BACKTRACKER by Milo Fowler (books to read in your 30s TXT) 📗

The boy, Harry, lay unconscious on a couch. Blood oozed from bothears. The albino monk tended to him, hand to his brow. The same apparition fromthe alley, now without his sword or his beautiful companion. Kuan Ti stood by,looking on with concern.

There were three others in the room Lennox did not recognize.

"Who are you?" he demanded.

"Sir Gavin—" A George model, restrained by a large black man,squirmed in a frenzy at the sight of his employer. "Take them out, sir!Kill them all!"

"Let him go." Lennox brought up the shotgun and aimed itin the general direction of the man's head.

"Do as he says, Peter." A tall, pale girl spoke in alilting voice. Her bright eyes were both beautiful and afraid. "Releasehim."

Peter growled deep in his chest. He glared at Lennox with nostrilsflared. His massive hand, missing two fingers, rose to grip the SYN by thethroat. He squeezed. George wheezed.

"Peter," the girl gasped, trembling.

"Take him," Peter rumbled, hurling George forward.

The SYN staggered, almost pitching onto his painted and piercedface. Hand to his neck, he joined Lennox with, "Thank you, sir."

"What's going on here?" Lennox said.

"I don't know. We've—" George swallowed and winced."We've had our hands full. These three—the big one, the girl, that olderone over there—they tore through the place downstairs. You should see it,everybody's gone—even Torment took off. I've never seen them so scared.Of anything."

"No one else is here?"

"Alive? No... A few bodies, a lot of blood. That one has asword." George pointed at the one named Peter.

What is it with swords lately?

"The mandroids, too—totally demolished. Anybody who stood intheir way. You should have seen it." He pointed again, this time towardthe panoramic window overlooking the silent nightclub below. "It's a realmess."

"Have you come back for us, Mr. Lennox?" Kuan Ti facedhim now and moved to cross the gap between them.

Lennox pulled the revolver from his belt and leveled it with theholy man's face. "Stay put." His eyes shifted away from Peter, butthe shotgun didn't. To George, he said, "Go to the armory."

The SYN nodded and left the room.

Kuan tucked his hands into the drooping sleeves across his middle.He kept his distance. "Why then have you returned, Mr. Lennox?"

"It should be obvious." He smiled at the monk then, andthe expression was intended to confirm his control of this insane situation. Anunsteady façade? "I'm here to clean up."

"What does he mean?" the girl whispered to thestoop-shouldered old man beside her. He shrugged. No idea.

"He means to kill us all." It was the albino who spoke,rising and turning to face Lennox.

"Nothing so dramatic." Hello again. No acrobatics this time? Lennox chuckled withouthumor. He restrained his left hand from squeezing off shots that would dropboth holy men where they stood. "I'm not going to kill all of you."

The girl gasped, covering her face and falling against the oldman's shoulder. "Paul, I don't want to die!" He did his best tocomfort her, gnarled hands patting her shoulder.

Peter growled again, seething, oversized fists clenched down athis sides. "We are here to take back what belongs to our father. We haveno quarrel with you."

George returned with two automatic rifles—one slung over hisshoulder, the other gripped and twitching from one target to the next as heentered the room. "What now, sir?"

Lennox nodded toward the fallen Blackshirts. "Get them ontheir feet."

"Two of them may be unable to walk for a while," Kuanoffered. "We injured them, I'm afraid."

"So much for turning the other cheek, eh?" Lennoxsmirked. "You religious types are all the same. Your rigid beliefs are soeasily bent."

"We are human. None of us is perfect." Kuan shook hishead. "No, not one."

"What's wrong with him?" Lennox glanced down at the boy.

"I do not know." The albino didn't seem to notice thegun aimed at him. He stared hard into Lennox's eyes. "He needs to see adoctor."

He's outlived his usefulness. "Aruptured brain aneurysm or something,perhaps." Lennox noted the blood. "He's dead, either way."

"Not if we get him the help he needs," Kuan said.

"Not happening. Not until I get what I want."

Kuan raised an eyebrow. "Do we appear to have anything ofvalue, Mr. Lennox?"

The Blackshirt captain stirred on the floor, cursing as Georgejostled him with murmured invocations.

"What do you want?" Peter growled.

Lennox smiled again. This time it was just as confident as hewanted it to be. "Believe it or not, gentlemen—and lady,"he nodded to the girl. She ignored the gesture. "We are all here for areason." He paused, sweeping his gaze across the motley assortment ofindividuals before him. Only fate could have brought these misfits together."Give me what I want, and I'll let you go." He looked at Kuan."I'll even take you back where you belong."

"Aren't you afraid that I will expose you—you and yourapparent ability to move into this other world?" The monk's dark eyesappraised the garb of this reality's Gavin Lennox without expression. "Becoming whatever you arehere?"

"Who would you tell? Who would believe you?" Lennoxshook his head. "No, I don't think you would try anything of the sort.More likely, you'll go back to your Eastern Province, back to that monastery orwherever it is you hide from the world, and you'll flagellate thememory of this experience from the raw flesh of your own back."

Kuan did not speak, but his eyes kindled with fury.

"Tell us what you want, and let us be on our way," saidthe girl.

Lennox had their attention. Good. "I want theBackTracker."

The hush that fell on the room held it for only a moment.

"They were destroyed," said the albino. "Both ofthem."

Lennox frowned, his confidence faltering. "There was morethan one?" Destroyed? This can't be. He's lying!

"Send for a doctor, and I will tell you where you may yetfind the pieces."

Peter regarded the albino with what appeared to be a look ofnewfound respect. The girl watched him as well with eyes wet and swollen, a smile ofappreciation curving her lips.

"You wouldn't lie to me," Lennox said coolly, tighteninghis grip on the shotgun.

The albino made no reply.

Lennox pulled the trigger. Both barrels exploded, and Peter's headburst like a clay vase filled with ink. The girl screamed insanely, covered inthe stuff, shaking