[Wildcards 10] - Double Solitaire by George R. R. Martin Read Free Book Online Page B

and Joey Di Angelis. Which explained his present fury and consternation. Starshine had folded his arms across his chest and was eyeing Tom with Olympian disdain. Tach knew that was part of the problem. It wasn't helping Tom to have this Adonis in his face.
    "Jesus, Tachy, why did you have to come here ?"
    "If you're scared, you don't have to worry. We weren't traced," Starshine said. " I saw to that."
    "Hey, dumbshit --" Tom began.
    Tach quickly interrupted. "Where else could I go? They'll be watching the clinic, my friends. They locked me up, Tommy. I can't take being locked up anymore!" Her voice had gone all ragged and stretched.
    Tom slumped into a chair. "Christ, Tach, you just tumble from one crisis to another." He scrubbed at his face with a hand, took a pull on his beer. "Anybody want anything?"
    "Do you have any Perrier?" Starshine asked.
    Tom rolled an eye, grabbed Tach by the wrist, and pulled her out of the room.
    Hurriedly Tach said, "He'll only be here for, oh, maybe another twenty minutes."
    "If he's going to leave, couldn't he do it now?"
    "He'd have to become somebody else, and I'd rather have him become the person he truly is --"
    Hands on her shoulders, he halted her nervous pacing. "Are you okay?"
    "Yes... no. I've got to get to Manhattan. Please, Tommy, just let Mark stay here. As soon as I'm back, we'll both go away, and you can be comfortable again."
    Tommy scrubbed his face with both hands, sighed, said, "You want somebody to go with you?"
    "No, alone is better."
    "You're not going to the clinic, are you?"
    "No. I need to break into someone's house. And for that I need Jay Ackroyd."
     
    "The dame entered my office. She moved with an aggressive waddle that let me know right away she was trouble. I waited. How would she come on to me? The ever-popular ploy of the pregnant woman -- the flood of tears? The premature labor --"
    Tachyon had a feeling that Jay Ackroyd was going to continue in this irritating vein for a good long while. So she poured his coffee in his lap. The stream of bad prose became a stream of invective. Ackroyd yanked tissue from the box on his desk and mopped at his crotch.
    "Motherfucker! I just got these back from the cleaners." Jay looked up, aggrieved. "And you could have burned my willie off."
    "A small loss," said Tachyon, and she carefully settled into a chair. It was apparent from the banner headline -- TACHYON'S TORMENT: WHO'S THE FATHER? -- and the photo on the cover of Aces magazine why Jay was so sanguine about her appearance. Also piled on the desk were five newspapers. CIVIL WAR? queried one headline. WAR IN THE BAY? asked another. Tach shivered and looked away.
    "Is there some reason why you're here, or did you just feel an overwhelming need to take it out on a convenient man for the predicament you're in?"
    "I wish to hire you."
    "First, a question. How'd you get off Governor's Island?"
    "I escaped," Tachyon replied.
    "Great." Jay swiveled around in his chair and peered through the venetian blinds at the street below. "Is there an army of goons right behind you?"
    "No. I was careful."
    "So what's the job? Look for a runaway father?"
    The only thing that kept her from going down the detective's throat was the knowledge that wisecracking was as natural to Jay Ackroyd as breathing. Even when it would result in a lot less pain, the private investigator couldn't resist shooting his mouth. It usually ended with a fist in said mouth, but Jay persevered. He was either very brave or very stupid. Tachyon still hadn't decided which.
    "I want you to teleport me into Jube's apartment."
    "When he's not there?"
    "Of course when he's not there," snapped Tach, exasperated. "If he was there, I would just knock on the door."
    "So why don't you do that?"
    "It would be rude to search a house with the owner present."
    That boosted Ackroyd out of his chair. He took a nervous turn about the small office. "I've never been in Jube's apartment. I can't teleport if I haven't been there."
    "Liar."