I looked over at Takara. whose expression was impassive, then shook my head.

Ukita rose from my leather chair and came around to where the Little Dragon sat. ‘Takara -renketsu’He cupped her chin in his right hand, but she did not protest. Glancing at me, he smiled. ‘I suppose that name would not mean anything special to you, Chu-sa.This woman belonged to Marquis Jiro Somo before he died. Do you recognize thatname?’

I thought for a moment. ‘Tanadi Computers? He died four years ago.’

‘Bravo, Patrick!’ Ukita clapped his hands once, then stroked Takara's cheek. ‘Do you mind it I call you Patrick?’

I nodded. ‘If it would not be considered rude, I save my Christian name for my friends.’ I shot the Little Dragon a harsh stare, but her eyes were closed as she rubbed her cheek against Ukita's hand. ‘As hospitable as you have been, Tai-sa,I don't think we're friends.’

Ukita nodded. ‘I understand. I think you will appreciate the irony I find in this situation. I came here to recover something you Forced me to lose, and I captured you. I also discovered Takara -renketsuand will be able to return her to her rightful owner.’

He tipped her face up and tightened his hand on her jaw, shocking her into opening her eyes. ‘You realize, don't you. that the writ of manumission Jiro signed tor you was invalidated after his death. His heir wants you back, and it is only by chance that he mentioned his desire for you to me.’

Takara replied in a low, inviting voice. ‘I believe, Tai-sa.that I can convince you that Marquis Gonsai Somo should not be my new owner’ She shifted her head, let her tongue flicker against Ukita's palm, then glanced through the open doorway into what had been my private quarters.

I saw the ISF man swallow hard and stare at her. I leaned forward in my chair and cleared my throat loudly. ‘It you don't mind. Tai-sa,I'm feeling sick. Isn't there some formal processing you want to put me through?’ I looked over at Takara and shuddered. ‘I'd be thankful for some delousing.’

Ukita punched a button on the intercom, summoning two ISF guards. They jerked me to my feet, but before they dragged me out, the Little Dragon commanded them to wait. She left her chair when Ukita nodded his consent and crossed to where I stood. Pressing her warm body against mine, She ran her hands over my torso, then kissed me.

She stepped away from me and pulled Ukita's arm around her waist. Cold sparks flashed in her eyes as she answered Ukita's unvoiced question. ‘Why did I do that?’ She threw back her head and laughed harshly. ‘So that he'll remember and dream about what he can never have.’

My lips burned with her kiss, and I could still feel her caress as the ISF agents led me down a series of passageways I should have recognized. Moving through those cold gray corridors, all I could think about was Takara lying in Ukita's arms. She'd kept me at arm's-length, afraid of surrendering her hard-won independence, then she'd turned and threw herself at Ukita.

You're upset because she betrayed the image ol her that you tried to respect. She demanded that you treat her like a normal person. You did, all the while imagining that she shared her name and her home withyou out of some mutual feeling Then you up and tell her you've used her and that you expected her to betray you all along. The wonder's not that she turned you over to the ISF, you idiot. It's that she didn’t shoot you when she had the chance!

The guards cut the clothes from me before proceeding with a complete body search. They easily discovered the strip of pseudo-flesh on the right side of my chest and gleefully ripped it off despite my entreaties to be careful. They strapped me down on an examination table and forced my mouth open so that some crazed fool could poke and probe my teeth for poison capsules or a false tooth full of microdots.

After that, they forced me through a bath in which two toothless matrons attacked my flesh with harsh bristle brushes. They scrubbed me head-to-toe as though sandblasting two months of dried mud from a 'Mech's armor. Then my guards pushed me into a cold shower, a stinging encounter with a delouser and his spray can. and a second shower that just barely dulled the delousing agent's pungent stink.

Finally, they dressed me again in the clothes they'd cut off me earlier. Without restraining my legs this time, they led me back up to Tai-saUkita's office. Through a window. I noticed how closely the sun hovered to the horizon I'd lost all track of the time, especially during the stay with the Draconian dentist, but now I knew that at least three hours had slipped by. With that realization, thoughts of Takara and Ukita invaded my mind again.

The ISF guards forced me back into a chair so that I could listen to the soft sounds coming from the partially open door into the room beyond my office. She didn't want me to despoil her bedroom when I stayed in her apartment, but she desecrates mine.After they finally grew quiet. Ukita swathed in a black silk robe, slid open the door and dismissed the guards.

Dropping into my chair, he smiled. ‘It really is a pity, Chu-sa.you never...’

I shrugged. ‘Perhaps you'll grant a dying man his last request.’ Leave me alone with her so I can strangle her...

As though reading my thoughts, he smiled. ‘No, Colonel Kell, I'm afraid that would not be possible. It is too bad because she is quite, ah, incredible.’

Takara appeared in the doorway and leaned against the door jamb. Her white kimono was trimmed in dark green and gapped open at the center. Casually, she pulled it tight, then fastened the green sash. She drifted over to the chair she'd occupied before, but only had eyes for Ukita.

Again the ISF Colonel smiled at me. ‘Did you know Takara means 'treasure?' It is true, and she lives up to that name.’ His hand disappeared into one of his robe's pockets and returned holding the remote control for the explosives. ‘Did you feel her take it from you when she kissed you?’

I fought to keep my reaction from showing on my face and to keep my voice even. 'Why don't you flip that little switch and hit the button?’

Ukita laughed. ‘You would like that wouldn't you? Well. Colonel, I'm afraid my little treasure has rendered your efforts, valiant though they may have been, all for naught.’ He glanced out the window to where the egg-shaped DropShip Fukushuwaited. ‘She told me everything. During the first break in our...activities, I authorized ComStar to deliver your message summoning the Kell Hounds. As soon as my men are finished secreting the books on my ship, I will order the crew to reboard and make ready to depart. You see, I'll take you with me so the Coordinator can hold you ransom against the Kell Hounds' neutrality and withdrawal from Mallory's World.’

My mouth tasted like sour vinegar. ‘And the explosives?’

Ukita looked at Takara. ‘Was it during our second moment of respite that you came out here and compiled the list of bombed sites for me?’ She nodded obediently, and Ukita turned back to me with a proud smile. ‘Yes. she gave me a list of the places where you had planted the explosives and my people have disarmed all 15 of them.’ Ukita flicked the remote control's arming switch with his thumb. ‘So I will accept your challenge...’

Takara's dive knocked me into a sprawl as Ukita's thumb stabbed the red button. I saw the momentary look of horror on his face as he realized what she'd done to him, then his body vanished in a flash of argent fire. The heavy oaken desk he'd admired earlier tipped forward, absorbing most of the blast directed into room, then rocked back down onto its feet

The explosion rang sharply in my ears, deafening me. Blood was running from my nose and I started to cough as the smoke from the chair's burning leather choked the room. I felt Takara clawing at the plastic strips binding my arms, releasing me from their grasp. I turned overand saw her hands, bleeding with cuts from the sharp glass she'd used to free me.