Read Online So Vile a Sin by Ben Aaronovitch, Kate Orman - Free Book Online Page A

the wipes she’d brought with her she joined the back of the party.
    56
    Once again she listened to the robot reeling off the statistics of the top plate and describing how it had once been used to form the mega-ingots. A million tons of mass, crashing down, unbreakable and unstoppable.
    She hoped, if it ever came to that, it would be enough.
    The Doctor was waiting for her at a table outside a teashop on the Piazza Jemison. He was leaning back comfortably in his chair, an elbow propped on the arm, a book obscuring his face. A steaming teapot with two cups waited on the table. Roz sat down.
    The centre of the plaza was a park with a sculptured playground. Children played, well-cared-for human children in brightly coloured dungarees and T-shirts. Their parents watching over them from the slatted wooden benches on the edge. This was the ‘respectable’ end of Fury, where the original inhabitants attempted to hold back the tide of tawdry exploitation that came with the military. Roz didn’t think much of their chances.
    ‘Any problems?’ asked the Doctor.
    ‘None so far,’ said Roz.
    The Doctor put the book down. ‘Have you got it?’
    ‘Of course.’ Roz passed him the dataslip. The Doctor inspected it for a moment and then slipped it into his pockets.
    ‘Good,’ he said. ‘That should make things easier.’ He reached for the teapot. ‘Shall I be mother?’
    ‘How’s Chris?’
    ‘Fine. Looking for a suitable spacecraft.’
    The tea came out a delicate colour. Definitely not a local brew.
    Roz reached for the sweeteners.
    ‘Don’t do that,’ said the Doctor. ‘It spoils the taste.’
    Roz withdrew her hand, took the cup instead. ‘When are you leaving?’
    ‘Tomorrow morning.’
    ‘Do you want me to come?’ She sipped the tea.
    ‘Better that you stay here.’
    ‘Why’s that?’
    ‘If I’m right about what’s on Iphigenia, you could be in a considerable amount of danger if you came with us.’
    ‘More than Chris?’
    57
    ‘Much more than Chris,’ said the Doctor. ‘His life doesn’t have nearly so many possibilities as yours. And anyway, I don’t intend him to get anywhere near it.’ The Doctor unwrapped a packet of Sainsbury’s digestives and offered her one. ‘Have you called your sister yet?’
    Roz shook her head. ‘Too risky,’ she said. ‘Sensitive military zone like this, hyperwave traffic is bound to be monitored. We don’t want any complications, do we?’
    ‘No,’ said the Doctor and grinned at her. ‘At least none that we don’t create ourselves.’
    They sipped their tea in silence for a while. The Doctor watched the children playing.
    ‘There’s an N-form operating in this city,’ said Roz.
    ‘Ah,’ said the Doctor, ‘I was afraid of that.’
    He was just an ordinary-looking man, dressed in last decade’s fashionable cheesecloth suit, with a matching wide-brimmed hat and tooled leather brogues. Just an outsystem businessman idly window shopping across the street from her hotel.
    Roz would have missed him completely if she hadn’t taken the precaution of making two passes in front of the hotel at ten-minute intervals. Mr Cheesecloth was in front of the same window both times. It couldn’t be coincidence – no window display was that interesting.
    She’d been blown. The question was: was Mr Cheesecloth official, unofficial or freelance? Animal, criminal or vegetating?
    Roz walked past the hotel for the third time; he didn’t react.
    Which meant either he didn’t have a description of her, or they were already in her room and he was just there to give them advanced warning she was coming up.
    Damn, the Doctor’s whatsit device was up there along with her emergency ID and the rest of her bearer bonds. She should have stashed them somewhere else but it wasn’t easy walking this side of the street – she used to be the one pretending to window shop.
    One thing was for certain: she couldn’t keep walking around the block.
    She stopped in front of a stall that