(eng) Liz Williams - Inspector Chen 04 by The Shadow Pavilion

Author:The Shadow Pavilion [Pavilion, The Shadow]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Go drank rather a lot, back at Paugeng, but it didn't seem to have much effect. Like most writers, he'd always been able to hold his booze, but this was unnatural: he'd already had three triple scotches and they might as well have been Perrier. Perhaps this was some aftereffect of industrial-level fear, or maybe—a disconcerting thought—it was the aftereffect of magic itself. He was still strangely aware of his blood roaming around the city. The sensation was fading, but still present. Since he wasn't getting any benefit from it, Go decided to stop drinking. He put his empty glass down on the bar, just as Jhai came through the door.

"How're you doing, Go?"

"Freaked out," Go told her, with truth.

"Okay. We've got Lara human, stable, securely contained, and semiconscious. Want to come and have a look at her?"

"Not particularly," Go said, but he rose anyway and followed Jhai to the elevator.

Paugeng's levels descended a long way. Go had heard that the new building had been built upon the foundations of the old, but he hadn't realized that the underground complex was so extensive. Jhai could be doing anything under here, he thought: missile silos, gladiatorial arenas . . . Not a comforting thought. He also hadn't realized that Paugeng's cells were quite as developed as they were, either: thick plexiglass walls and a lot of equipment that Go eyed askance. He didn't think Jhai was torturing things, exactly, but some of the individuals in the cells did not look entirely human.

Lara, however, did. Go had never seen her bedraggled before—even in the movies, when she'd been bloodied and beaten, the make-up department had made sure that her lip gloss remained intact and her mascara had not run. But now she seemed small, hunched into herself, head drooping. Go, however, was not fooled and when she looked up at their entrance, he knew that he had been right. Lara's eyes blazed like captive suns. When she saw Go on the other side of the plexiglass, she gave a silent snarl. She did not try to launch herself at the cell glass, but for a moment, Go thought she might. Then she saw the bodyguard at Jhai's shoulder and subsided.

"I'll need to question her," Jhai said. "But not until Chen gets here."

"You called him?" Go asked.

"Yes, but it's late now and the poor man ought to have some kind of a break. He's been having a difficult day, I gather."

"He's not the only one. Any sign of your fiancé?" Go chanced a look at Lara's face and wished he hadn't; her eyes were fixed on him and him alone. The expression in them was not encouraging.

"No." Beneath her cheerfully ruthless exterior, Jhai was genuinely worried, Go realized. He had no idea what kind of things befell demon consorts, but based on his own experience he doubted that it was anything good. "Anyway," Jhai said. "You've seen her now, you can see how securely we've got her, and Chen will be coming here in the morning to have her questioned.

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