“It was good to see you, Usakt,” Dan said. “But so we’re clear, if I see you again, I’ll kill you.”
The commissioner’s anxious expression became a smirk, then a grin, then a staccato laugh ejected from his throat. “Oh, Ripley, you idiot.”
He nodded towards the office door. Dan turned and saw twenty or more red dots hovering over his chest as a platoon of Enforcers took aim with their weapons.
“You’re not getting out that door in one piece.”
“Who said anything about the door?” Dan asked, then he turned towards the window, lowered his head, and ran.
* * *
Ollie sat in the passenger seat of the Exodus, rocking impatiently from side to side. The cool air swirling in through the missing window was helping with the smell, but she had been sitting in the car for a while now, and it had long-since lost its already limited appeal.
“Think he’s going to be long?” she asked.
Up on the dash, Artur sighed. “Again, I don’t know, peaches. Like all those other times ye asked. I have exactly as much information on the situation as you do. He might be four hours, or he might turn up any moment—”
There was an ear-splitting bang as Dan landed heavily on the car’s hood, crumpling the metal and shattering a spider-web pattern into the windshield.
“Talk of the devil,” Artur said. He chapped on the windshield. “Ye alright there, Deadman?”
“Ugnf,” Dan groaned.
Artur pointed ahead to the cushioned rectangle on the ground in front of the car. “I thought ye were going to aim for the mattress? Wasn’t that the idea?”
Dan grunted again, then he rolled off the hood and clattered onto the ground. Grunting and grimacing, he crawled around to the driver’s door, heaved it open, and slumped into his seat.
“Are ye hurt, or something?” asked Artur. “Sure, ye’re gasping like yer on yer dying breath.”
Dan hacked up something black and bloody, and spat it out through the gap where the window should be. Despite the not inconsiderable amount of damage that had just been inflicted on it, the Exodus’s engine strained and struggled into life. It’s bald back tires spun, throwing up two clouds of white smoke as Dan powered the car over the pedestrianized plaza and away from the Tribunal Watchtower.
“Did you see him? The man you wanted to see?” Ollie asked.
Dan grunted as he forced a dislocated shoulder into position. “I did.”
“And is everything OK?”
Dan turned his head, ignoring the pain it brought. He met her eye. “It will be, kid. It will be.”
“Great!” cheered Artur. “So how about we finally go and celebrate? Pub.”
Dan made a non-committal sort of noise. “We should probably call Tressingham’s wife. Let her know he isn’t cheating on her.”
“Aah, now, Deadman. Deaaaadman. Come on now, ye bollock-faced sack of shoite,” Artur said in the most soothing voice he could muster. “Sure, that can keep for tonight, can’t it?”
Dan shrugged. It made three of his ribs pop out of position. “I guess it can wait.”
“Good man!” Artur said. He drummed his hands on the dash, then pointed both index fingers at Dan. “So… pub?”
Dan rolled his eyes. “Pub.”
Artur’s grin almost split his head in two. He turned to Ollie and pointed at her this time, raising his eyebrows expectantly.
Ollie frowned and darted her eyes from Artur to Dan and back again. “Well, I mean, I’m not really sure what a pub is, so…”
“Then it’s our duty as yer friends to introduce ye to its many wonders and delights,” Artur said. He turned and placed a foot on a raised vent, then pointed dramatically ahead like a captain on the deck of a ship. “Full speed ahead, Deadman. There’s drinking to be done!”
Dan crunched through the gears of the Exodus. He checked the rear-view mirrors. No-one was following. No-one was chasing. Not yet, anyway. Not right now.
“Whatever you say, Artur,” Dan answered, and the Exodus roared as it swept onwards between the towers and spires of the city. His city. “Whatever you say.”
Hey, don’t go yet!
Want to find out what happens with Dan, Ollie and Artur between this book and the first book, Dial D for Deadman, and where Dan got his replacement arm from? Find out in Dead Men Don’t Get Paid, an exclusive short story only available in the short story collection SPACE TEAM: A LOT OF WEIRD SHIZZ, available to order now.
Also, if you want to keep up with all things Dan Deadman, or the Space Team series, where Dan made his first appearance, you can get all the updates (plus some free stories) by clicking here. You could also come join me and some fellow Space Team Universe fans over on Facebook, if you’re so inclined.
Finally, thank you for reading this book. I had a blast writing it, and hope you enjoyed reading it. If you did, and you’ve got a couple of minutes to spare, please consider leaving a review when prompted at the end of the book. I appreciate all the reviews and feedback I get, and they are a great way for helping other readers discover books you’ve enjoyed, so please do spread the word!
Bye for now, ye great big gobshoite!
Barry
ALSO BY BARRY J. HUTCHISON
Looking for something else to read? This is a full list of the currently available books in the Space Team Universe. They’re all excellent, even if I do say so myself…
SPACE TEAM SERIES
Space Team
Space Team: The Wrath of Vajazzle
Space Team: The Search for Splurt
Space Team: Song of the Space Siren
Space Team: The Guns of Nana Joan
Space Team: Return of the Dead Guy
Space Team: Planet of the Japes
Space Team: A Lot of Weird Shizz - A Space Team Universe Short Story Collection
Space Team: The Collected Adventures – Volume 1
Space Team: The Collected Adventures – Volume 2
DAN DEADMAN SPACE DETECTIVE SERIES
Dial D for Deadman
Dead Inside
EVERYTHING ELSE
The Bug – Complete Season 1
Dead Inside: A Space Team Universe Novel (Dan Deadman Space Detective Book 2) Page 24
