Eye and Talon Read Online Free PDF Page B

the motion of the standard-issue, double-handled nightstick coming into contact with a human — or non-human — face. 'The mayor's office and the city council will be happy to let us do whatever we need to, rather than have the UN come in and boot them out the door. It'll be pure rock-'n'-roll, believe me.'
    A thin ray of hope penetrated the gloom inside Iris's thoughts. 'Really?'
    Meyer nodded. 'Trust me on this one. I know how city hall works. The police department's already the heavies for most of this town's population; it's not like we've got a lot of positive PR to lose. So the powers that be will let us off our leashes. Finally. Better that than having the whole dog-dish taken away, for everybody.'
    'Solid on that.' Iris echoed her boss's nod. 'So our division is going to get thinner, too. Thinner and tougher.'
    'You got it.' Rolling the swivel chair back, Meyer swung his feet up onto his dead predecessor's desk. 'You know some of the clowns you've been working with, the old slow ones? The burnt-out cases, all the way down to the far end of the Wambaugh Curve, drawing their pay but doing jack for it?' This time, it was a hard, sharp shake of his head. 'They're not going to make the cut. They're history. They can retire early, on half-pension. We won't need 'em.'
    Half a cop's pension, Iris knew, without bonuses or bounties, didn't buy much in this town. 'What if they don't want to retire?'
    'They can retire . . .' Meyer's voice went soft and ominous. 'Or they can be retired. Comprende? '
    She understood. The slang term for killing replicants could be stretched to cover humans as well. Especially the ones who were supposed to be the killers, if they still had the guts for their job.
    'Who decides . . .' Her words came out slowly. 'Who makes the cut . . . and who doesn't?'
    'That's up to you.'
    'What?'
    'You and every other blade runner in this division.' Meyer reached forward and knocked a speck of dust from his glossily polished shoes. 'Let's just call it . . . performance review. Okay? Meaning that you're going to be watched pretty damn close — just during this little reorganization period.'
    'What the hell for?' Iris's temper flared, extinguishing whatever was left of the apprehension she'd felt earlier. 'You know what kind of work I do. What I can do, that the others can't even come close to. I'm the best you've got in this division.'
    'Sweetheart. I know that; you know that.' Meyer spoke with elaborate patience. 'But they don't know that. The ones up above me. I'm hanging from the same chain of command that you are, if maybe a couple links higher. That only means I've got farther to fall. The brass want to make sure I'm not cutting you any special favors.' He smiled, eyes half-lidded. 'Which of course I'd be otherwise inclined to do, just to keep you around. For old times' sake.'
    'Thanks a lot.' For this, I slept with the putz? 'And what happens if I don't make the cut? Anybody can screw up, at least once.'
    Meyer wasn't smiling now. 'Then you go down with the rest. Whether you want to or not.'
    'I see.'
    'You should. I've got my own ass to save. If I can save yours, too, I will. But if you are going down, I'm not going with you.'
    Iris nodded again. A certain kind of peace came over her, a darkly grim one, that resulted from knowing what the score was.
    A little see of resolution crystalized in her heart. One of these days , thought Iris, I'll have his job. And he'll be asking me to do him a favor. Who would go down then — him or her — was something pleasant to contemplate.
    But later. 'So what do I have to do?'
    'What I tell you to,' said Meyer. 'That's all.'
    'I did that before. And look where it got me.'
    'No, I just mean take the assignments.' Meyer put his feet back down on the floor. 'Take them and do them — you know how, right? — and make yourself look good. And no bitching about 'em, okay?'
    Her turn to smile. 'That'll be the hard part.'
    'You're telling me. Because good assignments are scarce