from the waist. The big man's impetus carried him forward; Harry's back formed the fulcrum and his opponent's arm the lever; he rose up, somersaulted, came crashing down on a table and reduced it to rubble. And Harry said:
Christ, Sergeant! I said no mess!
What mess? The other answered. Ifs over! He's winded but that's all. And maybe he'll take it as a warning. Only a total moron would push it any further. He's seen how fast we are.
Wel, I hope you're right, Harry answered with feeling, as Big Jimmy got groggily to his feet.
'Why, ye - ' The man took a stumbling step forward.
The Necroscope took a pace back, his arms lifting and extending forward as his hands commenced moving in an unmistakable karate weave. And cocking his head slightly on one side, warningly: 'Don't,' he said. Simply that.
'Huh!' The other grunted, stopping dead in his tracks. 'So ye're a hard man, are ye?'
'You really don't want to find out,' Harry told him.
And from behind the bar: 'Ye're leaving, Big Jimmy!' B.J. snapped. 'Right now, an' ye're no coming back!'
Big Jimmy looked at her through litle red pig-eyes, cast one more murderous glance at Harry, and grunted, Tuck ye'all, then!' As he swung around and headed for the door, one of the girls was hot on his heels with his coat; and B.J. shouting after them:
'Tear up his card! No one's ever tae let that pig in here again!' Her eyes stopped blazing and she looked at Harry, who was finishing his drink. And regaining a semblance of control, B.J. said: 'Greased lightning, aye. Maybe ye're right, and I should'nae have tae do with ye.'
Too late for that, B.J.' he told her. 'We're already had "tae do," as you wel know.' He glanced round the room but no one was looking his way. They probably thought it best not to. One of the girls was clearing away the wrecked table. 'We have to talk,' Harry reminded B.J.
She pursed her lips, as if preparing to argue, but finaly said, Tonight, then, after we've closed. Midnight, right here. And now perhaps ye'11 go? Ye're no' a member, after al. Ah've mah licence tae think about.'
And you should think a little more about your accent, he thought, which changes like the wind round Edinburgh Castle!
B.J. signalled for one of her girls to get his coat, then phoned for a taxi: 'Just in case the Big Man's waiting outside for ye ...' But he wasn't, and neither was the little man with the camera. Harry didn't need the taxi but took it anyway -as far as the town centre. .Then he took the Mobius route the rest of the way to Bonnyrig.
Back home he rummaged around until he found an incredibly ancient bottle of Scottish malt whisky that must have belonged to his stepfather. There was stil an inch or two of liquor in the bottom, and as he poured himself a large shot he couldn't help but wonder what Alec Kyle would have thought of it. Oddly enough, he stil felt buoyed by the single shot of cognac he'd had at B.J.'s! So what was he to make of that? A warning?
And: I've really got to get this body in training, Harry thought. With which he poured the contents of his glass - and the rest of the botle -away down the kitchen sink. Once you know your enemy, it's easier to deal with him.
And that was the end of that...
But maybe he should have taken a drink if only to lighten up a little. Doom and gloom were back by the time he used the Mobius Continuum to return to B.J.'s, a little after midnight, and the miseries were on Harry as heavy as ever. Also, he was somewhat upset by al this unnecessary hopping about; if B.J. had realy wanted to talk to him, why hadn't she simply taken him into her back room and talked to him? Or ... had she needed the time to set him up?
Whichever, he was alert as never before as he stepped out of the Continuum across the street from B.J.'s in the dark doorway where he'd seen the little man with the camera. If anything he was early; two of B.J.'s girls were just geting into a taxi at the kerbside, and B.J. herself was seeing them off. She gave a wave from her doorway as the cab puled away, then moved back out of sight. And the iluminated sign blinked into darkness.
Harry conjured