Hard Light by Elizabeth Hand Read Free Book Online Page A

gangster.”
    â€œMusician-gangster or gangster-gangster?”
    â€œI’m not having you on. Mallory Dunfries, he chopped off some poor arse’s fingers who owed him money.”
    â€œHow do you know him?”
    â€œI don’t. Adrian does—he’s a raver, puts on parties at empty houses round London. He and Mallo were partners—Mallo’s blokes, they’re the ones sold you anything you wanted. Acid, ketamine. Nothing serious, I dunno why they busted him.”
    â€œBut they did?”
    Krishna nodded. “Just a few months. Knuckle rapping, that’s all. Morven’s the scary one. She told me once she used to be a witch. I believe her—I don’t know how Mallo sleeps nights. I told Ado I wouldn’t be alone with her again for anything.”
    â€œThen how come you’re going?”
    â€œâ€™Cause you paid me. And it’s a birthday party. I like cake.” She licked her lips, but her expression suggested she was recalling something other than cake.

 
    8
    We finally got off at a busy intersection, hopping over ankle-deep water at the curb. Cars and double-decker buses whipped through a roundabout as we dashed across the street. I looked in the wrong direction for oncoming traffic and almost got creamed by a cab.
    â€œFucking hell!” Krishna yanked me to the sidewalk. “Watch it!”
    It was pouring now. Krishna pulled her coat over her head. I tugged my collar high as it would go and followed her, jumping across puddles and ducking beneath awnings when we could.
    â€œThat’s it,” she announced, and pointed at a four-story Victorian edifice that occupied an entire corner. Its restored brickwork and ceramic tiles displayed classical Greek figures who appeared to be having much more fun than anyone else in the vicinity. The original windows on the top floor had been replaced with vast panels of sleek black glass. On the street level, a brass sign read BOUDICCA ANTIQUITIES & CURIOS.
    â€œThat’s their shop now,” said Krishna. “Now that Mallo’s gone straight. Gate’s round back,” she went on, fumbling for her mobile. “I don’t know the code to get in—we’ll have to wait for someone if I can’t get hold of Ado.”
    At the end of an alley beside the building stood an impressive security fence, topped with shining razor wire and rows of stainless-steel spikes. A black SUV was parked in the courtyard beyond, rain streaming down the vehicle’s black windows. It was impossible to see if there was anyone inside.
    Krishna glanced at the SUV, texting in vain for Adrian. She shook her head, and a rope of wet hair fell across her cheek. “I told you, I don’t like this place.”
    â€œThey own the whole building?”
    Krishna nodded. “Council was going to tear it down. Mallo bought it and fixed it up. They own that antique shop downstairs. Ado says they rent out the other floors, but I never see anyone else. Look, here’s someone—”
    A burly man in a dark overcoat emerged from the back door and raced through the courtyard in the rain. When he reached the security gate he halted, struggling with an umbrella as he punched a button. The gate buzzed: Krishna quickly pushed it open and we stepped into the courtyard, as the man with the umbrella ran past us into the street.
    â€œI remember the code for this one.” Krishna paused at the former stage door to tap at another keypad. “I watched Morven, last time I was here. 1993, year I was born.”
    â€œChrist,” I muttered.
    Inside, I wondered what the point was of buying a historic structure, then gutting it so it looked like every soulless office building on the planet: gray concrete tiles, gray walls, frosted glass. The entry was brightly lit and had the stale antiseptic smell of a hospital waiting room. A sign pointed the way to Boudicca Antiquities & Curios. Except for a few damp footprints,