'Forget him. We've got work to do.'
The sound of Tom's laughter followed me onto the hot L.A. streets.
13
Mortis Operandi
'Cancel the contract.'
He sat on my hotel room bed, his black shoes on the bedcovers, his cane by his side. Even lying down, his evening clothes didn't show a wrinkle. He gazed at me with mild, friendly eyes. Their appearance was deceptive-the glance felt about as affable as a knife pointed at my throat.
I threw my jacket on the bed and closed the door behind me.
'What's wrong, Zack? Can't find any more virgins?' Ann had gone to her room with the kid for a moment. At least he'd caught me alone.
He folded his hands behind his head and lay back. 'Let's not go into that. Let's just say that I've changed my mind.'
I sidled up to the nightstand drawer to pull out a sack of bourbon. 'Did I mess up your plans, Zack?'
'Thoroughly.' He stopped trying to look amiable. 'You don't have to go through with this. Just tell me you're canceling the contract.'
I slugged down a good jolt of the sour mash. It warmed me. 'Zack,' I said, 'I've been thinking a lot about God lately, thanks to you. I was never a fan of Hallelujah House, but you've still managed to get my soul thinking about the Almighty. He seems to have screwed this world up fairly well, so I don't see any reason not to have Him deposed. I may even have the M.O. figured out. Everyone's been remarkably helpful.'
'Keep the money. I'll even give you a termination bonus.'
'Sorry,' I said. 'If I cancel the contract, I die.'
'I guarantee that you won't.'
'How do I know that isn't a Princely lie?'
He stiffened. 'Cancel it, Ammo. Save yourself a lot of heartache.'
'I'm no stranger to heartache, Zacharias.' I eyed him from behind my glass of bourbon. 'I take it you can't cancel the contract unilaterally.' It was a wild guess, but from the way he tightened his jaw, I knew I'd hit home. 'You can't even break your own promises. What a laugh!'
'The contract must be dissolved by mutual agreement, of course. You have nothing to gain by continuing this pointless endeavor.'
'I'll have to think it over.'
'There are powerful forces combining to stop you, Mr. Ammo. Do not add me to their legion.'
I said nothing. For a long moment we stared at each other. He slowly moved a hand from behind his head.
'I sent a warning to you via an old man. Your lady left it behind.' He quickly pulled something from behind the pillow and tossed it on the bed. He stood.
'I don't know how you two located each other,' he said. 'Suffice it to say that such treachery is unforgivable.'
'I'll worry about forgiveness from the other guy, Zack.' I glanced at the thing on the bed. It looked exactly like the flame dagger Ann had pulled out of the mutant. The hilt was still intact. The blade, though, had corroded as if it had lain underwater for a century. Rust flakes sprinkled the bedcovers in an oval around where it landed.
Zacharias opened the door.
'As I said once before, I do not tolerate betrayal.'
The door slammed.
I picked up the dagger and looked it over for a few moments. Something had done a number on it. The blade very nearly crumbled in my hand. I filed it in the wastebasket.
So my client suddenly wants me off the case and needs my consent to do so. That put me in a predicament. I was moving on my own momentum now. I'd been sapped, drugged, kidnapped, and generally mishandled in the last few
