Jokers Wild Page 0,88

sister's place, he ought to be safe there, and we'll know where to find him if we need him."

"Damnation! Can't we get rid of even one of the bad guys? I don't know what this city is coming to!"

Ackroyd shrugged. "Why are we visiting Tachyon?" Hiram gave him a glum look. "I'm afraid," he said, "that he might be dead."

Bagabond leaned forward, away from the brick wall of the alley. She steadied herself with a dumpster. The alley smelled of recent garbage. Rosemary was looking around a bit apprehensively. "Relax. We're alone."

"You don't get to read all the crime reports I do," Rosemary said. "You haven't seen the photos detectives snap in places like this. You haven't had to go to the morgue to check out-"

"Quiet," said Bagabond. "Get him?"

"He's uptown from us, and a ways to the east. I'd guess about Stuyvesant Square. Underground, of course."

"I don't think anyone would even notice today," Rosemary said. "Does he still have the books?"

"As far as I can tell. He doesn't really remember or notice what's in his gut. It's the absence that makes the difference. But there's no reason the packet shouldn't still be there."

Rosemary took a step toward the mouth of the alley. "It's quite a ways, especially today. We'd better get started if we're going to make it back to the Haiphong Lily by eight." She smiled ruefully at Bagabond. "Then I'll figure out what I'm going to do."

Bagabond frowned. "Jack's still moving, but so slowly we can connect with him easily. We should take the subway. Cabs'll be a mess." She saw Rosemary tense, but didn't com ment. Then she grinned. "I've never known an animal to be so constantly hungry as that alligator. I just hope he doesn't connect with us."

Rosemary's eyebrows rose.

"He's too worried about his niece for that," Bagabond said. "He just doesn't know it on the surface level of that reptile brain." She shook her head, thinking about appetites, and led the way out of the alley and into the loud, holiday_ crowds.

They entered the chaos of chants, exotic food carts, screams, and rock 'n' roll.

"The book'sss not here, Tachy. Where isss the book?" The explosive silibants indicated the joker's fast-vanishing patience. "Almost a thousand books, and thev can't find one that suits them. I call it churlish, and a reflection upon my taste."

"Or theirs," offered Roulette.

Tachyon snapped his head back to face Snake-face, the sudden gesture forestalling the blow. "I don't know about this ephemeral book. You say it was given to me. No one has given me a book this day. I have spent the past six hours in this lady's company. Did anyone give me a book?"

"No. "

"You've got it." The tongue once more played across the alien's face and down his chest. "I tasted it on her, and if I have to take the nigger apart to get it, I will." A blunt forefinger tipped with a fantastically thick and sharp nail drove into her shoulder, and Roulette stifled a cry. What was coming was going to be a lot worse than a finger jabbing into a numb, aching shoulder, and she'd better be prepared.

"All right, I'll be reasonable. The book isn't here. I put it in a safe place.",

"And you're going to take usss there."

"Yes, but you have to let her go."

"No, I think ssshe'll come along."

"Then, no book."

"Then, I redesign her face." The doorbell rang.

There was a sudden shifting of their captors. Guns touched reassuringly, Tommy starting for the door then dropping back, Snaky jumping for Tachyon, but the alien had also seen the possibilities, and sang out, "Yes, one moment please."

"Fuck you, I ought to break your ssscrawnv neck," hissed the joker, his hand closing around the doctor's throat. "Better let him answer the door instead," whispered Roulette since Tachyon's face was suffusing with blood, and he didn't seem capable of answering for himself. "Otherwise they'll know something's wrong, and come back with help."

"We'll wait it out. It may be the paperboy, or the Mormonssss."

But it was neither. A man's voice, deep, bass, cultured, but bearing a thread of strain and agitation, called, "Tach? I must speak with you. Is everything all right?"

"Tell him yesss."

"Yesss," Tachyon obligingly mimicked, then coughed trying to ease the soreness in his throat.

"Who isss thisss man?"

"Hiram Worchester."

"Okay, you can answer the door, but get rid of him fasst."

"Better clean his face," Roulette offered in the same flat tone she'd maintained since the beginning of this nightmare. She was both pleased and bemused