12 - Defilers by Brian Lumley

Author:Brian Lumley
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Horror, Fiction
ISBN: 9781429913270
Publisher: Tor Books
Published: 2011-04-01T07:00:00+00:00

The Shipwreck wasn’t nearly the wreck it appeared from outside. Within, its spacious floor was crazy-paved with polished marble, and it was level throughout—a rare thing on any Greek island, where it’s usually impossible to find a table that doesn’t tilt at least a little to one side. Under the cleverly arranged raffia and bamboo “camouflage” of the roof, there was a varnished pine ceiling where fishing nets festooned the high corners like vast cobwebs. Mediterranean conchs and fan shells decorated the nets, and some of these were wired to an electrical circuit and fitted internally with small tinted light bulbs. Of an evening, the subdued and intermittent glowing of the shells would add an almost submarine effect to the bar’s ambiance.

A row of sturdy bar stools stood empty at the well-stocked, pine-topped bar itself, while comfortable wicker armchairs were evenly spaced around its glass-topped, bamboo tables. The walls were painted with Aegean murals.

Thus the Christos Studios setup in its entirety—with its secluded, shaded accommodations, and The Shipwreck in its beachfront location—made for a very pleasant and satisfactory base of operations. So thought Trask as he and his esper colleagues rearranged the seating, moved three tables closer together, and sat down. The only absentee was Chung, who was still busy on the phone.

It was very pleasant, yes, Trask thought—in which respect Liz Merrick’s observation that the place was “perfect” had been acceptable and accurate …

… But then again, so were Ian Goodly’s presentient dreams accurate—probably. For Trask had a great deal of faith in the precog’s “wild talent,” and with every good reason. But however it worked out, there was a lot more to E-Branch being here than the sun, the sand, and the sea. This definitely wasn’t going to be any kind of beach party.

“Ah, civilisation!” said Manolis, as he and his two entered the bar precisely on time.

As Trask had noted, Manolis’s men looked very capable. The one who was built like a battering ram—short in the legs but broad-shouldered, and with a chest like a barret—was Andreas. He had close-cropped hair on a bullet head, a wicked smile with more than a hint of menace behind it, and eyes blue as the sea. His father was Greek but his mother had been an American; she’d died when Andreas was a child, since when he’d lived in Athens.

Andreas’s colleague, Stavros, was a few years his junior at perhaps twentyseven years of age. He was as Greek as they come and had shining black hair, brown eyes, and an athletic, almost Olympian figure. Liz found that she couldn’t help comparing him with Jake Cutter. It wasn’t his face (his too-straight nose and very Mediterranean looks put paid to that), so maybe it was the way he fitted his jeans. The silhouette was … reminiscent, to say the least. Or perhaps it was simply that Jake was constantly in her thoughts.

Close behind Manolis and his pair as they entered the bar, a man who was a stranger to all but Trask followed them in.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.