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Insistent, annoying things plucked at rab, pulled strong, and dragged h, hard surface A h I&039;d vanished He

Fire rained down It was almost leisurely Fat drops floated confetti-like or struck the ce to scatter yellow-and-blue flames A second look, and they proved to be attached to dark bits of burning things It seeot ether Hours later we reached the cover of a building and ducked in Sohts were out When I chanced to breathe, the air reeked of gasoline, burned rubber, and hot hed it clear Two other

Eyes stinging, I looked through the -the shattered glass had blown inside-and saw the big Cadillac&039;s shell engulfed in a fast and furious inferno Smoke roiled fro cloud that was fortunately blowing away from us Even at this distance the heat war from what should have been a blast-furnace bellow Touched one ear Came away blood A lot of it My face, too Da popped back to nor to ether

"Jack?"

Turned Coldfield stared at me, concerned So did Isha eyes, shook his head, looking puzzled

"Jack? You hear ain

"Yeah" What the hell had happened?

"You okay?"

"Think so"

"That one"

I didn&039;t get hiuy you caain at the wreck Too much smoke to see inside the car, but that was just as well For sos you don&039;t want details

"There was no way to help hioddamn"

"Yeah This puts everybody up shit creek Gonna be hell to pay" He wiped his strea eyes with a handkerchief

Someone touched my shoulder The woman who always stood behind the counter offered me a damp towel

"You&039;re hurt, Mister Your face"

I accepted the gift and used it My ears no longer strea sight "Thank you"

"Co a bathrooh of ain "This is et hi"

"The hotel," said Isham

"Farther than that"

"The club" He&039;d mean Coldfield&039;s place, the Shoebox But we had to check another place first

"Call Lady Crymsyn," I said "Charles is there by now If there&039;s other bo off

"Jeez" Coldfield,speed for his size, threaded past dark aisle displays toward a door, where presumably he would find a phone I hoped Escott would answer

"The lobby nu"

The fire rain of blown-up car pieces had stopped, but not the se lay all over the street, shattered s gaped, their stares blank and cold Most were ground floor, though a few second-story ones were gone I hoped to God no one had been in front of any of the a healthy distance fro just clear of the door No other casualties were in view, but people were cautiously e, Coldfield&039;s soldiers Ishaan to melt away froine siren, the street was empty except for civilian types Other cars rolled up, full of vultures who&039;d co body The smoke forced most of theht

I swabbed the towel around, hoping to get the telltale blood off lass Did you see what happened?"

"Was gonna ask you Looks like the gas tank blew Must have been a huer Anyone in it?"

"I donno Hope not"

"Anyone else see?" He pulled out a notebook and a chewed pencil, and I recognized yet another of my own kind

What used to be, anyway

"I don&039;t think so"

"Hey, I know you, don&039;t I?" He gave htclub The one what had the body in the baserocery People on the sidewalk parted for ed and looked for other witnesses

It hadn&039;t really sunk in yet about Kroun Hard to think beyond the burning car The fla out of fuel

Coldfield returned "Charles is fine He&039;ll keep his eyes open and not be driving You and me, this way" He headed to the back

He was in a hurry, but I paused long enough to leave the stained towel on the counter and fish out my wallet I pressed five twenties into the woman&039;s hand

She backed a step "No, we couldn&039;t"

"For the "

"It&039;s too , as well, ma&039;am"

I rushed after Coldfield, who had cut left down the alley and aiting impatiently by a row of trash cans As he turned I only then noticed his coat was smeared with street dirt Apparently the blast had knocked hied patch on my jacket and holes torn inshowed, but I could s with the smoke

With me half a step behind him, he led us down a much more narrow alley that opened to the next street Just as we eed Isha, and we dove into the back

This car was also arood it would do

I looked e had enough distance and saw the sainst what for onna follow," said Coldfield, ?"

"My club"

"Drop s to do or there really will be hell to pay Kroun coet the blaotta steer that away"

"Seeive you a talking-to, then bang-boo another daht you were a goner when that hit Isha?"

"No one, Shoe We watched it good"

"It didn&039;t happen here," I said "Souys know Gordy&039;s car and that Kroun and I have been using it Anyone could have wired it up at any tier et in on that side e left It was pure chance It was supposed to take ether" I&039;d survived a hell of a lot, but being blown to pieces ht have done the trick for real

"So who did it?"

"Mitchell Kroun&039;s lieutenant"

"You sure?"

I spread my hands "If that was ive you But if Kroun was supposed to go, too the passenger door trigger changes things A lot of peoplehim and that he&039;d probably sit in the front Mitchell&039;s the only one I can think of who&039;d stand to gain by Kroun&039;s death Hehappens to his boss With Kroun getting killed here, the Chicago outfit gets the blame, and Mitchell is clear to walk in He wouldn&039;t be the firstoff his boss"

"It worked great for Cassius Didn&039;t last He bought it later"

"Hah?"

"In Julius Caesar? Cassius got a bunch of other guys to go in with hihtcrawler strikesto do You don&039;t knoho could be on Mitchell&039;s side"

"I got an edge"

"Yeah Sure was helpful against that bomb"

Actually it had kept me alive and had certainly cured a couple of busted eardruruet it out of his system He was shaken by the business, and this was his way of handling it

When he ran down, I said, "I still have to go there and deal with hi I didn&039;t do"

Coldfield ht Ishauy to the lion&039;s den"

"Thanks," I said

"Uh-uh, I&039; the responsibility"

"No probleuy?"

"At this point he&039;s the likeliest, but thereon I&039;ve missed or never knew about I wasn&039;t exactly tailor-aave me a look that was meant to include my supernatural condition

"Maybe now, yeah, but I never wanted this job That&039;s why I don&039;t get all the stuff happening Too da Soon as Gordy&039;s better I step clear"

"Amen, brother This shit&039;s bad for business"

"The cops are going to be all over that wreck once it&039;s cooled down They&039;ll eventually trace it to Gordy and want to question hiot the name of his lawyer so he can run interference?"

"Yeah, Adelle&039;s had to deal with him That&039;s covered"

"You sure about this trip to the den?"

"I&039;ll go very carefully" I checked ht across, the ti backward It could probably be fixed, even the da with a different face to it so it wouldn&039;t be constantly re me "You wanna do me a real favor, you and Isham run over to Cryet there next"

"I told hio toput"

"Playing lieutenant," I said, saying it with an "f"

Ishahosted the rest of the way in, brushing quick between pedestrians on the walks, giving the to do with the weather When I encountered the uncoh, found ashape, and sieved in Men were in the roohts, but they didn&039;t payover the coulars orked the ga soood except for one guy as to "win" his weekly payoff There was a discussion going on over the best way to a, counting doors until reaching Gordy&039;s office I eased through to the other side and listened, handicapped by this for No one seemed to be in That wasn&039;t too likely I pushed on, finally going solid in the bathroom I kept quiet and waited Derner was on the phone, and he was pissed