Read Online The Darkness of God: Book Three of the Shadow Warrior Trilogy by Chris Bunch - Free Book Online Page B

many years younger than he was now, at the podium at a banquet. Smiling faces, men, women, looked up at him, hands caught in the moment of applause. Wolfe noted the unknown symbol on the podium, moved on.
    Walsh waited patiently until Wolfe returned to his seat, drinking Armagnac. “Well?”
    “Like you said, I’m not stupid,” Wolfe said. “I got two impressions from all those plaudits. First, and least important, is that you’ve had a helluva long run here on Rogan’s World, and it doesn’t look like there’s many who don’t owe you.”
    Walsh nodded once.
    “But that wasn’t, I think, what you wanted me to get,” Wolfe continued. “I’d guess it was a suggestion that all things come to him who waits, and seeing pictures of Edmund Walsh over the years might make me think about developing patience. Or else.”
    “No,” Walsh said, nodding, “you aren’t stupid.”
    Wolfe waited for something else, but Walsh seemed content to remain silent. He drained his snifter. “So what do you want me to do?” he asked.
    “Just what you’re doing,” Walsh said. “Gambling is one of the areas I’ve never been happy with. A little too unorganized for my tastes. I need a good man in place. You’ve got two clubs now — and you can have whatever of Aurus’ goodies you fancy. But no more fancy grabs, eh? Nothing that makes headlines. You’ll get more, in good time. And it won’t be a long time, either. But don’t get greedy for a while. Stick around, and you, too, can end up with people throwing banquets for you as an elder philanthropist with a colorful past. Even giving you government titles that don’t pay shit, but get you a lot of respect. Get antsy now, though, and …”
    Walsh didn’t finish.
    Wolfe stood. “Thank you for the wisdom, Advisor Walsh.”
    His voice was nearly devoid of irony.
    • • •
    “I don’t like it at all,” Wolfe repeated. “That was Aubyn in the picture, sitting beside Walsh. So we’re close. But if Aubyn — or Walsh — had been interested in making any kind of a deal, he would’ve said something, instead of playing ‘tomorrow’s another day.’ He knows good and well gangsters don’t listen to promises. So the only reason I could figure for the meeting is Aubyn wanted to take a look at me. She got it, and now she’s trying to figure out her next move. Think about it, Athelstan! She’s thinking about tactics, and we’re picking our noses and looking at pictures on a wall! That means she’s ahead of us.”
    Onscreen, both Athelstan and Kur started to speak, stopped. Kur inclined her head in deference.
    “Thank you,” Athelstan said. “First, I’ll voice my obvious suspicion — that you’re trying some subterfuge to derail our plan.”
    “Why should I?”
    “Perhaps,” Athelstan said, “because you’ve sensed the ur-Lumina, feel that you can seize it on your own at a later time, and realize once we have possession it’s absolutely lost to you.”
    “Utterly illogical,” Wolfe said. “You’ve no reason to think that except your own suspicions. Or paranoia.”
    Athelstan’s lips pursed, then he recovered. “Admitted. I withhold the canard for the moment.”
    “Another possibility,” Kur put in. “You’re frightened.”
    “Hell yes I’m frightened,” Wolfe said. “This Aubyn has had the biggest goddamned brass lantern as a toy for five years, rubbed it all she wanted, and has a whole goddamned battalion of genies lined up for all I know. She’s clever, she’s mad, and she’s a sociopath. I’m ground zero for her while you sit up there in your spaceship thinking lofty thoughts.”
    “Be careful,” Kur warned.
    “Why? You’ll kill me? What do you think Aubyn wants? To get in my pants?” Wolfe turned to the other three in the room — Kristin, Max, and Lucian. “What do you think? Are we just running scared?”
    Max made no reply.
    “Insufficient data for me to make a judgment,” Lucian said.
    “Negative,” Kristin said.