Kill Baxter Read Online Free PDF Page A

are ridiculously sculpted like a geisha’s and one of them is pierced by several thick iron rings. He gives us a lopsided smile as we approach, revealing large jagged canines.
    ‘A goblin who wants to be a samurai. Norrd, you’re cute, has anybody ever told you that?’ Ronin says.
    ‘My concubines,’ Norrd replies in a rumbling hiss. ‘But they might be biased. Who’s your little friend?’ He reaches down and delicately pours a cup of tea from a Japanese tea set.
    ‘An agent.’
    Norrd raises a manicured eyebrow. ‘A little young for an MK fascist, wouldn’t you say?’
    ‘Magic doesn’t have an age limit,’ Ronin says. ‘He’s a child prodigy.’
    Norrd fixes me with a stare. I force myself to return it and try to put on a suitable powerful magician face but probably only succeed in looking constipated.
    ‘So,’ Norrd says in between sips of tea. ‘Shall I try and guess why you’re here, or do you just want to tell me?’
    ‘Ed says you’re squeezing him for protection money.’
    ‘Insurance,’ Norrd says. ‘That’s not illegal, is it?’
    Ronin laughs. ‘Well I grant you you’re only slightly worse than regular insurers, but let’s not get into semantics. You’re squeezing Ed. I want you to stop.’
    ‘Oh well, if YOU want me to stop …’ Norrd picks imaginary lint off his kimono.
    ‘You don’t need the small change Ed pays you,’ Ronin says. ‘So why don’t we come to some sort of agreement?’
    ‘What can I say? My regular business has been disrupted by the internal politics of the Obayifo. They’re not producing things for me like they used to. It’s forced me to fall back on my more basic streams of income.’
    ‘Come on, Norrd, the faeries are probably trying to up payments again. Give them a little more and they’ll be producing your Fae-kong counterfeits again in no time.’
    Norrd shakes his head. ‘Not this time. Ed’s just going to have to suck it up.’
    ‘Well then, why not start offering Pilates?’ Ronin says. ‘That’s what a lot of the other gyms are doing.’
    I imagine lines of grunting goblin moms toning their post-natal core muscles. Not a nice thought.
    ‘Funny,’ Norrd says. ‘Almost as funny as what happened at the Flesh Palace. Is that what you’re here for, Ronin? To destroy a legitimate business?’
    ‘That was Basson,’ Ronin says.
    ‘Basson was part of MK6, was he not? And if the MK can’t control its employees, then why should we respect its authority?’
    ‘Because it will come in here and raze the place to the ground if you push it.’
    Norrd smiles, his pointed little teeth shining with saliva. ‘That’s exactly what he said you’d say. He’s right. Humans are all the same: bullying, cowardly worms.’
    ‘Who is right?’ Ronin asks.
    ‘The one who is going to pay me for your teeth.’
    He waves his hand and his goblin guards surround us. Up close, they smell of fungus and AXE deodorant.
    Ronin’s hand is under his coat and he pulls out two handguns. In a heartbeat a goblin has a meaty forearm around my neck with a knife a millimetre away from my eyeball. Two of the tracksuited goblins step in front of Norrd, forming a protective barrier of grey flesh.
    ‘Well now you have a choice,’ Norrd says. ‘You can try shooting through them to get to me, but your little friend will be on the receiving end of an unfortunate brain puncture. Or you can put those guns down and come with me.’
    Personally I don’t see much of a choice, but Ronin hesitates for several long moments before dropping the guns. The goblins strip him of the rest of his weapons and give me an invasive pat-down that I can’t help but think is karma for some of the terrible porn scenarios I’ve sold.
    Norrd stands and beckons. ‘Please. Follow me.’ He leads us through the gym to an elevator surrounded by scratch-like runes. We pile in, Ronin and me in the middle surrounded by a phalanx of goblins. The lift descends and we stand silently listening to the