“We may leave, then?”
“Of course, sir. Thank you for your assistance.”
Aelock gave him a preoccupied nod and hurried Lunzie away. He looked shaken and unhappy.
“What else happened?” she demanded.
“We’ve got to get out of here. Those two probably weren’t alone.”
Lunzie lengthened her stride. “That’s not all that’s bothering you.”
“My contact is dead. I found him in the alley behind the building when I chased that man. Dammit, how did they get on to me? The whole affair has been top secret, need-to-know only. It means - and I hate to imagine how - the pirates must have spies within the top echelons of the service.”
“What?” Lunzie exclaimed.
“There’s been no one else who could have known. I reported my contact with my poor dead friend only to my superiors - and I have told no one else. It must mean Aidkisagi is involved,” Aelock muttered almost to himself in a preoccupied undertone.
They turned another comer onto an empty street. Lunzie glanced behind them nervously. Yellow city lights reflected off the smooth surfaces of the building facades and the sidewalk as if they were two mirrors set at right angles. Each of them had two bright-edged shadows wavering along behind them which made Lunzie feel as if they were being followed. Aelock set a bruising pace for a spacer. They heard no footfalls behind them.
When he was sure that they had not been followed, Aelock stopped in the middle of a small public park where he had a 360 degree field of vision. The low shrubs twenty yards away offered no cover.
“Lunzie, it’s more imperative than ever that I get a message to Commander Coromell on Tau Ceti. He’s Chief Investigator for Fleet Intelligence. He must know about this matter.”
“Why not give it to the Admiral? He told me he was going to visit his son.”
In the half shadow of the park, Aelock’s grimace looked malevolent rather than regretful. “He would have been ideal but he left this morning.” Aelock gazed down hopefully at Lunzie and took hold of her wrists. “I can’t trust this message to any ordinary form of transmission, but it must get to Coromell. It is vital. Would you carry it?”