The Kameron Hurley Omnibus by Kameron Hurley

Author:Kameron Hurley [Hurley, Kameron]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Comics & Graphic Novels, General, Science Fiction, Adventure, Military, Fiction
ISBN: 9781627933018
Publisher: Night Shade Books
Published: 2011-01-18T05:00:00+00:00

24.

Of all the people Nyx expected to be waiting for her back at the hotel, Khos Khadija wasn’t one of them. He sat at a sen-stained table near the opaqued window, playing cards with Suha. A ring of lethargic locusts sat at the center of the table. The smell of curried dog wafted up from the room below them. Nyx heard soft, shushing voices speaking muted Ras Tiegan next door.

“Watch out for him,” Nyx said as she walked in. “He cheated me out of a basket of scarab beetles the first time we met.”

“He says you met in a brothel,” Suha said.

“Where’s Eshe?”

The radio was on, spewing bubbly Tirhani voices and the green, misty images of some daytime romance. Both beds were unmade. The privy was ensuite, but the door was open, and the little closet-sized room was dark.

“He’s hot on some girl at the gym,” Suha said.

“Better be a useful girl.”

“Maybe so. He said he met some other Nasheenian women—boxers—at another gym. Told him to get in some bag time and find out the names.”

“I wish you’d told me more about the note,” Khos said.

Nyx took off her burnous and tossed it on the bed. “Why, you looking for work? From the looks of your pretty house, you’re not hard up.”

“Rogue bel dames are everybody’s business,” Khos said.

Nyx shot Suha a look.

Suha shrugged. “Figured if he ran off before you got back, I’d kill him,” she said.

“Try,” Khos said.

Suha leaned back, so her long coat fell away, revealing her duel pistols. “Try me,” she said.

Khos looked back at Nyx. “I want to buy you a drink.”

“I’ve never been one to pass up free liquor,” Nyx said. She was curious about why he came. Did he miss slumming? “I’m gonna wash up and let Suha bleed you a little more, then we’ll get going.”

She cleaned up in the privy. When she returned, Suha and Khos had already broken out some bootleg whiskey.

“If you and Eshe go out tonight, add another name to your round,” Nyx told Suha as she pulled her burnous back on. “Woman called Leveh. Over thirty by now, I’d bet, but don’t quote me.”

“Bel dame?” Suha said. Her voice was a little drawl. Nyx didn’t blame her. She was ready to go out and get drunk, too.

“Likely. Maybe just a contact,” Nyx said. “And watch the liquor tonight. Set down some traps. I don’t want a repeat of Punjai.”

“Last one,” Suha said, and took a pull from the bottle.

“Let’s go, Khos,” Nyx said.

He pulled his big body from the chair and came after her. They walked downstairs in silence. She let the silence stretch as they entered the street.

“Used to live out here when we first came to Tirhan,” Khos said. “Good shebeen around the corner. Unlicensed.”

“Shebeen?”

“Like a tavern. Uh, less formal. You’ll see.”

“Thanks for bringing the whiskey.”

“Figured you’d need it. Been rough living in a dry country. You can still get it. Just a lot more trouble.”

They stepped into an old Ras Tiegan dive not much better than the hedge witch’s hovel in Punjai.

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