Dark Chant In A Crimson Key

ear. 'What the hell are you doing here?'

'You must be joking, Robby,' she replied, releasing her arms from around my neck. 'When I heard about the hotel massacre,

I just knew you had to be on the scene somewhere, probably being shot at. You need help. I was getting ready to fly over here on my own when Veil called. I just told him to wait for me. I flew my own plane to JFK, then came over here with him and your brother. Did you think I was going to just sit around in Florida while you were in trouble over here?'

'Foolish me,' I said evenly, resisting the impulse to roll my eyes toward the ceiling. I satisfied myself with casting a grim and accusatory glance at my brother and Veil as they approached.

'I appreciate your wanting to keep me out of harm's way, Robby,' Harper said, just the slightest edge to her voice, 'but that's typical of your sexist thinking. Didn't I come in handy during that business with the loboxes and the circus?'

'Harper, I-'

'Since I've already saved your life once, I just thought you might like to have me around. I guess I'm the one who's foolish.'

'Harper, I didn't want any of you here. There's nothing to do here but duck.'

'Garth and Veil have important information.'

'That's why phones were invented.'

She tilted her head back slightly, sniffed. 'Veil and Garth didn't argue when I insisted I was coming along. They both agreed they could use all the help they could get in handling you.'

Garth and Veil had taken up positions on either side of us, and were standing very close as their gazes swept over the other people in the terminal. Seeing the two men together like this, working as a team to guard Harper and me, it would have been impossible for anyone else to detect the animosity that existed between them. Both of them had shoulder-length hair tied back in a ponytail, and they were about the same height; they might have been brothers.

By way of greeting, Garth put a large hand on my shoulder and squeezed gently. Veil offered me a curt nod, then went back to surveying the people around us.

'Handling me?' I said, looking up at Garth.

'You heard right, brother,' Garth replied gruffly. 'True to your character and track record, it looks like you've executed a perfect swan dive into one deep pile of shit.'

'That was Lee's line. So, naturally, you and Veil had to dive right in with me, bringing Harper along for the ride. Why couldn't you just do what I asked? I don't need handling.'

'Mongo, right now you need handling more than anyone else in the world I can possibly imagine. You shouldn't have come to the airport.'

'I made sure I wasn't followed.'

'There are a lot of things you don't know that can kill you.'

'I didn't need you to come to Zurich to tell me that, Garth. As I recall, I left you a shopping list of subjects to look into. You haven't had time to do any real digging, but now here you are.'

'I cashed in a favor, and got somebody to open up the Forty-second Street library all night for me. I had three research assistants, and two librarians to run between the stacks. I found out enough-as much as I was likely to in New York. We're going to get you out of this business, Mongo, but you're going to have to back off and let Veil, Harper, and me take care of business from here on out. You're not going to be hunting anyone, which is what I know you think you're going to be doing.'

'Bullshit. I don't need you to tell me what to do; just what you found out about the matters I asked you to look into.'

'That's going to take some time, and this definitely isn't the right place. Right now, we have to get you out of this airport. We have reservations at your hotel, which is probably no more dangerous a place for you than anywhere else; the security guards there probably outnumber the guests. We'll go pick up our luggage and then take a cab into town.'

'We don't need to take a cab. I've got a car.'

'Okay,' Garth said, nodding to Veil, 'let's get out of here.'

Garth and Veil continued to closely flank Harper and me as we went to the baggage area to pick up the luggage of my unwanted visitors. Then we headed to a side exit leading to one of the parking areas. Carlo had the limousine waiting for us at the curb, and he was standing by the open trunk. When he saw us, he hurried over, snatched the luggage cart from my startled brother, pushed it back, and began loading the bags into the car.

'What the hell is this?' Garth asked, turning to me. 'You hired a limo?'

'Not exactly. It belongs to Cornucopia. I figured the least I could do to repay Neuberger for throwing me to the wolves was to use his foundation's car and chauffeur.'

'Terrific thinking, brother,' Garth said in a flat tone as he glanced at Veil.

Veil nodded curtly to Garth, then abruptly strode across the wide sidewalk to where Carlo was struggling to fit the last bag into the limousine's trunk. I started after him, but was stopped by Garth's firm grip on my shoulder. 'Whoa, brother,' Garth continued in the same emotionless tone. 'You stay here.'

I watched as Veil walked up to the old man who was my driver. Carlo smiled tentatively as they exchanged words, and then Veil put his hands on the man's shoulders, gently but firmly turned him around, pushed him up against the side of the car. First Veil searched Carlo's pockets, then began to pat him down. As Veil's hands quickly and expertly ran over his body, Carlo turned his head and cast me a plaintive, questioning look.

'Give me a break, Garth,' I said, again starting forward, only to be pulled back with even greater force. 'He's only a chauffeur, for Christ's sake.'

'He works for the man who got you into this mess.'

'Not directly. He's just a worker, an employee of the office here. He's harmless.'

'Just like you once thought that Emmet P. Neuberger was just a poor, harmless, misunderstood, and bumbling fool, right? This newfound naivete of yours is not amusing, Mongo. How do you know what your chauffeur's real marching orders are? Even if he's not personally working against you, how do you know the car itself isn't bugged, or that it doesn't carry a transmitter that would allow somebody to follow you? As long as you allow that man to drive you around in this car, it's possible that whoever's trying to kill you knows your every move. And you say you don't need handling? You act like your brains have run out of your ears.'

'He saved my life, Garth. He ran down the gunman at the hotel about one tenth of a second before he was able to drop a pound or so of bullets into me.'

'So we'll send him a medal. The car could still be bugged.'

Harper gently squeezed my hand. 'Your brother and Veil are right, Robby. You can't afford to take any chances.'

They were right, of course, and I felt more than a little chagrined at the fact that it had never occurred to me, even after it had become obvious that Emmet P. Neuberger had been using me very badly, that it was a risky business to be using Cornucopia's car and driver. While it was true that the car could have been bugged or outfitted with a signal-emitting device without the Italian's knowledge, I had instinctively liked and trusted Carlo, and still did. I was convinced he, at least, meant me no harm, and it made me decidedly uncomfortable to watch him being so rudely-if gently-treated by Veil. I looked away as Veil, having finished with Carlo, steered him off to the side before getting into the car to begin searching the interior.

'You owe your friend over there an apology, brother,' Garth said in a low voice, shaking me slightly. 'You're being childish as well as naive, and you should be ashamed of yourself.'

'Oh, yeah? What do you know about it?'

'Enough to know you owe Veil an apology.'

Harper said, 'Veil told us about the conversation the two of you had before you left, when he tried to warn you off.'

'Did he, now? Perchance, did he tell you what he knows about John Sinclair that he wasn't able to share with me?'

'No. But he did imply certain things.'

'Well, bully for him. A number of people are now dead who might still be alive if I'd been more adequately prepared for what I was going to find over here.'