The Curse of M by Stevie Barry

Author:Stevie Barry [Barry, Stevie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Goodreads: 36561345
Published: 2017-11-06T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

Geezer had landed in the wilds outside of Anchorage. Unlike most cities, it didn't descend into suburban sprawl: the edge was sharply delineated, which gave him plenty of cover. Katje transfigured two of the bathrobes into normal-people clothes for him, jeans and a heavy jacket, and made copies of the twenty-dollar bill in Hansen's pocket. She said she could only make a thing if she'd seen it before, so Geezer hoofed it into town to get medical supplies, and see if he couldn't figure out who he was supposed to contact.

There was no snow yet, but the morning air was bitterly cold, turning his breath into pale fog. He warmed up soon enough, though, and managed to hitch a ride with a trucker halfway along.

His first stop was a pharmacy, where he picked up rolls of gauze, hydrogen peroxide, industrial-sized tweezers, and a big bottle of Tylenol. At a sporting-goods store he bought a reel of fishing line, and a fabric shop supplied him with a needle. There was no way to get a proper suture kit, but this would do in a pinch.

Last stop was an Army surplus, where he bought several wool blankets, and then, loaded with plastic bags, he stopped for lunch. He'd need to get food for the others, and clean water, but he had to eat first himself or he'd drop. A big Philly cheesesteak took care of his hunger, and he rested for ten minutes. He still had to figure out who he was supposed to contact, and then it would be a long walk back to the chopper.

His waitress looked at him keenly as she dropped off the check. She was a bony woman of perhaps forty-five, with dark skin and inky-black hair that told him she was probably at least part Inuit. There was a second piece of paper in the receipt she handed him, and when he unfolded it he read Call Miranda Black of the DMA. She'll help.

Geezer looked up, but the waitress had already moved on. He left her a generous tip and went back out into the cold to hunt for a payphone. Now that the whole damn world ran on cell phones, it took him the better part of an hour. He punched in the number at the bottom of the paper, his heart pounding.

"Andrews Pizza Company. How can I help you?"

He blinked. "Uh, I was told to ask for Miranda Black," he said, shivering as a gust of wind knifed right through his jacket.

"Hold, please." Bland, mind-numbing Muzak assaulted his ears, and then he was addressed by a thickly Australian voice.

"This is Miranda," it barked.

"I was told to call you," he said. "Waitress in the Cheese Hut told me you could help."

The woman's tone changed immediately, morphing into something businesslike. "You in Anchorage?"

"At the moment. I've got people outside of town, though, and one of 'em's injured."

"Can you hold out for another day?"

"Do I have a choice?"

"No," Miranda said, a little dryly. "We'll find you as soon as we can.

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