An Inch of Ashes by David Wingrove Read Free Book Online Page B

closed the door and went across, pulling the sheet back slowly, careful not to wake her, exposing the fullness of her rump, the elegance of her back. He studied her a moment, then reached down, shaking her until she woke and turned, looking up at him.
    She was so like her. So much so that even her ‘father’ would have had difficulty telling her from the real thing.
    DeVore smiled and reached out to brush her face tenderly with the back of his hand, watching as she pushed up against it gratefully. Yes. She was nearly ready now.
    ‘Who are you?’ he asked her gently. ‘Tell me what your name is.’
    She hesitated then raised her eyes to his again. ‘Jelka,’ she said. ‘My name is Jelka Tolonen.’
    Jelka was kicking for Siang’s throat when the far wall blew in, sending smoke and debris billowing across the practice arena.
    The shock wave threw her backwards, but she rolled and was up at once, facing the direction of the explosion, seeing at a glance that Siang was dead, huge splinters jutting from his back.
    They came fast through the smoke: three men in black clingsuits, breathing masks hiding their features, their heads jerking from side to side, their guns searching.
    Ping Tiao
assassins. She knew it immediately. And acted...
    A backflip, then a single-handed grab for the exercise rope, her other hand seeking the wallbars.
    The middle assassin fired even as she dropped. Wood splintered next to her. She had only to survive a minute and help would be here.
    A minute. It was too long. She would have to attack.
    She went low, slid on her belly, then was up, jumping high, higher than she had ever leaped before, her body curled into a tight ball. All three were firing now, but the thick smoke was confusing them; they couldn’t see properly through their masks.
    She went low again, behind Siang, taking a short breath before turning and kicking upward.
    One of the men went down, his leg broken. She heard his scream and felt her blood freeze. The other two turned, firing again. Siang’s body jerked and seemed to dance where it lay. But Jelka had moved on, circling them, never stopping, changing direction constantly, dipping low to breathe.
    In a moment they would realize what she was doing and keep their fire at floor level. Then she would be dead.
    Unless she killed them first.
    The fact that there were two hindered them. They couldn’t fire continuously for fear of killing each other. As she turned, they had to try to follow her, but the rapidity of her movements, the unpredictability of her changes of direction, kept wrong-footing them. She saw one of them stumble and took her chance, moving in as he staggered up, catching him beneath the chin with stiffened fingers. She felt the bones give and moved away quickly, coughing now, the smoke getting to her at last.
    Fifteen seconds. Just fifteen seconds.
    Suddenly – from the far end of the arena where the wall had been – there was gunfire. As she collapsed she saw the last of the assassins crumple, his body lifted once, then once again as the shells ripped into him.
    And as she passed into unconsciousness she saw her father standing there, the portable cannon at his hip, its fat muzzle smoking.

Chapter 50
     
    SHADOWS
     
    T olonen sat at his daughter’s bedside, his eyes brimming with tears.
    ‘It was all a terrible mistake, my love. They were after me.’
    Jelka shook her head, but a huge lump sat in her throat at the thought of what had happened.
    She had spent the last ten days in bed, suffering from shock, the after-reaction fierce, frightening. It had felt like she was going mad. Her father had sat with her through the nights, holding her hands, comforting her, robbing himself of sleep to be with her and help her through the worst of it.
    Now she felt better, but still it seemed that everything had changed. Suddenly, hideously, the world had become a mask – a paper-thin veil behind which lay another nightmare world. The walls were no longer quite as solid