Deathstalker 07 - Deathstalker Return

bombs. Sacrilege. We're all mad as hell, and we want revenge. We can't take on the Durandal, but maybe you can."
    "Get to the point," said Emma. "What have you got to tell me?"
    "Miracle Grant's come into the Rookery, supposedly to meet with Finn. Get here fast, and you'll catch them together. Word is, they're going to be discussing things they wouldn't dare discuss anywhere else.
    Interested?"
    "Give me directions, and then get the hell out of my way," said Emma Steel.
    Emma Steel and Nina Malapert made their way into the Rookery, disguised under heavy cloaks and holo faces, with just enough hints about them to suggest they were two well-off ladies, slumming it in the Rookery for pleasures unobtainable in the more civilized parts of the city. They kept to the side streets and the shadows, and avoided contact with anyone. Miracle Grant wasn't difficult to find. He strutted through the Rookery streets as though he owned them, and everyone gave him plenty of room. No one dared to touch a man under Finn's blessing, even if he was a hated Paragon. And besides, there was something odd about the man, something off… He wore his armor sloppily, and he was seriously overweight. His eyes were wild and dancing, and he laughed a lot, even when there was nothing obviously funny to laugh at. He took food from a market stall without paying, and crammed it into his mouth with both hands as he strode along. Emma and Nina followed him discreetly through the crowded streets, keeping well back.
    " That's Miracle Grant?" said Nina. "God, he's really let himself go."
    "Something's seriously wrong here," said Emma. "The Grant I knew was always a fop and a dandy, immaculately turned out with never a hair out of place. Hell, the man was an epicure of the first rank.
    There's no way he'd lower himself to eat street food…"
    "So," said Nina. "Are we going to drag him into a back alley and beat some answers out of him?"
    Emma looked at her. "We?"
    "Well, all right then, you. I have to handle the camera."
    "We stick to following him. I need to know what he's doing here. I also want to be sure this isn't some kind of trap. Never trust a Random's Bastard."
    Miracle Grant went back and forth in the Rookery, talking to really unpleasant people in really unpleasant places. No one seemed pleased to see him, but no one was stupid enough to object either.
    He was Finn's man, and he was a Paragon, and both were scary things these days. Finally he came to a small bar in a back street and went in. Emma and Nina watched from an alleyway on the other side of the street, but some time passed, and he didn't come out.
    Emma scowled. "We can't risk going in ourselves. See that window on the second floor, partway open?
    Can you get your camera in through there?"
    "Piece of cake," said Nina. "And I have state-of-the-art stealth protocols. They'll never hear it coming."
    She concentrated, and her camera emerged from under her cloak and flew swiftly up to the second floor window. It slipped easily through the gap, and then Nina guided it delicately downstairs until she could see into the main bar.
    "Got it," she said. "Grant's in there with three others, all in Paragon gear."
    "Plug me in," said Emma. "I need to know what's happening in there. And be sure to record everything on a remote link. This could be evidence."
    Nina hesitated. "I'm going to have to get in really close for that, darling. You will pay for a new camera, if anything goes wrong, won't you? I'm not made of money, you know, and I can't get insurance since I started hanging around with you…"
    "Yes, yes, get on with it."
    "And I should point out that stealth fields are technically quite illegal, for news cameras. You do promise this won't come back to haunt me later."
    "If you don't get a move on, you'll be the one who's doing the haunting."
    "Bully."
    Emma and Nina plugged in to what the camera was seeing through their comm links, and a window opened up before their eyes, showing the interior of the bar. The camera had to stick to the shadows up by the ceiling, but its picture came through clear enough. Miracle Grant was drinking brandy straight from the bottle at the bar. Three other Paragons were keeping him company. Emma knew them all. Good men, by reputation. But in this backstreet bar they laughed and drank and behaved like animals. They didn't seem to have anything important to say to each other. They were waiting. And then Finn Durandal walked through the door, and Emma and Nina both