Chasing the Dragon Read Online Free PDF Page A

the Hunter to hoover up the Mothkin and save all their butts from an
endless sleep. She still didn't know why or even how exactly, and the
thing irritated and spooked her equally. She was never sure if it
belonged to her or the other way around, but it was Zal's gift and that
was the one reason that prevented her taking it off and burying it
under several hundred tons of rock.
    The cyborg continued staring at her legs. Lila stared back at those
grey eyes, her jaw starting to jut, and saw the head duck suddenly, as
if ashamed.
    Mercifully at that moment a second squad of mixed soldiers and
officials appeared through opening blast doors, and Lila found herself
face-to-face with a person she assumed was the present head of the
Otopian Secret Service. They hadn't met and Lila was permanently disconnected from the World Tree, so she really was just going on the air of authority and the grimly controlled yet thoroughly pissed-off
expression.

    The man in the suit was tall and broad shouldered, dark but
greying at the temples, his immaculate and conformist grooming
marked oddly with a surge of upper lip hair-a bandit's moustache.
"Temple Greer," he announced himself, taking a solid stance and
placing his hands together in front of him. He kept his weight back as
he looked her over, and said insouciantly as his gaze flicked back to her
face. "You must be Lila Black."
    Lila shrugged and smiled sweetly, as if butter wouldn't melt in her
mouth, admitting it. She'd already decided to give nothing to them,
and that included conversational openers.
    "You're under arrest," he said, his face impassive as though she
were not very interesting. Meanwhile, more armed people came into
the room and started to fill up the corridors. She heard something
heavy land on the roof and more feet getting out of that.
    The grey-and-black shiny bodies of other androids oiled into the
corners, slipping easily through the crowd. Their guns were bigger.
They all bore the same plastic look of humanoid uniformity, some
male, some female, but without distinctive faces. Each wore fatigues,
some with ammunition belts or other devices attached. Finally she was
surrounded by quite a throng, a space of clear carpet one metre wide
around her. Greer faced her from its twelve o'clock position.
    She missed Tath. She missed the imp. She missed Zal. Where someone should have said something sarcastic and smart about the situation,
now she had only the endless windblown susurrus of the Signal.
    "It's like you knew I was coming," Lila said, rather too loudly.
"Thanks for all turning out. I feel almost moved."
    Greer stared at her with genuine dislike. "You should be grateful
you're not dead."
    "I am. Every day," she assured him. "As is Teazle Sikarza, I'm sure.
I can barely imagine the thrill of his existence, living under a Legal Execution Order back home in Bathshebat. And I understand he's got
you to thank for that. Was that a plan to halve the demon population
on your part? Pretty clever if it was. Pretty dumb if it wasn't. He'll be
pissed when he finds out, and since he got back from Faeryland he's
been a bit ... hasty in his judgement." She wondered where Malachi
was and hoped he had the brains to stay out of it.

    In her head the machine whispered to itself, flipping digits,
switching charges. She wondered if the others heard it too. Maybe they
knew every word ... word was not the right word ... maybe they
understood what it was saying. Perhaps it was telling them her secrets.
If it did, they showed no sign.
    She shook her head and found Greer looking at her with widened,
angry eyes because she'd been zoning out in what, for him, must be an
important moment.
    She shrugged. "Do your guys hear all the background chatter, or is
that just me?" She waved her finger in circles next to her ear to illustrate and glanced around at the various androids with a questioning
face and an encouraging smile.
    "Your business isn't asking the