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Chapter 32

I was tied down, but ht hand into the un - and snapped, "Arctis!"

The spell tore the heat froun and dreater fro of ice, heaviest around the weapon&039;s hammer The shooter twitched in reaction to the spell and pulled the trigger

The encrusting ice held the hauner several more times, to no avail Forthill hit hiun caers as they hit the floor, and went spinning across the room It struck a wall, cracked the ice around its haed harunman kicked Forthill in the face and the old priest fell back with a grunt of pain Molly threw herself at hi her fists into hiunot her in the neck and knocked her back, then rose, his eyes searching the floor, until he spotted his weapon He started for it

I killed the light from the amulet He tripped and fell in the sudden darkness I heard hi with the dazed Forthill

Then there was a single bright flash of light that showed one and there was the sound of so to the floor Several people were breathing heavily

I got ht into the roo his jaw, looking pale Molly was in a crouch, one hand lifted as if she&039;d been about to do soical talents, the way she should have at the first sound of the shots, if she&039;d been thinking clearly The gunain

Butters wheezed, "Clear," and touched both ends of the naked wires in his hands to the gunency defib unit When they&039;d been melted off the paddles, it had left several strands of pure copper naked on the ends of both of theunain

"Jerk," Butters wheezed He put a hand on the small of his back and said, "O, ow, OW!"

"Butters!" Molly croaked, and hugged hickh," Butters said "Ow" But he didn&039;t look displeased at the hug

"Grasshopper, don&039;t strain him until we kno bad it is," I said "Da thes "Forthill? Are you all right?"

Father Forthill said soroan of pain Then he heaved hi me with the buckles His jaas purple and swollen on one side He&039;d taken one hell of a hit and stayed conscious Tough old guy, even though he looked so ot off the backboard, onto ht," Butters said "I think" His eyes ide and he suddenly seeht!" He started clawing at his shirt "That ot the scrubs top off and turned around to show Molly his back He earing an undershirt

And on top of that, he earing a Kevlar vest It was a light, underclothing garuns - but the gunman had walked in with a nine- millimeter He&039;d put both shots onto the centerline of Butters&039;s lower back, and the vest had done its job The rounds were still there, flattened and stuck in the ballistic weave

"I&039;m hit, aren&039;t I?" Butters stuttered "I&039;m in shock I can&039;t feel it because I&039;ht? Was it in the liver? Is the blood black? Call eency services!"

"Butters," I said "Look at me"

He did, his eyes wide

"Polka," I said, "will never die"

He blinked athiht?"

"The ic underorked," I said "You&039;re fine"

"Then why does my back hurt so much?"

"So about twelve hundred feet per second," I said

"Oh," he said He turned to look at Molly, who nodded at hi smile Then he shuddered and closed his eyes in relief "I don&039;t think I&039;"

"Yeah Since when are you the guy in the bulletproof vest?" I asked him

Butters nodded at Molly "I put it on about ten seconds after she called me and said you needed help," he said He fuot chalk, and holy water, and garlic, too"

I sunman had put Butters down for the si the shooter&039;s line of sight to the roo for Butters, the two shots to clear his sight line would have included a third shot to the back of Butters&039;s head Of course, if Butters hadn&039;t been in the way, my head wouldn&039;t have fared any better than his

We&039;re all so daile

Footsteps sounded outside the door, and I raised the gun to cover it, taking a grip with both hands,dots when Sanya ca a platter of sandwiches He stopped abruptly and lifted both eyebrows, then beaht" He looked around the roo? Who is that?"

"I don&039;t think there&039;s anything broken," Butters told Forthill, "but you&039;d better get an X-ray, just to be sure Mandibular fracture isn&039;t anything to play around with"

The old priest nodded fro quarters of the church&039;s residents, and wrote so down on a little pad of paper He showed it to Butters

The little guy grinned "You&039;re welcome, Father"

Molly frowned and asked, "Should we take hiency room?"

Forthill shook his head and wrote on his notepad: Things to tell you first

Now I had a pair of guns I&039;d swiped froun theif I should be planning to file off the serial nuainst?" I asked Forthill

In a way, he wrote back There are hout South and Central America The Red Court&039;s upper echelon uses human servitors to interface with hted at airports in the past three days All of thenificance to you?

I grunted Donar Vadderung&039;s information seemed to have been solid, then "Yeah, it does"

Forthill nodded and continued writing There is a priest in that area He cannot help you with your fight, but he says he can offer you and your people sanctuary, care, and secure transportation from the area when you are finished

"It see for trouble to plan for our victorious departure before we knoe can get there in the first place," I said "I can get us to the general area, but not into the ruins the he can find out about the security the Red Court will be setting up in the area"

Forthill frowned at me for a moment Then he wrote, I&039;ll ask him But I&039;ll need someone to talk for me

I nodded "Molly, you&039;re with the padre Get a little sleep as soon as you can Might not get a chance to before we move out, otherwise"

She frowned but nodded instead of trying to talk me out of it It&039;s nice how brushes with violent death can concentrate even the ment

Forthill held up a hand Then he wrote, First, I need to kno it is that you are back on your feet Dr Butters said that you would be too injured to get out of bed

"Magic," I said cal

Forthill eyed ue with you Will make the calls

"Thank you," I said quietly

He nodded and wrote, God go with you

"Thank you," I repeated

"What about me?" Butters asked There were equal measures of dread and excitement in his voice

"Hopefully, on&039;t need any ht be nice if you were standing by, though Just in case"

"Right," Butters said, nodding "What else?"

I clenched a hand and resisted the urge to tell hi under his bed He knew that already He was as frightened as a bunny in a forest full of bears, but he wanted to help "I think Father Forthill has a car Yes, Father?"

He started to write so, then scratched it out and held out his hand in a simple thuazines into both guns, confident that I knew the when I pulled the trigger "Soon as Forthill is done, get hiency room," Butters said "Check"

Forthill frowned and wrote, Are you certain we shouldn&039;t turn our attacker over to the police?

"Nothing in life is certain, Father," I said, rising I stuck a gun in either pocket ofto ask a lot of questions and take a long ti out I can&039;t spare that tio to the authorities?

"And tell theot kidnapped off the street by a priest froal weapon away?" I shook my head "He doesn&039;t want the cops involved any more than we do This was business to hiets to walk"

And we let a o free?

"It&039;s an imperfect world, Father," I said "On the other hand, you don&039;t hire professional killers to take out nice old ladies and puppy dogs Most of the people this guy has an appointuarantee it -to turn state&039;s evidence on their organization Sooner or later one of theets lucky, and no more hit man"

Live by the sword, die by the sword, Forthill wrote

"Exactly"

He shook his head and winced as the motion caused him discomfort It will be hard to help a man like that

I snorted "It&039;s a noble sentiuy like him doesn&039;t want any help Doesn&039;t see any need for it" I shrugged "So"

He frowned severely, but didn&039;t write down any response Just then, someone rapped on the door, and Sanya opened it and poked his head in "Dresden," the Knight said "He&039;s awake"

I rose, and Mouse rose with et started on those calls, padre"

Forthill gaveI walked out, Mouse stolid at my back, and went to the utility closet with Sanya to talk to ourguest, I suppose

The blocky hit man lay on the backboard, strapped down to it, and further secured in a cocoon of duct tape

"Stand him up," I said

Sanya did so, rather casually lifting the gunle against the wall

The gunman watched me with cal card table we had set up and opened it "Steven Douglas," I read from the license "That you?"

"Stevie D," he said

"Heard of you," I said "You did Torelli a couple of years back"

He shtly "I don&039;t know any Torelli"

"Yeah, I figured," I said

"How is he?" Stevie D asked

"Who?"

"The little guy"

"Fine," I said "Wearing a vest"

Stevie D nodded "Good"

I lifted an eyebrow "Professional killer is happy he didn&039;t kill soetting paid for hiuy Isn&039;t professional But everything I heard about you said I shouldn&039;t dick around waiting to get the shot off, so I had to get hio a couple of different ways The sio"

His eyes narrowed "No cops?"

I gestured at his bound form with one hand "Does it look like ant cops all over this? Spill and you&039;re loose as fast as we can take the tape off"

He thought about it for a moment Then he said, "Nah"

"No?"

He"Did that for you, I et nervous when a contractor divulges personal infor-ter a bargain and all"

He snorted softly

"So we can go to option two I&039; to tell hi to ask hi to you, Stevie I&039; hits in his territory, too What i-term productivity, do you think?"

Stevie&039;s nerve cracked He licked his lips "Um," he said "What&039;s option three?"

Sanya stepped forward He beamed at Stevie D, picked the backboard up off the floor without too much trouble, and in his lowest voice and thickest Russian accent said, "I pick up this board, break in half, and put both halves into incinerator"

Stevie D looked like anear a hornets&039; nest and is trying desperately not to run away screaain and said, "Half of what I hear about you says Marcone wants you dead, that you hate his guts The other half says you work for hi"

"I wouldn&039;t pay much attention to rumors if I were you, Stevie," I said

"Which is it?" he asked

"Find out," I said "Don&039;t tell ain I stood facing him expectantly "Okay," he said, finally "A broad"

"Woman, huh Who?"

"No name Paid cash"

"Describe her"

Stevie nodded "Five-nine, long legs, brown eyes," he said "So dark hair Had these tattoos on her face and neck"

My heart just about stopped in my chest

I closed down every doorway andinup in my heart I had to stay focused I couldn&039;t afford to let the sudden tide of emotion drown my ability to think clearly

I reached into my pocket and drew out my oallet I&039;d kept a picture of Susan in there for so long that when I pulled it out soe&039;s colors stuck to the plastic sleeve I showed him the picture

The hit man squinted and nodded "Yeah," he said "That&039;s her"

Chapter 33

"Give me the details," I said quietly

"She said you&039;d be here Gave me twenty thousand up front, twenty more held in escrow until delivery was confirmed"

Mouse made a soft, uncomfortable noise that never quite beca my face intently

"When?" I asked

"Last night"

I stared at him for a mo card table and said, "Cut him loose Walk him to the door"

Sanya let out what seean cutting Stevie free

I walked down the hall, back toward the living area withfuriously

Susan had hired a gun and leaned against a wall Why would she hire someone to kill unreater chance of success?

Granted, a gunman could kill even a wizard if he were taken by surprise But pistols had to be fired at dangerously short ranges to be reliable, and Stevie D had a reputation as a brazen sidearm specialist Itbad coh-powered rifle round hit his chest, and would have an easier tiic It was hardly an ideal approach

If Susan wanted me dead, she wouldn&039;t really need to contract it out A pretext to get me alone and another one to put us very close to each other would just about do it And I&039;d never see that one coht I&039;d have called Stevie a liar, but I didn&039;t think he was one I was sure he believed what he was saying

So Either Stevie was lying and I was just too di the truth If he was lying, given what kind of hot water I could get him into, he was also an idiot I didn&039;t think he was one of those If he was telling the truth, it meant

It meant that either Susan really had hired someone to kill me, or else someone who could look like Susan had done business with Stevie D If Susan had hired souy, in particular? Why hire so it off? That wasEsteban and Esmerelda would come up with

That worked a lot better Esreen eyes could have us, if that hat she wanted But hoould she have knohere to find ed to tail Sanya back to the church fro noticed by Mouse?

And just where the hell were Susan and Martin? They&039;d had et here So eren&039;t they?

So so that it was going to turn around and bite ht, then

I guessed that et some answers