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The Hunters and the Hunted

Harry Keogh, Necroscope and would-be avenger, had thought at first that it would not be especially difficult to track down his quarry: a young driver working for Frigis Express, who also happened to be a necromancer, sexwomen But he’d soon discovered that it wouldn’t be nearly as siis had a dozen branches up and down the country, with a like number of warehouses and freezer depots, and over two hundred trucks of which fifty per cent were on the roads at any given hour of the day or night The firm must therefore eue description in Harry’s possession; (vague, yes, for he suspected that the bloated, lusting creature he’d been shoas ination than of the real is would use casual labour, and it could be that Harry’s man was one of these; but soular employees at least Harry hoped to find that list, and also that the John or ’Johnny’ he was looking for would be on it

On the third Wednesday in May at 3:30 in the is’s main office in London to have a look at the company’s books He went there via the M&ou several stops at well-known exit points before finally e in a shop doorway in Oxford Street At that hour the normally polluted air was al, and the night-lighting loaned the street a certain alien lues froe slow birds on buffets of blustery air along the gutters

The offices Harry was looking for were directly opposite; no lights shoithin the building; he hoped there’d be no night watch the building by the M&ouuide him to the correct floor and then to the records office Locked doors were no trouble at all to the Necroscope, who used numbers to conjure doors of his own out of the thin air But twice, purely out of habit, he went to switch on lights before realizing that he no longer had need of theth mirror, which both shocked and fascinated hiaunt-faced ed eyes He had known of course that the change was taking place in hi It filled hiht and the e places, as if in search of prey Well, and so he was Except there is prey and there is prey

The records office was dirty and untidy, and sarette s cabinets, all open for Harry’s inspection He quickly turned up a list of branch and depot ers, but no information on rank-and-file employees There was, however, a list of addresses and telephone nuis Express’s subsidiary offices, which Harry pocketed That should save him a little time, at least But that was all there hich was hardly satisfactory

Disgruntled, Harry pondered over his next move: presumably to start at the top of the list of branches and work down it But then, out of nowhere, he found hi if maybe Trevor Jordan was up and about He could use a cup of coffee, a little companionship and friendly conversation, someone to be with - briefly, anyway - if only to work the weirdness out of his system

It was unlikely Jordan would be awake, but just on the off chance Harry reached out with his telepathic mind and searched for him - and immediately found him

Harry? Jordan’s unmistakable ’voice’ sounded in Harry’s mind as clearly as if he’d whispered the words in his ear Is that you?

Harry found telepathy similar to and yet quite different fro like it before - a sort of reverse deadspeak, he supposed - but that had been quite a few years ago in his incorporeal days and also very different Telepathy was therefore new to hi more natural? Well, and he supposed it wasin the world would be But telepathy: it was so like a telephone conversation, even down to the hiss and crackle of psychic ’static’; whereas dead-speak was the histling eerily down a bleak desert canyon under a full, floatingmetaphysically with dead ones

And yet Jordan had see to reveal his own Just why that should be the Necroscope couldn’t guess He frowned and asked, Who else would it be, Trevor?

And hearing his voice, Jordan knew hih (of relief?) warned Harry that so Likehat he said next: Harry, you know my old place in Barnet? That’s where I aet out of here I don’t want to explain right now - it et round here? I mean, like now?

What’s the trouble? Harry itched on now, alert to danger And he could still sense Jordan’s uncertainty

Harry, I don’t know I ca out for you, but I’ve been blocked all along the line, almost from the start I came here to watch them, E-Branch, but hell I didn’t think there’d be anyone watching ht now, yes

I’m on my way, said Harry

Air made a sh a M&ou cabinet he’d left standing open But before the papers had stopped rustling Harry had tracked down Jordan’s thoughts to Barnet

He eed silently into the resurrected telepath’s front room, whose first-floor bay s overlooked a cobbled cul-de-sac, the end wall of a park, and the dark, gently mobile silhouette of trees beyond The roo out through a crack in the curtains on a street shining dull yellow in electric laht, and Jordan hissed, fell into a crouch and whirled to face hiun in his hand

’It’s OK,’ the Necroscope told him ’It’s just me’

Jordan drew a deep breath and almost fell into a chair He waved his hand to indicate Harry should also sit down ’It’s just the way you coo,’ he said

’You invited me,’ Harry re of nerves, looking out into the street - and then the light going on like that!’

Harry said, ’It wasn’t deliberate; or rather, it was If I had spoken you’d have turned and seen me I’ on suddenly, or seeing ri ’They’re red as hell, Trevor And there’s nothing to stop it now What’s inone’

’But you still have a little ti Long enough to do one last thing, I hope, and then I’ll be on my way’ He finally sat down ’Noould you like to put your gun away and tell un in his hand as if he’d forgotten it was there He gave a snort and replaced it in its shoulder holster ’Nervous as a cat,’ he explained ’Or rather, as a mouse watched by a cat!’

’Are you watched?’ Harry didn’t knohere to ai for Jordan had been different, for he’d knohat he was looking for; likewise Paxton But looking for someone he wasn’t used to -some unknown someone - was a trick he’d yet to ot up and put out the light, went to the curtains again ’I’ve never been so sure He or they are out there right now, not too far away, scanningit can only be E-Branch, but how the hell would they knoas back? Alive, I mean?’ He looked back from the curtains, saw Harry’s alien face and said, ’II see what you mean’

Harry, a tall, dark silhouette whose eyes made his face a s to worry about than the glare of his blood-hued eyes ’What does it feel like, to have so watched is how it felt with Paxton; blocking is mental interference A screen of static’

’But I wasn’t even sure Paxton was there until you told me He was just an itch And as for mental interference’

’OK’ The other ive you an exaht atwall of interference If he hadn’t known it was Jordan, then he wouldn’t have knohat it was Jordan said, ’Find so you Deliberately I know because I’ve had practice When the Russian espers used to cover the Chateau Bronnitsy, it was like this all the tih, and they were always trying to get through to us’ He looked at Harry again, penetratingly ’Incidentally, you do it all the ti to read so so that’s perer all the ti else, and it comes natural to you So natural you didn’t even know about it, did you? Orword for it What you have iswell, in E-Branch we used to call it ’

The Necroscope nodded ’I wondered about that It’s a dead giveaway By now Darcy’s espers must knohat I am Or if not he should fire the lot of the to be redundantor ht: ’No definitely not Wellesley’s thing is a total blanket: it doesn’t just make myis just , like you said But it makes me wonder: how co to et tothen,’ Jordan answered ’Your va wasn’t fully developed It still isn’t, but sufficiently so that it stopped me I’ve tried to reach you half a dozen times this last couple of days but was only able toelse You ht? Well -’

Suddenly he paused and held up a cautioning hand ’Wait!’ And in another moment: ’Did you feel that?’

Harry shook his head

’A probe,’ said Jordan ’Soet in to me The moment I relax, they’re there’

Harry stepped toward Jordan and the large, curved s, but held himself back a little in the shadows ’You said it was on your et out of here What did you mean?’

’Only that I don’t knohat’s on their minds,’ the other told him ’I mean, I know it can only be E-Branch out there, but I don’t knohat they’re up to or what they’re planning Do they know it’s me? That seems unlikely: what, that I’m back from the dead? But on the other hand, and from their point of vieho else can I be if I’ Trevor Jordan’s flat? And this watch they’re keeping onYulian Bodescu I mean, who the hell do they think I ain to understand,’ he said And he gripped Jordan’s elbow ’And you’re right: it’s exactly like that ti Yulian Bodescu Which means that it’s not so much a case of who they think you are but what they think you are!’

Jordan gasped ’You mean they think I’m?’

’It’s possible You’re back from the dead, aren’t you?’

’But I have no ’

’Neither did I, until recently’

Again Jordan’s gasp ’They’re waiting to see how things develop before theyCertainly it would explain why I’ of their suspicions, their intentions I’ the hunters hot on my track Harry, they think - they suspect - that I’m a vampire!’

The Necroscope tried to calm him down ’But you’re not, and it’s easy to prove that you’re not Also, Darcy Clarke’s in charge of E-Branch, and ere you going to tell me about Darcy, anyway?’

Jordan came away from theAnother look at Harry’s face convinced hiht would be better on He tripped the switch on the wall, then sat down heavily ’Darcy’s at ho He was the one I was supposed to be watching, remember? Because he’s the boss and would knohich ways things are ju But now he seems to have been taken off the job And while he isn’t a telepath hiood shield around hi’

That felt oo and see hiht out what’s going on I’ for- but if we hear it froed ’At least it would get et out, then I’ll go nuts! God, I don’t like being watched and not knohat they’re thinking’

’OK,’ said Harry ’And afterwards? Will you co is, I could use so And we can use , anyway That e’ll be able to spell each other watching out for the watchers And when this task I’ve set myself is done, then, before I leave - I- we’ll find a way to square it with E-Branch and put your own record straight’

That all sounds good to h of relief ’Just say the word, Harry, and I’o and see Darcy He’s single, isn’t he, like most of you espers? I know he used to live in Hoddesdon; is he still there? And will he be on his own, or is there a woman? Darcy isn’t likely to buckle under a shock or two, I’ any women’

Jordan shook his head ’No woman that I know of Darcy’s beenBut he’s not in Hoddesdon any ot himself a house in Crouch End, just a arden in Hasleht after the Greek job’

Again Harry’s nod ’I don’t know the area but you can show it toyou want to take with you?’