Read Online The Sacrifice Game by Brian D’Amato - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Brian D’Amato
Ads: Link
Muad’Jed. Get a grip. I got a grip on her head, but it didn’t help. Marena came up for air.
“You’re distracted,” she said.
“No, I’m . . . I’m, I’m, I’m a simple soul today, I’m—”
“No, your sacral chakra’s off-line. You’re up to something.”
“No,” I said, “I’m just, you know, preoccu—”
“No, I think you’re feeling distrustful.”
“Well . . .”
“Okay, fine,” she said. She pushed both of the buttons down halfway, stopping both clocks, and resettled herself in a lotosish position. “Look, tell you what, I’ll give you three Truth or Deaths.”
( 8 )
“S orry?”
“You ask me anything, any one thing at a time, and I’ll tell you the absolute truth, and then I get to ask you and et sequels.”
“Sequentes,” I said.
“Right. Boy, you’re really on a Latin kick.”
“Well, I’m a Latin American.”
“Uh-huh.”
“What’s the death part?” I asked.
“You have to tell the truth, like, whole and nothing but. Or else drink hemlock.”
“Is that a real game?”
“So I’ll come totally clean if you will. Okay? Pinkie swear.”
“Okay.” We swore. Her pinkie nearly ripped mine off its metacarpal capitulum.
“You start. Ask me whatevs.”
“Okay. You set me up, right?”
“In what way?” she asked. She didn’t hesitate. She was a cool customer.
“All the time when I was explaining to you about the colored directions and whatever else about the Sacrifice Game and whatever, you actually knew all about it.”
“No, I did not—I didn’t know all that stuff, in fact I still don’t understand it, in—”
“But like, when I—the first time I came to your office, you guys already wanted to reel me in, right? Taro’d said I’d want to see the Codex and you used that to bait me. Right?”
“Well, there’s some truth to that, but you weren’t the only—I mean, we looked up at least four others of Taro’s students from when he was in New Haven and interviewed all of them.”
“But when I begged you to send me you’d already decided to.”
“No, not entirely.”
“But you thought I’d be better at it, I mean, instead of Tony Sic, to zap back to Mayaland, but you figured I’d get spooked unless I thought I was convincing you to let me do it. Right?”
“We hadn’t decided between you and Tony yet.”
“But
you
thought I should do it and not Sic. You were being really deceptive.”
“Well, okay, I’ll say—but, I mean, come on. Would you say you’re a very trusting person?”
“Uh, no.”
“If you’d thought we had any—you wouldn’t have gotten near us. Right?”
“Well, maybe I . . . I guess not.” Any what? I wondered. Nefarious designs, I guess. Let it go.
“So I’ll say yes, but now you’re glad anyway, right?” Finally, she succeeded in severing the fingernail’s last attachment with her left canine tooth.
“Okay, right,” I said. “That’s all I wanted to know.” Somehow, now, it didn’t seem like she’d done anything so bad.
She moved the loose nail into position with her tongue and started chewing on it with the same level of unself-conscious purposefulness my Jasus crayfish exhibit when they eat their molted exoskeletons. “Okay,” she said. “My turn.”
“Okay.” Okay, I thought. Don’t stiffen up. But don’t flail either. Make normal-sized arm gestures. No hunching over. And if you have to lie, it’s just like with a polygraph, you have to make yourself believe you’re telling the truth. How’d I get into this? I don’t have to do—except I still wanted to find out about what had happened in Guatemala. If anything. After all, she’d been down there for months. The last I’d heard she’d still been at the Stake, trying to get permission from the Guates to dig officially at Ix Ruinas. But maybe something more had happened. Or was going to happen. Maybe they’d found the tomb and there was more info in it. And if it looked like Jed 2 ’s memories would
“You’re distracted,” she said.
“No, I’m . . . I’m, I’m, I’m a simple soul today, I’m—”
“No, your sacral chakra’s off-line. You’re up to something.”
“No,” I said, “I’m just, you know, preoccu—”
“No, I think you’re feeling distrustful.”
“Well . . .”
“Okay, fine,” she said. She pushed both of the buttons down halfway, stopping both clocks, and resettled herself in a lotosish position. “Look, tell you what, I’ll give you three Truth or Deaths.”
( 8 )
“S orry?”
“You ask me anything, any one thing at a time, and I’ll tell you the absolute truth, and then I get to ask you and et sequels.”
“Sequentes,” I said.
“Right. Boy, you’re really on a Latin kick.”
“Well, I’m a Latin American.”
“Uh-huh.”
“What’s the death part?” I asked.
“You have to tell the truth, like, whole and nothing but. Or else drink hemlock.”
“Is that a real game?”
“So I’ll come totally clean if you will. Okay? Pinkie swear.”
“Okay.” We swore. Her pinkie nearly ripped mine off its metacarpal capitulum.
“You start. Ask me whatevs.”
“Okay. You set me up, right?”
“In what way?” she asked. She didn’t hesitate. She was a cool customer.
“All the time when I was explaining to you about the colored directions and whatever else about the Sacrifice Game and whatever, you actually knew all about it.”
“No, I did not—I didn’t know all that stuff, in fact I still don’t understand it, in—”
“But like, when I—the first time I came to your office, you guys already wanted to reel me in, right? Taro’d said I’d want to see the Codex and you used that to bait me. Right?”
“Well, there’s some truth to that, but you weren’t the only—I mean, we looked up at least four others of Taro’s students from when he was in New Haven and interviewed all of them.”
“But when I begged you to send me you’d already decided to.”
“No, not entirely.”
“But you thought I’d be better at it, I mean, instead of Tony Sic, to zap back to Mayaland, but you figured I’d get spooked unless I thought I was convincing you to let me do it. Right?”
“We hadn’t decided between you and Tony yet.”
“But
you
thought I should do it and not Sic. You were being really deceptive.”
“Well, okay, I’ll say—but, I mean, come on. Would you say you’re a very trusting person?”
“Uh, no.”
“If you’d thought we had any—you wouldn’t have gotten near us. Right?”
“Well, maybe I . . . I guess not.” Any what? I wondered. Nefarious designs, I guess. Let it go.
“So I’ll say yes, but now you’re glad anyway, right?” Finally, she succeeded in severing the fingernail’s last attachment with her left canine tooth.
“Okay, right,” I said. “That’s all I wanted to know.” Somehow, now, it didn’t seem like she’d done anything so bad.
She moved the loose nail into position with her tongue and started chewing on it with the same level of unself-conscious purposefulness my Jasus crayfish exhibit when they eat their molted exoskeletons. “Okay,” she said. “My turn.”
“Okay.” Okay, I thought. Don’t stiffen up. But don’t flail either. Make normal-sized arm gestures. No hunching over. And if you have to lie, it’s just like with a polygraph, you have to make yourself believe you’re telling the truth. How’d I get into this? I don’t have to do—except I still wanted to find out about what had happened in Guatemala. If anything. After all, she’d been down there for months. The last I’d heard she’d still been at the Stake, trying to get permission from the Guates to dig officially at Ix Ruinas. But maybe something more had happened. Or was going to happen. Maybe they’d found the tomb and there was more info in it. And if it looked like Jed 2 ’s memories would
Similar Books
