Free Deadly Quicksilver Lies by Glen Cook Page B

bottle against a hard surface, then stand back.
    I did the throwing part. My bottle missed all the boys and bounced off the wall. It skittered back into the midst of the attendants. Guys walked all over it, but it didn’t break.
    My guardian angel was on the job. Cursing him, I tried again.
    The second bottle broke. Gray mist boiled off the wall. It reached the attendants. They started cussing. Cussing turned to howling fast.
    Meantime, my little breed volunteer slithered into the doorway so it couldn’t be closed. His job was going to get nasty if the staff got determined.
    The attendants in the ward lost all interest in quieting people down. They were too busy scratching and rubbing and yelling.
    Maybe Dread wasn’t a complete fraud.
    I inhaled a bushel of clean air and charged. I was ashamed of me for pulling such a dirty trick. Almost. I wouldn’t take it back. If I spent much time hanging out with Ivy and the boys, I’d end up singing in the same choir.
    The mist didn’t bother me much. I did start itching a little. Since I had a major headache and an acre of bruises, an itch seemed pretty trivial.
    Somebody was hollering in the corridor. They’d left somebody to cover the door. He was aggravated at my breed doorstop.
    Who wasn’t doing so good. The mist tended to settle. He’d gotten more than the attendants had.
    Nonetheless, he fulfilled his mission.
    I smashed into the door so hard I feared I’d dislocated my shoulder. Oh, damn, did that hurt! And that damned door only gave barely enough to let me skip over the whining breed.
    “Surprise!” I popped the guard outside. A whole herd of patients stampeded out behind me. Those that didn’t have scores to settle with particular attendants still inside.
    Naturally, luck would have another squad of staffers arriving just then. I did my banshee routine and charged. Boy, was I going to have a sore throat when all the hollering was over.
    These attendants were bigger and meaner than the first bunch. There were eight of them. That put the odds in my favor because I was mad enough to whip a whole battalion. “Nothing personal, guys.” Then I recognized two of the clowns who had carried me in the wet blanket. “Like hell!”
    I didn’t get a lot of help at first. Surprise did for a couple of attendants, but then the others got going. They played a game using me for a shuttlecock. My companions had been beaten too often. They held back till my nine-foot buddy jumped in.
    “Oomph!” I said, breaking some guy’s knuckles with my forehead. “Took you long enough.”
    It turned into a real brawl. Fists and feet and bodies flew. I skinned my knuckles to the elbow pounding handy chins and jaws. I got my own chin and jaw liberally pasted. My nose avoided rearrangement.
    All that thumping was just the thing for a headache.
    I had opportunities to be thankful that I have good teeth as I sank them into people who didn’t have my continued good health foremost in mind.
    When the fur stopped flying and the dust settled, me and the big guy were the only ones standing. And I needed the help of a wall.
    I stumbled to the door at the end of the hall, beyond the vanquished attendants. It was locked. It looked every bit as massive as the door to the ward. Well, all that work for nothing. I exchanged glances with the big guy. He grinned, said, “I told you.” He wiped blood off his face, grinned some more. “They going to have a time cleaning this one up, though. We got most of the night staff in here.”
    “Fine. We’re a step closer. Let’s drag these guys into the ward.” Maybe we could use them as hostages.
    All of a sudden, we had plenty of helpers. Guys turned brave, thumped heads soundly whenever an attendant threatened to wake up.
    I checked the end of the hall I hadn’t checked before. Another locked oaken vault door. Of course. “I guess this just isn’t my day.” It had had its moments earlier, but the downs were starting to outweigh the ups. “Anybody