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And then everything on the table between us began to tremble and clatter. The cutlery and the plates jumped and bounced on the immaculate tablecloth. The table rocked back and forth, its legs slamming up and down with increasing force. The floor lurched, and the whole Dining Room shook and shuddered. People cried out and clung to their juddering tables. And then it all died slowly away, and the reverberations in my head disappeared with it. I rose easily to my feet and smiled down at the openly astonished Walker.
"How about that?" I said. "So much for His Master's Voice. Perhaps I am my mother's son after all."
I walked away, and no-one wanted to look at me. I carefully chose my path to take me past Julien Advent's table, and when I was sure there was a wide marble pillar between me and Walker's table, I dropped suddenly into a chair beside Julien, and sank down, so that his body helped to hide me. I put a finger to my lips to hush him, and he nodded agreeably. By leaning back just right, I could see Walker at his table in the corner. He was so taken up with his own thoughts it was clear he hadn't noticed I never actually left the room. I'd thought that last parting shot would distract him. I wanted to see what he would do, who he would talk to, now he knew he didn't have his Reasonable Men to hold over me.
In the end, he called for a footman to clear away the mess on his table, then looked sharply to one side and nodded, A beautiful woman appeared suddenly from behind a concealing glamour, right beside the table. I cursed quietly. I'd been so focussed on Walker, and what he was saying, that I hadn't even sensed someone else was listening, unobserved. I must be getting old. I didn't used to make mistakes like that. And it didn't help at all that I recognised the stu
Bad Pe
We knew each other. A bit. Ships that passed in the night and kept on going. We didn't approve of each other, but we had been known to work together, occasionally. When no-one else would do.
Walker invited her to sit down at his table, and immediately the footman was there to pull her chair out for her, then push it back in again. Bad Pe
"You needn't bother with a menu," Walker said calmly to the footman. "The lady isn't stopping."
Bad Pe
Walker waved the footman away, and he disappeared reluctantly. I leaned out a little way from Julien's table, to hear them more clearly. Bad Pe
I was just a bit surprised that Bad Pe
"I do hope this isn't about a honey trap, darling, because I don't do those any more," she said flatly to Walker. "They're just too easy, my dear; there's no challenge in it. Been there, done that, starred in the video. These days I prefer to specialise in cu
"And a little discreet blackmail," said Walker. "To keep your coffers full."
Bad Pe
"You were listening to my little chat with John Taylor."
"Well yes, but I can't honestly say it made much sense to me."
"I want you to take care of Taylor."
Bad Pe
"I want you to do whatever it takes to prevent him from completing his mission. I want him off his present case, and I don't care how you do it."
"So ... dear John is no longer under your protection?"
"No," said Walker. "Can you take him?"
"Of course, darling! He's just a man."
"Distract him. Divert him. Do whatever you think necessary. But, if all else fails, you are authorised to eliminate him."
"I get to kill John Taylor?" said Bad Pe
"If all else fails," Walker said sternly, but Bad Pe
"How shall I kill thee, let me count the ways ... That Shotgun Suzie thinks she's so hot. I'll show her"
I decided it was time to leave. Hell hath no fury like a woman you really shouldn't have slept with.
Five - All Answers Become Clear, in Time.
I'd only just sneaked out of that august establishment and snobs' central, the Londinium Club, when my cell phone rang. (It plays the theme from the Twilight Zone TV show. What else?) I hauled the phone out of my coat pocket and looked at it suspiciously. It very rarely rang, partly because only a very few people have my number, but mostly because they all knew better than to use it for anything less than a real run for the hills emergency. The line is not secure. Not only is there never any shortage of people potentially listening in, sometimes they actually join in the conversation. There's also the problem of pop-in advertising, intrusions from other dimensions, and the occasional possession of the phone by pervert demons with a thing about technology. I have to admit I'm not even sure how cell phones work in the Nightside, well out of reach of the everyday world's satellites and relay stations. (Though at least that means my enemies can't use Global Positioning to find me.) I've always assumed the cell phone system is supported by heavy-duty sorcery, but I have absolutely no idea who might be providing it, or why. Or when they're going to get around to charging for it. All things that would worry me, if I were the worrying sort.