Free Twenty Palaces by Harry Connolly Page A

number of people might have felt the power inherent in the iron gate--the little blue ribbon Annalise was wearing--were they perceptive enough. You, however, were not only open to it at a time of great stress, you reached out to seize it !"
    I remembered the way the ribbon protected me from Annalise's green fire and from the creature, too. "That was luck."
    "There are many kinds of luck," Callin said. "Sometimes it is a random bolt out of an unblemished sky. Sometimes it is an opportunity well-exploited. Luck can be a clear eye quickly and accurately judging a situation. Afterwards, others will say 'That was a lucky thing you did,' because they don't truly understand. But I do. I am not being cute or clever when I say I could change your life. The choice is yours." Callin stepped back, clearing the way for me to go.
    I started toward the elevator, looking at the wallpaper, the carpet, the flowers: everything looked hyper-real. I pressed the elevator button, feeling as though my head had been cracked open and examined. And it had.
    I suspected Callin's offer would expire as soon as he noticed his broken desk drawer. Good. I didn't want that temptation. I'd seen what Annalise did to Payton, not to mention what she'd done to Echo and that old drunk--I didn't even know the guy's name. Did I want to sign up with them?  
    Shit no. I didn't have any romantic notions about going out and killing people. I'd just spent three years at Chino, and none of that talk impressed me.
    Besides, Callin had locked me in that room, had stolen my blood and my thoughts, had put his wet mouth on me. Did he think I was going to forget all that and sign on to be his little helper? Fuck him.  
    To hell with the world behind the world. I was going to pay my debt and live a safe, normal life.  
    As soon as I took care of Jon's problem.
    The elevator door opened. I went inside and pressed the button for the lobby. I still had the envelope in my hand.
    We are all killers. Callin had said. Annalise is so drearily direct.  
    This is as cured as their kind gets , Annalise had said.
    Trust me , Callin had said.  
    I held up the envelope. Whatever was in here, no way was I going to give it to Jon.
    The elevator opened onto the magnificent lobby. My shoes squeaked as I walked across the tile to the front desk. The same concierge was still on duty. He glared at me.  
    "You know that woman I came in with last night?" I said.
    For a moment, I thought he wouldn't answer. Finally, he said: "I'm aware of her."
    I pretended his expression wasn't pissing me off. "Callin wants you to give her this next time she shows up." I took a pen from the desk and wrote Annalise Powliss on the front of the envelope. If the contents of the envelope were really as harmless as Callin said, nothing bad would happen to her. Otherwise....
    The concierge picked up the envelope between his thumb and forefinger as though it was a loaded diaper.  
    I went out into the sunlight, circled the building and strode past the valet booth into the parking garage. If the attendant noticed me, he didn't say anything. I climbed the stairs to the roof.  
    Cars had arrived while I was talking with Callin. All around me were targets that would have made Arne drool on his collar. There was an Expedition. There was a Lexus. There was a Yukon. A Ford 250. These weren't cars you stole for the chop shop. These were cars you drove into a shipping container and resold in South America. Arne would have brought in a team, slipped the attendant a few bucks (while showing him a shiny gun), and driven them all down to the docks. An hour's work, tops.
    Not that any of that mattered to me now.  
    I tried to pinpoint the Dumpster below Callin's window but, looking up, I couldn't see the black cloth on his balcony railing. When I was dropping the book, it would have taken me half a second to count which Dumpster it had landed next to, but I hadn't bothered. The first two I checked were empty. As I checked the third,