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Browning!" I grabbed the bartender's tie and hauled him over the counter. "Where is she, creep?"
He was choking too much to answer, but he pointed frantically upwards. We heard a shot and a scream from
upstairs.
"Cover me, Doc!" I yelled, and saw him backing towards the door. I pulled out my .45 and ran for the stairs, a
gun in each hand. I took the stairs two at a time and paused at the top. Another scream came from down the
corridor, and I saw light spilling out from an open door.
I sprinted along the corridor and looked into the room. There was a blonde dame by the door, a gun on the
floor and a heaving pile of bodies on the bed. I kicked the gun into the corner, threw the dame out into the
corridor and she squawked and ran off. I turned my attention to the bed.
The pile seemed to made up of two guys, with a lot of bare female arms and legs underneath. The guy
nearest to me had a big round head I thought I recognized. I slammed the barrel of the .45 against it hard. Joe
Saltis grunted, went limp and rolled off the bed.
I grabbed for the other man, but Ace was already taking care of him. She had two long bare legs wrapped
around his neck in a scissor-lock. As I watched she gave a final squeeze and the guy went limp., Ace
disentangled herself and scrambled to her feet.
"What kept you, Dekker?"
I looked admiringly at what was left of her outfit. "You certainly take this Lady in Black thing seriously."
She gave me a belt on the ear, threw herself into my arms and kissed me, then burst into tears. I stood
hugging her for a moment and I'm damned if I wasn't nearly crying too.
Ace looked up at me and smiled through her tears. "What the hell's going on here, Dekker? We're supposed
to be tough."
"We are tough," I said. I yanked open the wardrobe, grabbed a purple silk robe and tossed it to Ace, passing
her the Browning at the same time.
She slipped into the robe and we ran along the corridor and down the stairs. Doc was still making like Wyatt
Earp at the door to the bar. He heard us coming down and backed towards us, still covering the bar with the
shotgun.
We crossed the lobby and just as we reached the main door a voice croaked, "Hold it, you bitch!"
I looked up and saw the guy Ace had throttled at the top of the stairs. He looked in pretty bad shape, but he'd
got his breath and his gun back. He shook his head and staggered a little, the gun barrel waving to and fro.
We all three froze - but we all had guns in our hands. I could feel Ace tense as she prepared to fire.
Doc said, "Ace."
In a low voice Ace said, "He took off my clothes when I was unconscious. He was coming back to rape me."
"Is that a reason to kill him?"
Ace sighed. "I suppose not."
"The hell it isn't," I said.
The guy fired - and missed. I put two slugs through his pump and he fell backwards out of sight. We went out
of the door and headed for the Buick. No one followed us.
21 THE BATTLE
A group of armed and angry men had gathered in the rebel HQ. A fierce debate was raging. Some wanted to
dig in and defend the dome. Others, led by Tarak, were all for going on the attack.
Romana suggested a third option. "Why don't you send a messenger under a flag of truce and ask for a
meeting?"
"I won't ask anyone to volunteer to be killed," said Tarak. "The Black Guard would hang any messenger from
us on sight."
"I'll go myself if you're all afraid."
Tarak shook his head. "There's nothing to say, not now." He glanced towards Kalmar's cubicle, where the old
man's cleaned-up body lay in state, candles burning at head and feet.
"Of course there is," said Romana. She looked round the circle of angry faces. "Tarak, did you kill Lord
Veran? Did anyone here kill him?" There was no reply. "Exactly - and yet the Lords and the Black Guard are
all convinced you did, just as you're all convinced the Lords killed Kalmar."
"So they did," said Tarak. "Them or their damned Black Guard."
"Suppose you're both wrong? Suppose some third force killed them both, to get you and the Lords
slaughtering each other?"
Tarak had different ideas. "I think Lord Veran genuinely wanted peace. Some other Lords didn't agree. One of
them killed him, knowing I'd get the blame, and killed Kalmar as well to make sure we'd fight. Well, if war's
what they want they can have it. Once we've defeated them, we can talk peace from a position of strength."
"If there's anyone left to talk," said Bernice, but no one took any notice.
There was the sound of voices at the entrance and Ivo came into the dome.
Romana hurried over to him. "Ivo, where have you been? I was beginning to worry."
"When you told me what had happened, I slipped away and hid out near the inn. I was able to get close [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]