Free Book 2 - Shadows Linger by Glen Cook Page B

from a city Juniper’s
size would make a hell of a pile. He looked at Raven. Damn the man.
“It’s Asa’s racket. Let’s not
try.”
    “Why not?”
    “Too dangerous.”
    “Your friend hasn’t suffered.”
    “He’s smalltime. If he gets greedy, he’ll get
killed. There are Guardians down there. Monsters.”
    “Describe them.”
    “I can’t.”
    “Can’t or won’t?”
    “Can’t. All they tell you is that they’re
there.”
    “I see.” Raven rose. “This needs
investigating. Don’t discuss it. Especially not with
Asa.”
    “Oh, no.” Panicked, Asa would do something
stupid.
     
    Word drifted in off the street. Krage had sent his two best men
after Raven. They had disappeared. Three more had vanished since.
Krage himself had been injured by an unknown assailant. He had
survived only because of Count’s immense strength. Count
wasn’t expected to live.
    Shed was terrified. Krage was neither reasonable nor rational.
He asked Raven to move out. Raven stared at him in contempt.
    “Look, I don’t want him killing you here,”
Shed said.
    “Bad for business?”
    “For my health, maybe. He’s got to kill you now.
People will stop being scared of him if he
doesn’t.”
    “He won’t learn, eh? A damned city of
fools.”
    Asa boiled through the doorway. “Shed, I got to talk to
you.” He was scared. “Krage thinks I turned him over to
Raven. He’s after me. You got to hide me, Shed.”
    “Like hell.” The trap was closing. Two of them here.
Krage would kill him for sure, would dump his mother into the
street.
    “Shed, I kept you in wood all winter. I kept Krage off
your back.”
    “Oh, sure. So I should get killed, too?”
    “You owe me, Shed. I never told nobody how you go out at
night with Raven. Maybe Krage would want to know that,
huh?”
    Shed grabbed Asa’s hands and yanked him forward, against
the counter. As if cued, Raven stepped up behind the little man.
Shed glimpsed a knife. Raven pricked Asa’s back, whispered,
“Let’s go to my room.”
    Asa went pallid. Shed forced a smile. “Yeah.” He
released Asa, took a stoneware bottle from beneath the counter.
“I want to talk to you, Asa.” He collected three mugs.
Shed went up last, intensely aware of his mother’s blind
stare. How much had she heard? How much had she guessed? She had
been cool lately. His shame had come between them. He no longer
felt deserving of her respect. He clouted his conscience. I did it
for her!
    Raven’s room had the only door left on the upper floors.
Raven held it for Asa and Shed. “Sit,” he told Asa,
indicating his cot. Asa sat. He looked scared enough to wet
himself. Raven’s room was as Spartan as his dress. It
betrayed no hint of wealth. “I invest it, Shed,” Raven
said, wearing a mocking smile. “In shipping. Pour the
wine.” He began cleaning his nails with a knife. Asa downed
his wine before Shed finished pouring the rest. “Fill him
up,” Raven said. He sipped his own wine. “Shed, why
have you been giving me that sour cat’s piss when you had
this?”
    “Nobody gets it without asking. It costs more.”
    “I’ll take this from now on.” Raven locked
gazes with Asa, tapped his own cheek with his knife blade.
    No, Raven wouldn’t have to live frugally. The body
business would be lucrative. He invested? In shipping? Odd the way
he said that. Where the money went might be as interesting as
whence it came. “You threatened my friend,” Raven said.
“Oh. Excuse me, Shed. A misstatement. It’s partner, not
friend. Partners don’t have to like each other. Little man.
You have something to say for yourself?”
    Shed shuddered. Damn
Raven. He’d said that so Asa would spread it around. Bastard
was taking control of his life. Nibbling away at it like a mouse
slowly destroying a head of cheese.
    “Honest, Mr. Raven. I
didn’t mean nothing. I was scared. Krage thinks I tipped you.
I got to hide, and Shed’s scared to put me up. I was just
trying to get him