Read Online The Commonwealth Saga 2-Book Bundle by Peter F. Hamilton - Free Book Online Page A

table was taken, and the crowd of lowlifes around the stage was enthusiastically waving notes in the faces and crotches of the two dancers. Several booths were occluded by shimmering force fields. Adam frowned at that, but it was only to be expected. As he watched, one of the Sunset Angels was led over to a booth by the manager. The force field sparkled and allowed them through. Adam’s handheld array had the capacity to pierce the e-seal, but the probe would be detected.
    So many hiding places was a risk. Again, one he was used to. And in a protected joint, they wouldn’t take kindly to police.
    “Excuse me,” the doorman said. He was being friendly, not that it mattered, cellular reprofiling had given him the same kind of bulk as Adam, except his wasn’t fat.
    “Sure.”
    The doorman glided his hands above Adam’s jacket and trousers. They were heavily OCtattooed, the circuits fluorescing claret as they scanned for anything dangerous.
    “I’m here to meet Ms. Lancier,” Adam told the hostess as the doorman cleared him. She led him around the edge of the main room to a booth two places down from the bar. Nigel Murphy was already there.
    For an arms dealer, Rachael Lancier wasn’t inconspicuous. She wore a bright scarlet dress with a low front. Long chestnut hair was arranged in an elaborate wave, with small luminescent stars glimmering among the strands. Her rejuvenation had returned her to her early twenties, when she was very attractive. He knew it was a rejuvenation, possibly even a second or third. Her attitude gave her away. No real twenty-two-year-old possessed a confidence bordering on glacial.
    Her bodyguard was a small thin man with a pleasant smile, as low-key as she was blatant. He activated the e-seal as soon as Adam’s beer arrived, wrapping the open side of the booth in a dull platinum veil. They could see out into the club, but the patrons were presented with a blank shield.
    “That was quite a list,” Rachael said.
    Adam paused for a moment to see if she was going to ask what it was for, but she wasn’t that unprofessional. “Is it a problem for you?”
    “I can get all of it for you. But I have to say the combat armor will take time. That’s a police issue system; I normally provide small arms for people with somewhat lower aspirations than yours.”
    “How much time?”
    “For the armor, ten days, maybe two weeks. I have to acquire an authorized user certificate first.”
    “I don’t need one.”
    She raised her cocktail glass and took a sip, looking at him over the rim. “That doesn’t help me, because I do need it. Look, the rest of your list is either in storage or floating around the underground market, I can pull it in over the next few days. But that armor, that has to come from legitimate suppliers, and they have to have the certificate before they’ll even let it out of their factory.”
    “Can you get the certificate?”
    “I can.”
    “How much?” he asked before she could start on her sales pitch.
    “In Velaines dollars, a hundred thousand. There are a number of people involved, none of them cheap.”
    “I’ll pay you eighty.”
    “I’m sorry, this isn’t some kind of market stall. I’m not bargaining. That’s the price.”
    “I’ll pay you eighty, and I’ll also pay you to package the rest of the list the way I require.”
    She frowned. “What sort of packaging?”
    Adam handed over a memory crystal. “Every weapon is to be broken down into its components. They are to be installed in various pieces of civil and agricultural equipment I have waiting in a warehouse. The way it’s laid out, the components will be unidentifiable no matter how they are scanned or examined. The instructions are all there.”
    “Given the size of your list, that’s a lot of work.”
    “Fifteen thousand. I’m not bargaining.”
    She licked her lips. “How are you paying?”
    “Earth dollars, cash, not an account.”
    “Cash?”
    “Is that a problem?”
    “Your list will