Empathy for the Devil by J.S. Morin

Author:J.S. Morin
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781643551159
Publisher: Magical Scrivener Press

The Banana-Rama Stamina Jamma was gone. In its place, a shallow puddle of melted ice cream held two dirty spoons in an otherwise empty glass boat.

“I don’t feel good about this,” Tanny muttered, still in the character of Laura.

Esper—aka. Phineas—nodded sagely. “That’s what half a kilo of dairy will do to you.”

“I mean about our catering friend. Maybe we cancel the party and reschedule.”

No. No way. They’d come too far to slink away now. “Not after all the cooking the caterer’s done.”

“You assume he’s been cooking. I think we should stop by and check in.”

“Maybe,” Esper allowed. “But we don’t know where his previous client had him delivering.”

Someone at the next table over turned in their seat. “Geez. Don’t you two have a comm ID for your damn caterer?”

Before either of the two embarrassed conspirators could reply, their waitress came over with a thumb scanner. “That’ll be fifty-five terras.”

Even for such a large dessert, that bill was extortion. But New Singapore priced the lower class out as a matter of policy. Local businesses were happy to jack up their prices so the privileged few could enjoy themselves without working-class families or scruffy college students clogging up the quaint atmosphere.

Tanny met Esper’s eye briefly. “My treat.”

Holding her breath, Esper waited for the transaction to process. Used to financial dealings out on the borderlands, it came as a stark reminder of where they were when the device pinged as soon as Tanny’s finger touched.

“Excellent,” the waitress said with a smile that slipped from pro forma to genuine. Her eyes lit. “Thank you, Ms. Rucker.”

Tanny’s datapad rattled on the table as its vibrate mode activated. While Tanny was distracted, Esper scooped it up and checked the message.

Lake house.

Tanny accepted custody as the waitress departed. The busybody at the next table, presumably continuing his eavesdropping to the point of overhearing the name “Rucker,” didn’t offer any further commentary.

“We know where we’re heading.”

“Let’s boost,” Esper replied, attempting to say something in character for Phineas before his usefulness was over.

The two stood in unison. Esper headed for the door.

Tanny grabbed her by the wrist. When Esper halted, she followed Tanny’s pointed finger. The newsfeed showed a police chase in progress just outside New Singapore. A sport hover rocketed between buildings, completely ignoring the traffic lanes. A dozen police hovers swarmed after it.

“Turn up the volume on that,” Tanny ordered the soda jerk behind the bar, who obliged with a shrug.

“…police on a chase through New Singapore at speeds exceeding 300 kilometers per hour. The suspect is male, human, athletic build…”

A window burst loose from the sport hover. The camera from the newsfeed zoomed in. A fist shot out the open window and gave an enthusiastic thumbs-up. When the hover banked into a hard turn, the pilot turned and mugged for the news drone.

Wesley Wesley.

He zipped out of view behind a building. Seconds later, a flash. Smoke rose into the sky. The news drone drifted into view of the crash site. Some industrial chemical plant was ablaze.

Esper clapped a hand over her mouth.

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.