banter.
'Well, maybe it isn't so bad,' Guido said in a doubtful voice. 'I'm pretty sure I would have spotted the back- up team if there was one.'
'Oh sure,' Massha sneered. 'Coming out of a town full of vampires that can change themselves into mist whenever they want. Of course you'd spot them.'
'Hey. The Boss here can chew on me if he wants, but I don't have to take that from you. You didn't even spot the turkey, remember?'
'The only turkey I can see is…'
'Enough!' I ordered, having arrived at a decision despite their lack of cooperation. 'We have to find out for sure who's behind us and what they want. This is as good a place as any, so I suggest we all retire into the bushes and wait for our shadow to catch up with us… No, Massha. I'll be over here with Guido. You take the other side of the road.'
That portion of my plan had less to do with military strategy than with an effort on my part to preserve what little was left of my nerves. I figured the only way to shut the two of them up was to separate them.
'I'm sorry, Boss,' Guido whispered as we crouched side by side in the brush. 'I keep forgettin' that you aren't as into crime as the boys I usually run with.'
Well, I had been half right. Massha on the other side of the road was being quiet, but as long as he had someone to talk to, Guido was going to keep on expressing his thoughts and opinions. I was starting to understand why Don Bruce insisted on doing all the talking when the bodyguards were around. Encouraging employees to speak up as equals definitely had its drawbacks.
'Will you keep your voice down?' I tried once more. 'This is supposed to be an ambush.'
'Don't worry about that. Boss. It'll be a while before they catch up, and when they do, I'll hear 'em before…'
'Is that you Skeeve?'
The voice came from the darkness just up the road.
I gave Guido my darkest glare, and he rewarded it with an apologetic shrug that didn't look particularly sincere to me.
Then it dawned on me where I had heard that voice before.
'Right here,' I said, rising from my crouch and stepping onto the road. 'We've been waiting for you. I think it's about time we had a little chat.'
Aside from covering my embarrassment over having been discovered, that had to be my best understatement in quite a while. The last time I had seen this particular person, she was warning me about Aahz's imprisonment.
'Good.' She stepped forward to meet me. 'That's why I've been following you. I was hoping we could…'
Her words stopped abruptly as Guido and Massha rose from the bushes and moved to join us.
'Well, look who's here,' Massha said, flashing one of her less pleasant smiles.
'If it isn't the little bird who sang to the vampires,' Guido leered, matching my apprentice's threatening tone.
The girl favored them with a withering glance, then faced me again.
'I was hoping we could talk alone. I've got a lot to say and not much time to say it. It would go faster if we weren't interrupted.'
'Not a chance, Sweetheart,' Guido snarled. 'I'm not goin' to let the Boss out of my sight with you around.'
'… besides which, I've got a few things to tell you myself,' Massha added, 'like what I think of folks who think frames look better on people than on paintings.'
The girl's eyes never left mine. For all her bravado, I thought I could detect in their depths an appeal for help.
'Please,' she said softly.
I fought a brief skirmish in my mind, and, as usual, common sense lost.
'All right.'
'WHAT! C'mon, Boss. You can't let her get you alone! If her pals are around…'
'Hot Stuff, if I have to sit on you. you aren't going to…'
'Look!' I said, wrenching my eyes away from the girl to confront my mutinous staff. 'We'll only go a few steps down the road there, in plain sight. If anything happens you'll be able to pitch in before it gets serious.'
'But…'
'… and you certainly can't think she's going to jump me. I mean, it's a cinch she isn't carrying any concealed weapons.'
That was a fact. She had changed outfits since the last time I saw her, probably to fit in more with the exotic garb favored by the party-loving vampires. She was wearing what I've heard referred to as a 'tank top' which left her midsection and navel delightfully exposed, and the open-sided skirt (if you can call two flaps of cloth that) showed her legs up past her hips. If she had a weapon with her, she had swallowed it. Either that, or…
I dragged my thoughts back to the argument.
'The fact of the matter is that she isn't going to talk in front of a crowd. Now, am I going to get a chance to hear another viewpoint about what's going on, or are we going to keep groping around for information with Aahz's life hanging in the balance?'
My staff fell silent and exchanged glances, each waiting for the other to risk the next blast.
'Well, okay,' Massha agreed at last. 'But watch yourself, Hot Stuff. Remember, poison can come in pretty bottles.'
So, under the ever-watchful glares of my assistants, I retired a few steps down the road for my first words alone with…
'Say, what is your name, anyway?'
'Hmmm? Oh. I'm Luanna. Say, thanks for backing me up. That's a pretty mean-looking crew you hang around with. I had heard you had a following, but I hadn't realized how nasty they were.'
'Oh, they're okay once you get to know them. If you worked with them on a day-to-day basis, you'd find out that they… heck, none of us are really as dangerous or effective as the publicity hype cuts us out to be.'
I was suddenly aware of her eyes on me. Her expression was strange… sort of a bitter half-smile.
'I've always heard that really powerful people tended to understate what they can do, that they don't have to brag. I never really believed it until now.'
I really didn't know what to say to that. I mean, my reputation had gotten big enough that I was starting to get used to being recognized and talked about at the Bazaar, but what she was displaying was neither fear nor envy. Among my own set of friends, admiration or praise was always carefully hidden within our own brand of rough humor or teasing. Faced with the undiluted form of the same thing, I was at a loss as to how to respond. 'Ummm, what was it you wanted to talk to me about?'
Her expression fell and she dropped her eyes.
'This is so embarrassing. Please be patient with me, Skeeve… is it all right if I call you Skeeve? I haven't had much experience with saying 'I'm sorry'… heck, I haven't had much experience with people at all. Just partners and pigeons. Now that I'm here, I really don't know what to say.'
'Why don't we start at the beginning?' I wanted to ease her discomfort. 'Did you really swindle the Deveels back at the Bazaar?'
Luanna nodded slowly without raising her eyes.
'That's what we do. Matt and me. That and running, even though I think sometimes we're better at running than working scams. Maybe if we were better at conning people, we wouldn't get so much practice at running.'
Her words thudded at me like a padded hammer. I had wanted very badly to hear that she was innocent and that it had all been a mistake. I mean, she was so pretty, so sweet, I would have bet my life that she was innocent, yet here she was openly admitting her guilt to me.
'But why?' I managed at last. 'I mean, how did you get involved in swindling people to begin with?'
Her soft shoulders rose and fell in a helpless shrug.
