shadowrun 40 The Burning Time Read Free

the other guy or walk over to Dan.
    Dan didn’t plan to wait around to find out which. He jumped up and headed for the stairs on the other side of the tier, weaving around the people who blocked his path.
    He bumped into a dark-haired woman in a synthleather jumpsuit that clung to her curves like Vita Revak’s in the classic Rambo XX sim. The open neck showed off an expanse of creamy flesh and a sprinkling of freckles. She had long dark hair, a lovely face, and a dazzling smile.
    "Hey, honey, what’s your hurry?" she asked. Dan looked over his shoulder and saw the ork coming closer as he pushed through the crowd.
    "Can I get you a drink or something?" she asked.
    Any other night, that would have been a fantasy come true, but tonight Dan’s only thought was getting away. He stammered an apology and bolted past her down the stairs. When he reached the floor, he began to shoulder his way through the crowd, ignoring the angry protests and shoves. The only thing that mattered was getting out the front door.

    Hammer stood at the top of the stairs and watched Dan Otabi get away.
    "Frag," he said under his breath as Trouble came up to him. She was upset that their mark had gotten away.
    "What the hell happened?" Trouble asked.
    "I dunno," Boom said. "Talon saw something."
    She scanned the dance floor, looking for Talon, then spotted him on the other side of the room. "Over there," she said, already starting down the stairs to find out what was going on.
    The man who’d been talking to Dan Otabi had vanished. In his place was someone who was younger, cleaner, and better-looking. He was standing on the edge of the dance floor, staring out into the mass of people, his eyes slightly unfocused. Most of the club-goers probably thought he was drunk or stoned out, neither of which was a rarity in the Avalon. His chummers knew better, of course. Talon was a mage, with perceptions beyond those of mundanes.
    When they reached his side, Trouble saw that he was crying, the tears running unheeded down his cheeks as his eyes searched the room.
    She had worked the shadows long enough to know you didn’t interfere with a mage doing his thing, but the look on his face had her worried. She grabbed Talon’s shoulder and shook him.
    "Talon! What is it? Did you see something?"
    He turned his tear-streaked face toward her. "It was Jase," he said over the din. "I saw him. Out there on the dance floor."
    His words sent a shiver through her body, but Trouble shook it off. "Jase is dead," she said, as gently as possible amid the uproar. "He’s been dead for fifteen years."
    Talon nodded. "I know, but I saw him, Trouble. He was here. I’m sure of it."

CHAPTER THREE

    "Let me get this straight," Boom said. "Are you telling me we fragged up a meet that took weeks to set up and maybe lost our only real window on the target site because you thought you saw somebody who looked like Jason Vale in the club tonight?"
    "I don’t think I saw him, Boom," Talon said. "I did see him. He was right there, across the dance floor, as plain to me as you are right now."
    Trouble smiled to herself. Boom was a troll, a mass of muscle nearly three meters tall. With his lumpy, greenish skin, ram-like horns, protruding tusks, and the garish Hawai’ian shirts he favored, he stood out in a crowd a lot more than any human ever could.
    Despite appearances, he was actually a big part of the "brains" behind their outfit. Everyone acknowledged Talon’s natural leadership abilities, but Boom was the best when it came to planning. He also had the connections and knew all the right people for getting them work in the shadows.Anything that threatened the team’s reputation, or his, was a concern.
    "I told Otabi to stay where he was," Talon said, somewhat lamely. "I didn’t think he would bolt like a jack rabbit."
    "You didn’t think, period," Boom said. "Taking off in the middle of a meet like that—what did you expect him to do?"
    "It doesn’t really matter," Trouble said,