The Blade Itself by Marcus Sakey Read Free Book Online Page A

that taking care of Danny was equivalent to taking care of himself.
    Still, it involved a lot of stupid errands like this one. Saturday afternoon, and he had to endure twenty minutes of babble about the post-Internet market and the dangers of IPOs before Richard finally asked about the bids Danny had brought.
    ‘Right here.’ He took the documents from his satchel. ‘I pulled them together last night.’
    ‘Heya, you shouldn’t be working Friday nights.’
    Considering the opportunity had surprised them yesterday morning and that the deadline was this afternoon,Danny wasn’t sure when else Richard had thought it would get done, but he told him it was no trouble. ‘Just sign the last page. I’ll drop them off.’
    Richard smiled. ‘Attaboy. Full service.’ He glanced at the documents, nodded, and scribbled his name with a gold pen he took from his pocket. ‘I’m going for lunch at the club. You like, you can tag along.’
    ‘Got plans.’
    His boss nodded absently, the offer already forgotten. They chatted for another few minutes, and then Richard made a show of looking at his watch. Grateful for the dismissal, Danny finished his scotch and saw himself out. He’d promised Karen a date, and he intended to make good.
    The afternoon had turned out gorgeous, leaves glowing on the trees, sunlight warm on their shoulders. The Lincoln Park Zoo was mobbed, but neither of them minded. They joined the crowd, watching the sea lions circle endlessly; laughing at the flamingos’ awkward poses; feeling a delighted shiver as a lion used its rough tongue to scrape chunks of meat from a bone the size of a canned ham. Danny sprang for cotton candy, and they sat on a bench and shared it.
    When they were finished, he got up to throw the wadded plastic bag in the trash. On his way back he had one of those flashes when he saw her, really saw her. Not through the myopic eyes of habit and time, but as a real person, self-possessed and smiling. How had he gotten so lucky? Not only to get out, but to do it with a woman who knew his past yet was willing to bet on their future. He sat down, then spun and laid his head in her lap. She stroked his hair while the sky burned blue and the wind tossed autumn branches in kaleidoscope patterns.
    ‘Happy.’ He sighed. ‘Very happy.’
    She snorted. ‘You better be. You want me to peel you a grape?’
    He laughed and closed his eyes, listening to the sounds of rattling leaves and the joyful burble of Saturday people. Then something collided with their bench. Danny’s instincts jerked his eyes open and had him bolt upright before he recognized it as a kid, a black boy maybe five years old. The kid paused for a moment and flashed them a dazzling smile, all dimples and white teeth, then rebounded off the bench in the opposite direction. He joined a group of children playing tag in front of the gibbons’ cage, shouting as they raced the restless animals. Danny settled back to find Karen smiling down at him.
    ‘What?’
    ‘Nothing,’ she said, in the tone that meant it wasn’t nothing.
    ‘Really, what?’
    ‘You ever think about having one of those?’
    ‘A little black boy?’
    She laughed and bobbled his head with her knee. ‘I’m serious.’
    ‘Really?’ He could hear the surprise in his own voice. ‘A kid?’
    She looked away, then back. ‘No pressure.’
    ‘No, I just…’ In truth, he hadn’t much thought about it. ‘I don’t know. It’s scary.’ He had a flash of Dad’s pained expression as he stared around the visiting room of Cook County Correctional. That had been hard. But how much harder to endure the same bafflement and hurt on the face of a son? He’d long ago sworn never to have a kid so long as he lived the life.
    But then, he didn’t anymore. It was a fact that continued to surprise and please him, like discovering a wad of cash in the pocket of a coat he rarely wore. He’d been straight foryears, with a job, a home, and a relationship to prove it. Though he