Flights of Angels (Exit Unicorns Series) by Brandner Cindy

Author:Brandner, Cindy [Brandner, Cindy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Starry Night Press
Published: 2013-11-25T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Forty-five

March 1974

Tyger, Tyger…

They came for him in the night—faceless men in the dim of the infirmary, manhandling him with no small viciousness. He understood where they were taking him and knew it was inevitable. What was less certain was what path inevitability was about to take him down.

Isay was seated in the kitchen of the modest hut, a hunting rifle propped between his knees. Jamie was lightheaded with fatigue and the drugs Shura had given him for pain and fever. There was a lantern on the table but to his hazed vision it seemed only a smeary slide of dancing light, Isay’s thick features swimming in and out of focus. He could smell Svetlana’s blood, could almost see it splashed all over the bed and up the walls. He wondered what the man had done with her body, if she would be buried with respect or tears.

“You sit there,” Isay pointed a meaty finger toward one of the kitchen chairs. Jamie sat, hoping it would help him restore some sort of equilibrium. Isay had been drinking, and Jamie knew his capacity, like most alcoholics, was near to limitless.

“Where I come from in Siber we have a game we play sometimes. It is called ‘Tiger’. You know this game?” Isay was shining the length of the rifle barrel and Jamie felt certain that he knew this particular game, only the name changed sometimes. But he replied the only way he could.

“No, I’m not familiar with this game.”

“This is fine, for I am going to tell you how this game is played. I am going to tell you the rules.”

Jamie fought to clear his head, knowing he was going to need every wit he possessed very shortly, despite the man’s seemingly friendly tone.

“Not all men have seen the tiger, even those who live in the taiga all their lives. But I have seen him many times. I have taken him down. You know what they say about the tiger—for every time you have seen him, he has seen you one hundred times and remained invisible to your weak human eye. They also say that the tiger, he never forgets a slight, never forgets what each of his enemies smells like, he never forgets the taste of a man’s blood once it crosses his tongue, no matter how briefly.”

Isay stopped polishing the rifle but his hand remained on the stock, caressing it as though it were a woman.

“Where I grew up, you have to know how to kill from the time you are small in order to survive. There the tribesmen say that every man has an animal inside that he will recognize as his own soul. I had dream about you and in that dream you and I were both tigers. Two male tigers cannot be in the same territory. One must die. It is how nature deems it to be.”

“What is it that you want, Isay?” Jamie asked, tired of the man’s story, and wanting only to end it.

“Tigers hunt, that is their nature.

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.