Drifter's War Read Online Free Page A

alcoholics, Sorenson was light. The door opened at her approach.
    "Come on, Cap. Let's go home."

3
    The Rothmonian security center was a quiet, almost cloistered place. There was the gentle hum of air-conditioning, the muted mumble of radio traffic, and the occasional sound of a buzzer. Row after row of vid monitors blinked through a preprogrammed sequence of security cams, some of which hopped, crawled, or flew through air, while others remained stationary and captured whatever happened to take place in front of them. Some of these were mounted in locations that guests would object to but didn't know about.
    Technicians moved here and there, attending the machines like priests at the altar, speaking to each other in tones of hushed solemnity.
    Nathan Izzo slammed the door open, dropped his portacomp onto a countertop, and looked for someone to abuse. Five or six technicians were present. All did their best to disappear. "Rister! Get your butt out here!"
    "My butt is out here." The voice came from right next to Izzo and made him jump. Carolyn Rister, chief of security, saw her superior's expression and smiled. "Welcome to the security center."
    Izzo scowled. His hair was black. He wore it short and flat on top. That, plus the hard, determined eyes and the formally cut business suit, gave him a military air. Just right for the man everybody called "The General."
    "Don't give me any of that 'welcome to the security center' crap, Rister. Save it for the headquarters types. What the hell's going on? Your people are too damned visible. Some of the guests are getting nervous."
    Rister was a long, lean woman who moved with a sort of sinewy grace. She had been places and done things that Izzo couldn't even imagine. The executive didn't scare her a bit.
    "Well, let me see… we've got a killer on the loose, we're trying to keep about twenty bounty hunters off prem, and someone's in the process of stealing your skimmer. Which one would you like to discuss first?"
    Blood rushed to Izzo's face. "Stealing my skimmer?"
    Rister nodded agreeably. "That's right. Take a look over there. You'll get a robo-sentry's eye view of your boat on its way out of the harbor."
    Izzo looked. The picture jerked right and left as the robo-sentry stalked along the top of the breakwater. Rain fell in sheets, visibility had been reduced to a few hundred yards, and sure enough, there was the Nadia making for the open sea.
    The executive grabbed the back of a chair. He owed more than a hundred thousand credits on the skimmer. None of them were insured.
    "Stop them! Stop them right now!"
    Rister nodded sympathetically. "Yes, sir. That's what we're trying to do. And if the robo-sentry beats them to the entrance, we might even succeed."
    "'Might'? You might succeed? The robo-sentry has an energy cannon. Burn them down!"
    Rister lifted an eyebrow. "If you say so, sir… but what about your skimmer?"
    Rister's words were like a bucket of ice water. Izzo felt stupid and tried to hide it.
    "How could something like this happen?"
    Rister shrugged noncommittally. "Bad luck, that's all. It turns out that the guy in villa fourteen is wanted for murder. Channel twenty-three learned he was here, told everyone on the planet, and the bounty hunters arrived shortly thereafter. The guest tried to run, couldn't use the causeway, and stole your boat. It's as simple as that."
    Izzo looked from Rister to the monitors. "No it isn't," he said resentfully. "You should've neutralized him back on land."
    "Not unless policy has changed," Rister said evenly. "Think about it. I watched the tapes of this guy putting on his clothes. He has a slug gun stuck down the back of his pants and a mini-launcher strapped to his right arm. We fire at him and he fires back. Presto, the lodge becomes a free-fire zone. Dead guests all over the place. Get my drift?"
    Izzo knew when he was beat. He stared at the monitor. The rain made it hard to see. The robo-sentry was close but the Nadia seemed even