"Could be some kind of animal."

The bushes shook. Something stood up, staggered out.

Weapons raised.

"No. Hold your fire."

The figure stumbled into a clearing. Blood. Torn clothing.

A woman.

She gripped a gun but made no effort to use it. She just staggered forward.

"Stay back," said Machiko.

The woman stopped. Fell to her knees.

"Thank G.o.d," she said. "Thank G.o.d you've come for me."

"It's one of the d.a.m.ned guests," said Daniels. "She's survived somehow."

"How come you didn't go back?"

The woman shook her head dizzily. "Don't .. . know . . . unconscious . . ."

"Well, don't just sit around gawking," said Machiko. "Give the lady some water. She's probably dehydrated."

Water was administered, and then a name was obtained.

"Petra Piezki," said Machiko over the radio. "Ring any bells, Brookings?"

"I don't believe it .... I thought she was dead. There was this"

"Whatever. We're bringing her in. She needs medical attention. You want to break out the first-aid kit?" "Of course."

Piezki drank some water. With the help of a man to either side of her, she was able to walk.

"Piezki. What did you see out there?" Machiko asked her.

"Monsters. Killers." Then she had slumped, eyes dimming, as though to escape.

"Let's get her some help. Atilla then we'll think about looking around some more."

Actually, Machiko had pretty much found what she wanted to find. She'd tested the mettle of her people and was satisfied that she had a crack troop.

Anything else would be pus.h.i.+ng things too far.

They'd probably stretched their luck far enough, and when you dealt with the Predators, luck was a commodity you didn't play games with.

Chapter 15.

You b.a.s.t.a.r.d: You left me!"

"Piezki! I thought you were dead."

"That's a lie! You left me out there to die!"

Before Machiko could do anything to prevent it, the seemingly weak Piezki lurched from her slumped position at the campsite and lunged across toward Abner Brookings. Her thick hands clamped around Brookings's neck, and she began to throttle the lawyer, shaking him violently.

"You left me! You left me!"

Brookings's eyes bugged. The surprise of the attack had caught him off guard, but he was not a defenseless or weak man. With one great heave he pulled Petra Piezki off her feet and then slammed her into the metal side of the ground crawler.

Piezki's hands lost their grip. Her eyes rolled up.

She slid down the side of the bus, unconscious.

"Oh, great," said Machiko. "She's going to tell us all about what she saw now"

Brookings loosened his collar. He was gasping. "You saw it. Self-defense.

She was trying to kill me!"

"Apparently with good reason, if you left her to die!"

"I swear, we were both running .... I thought she was a goner. If I thought I could have helped, I would have."

"She's all right," reported Sanchez, looking up from the unconscious body.

"Save the real story for later," said Machiko. "Let's get her back to Evanston. We've got a report to make."

Machiko sat down beside Sanchez. Their vehicle was b.u.mping its way backhome, and the man's dark eyes were directed toward the pa.s.sing landscape.

"Nice planet," said Machiko.

"I've seen more beautiful, I've seen more dangerous, I've seen not-nice planets I liked better," he said, not looking at her.

"I get the feeling you've been on your share."

He shrugged. "After you fight the bugs awhile, you get sort of empty inside. You need to go away for a while, or you just get a bad case of interior rot."

"So why are you back in the bug-battle saddle?"

He looked at her. "Money."

"A guy like you could earn money other ways."

"I did. Not enough. Let's just say this was an offer I could have refused but would have been an idiot to."

"I think I know what you mean. But there's more to you than just money, isn't there, Sanchez?"

He looked at her. "Is there?"

"You fight bugs for a while, you get a sense of n.o.bility, don't you? Like you're doing something important. I bet you haven't been doing anything really important for a while."

"Combating an intergalactic blight. Yeah, I guess it makes you feel like something more than a pile of s.h.i.+t."

For the first time something tremulous and deep crept into his intonation, something beyond sardonic monotone.

She thought about this for a moment.

"We may have more in common than our brilliant and wonderful personalities," Machiko said finally. "Maybe I should buy you a beer tonight and we can talk about it."

He looked at her.

"Sure. Can't hurt."

"A nice beer generally helps." She looked up and saw that they were approaching Evanstonville. "And something tells me after today we're both going to need one . . . even though I generally don't drink the stuff."

"Ms. Piezki. How are you feeling?"

"Better."

"Ms. Piezki, I can't tell you how sorry we are about what happened," said Livermore Evanston in his most charming and millifluous tones. "Nonetheless, you were aware of the danger involved. It was in your contract with us. And you are an employee."

Piezki eyed them, daggers gleaming in her eyes. She said nothing, but the threat was there: I'm going to nail you if I can. Lawyers, thought Machiko Noguchi.

What a lovely, lovely bunch.

Take Brookings, for example. The b.a.s.t.a.r.d was sulking in a corner, clearly not wanting to be there, but waiting for the debriefing.

Chet Zorski was there, looking awake and aware and concerned, leaning on her chair and studying the patient, clearly taking mental notes.

And, of course, there was old Evanston himself, solid but hovering. He'd come immediately to this treatment room when he'd heard there'd been another adviser located.

"May I suggest you settle that matter later?" said Machiko. "What we need now is information. Ms. Piezki, we've pretty much heard your colleague's story about what happened on that safari. Would you care to give your version?"

Piezki coughed.

"Are you all right?" asked the medtech who'd cleaned the woman's cuts and applied the bandages.

"Yeah. Little pain in the chest. Catch in the throat. Gla.s.s of water." The medtech got her one, and Piezki drank it all down. "Yeah. Better. Thanks."

She told her story.

It was almost exactly the same story that Brookings had told, save for one significant strand of facts.

The hunt. The hunters. The quarry. The invisible hunters. Ma.s.sacre. The run . . . loss of memory . . .

The change of detail was that Brookings's valor had not quite been as much in evidence as he'd claimed.

"What happened when you tripped?"

"Can't remember," she said, shaking her head. "Something dark. I remember screaming and hearing my own m.u.f.fled screams . . . and that was it." She put her hand to her chest. "Nurse, do you have something that will settle my stomach? I seem to have developed a really terrible case of heartburn."

The woman looked uncomfortable, but nothing that made Machiko immediately alarmed.

Something bothered her, though.

"And you were in the same location for about a day and a half-most of it unconscious."

"I remember bas.h.i.+ng about in the brush, but that was it. I'm just glad I'm"-she accepted a gla.s.s of fizzing stuff with a thank-you-"alive." Drank.

"They let her live," said Evanston. "How curious."

"Perhaps they didn't know about her," suggested Zorski. "If she was out in the bushes, they just must have moved on."

A possibility. If she'd run far enough away, they wouldn't have detected her heat-image, thought Machiko. Then again, there were bugs in the area . . . and that was what bothered her.

"Brookings. Did you see anything attack this woman?" she demanded suddenly.

Brookings shook his head. "No. Like I said, I thought that she'd been killed. Truly."

m.u.f.fled screams? Something over her head? Why hadn't she thought about this before?

"Brookings, this is very important. Is that the absolute truth? Because if it's not, this woman could be in danger from-"

"Absolute truth," said Brookings, looking as though b.u.t.ter wouldn't melt in his mouth.

Suddenly a surprised look came over Piezki's face.

Her face twisted.

"Ms. Piezki," said the tech. "Are you all right?

Piezki belched.

She took a breath and smiled .... "Oh. That's much better." Relief was obvious on the woman's face.

Machiko relaxed.

Piezki fell off her chair.