The Adventures of Lazarus Gray Read Online Free PDF Page A

that not even a state-of-the-art hospital would be able
to save the man at this point. Soon, organ failure would be setting
in. "Mr. Nero. I need to ask you about a girl."
    Barrington looked confused
but Eun placed a hand on his arm and gestured for silence. Louie
was still outside the room, as if being near his employer in this
state was too much for him.
    "A week ago," Gray
continued, "a young woman was kidnapped outside a tavern here. The
man who had been with her says that she was quite beautiful but
that her eyes possessed unusual properties: he described them as
phantom eyes. The car she was bundled into belongs to you. Do you
know her?"
    Nero took a deep, rattling
breath and slowly nodded his head. "They took her. I was trying to
help her but they won’t let her go. Not after all the money they
spent on her eyes."
    "Who are they?"
    Nero licked his lips and
his eyes fixed on something past Gray’s shoulder. His voice sounded
paper-thin. "She was such a lovely thing growing up. I loved her
with all my heart but I put such pressure on her. I’d wanted a son,
you see. And nothing she did was ever quite going to make up for
the lack of a son."
    Gray turned his head, his
eyes finding the object that was holding Nero’s attention. There
was a photograph on the wall of a gorgeous young woman, wearing a
white skirt and a violet blouse. She was hanging on the arm of
Jonathan Nero, a bright smile on her face. "She’s your
daughter?"
    "Yes. Her name is
Wilma."
    Gray reached out and
squeezed Nero’s hand, feeling the bones under the shifting flesh.
"Tell me who has your daughter."
    "She’s with Doc Pemberley
and his gang."
    Eun gasped. Pemberley was a
discredited scientist who had been busted for conducting
experiments on vagrants and runaways. The man sometimes sold his
services to various mob bosses as well, creating gases and weapons
that aided them in their nefarious exploits. Gray had finally
brought the man to justice about six months ago but Pemberley had
gotten off on a technicality. He’d fled the city in the aftermath
and, until now, Eun hadn’t known he’d returned. The young Korean
looked over at his employer but, as usual, Gray had his poker face
on and was revealing nothing of his own thoughts.
    "Please tell me more," Gray
pressed.
    Nero groaned, prompting
Barrington to say, "I don’t think this is wise. He’s far too weak.
He needs to be in a hospital."
    He’s going to die," Gray
said firmly. He saw no surprise in Nero’s eyes at that
proclamation. The poor man knew this to be fact. He could feel it,
after all. "Before he passes, let him help me save his
daughter."
    "She fell in love with
Pemberley’s son," Nero whispered, losing strength. "I forbade her
to see him but you know how young people are. All of that only made
her want to be with him more. Eventually, the boy died after
volunteering to help his father with his experiments. Then the
bastard turned his attentions to my daughter. He did something to
her eyes, turned her into a host for something awful. And when she
escaped, she was too afraid to come home to me. People who are
around her… they suffer. The thing inside her needs to feed ." Nero coughed and tiny flecks of red and white dotted
his lips. "Somebody at that bar recognized her, though, and gave me
a call. I sent my boys to bring her home."
    "How did she end up with
Pemberley again?"
    "It made her go back to
him."
    "What did? This thing you
said is inside her? What is it?"
    Nero’s body began to
shudder and a rattling sound emanated from his throat. Barrington
rushed forward and tried his best but there was nothing to be done.
Jonathon Nero, as powerful a figure as any in Sovereign, was
dead.
    Lazarus stood, leaving the
room while Barrington was checking for any last signs of life. He
and Eun hurried past Louie in the hallway, exiting the house before
the big man could ask what was wrong.
    "What now, Chief?" Eun
asked. "We gonna stop in and see Doc Pemberley?"
    "We need to check in