They all went.

  ***

  "What are we looking for, anyway?"

  Ra'd looked around the busy corridor. "Oh, places where women hang out and gossip. Where a listening spell or a well stealthed bug could pick up information."

  Jack sniffed. "We sweep periodically."

  "But not the guards quarters, otherwise I wouldn't have found four spells and three bugs in my room. Right, Jack?"

  The pudge colored up a bit . . . then frowned. "Four listening spells?"

  "Hey, I'm popular. Let's split up and wander around a bit." Ra'd headed down the corridor, eyeing the storefronts.

  Most of the guys headed right. Ra'd spotted one of the young harpies and the entire team left to try to charm her.

  Jack paced him.

  "So there's one of the coffee shops. They don't actually look like they encourage sitting around for leisurely verbal battles." Ra'd bought a cup of nasty fabbed coffee and sat and sipped for half an hour, until pointed looks at his empty cup drove him onward. Jack had wandered off a bit, pretending to window shop, while watching Ra'd.

  Does he expect me to rendezvous with a contact right under his nose? Or does he just realize how bad the coffee is?

  Ra'd sauntered over to meet him. Eyed the mannequins in the window. "I can't imagine Nighthawk wearing something like that."

  "Too Oner?"

  "Too restricting of her range of movement."

  Jack eyed him, and wandered off.

  Ra'd looked around. "The beauty shop? Umm, no, they're too busy with the staff working them over to gossip with each other, and I find it hard to believe they get chummy with the help. No?"

  "Well, they can't just sit there in silence, can they?" Jack looked through the window.

  Two women with stringy wet hair being snipped at. One with hair blowing all over and another with her head under a dome.

  "Well, I don't recall discussing anything with a barber other than sports, and not much of that." Ra'd shrugged. "But the women do probably stay there longer."

  He walked on. Strolled through the bookstore, gazing at the cover art, and downloading three that looked interesting. No one chatting there. The customers looked to be more interested in the books than each other.

  A café with seating. He bought a sandwich—fabbed and horrible. This time Jack joined him, and picked at the food.

  "You guys need some shops that believe in real food, not these fabbed horrors." Ra'd ignored the indignant stare from a waitress.

  Jack nodded. "A lot of the younger set seem to think this is how food is supposed to taste."

  They didn't linger.

  A bar for a weak, tepid, beer.

  "At least it gets the taste of that fabbed bread out of my mouth."

  Jack looked into the depths of his plastic mug. "But what can we do to . . . " He broke off at a glare from the bartender.

  They walked on.

  Clothing stores. Shoe stores. The women were dealing with clerks, not spreading secrets.

  He spotted Boner ahead, gawping into another beauty shop. Caught the sound of a female voice.

  " . . . you can't possibly be looking for me!"

  Boner looked panicked.

  :: Say you were hoping to see her or you are dead meat. And you'd better admire her hair. ::

  Boner flicked a glance his way, then turned back to whoever was in the shop.

  "Actually, I'd, umm, hoped . . . I might see you again. I mean, not that I expect you to care, but . . . well, you were so . . . wow."

  "Oh Puppy, you need speech lessons." Followed by some mumbling and at least one other female voice. Then the harpy emerged, hair immaculate . . .

  Boner gawped. "That's fantastic. I love the way it curls and lays over and, and . . . "

  "Ah. You noticed, and said something specific. There may be hope for you yet." The Harpy took his arm and led him away.

  Ra'd stepped up to the shop entrance, sidestepping a bit to get out of the way of the other pedestrians on the walkway. "I don't believe I just saw that."

  A giggle from inside. "I've never seen her pick up a man before." A spectacular blonde with a huge and very shapely bosom was also looking after the unlikely pair.

  Jack glanced her way and blushed.

  "Well, Moar can pretty much do whatever she wants." Ra'd shrugged. "Although I'd advise against trying Earth fashions."

  Another women, with dark curling hair, joined them. "No kidding. Those horrible loose pants with all the pockets. Not an hour ago one of our other clients said that gays wore things like that ages ago." She shrugged. "Beats me. I don't recall ever reading about them."

  The blonde eyed them. "I'm Fuwp, this is my cousin Bwuf. Fluffy and Buffy, I'm afraid."

  "Beats Wqlw. And this is Egqo. Lew and Echo."

  Jack glared at him and smiled toothily at the women. "I actually prefer Jack."

  The dark girl nodded. "Much better."

  Fluffy looked them over. "We do men's haircuts too. You two look a little ragged. How about a quick shampoo and trim for six rials?"

  The shampoo felt fantastic. Ra'd grinned while Fluffy snipped.

  "I think Jack is quite taken by Buffy."

  "And you're immune."

  "Almost married—trying very hard, so please, no bald spot."

  Fluffy giggled, and the cut was nice and professional looking.

  Ra'd looked at Jack, laughing with the other woman, paid up and left.

  So our rumor about the pants has passed from Harpy to hairdresser. Or at any rate some woman told Buffy. Have I got a clue, or just an indication that women chatter a whole lot?

  "We haven't told anyone about the pants, have we?" Jack looked baffled as he caught up with him.

  "And if we were bugged, they'd know it was a plant. What the hell? Let's find everyone."

  Back in Building Three, they all compared notes. Kobold had talked with Ruws Servaone. "She’s just a gofer in the PR department. She got snotty so I suggested she try those Earth fashions—there was a store selling them right there—so everyone would know she was really a gay man. She stuck her nose in the air and walked off."

  "Huh. And that was right after we got there? The timing is about right. Assuming she was headed for the hairdresser."

  ***

  Ra'd scratched his chin. "Boner, did you talk to your sister?"

  "Yes, and she told me to get lost."

  "Next time you see her, ask her to ask any of those harpies where they get their hair cut. And how often. Preferably all of them. We know where Moar goes. She only heard the first rumor, right? And the expected results of that rumor hit three weeks later. A month ago now, I wonder how often she goes to the beauty shop."

  Jack nodded. "And Fluffy had heard the third rumor that same day, day and a half ago now. So let's see if baggy pocket pants suddenly go out of style. That would give us some idea of how fast the rumors go from the beauty shop to the Earth Embassy."

  Essy rubbed his face. "I'm still waiting for fallout over the Neanderthal rumor. I can only hope that women don't gossip about stuff like that."

  Moo sniffed. "They passed on the Rubicon stuff."

  Ra'd paused. "Did they? We're making an unwarranted assumption that it is the Harpies. Just because Jack decided I must be the leak. If the leak is someone else, the timing, shortly after us overhearing the harpies about it, is simply coincidental."

  "But if it is the harpies . . . are the beauticians passing it along or are they bugged?" Jack bit his lip. "And . . . do we arrest them before or after we sweep their shop?"

  Ra'd hesitated. "Sorry. Name dropping warning. Urfa has said that years ago, if he'd known who Endi DeWulfe was spying for, he might have left him loose, to feed disinformation or trace contacts. And much as I've enjoyed the game, if we get much more of an indication, we're going to have to bump this upstairs. Jack? When should we talk to your boss? And should we also bring in the Directorate Intel people?"

  "Ugh. Why did I ever let you lot talk me into this insanity?" Jack paused. "One more indication and I'll talk to him."

  ***

  They slid back into a semblance of normality.

  And an old friend and mentor dropped by. The guys all gawped at the Rael Withione. She giggled, but let a thin edge of deep power and strong control through, so they were left half confused and definitely wary.

  "Do you have fun scaring people?" Ra'd walked with her toward Disco.

  "Well . . . my reputation won't let me really fool people into underestimating me anymore. So I let them see the act."

  Ra'd swallowed a comment involving "most incompetent assassin in the Multiverse" and changed the subject. "Xen is teaching Nighthawk how to teleport. I'm picking up a few hints about how it works. Apparently you have to have a strong feel for both the departure point and the arrival point. What they call 'recognition.' But I haven't got the core spell. Yet." He turned in surprise.

  Rael had stopped. "Really? We're going to have to get together about that. Umm." She tapped her forehead in a familiar fashion. And pulled out the long glittery string of a complex spell.

  "Yeees. I recognize bits of that . . . " He studied it. Closed his eyes and rebuilt it. Opened his eyes and compared it. "Got it. Now I just need to learn how to integrate it all together. And this is recognition."

  He held out his feel of the mountain.

  She whistled. "One damn me. Now we just need to see how they fit together." She walked on, and he returned to work.

  Which was still boring . . . until a lot of Earth women stopped wearing baggy pocket pants.

  "My sister says they all get their hair cut here, and then they argued about whether Fluffy or Buffy was the best. They generally go once a month—then get together for dinner in the next few days—well, the two groups separately, but since they snipe so much at each other they all tend to get their hair cut within a few days of each other, so no one gets one-upped. They don't—the two cliques don't—always have a fancy dinner out on the same night, but it does happen often enough that it's not newsworthy."

  Ra'd steepled his fingers. "So they got their hair cut and styled and had a ladies night out on . . . the twenty-fourth of Emre and that Project Rubicon had leaked was known by the thirteenth of Jumada. So eighteen days . . . and the Earth must have learned all that early enough before to initiate actions to block it. And those actions were . . . ?"

  Jack scowled. "They increased food deliveries and suddenly agreed to a higher price for gold in the treaty negotiations."

  "Which would have taken some time to get approved." Essy scowled. "So, a month later, roughly 24 Jumada they'd have gotten new hair styles, and dined out. And the thirteenth was when we started spreading the first rumor, so eleven days from us telling the Harpies and through them—in theory—the beauticians learning about the Neanderthals."

  "And then a month later, in Nicholas, we spread the baggy pants rumor, and we know it got to the beauticians the same day. A week later, the style is suddenly out with the Earthers."

  “That rumor was fast.” Kobold grinned. “But it didn’t need any government action—just some clerk in their intel office telling her girlfriends about old Oner styles. Because who cares if she talks about something like that? Right?”

  Nods and grins all around. Jack muttered something about women talking too much.

  Ra'd tipped his chair back. "What we need to do is track Buffy and Fluffy and find all their contacts, especially anyone who regularly leaves the compound. Jack, why don't you try for a date with Buffy? We'll try to figure out the best way to monitor the shop and follow Fluffy."

  "Sounds like a children's book with talking bunny rabbits." Boner grinned.

  Essy snickered. "And do we have any volunteers to look like lovesick fools hanging around hoping for a kiss from Fluffy Bunny?"

  Ace sat up straight. "I'll make the ultimate sacrifice, and save my fellows from that horrid fate."

  "Atta boy, knew we could depend on you." Boner clapped his shoulder. "Have fun."

  Hector sniffed. "I don't see why they'd do it. Spy for Earth, I mean. No insult to Ace's sex appeal intended. But Earthers are so flat and uninteresting."

  They all pondered that in silence.

  "They are Oners, aren't they?" Ra'd glanced between Jack and Essy. "Can we get sight of their security checks?"

  Chapter Fifteen

  18 Nicholas 1408yp

  Empire of the One Embassy, Embassy World

  "Very interesting reports. Cousins from Tall Trees Colony. Illegitimate. Their mothers were half native, they grew up in the native slums, so they weren't registered until they decided to go to college in Rinville. They lasted a year, swapped to a beautician's trade school, moved to One World and worked for five years in Azteca before they opened the shop here." Jack looked up from the screen. "Tall Trees is the colony that the Earth found, that they tried to infiltrate through, what, three times?"

  "So, we have no record of them as children." Ra'd grinned. "Now, did Earth wise up and recruit people from Purple to act as their moles? And how do we get genetic samples so we can check?"

  "Purple . . . for the power genes. Right. Of course." Essy frowned. "But they aren't purple."

  "Nighthawk said only ten percent of their people are actually purple colored."

  "Really?" Crocodile grin from Essy. "Right. We need hair, skin or blood."

  Ra'd pulled up a specialty file on his comp. Ebsa has the fab codes for an amazing array of things. DNA sample collectors . . . don't think they'll open wide for a cheek swab . . . ah. Stickies for the fingers. He got up and walked over to a fab. A little tickle of telekinesis with a soft spin to open the lock. I wonder if Isakson knows about Ebsa's interesting past? He opened the control panel. It wanted a password, so he typed ADMIN. Accepted. Then typed the code for the hard-to-see stickies. Six of them should do, since they just wanted two women's samples.

  Jack was scowling at him again. "How did you do that?"

  "I have a friend who knows all sorts of interesting things. He can even make those things cough up edible food. Right . . . should some of us others collect samples while you two just charm them?"

  ***

  Ra'd reluctantly abandoned his family in the predawn and sought the coffee shop that had a view of the beauty shop. Currently dark and locked up.

  So I'm supposed to sprint down and hold the door for them or something, when they finally show up? Obviously no one gets a hair cut when they're usually getting breakfast. He dropped a glower at the fabbed "muffin" he was nibbling at. The coffee shops seemed to be the only places open for business. A man walked by, pushing a dolly with boxes . . . deliveries. Of course. A perfect way to get info out of the embassy. A delivery here, some to the café's and night clubs. Were there other beauty shops out in the developing areas? Or maybe just stores that sold shampoo. Some place far enough away that a compressed radio signal from a delivery truck wouldn't be detected.

  This particular man turned into a clothing store. Ra'd turned casually and watched two more delivery men with dollies trundling along. One stopped at a different beauty shop. He unlocked the door, checked a screen and took two cartons inside.

  Ra'd finished his coffee and strolled down the walk, sticking fairly close to the store fronts. Ignored the squeaky wheels coming up behind him, nose down as if reading his screen.

  "Excuse me!" Abrupt and impatient.

  Ra'd looked up, stepped aside. "Sorry." His wave of apology barely brushed the man's bare arm. He walked on. Nose back to the screen. Turned off and reflective. Yes. The man stopped, unlocked the door. Made two trips with cartons. Didn't seem to dawdle. If he picked up anything, it was right where he expected it to be.

  Ra'd bagged that sticky and stuck another on his finger, in case he ran into one of the women on the way out.

  Ra'd dropped down to the ground floor and wandered through the gateway and waited. Wafted a slight illusion over himself. Blue shirt instead of white, hair lighter. Phone to ear, but set to take photos.

  One truck, stranger at the wheel.

  Second truck, bingo. He took pics and watched the truck out of the corner of his eye. It turned up the northwest diagonal, heading, more or less into Oner territory.

  He walked back, wondering . . . and got on the elevator with Fluffy. Brushed her hand as they both reached for the floor button.

  "Sorry. Oh, hey, the girlfriend loves the haircut. Thanks." A smile and he turned the opposite direction as he politely let her out first.

  Bagged that sample, and headed back down.

  Over to Building One, and Jack's office. Jack eyed the bags, copied the pics. "I'll have to get authorization to send these to the Directorate lab. One only knows if anyone over there is paying attention to anything. Go away, I'll talk to you lot at lunch."

  "Right." It was so early . . . Ra'd popped over to the house and found Nighthawk nursing his handsome devil of a son. He fixed breakfast, kissed Oak and Hawk good morning and went out to run and possibly impress his almost-father-in-law.

  Then he sketched Fluffy, Buffy and the delivery man, while Oak doodled on another piece of paper. Did they really have a family resemblance, or was he "remembering" that because he wanted them to be related.

  "Friends?" Nighthawk yawned over to him. Already flat stomached.

  "Suspects in a security breach. Which I only mention because it appears to be between us and Earth. Nothing to do with Comet Fall or Disco. And I suppose I shouldn't even mention that much. Just in case."

  "Probably not. I am a Disco agent, after all."

  "Heh. I've heard reports that the God of Spies likes spies. That he thinks political espionage reduces the chances of war."

  "It's the god thing. He has a real affinity for almost any sort of government agent. He even likes counter espionage types, so don't worry that he might have a subconscious bias against you."

  "Is being the Master of the Multiverse affecting him?"

  "Not so's anyone noticed. I think he's a bit miffed. He'd really like to shed a lot of the Super Spy archetypical problems."

 

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