Book 09 - Faded Steel Heat Read Free Page B

drive my points home.
    Alyx didn’t hear me. She was too busy talking. “I
guess if there’s anything I really need it’s for you to
watch out for Dad. He was pretty blunt in public when he heard
about the demands. Somebody might want to make him an
example.”
    Exactly.
    Tinnie said, “The men who came to our compound did claim
to be from The Call.” The Tate clan manufactures footwear.
They got rich making combat boots during the war. “But I
don’t think they really were. They were too
nervous.”
    The Dead Man sent,
I
have compared the
recollections of Miss Weider and Miss Tate and must submit the
possibility that we have afoot several bold operators moving in
where they believe they can score quickly by exploiting fear and
hatred.
    There’s nothing so holy some scroat won’t try to
turn a few marks on it. “Somebody’s trying to scam the
rich? They’ll have to stay way ahead of Marengo North
English, then.”
    And I kept right on having trouble getting my mind around the
notion that a honey like Nicks would even talk to Ty Weider. Maybe
I’d just always caught Ty at bad times. Maybe he wasn’t
as hopeless as I thought.
     
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5
    “Have you done anything?” I asked Alyx.
“Besides coming back here till you caught up with me? Did you
talk it over with your dad? Or Ty? Or Manvil? Have they done
anything?”
    “I didn’t discuss it with them. Daddy would say it
wasn’t proper for a lady to take an interest. But if I went
to anybody, he’d want me to go to you. Ty, though, will get
mad when he finds out. He doesn’t want outsiders around.
He’s argued with Dad about you.”
    Big surprise. But Ty’s likes and dislikes never were high
on my list of concerns. “Think he’d cut off my supply
of dark?”
    Nobody got it. Not even the Dead Man, apparently. So much for a
new career in comedy.
    Ladies, you must excuse Garrett. The presence of so much
loveliness in such tight quarters has disoriented him
completely.
    Sarky bastard.
    Nicks jumped at the Dead Man’s first touch but settled
down quickly. She had been forewarned.
    Tinnie and Alyx showed the nonchalance of old hands.
    His Nibs continued,
And I cannot say I blame him this once.
I am overwhelmed myself. And I was dead ages before any of you were
born.
    What a sweet-talker. “Thank you, Old Bones. Maybe if I
shut my eyes and pretend I’m not a robust, hearty, virile
young man whose special lady has shunned him mercilessly . . . ”
    You might consider supplying shovels, high-top boots, and
nose plugs, Garrett.
    “How sharper than a serpent’s tooth. My eyes are
sealed. My breathing is almost normal.”
    Nicks asked, “Is he always like this, Tinnie?”
    “He’s pretty tame right now. Wait till he wakes
up.”
    “Not a tooth, teeth,” I grumbled. “Alyx. Did
your dad take this seriously?”
    “He’s worried. He’s been asking our employees
what they think about The Call. He’s decided we won’t
hire anybody but veterans.”
    He never had. But that wouldn’t satisfy The Call. Although
most human males are veterans not all veterans are human. And
Weider never made a distinction. He wouldn’t now. He protects
his employees like a she-wolf protects her young. Most give him
complete loyalty in return. Me, I even drink his beer.
    But there are always a rotten few who slip through any screen,
or who are brought in by a big wormy apple already loafing in the
barrel.
    The ladies babbled on but I got nothing out of them. I turned to
the Dead Man. He sent:
They are frightened. Time is passing.
Nothing has been done to disarm or appease The Call. Apparently
there is a deadline unknown even to Miss Alyx.
    Miss Alyx now, huh? I watched the Goddamn Parrot nibble out of
Nicks’ fingers. “You want that critter, Nicks? Take
him. Call him my wedding present.”
    Alyx broke into laughter.
    So maybe I’m not a complete bust as a comic. But it would
help to know why they laugh.
    “Sorry,” Alyx said. “But I had this picture of
Mr. Big