Sweet Silver Blues

34

We slept at the same inn. We couldn't be safer elsewhere, and the quarters were the best available for grolls.

The innkeeper had five messages for me. They were from Zeck Zack, had come at a rate of one daily, and had become increasingly strident. I got the impression he wanted to see me.

"Tomorrow is soon enough," I told Morley. "Tonight I'm going to lay around and ruminate and drink beer to get the Cantard dust out of my throat. I'm not much closer to the woman but I'm starting to see the outlines of the other stuff. Except for Vasco and his crowd, I don't think it has anything to do with silver. I think three or four conspiracies with completely alien or only marginally overlapping goals have collided here, maybe with the woman being the link. I don't think I'm the only one going around wondering, Who the hell are those guys? What do they want?"

I let it go there. Morley could chew on it if he wanted. I snuggled up with my beer and tried to let my mind go blank.

Some might say I did not have to work very hard.

Zeck Zack turned up next day. He got righteous with me.

"Do I work for you?" I asked.

He looked around. A lot of unfriendly faces were turned his way. Centaurs are not popular, which is probably why Zeck Zack spent so little time at his city house. He desisted, though he kept simmering. He handed me a sealed letter. "Your instructions are in there. You are to come alone."

"Have you been smoking weed?"

"What?"

"I don't go anywhere alone. People have been dying around this town. Four of them right out around your place."

"You will go alone or they will not let you see her."

"Then I'll find her my own way."

Morley walked in then, coming back from grazing. He slapped Zeck Zack across the rump, a familiarity and indignity that almost sent him into paroxysms. Morley said, "There was another vampire thing last night, Garrett. Sounded like the real article."

"Remind me to wear my high-collar shirt when I go barhopping tonight." His pursed lips told me he had something more on his mind but wouldn't say what until I got rid of the centaur.

I told Zeck Zack, "You see? It's dangerous to wander the streets alone."

"I will put it to them. They are going to be very irritated with both of us. They have gone to a great deal of trouble to make the woman available. But, perhaps, for that reason they will accede to your petition."

I did my eyebrow trick. My petition? "Right. Check it out. You know where to find me."

He extended a hand. "The instructions? They will have to be changed."

I gave them back. He left, giving me a couple of dark looks.

"He wanted me to come to the meet all by myself, on the lonesome," I told Morley. "Just me face-to-face with ‘them,' whoever ‘they' are."

"Whoever, they have him peeing down his leg. And he has a reputation for being a tough bastard."

"I noticed he had a case of nerves. What's up?"

"The place is being watched. Somebody followed me out and back. I didn't give it a good scout because I didn't want them to know they'd been made, but I spotted two more. I figured that's iceberg."

"Damn! The works. A whole crew. And now they know I'm dealing with Zeck Zack."

"Spilled milk. Who do you figure for it?"

"That army bastard. I don't know why. Vasco or the striped-sail crowd wouldn't have the resources. The centaur doesn't need to know every breath we take. He hopes he has us on the hook."

"Maybe the major needs a closer look."

"Maybe. Though I don't even know his name. And I'd rather not. I'd just as soon get on with the job I'm getting paid to do."

Morley nodded. "It's getting thick. I find myself looking forward to the trip home—in my more insane, impatient moments."

I slouched in my seat. "I guess we spend the day on in-and-out, getting a scout on how many and how good they are. We can make like we're getting ready for another trip out of town. We can eat the food on the way home if the meet goes down and I get what I need."

"We'll have to work a way for all of us to shake them, too."

"Yeah. This thing couldn't get any more complicated if you hired three wizards to knot it up."