Book 03 - Cold Copper Tears Read Online Free PDF

and thug hangout is
more hobby and cover than career. What he really does is bust
kneecaps and break heads, freelance. Which is why he has his
Puddles and Slades around.
    Saucerhead came in. He nodded to everybody and dropped into a
chair. It creaked. He didn’t say anything. He doesn’t
talk much.
    Saucerhead’s line splits the difference between mine and
Morley’s. He’ll pound somebody for a fee but he
won’t kill for money. He does mostly bodyguard and escort
work. If he’s really short he’ll do collections. But
never assassinations.
    “Right, then,” Morley said, with the players in
place. “Garrett, you’ve saved me a trip. I was going to
drop by your place after we closed.”
    “Why?” They looked at me like I was a freak-show
exhibit instead of a broken-down, self-employed ex-Marine.
    “You sure you don’t have something going?”
    “Nothing. Come on. What gives?”
    “Sadler dropped
by. He had a message for the trade from the kingpin.” The
kingpin is Chodo Contague, emperor of TunFaire’s underworld.
He is a very bad man. Sadler is one of his lieutenants and a worse
man. “Someone wants your head, Garrett. The kingpin is
putting out word that whoever tries for it will answer to
him.”
    “Come on, Morley.”
    “Sure. He’s as drifty as a fairy girl on weed.
He’s obsessed with honor and favors and debts and balances.
He thinks he owes you big and he’s by damned going to keep
you alive to collect. If I was you I’d never do it, so
I’d always have him behind me like my own pet
banshee.”
    I didn’t want a guardian angel. “That’s only
good for as long as he stays alive.” Kingpins have a way of
dying almost as frequently as Karenta’s kings.
    “Gives you a vested interest in his health, don’t
it?”
    “One hand washes the other,” Saucerhead rumbled.
“You really don’t got nothing shaking?”
    “Nothing. Zero. Zip. I’ve only had two prospects in the
last ten days. I turned them both down. I’m not working. I
don’t want to work. It’s too much like work. I’m
perfectly happy just sitting around watching everybody else
work.”
    Morley and Saucerhead made faces. Morley worked as much as he
could because he thought it was good for him. Saucerhead worked all
the time because he had to feed his huge body. Morley asked,
“What about those prospects?”
    “Good-looking
blonde this afternoon. Probably a class hooker. Had somebody
harassing her and wanted it stopped. I gave it to Pokey Pigotta.
Just before I came down here, an old guy who wanted me to find
something he thought was lost. Now he’s looking for somebody
else.”
    Morley frowned. He looked at the others and found no inspiration
there. He picked up the three chuko knives, handed one to Puddle,
one to Slade, and tossed the other to Saucerhead, who said,
“Chuko knife.”
    Morley said, “Garrett had an encounter on his way down
here. We don’t usually see gangs in the neighborhood. They
know better. Tell us about it, Garrett.” My feelings were
hurt. Nobody was impressed by the fact that I’d taken away
three knives. I told it all. Saucerhead said, “I gotta
remember that brick-on-the-toes trick.”
    Morley looked at Puddle. Puddle said,
“Snowball.”
    Morley nodded. “That’s the albino, Garrett. A total
crazy. Boss of a gang called the Vampires. He halfway thinks
he’s a vampire. The one you left standing sounds like Doc,
the brains of the gang. He’s crazier than Snowball.
Won’t back down from anything. And him a bleeder. I hope you
had sense enough to finish it while you could.”
    He looked at me and knew I hadn’t.
    “They’re crazies, Garrett. A big gang. As long as
Snowball is alive they’ll keep coming. You embarrassed
him.” He got out pen, ink, paper, and started writing.
“Puddle. Take two men and see if there’s still anyone
around out there.”
    “Sure, boss.” A real genius, Puddle. I wondered who
tied his shoes.
    Morley scribbled. “The Vampires were way off their