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

I was surprised to find Amiranda back already. "Quick trip. Come in. I didn't know I was so irresistible."
She strode past me, then turned, hands on hips. "All right, Mr. Garrett. You get it your way. The reason Domina wants you is because my . . . because the Stormwarden's son Karl has been kidnapped. If you insist on getting more than that, we're both out of luck. Because that's all I've been told."
And you certainly are worried about it, I thought.
She started for the door.
"Hold it." I squinted at her. "Give me the hundred."
She handed it over without a smirk of triumph. One point for Amiranda Crest. I decided she might be worth liking.
"I'll be back in a minute."
I took the gold to the Dead Man. There was no safer place on earth. "You heard?"
/ did.
"What do you think?"
Kidnapping is your area of expertise.
I rejoined Amiranda Crest. "Let us fair forth, fair fairy lady."
That failed to put a smile on her face.
Not everyone appreciates a great sense of humor.


____III____

WE MARCHED OFF like a parody of a military outfit. Amiranda's companions were clad in uniforms. That seemed to be the limit of their familiarity with the military concept. At a guess I would have said their only use was to keep their livery from collapsing into the dust. I tried a few conversational sallies. Amiranda was done talking. I was one of the hired help now.
The Dead Man was right. Kidnapping was my area of expertise, mostly by circumstance. Time and again I get stuck doing the in-between. Each time I deliver the ransom and bring the body home alive the word gets around a little more. Both sides in a swap know where they stand with me. I play it straight, no tricks, and heaven help the bad boys if they deliver damaged goods and my principals want their heads. Which they always do in that case.
I loathe kidnapping and kidnappers. Abduction is a major underground industry in TunFaire. I'd as soon see all kidnappers sent down the river floating facedown, but sound business practice makes me play the game by live-and-let-live rules. Unless they cheat first.
The Hill is a good deal more than a piece of high ground looking down its nose at the sprawl of TunFaire, the beast upon whose back it rides. It is a state of mind, and one I don't like. But their coin is as good as any down below, and they have a lot more of it. I register my disapproval by refusing jobs that might help the Hill tribe close their grip even tighter on the rest of us.
Usually when they try to hire me it's because they want dirty work done. I turn them down. They find somebody less morally fastidious. So it goes.
The Stormwarden Raver Styx's place was typical of those on the High Hill. It was huge, tall, walled, brooding, dark, and just a shade more friendly than death. It was one of those places with an invisible "Abandon Hope" sign over the gateway. Maybe there were protective spells involved. I got a strong case of nerves the last fifty feet, the little watchman inside telling me I didn't want to go in there.
I went anyway. One hundred marks gold can shout down the watchman any time.
The inside reminded me of a haunted castle. There were cobwebs everywhere. Amiranda and I, after shedding our escort, were the only people tracking the shadowed halls. "Cheerful little bungalow. Where is everybody?"
"The Stormwarden took most of the household with her."
"But she left her secretary behind?"
"Yes."
Which told me there was some truth in the things I'd heard about the Stormwarden's husband and son, both named Karl. Put charitably, they needed a shepherd.
At first glance Willa Dount looked like a woman who could keep them in line. Her eyes could chill beer, and she had the charm of a stone. I knew a little about her from whispers in the shadows and alleys. She arranged dirty deeds done for the Stormwarden.
She was about five feet two, early forties, chunky without being fat. Her gray eyes matched her hair. She dressed, shall we say, sensibly. She smiled about twice as often as the Man in the Moon, and then without sincerity.
Amiranda said, "Mr. Garrett, Domina."
The woman looked at me like I was either a potentially contagious disease or an especially curious specimen in the zoo. One of the uglier ones, like a thunder lizard.
There are times when I feel like I belong to one of the dying breeds.
"Thank you, Amiranda. Have a seat, Mr. Garrett." The "mister" left her jaws aching. She wasn't used to being nice to people like me.
I sat. So did she. Amiranda hovered.
"That will be all, Amiranda."
"DominaЧ"
"That will be all."
Amiranda left, furious and hurt. I scanned the clutter on the secretary's desk while she glared the girl from the room.
"What do you think of our Amiranda, Mr. Garrett?" Again she got a jaw ache.
I tried putting it delicately. "A man could dream dreams about a woman with herЧ"
"I'm sure." She scowled at me. I had failed some test.
I didn't care. I'd decided I wouldn't like the Domina Willa Dount very much. "You had a reason for asking me to come here?"
"How much did Amiranda tell you?"
"Enough to get me to listen." She tried to stare me down. I stared back. "I don't usually have much grief to spare for uptown folks. When the fates want to stick them I say more power to them. But to kidnapping I take exception."
She scowled. I give the woman thisЧher scowl was first rate. Any gorgon would have been proud to own it. "What else did she tell you?"
"That was it, and getting it took some work. Maybe you can tell me more."
"Yes. As Amiranda told you, the younger Karl has been abducted."