Jade Sky Read Online Free PDF Page B

let him.
    "Look, mate," Conor said to Garrett, jerking a thumb Matt's way. "I'm not saying he owes me his life, I'm just saying I saved it. Mister Flappy had him dead to rights, and he just stood there having a piss. The thing picked him up by the neck, and he didn't even struggle. One squish and he'd be done as done."
    Garrett waved to the bartender, pointed to the table, and held up two fingers. "Well, I at least owe you a drink. That bonk crushed my ribs like a beer can and would have kept going if you hadn't intervened."
    Conor grinned as the server arrived with another round, setting down the drinks and scooping up the empty glasses. "Just doing my job." He chugged his, then narrowed his eyes at Akash. "You got something to say, eh? Irish stereotypes and all that, right?"
    Akash raised his hands in mock defense. "No, no, sorry. I wouldn't dream of smearing the good Irishman's name by tying it to your behavior."
    Conor clinked his empty glass against Akash's full one, then nodded toward Blossom, reading an ebook at the end of the bar and sipping a cup of tea. "Having a cuppa at a pub. It's unnatural. She too good to drink with us?"
    "She doesn't drink," Matt said. "And she doesn't like bars."
    "Or celebrations," Garrett said. "Or people."
    "Then why's she here, eh?" Akash asked him.
    "Matt invited her. And in Japanese culture, you don't turn down an invite without good reason. It'd be a huge insult even if he wasn't her boss."
    "Brilliant," Conor said. "In Irish culture, you don't turn down an invite to a pub, period. And if someone pussies out, that's more for the rest of us."
    The server brought the next round. Matt sat back and thought of home. His mind returned to the conversation when Akash said, "If that were really an angel, we'd all be dead. No one withstands the wrath of God. Not you, not me. Nobody." Matt wiped away the symbol he'd traced in the condensation on the table, the bisected circle with an 'S' in each half.
    Garrett nodded. "Some fights you can't win."
    Conor grinned at Akash. "Aren't you a Hindu?"
    Akash rolled his eyes. "No. Are you a Catholic?"
    "'Course," he replied, and chugged another whiskey. "Protestants don't use katanas." He slammed the glass down. "It's why I know an angel when I see one. Glowy eyes, big wings, shiny. Angel is as angel does."
    Matt frowned. "What would an angel be doing in a cave in New Mexico?"
    "I was too busy saving your sorry ass," Conor said, pointing both index fingers at Matt, "so I didn't get a chance to ask."
    Blossom spoke from the end of the bar. "No such thing, anyway."
    "It speaks!" Conor said. "You going to join us, Sakura?"
    She shook her head and turned back to her book.
    Akash frowned. "She's right, though. It's just a big bonk."
    "With wings," Conor said. "Don't forget the shiny, metal-feathered wings." He popped half out of his chair and flashed his eyes at the waitress. "And speaking of wings, gentlemen, Hot Buffalo or Raspberry-Habanero?"
    "Sweet and Sour," Matt said, to a chorus of insults that brought his manhood into question with various levels of vulgarity. He waved them off as he got up, then approached Blossom. She looked up from her e-reader and set it down when he sat. He kept his voice low to keep the conversation between them. "You don’t think it was an angel?"
    She held up her hands. "More like someone who wants his worshippers to think he was. Makes more sense than proof of angels after all these years."
    "Do you believe in God?" He didn't know why he'd asked it, but couldn't take it back once it left his mouth.
    She sighed. "I grew up in the traditions of kami-no-michi , but even to my parents it was more culture than belief. So, no. You?"
    "Sure."
    "Sure?" She chuckled, and covered her mouth with her hand, the dainty gesture at odds with her typical dour, mannish affect. "That's your belief? Sure?"
    He chuckled with her, but didn't feel it. "Sure."
    She looked back at her reader but didn't wake up the screen. In the reflection, her smile