Robert Charrette - Arthur 03 - A Knight Among Knaves by Robert N. Charrette Read Free Book Online Page A

nothing.
    He was drowning in her eyes.
    I don't want you to run away from me," he told her when he found his voice.
    Her answer was slow in coming. "It's not you."
    Then why?"
    It's—" She turned her face away. She seemed to be struggling for a way to express the problem. "It's that weird stuff. It's scary, Jack. That winged monster. The creepoid place ya slump. And that elf guy who says he's your father. I don't understand it, Jack. It's like a bad virtual, only it ain't a virtual. It's all too weird."
    Sometimes John felt that way himself. Gently he turned her face back to his. "There's nothing to be afraid of."
    "Ain't there? Ya telling me ya got it all under control?"
    Her eyes were so deep, her warmth so near.
    Under control? Hardly.
    Mis lips sought hers. After a frozen second, she responded. their hands groped through the barriers of clothes that separated them. His hand found her gun's hiding place. She didn't object when he put it aside; in fact, she helped. There wore more important, more immediate needs. The mattress in her slump was dirty and it stank of mildew, but it was softer than the floor. He basked in her heat, bathed in her passion, and when it was over and they lay in each other's arms, he felt full, satisfied, sated. She curled warmly in his embrace, almost purring.
    He would have been content to pass eternity that way, but she wasn't. From beneath the mattress she pulled a headset and put it on. Music, or something resembling it, leaked from the earpiece. John had thought that they might talk. He tapped the headset and raised a quizzical eyebrow.
    "Crying Child™," she said, smiling, and slipped the headset onto John. "It's Willie Hunter's new album. I don't know if I like it yet. She's been experimenting a lot since she left Urban Wilderness™. Ya like?"
    Experimental was a kind way of describing what John was hearing. The pounding, raucous beat trashed most of the lyrics, but at least it did have lyrics. Most popular sound only used words as another kind of noise, and John had never cared much for music that didn't have a story or theme. Words had always made the music's story clearer for him He tried to find the story in the piece he was listening to. It took a few moments but he finally caught a bit of the tale be hind the music, realizing with surprise that the song had something to do with the legend of Tam Lin. Willie Hunter's plaintive voice was complaining of the queen's "timely tithe to hell."
    John was reminded of the passage of time.
    "I have to go away for a while," he said.
    The suspicion that had been in her eyes when they met on the street returned. To allay it, he said, "I'll come back."
    "When?" Her voice was very soft, guarded.
    "Soon."
    The talk didn't go very well, but in the end, by the time he had to leave, she said that she understood.
    "I keep my promises," he told her.
    She smiled, and kissed him, and said, "See ya soon, then."
    CHAPTER
    4
    Holger was driving south on the M27 heading for Southampton's old city center when the alarm went up. The agent he'd left active in the facility's computer had detected th e signs, watched for and captured the alert, and narrowcast a copy to him. In reaction to Holger's neutralization of gilmore and Chartain, the Department had chosen to break th e rules of the test; the alert carried a directive from the big man to all involved agents: converge on the old city center. The free ride was over. Time to watch his back.
    He checked the time. Not bad. He hadn't gotten as far as he'd hoped, but not bad.
    He was a bit surprised by the directive. Vectoring the opposition in on him was contrary to the rules. Holger hadn't broken the rules of the game, just stretched them. Hardly a fair response to break them as a counter, but then it wasn't a fair world. In a fair world, it wouldn't be raining tonight.
    At least the big man hadn't gone all the way and revealed Holger's destination point. Not yet, anyway. The game was still on. There was still a