't have been an internal malfunction that made this?"

"Reasonably certain," she nodded. "Why?"

"When you expressed your surprise earlier that it hadn't been discovered, I assumed the crash had somehow concealed it. But this-" he waved at the shattered trees "-couldn't possibly be missed by any aircraft looking for it."

"I agree. It's your world-any ideas why no one's shown up yet?"

He shook his head slowly. "This area is well off normal air routes, which would explain why it hasn't been found by accident. But I don't understand why our defense forces wouldn't follow up on a successful hit."

Jin took a deep breath. She'd wondered long and hard about that same question... and had come up with only one reasonable answer. "Unless it wasn't your defense forces that did it in the first place."

Daulo frowned at her. "Who else could it have been?"

"I don't know. But there've been some odd things happening here, Daulo. That's why we came, looking for some answers."

"And to change any of them you didn't like?" he said pointedly.

She felt her face warming. "I don't know. I hope not."

He stared at her for several seconds more. "I think," he said at last, "that the rest of this conversation ought to wait until my father can be included."

Jin's mouth went dry. "Wait a minute, Daulo-"

"You have a choice of three paths before you now, Jasmine Moreau." Daulo's face had again become an emotionless mask, his voice hard and almost cold. "You can come with me and accept the decision of my family as to what we should do with you. Or you can refuse to confess your true identity and purpose before my father and leave right now, in which case the alarm will be out all over Qasama by nightfall."

"Assuming you can make it back through the forest alone," Jin pointed out softly.

"Assuming that, yes." A muscle in Daulo's cheek twitched, but otherwise his face didn't change. "Which is of course your third choice: to allow the forest to kill me. Or even to do that job yourself."

Jin let her breath out in a hiss of defeat. "If your father elects to turn me over to the authorities, I won't go passively," she told him. "And if I'm forced to fight, many people will be hurt or killed. Given that, do you still want me to come back to your household?"

"Yes," he said promptly.

And at that, Jin realized, the choice was indeed clear. She could take it or leave it. "All right," she sighed. "Let's get going."