The Dark Knight Rises: The Official Novelization by Greg Cox Read Free Book Online Page A

cluelessly.
    “Place is a little dead,” Jen said as Selina took the envelope.
    “It will liven up in a minute, trust me.”
    Jen picked up on the tension in the room.
    “Everything okay?”
    “Great,” Selina lied. “See you later.”
    To her relief, Stryver let the girl depart, perhaps to avoid any unnecessary complications. Or maybe he just had a soft spot for blondes. Taking the envelope from Selina, he inspected a second transparency. This one bore the flawless image of a single thumbprint.
    He nodded in satisfaction.
    “It would have been a lot easier,” she pointed out, “to just give me what we agreed on.”
    He shook his head.
    “We can’t have any loose ends.” He looked her over appreciatively. “And, even in that dress, no one is going to miss you.”
    “No,” she agreed. “But my friend over there?” She cocked her head toward the bar, where her oblivious “date” was drooling into a bowl of cocktail peanuts. “Every cop in the city’s missing him.”
    As if on cue, a news update flashed across the screen of the muted television set. A headline scrolled beneath a campaign photo of a certain prominent local politician.
    MANHUNT FOR MISSING CONGRESSMAN
    Stryver’s startled gaze darted between the TV and the drunk, and then back again.
    “Cute,” he said, recovering quickly. “But they’re not going to be looking for him in a place like this.”
    “I don’t know,” she countered. “You did just use his cell phone.”
    Stryver stared in horror at the phone in his hand. He hastily wiped it down with a silk handkerchief, even as—all at once—the entire Gotham City Police Department seemed to converge upon the bar. Sirens blared outside, drowning out the jukebox. The noisy whirr of helicopter blades came from above, growing louder by the moment. Spinning red gumball lightscould be glimpsed through the drawn window shades.
    Brakes squealed.
    Boots pounded toward the door.
    Stryver’s face blanched. He glanced toward the window. Clearly, this wasn’t part of his plan.
    She seized the moment. Moving quickly, she cracked his head against the table, then grabbed the big bruiser’s gun hand and flipped over the table with feline grace and dexterity. Before the baffled thug even knew what was happening, she used his gun and opened fire on the other hoods. Winged henchmen yelped and dropped to the floor.
    Selina pistol-whipped the gunman, knocking him senseless, and dived beneath the table. Just in time…
    A SWAT team, each member in full body armor and a faceless black helmet, battered down the door. They fanned out through the bar, the lasers on their automatic rifles sweeping the premises, vivid in the smoke-laden air.
    Right on schedule, she thought.
    Cowering beneath the table, she screamed as though terrified. A helmeted trooper came to her rescue.
    “It’s all right, miss,” he said gruffly. “Just stay down.”
    The SWAT team stampeded past her, chasing Stryver and his remaining thugs into a back alley, even as wounded hoodlums groaned and writhed upon the floor. Making sure the coast was clear, she got up and strolled toward the door. A whimper caught her ear and she spied Congressman Gilly crouching beneaththe bar, clutching his leg. The pathetic figure was a far cry from the smug politician in the campaign photo— no wonder the SWAT boys hadn’t ID’d him yet.
    “Keep some pressure on that, sweetheart,” she advised him. She took a moment to adjust her dress.
    Bleary eyes watched her leave.
    “Call me?” he pleaded.
    Blake chased after the SWAT guys, eager to get in on the action. A pretty girl in a black dress, rushing out of the bar, ran right into him. She looked terrified.
    “There’s a man in there!” she said frantically, sounding scared out of her wits. “He’s bleeding!”
    He did his best to calm her.
    “It’s okay, miss,” he said. “It’s okay.”
    Impatient to get into to the bar, and frustrated by the delay, he nonetheless took the time to guide