Read Online Dominant Species Volume Two -- Edge Effects (Dominant Species Series) by David Coy - Free Book Online Page A

noticed the names as he passed the door: “William Habershaw
/Joan Thomas.”
    He wouldn’t forget the location of that one. When he got a few meters
past the shelter, he turned around as if he’d lost his way just to see how the
shelter was situated; where the windows were and who could see what. She was
at the end of the last row. That was good; if he came in from the jungle, it
would be damned hard to see him. He could duck in a few hundred meters down and
make it in no time.
    “Are you lost?” she said as he walked back by.
    “Must have got turned around, but I’m never lost.”
    “Where were you trying to go?”
    “I thought I was going to the store.”
    Joan pointed with a fork. “That way to the end, then turn right.
You’ll see it.”
    “Thank you.”
    "Sure."
    Nice smile. I’ll have to take care of that.
    He picked up a few items he didn’t need — aspirin,
toothpaste, razors, and a pair of cotton socks — and
carried them to the counter. The clerk rang it up and debited his account.
    “Got any copper wire?”
    “No copper. Just silver. Why do you need copper, anyways?”
    Kelly hated question-asking bastards like this one. For a moment
he thought he might make an exception and do him one night, too—just for the
hell of it. There was a lot of meat on him.
    “It’s traditional,” Kelly said with a grin.
    “Well, I don’t have copper wire. Never even seen a spool of it.”
    “Then give me twenty meters of twelve gauge silver wire.”
    Davis disappeared into the back and reappeared carrying a spool of
wire on his forefinger.
    “Thirty meter spool’s all I got.”
    “That’ll do.”
    He walked back along the same route, hoping to get a glimpse of
the prey again, but she was nowhere to be seen. He thought about knocking on
the door to see if she’d answer the knock, just to get another look at her, but
changed his mind. It wouldn’t do to get too friendly right off; she might get
spooked. Besides, being friendly wasn’t his strong suit.
    When he sat down at the table to eat, he took one look at
Hewlett’s empty tray across from him and the smeared food all around it and got
right back up.
    Messy bastard.
    He took his tray into his room. The less contact with Hewlett, or
anybody, the better. He locked the bedroom door. The last thing he wanted was
that asshole coming in on him unexpectedly.
    He went to the closet and pulled the long bag out and hefted it up
on the bed. He loved the feel of the bag’s smooth leather and the weight of it.
He untied the straps holding it shut and pulled the smooth lips of the bag open
gently as if spreading a flower.
    He stripped naked, stepped in front of the mirror and stretched
and twisted his arms, legs and torso. His entire body was tattooed in black and
green swirls. He’d had them done years ago, but time hadn’t dulled their
magnificence. When he twisted, the shapes seemed to come alive and writhed with
an obscene life of their own. It made him smile.
    The wire was next. He made neat wraps of it around his wrists and
ankles, tying the soft wire off after exactly the same number of loops around
each time.
    That done, he lifted the weapon out of the bag and cradled it with
both hands. It appeared to be just a tube about a meter long and as thick as
his forearm. The device was covered with ghostly, ornate and alien swirls in
the same pattern as those on his own body. Had the device been on quiet,
motionless display in a museum, it could have been admired for its alien
beauty.
    If a thing’s beauty could be judged by its function, however, this
one would be one of the most hideous.
    Kelly had no idea where it came from, nor did the trader who sold
it to him. No human who had ever come in contact with it knew what its original
purpose was, if any. Most insisted it was a weapon of some kind used in the
most barbaric contests or maybe warfare. Some thought it to be a religious icon
used in some alien rite of passage or sacrificial ceremony.
    There was a