Where’s Pel? He sounded very young and alone.

  Right here, just talking to my mum. I’ve got one of Mum’s colleagues here. He needs to chat.

  I couldn't listen in. Urei could only really talk to one person at a time and I didn’t want him confused. Pel watched us work, a worried frown on his handsome face. Lord, I wished this was over.

  Mum took a call and things suddenly got rather excited over in the kitchen. “What?” I mouthed, but she waved me to be quiet.

  Deri turned to me after five minutes. “I’ve told him to be patient, but that we would be out of communication from time to time. You might want to ‘call’ every few minutes though.”

  Urei? You okay there?

  Want to come home, Jay. Pel knows I'm sorry about the fight.

  Of course. Something’s cooking here, and I think it might be good news. Just keep doing what you can at that end. Be brave.

  Easy for you to say.

  I grinned at the sass. He wasn’t so far gone he couldn’t talk back.

  Deri stood behind Mum. “He’s coming in? Urei picked up a lot of chatter and anticipation.”

  “Tomorrow, at six in the evening. Matar, cross reference known aliases and any of the names Urei’s given us with train and boat bookings, would you?” Matar went off to an armchair with her datascreen to do that. “Chesel, we need known associates and their aliases.”

  “Who are we talking about?” I asked as I walked over.

  Mum turned her datascreen my way. “A man called Ertei Walan. He’s an Extrapolator, like Matsin. Dangerous, and high up in the Marauders.”

  “And someone we’ve been after for years, never been able to trace. This is the first confirmed location for him. If we can pick him up, it’ll be a major blow to their organisation.”

  I studied the guy’s image. “He looks a bit like Pel.”

  Mum jerked and so did Deri. “Luiz, are you thinking what I'm thinking?” Deri said.

  “It’s too dangerous.”

  “But we could send in backup.”

  “Will the old man agree?”

  “What are you talking about?” I said, confused at the cryptic conversation.

  Pel and Matsin hadn’t said a word so far, but now they leaned forward to listen to Mum’s answer. “Deri’s about to suggest switching Pel for Walan. But Pel’s an untrained civilian.”

  “How close is the resemblance?” Matsin asked.

  I showed them. “I could make Pel pass for him in about an hour. We’d need a wig, that’s all. Depends on how well the guys holding Urei know him.”

  “Almost certainly not at all,” Deri said. “They’re small time operators. Petty. They’re using an intermediary. If he’s not coming, no one will know for sure what Walan looks like.” He tapped his chin and looked at Pel. “How about it, Mister Kani? Fancy becoming an actor?”

  I couldn’t help the smirk. Matsin nudged my foot and I giggled. “Jesevo, it’s not funny.”

  “Sorry. Um...right.” I composed myself but I still felt laughter bubbling up. Lord, what a time to start corpsing.

  Pel screwed his nose up at me. “I’ve never acted in my life. How can I imitate someone I’ve never met?”

  “If we get a chance to meet him, I can show you how.”

  “Risky, Deri,” Mum said, and Chesel, working at his datascreen, nodded in agreement. “Grab Walan, substitute Pel....”

  “Walk into the house, walk out again with Urei. At the very least, their guard will be down while they think they have Walan with them. We can infiltrate quickly and quietly.”

  I put my hand up. “Mum, I can go with Pel. I can handle myself and I'm the real actor. I can be his assistant or something.”

  “Should be one of us,” Matar said from the side.

  “No, we need to be ready to go in and grab the package,” Deri said.

  “First,” Mum said, “we need to see if this is even possible.”

  Pel, Matsin and I could only kick our heels while the trained operatives did their thing, talking in whispered conversations, before moving to Mum’s bedroom for privacy. We ate a meal, talked to Urei, drank more coffee than was good for us, and somewhere along the line, the sharp edge of hostility blunted a bit. Matsin was even polite to me a couple of times. Looked like worry over Urei overrode his anger at what I’d done. I still didn’t have a manager though. Right at that moment, it was way down my list of things to care about.

  Mum came out with the others, gun in hand. “Okay, someone’s coming up in the lift. Once you’ve met him, you’ll be bound by law not to reveal his identity or existence to anyone for any reason. As an officer in the ESF, I have the authority to impose that condition on you, without your consent. Anyone have a problem with that?”

  “Would it matter if we did?” Matsin said coolly.

  “No. You’re in too far. Fortunately, you’ve all got clean security records. If you didn’t...you wouldn’t be meeting him.”

  “Mum, you’ve screened me?”

  “Sorry, hon. SOP.”

  “Stop thinking of her as your mother,” Matsin said, but not unkindly. “This isn’t a family operation.”

  “Easy for you to say.”

  A knock came on the door. Deri and the others took up position as Mum opened the door. A short, powerfully built man stepped through and she locked the door behind him. “Good afternoon, sir,” she said, saluting.

  “Good afternoon, lieutenant. Hello everyone. For operational reasons, I can’t give you my name, but you may call me Wedel.” He turned to me and smiled. “Mister Fresiz, my wife’s a big fan.”

  “Please don’t ask me for an autograph. This is too weird already.”

  “Indeed. Mister Ro, Mister Kani, your cooperation and assistance has been very useful. Mister Kani, I regret the situation with your brother.”

  “I just want it fixed,” Pel said, his mouth tight.

  “Everyone, please sit,” Mum said, shooing us to the sofas and chairs. “Sir, would you like to lay it out?”

  He remained standing. “Yes, Lieutenant, I think I will. Mister Kani, Mister Fresiz, Mister Ro, your parts in this plan are crucial. Without you, it can’t succeed. However, it is likely to be dangerous, and its success is by no means assured. If you’re unwilling to be involved, then I must ask you to leave now, and for the safety of our officers, remain under protective detention until we recover Mister Ges or the situation otherwise resolves itself.”

  “I’ll do anything to get my brother back.”

  “As will I,” Matsin said.

  “I'm in,” I said. “It’s good research.” Pel shot me a glare, but softened it as he realised I was kidding.

  “Thank you. I assume you’re aware that you won’t ever be able to talk about this. Mister Fresiz?”

  “Hey, I'm an actor, not a moron. You don’t want to know the secrets I’ve kept.”

  “Or let out,” Matsin muttered. So, not forgiven. Oh well.

  “Understood,” Wedel said. “Then here’s what we intend. We have two goals on this mission—take Ertei Walan into custody, and retrieve Urei Ges. At the very least, we want to prevent both men falling into the hands of the Marauders. We’ll do that by any means necessary.”

  “No, you won’t,” Pel snapped. “Not if you mean you’d kill Urei.”

  “We don’t kill innocent civilians, Mister Kani. We may have to kill a number of guilty ones. Our methods would not find approval in a court of law, but then they never have. Do you have a problem with that?”

  His lips pressed hard together in disapproval, Pel shook his head. “So long as Urei’s not hurt.”

  “We don’t want him hurt. As I said, we have two goals, but a single plan. We hope to substitute someone—you’ve been suggested, Mister Kani—for Walan in transit, and insinuate our impostor with others, into the house, allowing the rest of the team to raid and extract your brother.”

  “Others?” Matsin asked. “I want to be part of that.”

  “No, Mister Ro, we have another use for you. Besides, I understand you have no physical defence training. Mister Fresiz does. He also slightly resembles one of Walan’s close associates. Matar can pass for a third.”

  “You’re sending him in?”

  “Yes. Lieutenant Fresiz assures me her son’s weapons and defence training is of a high level and his other skills should be more than up to the task in hand.”

  Matsin looked at me as if he’d never seen me before. “And you never thought to share this with me, Jay?”

  “Not my fault you think I'm a moron, Matsin. Mister Wedel, Pel will need preparation. Also costuming.”

  “Indeed, and that’s one task we’d like Mister Ro’s assistance with. With your industry contacts, and suitable descriptions, do you think you could arrange a proper disguise for the three of them?”

  “You don’t need me for that. Luiz has the same contacts as I do.”

  “Yes, but she’s going to be busy. Don’t worry, we haven’t exhausted your possible usefulness.”

  Wedel didn’t waste time because we had a lot to do. Pel, to be blunt, was our weak link. If he couldn’t plausibly pose as Walan, then the only other way to do this was brute force, and that, Wedel and Mum both made clear, posed a very high risk of Urei ending up dead. Especially as we were dealing with small timers.

  “They panic too easily,” Matar explained as we drove over to one of the big name costumers that Matsin had lined up for us. Matsin himself was still back at the apartment, using his talent to help the others refine the plan. So far it had a sixty-two percent chance of succeeding. Not the most hopeful odds but they went up and down as we changed details. We wanted to reach the point where the move was only upwards.

  Our cover was that Matsin wanted to shoot a short promo film for me. Pel and Matar were supposed to be walk-ons. The cheerful young man who took Pel’s measurements didn’t have much interest in the story—he was too busy oohing and aahing over Pel’s perfect shape. The way he scurried about looking for just the right clothes for Pel, fussing and clucking to himself, would have been amusing if the situation hadn’t been so far from funny in every way. I still couldn’t help seeing the ridiculous side, especially when the guy gravely produced one prop we’d particularly requested.

  “Now, this will make a real statement,” he said, handing Pel a black metal cane with a silver dog’s head top. “Not many men can carry this kind of thing off. You should practice. You’ll end up looking quite affected otherwise.”

  “I, uh, think I can manage not to.”

  I felt the urge to giggle again. Pel found this all so excruciating and after all his jibes about my job, I figured I was owed a little amusement.

  Pel’s height was a problem but it didn’t take that long for the guy to find Pel a beautiful suit and overcoat, along with accessories. Matar and I had to have less impressive outfits, befitting lesser beings, but we made an extremely well groomed trio at the end. Then the clothes and bits had to be carefully packed up, and we went onto the wigmakers and makeup supplier.

  We didn’t return to the apartment until after six. Deri, Chesel and Wedel had gone, and Matar said she’d return in the morning. Matsin had gone with the others to carry out a reconnaissance, gauging how close he had to be to communicate with Urei and then to be taken to a safe location for the night. The rest of Pel’s preparation was in my hands, but it would have to wait. He’d begun to fray around the edges while we were at the costumers and was now close to unravelling. I told him to take a shower and a few minutes’ downtime as soon as we got to the apartment, then opened a bottle of wine and poured a glass.

  “Jesevo, do you think that’s a good idea?” Mum asked, seeing the size of the slug.

  “Not for me, for him.” I put together a plate of snack food on a tray. “Have supper without me. This could take a while.” I grabbed the bottle and another glass, and then headed to my bedroom to wait.

  Pel was a lot longer in the bathroom than I thought he would be, but I could give him as much time as he needed to decompress. Like I said, the weakest link—or rather, the most vulnerable. I poured myself a drink and settled in to wait.

  He came in towelling his hair, dressed in one of my bathrobes, and froze as he saw me sitting on the bed. “Uh....”

  “Come here. I’ve got two things you need.” I held up his glass. “Booze, and a chat with your brother. Booze first. You’re tight as a guy-wire.”

  He sat beside me, expression dubious, and accepted the glass. He took a sip, but I refused to let him make contact with me—or Urei—until he swallowed some more. “Drugs aren’t the answer,” he said.

  “Depends on the question, doesn’t it?” Hey, Urei. How are you doing?

  Hanging on. It’s really boring here. Matsin’s been keeping me company, telling me fairytales. I snorted. Pel there?

  Right here.

  I put my hand on Pel’s arm. “There you go.” Then I sat back against the headboard, keeping contact on Pel’s leg with my foot, sipped some wine and waited.

  They talked for twenty minutes or so, but then Pel made a slicing movement with his hand, shifted away so I couldn’t reach him and then pressed the heel of his hands against his eyes as if he had a headache.

  Urei? Pel needs a break. Actually, he needs a good night’s sleep. Think you can manage until morning on your own?

  It’s okay. Matsin’s close enough to chat. Is Pel all right?

  He’s...uptight. Been a very long day for him. I need to make sure he holds it together.

  Look after him. Tell him I don’t need to talk to him. Jay? He’ll be okay, right?

  Completely. Thanks, Urei. See you in the flesh tomorrow.

  I put my glass down, and reached for Pel, putting my arms around him. He shivered and pressed close. “It’s okay,” I murmured. “He’s doing fine.”

  “If I lose him, I don’t know what I’ll do.”

  “You won’t.” I held him as tight as I could, trying to stop the trembling. It was like stage fright, only sadder and nastier. But nerves I could handle, whatever caused them.

  I picked up his glass and made him drink some more of the wine. “You need to stop, relax, rest, Pel. Tomorrow is going to be a hard day.”

  His hand shook as he obeyed. “Look at me. I'm falling apart. Urei’s depending on me and I’ll let him down.”

  “No, you won’t. You won’t be on your own. We’ll be behind you, and Mum and her people will be behind us.”

  He nodded and sipped more wine. But his eyes were still so devastated, and I didn’t know how to tell the right lies to make him believe there was no chance of this going belly up. I’d heard too many stories from Mum over the years to believe it myself. If she was right about this reincarnation stuff, then Pel and I were walking proof of how badly wrong a mission could go.

  He finished the glass but shook his head when I asked him if he wanted more. “Just so tired,” he said, rubbing his eyes again. “But I still have to learn how to walk and sound like a supercriminal instead of me.”

  “It’s easy. Sound like Matsin.” He grinned when I said that. “No, I'm serious. If you act like a cross between him and that Wedel guy, you’ll be fine. Okay, look at me.”

  I swung my legs off the bed and stood facing him. “First thing is, neither of them fidget. Ever. So that hand rubbing thing you do sometimes? On your trousers? Don’t do that. Then Matsin has this way of looking at you. He’s either giving you it long and slow, as if he’s measuring you up for a coffin, or he glances really fast, like you’re not worth wasting eyeball time on. That’s to people he doesn’t like or respect, which is most of us. Now Wedel, he does the same thing, only he’s not so obvious. He pretends to be polite, but he either looks for too long or too little time for it to be friendly. Like this.” I gave Pel my best Matsin glare and he shifted uneasily. “See? Now the guys you’re going to see, they’re little fish, like Matar said. You don’t want to be friendly. You want to unsettle them.”

  I moved away and then walked slowly towards him. “You tend to walk as if you’re carrying the world around in your pocket, except at the studio. There, you’re in charge. So walk like that all the time around them. Head up, shoulders straight. You expect everyone to get out of your way, not the opposite. You’re the kind who has doors opened for you. You don’t expect to be kept waiting. You don’t get mad, you get even. You know what they’re worth, how to have them killed, and where the bodies are buried. You can afford to buy them out three times over out of the change behind the cushions in your sofa.”

  He gave a small laugh. “I’ll forget all this, Jay.”

  “No, you won’t because you’re smart and you know it’s important. None of this is difficult. You just have to slip inside that arsehole’s skin. Pretend you’re an arrogant fuck.”

  “Like Matsin.”

  “Exactly.” I sat down next to him again and put my arm around his shoulders. “It’ll help you deal with the being scared thing too.”

  He drew a deep breath. “If I'm truthful, I'm scared of being left alone. Urei’s been my friend, my brother, my life for so long. I’ve lost everyone else.”

  I took his hand. “Whatever happens, you won’t be alone. I won’t let that happen to you.”

  He stared into my eyes, perhaps wondering if he could trust me, if my assurances carried any weight at all. I wished I was smarter, wiser—older—so I could be the support he needed. I wanted—

  Then he kissed me, and my brain short-circuited. I responded as I would to anyone kissing me who I liked, wanted...who kissed like he wanted me. My hands slid inside the bathrobe, pushing it down, as I pressed against him, wanting to hold him closer, to have him....

  But then he pushed me back, his expression stricken. “Lord...Lord, I'm sorry. Jay....”

  He moved to get up, but I had a firm grip on the bathrobe and unless he wanted to be naked right there and then, he had to stop. “Pel, it’s okay, honest.”

  “It’s not! It’s a disgusting abuse of your kindness. I should...maybe go back to my apartment....”