Free Tek Net by William Shatner Page B

well.”
    â€œWell, sir, then you know that he’s dead and done for. So are most of his relatives and the top people in his Tek cartel,” continued the uneasy Japanese. “Therefore, you see, I didn’t think providing her with background information about the Hokori cartel would hurt anyone. Her producer was offering a very nice fee for my services and even though I only worked for Sonny in a minor capacity—”
    â€œC’mon, Ernie, you were one of his top lieutenants. You even had a hand in framing Jake Cardigan on Tek charges and getting him sent up to the Freezer prison.”
    â€œNo, no, that’s not true,” said Shiboo. “That was Sonny who arranged that—along with Bennett Sands and Cardigan’s wife. Not me, however, sir.”
    â€œSuppose we return to Jill Bernardino. How much did you tell her about what I’m planning?”
    â€œI don’t know anything about your plan.”
    â€œNot the right answer, Ernie,” said Marriner. “You should’ve said something like, ‘Which of your multitude of plans are you talking about, sir?’ You know, you’re not even any good at playing dumb.”
    Shiboo hugged himself to try to control his shivering. “All right, sir, I did hear a few rumors—since I do drop in at your various homes delivering androids—about some plan to team up with certain Tek cartels in Europe.”
    â€œWhich cartels, Ernie?” He reached over and took hold of the Japanese’s wrist.
    Grimacing at the pressure on his pudgy wrist, Shiboo answered, “Anzelmo was the only name I heard, sir.”
    â€œWhat exactly are Anzelmo and I and the others working on, Ernie? How much of that did your spying bring out?”
    â€œIt wasn’t spying,” contradicted Shiboo. “After all, I was deeply involved in the Tek trade for years and I’m bound to be interested in some kind of Tek network that may well put every Teklord in America out of business.”
    Marriner smiled. “Yes, you’d naturally be curious about that,” he agreed. “Where’s the Bernardino woman?”
    â€œDon’t you have her?”
    Marriner shook his head and let go of the wrist. “No, although I’d very much like to.”
    â€œThen I don’t know,” said Shiboo. “Listen, sir, I’m really sorry if my curiosity has caused you—”
    â€œYour damned curiosity, putz, has contributed to a lot of people finding out something about my plan.”
    â€œAs I say, I’m really sorry.”
    Marriner slid open a drawer in his desk. “And well you should be, Ernie.” He lifted out a snub-nosed stungun and shot the Japanese.

13
    Jake turned away from the monitor screen in the white metal wall of the interrogation suite. “Bascom appears to be successfully stalling Lieutenant Drexler,” he announced. “But there’s no way of telling how long he’ll be able to bring that off.”
    At the center of the circular room the bald Dunkirk was strapped in a padded white metal chair. His eyes were open wide yet he didn’t seem to be seeing anything.
    Gomez, resting his hand on the arm of the chair, said to the young Chinese woman who was stationed just to the rear of Dunkirk, “Time is on the wing, Terri. Can we commence questioning this cochino? ”
    Terri Lee glanced over at a wall clock. “Okay, Gomez, the truth injection should’ve taken hold by now. Start slow, huh?”
    Leaning closer, Gomez inquired, “You’re Nigel Dunkirk?”
    The bald man answered, in a slightly droning voice, “You got it, mate.”
    â€œWho hired you for this job?”
    â€œDon’t know his bloody name.”
    â€œWhy’s that, Nigel?”
    â€œThat’s the way these things work out,” said Dunkirk. “I’m a freelancer, do you see. People know my specialties, know I got a good reputation and a