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He stared, wide-eyed, as ht I fought it, grunting against the pain, reaching for hi into the mud

"Come on," he whispered "Showbut thought of several ripe words as I clawed at fence rails, trying to pullto knit, but they burned like a fury,damn near impossible

"Show," he repeated i it from the wood rail, then hooked his foot underBoth legs I&039;d break one now if he&039;d just let me

He stood off exactly one pace too far, teeth showing, eyes bright, and aie enough for the job

"Wait-" I started

"No" He fired Twice

My last vieas his exultant face as the gray ony

Release fro Until you shed it, you&039;re unaware of just how truly heavy and aard it is being encased within cluness, the si here was I truly safe from all harm, all physical ills But eer I owed that son of a bitch

I went corporeal as soon as I was able, rolling disoriented in stinking slush

The pain was gone Vanishing gave co since I&039;d just fed The shock was more mental than physical Recovery froan Except he&039;d left He&039;d sprinted for the fence, topped it, and was just dropping to its street side

Pushing up, I stuain, seeking an easier h over the pens In a way, I could fly, not like a bat as in Stoker&039;s book, but by si hts, I rarely did this If I wanted a view of the city, I&039;d take an elevator to the top of the Wrigley Building and look through athe same as any other sane person For the moment, I was too pissed to be terrified

The wind buffeted my amorphous self; there was no cold or warmth to it, never was in this state, just the force of the flow It wasn&039;t too bad; I could hold in place with a little effort The effort increased when I partially materialized The more solidity to enable me to see, the harder it was to stay up, the le while trying to float forty feet in thin air

Really, really thin air This was taking too da on its current, I caught fast glirayness The pens were like a huge crossword square, some of the boxes filled with livestock, others eitated cattlecommotion I pushed toward the boundary line of the fence

The bastard was fast Dugan had made it across the street and was in otten around that probleunned it and took the first corner on theels

Though quick enough in this form, I couldn&039;t hope to follow I let myself ease back to earth, went solid, and labored very hard at not ripping one of the pens apart Sood, but there was no point to it; I had to think

Dugan had seen everything Hethe whole time I&039;d fed But how much did he really know?

I had to assuarbled suh to reach a fairly accurate conclusion about what it an didn&039;t accept the reality of vampires, at the very least what I&039;d done made me some kind of repulsive lunatic to be avoided

But he&039;d shotout of it "Show h he&039;d knoould happen if I got a serious enough injury That grin Had he been wanting me to disappear?

Apparently

But did he think he&039;d killed et away could have had as much to do with escape fro out of sight seemed the safest course

This tie and -

goddammit-fear

I went back to the pens to restore what had been lost in the shooting Things et busy; I needed to be prepared and drank ish, but the feeling wore off as I walked clear of the Yards area, seeking a phone, finally finding one inside a closed gas station

No one would be in my office to answer, so I dialed the nus, Wilton hesitantly answered

"It&039;s Mr Fleotta talk with Escott Get him Now"

Wilton sounded surprised I was on the line butwhat he was told Not too many moments later, Escott came on

"Is there a problem?" he asked

"I&039;ll say there is Gilbert Dugan sawon a bender in the Stockyards"

"What?"

I repeated the bad news, adding details about the shooting Escott asked the saht of, none of which I could answer "I don&039;t kno he could have followed h turns to lose a school of lampreys"

"Yet he departed in your car, not his own Interesting" He sounded thoughtful, which was annoying

"What d&039;you m-oh, hell" I didn&039;t want to believe it "You think he was in my car the whole time?"

"It&039;s a possibility to consider The only likely one at this point"

"Son of a bitch" And a lot of other colorful descriptives Dugan could have hidden on the floor down behind the seat Hell, he could have gotten the idea from me Escott and I had talked openly of my cramped trip to the country hideout in front of hian risked it, though? Several reasons came to mind, and I didn&039;t like any of the back to the club Keep that Brockhurst bird under watch Do whatever it takes, but don&039;t let hiht"

"I&039;d be glad to, but they&039;ve gone About five o"

I took a breath for another explosion, then stopped There was nothing reh to suit the situation They&039;d have to invent a whole new language to cover it "All right Hold the fort &039;til I&039;"

"Should I relate any of this to Miss Smythe?"

"If she&039;s alone, yeah, she needs to knohat&039;s going on Keep an eye on her, would you? Bodyguard stuff, but not so&039;s she&039;d notice"

"Of course"

Another call to a cab coave the filthy state of my clothes a suspicious double take and balked at the stink, but I showed enoughstranded He wasn&039;tto use the rearview ive a daot a decent tip and a whaot it

I went in the back afting invisibly through the stage area to an e roo, but the coat was ruined froht through my body and out God knohere the bullets had ended up Probably e and the ht to look

My shirt was also a loss, front and back, but easily replaced I kept spare clothes here in case I needed to sleep the day over or had an accident The latter had been based on the possibility of a spilled drink, nota murderous assault by an armed lunatic

I washed up in the s through the walls Donning a fresh shirt, I had assurance that the evening was still going smoothly for the club Adelle&039;s first set was over; she&039;d be on her break, perhaps out front with Roland, Bobbi, and the rest of her appreciative audience

Then the romanticroo that particular series of rhyth else

Apparently Roland and Adelle were in the midst of a very intense nonverbal reminiscence about their honeynized the voices-or rather the breathy groans and whispered endearments

Oh, brother I didn&039;t need this

Eyes rolling skyward, I gave a long-suffering sigh and resolved to stop being such a naive opti people would learn simple common sense without the benefit of a sock in the kisser Roland had gotten fair warning about Gordy, and Adelle should have known better

Later I&039;d fix things later, the both of the the evil eye to do it

I put on a spare suit, notthan the white tuxedo still in its paper wrap from the cleaners, then vanished to float into the main room

My heart didn&039;t work anye in h a ht than I&039;d attained at the Stockyards, it see a little at a time in the shadows of the black-painted rafters, I e and hovered there a lare Fro to look down-I spotted Escott He was at Bobbi&039;s table, seated next to her and across froain What a rotten ti the direction in my oing strong as she related soive hi in the blind spot

He was delayed a few moments, probably had to wait for Faustine to finish

His face was gri, just turned and marched up to my office and its privacy Once on the other side of the door, I gave hian My anger and fear returned afresh with the recounting, but I spoke in a cal around

"Okay," I said at the end "Where do I find him?"

Froesture "You don&039;t expect he&039;ll just wander home after such an adventure, I hope?"

"It&039;s a place to start If not there, then I&039;ll find this cousin Brockhurst and track hian saw too much for me to let him run loose"

"I&039;ve a rather unpleasant thought about that fellow"

"Only one?"

"Indeed What if prior to what he witnessed in the Stockyards he was already aware of your condition? The hypnosis"

"It had crossed ainst the solidity of the desk

"Fro of what you are"

"Yeah Like he knehat ht happen when he shot me Now he knows for sure You&039;d heard or read about that kind of stuff, chances are others have, too"

"Reh"

Escott rose and took a turn pacing the roo, then sat at ood does it do hiive a damn I&039;m o to all that trouble and hazard, he&039;ll be after so to read an ancient report about vah sostore, but quite another to coan knew to connect the forced hypnosis of his gang to your specific aspect of the supernatural Otherwise he e mentalist"

"So he reads a lot It doesn&039;tleprechauns so long as he&039;s shut down for good Maybe no one would believe hi off about ravation I have to find hiet everything"

Escott scribbled lines on soan&039;s address There are two A Brockhursts listed No way to tell if either is the man you want, but you can proceed to thean&039;s hoet there?"

"I&039;ll ask to borrow one of Gordy&039;s men He&039;ll keep his mouth shut"

"Your car Will you report it as stolen?"

"I&039;ll have to if I want it back If there&039;s a God in heaven, Dugan will still be driving it, but I&039; on that"

"He may think he killed you"

"I won&039;t count on that, either, but I&039;ll stay out of sight for the ti Aw, hell if I&039;m dead, I can&039;t report on the car"

"Leave that to an&039;s description as the driver It would be very convenient to have hile so easily fro there in the first place?"

"To get infor the cab ride "If he was curious about the hypnosis, he ht have wanted to cornerheat, either to force answers or put me out of the way

Or both"

"Or shoot you to see if you&039;d vanish Your trip to the Yards was a bonus for his collection of incriuy here," I grumbled, mostly to myself

"Rather deter in the hope you&039;d take a drive"

Too detern of his craziness? "He was near a phone earlier, though Had to be waiting soot up twice to make calls before I left the club I listened in on the second one when he told Dugan I was out of the ht deposit at the bank, though I usually walk"

"In which case, I&039;d recommend you an isn&039;t home to visitors, then I&039;ll locate Brockhurst There was a girl in their group, Marie Kennard, as chummy with him Don&039;t know the naes "There are several Kennards, but nothing under M I can check things hly to Don&039;t knohen I&039;ll be back Can you help Bobbi close this joint?"

"Certainly-"

Soirl was there "Got a " She handedwas visible on so? I never seen anyone do that to a note before The ravely iravely&039; to you"

I felt cold "What did he look like?"

"Nice About as tall as you Light eyes Nice sentleman Well dressed"

"He still here?"

"Came and went In a hurry, y&039;know?"

"Okay, thanks"

She left I shut the door and put the paper on the desk as though it ht burst into flames About three inches tall, it was shaped like a bird with a long beak and uplifted wings, and it looked fragile

Escott frowned "Origa stuff?"

"Yes Apparently this was done to catch your attention"

"Meaning I should read it right away" I carefully de the paper so we could both read the neat, block-printed lettering it bore

Mr Fley for the unfortunate exchange between us earlier, but I deemed it necessary in order to confirm the full truth about you I hope once you are recovered we ht have a private talk For that I will take precautions to ensure e in any reckless behavior against uarantee, be absolutely disastrous to you As a sign of ood faith, you will find your vehicle returned to its usual spot

If aoutside to look at your car Light a cigarette, then throw it into the gutter Go back inside the club I think you will be wiser than to try seeking me out