A Game of Authors
Page 14
“I love you, Nita.”
“And I love you.” She turned her head away, spoke with a slow distinctness. “I don’t want to be like my father: bitter and unhappy. I want to be like me.” She looked back at Garson. “And I never knew what it was like to be me until that night in the grove when we kissed.”
“Is that when . . .”
Someone coughed beside them.
They turned. A young man in an attendant’s uniform extended an envelope to Anita, leered at Garson. She took the envelope. The young man saluted, departed.
Her hands made nervous, fumbling motions opening the envelope. She pulled out a note, glanced at it, then read it aloud with a husky sadness in her voice:
“You will never be able to find me. I am going with Choco and El Grillo. The enclosed claim check is for your insurance, which I have prepaid through on your tickets. There should be enough money in what I gave you to see you to the States where it is my belief that your young man will take care of matters. He is a fool, but a dependable one according to all reports. If things turn out badly, cash in some of the insurance. Please do not name any of your little fools after me.”
She folded the note, bent over the table, pushed the paper into her purse.
Garson saw tears slipping down her cheeks. “We can still catch him, Nita.” He turned toward the lobby.
“No!” She caught his arm. “He’s already gone. The ground will swallow them.”
“But, after all, he is your father! Won’t you ever hear . . .”
“Be calm, darling,” she murmured, and the infinite sadness was plain in her voice. “We will hear from my father when he has found a new place to hide.”
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About the Author
Frank Herbert, the visionary author of Dune, wrote more than twenty other novels, including Hellstrom’s Hive, The White Plague, The Green Brain, and The Dosadi Experiment. During his life, he received great acclaim for his sweeping vision and the deep philosophical underpinnings in his writings. His life is detailed in the Hugo-nominated biography Dreamer of Dune, by Brian Herbert.
Other Frank Herbert novels available from WordFire Press include Destination: Void, The Heaven Makers, Direct Descent, The Godmakers, and three previously unpublished novels, High-Opp, Angels’ Fall, and A Game of Authors. Also available are The Pandora Sequence, which includes The Jesus Incident, The Lazarus Effect, and The Ascension Factor (all with Bill Ransom), and Herbert’s last-published novel, Man of Two Worlds, coauthored with his son Brian.
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