NECROM

"What is it?"

" Urgent call for Doctor Kooning."

As she opened the door to the cubicle, two men pushed their way inside. They were dirty, unshaven men wearing stained duster coats and wide-brimmed hats. They smelled bad and had guns in their hands, grins on their faces, and Errol Fly

"How the fuck did you guys get here?"

Yancey Slide and Gideon Windemere were crowded into the small cubicle. The only thing that convinced Gibson he wasn't losing his mind was Kooning bleating with fury. "I'm going to call the police."

Slide laughed and pushed Kooning back down into her chair. "Can it, lady. We're having a reunion." He winked at Gibson. "We figured that we ought to get you out of here, particularly when we found that some associates of Rampton were picking up the tab."

"What took you so long?"

"We've both been kept a little busy."

Kooning looked as though she was about to explode. "You men are in very serious trouble."

Slide pointed his pistol at her and thumbed back the hammer. "You keep your mouth shut, Doc, or I'll do a job on your head, show you what trouble really is."

He turned to Gibson. "Are you ready to get up and go?"

Gibson nodded. "I've been trying to get up and go for months."

Gibson was so medicated that the race through the clinic and out through the front entrance took on an air of pure fantasy. On the final landing, a bunch of male nurses came at them but quickly backed away when they saw the guns. Undoubtedly they were straight on the phone to the cops, but this didn't seem to worry Slide in the slightest,

"We'll be long gone by the time the cops get organized."

The black Hudson was waiting at the curb. Gibson noticed with a smile that it was illegally parked. The three of them quickly ducked inside, Slide and Windemere in the front and Gibson in the back.

"Where's Nephredana? Is she okay?"

Slide glanced back and nodded. "Sure. She'll be where we're going by the time we get there."

Windemere turned and gri

Slide laughed. "Or they will."

"Where are we going?"

"Some secluded spot where we can get you dried out of all the crap that fucking place has been pumping into you."

"My dimension or yours?"

"Do you care?"

Gibson shook his head. "No."

They were now in the Midtown Tu

Slide gri

Windemere looked curiously at Gibson. "How come you aren't demanding to know what's going on? You usually do."

Gibson closed his eyes. "I think I have a headache."

Windemere and Slide both guffawed. "And we're drunk."

"What weird shit are we being pitchforked into now?"

Slide shook his head. "No weird shit, kid. We can do exactly what we want to do for the moment. We're free men."

Gibson scowled. "We're men out of time."

"So make the most of it."

Gibson wished that he was drank, too. "It won't last. Events have a habit of catching up with us."

Slide didn't seem to be in the mood for any negative input.

"Shit, kid, events are like cosmic waves. You just gotta ride them."

Gibson fell into line with a half smile. "Are you suggesting we all go cosmic surfing?"

Slide roared. "Exactly that, kid. Exactly that."