Danger Close Read Online Free PDF

waited.
    And waited. I went to water the collection of pots that made up my herb garden on the balcony. I did a bit of washing up.
    An hour later, the computer beeped. I had a response. Was this her, or FlameLite? Impossible to tell. Onscreen was a weird blend of Holly’s old avatar and a fox. It had nine tails, pointed ears, and a black nose. On either side stood two Manga raccoons. What the hell was this?
    A speech bubble was there. It read ‘ Bhai . come find me .’
    I typed back. ‘ I’ll find you . Show me where to go .’
    The avatar leant down to the raccoon on the right and a speech bubble appeared. It seemed to be issuing instructions. The bubble read,
    ‘--- class _ orig . lua 20 : 53 : 25 . 218750000 - 0400
    +++ class . lua 20 : 53 : 49 . 734375000 - 0400
    @@ - 21 , 8 + 21 , 8 @@ mt .__ call = function ( class _ tbl ,... )
    local obj = {}
    setmetatable ( obj , c )
    - if ctor then
    - ctor ( obj ,... )
    + if class _ tbl . init then
    + class _ tbl . init ( obj ,... ) ’
    The raccoon left the room and the fox avatar folded her hands, tilted its head at me, and waited serenely. And waited.
    And waited.
    I sighed and went to my kitchen and got cooking to take my mind off things. Something quick. I looked in Mrs Kirpachi’s handwritten recipe sheets. Her chicken Karahi was always worth a punt. I read her delicate script, tracing my finger down the ingredients…
    “ Slice and brown 3 medium onions , add 4 / 5 cloves of crushed garlic , about an inch stick of crushed garlic and 1 1 / 4 tsp salt , stir till onions are golden brown , adding splashes of water as you go to stop onions sticking to the pan . When onions are brown , add 1 / 2 tin of chopped tomatoes or 3 large fresh , stir till tomatoes have softened , again add splashes of water to help mixture become a sauce consistency ... Should take 10 / 15 mins . Riz pay attention beta !”
    I chuckled. She knew where my mind would wander and she’d actually written that in.
    “… Add a tablespoon of medium hot curry powder and 3 green chillies .. Keep stirring again till chillies have softened ... Now add in about 1lb of chicken breast ( cubed or cut into strips ) stir till chicken is browned and tender , keep water handy again ... Helps mixture combine as well as stopping it from sticking , then add in a good pinch of fenugreek leaves ( methi ) and a teaspoon of garam masala . When oil begins to separate from the masala , add enough freshly boiled water to just cover chicken , leave to simmer for about 10 mins on low heat , then garnish with fresh coriander and toasted cumin seeds ! Serve with rice , naan or chappatis !”
    I got busy with the instructions.
    An hour later I had some really good Karahi. While I was filling my face with it there was another ping from my screen. The raccoon servant had returned. It looked out of the screen at me. Its eyes were like dead black whirlpools which I really didn’t want to look into. Something was wrong about its eyes, its face. The raccoon-thing whispered to Bang-Bang’s fox avatar. Its speech bubble was saying-
    ‘ local function makeProxy ( rep )
    local proxyMeta = {
    __ metatable = "< protected proxy metatable >",
    rep = rep , -- GC protection
    __ index = proxyIndex ,
    __ newindex = noProxyNewIndex }
    local proxy = setmetatable ( {}, proxyMeta )
    rep2proxy [ rep ] = proxy
    return proxyKabulRoom’
    Kabul Room? Was that confirmation of Afghanistan?
    And what was with the raccoon avatars? I stared out of the window and tried to think where she might have come up with that. My eyes wandered to a pile of her old computer games and I leafed through. It didn’t take long to find the inspiration. Here was a copy of Resident Evil Operation Raccoon City. I’d played this one with her ages back. As I recalled, Raccoon City was where they mutated animals with genetically engineered viruses… or something. I also seemed to recall that there was a complete virtual Raccoon City in Second Life, but for the life of me I