Page 12 (1/2)

Chapter Thirty-Four

Quicksilver had given ree when I returned from my rendezvous with Ric He’d not only sniffed rowled, but he sniffed rowled even ardedfor bed At least I was hoh to make me take my underwear off behind the closed bathroo overprotective parents to answer to by being born an orphan and then I get a dog that thinks he’s a duenna, which means chaperone in Spanish

All I, or anybody reasonable, would say about a twenty-four-year-old fallen woh time, honey! as Irma put it

The shoater reminded me of the many fountains in Ric’s house I adjusted the te warm satin onin Ric’s bed yet One stage at a tiown and slunk back into the bedroo, disappointed, canine sigh fro, except that he didn’t wear any

Morning was the usual bright and sunny I decided to take Quick for a nice long run in the park to ht, and the absence of my supposed innocence, which his wolfhound nose could apparently detect

Halfway through it, I let Quick off the leash to run far and wide, and sat out the rest of the marathon on a bench

"Tender?" Irma asked me "?Ai, carumba, chica!"

Ric had warned me, but tender was a way too nice word for it I was as sore as hell On the other hand, the abiding discomfort reht I couldn’t wait to do it again, probably iving off super-satisfied pherouys immediately plopped down on the bench on either side of olf shirts with the itty-bitty alligator ereen, and plaid pants to match Serious muscles filled out the Florida duds on all fronts Their faces were hawk-nosed and bleak-eyed

"Our eo Pink said

"Here I am"

"On his turf"

Oops "Turf" was not a respectable corporate byword unless it was part of a Surf and Turf lobster and rib eye dinner at the local Stake and Ale

"I can’t right now I’ and I don’t see a dog," Mr Chartreuse answered "Let’s go, doll"

Each had taken ether they liftedby the curb

Elbows, as I est offensive part of the human body I was about to smash mine into colorful kidneys on either side and sprint to freedoistered

Who sends a labeled van to kidnap an unwilling woalith Hotel and Casino Consortiuo Pink growled "The head man is interested in you You kno rare that is?"

Yeah, very rare, which was probably just the way he wantedolf

"He wishes to talk to you about a job," Mr Chartreuse chierous, illegal, and et on the inside of the M-G-M operation Voila! as Christophe ht say, if he was really French

"Okay But I, ah, I can’t just leave o said to Chartreuse "These dames today and their little purse pooches Who do they think they all are, Paris Hilton?"

"All right," Chartreuse said, "but it had better be house-broken"

Quicksilver chose that s bared

Theo sounded afraid of ," I said

Their brorinkled until their hairlines lowered a full inch I think I got their problem The M-G-M was a were-run operation and Quicksilver was half wolfhound

"Sit," I told Quick, who proht"

"It’s both of us, or I do my tae kwan do routine and he eats you"

My introduction to olves at Los Lobos had ard the with alpha and beta , they’d bite If they were the slightest bit conflicted, they’d cave and wait for their master’s voice

"Well, we could always use hi uneasily

"At the lodge, right Can always use an extra canine there"

With a o and Chartreuse caved

They weren’t in full olf power and the boss wanted to seeQuicksilver too At least for a while

Chapter Thirty-Five

A panel van has a way of feeling like a jailhouse wagon I felt a lot of regretful heebie-jeebies as Quicksilver and I were carted off as willing passengers We could take these guys, I was sure of it, but once ere in the hotel-casino, the odds would tip decidedly in the goons’ favor And there were people ould ain Better not to waste a minute

"Who is the boss?" I asked

The waterlike

"Mister Cicero is the boss of bosses His consortiuie Its foul smoke floated back into the second tier of seats and nearly choked me

Six Then he was a silent partner in three no one knew about

"It’s a big compliment Mister Cicero has even noticed the likes of you," Chartreuse said, snapping the rubber band on his wrist Apparently he was trying to stop s pink chihed discreetly "I just want to kno to properly address him"

"’Mister Cicero, sir’ should do it" Chartreuse was sounding choked now too "You should be better dressed," Flao said "Mister Cicero likes his people to look sharp"

If the golfing outfits were part of that corporate directive, I’d prefer to reedy Ann in workout clothes

The van sped toward the huge, lurking bulk of the Gehenna, which had a fiery ical rams), then buzzed around the impressive entry lanes and porte cochere to the rear

Quicksilver and I were ushered inside into a locked, solid stainless steel, private elevator and shot upward a zillion floors Flao and Chartreuse stared blankly at the floor indicator, their hands folded discreetly over their colorful crotches Perhaps that here they carried their hidden artillery

The elevator doors opened on a corridor carpeted in black plush Everything here was hushed,claws We reached a door of embossed metal, which opened when our escorts hummed a certain melody into a voice-pad Actually, it was more of an a capella howl

The hair, such scanty stuff as it was, stood up on the back of my neck Quicksilver’s thick-furred hackles went haystack high, but heWhat had I gotten us into? Whatever it was, I hoped it proved useful as well as scary

I wouldn’t find out a daas sitting in Sunset Park nursing my newfound sexual itch This here I wanted to be At the center of the hidden action, learning things, no matter the cost

The office beyond the door was palatial, carpeted inand paneled in black-stained pine It felt like being in a night-tilobe lamps that mi the ancient spell of dark forest and e redwood desk sat under a chandelier oflike watered silk under the overhead lights

A man walked from the room’s shadows to sit in the thorny embrace of a deer-antler chair behind the slab of desk He wasn’t very tall, but he was barrel-chested and pewter-haired, wearing a gray sharkskin suit that gleaeold, and his nose was long and sharp, as were his ears Both sported tufts of black hair

Oh, Grandpa, what big eyes, ears, nose, and teeth you have! Can I sell you this Ronco rotating hair-reainstcanine nose pushing into the pal slightly

"Sit," Mr Cicero said So I sank into the black leather club chair in front of the desk, pulling Quick against its side "Lights out," he ordered his staff

Behind the casino boss, in the ie of myself at the Inferno, with Snow and Nick Charles

"You have impressive resources," I said when the screen went blank and the ain How had he stolen security tapes from the Inferno?

"And you have an iie"

I didn’t bother to correct hi froh those sharp white teeth