Read Online Wild Cards [07] Dead Man's Hand by George R.R. Martin - Free Book Online Page B

usually stood on the nightstand lay shattered on the floor. A fencing mask sat in its place.
    Brennan entered the room and stared about in dismay. Just as he reached the smashed bed, a bulky figure appeared at the mouth of the walk-in closet where Chrysalis had kept her extensive wardrobe. Its face was feminine and beautiful, but etched with what looked like chronic pain. Her body was grotesque, huge and blocky under her floor-length black cloak. Something was moving under the cloak. Something twisted and writhed across her chest and abdomen like a sack full of snakes. The intruder stopped short and stared at Brennan, who stared back and pointed his gun.
    "You're the Oddity," Brennan finally said. "Who are you?"
    "No one you know. Call me Yeoman."
    There was another silence, then the Oddity said, "We see. What are you doing here?"
    "That's my question."
    "We're looking for something."
    Brennan's lips quirked in a grimace. "Let's not draw this out."
    "Or what? Shouldn't a threat be in there somewhere?" Brennan's voice was as cold as glacial ice, the hand holding the gun as steady as a statue's. " I don't threaten. I don't play games. I've found you in my friend's bedroom and I'm inclined to believe you had something to do with her death. If you don't want to tell me anything, fine. I'm not going to turn you over to the police. I'm going to leave you dead."
    "We believe you would try," the Oddity said softly. Brennan said nothing.
    "All right." She sighed. "We had nothing to do. with Chrysalis's death. When we heard about it, we came looking for something... some information that Chrysalis was blackmailing us with. We just wanted to recover it before the police found it."
    Brennan scowled. "Blackmailing you? For money?" The Oddity nodded, then her face suddenly screwed up in an expression of intense pain. She gasped and fell to her knees, her arms crossing over her stomach. She threw back her head, her face a rictus of suffering.
    "Christ," Brennan murmured. The Oddity wasn't acting. She was in intense, uncontrollable pain. Brennan didn't know what to do or how to help her. He started to approach the helpless joker, but she held out a hand to ward him off. He stared as her features crawled from her face and slid down the side of her throat. Another set of features, swarthy and masculine, began to move around from the back of her head.
    The new eyes stared at Brennan with suspicion. Even before they were properly in place, even before the Oddity finished .moaning, he-as Brennan now thought of the joker stood, grabbed the leg of the end table that stood near the bed, and threw it at Brennan with a flick of his wrist. Brennan ducked and squeezed o$ a shot.
    He never knew if the bullet hit home, because the Oddity charged at him like a fullback blasting for the goal line, and when they collided, it felt as if he'd been smashed by a sack full of bricks.
    He twisted away and placed a powerful side kick into the squirming mass that was the Oddity's torso. A feminine hand gabbed him, and it was much, much stronger than his. It pulled at him and he followed it without resistance as it whirled him around and slammed him against the wall hard enough to make his teeth clatter and his back ache.
    His gun flew away. He hit the floor, rolled, and grabbed a knickknack stand of solid oak. He swung it with all his strength and caught the Oddity in the side. The stand shattered. His arms quivered with shock and he tried unsuccessfully to shake the numbness from his hands. The Oddity hadn't even budged.
    He swung at Brennan and Brennan dodged, dodged, and dodged again, dangling his hands at his side, trying to get feeling to return to them. He retreated until he felt a wall against his back and the Oddity loomed before him, scowling with ferocious anger.
    He swung again and Brennan ducked, sliding down the wall as the Oddity's fist smashed through it, his arm punching into the wall cavity to the shoulder.
    Brennan slipped around to the side and