by C. T. Adams
“She can do that?” I was impressed. I could see the brilliant glow of power the snakes were expending, trying to get down. It was making the Christmas lights and massive chandelier seem positively dim—it wasn’t even making a dent in their condition.
“He’s lucky that’s all she did.” Lucas snarled. “Then again, for Ahmad the humiliation may just be worse than death.”
Bobby strode up, his expression fierce. “Lucas, I have to talk to you.”
“As soon as I’m finis—”
Bobby shook his head and kept speaking. “No, I have to say this before I lose my nerve. I want every person here to know this, so that there are no questions or suppositions. I’m leaving Wolven. Asri and I are going to move south to Komodo and be wed in her old village.”
Lucas held up his hand and I saw a flash of power hit Bobby in the chest. It froze him in place. “Would you stop for a minute, Agent! I already anticipated this, when I found out that Asri was pregnant. But you also have a number of months before you are a father. If you insist on leaving Wolven, you will at least train your replacement.”
He released his hold on Bobby, but Raven had heard his words and was walking quickly our way. “Lucas,” Raven said warningly. “We’re dangerously low on agents…Fiona won’t…”
Lucas turned to him with flashing eyes. “Fiona is not presently in charge of Wolven, Raven. I am. I will be returning to the field myself, and will be recalling some retired agents to pick up the slack until the case load is whittled down some. We can’t be positive that only one spider was born this generation. And Jack’s warrant has finally been issued.”
Raven looked startled and fell silent.
Lucas smiled. “As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, Bobby will be training his replacement.” He turned to me. “That would be you, Agent Giambrocco.”
Sue gave a little yip of happiness and started grinning broadly. I held up my hands. “Whoa! We have never discussed this. I don’t want to be a cop.”
Raven and Bobby both wore the same shocked expression as me. Lucas raised his brows, and lowered his voice to a threatening rumble. “I didn’t ask.”
“Lucas,” Bobby stammered, “He doesn’t have enough power. He’s a three-day, for God’s sake!”
The older man turned and stood to his full height. “Then we’ll give him a powerful partner—perhaps Ivan.” He held up a firm hand to both my and Raven’s objections. “Tony is fast, he’s smart, he’s an excellent shot and, most importantly for the jobs I have in mind, he has hindsight. Think about it, gentlemen. How many cases are unsolved? One touch from him and bingo! Done and gone, case closed. And he has no messy morals to get in the way of proper punishment. We’ll be busy with new cases. He’ll handle the old ones.”
Raven and Bobby stared at me with something approaching wonder. It made my skin crawl.
“Excuse me!” I interrupted with annoyance. “I don’t like being talked about in the third person while I’m standing in the room. I’m one of the bad guys.”
Lucas turned back to me and raised his brows. “And you’re for sale, just like always. I merely have to make sure that I’m the highest bidder. For the right price, I think you’ll play by my rules. We also might have a very lucrative position for Jessica.” He turned to Raven. “She’s a professional bookkeeper.”
Raven’s dropped jaw closed and his lips parted in a broad smile. “All of those acres and acres of paper on Fiona’s desk! My God! I’ll take the assassin as long as the wife comes with!”
I shook my head. I wasn’t sure I liked how this was turning out. But Sue was practically beaming.
“Please, Tony? I’d really like to have a useful job, and we could stay near each other, at least most of the time. You’d like that! And,” she said with a finger pointed at me, “Who better to train me to be tougher?”
I turned back to Lucas with a sigh, but he was back to taking photos of the snakes on the ceiling. I suppose I could be a cop for a little while, if it would make Sue happy. I would probably hate it, though.
Sue had taken the few moments while I contemplated to open the velvet box. Since I hadn’t seen what Yurgi had bought either, I glanced over. The light overhead caught the flurry of gemstones in the ring and made them sparkle like fire. Sue gasped. A swirl of white gold was covered in diamonds, sapphires and rubies. They framed and enhanced a full-carat brilliant round diamond. Impressive, and a little scary. I winced when I thought about how many batteries were probably gone. I wondered just what a good price ended up costing me.
Then I chuckled to myself. It didn’t matter. No price could be too high.
I reached over and kissed Sue lightly on the lips. “Merry Christmas, Sue. I hope you’ll be my wife for a long time to come. I think we should have a real wedding, instead of just names on paper. What do you think? Will you marry me, for real this time?”
She was awestruck, staring at the ring. I finally had to remove it from the box, and put it on her finger. It was a perfect fit. Another point for Yurgi. Tears rolled down her face, and she nodded her agreement. The scents of her happiness were almost overwhelming.
Bobby glanced at the ring when he caught her scent, and nodded his approval. Then he turned his attention to Lucas. Like me before, his eyes slowly followed the path to the ceiling. His jaw dropped as he finally noticed the ornaments four floors high. “Oh my God!” he whispered, but with humor in his voice. “Who are the pictures for, Lucas?”
Lucas answered without moving his lips. “Jack would lick dirt off a hyena to get a copy of these!”
Bobby’s face grew startled. “Jack? Jack Simpson?”
That’s right! He’d been out of the picture both times. “The one and only,” I replied, just as quietly. I didn’t want to risk the councilman’s wrath if he heard us. “He saved your tail when he gave us the antidote to the spider paralyzing venom back at the apartment.”
The startled expression turned to absolute horror. “Jack Simpson saved my life?” He grew silent for a moment and all that moved were his eyes, which showed too much white.
Then he snorted abruptly. “Figures! I still haven’t gotten that taste out of my mouth!”
This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
MOON’S WEB
Copyright © 2005 by Cathy L. Clamp and C. T. Adams
All rights reserved.
Edited by Anna Genoese
A Tor Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC
175 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10010
www.tor-forge.com
Tor® is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.
ISBN: 978-0-7653-6265-0
