The Thirteenth Skull Read Online Free PDF Page B

resources to bear in finding those responsible for this most heinous and wicked attack.”
    â€œThat would be really sweet of you guys. What about me?”
    â€œYou?”
    â€œExtracting me. Isn’t that what you call it? Extract me from this interface. Make these charges go away.”
    â€œThat would prove a bit more complicated, I’m afraid.”
    â€œBut you could.”
    He smiled, this time blessing me with an eyeful of his gorgeous orthodontics.
    â€œAnd what in exchange for the benefits of such an extraction?” He was talking about the Seal. I said, “It was never about killing me, was it?”
    â€œI beg your pardon?”
    â€œMr. Delivery Dude. He wasn’t supposed to kill me. The whole thing was a setup, to put me in a bind so I’d have to make a deal.”
    â€œKilling you seems more expeditious.”
    â€œBut for all you knew I hid the Seal and told nobody where I hid it. If you killed me, you might never get it back. So you had to keep me alive but stick me in a trap only you could get me out of.”
    â€œYou give me too much credit, Alfred. Even I would not anticipate your, shall we say, ruthless response to the attack this morning. Are you refusing to hand over the item?”
    â€œIf I hand it over now, there’s no reason for you to let me live.”
    â€œAs I’ve said, you’re far more useful to us alive than dead.”
    â€œWhy?”
    He smiled. “The answer to that question, I would think, is obvious.”

13:12:41:36
    Before he left, Nueve asked if there was anything else he could do. I told him yes, there was, and he promised he would arrange it.
    Then he studied my face for a long time without saying anything, until finally he said, “Does it not work on yourself?”
    â€œWhat?” I asked, but I knew what.
    â€œThe healing power of your blood—you cannot use it to repair your own wounds?”
    I shook my head. “No. It doesn’t work on me.”
    â€œA gift, then—not a treasure,” he whispered. “You carry a special burden, Alfred Kropp.”
    He paused at the door. “Allow me a few moments to make the arrangements, yes?”
    He pressed a small object into my hand. It looked like a ballpoint pen.
    â€œWhat’s this?”
    â€œOpen it and see.”
    I pulled off the cap, exposing a tiny hole at the top of the cylinder.
    â€œPress the button on the side.”
    I pressed and a hypodermic needle sprang from the hole.
    â€œOnly a single dose, but the poison metabolizes almost instantaneously, completely paralyzing the victim.”
    The needle glittered wickedly in the fluorescent lights. “For how long?” I asked.
    â€œDepends on the subject. Up to five minutes. Press the button again.”
    I pressed, and the needle retracted.
    â€œWhy are you giving it to me?”
    One of his eyebrows rose toward his dark, perfectly coiffed hair.
    â€œYou should refrain from asking questions to which you already know the answer, Alfred. It could create the impression that you are not as smart as you really are.”
    He tapped lightly on the door with the head of his walking stick. “Until our next meeting, Alfred Kropp.”
    â€œI’m really hoping there won’t be one.”
    â€œThe odds are against that.”
    Bulldog-Face Man opened the door. Nueve stepped quickly into the hall and the door swung closed behind him.
    I sat on the bed and waited. I got tired waiting there, so I went to the window. The window faced south, and there was Broadway, a dark ribbon between the yellow streetlights. I looked down six stories to the parking lot. A long drop, but I had recently dropped a lot longer. The window didn’t open, of course. I’d have to break the glass. And then the concrete below would break me. I guessed I could make a rope out of the bedsheets, but that would probably get me to only the fourth floor.
    The door behind me opened and