Free Wild Cards [09] Jokertown Shuffle by George R.R. Martin Page B

enough to buy him a new life and a new identity in Saigon. He could finally get out of the jungle.
    He rushed out of the store and came face-to-face with Daniel Brennan. The two stared at each other like the old enemies they were.
    "What are you doing here?" Kien ground out.
    "Looking for something you took from me," Brennan said. His eyes went from Kien's face to the box, and he remembered what Chrysalis had told him when he'd first come to the strange place.
    Kien, too, looked at the box. "This is mine," he said. "I took it to buy myself a new life."
    Brennan shook his head. "It is the means of my new life," he said, advancing.
    Kien looked wildly around, but there was nowhere to go. He tried to dodge past Brennan, but Brennan was too fast for him. They grappled for the box, and it fell to the ground and burst like a ripe watermelon. Golden light shone out of the box so powerfully that it nearly blinded both men.
    They shielded their eyes and stared as a tall slim figure stepped out of the light. It was Jennifer Maloy, naked and beautiful and alive.
    She looked around dazedly, then saw Brennan. They met and embraced while Kien crawled to the shattered remnants of the strongbox, moaning like a lost child. Brennan hugged and kissed Jennifer, wanting never to let her go, but he finally had to release her to take a breath.
    " I was so lost and afraid," she said. " I couldn't find my way back to you."
    Brennan smoothed her hair and smiled. "It's over now," he said. "Let's go home."
    Jennifer looked around in bewilderment and finally focused on Kien, who was staring like a broken man at the smashed and empty strongbox. "What about him?" she asked.
    Brennan felt totally serene. It surprised him. All of the hate and anger had been burned away, perhaps by the joy of finding Jennifer again. He wondered for a moment if somehow, some impossible way, he'd achieved enlightenment, the ultimate Zen goal of a totally self-realized man, then rejected that notion as farfetched. He was hardly worthy of such a state.
    "I don't know," he said. "Maybe we should just leave him." Kien looked up for the first time. "Leave me? Here?" Brennan looked at him with cold eyes. "Why not?" Kien jumped up and hurled himself at Brennan. Brennan met his furious attack calmly, serenely, simply pushing him aside, and Kien fell panting to the ground.
    Brennan looked around. "This doesn't look like too bad a place to me," he said. "Probably better than you deserve."
    "The jungle?" Kien cried, looking around wildly. "You don't know what I've done to escape this place! Don't leave me here!"
    The desperation on Kien's face was almost enough to incline Brennan to pity. Almost. But there was little he could do about it anyway. He and Jennifer started to fade-or this strange little universe, this simulacrum built from the mortar and bricks of Brennan's memories and psyche, started to fade. They were never sure which.
    But they heard Men scream, "Don't leave me here forever," and it echoed over and over again as a reedy voice crying, "ever... ever... ever..." like a condemned man questioning an unendurable sentence.
    Then there was silence.

    7.
    Brennan opened his eyes, rubbed them vigorously, then stood and leaned anxiously over Jennifer. Her eyes fluttered, then opened, and she smiled. Brennan didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He leaned over and hugged her fiercely.
    He turned and looked at the rest of the room for the first time.
    Father Squid was staring at them with wide-open eyes.
    Kien's body-Fadeout's body-was lying slack-mouthed and drooling on the floor. The door to the room suddenly swung open, and there was Rick and Mick, carrying a large jar tucked under Rick's right arm.
    "Okay, boss," Rick said. "Here we are." They stopped, looked around, looked at each other, and said, "Oh-oh" in unison.
    "We've been tricked," Mick added. "Something's wrong with the boss."
    "Let's get out of here," said Rick. They dropped the glass jar as they ran from the room, and it