"Cook, Glen - Garrett 02 - Bitter Gold Hearts" - читать интересную книгу автора (Cook Glen)

"To me it is."
"Wait for me at the front door, Morley. So. Tell me."
"My brother came home this morning. They let him go."
"Good for him."
"That means Domina paid the ransom."
"Seems likely. So?"
"So there's two hundred thousand gold marks out there somewhere that belong to my family, that somebody couldn't yell about if it got taken away. Do you think you could find it?"
"Maybe. If I wanted to bad enough. A chunk like that, in the hands of amateurs, would leave a trail like a rogue mammoth. The trick would be getting to it before all the other sharpshooters in town."
"Help me find it, Garrett. You can have half."
"Whoa, girl. That's asking for big trouble with no guarantee of anyЧ"
"This may be my first, last, and only chance to make a hit big enough to get away from my mother. If I could get that money before she comes home, I could disappear so thoroughly she couldn't find me with an army. You could do pretty good with a hundred thousand, too."
"That I could. That I could."
She posed. "And there are ancillary benefits, too."
"Yes. Yes indeed. I'll need some time to think about what I'd need and what I'd have to do. In the meantime, I've got a friend in the infirmary trying to die. I want to see him before he goes."
"Sure." She didn't sound thrilled to hear about obligations imposed by friendship. "I'll come back tomorrow if I can get away from Courter and his bullies. Next day for sure. Maybe you could give that old man the day off." She turned on the smile.
"Maybe I'll think about that too."
She giggled. "You do that."
I patted her fanny. "Come on. Off with you. My friend Morley will be getting impatient." I followed her to the front door. There is nothing I can say to disparage the view from that perspective.
Dean was waiting to bolt up after me, which meant he had been eavesdropping again. I shot him an ugly glare, but it ricocheted like water off the proverbial duck.
Morley was waiting outside. While I stood listening to Dean shoot the bolts, we appreciated Amber's departure.
"Where do you find them, Garrett?"
"I don't. They find me."
"Bull feathers."
"It's true. I just sit here like a big old trapdoor spider and nab them when they walk by. Then I turn on the Garrett charm and they swoon into my arms."
"That one is no swooner, Garrett. The one the other night wasn't, either. High Hill fluff, both of them. Right?"
"Off the Hill. I wouldn't call them fluff."
"No. Probably not." He sighed. "Why doesn't something like that ever turn up at my place?"
"You're doing all right from what I see. Don't get your heart set on this one. You'd be asking for a visit from the whirlwind. Her mother is a Stormwarden."
"Another dream shattered by bitter reality. Still, it's a pity. A pityЧthat's sweet. Let's go see Saucer head and find out which way to lay our bets."


______ XII ______

THE BLEDSOE INFIRMARY is an imperial charity, meaning it's supposed to provide medical care for the indigent. If you're in the place, though, your chances improve a hell of a lot if you or a friend happen to come up with some cash. Human nature, 1 guess. I'm not always the biggest fan of my own species. They weren't going to let me near Saucer head at first. He was supposedly in real bad shape and would be checking out very soon. Then somebody saw the flash of gold between my fingers and heard a hint or two about metal changing hands if the prognosis improved, and first thing you knew the whole infirmary had a new attitude. Zip! Morley and I were in Saucer headТs ward watching a gang of physicians and healers do their stuff.
Saucer head looked terrible when they started, paper pale after losing what appeared to be several gallons of blood. He didn't look much better when they finished, but his breathing was steadier, less inclined to the characteristic sighs. I scattered a few marks and showed that I had a few more that might want to keep the others company. Saucer head didn't do anything but breathe for a couple of hours. Good enough by me. That put us a few points up on Death.
Morley spoke only once the entire time we were waiting, in a tiny whisper. "If I ever get so desperate I come in here, you come cut my throat and put me out of my misery." The remark illuminated the side of Morley Dotes with a morbid dread of sickness. After this visit he would be on double rations, stoking up on green leafies and whatnot, for weeks.
Not that the Bledsoe was anybody's idea of heaven. One look around was enough to curdle a vampire's bones. And this was just a ward to die in. The insane wards are supposed to be ripped straight out of the dungeons of hell. I couldn't figure why Saucer head had picked the Bledsoe. He was no tycoon but he wasn't a pauper, either.
We saw only one other vertical human being after the staff left, a priest who was probably the only decent human being working the Bledsoe. I knew him vaguely. He was one of the bigger names in one of the more obscure and bizarre of the several hundred cults hag-riding TunFaire. He came over and stared down at the huge slab of muscle that was Saucer head Tharpe. There was a nobility about Tharpe even in his extremity. It recalled the nobility of the lion or the mammoth. A good guy to have on your side, a bad guy to have for an enemy, simple, trustworthy, and as tough as they make them.
"Has he had his rites?"
"I don't know, Father."
"What gods did he have?"
I put temptation aside. "None that I know about. But we don't need sacraments. This is a life watch, not a deathwatch. He's going to make it."
The priest checked the name chalked on the wall above the head of Saucer headТs cot. "I'll say a prayer for him." Small smile. "It never hurts, even with a sure thing." He went on to those who needed him more, leaving me with the suspicion I had been one-upped.
Saucer head must have been awake awhile before he let us know. His first remark, a hoarse croak, was, "Garrett, remind me to stay the hell away from your women."
I grunted and waited.
"Getting that one out of the Cantard got me half killed. I thought this one did me all the way."
"Yeah. What the hell did you come here for? If you had go-power enough to make it this far, you could have got yourself to somebody who could have done you some good."
"I was born here, Garrett. I had it in my head I was done for and it seemed right it should end up where it started. I guess I wasn't thinking too good."
"Yeah. You big dumb goof. Well, you're going to make it in spite of yourself and these jackals. You got enough energy to tell me what happened?"
"Yeah." His face darkened.