Cold Days (The Dresden Files #14) - Jim Butcher Page 0,86

“I did, didn’t I?” He turned to Cat Sith and set his gun aside. “Cat Sith, the remark was not directed specifically at you or meant to insult you, but I acknowledge that I have given offense, and recognize that the slight puts me in your debt. Please accept my apologies, and feel free to ask a commensurate service of me should you ever have need of it, to balance the scales.”

Cat Sith stared at Thomas for a moment, and then inclined his head. “Even children can learn manners. Done. Until such time as I have need of you, I regard the matter as settled, Thomas Raith.”

“You know him?” I asked.

“And your apprentice, Molly Carpenter,” Sith said, his voice impatient, “as well as the rest of your frequent associates. May I suggest that you get on with the business at hand, Sir Knight? Tempus fugit.”

One of Winter’s most dangerous creatures—most dangerous hunters—knew all about my friends. That was something that a smart man would be concerned about. I reminded myself that just because someone is courteous, it does not necessarily mean that they aren’t planning to vivisect you. It just means that they’ll ask whether the ropes holding you down are comfortable before they pick up the scalpel. Cat Sith might be an ally, for the moment, but he was not my friend.

“In a few minutes, we’re going to be leaving,” I said. “I’ve got a hunch that we’ll be under observation, and I don’t want that. I want you to distract anyone who has us under direct surveillance.”

“With pleasure.”

“Without killing them or causing significant bodily harm,” I said. “For all I know there’s a cop or a PI watching the place. So nothing permanent.”

Cat Sith narrowed his eyes. His tail twitched to one side, but he said nothing.

“Think of it as a compliment,” I suggested. “Any idiot could murder them. What I ask is far more difficult, as befits your station.”

His tail twitched the other way. He said nothing.

“After that,” I said, “I want you to get word to the Summer Lady. I want a meeting.”

“Uh, what?” Thomas said.

“Is that a good idea?” Molly asked at the same time.

I waved a hand at both of them, and kept talking to Sith. “Tell her it’s got to happen before noon. Can you contact her?”

“Of course, Sir Knight,” said Sith. “She will wish to know the reason for such a meeting.”

“Tell her that I’d prefer not to kill her Knight, and I’d like to discuss how best to avoid it. Tell her that I’ll meet her wherever she pleases, if she promises me safe conduct. Bring me her answer.”

Sith eyed me, then said, “Such a course is unwise.”

“I’m not asking you to do it. What do you care?”

“The Queen may be less than pleased with me if I break her newest toy before she’s gotten sufficient use from it.”

“Gosh,” I said.

Sith flicked an ear and managed to do it contemptuously. “I will bear this message, Sir Knight. And I will . . . distract . . . those who hunt you. When will you be departing?”

Behind me, Thomas’s phone began to ring.

“Tell you in a second,” I said. I answered the phone. “Go for Doughnut Boy.”

A woman with a voice cold enough to merit the use of the Kelvin scale spat, “He will meet you. Accorded Neutral Ground. Ten minutes.”

“Cool,” I said. “I haven’t had a beer in forever.”

There was a brief, perhaps baffled silence, and then she hung up on me.

I turned back to Thomas and Molly and said, “Let’s go. Sith, please be—”

The eldest malk vanished.

“—gin,” I finished, somewhat lamely.

Thomas swung to his feet and slipped the little automatic into the back of his pants, then pulled his shirt down over it. “Where are we going?”

“Accorded Neutral Ground,” I said.

“Oh, good,” Molly said. “I’m starving.”

Chapter

Twenty-one

In the lobby, we found the doorman sitting on the ground grimacing in pain. A CPD patrol officer was next to him with a first-aid kit. As we passed, I saw several long, long slices in the back of one of the doorman’s legs, running from just above his heel to the top of his calf. His slacks and socks alike were sliced in neat, parallel strips. The wounds were painful and bloody, but not life-threatening.

Both men were both too preoccupied to pay an instant of attention to the three of us as we calmly left the building.

I winced a little as we went by them. Dammit. I hadn’t wanted to turn even the gentlest