Floods 5 Read Online Free PDF Page A

said.
    Considering he was totally blindfolded and tied up in a dark, damp room, Grusom was acting with remarkable confidence. He didn’t consider for a moment that his captor might attack him. It’s hard to know whether his attitude was because he was a highly trained scientist who was used to dealing with weirdos every day or because he was stupid.
    â€˜Look, mister,’ said the voice, sounding annoyed that Grusom had gained the upper hand, ‘if you don’t start being a bit more scared, I’ll come and pull all your nose hairs out one by one with a pair of rusty pliers.’
    â€˜Would those be the rusty pliers that have your DNA all over the handles?’ said Grusom with just a hint of triumph in his voice.
    â€˜Damn,’ the voice cursed under its breath.
    â€˜Besides, part of our FSI Basic Training is to have all our nose hairs surgically removed in case we get tied up and blindfolded in a dark cellar by a crazed killer,’ said Grusom.
    â€˜I’m not a crazed killer,’ said the voice, ‘but Iam a witch. I could pull all the hairs out of the rest of your body without even touching you.’
    â€˜You certainly fit the description of a crazed killer,’ said Grusom.
    â€˜Well, I’m not, and I’m really upset you should think that,’ said the voice.
    â€˜Listen, sunshine,’ said Grusom, ‘I’m a professional with years of experience. I think I know a crazed killer when I meet one.’
    â€˜But … that’s really unfair!’ said the voice. ‘I mean, have you any idea how hurtful it is to be told something like that?’
    â€˜Well, of course I haven’t,’ said Grusom. ‘I’m on the side of the good guys. Anyway, look at it from my point of view. I mean, you’ve kidnapped me, tied me up and dragged me into a dark cellar. How do I know you didn’t kill Professor Open-Graves too?’
    â€˜Oh, but …’ the voice began, and before it could say anything else it began to cry.
    â€˜Now you see,’ said Grusom, ‘there you go, crying like a baby. That’s typical crazed killerbehaviour, unless of course you actually are a baby.’
    â€˜I, but, I …’
    â€˜Why don’t you untie me and we’ll talk about it.’
    â€˜Would you?’ said the voice, cheering up. ‘Would you really do that?’
    â€˜Of course I would,’ said Grusom, glad that it was so dark the voice couldn’t see he had his fingers crossed.
    He flexed his muscles as laid out on page 347, subsection 23 of the seventh volume of the FSI Handbook , under the heading ‘How to Make Yourself into a Lethal Coiled Spring with the Power to Kill with a Single Blow while Appearing to be Completely Weak and Pathetic’. Small hands fiddled around with the knots tying his hands and feet together.
    â€˜Umm … I can’t get the knots undone.’
    â€˜Why don’t you turn the light on?’ Grusom suggested. ‘It would be a lot easier if you could see what you were doing.’
    â€˜I can’t reach the light switch,’ said the voice.
    â€˜You could stand on a chair.’
    â€˜I haven’t got one.’
    â€˜But if you really are a witch,’ Grusom said, ‘can’t you just make the light go on without touching it?’
    â€˜But I promised my mum I wouldn’t play with electricity,’ said the voice. ‘Not after the thing with the kitten.’
    Grusom was intrigued. If his kidnapper had promised their mother something, did that mean they were not a man but a child? Normally that would be the case, but as everyone knows, especially an expert like Grusom, crazed killers are often very devoted to their mothers, and have even been known to keep their dead mothers propped up in a chair with mice in their hair and make them cups of tea every afternoon at four o’clock for years and years after they’ve died.
    â€˜How long