Free The Albino Knife by Steve Perry Page A

after I took office."
    "Do you still trust me?"
    "My advisors all say I should not.That you have been gone too long to know who you are anymore.
    That whateverhelp you might have been before, there is no way to be certain you are the man you were."
    "Are any of us the men we were?"
    "My advisors mean well, but they are paid to be suspicious. I trust you, Emile. Knowing you were out there somewhere has kept me honest these last few years. If I had been corrupted by the power, you would have come back to remove me, wouldn't you?"
    "I would have tried. But I wasn't too worried about it. I trust you, too, Rajeem."
    "There was an attempt on my life a short time back," he said. "My ship was sabotaged. It was cleverly done,more clever than the usual would-be assassin. My technicians have not yet figured out how it was accomplished. Beel was with me. The entire ship was at risk."
    "And your advisors thought that I—?"
    "As I said, they are paid to be suspicious. I did not think it was your style; besides, I haven't botched the job that badly, have I?"
    It was Khadaji's turn to smile. "No. I'd give you a passing grade."
    "I thought so. I advised my advisors that had you been the assassin, I would certainly be dead. At about the same time, there were several attacks upon some of your students, on different planets. This could hardly be coincidence, and the coordination needed involved careful planning. Juete was kidnapped. It takes only a casual look to see these things are all connected in some way to Emile Antoon Khadaji."
    "Agreed, though none of it was my doing."
    "So I believe. But something most unusual is happening and we don't understand what. Or why."
    Khadaji was about to speak when a soft chime sounded in the room.
    Carlos frowned. "I was not to be interrupted," he said.
    A voice from a hidden speaker said, "Sorry, President Carlos. You have an offplanet com request from someone on your short list."
    Carlos's frown deepened. To Khadaji, he said, "There are only seven people on that list—my wife and children, you, and three others." He raised his voice. "Put the call through."
    After a few seconds, a woman's deep voice said, "Hello, deuce."
    Khadaji and Carlos spoke at the same time:
    "Dirisha!"
    Dirisha and Bork leaned against the Healy.
    "Amazing," Geneva said, from within her medical hutch."He was there with the President when you called."
    "Maybe not so amazing," Bork said. "The boss always had a way of getting into the middle of things."
    Dirisha shook her head. Bork was a master of understatement. She said, "They didn't say what was going on, but something else is happening. For Emile to pop up after vanishing so long ago is passing strange."
    "And with a daughter," Geneva said. "I never knew he had a family."
    "Mostly nobody knew much about him at all," Bork said.
    "Anyway, Carlos knows about what happened and he's arranging for the bank's computer operators to smile on us."
    "What about Sleel?" Geneva asked.
    "He's going to see what can be legally done. He can't just snap his fingers and make them let Sleel go.
    One of the first things Carlos did when he took over was to cut out about nine-tenths of the power the old Confed leaders had. He can't pardon anybody without a lengthy process, subject to review by a panel of planetary and galactic judges. It could take six months, maybe as long as a year."
    "I wouldn't bet money on Sleel waiting around," Bork said.
    "Nor would I," Geneva added. "Sleel can be very single-minded."
    Dirisha laughed. Sleel had tried for years to get her to sleep with him and there had been times when she had been tempted. On some level, he was a loveable rogue. "Inever gave in, brat."
    "It was before I knew you," Geneva said.
    "Did I say anything?"
    "You were thinking it."
    "We could bust him out," Bork said. "Sleel is a good man to have around when things get fuzzy."
    "Bad idea," Dirisha said. "We're on the side of law and order these days, remember?"
    "Yeah, but whoever is after us is