Beyond the Pale Read Online Free PDF Page B

scanner. The guards knew him and were expecting his return, but security had been tightened in the aftermath of Burnout’s forced entry last night.
    As Ryan waited for the scanner to check his retinal image against the datastore and give him clearance to enter, Dhin lifted the bird into the air behind him. The ork would return the helicopter to National Airport for a full systems check and any necessary repairs.
    The retinal scanner beeped. The guards smiled at Ryan and waved him through. He headed for his recovery room, trying to keep the recurring images of his dream at bay. His wristphone sounded as he passed into the west wing.
    He punched the Connect and found himself looking at the most beautiful face he’d ever known. She had cut her hair again, probably to get rid of the parts burned in the explosion. “Nadja, my sweet, it is so lovely to see you.”
    Nadja smiled, her green eyes bright. “Likewise, dear. How are you feeling?”
    “I’m completely recovered.” Ryan decided not to discuss his nightmare, which had come back to plague him with visions. “I’m worried about you.”
    “I came through without a scratch,” Nadja said. “Burnout didn’t hurt me. There’s still some ringing in my ears from the explosion, but I’ve got an appointment with a snake shaman to see if that can be fixed.”
    Ryan smiled. “I’m sorry I pulled you into this.”
    “Don’t speak nonsense, Ryan. Burnout kidnapped me. Anyone else would have been stopped by security. You had nothing to do with it.”
    “Yeah, well, I’m sorry anyway.”
    Nadja smiled. “Stubborn slot.”
    Ryan removed his guns and his bandoleer. “That’s me.”
    “Do you feel up to having lunch with me?” Nadja said.
    “Always."
    “I don’t have time to leave the hotel, but I’d love to see you here. Can you make noon?”
    “Yes.”
    “Good.” She disconnected.
    Ryan finished removing his running gear and decided to make his way to the arboretum to dance some katas. He needed to think, to sort out some things. Was getting Lethe back important enough to plan a run into Aztlan? Or would that simply divert his attention when it should be focused on his mission?
    The Silent Way will help me.
    Wearing his black plycra unibody with the Dragon Heart still strapped around his waist, Ryan walked through the house to the arboretum. When he reached the shattered double glass doors, he stepped beyond the yellow hazard tape and into the room where he and Burnout had fought just the night before.
    In the center of the room, Ryan began his katas, moving in slow motion, dancing in morning sunshine. Mana came to him through the physical contraction and stretching of his muscles. The power came, bringing focus with it. Concentration into his mind.
    All around him were the remnants of the burned arboretum. Scorched plants and blackened marble trees stood beneath open sky. Most of the broken macroglass had been removed, cleaned in the hours since the explosion. Since Ryan had used his distance strike to make Burnout pull the trigger on his Colt Manhunter, and in so doing trigger a massive oxygen explosion.
    Miraculously, they had both survived.
    Now, the morning air blew cool through the skeletal stone trees of the destroyed arboretum, bringing the smell of cherry blossoms and azaleas from the mansion gardens outside. Dunkelzahn’s estate boasted some of the most impressive grounds in all of the Washington FDC sprawl. Even so, Ryan could still smell the acrid tinge of burning corpses underneath the aroma of flowers. The stench of death from the sprawl-wide rioting that had followed Dunkelzahn’s assassination two weeks earlier.
    Ryan danced the moves of the Silent Way, the physical adept path that Dunkelzahn had taught him years ago, concentrating as his body flowed with deliberately slow gestures. He searched inward as he moved, looking with his magic, until he found his core, the solid rock that was his essence, the fountainhead of all his power. He became