The Eye of Moloch Read Online Free PDF Page A

camera—”
    “You don’t have to read it to me. I’m sure I know the essence. It’s addressed to your audience, and mine. It says that I’ve seen the error of my ways and decided to join forces with you. It says that everyone who believes in what my mother stood for, and that I still stand for, should all follow my lead and do the same.”
    “. . . You’d rather speak it from the heart, then?”
    “Actually,” Molly said, “I’d much rather die.”
    Pierce crushed out his cigar with a good deal more force than would have been required to simply snuff it. “And there you’ve struck upon the second option, but you should know something before you choose it. Any noble stand you take will be for nothing. Out on the Internet a dead person can go on living for a long time, for years maybe. So through the magic of technology you’ll sign and deliver that statement postmortem, and many others after that, and nobody will ever know that it wasn’t really you.
    “But I’d rather we didn’t go that way. If you’re to be a living ally you bring several advantages to me. If not, then you bring only one. My boys here haven’t seen such a pretty young woman in a month of Sundays, at least one whose affections they didn’t have to purchase. I expect they’ll all want to enjoy you for a spell before we bury you alive.”
    Pierce said this with the inhuman detachment of a textbook sociopath, with no discernible anger or malice. Molly sat for a few seconds, thinking. The character of the waning light through that window had dimmed and grown warmer, but not yet quite enough. She would need just a little more time.
    “I’m still listening,” Molly said.
    “That’s better.”
    “What about the people who were with me?”
    “What’s left of the Founders’ Keepers? They’re out there under guard in the next room, sweating out your decision, and I’m afraid they’re quite a bit worse for the wear. One’s wounded and I’m told that we brought back another—a Mr. Church, if I recall—who’d sadly expiredfrom the rigors of the day. But it’s good you asked, because there’s one of your number we can’t account for. This big mulatto that rarely leaves your side, this Thom Hollis, I believe his name is. What is he to you, some kind of a Secret Service?”
    “He’s my friend.”
    “And he’s a half-blood, is he? Or a quarter?”
    “I wouldn’t know. It’s never come up.”
    “Well, despite the fact that he’s a good fraction of a porch-monkey, I’m told that he’s a rare breed. From what I hear he’s not your typical black man; hell, I’d say the half that’s Caucasian may be a better soldier than most of these whole white men right here. I hear he fought well for you. They also tell me he’s articulate, and bright, and clean. He’s light-skinned with no Negro dialect. I want you to know I need men like him, so don’t you worry about that boy.”
    “What do you mean by that?”
    “What I’m saying is, he’d have a place with us here if that’s what’s on your mind. You just think about how far we’ve come. A few years ago this guy would have been fetching us coffee, and here I’m pulling up a seat for him, right here next to me. And it would be a considerable load off my mind if you told me where he is right now.”
    “I wouldn’t tell you that, even if I knew.”
    “Now, there’s no need to be that way. Look, I’ve got three of my best trackers out there looking for him, and they’ll bring him on in living or dead before too much longer. Three against one on enemy territory, them’s tough odds to beat, I don’t care how good he is. But, if I had an encouraging word from you about my proposal, well, then, I’d just radio my boys and it’d go much better for him. For both of you. The choice is yours, it’s no skin off my nose either way.”
    His voice had taken on a new earnestness that only made the words that much uglier. “I think you’ve got me all wrong, Molly. I think