Under Dark Sky Law Read Online Free PDF

and degraded
by the river itself.
    Their personal shack was like any of the
other abandoned buildings in the area, but they had chosen one that
leaned directly up against the pillar of the old underpass to give
it some additional stability, and they were lucky enough to find
one that had a half-assed solar tank and was still connected to an
intact sewer line that wasn’t contaminated by the river water.
Argon had dragged the body a few feet outside the building to an
adjacent shack that had probably once been some kind of a tool
shed. He hadn’t actually put the body totally back into the
enclosure, and the skeleton’s black and white boots were still
hanging out the back door.
    Xero stopped when she saw the skeleton’s legs
peeking out. “Oh for fuck’s sake,” she said.
    Argon threw up his hands. “Look, it was dark
and late, and we were hoping Calavera’s henchmen would come take
care of him really soon anyway. It’s not like there’s anyone around
here. There’s no one that will even come within a half mile radius
of this area—especially not with that stench rising off the river
this month.”
    He was right, but Xero didn’t like sloppy
work. She gave Argon a look that let him know not to pull any more
bullshit jobs like that again. “I leave you alone for two minutes
and you can’t even finish a simple task. You never change,” she
said.
    He shrugged. “I’m just the chemist, and
occasional muscle. You know I’m no good with logistics. That’s
Milo’s job, and he’s stuck taking care of Trina,” he said.
    “Don’t remind me—I’d kill to have Milo along
with us on this job,” she said. She would have loved to have
Neptune along too, just for fun, but with Trina out of commission
and Milo distracted by his sick girlfriend, someone had to stay
behind and watch the fort.
    She tapped her foot against the squishy
ground. “Alright, let’s get this over with,” she said.
    They pulled the body back out of the shed,
trying to avoid as much of the congealed blood as possible. Xero
motioned with her head and Argon ripped the armored skeleton head
mask off its face. It was a Hispanic male, his face tattooed with
an intricate sugar skull design.
    “Shit,” she said. “Well, if this isn’t one of
Calavera’s guys, he went pretty far with the authenticity attempt.
Unless I’m imagining things, those tattoos didn’t get there
overnight.”
    The tattoos were old, and looked like they
had been applied at different stages in time over the years. Parts
of it were faded, where others looked like they were relatively
fresh.
    “Looks like a pretty decorated enforcer too,
since he’s got so many layers of tats,” Argon said. He turned and
pointed at Xero. “See! He wasn’t just some loser flunky.”
    She shook her head. “Whatever makes you feel
better, buddy.”
    Argon scoffed. “Whatever. Anyway, we may have
a real problem on our hands here,” he said.
    She sighed. “We’re going to have an even
bigger issue if we don’t get out of here soon. We’re pushing things
as it is. Where the fuck are Calavera’s goons? Does no one value
punctuality anymore? Shouldn’t they have been here hours ago? I
want one of us here in person to impress upon them the seriousness
of this situation,” she said.
    Argon nodded. “Let’s pack this asshole back
into the shed and make ourselves look respectable.”
     
    It was fairly ridiculous that they had to get
themselves all gussied up when they would likely just have to strip
naked and at least go through some minimal decon, but standards had
gotten far laxer in recent years, and sometimes they got away
without having to do anything to gain dome access if they looked
nice enough.
    Xero was wearing a light pink mini skirt with
a white blouse and matching pink blazer. She wore a pearl necklace
with little pearl stud earrings that flashed slightly in the light.
Flat little black pumps and a blond wig completed the outfit.
    Argon clucked his tongue. “It never