A Gathering of Widowmakers (The Widowmaker #4) by Mike Resnick Read Free Book Online Page A

"But it's a damned good analogy, isn't it?"
    "How can you joke?" snapped Kinoshita. "You're walking into the most dangerous piece of real estate within five thousand light years, and if I know you, you're going to seek out the men whose deaths will make the most news."
    "Have you got a better way to send him word that we're here? When he hears that a Widowmaker is collecting bounties, he'll have to come."
    "It's suicidal!" snapped Kinoshita. "You're an old man, for God's sake!"
    "Keep your voice down," said Nighthawk. "No sense getting us shot at before we even arrive."
    "You fucking Widowmakers are all alike!" muttered Kinoshita. "You're the worst of them. At least they have some excuse—they get it from you."
    "If you're worried, go back to the ship and wait for me. You'll be perfectly safe there."
    "You go to hell."
    "Make up your mind," said Nighthawk. "Do you serve the Widowmaker or just bitch about him?"
    "I serve him," said Kinoshita, lowering his voice. "But there are days I wish I'd never met him."
    "Then why do you serve us?"
    "You know," said Kinoshita, "that's the first time you've ever asked me about myself."
    "It stopped you from yelling."
    Kinoshita ignored the remark. "When I was a young man, I was a police officer on Deluros VIII, and my given name was Jerome Hayakawa. My first two partners were killed in the line of duty, and I took their names—Ito and Kinoshita. It's a damned silly name for anyone of my ancestry; it would be like calling yourself Jones Smith. But I did it so I'd never forget them. I quit the force when the courts insisted on giving lenient sentences to men who should have been put to death for their crimes. I decided to move to the Outer Frontier and become a bounty hunter, so that when I caught up with a killer the courts would never give him a chance to kill again."
    "So how did you get in the clone-training business?" asked Nighthawk.
    "I was recovering back on Deluros from some minor wounds and I had some time to kill, so I took the job of training your first clone." He paused and sighed. "I knew five minutes into it that I was lucky to still be alive, that his abilities were so far beyond mine—or anyone else's I'd ever seen—that for the first time in my life I became aware of my own mortality. I knew that he would be far better at my chosen mission than I could ever be, and so I made up my mind to serve the Widowmaker, as my Samurai ancestors served their feudal lords."
    "Interesting," was Nighthawk's only comment.
    "But that doesn't mean I have to like it when the Widowmaker behaves like an asshole—either the newest one or the original."
    "Do you feel better now?" asked Nighthawk.
    Kinoshita sighed. "Yeah, actually I do." He paused. "As long as I've known you and your clones, I've never known how or why you became the Widowmaker in the first place. They were created to be the Widowmaker; you chose to be. Someday I'd like you to tell me about it."
    "Someday," said Nighthawk. He stopped at a street corner. "This is it. We cross the street, we're in the District."
    "Then what?"
    "Then we find a room."
    "I beg your pardon?"
    "A room," repeated Nighthawk. "Unless you plan to sleep in the street."
    Kinoshita frowned. "I wasn't planning to spend the night here at all. I figured you'd do what you came to do and then we'll get the hell out of here before everyone starts shooting at us."
    "You haven't been paying attention, have you?" said Nighthawk. "There's no sense drawing Jeff to New Barcelona if I'm not here to meet him."
    "So you're going to kill some butcher or other and then stick around?" demanded Kinoshita.
    "Just killing one won't make enough news."
    " Oh, shit !" muttered Kinoshita. "What are you letting us in for?"
    "Shut up," said Nighthawk.
    "You're a goddamned lunatic!"
    "I said shut up," repeated Nightawk, and as had happened in the past, Kinoshita realized that Jefferson Nighthawk had disappeared completely, to be replaced by the Widowmaker. "I didn't ask for this.