Chasing the Dragon Read Online Free PDF

questions," Greer said flatly.
"Answering them is."
    "Oh, because I thought maybe the more advanced a machine you
became the more it might make sense. At least, I got that impression
off the rogues who approached me. I have to say, they weren't too much
friendlier than you. Y'all gotta work on your people skills, geekfiends."
Lila let her smile stay airy and uncomplicated. "Anyway, as long as you
don't mind the fact that pretty much everything you use to protect the
homeland security is in constant communication with unknown entities at unspecified places, I guess I can live with the mystery."
    Greer actually looked uncomfortable for a second. Lila wasn't sure
exactly why, but it was good enough for her. She held out her wrists
together in front of her. "Better cuff me then. Or do you want to talk
about ghosts and stuff? The news these days is full of such scary stories."

    His eyes narrowed and his nostrils flared. He made the smallest
motion of his head left and right and said quietly, "Get out."
    The room emptied, bodies flowing through doors like water down
a plughole. Within a few seconds they were alone. A moment or two
later she heard a soft padding in the hall, and Malachi appeared,
slinking with a deliberate, insouciant slowness. Greer glanced at him
with a scowl as he came through the doorway.
    "Shut the door."
    Malachi pushed it closed and stood, folding his hands in front of
him. He'd taken off his sunglasses, and his orange eyes blazed, their cat
pupils wide, his expression a combination of grim and bored that made
Lila want to smile. She turned her gaze back to Greer with pleasant
expectation to let him know he could dig his own hole now and bury
himself in it.
    To her surprise the man relaxed, his stiff posture and bullish pose
softening as he released his arms from their brace position and loosened
his big shoulders. He opened his jacket, flicked the sides back, and
stuffed his hands into his pockets. His head tilted slightly to one side
and he made a show of loosening his jaw. "The trouble is, Black, you're
right and I'm right and the world is a wrong, sorry place to be right in."
    "Is this good cop?" she asked. The corner of Malachi's mouth
twitched in a grin as Greer looked back over his shoulder at him and
then gazed back at Lila.
    "Temple Greer is a man of distinction among humans," Malachi
said to her. "He is straight about his lies." He made the faintest nod.
    She tilted her head too, to show she was still listening.
    "What I told Malachi to tell you was to bring you here," Greer said
easily. "It's true too, but that's just a sideline. We could play cat-andmouse games another month or two and piss each other off some more,
but you're fifty years late and time's running out for all of us so I hope
you'll overlook the methods. I know there's nothing holding you to the
agency now, if there ever was. I don't approve of what happened here in the past"-he glanced over her, managing to convey that he was
referring to her machine alterations without making it look sleazy"but it's ancient history now. Here you are. Here they are. Here they
are ..." And he jerked his head in Malachi's direction. "And whatever
the government likes to say to the press about human security, we both
know that's a horse that ran out of the barn a long time gone. So I'm
not looking to bolt any doors here. We used to do that in your day.
Now we're more of a ..." He hesitated and looked back at Malachi,
for all the world as if they were some kind of tag team.

    "Centre for Supernatural Crisis Management," Malachi said
around his huge canine teeth as if he were tearing up the words. His
dislike of the term was so obvious it made her grin.
    Greer gave a short laugh at what was clearly the office joke, "Yeah.
Anyway, my offer to you stands. You're unique and I need you to help
me do this job. In return I promise you can have the uneasy feelings,
stomach ulcers, and sleepless nights that I enjoy,