Cook, Glen - Garrett Files 09 - Faded Steel Heat by Cook Glen

Author:Cook, Glen [Cook, Glen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fantasy, Fiction, Mystery
ISBN: 9780451454799
Publisher: Roc
Published: 1999-05-27T07:29:42+00:00

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66

I had a hangover. Again. Surprise.

It was not yet a classic. It was just an infant. But it had potential. This was practically the middle of the night still. Dawn was only a hint of color in the east.

Victor nudged me with a toe in a spot that the ogre had thumped yesterday. I woke up sprawled under an olive tree, supported by cold, damp stone. The Goddamn Parrot was on a branch overhead, muttering. He made no sense but occasionally my name entered the mix. “Get up, Garrett,” Victor insisted. Pain blazed through my side. Oh, no! Not another cracked rib. “Some guy is looking for you.”

Some guy? That didn’t sound good. I hadn’t mentioned Heaven’s Gate to anybody, ever. Nor had I noticed anybody following me. Not that I’d made much effort to keep track. Crask and Sadler were in the tank. The shifters ought to be licking their wounds. Nobody else should be interested.

“Get up, damn you!” Victor let me have it again, in the identical spot, harder. He knew what he was doing.

Victor was a teetotaller, a member of TunFaire’s smallest and most viciously bizarre cult. He was the only born-again alcohol hater at Heaven’s Gate. He’d let me know again and again what he thought of me dispensing the devil’s sweat.

“Victor, you do that again, you’ll need to get fitted for a wooden leg.”

Victor chose discretion. “Your party is outside the front gate.”

My party was Ritter from Relway’s deck of jokers. Brother Relway was looking like a mojo man who sees all and knows all. I asked, “Don’t you guys ever sleep?”

“Sleep? What’s that? Wait! Yeah! I remember. They used to let me do that when I was in the army. Once a week whether I needed it or not. Don’t have time to waste on it anymore, though. This is Card.” Somebody unclear, clinging to a shadow, lifted a hand but didn’t speak.

I told Ritter, “I always knew you groundpounders had it sweet but you’re the first one who ever admitted it. What’s happening?”

“Boss wants you back at the Weider place.”

“That doesn’t sound promising. How come?”

“There’s been another killing.”

“Shit. Who was it this time?” I should’ve gotten Saucerhead in there.

“I couldn’t say. Nobody told me. I’m just supposed to get you.”

“How’d you know where to find me?”

He looked at the thing on my shoulder. “Followed the parrot droppings.”

“No, really.”

“The boss told me you were here. I don’t know how he knew. I didn’t ask.” That cut me off quick. “I’m just a messenger, Garrett. He picked me because you’d recognize me.”

“You guys bring any transport?” Besides being hungover and achy from the ogre’s handiwork I was stiff from sleeping on cold, damp stone.

“You kidding, Garrett? You know what kind of budget we’ve got?”

“Can’t blame a guy for hoping. Though I expected the worst. You do that and you’re never disappointed. Sometimes you’re even pleasantly surprised.”

“It isn’t that far, you know. Just a couple miles.”

“More like four. And I have a hangover and fresh bruises.

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