"A guy?"
"Some kind of labor boss, supposedly."
"You mean a mobster." Kyle felt his stomach muscles tighten.
"I'm hoping to cut a deal. Well all be better off working the docks and warehouses than down in the mines."
"What about this wonderful mysterious freezer case?" Kyle nodded down at it, on the floor between Tim's feet. "I thought this was going to save us from disaster."
"Once we find our place in this society, I'll know how to use it. Till then, just help me keep it safe."
"And what's going to happen at this midnight meeting of yours?"
"Of ours," Tim corrected. "We're all going."
The guard whom Henley had bribed, a stout, grim-faced man named Grabowski, kept his word. Shortly before midnight, he walked with Tim and Kyle through the cold, dark streets of Castell City. All of Tim's henchmen followed after them, probably as scared as Kyle was and just as determined not to let it show.
Kyle clenched his teeth to keep them from chattering. In the uneven streetlight, the warehouses loomed large and dark on each side of them. He carried the freezer case because they couldn't risk leaving it behind and Tim wanted to concentrate on other matters.
The walk took nearly an hour. Grabowski finally stopped at the big bay twin doors of a warehouse. He pressed an exterior button that rang a buzzer inside. Then the big doors rumbled upward on their tracks.
Grabowski stepped away. Kyle decided he didn't want to risk getting involved. It was just as well.
Inside the doors, right in front of Tim and Kyle, stood a crowd of big, rough, brawny men in work clothes. Kyle estimated there were at least a hundred of them, though in the shadows he couldn't be sure he saw them all. The man standing in front was about fifty, with a barrel chest and thick bull neck straining at the spotless white dress shirt and expensive suit he wore. He was flanked on each side by a man dressed similarly.
"Which one of you is Tim Eng?" he demanded.
"I am," said Tim. "You're Demopoulis?"
He nodded once, slightly. His face was hard, nearly motionless as he spoke. "This meeting with me has already cost you a lot of money," said Demopoulis. "You don't get any of it back, no matter what happens. Now what's so important that you dragged me out here at this time of night?"
"We want to work for you," said Tim.
"No."
"Well earn our way," said Tim. "No handouts. Just let us join you."
"No. Off to the mines with all of you."
"Any terms you want," said Tim, smiling his most disarming smile. "I'll make the deal with you and keep my guys in line. Maybe we can help you expand your operation."
"No. If that's all you want, our business is concluded."
Tim took a deep breath and put his hands on his hips. "It won't hurt you any to tell me why."
Demopoulis stared at him in silence. Finally, he gave just the faintest hint of a smile. "All right, it won't hurt me any. It sure won't." He pointed at Tim with a stubby finger. "This doesn't happen to me. Nobody reaches me from a transport ship that hasn't even landed yet and nobody comes to me with a bunch of soldiers lined up. I don't know much else about you, hotshot, but you're not the kind of man who works for anyone else by choice. Not for long, anyway. You're too much like me. And I'm not giving you any foothold here in my turf. Got it?"
Tim stared back at him for a moment, and then laughed. "Got it."
"I don't think your men have got it yet," said Demopoulis. Suddenly, without moving, he yelled, "Get 'em, boys!"
The mob surged forward. Kyle yanked the heavy freezer case up to his chest and wrapped his arms around it, trying to back away. The thirty or so men behind him, however, were caught off guard. He collided with the guys just in back of him, who were preparing to defend themselves.
In the roiling mob, Kyle ducked low and managed to shove himself backwards and to the side. Most of Tim's followers were running, but the ones in the very front were outflanked and then surrounded before they could get away. Then sirens and the roar of large personnel carriers reached Kyle as he was shoved and buffeted in the crowd.
Shouts went up on all sides from the men around him, and the immediate violence was halted. Searchlights shot through the darkness, blinding Kyle. He could just see the silhouettes of armed, uniformed men leaping to the ground and spreading out in formation.
A strong hand grabbed his upper arm. "Easy, Kyle," Tim said softly in his ear. "Well be okay. Stay calm. They're CoDo Marines."
"They're what?"
"CoDominium Marines. They'll just take us back where we belong."
"They sure got here fast."
"Fast, nothing. That Grabowski must have alerted them. He's playing all three sides, setting up this meeting for money and also making sure no real trouble happens."
"Everyone freeze," a loud voice ordered over a bullhorn. "Do not move. You are covered. Deportees remain where you are."
"No problem," said Tim easily, to Kyle. "The freezer case okay?"
"Yeah."
"Good. Looks like it's time for our contingency plan."
The CoDo Marines simply sorted out the deportees and herded them back to their facility, as Tim had predicted. When they returned, Kyle noticed that Grabowski was off shift. The next morning, Tim gave a friendly but apologetic farewell to his erstwhile followers. They took it well; what would happen to them now was no worse than what they had expected when they had first been convicted.
Kyle was surprised, though, after breakfast in the cafeteria. Tim, now carrying the freezer case himself, steered him out of the corridor to where Grabowski was standing. He still didn't smile much.
"Pretty slick move last night," Tim said to him with a grin.
"You could have been killed in the confusion," said Grabowski. "This way, Mr. D is happy; I keep my job; and you're still healthy."
"Like I said, pretty slick. Now, then. Where do we go now?"
"We'll get your duffels and go to the heliport."
"Is there going to be any trouble about not processing us for the mines?" Kyle asked.
"Not if you stay right next to me."
They did. By now, Kyle had decided that asking Tim questions in front of other people was a waste of time at best, and maybe a serious mistake at worst. As usual, he followed Tim's lead in silence.
Out at the heliport, they mounted a large cargo helicopter. Grabowski nodded briefly to the pilot and everyone was outfitted with oxygen. Then they took off with a suddenness that left Kyle's stomach lurching as the ground fell away under them. No one spoke as they flew over the Shangri-La Valley to the north, but Tim held a map in his hands and constantly compared it to the slowly moving map screen on the console of the chopper.
The chopper droned on. Eventually, Kyle saw first foothills and then a rugged mountain range beneath them. The chopper fairly skimmed over the peaks, at minimum altitude.