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throat.
"Hey!" our guest yelled. "Knock it off! They weren't going to croak me."
"This is the second time they shoved their faces in our business. They want to
clean us out. I warned them last time...."
"Let's just find my pack and get the hell out before the rest of them come
back."
I could have kissed him if I could have done anything at all. I wasn't too
spry right then.
The other one looked down at me. "You tell the bitch this was her last free
chance. Next time, skitchl" He flashed his bloody knife past his throat. Then
Ken found the pack I'd found in that alley. He put it on and they went away.
When the stable door closed behind them I ground my teeth and yanked the
damned knife out of me. I didn't bleed to death on the spot, so I knew it
didn't get any big veins. I crawled over to Darling. She was pale and she was
hurting but she wanted me to check on Torque first.
He was still alive but I didn't think there was a whole lot that could be done
to keep him that way. I told Darling. She signed we had to do something.
Of course we did. But I didn't know the hell what.
Raven busted in. "We caught them! We're safe for... What the hell happened,
Case?"
By then they were all inside, recaptured prisoners included. I told it. While
I was, one of our little spies came in from the temple to report that Exile
had ordered an all-out search for Brigadier Wildbrand and persons unknown
masquerading as his guards.
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Bomanz and Silent did what they could for us casualties, then everybody that
could hit the street again. It was starting to snow out there.
"Some fun, eh?" I asked the Nightstalkers. They didn't see the humor.
Frankly, neither did I.
LXVI
"What the shit are we going to do?" Smeds growled at Fish when they stopped
running to catch their breaths. "There ain't no safe places left."
Fish said, "I don't know. I used up all my ideas just getting you out."
"They know our names, Fish. And that bunch knows our faces."
"You're the one wouldn't let me take them out. You end up paying for that,
don't whine at me."
"There's been enough killing and hurting. All I want is out." He tried to get
his pack settled more comfortably. "I don't even give a damn about selling the
spike anymore. I just want to wake up from the nightmare."
Snowflakes had begun to swirl around them. Fish grumbled about leaving tracks,
then asked, "You know of anywhere to lay up even for a little while? Twelve
hours would do. Twenty-four would be better. The Limper would be here and
there wouldn't be any more ducking and slinking because the soldiers would be
busy."
The only thing Smeds could think of was a drainage system that had been built
when he was a kid, to carry water away from the neighborhood when it rained.
Before the system there'd always been little local floods when it stormed.
Some of the ditching was covered over. They had played and hidden out in
there. But he hadn't paid any attention in ten years. Public works which did
not serve the rich and powerful had a way of dying of neglect.
It was no place he wanted to spend any time. It would be cold and damp and
infested with rats and, these days, probably, human vermin. But he could think
of nowhere else to get out of sight, even for an hour.
"When I was a kid we used to-"
"Don't tell me. If I don't know I can't tell anybody. Just tell me where's a
good place for you to see me without me or anybody watching me seeing you."
Smeds thought about it and mentioned a place he did know was there because his
labor battalion had passed that way every morning and evening when he was
doing time. He described it, asked, "What are we up to?"
"I'm going to see if Exile will talk deal."
"Oh, shit, man! He'll take you apart."
"He might," Fish admitted. "But we know somebody's going to do that real soon
anyway. He's the only one who's offered any serious deal."
"I think if I had my druthers I'd rather the Rebels got the damned thing. The
imperials are nasty enough without it."
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Fish grunted. "Maybe. But they don't want to pay for it. They want you to do
it for love. I'm a whore too old and set in her ways not to want to get paid
for my trouble."
Smeds said, "I guess for guys like us it don't matter who's running things
anyway. Whoever it is they're going to try to stick it to us."
The heavens had cut loose now, dumping snow so heavily it had become their
ally.
Fish started explaining what he wanted Smeds to do.
LXVII
The gang came smashing in out of the blizzard. Raven snarled, "We lost them."
Stubby Torque said, "You can't see your hand in front of your face out there."
"You tracked Raker down in a snowstorm in Roses, didn't you?" I asked Raven.
"Different circumstances." He was double-pissed now because of what he thought
he saw when he busted through the door. As if we could have done anything
about it carved up the way we were.
Darling shut them up. She made it clear she'd had her mind on business because
she told them what we were going to do if those guys told the gray boys where
to find us again. She felt almost sorry for those two.
She overdid the empathy sometimes. I don't have any for guys who stick knives
in me.
The excitement started a few hours later when a couple of our little spies
from the temple came charging in to tell us how a guy who sounded like the one [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]