SERPENT’S REACH BY C.J. Cherryh

Raen opened the door and stepped out, spattered by raindrops, whipped in under the portico, and waited while the driver and another officer opened the rear doors. They retreated in haste, and Warrior one and Warrior two climbed out, grooming themselves in evident distaste. Jim followed, and the two guard azi . . . unharmed, Raen was glad to see.

“Jim,” she said. “You two. Get the luggage out and put it inside the house.” She looked then to the officers on the porch and those with her. “Are there occupants?”

“The house has been shut for half a year, Kontrin.” A man in civilian clothes edged forward among the others . . . dark-haired, overweight, balding. There was a woman with him, likewise civilian, matched in age, and in corpulence. “Hela Dain,” she said. “My husband Elan Prosserty, vice. presidents on the board.”

“ITAK is vastly sorry,” the man said, “for this reception. Our profound apologies. If we had known you were without sufficient guard . . . You’re not injured, Kontrin.”

“No.” She recalled the gun and slipped it back into its place beneath the cloak. “I’m a guest of the Eln-Kests. Posthumously. I regret the circumstances, but I’ll take the hospitality nonetheless. if one of your security people will lodge himself at the front gate . . . outside, if you will . . . to discourage the most obvious intruders, I’ll take care of the rest. Kindly come inside. I requested another presence here; have they arrived?”

The Dain-Prossertys made shift to follow her in the wake she cut through the crowd of police and armoured guards, into the house, with its stale air and mustiness. Agents were inside likewise, and another group, conspicuous for their white faces and their bizarre dress, four of them.

Outsiders, indeed.

“Kontrin,” Hela Dain said with careful deference. “The senior of the trade organisation, ser Ab Tallen, and his escort.”

Armed. She did not miss that. Tallen was gray-haired, thin, aging. There was one of his young men of strange type, a physiognomy exotic in the Reach. She put out her hand, and Tallen took it without flinching-smiling, his eyes unreadable, cold . . . real. No Kontrin had devised the psych-set behind that face.

“Kont’ Raen a Sul hant Meth-maren,” she said. “The Meth-maren. A social courtesy, ser Tallen. How kind of you to come.”

Tallen did not flinch, though she reckoned the summons as delivered by the police had had no option in it. “An opportunity,” he said, “which we were not about to refuse. The fabled Kontrin company.”

“The Family, ser. The company has set its mark on things, but those days are past.” The Outsider’s ignorance dazed her; she was pricked by curiosity, but it was not the time or place not with betas at her elbow. She turned away, made a nod of courtesy toward the ITAK executives, “How kind of you all to come. I trust the little difficulty has settled itself and that it will stay settled. Would you kindly rid me of this commotion of police, seri? Extend them my thanks. I trust my communication lines are free of devices and such. I trust they have been making sure of that. I shall trust that this is the case. I don’t have to tell you how distressed I would be to discover something had slipped their notice. Then I would have to carry on some very high inquiries, seri. But I am sure that no one would let such a thing happen.”

Fear was stark in their faces. “No,” Dain assured her at once. “No,” her husband echoed.

“Of course not;” she said very softly, put a hand on each of their arms as she turned them for the hall, dismissing them. “I thank you very much . . . very much for disarranging yourselves to come out here on such a night. Convey to the board my thanks for their concern, my sorrow for the Eln-Kests and for the damage at the port. And if one of you will contact me tomorrow, I will be very pleased to make that gratitude more substantial; you’ve done very kindly by me tonight. Such attention to duty should be rewarded. You personally, seri. Would you be very sure of the guards you set at the gate, of their dependability? I always like to know who is accountable. I shall be through with these folk in very short order. Merely a courtesy. I do thank you.”

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