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His head pounded in weary anticipation The left side Always

Gabe slipped into absolute i to shut his eyes at the last instant He&039;d forgotten once and spent the day with theed rocks

Ies flashed over the inside of his lids His own littlehiain Several times Even once was too many Then memory swept Gabe back to that da heat for a long, long while, tasting the s his hands as he slammed out the door and rolled clear before hell could suck him in for real and forever

He was trapped in that bad spot h it tooeternity, it finally lost strength, like a stor and thunder ceased, leaving only the wind

That was a good sound

When the nighth pine needles It was hollow and haunting, sad, cold ht he should be afraid of it, but just never see but coed with shapes, pale light, and shadows He lay on his back under a black sky shot with stars Raw bare ground chilled his body, the scent of pines and the bruised smell of fresh-turned earth filled his head A pine tree loohs waved in the wind, restless, singing to the night Theirs was the sweetest,he&039;d ever heard He had never before felt so relaxed and content

It lasted until a heavy wedge of da? Why are they doing this to me?

His face was soon covered, his body frozen, hisand irunt of ahoarse as he labored, the scrape of metal in the dirt-a shovel?-souish of the heartbroken It hurt to listen to that kind of pain He felt sorry for her, grieving for him so hard If he could just wake up he could tell her it was all right There&039;d been a mistake He wasn&039;t dead He tried to reh his skull, obliterating everything When that faded, it was too late for anything but blank terror He was coing from the wind, only silence like death, but worse because he are of it, of being dead

Other, ood, rasp and study Green land, deep water, a sky so solidly blue it hurt to look on; a roo too open and happy for that place; a tallthe buckle end of a belt, face blank, eyes crazy

He taught me to kill Why?

The horrors rose and ebbed, and, in the pauses between, the soft deep rush of wind through pine branches gradually returned, offering a temporary ease That never lasted, and he wanted it to; but in the end, at the very end, he would begin to shift and struggle and push at the earth until it crued hi blankets, yelling Without air in his lungs no sound came out There was a moment&039;s absolute certainty that he was still buried, and then he drew breath, abruptly aware he was in Flerip of the monsters in his head

Somewhat They&039;d retreated only as far as the shadowed corners in hisfor their next chance to cohed A glob of blood and tissue splattered the floor

Dah, alive or dead or whatever the hell it was for hi

FLEMING

I woke instantly,rested, the question about Kroun still there, if no closer to an answer Pulling on last night&039;s clothes, I vanished and floated, going solid in the kitchen The house was quiet, though I could hear Kroun stirring upstairs He gave a groan and coughed wetly I felt sorry for hi able to heal faster We needed a trip to the Stockyards to get him so It was probably Derner, following orders I&039;d told hi any ht be iether about my condition and didn&039;t need more clues than he already possessed Like most of the h and had earned Gordy&039;s friendship, which was usually enough to keep the aard questions Now more than ever, since I couldn&039;t hypnotize people anymore, I had to be careful

I finally answered "Yeah?"

"Boss?" Derner&039;s voice Terse Tense He could pack a lot into a single word

"Yeah How&039;d things go today?"

"No hitches at this end Everything went smooth on that job"

I took him to mean the cleanup at Bobbi&039;s flat Derner and I were both wary that the phones al, but that detail was not so as his naet caught, he&039;d turn a blind eye if it got hibuster Thus ran the scuttlebutt I&039;d heard from others, especially Gordy I wondered how he&039;d co else?" I asked Derner

"There&039;s so car trouble"

That would be muscle fro "How bad is it?"

"Real bad I told them what you said and that you&039;d talk to the for you"

New York would know aboutthere The sign tacked on the front door with its TEMPORARILY CLOSED-BACK SOON! wouldn&039;t discourage theuys who bleere hopping otta disappear yourself This is serious"

"They serious about the big guy, too?" I meant Gordy

"Just you for now They heard he wasn&039;t involved, but you have to get out of town I told them as really behind it; but you were the boss at the tiures" Doesn&039;t ot, doctor, lawyer, Indian chief, when a disaster happens while you&039;re running the show, it&039;s your fault

Derner said, "I can get you a ride out of town, ht I&039;ll deal with them" There was the sound of footsteps from the hall; Kroun had coht way heme out of this jam He couldn&039;t vanish, but was still able toIf he wanted to stay dead to thee it "When the coast is clear, I&039;ll stop by and fill you in"

Silence fro used to hoorked He&039;d been there the night I&039;d faced down Kroun and survived Maybe he thought I could somehow talk my way out of this one as well

"How many of them are there?" I asked

"There&039;s two of us, pal"

I jumped The reply hadn&039;t coer&039;s soft voice So further motion on my part People who interrupted calls in thisenough to have searched as far as the guest bedroom Or maybe he had-and discovered what appeared to be Kroun&039;s dead body Oh, hell

"Say you&039;ll call him back" The man&039;s tone was almost conversational and very confident

"Boss?" Derner sounded odd He must have heard

"I&039;ll call you back," I said and dropped the receiver onto its hook

The h up"

I did so, and he friskedthreatening My gun was in the overcoat hanging over the kitchen chair, well out of reach

"You Jack Fle?&039; he asked

"Yeah You one of Whitey Kroun&039;s people?"

"No Whitey was one of ain Kroun&039;s boss Not that this should be a surprise He sounded calm, but I sensed otherwise Some of thee I was better at dealing with the ones who lost control and gave in to their emotions This steadier type was a lot more unpredictable

He went on "Mitchell was also one ofBristow They&039;re dead, and you&039;re not You understand why I&039;onna buckwheats me?" I asked My mouth went dry, just like that, at the word

It was how the mob dealt with some of their enemies BuckwheatsI&039;d been through it and would not suffer again I would kill to avoid it, no matter the consequences Despite this internal promise, cold sweat flared over my skin, over the lines of scars Bristow had carved into es vo I leaned hard onto stifle the nausea

"That was Bristow&039;s hobby," said the man "I heard he did so icy threads left by his blade pulled tight on ? Whitey said as much, but I didn&039;t believe him" The man spoke quickly yet with careful, educated articulation He wasn&039;t any juht" God, I was sick Dizzy sick A wave of it went over utter slush If I fell into one of those da dry, I let outet that It&039;s paid Whitey let you off for Bristow, but I can&039;t let you off for Whitey How did you arrange the boot Mitchell to-"

"No, he was on his own!" My voice was high and harsh I pulled it down, fighting ? "I didn&039;t know or I&039;d have stopped hiht, I&039;d have gone up as well Mitchell got his for it"

"So you say" The pressure of the gun muzzle increased and I couldn&039;t help but flinch "All the saot blown to hell, and you didn&039;t, and that&039;s what hly, else he&039;d have found Kroun upstairs, dead to the world, and this would be a different conversation Where the hell was Kroun, anyway? If he&039;d just walk in "You know I didn&039;t kill hioing to beg for a chance to explain

"I came to do a job," he said "That&039;s all"

I stared hard at the black phone "One thing," I said

"Yeah?"

"Who else is on your list?"

"Why do you ask?"

"I don&039;t want others to pay for what you think I&039;ve done" The ainst the back of ht in hell when the prospect of a bullet in the skull seeet clear of proble, but I did think about that kind of total oblivion for a few seconds I wouldn&039;t go there, though Not ever again I&039;d play the cards I&039;d been dealt and see the ga "So when you&039;re finished here-"

"You&039;re it, pal," said the man "No one else"

But I couldn&039;t trust hie to do so, and noent out like a light, but only for the barest second, long enough to shift and return with death&039;s own grasp on his arht next to er blurringleft in with his free hand Tough guy But hed a ton I let hi the itch to kick hiood ain before the second guy could co was di stirred I rushed through the downstairs quicker than wind-no one else around-then went solid to check on the fallen

He was taller than average, with a hard-packed build under the expensive coat Considering his high level of confidence, he was younger than I&039;d expected, not far into his thirties Despite the winter, his skin was tanned and healthy, and he ood run for his e a man, but this bird seeive or take a week

The back door was unlocked Da over, but the bastards would probably just drop down the chiood that would do) as Kroun came in, but I saw hih to swing the gun on hienuinely alarmed, palms spread "Easy there, it&039;s

Kroun wore only socks, skivvies, and had dragged on his bloodied shirt in lieu of a bathrobe He frowned at the man on the floor "Cripes"

"Friend of yours?" I asked

"Unfortunately for you, yes"

I put the gun on the table, within easy reach "He was shooting up the place I had to clock hi with the holes in the wall "Well, you both er a rasp in his voice The day&039;s rest must have fixed that, but he didn&039;t look happy "Is he broken?"

"Not permanently Nohat?"

" &039;Nohat&039; what?"

"He&039;s after me because of you I&039;d have to kill him to stop him and then soot enough goddaave ht?"

"No, I&039;un&039;sthe back of my head and couldn&039;t believe I&039;d found that a co away thea breath, I began again "I a intosomewhere else for his chance, and I&039;ot any influence over these bastards, get rid of theood"

He just looked at ht He didn&039;t like being ordered around, but then who does? "I can&039;t do that," he said

"You&039;re the only one who can"

"I-" He bit off the reply, then looked at the fallen ain "If I do that, they&039;ll know I&039;m alive I don&039;t want them to know I&039;m alive"

"Hypnotize theh to buy you a head start"

"Hell, kid, you&039;re not asking et dead?"

"Yeah, actually I do"

That got me double take

"Welcoain "All that for nothing?"

"It&039;s how the world works"

His next remark was back-alley foul

"You&039;ll be a hero for surviving it-and you can tell them who&039;s really responsible That lets Gordy off the hook"

"And you, too"

"What&039;s the big deal? Fix this mess, then take a vacation Retire if that&039;s what you want"

Kroun stared like I&039;d gone around the bend Retirement in his line of work nearly always involved a funeral

"You&039;ll have to do the fixing anyway," I went on "Odds are they&039;re already wise to there being no body in that car, and they&039;ve been asking questions My way they go hoet killed or kill other people, erfurther persuasion "Yeah- yeah, okay, enough already I&039;ll put the fix in But you are going to owe me"

I worked hard not to show too much relief He&039;d made a choice I could live with I&039;d worry about the debt later

"But not like this," he added

"Like what?"

He gestured at hiame"

What?

"You want

"Use your noodle I&039;ot earbox shifted Finally He did look pretty ridiculous He must have clothes back at his hotel or wherever he&039;d stayed before the explosion We could go there and pick them up

"What about hiot rope, don&039;t you?" Kroun turned and went upstairs