"Gilman,.Laura.Anne.-.Overrush.(A.Wren.and.Sergei.Story)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Gilman Laura Anne)

wizzed. You can't, not really. They're as good as not there
anymore. So they're easy victims."
She was rather proud of how steady her voice was until she made
the mistake of meeting her partner's eyes. The quiet sympathy she
saw there destroyed any idea she might have had of remaining
calm.
Oh, Neezer . . .
John Ebenezer. Two short years her mentor. Five years now since
he started to wiz. Since he walked out of her life rather than risk
endangering her.
Are you out there, Neezer? Are you still alive?
"And if heЧshe, thatЧare?" His voice matched his face: stone.
"From everything you've told me, what I've seen, wizzarts are wild
cards, dangerous, to themselves and others. And quality of life
isn't exactly an issue."
Wren bit back on her immediate reply. He wasn't trying to goad her;
it was, to his mind, a valid question. And she had to give him the
respect of an equally valid answer. "Because that could be me
someday. Council might poke around, but they don't care about
lonejackers. If they discover anything, they might not even do
anything so long as they can cut a deal to protect their own." She
hated asking him for anything, but they had to take this job. She
would do it aloneЧbut their partnership had been founded on the
knowledge that their skills complemented each other; she didn't
want to handicap herself by working solo if she didn't have to.
A long moment passed. Finally, Sergei sighed. "It's not as though
the Council will ever admit they owe us anything, least of all
payment," he groused, signaling to the waitress for a refill of
Wren's coffee. "First things firstЧis there any way to keep track of
wizzarts in the area?"
"Already ahead of you," she said, her hodgepodge memory turning
up what they needed. "It's not pretty, but once I have them in sight,
I can tag them; monitor their internal current pool. If
anythingЧanyмoneЧtries to mess with them, I'll know."
Sergei looked like he had a bad taste in his mouth. "How much risk
is there to you in this?"
"Negligible," she said, lying through her teeth.
Sergei tapped a finger on the space bar, studying the screen in
front of him, skimming the list of John Does brought into the local
hospitals for unexplained expirations. Of the seven names, two had
cause of death listed as lightning strikes. One more had internal
damage consistent with lightning, but the cause of death was liver
failureЧapparently, he had been a long-term alcoholic.
None of the men matched the description of John Ebenezer. His
lips thinned as he entered another search, widening the area to
include Connecticut and New Jersey. Assuming Neezer stuck
around. Sergei wouldn't put any of his money on that.
Behind him, Wren made a sound of disgust, changing the channel
without using the remote. They had spent two days driving through
the city, walking into homeless shelters and into run-down