Put The Sepia On Read Online Free PDF Page B

gives me a long, sad look that tells me everything I’d ever wanted to hear from her but never did. She loves me all right.
    When she leaves, her steps, even in heels, don’t make a sound. She’s the best detective in the city. I hate her almost as much as I love her.
    So she leaves me there, alone in an office. I light up the only Corpo ration-made cigar I have left from the good, bad old days and watch the moon set through what passes for a window in this part of town. Now I’m alone in an office that smells like smoke, sex, sin, love, and impossible decisions. And jasmine. Man, I need an air conditioner.

Chapter 6: A Bright, Guilty Worl d
    I spent the whole night thinking, and it still wasn’t enough. Lucky for me, I’ve always been a seat of my pants kinda guy, so I’ll just make it up as I go.
    Unluckily for me, Lime is smarter than I gave him credit for and he started the march before first light. That means the refugees (and there’ll be less of them than Coral counted on; people are dumb, and chicken) will be huddled up in a slum while the world burns around them, and it means I’m going to need to be creative on my way to that slum, because I don’t have a Corporation uniform or two-hundred pounds of muscle, halitosis, and hair on my tongue.
    I hear the bikes ripping across the ground, Dogs hooting and shooting and generally killing anybody who’s not also on a bike. Since the Corporation doesn’t make bikes, it’s a pretty short list.
    On the other side, there are Corporation mechs all over the sky, flying along with more grace than you’d figure, raining down governmental death on Dogs and unlucky refugees wherever applicable. Until one of those electrified spike-balls rips through them and fries their pilot, anyhow. Then their seven ton corpse just falls to the ground, usually doing some pretty major damage to a home or two in the over-crowded slums. I had a feeling more than a few children dumb enough to be born in this part of town were now rotting under their own ceilings. The sun is bright in the sky
    It’s a real party.
    I duck and dash on my way to Coral’s place. Nobody pays me much attention on account of I don’t have a weapon. I mean, I do, but it’s up my sleeve and in my arm and not half as big as the previously useless gun Lime took away from me.
    I get in the door, and there’ s Coral… and her idiot brother. About fifteen refugees. Twice as many as I thought and maybe a tenth as many as Coral expected. She didn’t tell me so, but her face is a chatty Cathy.
    I look over the refugees. The good news is they look mostly sober. The bad news is they look mostly worthless. Way I figure it, we’ve got about three miles to cover before we’re out of the danger zone. I hear explosions in the background, and screams. And laughter, too, which is worse. A bad Dog loves a good fight.
    I lead Coral and her flock out, and things are bad. A Corporation mech had been doing some real damage, a silver giant death machine, gunning down dogs, but there’s just too many, with too many chains. A few get hooked or wrapped around him, and they start to climb. He’s overrun, like a rat being consumed by a tide of ants. At least we don’t hear any scream over the sounds they make eating the pilot.
    “Come on!” I scream and lead them down a back-alley that might lead somewhere. There’s a Dog missing a good chunk of his side propped up against one of the walls, and one of our refugees vomits. From the sight or the smell I couldn’t tell ya. We turn the corner, and there’s more violence. Twenty, maybe thirty Corporation soldiers with Corporation rifles trying to gun down about fifteen Dogs on bikes who’re closing fast. But it’s hard to hit something moving that fast and swerving that much, and there’s still plenty left to mow right through the footsmen, waving chains, crushing knees beneath wheels, and generally making a mess of things. The Dogs are laughing right up until a Corporation