Odnośniki
|
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
vocabulary. He was in a rut.
"Catch you in a minute." I headed for Jennifer's suite, which was identical
to her father's, apparently, one floor below. I tried the door at the end of
the hall. Locked and barred. I pounded. "Jennifer. It's Garrett."
I heard vague movement sounds. They stopped. She didn't open up.
I wondered if I'd have the nerve, considering all the tricks the stories
saydraugs and haunts try.
I tried again. She wasn't receiving callers. I rejoined the boys. They were
hanging in there. Chunks of corrupt, stinking flesh were everywhere. And
thedraug kept coming. Stubborn cuss. I found a spot from which I couldkibbitz
. "Figure out who it was yet, Peters?"
"Yeah. Spencer Quick. Disappeared two months ago. The clothes. Nobody dressed
like Quick. Lots of black leather. Thought it made the women swoon. You
bastard. You just going to stand there?"
I rounded up a five-foot broadsword, the kind they'd used in knighthood days
to bash each other into scrap metal. I tested its edge. Not bad, considering.
I took up position out of the way, behind where the thing would emerge onto
the balcony. "Let it come."
"You're crazy,"Kaid told me.
Maybe. "Go ahead. Back off."
"Do it," Peters said, trusting me way too much.
They skipped away.
The dead man came in a cloud of stench, dragging what was left of him,
lurching into the wall. "What're you waiting for?"Wayne shrieked at me.
I was waiting for thedraug to jump its murderer, that's what. But it didn't.
Page 67
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
Of course.
They all panicked, grabbed axes and swords, and started swinging. Six of them
in a crowd like that, it was a miracle they didn't kill each other.
I stood back and watched to see if anybody took advantage of the confusion to
eliminate another heir.
Now that they had room, they carved thedraug into little frisky pieces.
Didn't take them long, either. They were motivated. Wayne, Tyler, andDellwood
kept hacking away long after that was necessary.
They backed off finally, panting. Everybody looked at me like they thought I
ought to be next. I got the impression they weren't satisfied with my level of
participation.
"Well, then. That takes care of that. Be smart to collect up the pieces and
burn them. Peters, you want to fill me in on this Quick? Who was he and how
did he happen to go away without anybody thinking that was strange?"
Chain exploded. Before he could get out a coherent sentence, I said, "Chain,
I want you to come with me and Peters and Tyler. We're going to backtrack that
thing."
"Say what?" Chain gulped air. "Backtrack it?"
"Yes. I want to see where it came from. Might tell us something useful."
"Shit," he said, and started shaking. "I want to tell you, I'm scared. I
don't mind admitting it. All my years in theCantard I wasn't scared like I am
now."
"You never ran into anything like this. Not to worry. It's done."
Peters said, "We have some other men missing, Garrett. Suppose more of those
things turn up?"
"Doesn't seem likely.Draugs don't run in packs. Usually." I recalled a couple
of stories. There was the Wild Hunt, a whole band of dead riders who hunted
the living. "You saw how slow it was. Stay alert. You can outmaneuver them.
The thing to remember is, don't get excited. We might have wrapped this mess
up if we'd let thedraug go after whoever killed it."
"Shit!" Chain swore. "It didn't care. It just wanted to get somebody.
Anybody."
"Maybe. So let's hit the trail." I tried to sound perky. "Another glorious
night in the Corps." I didn't feel perky, not even a little. I was scared
stiff. "Arm up if that makes you feel better. And get lanterns."
Peters grumbled, "I hope you know what you're doing, Garrett."
I didn't have the faintest. I was just rattling around, hoping something
would shake loose.
19
Page 68
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
"Tyler, move out to the left about ten yards. Chain, you go to the right. I
don't see much of a trail. Keep an eye out." I disposed myself and Peters
between them so we spanned thirty yards. We started from the base of the front
steps. "Let's go."
Peters said, "It was walking when it came. Wouldn't leave much of a trail."
"Probably not. You going to tell me who Quick was before we carved him up?"
"We?" Chain bellowed. "Will you listen to that shit?"
"Calm down," Peters told him. "I know what he was doing. He was right. You
should have told us, Garrett."
"And warn the villain?"
"He's pretty well warned now."
"Safe, too. Oh. Add a name to the victim list. Somebody did it to Snake."
Peters stopped, held his lantern overhead, glared at me. "You aren't kidding.
Snake? Why the hell Snake?"
I tried to recall who'd been sitting where when I'd let Snake out that door.
Hell. Anybody with good ears could have heard. He'd used a stage whisper.
Maybe he'd wanted the killer to know. Maybe he'd had something planned and it
had turned in his hand. I wouldn't let a known killer get close enough to put
a noose around my neck.
"Here," Chain said. We moved over. A strip of rotten leather hung on a bush.
We redeployed.
I said, "You going to tell me about Quick?"
"I can't," Peters said. "I didn't know him. He was almost as spooky as Snake.
Stayed to himself, mostly. You had to use a pry bar to get three words out of
him. He did fancy himself a lover. You want to find out about him, talk to the
gals at the Black Shark. All I can tell you is he was somebody the General
knew and thought he owed. Like all of us."
I'd passed the Black Shark on the way to theStantnor place. It was an
evil-looking dive. I'd been considering taste-testing the house brew. Now I
had business reasons to visit.
"Chain. You know anything about him?"
"Not me. Hell, sour as he was, I wasn't surprised when he walked. Him and the
old man feuded all the time. He never gave a shit about the money, far as I
know. He just didn't have nowhere else to go."
"Tyler?"
"I didn't know him, except he played a big role at the Black Shark. Guy was a
werewolf, the way he changed personality when a woman was in sight. I figured
he found somewhere he wanted to be more than he wanted to stay here."
Great. The live ones were weird and the dead ones weirder.
Page 69
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pldoc.pisz.plpdf.pisz.plblacksoulman.xlx.pl
|
