Part 3 (1/2)

That, or he didn't care if it could.

”What the h.e.l.l's going on? Is Raven back from Tir Tairngire?”

Stealth shook his head. ”Still there. No word on his return.”

I fed the loose bullet back into the clip, then reloaded the pistol. ”That answered the second question.

What about the first?”

”La Plante.”

That one name, spoken in a sepulchral whisper like the rustle of a sidewinder slithering across dry gravel, answered lots of questions. Etienne La Plante was the local crime boss who'd played a cameo role in the dream I'd been enjoying. I'd recently helped liberate an elven princess2from him. Unbeknownst to me until the middle of that little adventure, it turned out that Moira Alianha was betrothed to Dr. Raven.

Raven had returned her to Tir Tairngire two weeks ago, and then had been summoned back there again after the Night of Fire and the battle for Natural Vat. That meant he left Kid Stealth, Tom Electric, Tark Graogrim, Valerie Valkyrie, and I to watch the store while he was away.

La Plante held a special place in Kid Stealth's heart. Stealth had first come to Seattle to work as La Plante's 2I don't know that Moira was really aprincess per se-the elf I know best is Raven and he's not much on hereditary t.i.tles. Anyway, she was pretty important and after her rescue Doc had been bouncing back and forth 'tween the Tir and the sprawl. I gather there was a lot of palavering going on, but about what I had no idea at the time.

enforcer. Inevitably, La Plante had a.s.signed Stealth the job of killing Raven. Stealth was good enough to get two of Doc's chummers-my head missed being mounted on his trophy wall by a stroke of luck or two- before La Plante decided to put a pinch-hitter in for Stealth. That individual, known on the streets as The Chauffeur, had fitted Stealth's feet with a large pair of cement blocks, then dumped him into the Sound.

Setting the pistol on my nightstand, I threw the covers back, then turned on a light. ”What did our friend do this time?” Naked-'cept for the silver wolf's-head amulet worn at my throat-I padded over to the closet as Stealth puzzled over how to answer that question in his customarily taciturn manner. I looked at the clothes hanging there and almost chose a normal t-s.h.i.+rt and pair of jeans.

You 're going somewhere with Kid Stealth.

I opted for black pants woven of kevlar and a heavy kevlar sweater with trauma pads over my chest and back.

”I don't know. An ear says a VIP is sprawling and La Plante is calling in some heavy favors to make him happy.” Even as he spoke, Stealth moved his head back and forth, his cybernetically augmented senses scanning for the sound of anything out of the ordinary. I silently hoped the Blavatskys down in 2D didn't decide to play ”I've-Been-Bad, Teacher” while Stealth was monitoring the area.

”Your street source didn't know who the VIP was or why he was here?”

Stealth answered me with an exasperated expression that said, ”If I knew that, I would have told you.”

I refrained from answering with my you-never-know-unless-you-ask shrug and zipped up my pants. ”La Plante had been holding Moira for some Mr. Johnson from out of town. I bet there's a connection-I bet this VIP was the one who wanted her.”

Kid Stealth's eyes narrowed for a half-second and I knew he'd filed away both my conclusion and the fact that I'd made the connection. As tough as he was, and as much of a perfectionist as I'd seen him be, Stealth seldom advanced theories on his own. He'd study a situation and offer his observations, but he left the guesswork up to others. He'd made his living dealing in dead certainties before joining Raven, and since becoming one of the team, he'd found plenty of people to jump to conclusions for him.

Most of Stealth's body part replacements and modifications were made by choice, to eliminate as much uncertainty as he could. His mechanical left arm-the original, I gathered, he'd lost in an old accident-was tricked out with a gyromount that locked a sniper rifle in place rock steady and soaked up all the recoil from a shot. It could also punch through concrete blocks, but that was a bonus that came from its design specifications. Stealth's eyes had been modified to include a rangefinder, low-light, and thermographic vision-all the stuff any well-heeled a.s.sa.s.sin would love to have. I knew for certain he had some link gizmo in there, too, which fed him data ranging from the time of day to the distance to targets-I think he could also pick up Seattle Seadogs3games if he wanted to. He'd probably have replaced his right hand but he needed it for the ”touch”-be it to squeeze a trigger or throw one of the many stilettos hidden on his body.

He'd even gone so far as to have the upper left lobe of his lungs replaced with an internal air tank that eliminated his need to breathe when lining up those one-klick a.s.sa.s.sination shots. That special option had saved him the day The Chauffeur dumped him into the Sound-La Plante hadn't paid for it, so he didn't know about it. It had given Kid Stealth ten minutes to figure out how to get his legs out of a rock or become fish food.

On my list of things to do with a spare ten minutes, having to figure a way out of a deathtrap did not rank real high.

3Sure, they're really called the Mariners still, but only if you want to suck up to management.

I pulled on a heavy nylon jacket with kevlar and shock pads sewn into breast and back. ”Where?”

When I saw that hint of a smile on his lips, I felt an immediate urge to dive back into bed. ”The Rock.”

I let my jaw drop open. ”The Rock? Did they do a good-sensectomy when you went in for your last lube and tune?” The Rock was the nickname for what had formerly been a seaside resort hotel that La Plante had ”acquired” when his organization cannibalized another criminal cartel. It had previously served as a notoriously hedonistic retreat for criminal megabyters and corporate warlords deciding to ”do the sprawl.” After word of Stealth's survival leaked out, The Chauffeur, at La Plante's request, had fortified the place and made it into an open challenge to the local government, Stealth, or Dr. Raven to close down.

Stealth looked at me as if I were the one operating in an alternate reality.

I raised an eyebrow. ”We do have Tom Electric going with us, right?”

He shook his head. ”He'svisiting.”

Ihesitated. Tom occasionally dropped out of sight and that generally meant his ex-wife had come into Seattle. The six months between her visits were enough to let Tom forget why they'd gotten divorced, and the week he spent with her always made him more than happy they had split up.

”What about Valerie or Tark?”

Another shake. ”Val's great, but she's a decker and doesn't like guns. Plutarch is still nursing the chest shot he took in the Night of Fire. His ork chummers are reluctant to put him in the line of fire for something that doesn't directly benefit them, so he's out.” Stealth forced himself to give an especially broad smile. ”I did leave a message for Raven in case he gets back, and I decided not to call La Plante to tell him we were coming.”

I exaggerated a sigh. ”Thank G.o.d for small miracles.” His grin became purely evil. ”It gives us the element of surprise.”

That and an army division might get us in. Divine intervention and an army division might get us back out again.

Stealth tossed me the key ring from the top of my dresser. ”You're driving.”

”Guess again, Stealth.” I shook my head and batted the flying keys onto the bed with my hand. ”The Fenris is brand new and I still remember what you did to the upholstery in the Mustang IV.”

Stealth squatted down in that peculiar way only he can, but didn't look the least bit contrite. ”I'll be careful.” Balancing on his left foot, he extended his right leg and plucked the keys off the bed with his claws. ”Besides, you have that new radarbane paint job and a sunroof.”

I took the keys from his foot's t.i.tanium talons and suppressed a whole-body shudder. In that ten minutes at the bottom of the ocean, Stealth could only see one thing to do-aside from dying, that is. He'd used his belt and s.h.i.+rt to tie tourniquets around both of his legs above the knees. Then he pulled some plastique from a compartment in his left arm and created some very small shaped charges, which he fastened to his own legs. He set them off and managed to make it to sh.o.r.e.

Raven found him and kept him alive. Both of Stealth's legs were gone from the knees down. He'd taken lots of other damage-his left arm showed scarring from a shark hit-but he refused to die or surrender to the depression that would have swallowed anyone else. Though he never said much during that time-or since-I knew it was his hatred for La Plante that kept him alive, and his awe of Dr. Raven that kept the rest of us alive.

Stealth had worked with Raven to design himself a new pair of legs. The original humanoid design was abandoned when Stealth located a better one while scanning some chips on animal biology. Wearing an expression I've only seen on the faces of lottery winners or the criminally insane, he pointed it out to me.

”Deinony-chus,” he said, reverently chanting the word like a mantra. ”Terrible claw.”

It took some convincing, but he prevailed on Raven to help him. Human thighs grafted down into t.i.tanium s.h.i.+ns and feet. Birdlike in construction, his new legs featured the elongated foot bones that made it look as if his leg had an extra joint. Each foot had a dew claw and three toes-the innermost of which was truly a thing to behold. Both stronger and larger than the other two, it had a huge sickle-shaped claw that pulled back toward the ankle while Stealth ran. It turned funny-looking legs into razorhook-equipped limbs capable of slicing through foes and, in Stealth's case, let him climb incredibly sheer walls like a fly on a pane of gla.s.s4.

No, he hadn't ripped up the upholstery in my Mustang.

The claws just dripped blood all over it.

I tied some rubber-soled black shoes on my street-legal feet, c.o.c.ked the Viper, and stowed it in my pants at the small of my back, then followed Stealth out to my living room. He leaned over the back of the couch, then turned and handed me my MP-9 submachine gun5and a satchel bulging with clips. I felt the weight of the ammo pouch, then shook my head. ”Planning quite the little war, aren't we?”

He shrugged. ”We'll have surprise, but I don't know for how long.” He pointed at the satchel. ”I handloaded your silver bullets, but I used mercury in them instead 4Raven did insist on making Stealth a pair of normal legs, so I know he can swap the nightmare pair out for regular legs whenever he wants. I've never seen him when he's wanted to-or, he's never let me see him when he was running around on normal feet. That ability to go unnoticed, given his trade, is a useful one.

5Stealth would prefer it if I would get a ”real” submachine gun instead of this HK antique. I think he thinks my weapon choice reflects badly on him. Of course, since he's Kid Stealth, if anyone did think less of him for it, they wouldn't say anything-at least, not in public, and not for long.

of silver nitrate. I wanted to try a silver-nitrate suspension in a gelatin of my own manufacture that approaches the viscosity of mercury, but I couldn't finish it this quickly. I also boosted the powder up to six full grains so your bullet will have the velocity you need to make a mess of the target. I hope you don't mind.”

I felt an odd chill run down my spine. I realized he was speaking about loading bullets for maximum effect in the same voice my mechanic used to describe tuning the Fenris' twelve-cylinder engine. I headed for the door as Stealth shouldered his Kalashnikov6, carefully avoiding any b.u.mp or jarring to the boxy rangefinder mounted on the barrel. When activated the laser would send out an invisible, ultraviolet beam that would paint a dot on the chest or head of a target. With his eye, Stealth just locates the dot, then pulls the trigger and puts a bullet through it.

I let him precede me from the apartment and locked it. As we worked our way down to the bas.e.m.e.nt garage, Stealth paused on the second-story landing and stared at the door to 2D. ”You've got strange neighbors, Wolf...”

I shrugged. ”The Blavatskys have hired a tutor.”

Stealth's eyes grew wide. ”They have tutors for that stuff?”