Limitless by Robert J. Crane

Author:Robert J. Crane
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Fantasy, Urban, Paranormal, Contemporary, Fiction
Publisher: Midian Press
Published: 2014-11-04T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 44

“Ah, politicians,” I said as we walked down the street toward our lunch. “Always just one or two laws away from fixing everything that ails you. Utopia is just a few bills away, ladies and gents.”

“People are scared,” Webster said, the rain dripping down the bridge of his nose and gathering there like an unfallen tear. “They want a response.”

“How about an intelligent response?” I asked, gathering my poncho around me. “I suppose that would be too much of a stretch.”

“You think that passing some laws in response to this situation is a bad idea?” He gave me that cocked-eyebrow look.

“Well,” I said, “let’s see. They tried to kill your police. They murdered civilians. They stole a painting and took hostages. They set off a series of bombs in the middle of London.” I ticked the points off on my finger as I enumerated them, talking over the rain dripping against the hood of my poncho. “Seems to me that if we actually catch them, you’ve got a great basis for charging them with enough shit to keep them in jail for the rest of their lives. So what’s another law going to do for you?”

He looked deeply uncomfortable. “Perhaps fund training for dealing with these sorts of situations—”

“I’m sure that’ll come, and I don’t think it’s a bad idea,” I said. “But you know they’re not talking about that. Mostly they’re talking about passing laws that seek to control the situation while failing to acknowledge that sometimes the things that evil men do are just beyond their control.” I felt my expression darken. “Or they’re talking about putting those of us who didn’t have anything to do with the so-called bad guys and their craziness into jail or detention or deportation.”

Webster looked like his cheeks were burning, but he was almost contrite. “I honestly can’t blame them.” He took hold of a door to a nondescript pub, opening it and holding it for me. That was a nice touch, I thought, even as we argued about how best to treat my kind.

“I can’t blame them for being scared, either,” I said, pulling the hood down as I stepped into the pub. It had a bar straight in front and a lot of wooden tables dotting the room. A long plate-glass window overlooked the sodden street. There was a smell of something fried in the air. Smelled like home to me. “But again, there’s a difference between taking intelligent action when you’re afraid and just taking action. One can get you out of trouble; the other does nothing or makes it worse. It’s the difference between being in a hole and continuing to dig down versus starting to shovel sideways and up.”

“I can’t see how passing a law is going to make it worse,” he said with a shrug as he led the way over to a wooden, circular table in the corner of the pub. There were only a few patrons here, scattered around, and having conversations as hushed as ours was.

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