Read Online Borderlands: Gunsight by John Shirley - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: John Shirley
Ads: Link
a damn if anyone watches—and someone would be watching. Should you make a move toward me . . . I mean, heh, the wrong sort of move, something violent . . . Why, my most trusted man will be watching on camera. Never mind where the camera is hidden. And . . .”
“And we both get dumped down to play with Bigjaws?”
“Naturally not. A group of very angry and well-armed men will be right outside the door. They’ll come in, escort me out . . . and then you will play with Bigjaws.”
“And this little encounter has to happen right away. Me being completely voluntary about it. Like—tonight?”
“Precisely. And tomorrow morning perhaps. And then again tomorrow night.”
“After you’ve been hosed off, you mean—like your pet down there?”
He glared at her. “Do I take that insulting tone to mean . . . you’re saying no? To . . . me ?”
She made a tsk sound and shook her head sadly. “I’m afraid I’m fully booked up, and just won’t be able to find an opening in my calendar for, say, forty or fifty years, Jasper.”
She noticed a slight smile crease the scarred Nomad’s face.
Jasper looked at her stonily. “If you think you’re going to . . . to stall me, play hard to get . . .”
“I don’t think you’re going to play with me, hard or soft, here or anywhere else, Jasper. Now kill me—or fuck off.”
“I see!” He laughed without humor. “Very well.” His tone was frigid. He wasn’t used to being told no.
He frowned at the floor. She suspected he was thinking of sending her down to Bigjaws as soon as he left the room. That was something she wasn’t quite ready for.
“Way I remember it,” she said quickly, “is Mordecai made sure he was going to be able to check in with me from time to time, on the ECHO. And on vidcam. If I’m gone . . . he won’t be motivated to do a damn thing for you.”
She hoped that was true. There was that roomful of money he might be inclined to think of.
Jasper grunted, shrugging. “Perhaps. I shall wait. We shall see. It may be you’ll change your tune after all . . .”
He turned and stalked out, his men backing up to follow him—none but the Nomad willing to turn their back on her, till they got safely through the armored door.
And they were right about that.
• • •
Mordecai had stopped the outrunner a good distance out from the target. He just sat there, staring up at the rising slopes, the crenellated heights of Tumessa. The place was one big warning—everything about it said, Don’t try it.
It was cold out here—but he needed to get colder yet, inside. He was burning with an inner fury at Jasper. And Mordecai was angry at himself for feeling that way.
Anger— uh-uh . That’s not how you got the business ofkilling done, not with any efficiency. You had to be frigid as ice inside—and maybe you let a little fury loose if you had to go hand-to-hand.
With sniping, quick kills—you had to be chill for that. You had to be calm and collected, without a tremble in your trigger finger.
Trouble was, right now, looking at the rising mount that was Tumessa, he had a strong impulse to bust out the rocket launcher and blast through the place’s outer defenses, accelerate the outrunner to the top of the fortress, blast his way into Reamus’s inner sanctum, blow the bastard in half, cut his head off, and take it back to Jasper. Just get it done.
But of course, if he tried that, he’d likely get killed long before he got anywhere near Reamus. And if he got killed, so would Daphne. And what good was he then?
“Calm down, you damned fool,” he muttered.
He was about a kilometer out from the nearest gate into Tumessa’s giant lozenge-shaped hill—a small, oblong-based mountain, more than a large hill, an anomaly in this flat land. It was rather suspicious, to Mordecai’s mind. Must be artificial, he figured. Eridian, maybe? Or was it Reamus’s creation?
He could see guard towers to either side of
“And we both get dumped down to play with Bigjaws?”
“Naturally not. A group of very angry and well-armed men will be right outside the door. They’ll come in, escort me out . . . and then you will play with Bigjaws.”
“And this little encounter has to happen right away. Me being completely voluntary about it. Like—tonight?”
“Precisely. And tomorrow morning perhaps. And then again tomorrow night.”
“After you’ve been hosed off, you mean—like your pet down there?”
He glared at her. “Do I take that insulting tone to mean . . . you’re saying no? To . . . me ?”
She made a tsk sound and shook her head sadly. “I’m afraid I’m fully booked up, and just won’t be able to find an opening in my calendar for, say, forty or fifty years, Jasper.”
She noticed a slight smile crease the scarred Nomad’s face.
Jasper looked at her stonily. “If you think you’re going to . . . to stall me, play hard to get . . .”
“I don’t think you’re going to play with me, hard or soft, here or anywhere else, Jasper. Now kill me—or fuck off.”
“I see!” He laughed without humor. “Very well.” His tone was frigid. He wasn’t used to being told no.
He frowned at the floor. She suspected he was thinking of sending her down to Bigjaws as soon as he left the room. That was something she wasn’t quite ready for.
“Way I remember it,” she said quickly, “is Mordecai made sure he was going to be able to check in with me from time to time, on the ECHO. And on vidcam. If I’m gone . . . he won’t be motivated to do a damn thing for you.”
She hoped that was true. There was that roomful of money he might be inclined to think of.
Jasper grunted, shrugging. “Perhaps. I shall wait. We shall see. It may be you’ll change your tune after all . . .”
He turned and stalked out, his men backing up to follow him—none but the Nomad willing to turn their back on her, till they got safely through the armored door.
And they were right about that.
• • •
Mordecai had stopped the outrunner a good distance out from the target. He just sat there, staring up at the rising slopes, the crenellated heights of Tumessa. The place was one big warning—everything about it said, Don’t try it.
It was cold out here—but he needed to get colder yet, inside. He was burning with an inner fury at Jasper. And Mordecai was angry at himself for feeling that way.
Anger— uh-uh . That’s not how you got the business ofkilling done, not with any efficiency. You had to be frigid as ice inside—and maybe you let a little fury loose if you had to go hand-to-hand.
With sniping, quick kills—you had to be chill for that. You had to be calm and collected, without a tremble in your trigger finger.
Trouble was, right now, looking at the rising mount that was Tumessa, he had a strong impulse to bust out the rocket launcher and blast through the place’s outer defenses, accelerate the outrunner to the top of the fortress, blast his way into Reamus’s inner sanctum, blow the bastard in half, cut his head off, and take it back to Jasper. Just get it done.
But of course, if he tried that, he’d likely get killed long before he got anywhere near Reamus. And if he got killed, so would Daphne. And what good was he then?
“Calm down, you damned fool,” he muttered.
He was about a kilometer out from the nearest gate into Tumessa’s giant lozenge-shaped hill—a small, oblong-based mountain, more than a large hill, an anomaly in this flat land. It was rather suspicious, to Mordecai’s mind. Must be artificial, he figured. Eridian, maybe? Or was it Reamus’s creation?
He could see guard towers to either side of
Similar Books
