that.
Chapter Seven
M ort drove one of those little hybrid cars that, when not running on gasoline, was fueled by idealism. It was made out of crepe paper and duct tape and boasted a computer system that looked like it could have run the NYSE and NORAD, with enough attention left over to play tic-tac-toe. Or possibly Global Thermonuclear War.
âKinda glad Iâm dead,â I muttered, getting into the car by the simple expedient of stepping through the passengerâs door as if it had been open. âIf I were still breathing, Iâd feel like I was taking my life into my hands here. This thingâs an egg. And not one of those nice, safe, hard-boiled eggs. A crispy one.â
âSays the guy who drove Herbieâs trailer-park cousin around for more than ten years,â Mort sniped back.
âGentlemen,â Stuart said, settling rather gingerly into the tiny backseat. âIs there a particular reason we should be disagreeable with one another, or do you both take some sort of infantile pleasure in being insufferably rude?â
Now that the fighting was done, Sir Stuartâs mannerisms were reverting to something more formal. I made a mental note of the fact. The Colonial Marine hadnât started off a member of proper society, wherever heâd been. The rather staid, formal, archaic phrasing and patterns of speech were all something heâd acquired as a learned habitâone that apparently deserted him under the pressure of combat.
âOkay, Dresden,â Mort said. âWhere to?â He opened his garage door and peered out at the snow. It was coming down even more thickly than earlier in the night. Chicago is pretty good about keeping its streets cleared in winter weather, but it was freaking May.
From the deep piles of old snow that had apparently been there for a number of weeks, I deduced that the city must have become increasingly beleaguered by the unseasonable weather. The streets were covered in several inches of fresh powder. No plow had been by Mortâs house in hours. If we hit a patch of ice, that heavy, crunchy little hybrid was going to skitter like a puppy on a tile floor.
Thinking, I referenced a mental map of the city. I felt a little bad making Mort come out into weather like thisâI mean, given that he wasnât dead and all. I was going to feel like crap if something bad happened to him, and it wouldnât be a kindness to ask him to go farther than he absolutely had to. Besides, with the weather worsening, his one-hour time limit seemed to put further constraints on my options.
âMurphyâs place,â I said quietly. I gave him the address.
Mort grunted. âThe ex-cop?â
I nodded. Murph had gotten herself fired by showing up to help me one too many times. Sheâd known what she was doing, and sheâd made her own choices, but I still felt bad about it. Dying hadnât changed that. âSheâs a pretty sharp lady. Better able than most in this town to look out for you.â
Mort grunted again and pulled out into the snow, driving slowly and carefully. He was careful to keep his expression blank as he did it.
âMort,â I said. âWhat arenât you telling me?â
âDriving over here,â he said.
I made a rude sound. Then I looked back over my shoulder at Sir Stuart. âWell?â
Sir Stuart reached into his coat and drew out what looked like a briar pipe. He tapped something from a pouch into it, struck an old wooden match, and puffed it to life. The smoke rose until it touched the ceiling of the car, where it congealed into a thin coating of shining ectoplasmâthe residue of the spiritual when it becomes the physical.
âTo hear him tell it,â he said, finally, indicating Mort, âthe worldâs gone to hell the past few months. Though Iâve got to admit, it doesnât seem much different to me. Everythingâs been madness since those computers showed
Phil Hester, Jon S. Lewis, Shannon Eric Denton, Jason Arnett