The Return of the Emperor (Sten #6). Allan Cole

obediently over the lake. “And we’ve got two spares. Yours, and the team’s. Should be enough for a diversion, don’t you think?”

      Mahoney caught his drift. It might work—just. He started to get up. Sten motioned him back.

      “I’m starved,” he said. “It might be a while before we get another chance. Let’s eat.”

      Mahoney felt hunger pangs gnawing at his own guts. It was a comforting, being-alive kind of feeling. What the clot!

      They ate.

      CHAPTER THREE

      LAIRD KILGOUR OF Kilgour, formerly Chief Warrant Officer Alex Kilgour (First Imperial Guards Division, Retired); formerly CWO A. Kilgour, Detached, Imperial Service, Special Duties; formerly Private-through-Sergeant Kilgour, Mantis Section Operational, various duties from demolitions expert to sniper to clandestine training, to include any duties the late Eternal Emperor wanted performed sub rosa with a maximum of lethality, was holding forth.

      “... An’ aye, th’ rain’s peltin’ doon, f’r days an’ days i’ comes doon. An’ her neighbors tell th’ li’l old gran, ‘Bes’ y’ flee’t’ high ground.’

      “ ‘Nae,’ she says. ‘Ah hae faith. God will take care a’ me. Th’ Laird wi’ provide.’ “

      It was a beautiful evening. The tubby man was sprawled on a settee, his feet on a hassock, his kilt tucked decorously between his legs. Conveniently to his right were his weapons of choice: a full pewter flagon of Old Sheepdip, imported at staggering—staggering to anyone not as rich as Kilgour—expense from Earth and a liter mug of lager.

      The fire blazed in a fireplace that was tall enough for three men to stand in at their full height. Outside, a winter storm crashed against the walls of Deacon Brodie’s Tavern with all the fury a polar frenzy could produce on the planet Edinburgh, Alex’s three-gee home world.

      A beautiful evening. Kilgour was on his fourth—no, fifth drink. There were good friends across from him, good friends who also had not yet suffered the complete repertoire of Kilgour’s stories. The wee barmaid had shyly wondered if Laird Kilgour might not find the time—later—to escort her home through the muck an’ mire.

      It was safe and quiet and peaceable. It was just old habits that had Kilgour seated with his back to a wall, and his left hand, resting on his kneecap, was a few centimeters away from a miniwillygun holstered on his upper thigh.

      “An th’ rain comit doon an’ comit doon, an’ th’ water’s risin’. And her pigs are wash’t away, squealin’t. An’ the’ coo’s swimmin’t f’r shelter. An doon th’ road comit ae gravcar.

      “ ‘Mum,’ comit th’ shout. ‘Thae’s floodin’t. Thae must leave!’ “ ‘Nae,’ she shouts back. ‘Ah’ll noo leave. Th’ Laird will provide.’

      “An’ th’ water comit up, an’ comit up, an’ th’ rain i’ pel tin’ an comit doon. An’ the chickens ae roostin’ ae the roof. Floodin’t her house’t’ ae th’ first story. An’ here comit ae boat. ‘Missus, now thae must leave. We’ll save y’!’

      “An’ agin comit her answer: ‘Nae, nae. Th’ Laird will provide.’

      “But th’ rain keep fallin’t. An’ th’ water keep’t risin’t. An’ coverin’t th’ second story. An’ she’s crouchin’ ae th’ roof, wi’ th’ chickens, an’ here comit ae rescue gravlighter. It hover’t o’er th’ roof, an’ a mon leans oot. ‘Mum! We’re here’t’save y’.’

      “But still she’s steadfast. Once again, ‘Nae, nae. Th’ Laird will provide.’

      “An’ th’ rain keep fallin’t an’ th’ flood keep’t risin’t. An’ she drowns. Dead an’ a’.

      “An’ she goes oop’t’ Heaven. An’ th’ Laird’s waitin’. An’ th’ wee gran lady, she’s pissed!

      “She gets right i’ Th’ Good Laird’s face, an shouts, ‘How c’d y’, Laird! Th’ one time Ah aski’t frae help—an ye’re nae there.’ “

      The com buzzed. The guvnor answered. “Alex. F’r you. From your hotel.”

      “B’dam1,” Alex swore. But he rose. “Hold m’point. ‘Tis nae a good one, nae a long one, but be holdin’t it anyway.”

      He went behind the bar. He recognized the face onscreen—one of the com operators at the hotel he stayed at when he came to the city. “This is wee Alex,” he said.

      The operator was puzzled. “Laird Kilgour, this message wa’ bounced frae y’r castle. A text transmission. But it seems a bit garbled.”

      “Gie it me, man. P’raps the twa ae us can decipher it.”

      The operator tapped keys. Across the centerscreen scrolled: XRME TRACD BYDG RRDG, and on for a full page.

      Alex’s face blanked.

      “I’m sorry, Laird. But thae’s all thae were.”

      “A garble, Ah ken. Ah’ll be direct back ae th’ hotel. Hae a call frae there.” He forced a smile and cut the link. “Damned storm! Lost m’connection.”

      “They’ll try again.”

      “Aye. That they shall,” Alex agreed. “Tell ‘em’t’ hold. Ah’m ta the recycler. Leith needs th’ water. An’ we’ll be needin’t another all round.”

      The smile fixed on his lips, Alex meandered toward the lavatory. His eyes skipped around the few people in the tavern. No. All known—unless this was a long-range setup. He thought to add an artistic, drunken stagger as he went into the bathroom.

      Then he was moving. Foot braced on the washstand—it would hold his weight. Good. He pushed at the high, seemingly barred window. What looked to be rusted hinges swung smoothly open and the bars fell away. Kilgour wriggled headfirst onto the narrow ledge above the alley outside. He chose his pubs—or modified them—for more than cheery companionship, complaisant barmaids, and high-alk service.

      He lay motionless for a moment. The ice-needled wind, the driven snow, and the below-zero cold did not exist in his mind. He was looking for movement. Nothing. Most of the message had, indeed, been a garble. Intentionally so, intended to bury the real message. The operative code groups were the second and third. They were old Mantis signals, and decoded as:

      MISSION BLOWN. EXTRACT TO RV IMMEDIATELY.

      Which posed some very interesting questions. Such as—Kilgour was out of the military. He certainly had no links with the Empire or with the supersecret Mantis Section since his hasty retirement after the assassination.

      So: Who was trying to contact him?

      Second: Why were they using a common, general code? One that was part of a standard SOI, had been around for many years, and almost certainly had been compromised?

      Was Mantis looking for him? Did he want to be found?

      Kilgour swore at himself. He was getting sloppy and careless in his declining years. For the past several days he had been feeling that skin-crawl between his shoulder blades that he should have listened to: You are being watched. You are being followed. There are beings about with bad intentions.

      But nae, lad. Y’were bein’t th’ city cock ae th’ walk. Doon frae thae aird mors an’ coirs, thinkin’t th’ eyes on ye were naught but thae lassies admirin’t ae man ae means.

      Enough, Kilgour.

      Y’r mither said years gone y’r nae better’n ae purblind ox. Noo, try’t’ find y’r way out off th’ killin’t floor.

      He had a second for a final mourn. Nae m’friends’ll nae hear the last line:

      “An’ th’ Laird looki’t ae her, an’ he’s sore puzzled. ‘Gran,