“How about meeting me here for a drink?” she suggested. “It’s a bit small, but the bar’s okay.”
“Have you eaten?”
‘‘Not yet.”
“Well, why don’t we make an evening of it and talk over dinner? There’s a nice, quiet little place I happen to know over on that side of town.”
“Uh. . . huh.”
“I could pick you up there. This isn’t really for bars, anyway.”
Her pause was a study in amused suspicion.
“Sure. Why not?”
An hour and a half later, they were talking across a candlelit table by a penthouse window facing out across the illuminated towers of nighttime Washington. They had talked about Gina’s approach to Caldwell and her handling of Caldwell’s response, and Hunt had told her how he would be going to Jevlen.
“As a matter of fact, you couldn’t have picked a better time to show up,” he said, sipping from his wineglass over a plate of prime-rib special. Gina waited, watching his face curiously. He lowered his voice a fraction. “I’m going to let you in on something confidential. This business about going there to appraise the possibilities of Ganymean science is mostly a blind to fit in with my regular job. The real purpose is to find out more, firsthand, about Garuth’s problem with the Jevienese and see what we can do to help. The place to do that is on Jevlen, not here.”
Gina’s brow creased in puzzlement. “What is this guy Caldwell running, a scientific division of UNSA or a security agency?”
“The Ganymeans of the Shapieron are personal friends, who are in trouble. That’s his first concern.”
“Oh. I didn’t realize that he sees it that way. I take it back.”
“No, you’re right. Essentially it is a political issue, and he should just hand it over. But he’s always been a bit of an empire-builder. Besides the immediate aspect, the temptation to get a finger into what’s going on at Jevien is too much for him to resist.”
“It sounds as if moving from Houston to Washington might have gotten to him a little.”
“Gregg’s okay. He gets things done, and he doesn’t mess around.”
“Okay. So when do you leave?”
“In three days—with the Vishnu.”
Gina raised her eyebrows and picked up her glass. “Well, what do I say? It sounds like a wonderful assignment. But it also means that you won’t be around to give me any background on the book for some time. So why did you say I’d picked a good time? It sounds to me as if I couldn’t have picked a worse one.”
Hunt finished chewing before he replied. “There are a number of Earthpeople on Jevlen already for one reason or another. The situation there could be politically sensitive. We don’t exactly know what to expect.”
“All right Gina said slowly, nodding but not following.
“In particular, the job might call for some snooping around and talking to people that would look out of place for a scientist on a
purely scientific assignment—the kind of thing that would invite unwelcome questions to be asked.” Hunt held her eye steadily. “But a journalist—especially one known for being something of a maverick—wouldn’t cause any eyebrows to be raised. It would be expected.”
“Yes, I can see that.”
“So officially you’d be there as a free-lancer collecting research for your book—but unofficially to help with the things that I couldn’t go poking my own nose into too obviously.”
It took Gina a few seconds to register what he was saying. She set her fork down on her plate and stared at him in disbelief. Hunt smirked back shamelessly at her befuddlement.
“Wait a minute,” she muttered. “Am I hearing you correctly? Are you talking about me going to Jevien, as well? Three days from now? Is that what you’re saying?”
Hunt gestured to indicate the restaurant and the scene around them in general. “I said when I called you that I had news. All this isn’t just to tell you, sorry, I’m going away, I can’t help with the book.”
Gina picked up her glass again and gulped from it unsteadily. She passed a hand over her brow and shook her head dazedly. Her voice choked when she finally managed to speak. “You. . . really are a guy for surprises. Or have I been living a sheltered life? You may not believe it, but this doesn’t happen every time I get asked out on a dinner date.”